Tea merchants are the fourth largest force in Yangzhou's business community, but due to the limited sales of tea, the tea merchants association is not as prominent as the cloth merchants' association, the grain merchants' association and the salt merchants' association, but its strength is also very strong and should not be underestimated.

Driven by Zheng Boxin, Wang Yu and Brother Baiyi, the people of the Tea Merchants Association actively participated in the bidding for the Jiaozhi tea franchise, and they naturally knew the demand for tea in the southwest region, and the profits were very considerable.

What is surprising is that not only the people of the Tea Merchants Association, but also some merchants who did not participate in the bidding before couldn't hold back and joined the battle one after another, all wanting to seize the opportunity of this tea franchise, so as not to fight over the salt franchise that appeared in the finale.

Obviously, in the current situation, the battle for the salt franchise will definitely reach a fever pitch, and no one wants to face the deep-pocketed salt merchants.

With the repeated lifting of the on-site number plate, the bidding price of the tea franchise soared to 180,000 taels, and then broke through 190,000 taels in people's expectations, rushing to the 200,000 taels mark in one fell swoop.

At this time, there were four bidders in addition to Zheng Boxin, Wang Yu and Brother Boys in White, and the rest of the bidders had been eliminated from the ranks of the competition due to their lack of strength.

Li Yuntian's original psychological price limit for the tea franchise was 200,000 taels, but seeing the fierce bidding process, he chose to stand still and wait and see.

Of the four people who participated in the bidding, two were tea merchants, the other two were cloth merchants and the other was grain merchants.

Since the cloth and grain franchises had already been sold, the big cloth and grain merchants who had previously missed the opportunity were targeting the tea franchises.

Because the market of tea and salt is monopolized, and it is a pure consumable, it is much simpler to operate than other commodities, and it is very easy for powerful merchants to operate across banks, so it will lead to the competition between cloth merchants and grain merchants.

It is worth mentioning that although some people joined the ranks of bidding, the vast majority of businessmen on the scene were still in a wait-and-see posture, after all, no one's money was blown by the wind, so they chose to act cautiously before the situation in Jiaozhi was unclear.

Moreover, even if Li Yuntian put down the rebellion in Jiaozhi, it is still unclear whether the interests of those merchants who have obtained commercial franchises and mining rights can really be protected.

At this time, the size of the businessmen's courage, the level of their vision, and the strength of their business sense of smell will play an extremely important role in influencing them to make corresponding choices.

Finally, when the bidding price reached 230,000 taels, a tea merchant was defeated and withdrew from the competition, and when it reached 250,000 taels, the remaining tea merchant saw that his opponent was strong and had to give up.

As a result, Zheng Boxin, Wang Yu, Brother White, a cloth merchant and a grain merchant were left to participate in the battle for the monopoly of Jiaozhi tea, and no one thought that the people of the Tea Merchants Association would be wiped out, which shows the fierceness of the bidding.

"There are only three places, are any of you willing to join forces in the tea business of Cochin?"

Just when people were looking forward to Zheng Boxin's five people fighting again, Li Yuntian terminated the bidding and proposed a solution to the current situation, which made everyone feel disappointed, and everyone wanted to see what the final price would be if the bidding continued.

In Li Yuntian's view, 250,000 taels is the limit price of the Jiaozhi tea franchise, after all, he not only has to raise military expenses, but also needs the follow-up investment of those bidders in Jiaozhi, which cannot greatly damage his vitality.

"Lord Earl, the villain is willing to join hands with Boss Wang to run the tea business in Jiaozhi." Zheng Boxin groaned for a moment when he heard this, bowed his hand to Li Yuntian, and said loudly.

"Adult, the villain also means the same." Wang Yu then also said to Li Yuntian that since Li Yuntian had made a decision and proposed to jointly operate the business of Jiaozhi tea, then of course he would respond to Li Yuntian like Zheng Boxin.

When the cloth merchant and grain merchant saw that Zheng Boxin and Wang Yu had chosen to cooperate so quickly, their hearts suddenly felt cold, and their faces became ugly, they never expected that the two would choose to give up so quickly, and there was a vague sense of foreboding, as if they had fallen into a designed trap.

In the final analysis, Zheng Boxin and Wang Yu are both from the Kyushu Chamber of Commerce, and Li Yuntian has a close relationship with the Kyushu Chamber of Commerce.

The businessmen present also realized this, so they all looked at the boy in white suspiciously, wanting to see what choice he would make.

If the white-clothed boy also chooses to cooperate with Zheng Boxin and Wang Yu, then it is obvious that the two sides are in a gang, and the two cloth merchants and grain merchants who participated in the bidding invested 500,000 taels of silver in the tea business.

"My lord, Xiaomin is not familiar with the place here, so he wants to run the tea business of Jiaozhi alone." Under the gaze of everyone, the white-clothed boy got up, arched his hand at Li Yuntian, and said in a somewhat hoarse voice.

Hearing this, the two nervous cloth merchants and grain merchants suddenly breathed a sigh of relief, from which it seems that the white-clothed boy is not from the Kyushu Chamber of Commerce, and then the eyes of the two are narrowed, and from the white-clothed boy's body, the two of them are keenly aware that they will definitely not invest money in the business of Jiaozhi for no reason, is there something hidden in this?

Not only these two cloth merchants and grain merchants, but also the businessmen present also saw some clues from them, they are all experienced people, and naturally know that the boy in white will not do this for no reason.

As the white-clothed boy showed his attitude, there were three ways in front of the two cloth merchants and grain merchants, one was to withdraw from the bidding, so that Zheng Boxin, Wang Yu and the white-clothed boy would get three places for the Jiaozhi tea franchise; the second is to choose cooperation, so that the two can get a place; The third is to insist on running the tea business of Jiaozhi alone like the boy in white.

Obviously, the two grain merchants and cloth merchants will not choose to cooperate, this is not because they are not familiar with each other, they are both big businessmen in Yangzhou business circles, and they must be familiar with each other, but after cooperation, the control of the business cannot be distributed, and it is obvious that everyone wants to control the dominance of the business.

Therefore, the choice between the two became simpler, one was to withdraw from the bidding, and the other was to run the tea business of Jiaozhi alone.

"Adults and villains have always run their own businesses and are not used to working with others." Under the gaze of everyone at the scene, the two grain merchants and cloth merchants glanced at each other, and then one of the grain merchants gave their hands to Li Yuntian and decided to carry them to the end.

"Adult, villain has always been in business alone." When the cloth merchant heard this, he groaned for a moment, and then made his choice, ready to gamble.

Seeing this situation, the people in the Fushun teahouse suddenly had a small commotion, whispering in private, now there is a situation where the four parties are competing for three places, everyone wants to know how Li Yuntian will deal with it, do they want to continue bidding?

"Since everyone is interested in the business of handing over the tea, then the official proposes three solutions, one is to continue to bid, the one with the highest price wins, the second is to draw lots, resigned to fate, and the third is to increase the number of places in the official, and everyone is happy."

Li Yuntian had already expected this situation from the fierce bidding just now, and couldn't help but glance at the cloth merchant and the grain merchant, but he didn't expect that the two of them would have such a keen sense of business, and they would dare to make a desperate bet on the Jiaozhi tea business, and then methodically proposed a solution.

"Bring the stuff up." As he spoke, Li Yuntian waved his hand to a captain of the Xiaowu Army standing in the audience, and the captain came up with a tray, on which were placed three small bowls, guarding red beans, black beans and mung beans, as well as an oval glass bottle.

Looking at the scene in front of them, everyone at the scene couldn't help but show a suspicious look on their faces, they didn't know what Li Yuntian was going to do, compared to the three small bowls of red beans, black beans and mung beans, many people's eyes fell on the glass bottle.

Due to the backward manufacturing process, glass containers are a rare luxury in the Ming Dynasty, and the glass containers used by the imperial palace and large families are basically imported from the Holy Roman Empire in Europe.

The glassmaking techniques of the Holy Roman Empire were already well developed from the fourteenth century onwards, and the technology was kept in strict secrecy, with all the artisans concentrating on an isolated island in Italy to produce glass and live in isolation.

"Red beans represent continued bidding, black beans represent lots, and mung beans represent increased quotas." Under the curious gaze of everyone, Li Yuntian covered the glass bottle with a black cover with an opening above, and explained to the people in the audience in a deep voice:

"Each bidder has a red bean, a black bean and a mung bean, and which method is chosen to put the corresponding beans into the bottle, and which one of the beans has two beans, then the official will follow which method, if there is a situation of two beans each, the official will personally draw lots, and which one is caught.

Hearing this, there was another commotion at the scene, everyone thought that Li Yuntian would be in charge of the development of the situation, and they never expected that he would hand over power, so that the matter would undoubtedly become fair, and no one would complain in the future.

Subsequently, under the gaze of the people with great interest, the white-clothed boy and the two cloth merchants and grain merchants each received three beans on the stage, and Zheng Boxin and Wang Yu received a total of three.

After a brief discussion, Zheng Boxin first walked to the glass bottle covered with a black cover, put the hand holding the beans into the cover and let go, and suddenly a crisp sound came from the black cover.

Because the glass bottle was blocked by a black cover, people didn't know what kind of beans Zheng Boxin had cast, and then the white-clothed boy and the two cloth merchants stepped forward in turn to vote for the beans they chose.

After the last person finished casting, Li Yuntian waved his hand to the captain who brought the tray, and the captain picked up the black cover, revealing the glass bottle inside, which made the people at the scene can't help but stretch their heads to look.

There were four mung beans lying quietly in the glass bottle, Zheng Boxin and others without exception chose the plan to increase the quota, one is to avoid fighting again, and the other is to ensure that everyone can profit from the Jiaozhi tea business.

The two cloth merchants and grain merchants couldn't help but let out a long breath when they saw the four mung beans in the glass bottle, and their expressions were much more relaxed, no matter what, they finally took the Jiaozhi tea franchise, and the future was left to fate.

A smile appeared on the corner of Li Yuntian's mouth, it was obvious that he was the biggest winner of this bidding, and the Jiaozhi tea franchise alone earned 760,000 taels of silver more than the expected target.!^!