"I'll admit it's great for washing clothes, but are you sure it will appeal to the merchants?"

In the end, with a basin of foam, the wet silk was placed in front of the Duke and the others, and the result was indeed as Zhang Li said, and it was washed cleanly.

"Of course you can!" Zhang Li said affirmatively: "In fact, this thing is more suitable for washing the body than washing clothes, washing the body with soap can not only wash away the stains in the pores, but also play a role in maintaining the skin, and there is a long-lasting fragrance, washing hands before meals can also kill a lot of bacteria, prevent diseases and benefit health." ”

“...... Is this thing expensive?"

"It's not expensive, basically every household can afford it, like this piece of soap about half a catty is initially priced at about 10 copper coins, which is a meal of meat money for ordinary people, and such rough soap is only for commoners, for the aristocracy, I have more refined products, there are special clothes washing, body washing, hair washing, can definitely meet the discerning temperament of the nobles. Then Zhang Li settled an account with the duke.

"The main raw material for making soap is the very common lard, which can also be replaced by vegetable oil, but the soap made from vegetable oil is very soft, and we can use vegetable oil and animal oil to mix and match according to different proportions to adjust the softness and hardness of the soap, and the amount is ...... Off topic, in short, the price of a pound of lard in the market is about 10 copper, and a pound of lard can make a pound and a half of soap (in fact, it is almost a pound, but there are always some other things to add to the soap, flavor, water and the like), with half a catty as a piece, a catty of lard can eventually become three pieces of soap, each piece sells for 10 copper, so that each catty of lard can make a profit of 20 copper, of course, there will be a lot of other costs, such as charcoal costs, labor costs, etc., but even so, each catty of lard can at least make a net profit of more than 15 copper, 150% of the net profit, which is only soap sold to civilians. ”

Marx said that 300% of the profits can make the capitalists flout all laws, and half is enough to make the heart move.

In Azeroth, five steaks sell for 22 copper (based on the price of the cheapest meat sold by the butchers in the main city in the game), and a hunter hunts a wolf for 4 copper for a pound of wolf meat (the lowest grade meat in the culinary profession, juicy wolf meat).

As mentioned before, each territory of Azeroth is very large, and there is not much space occupied by intelligent beings, and wild animals are the largest group, so meat is not too rare.

Zhang Li's words made the duke ponder, and he began to estimate the value of this, the number of civilians in Stormwind City is at least nearly two million, more than 400,000 households, of which eight CD are free people, although most of the free people are not rich in the people, but a meal of meat can still be eaten occasionally, such a large population base, conservative estimates, even if every ten families can only sell a piece of soap, what is the benefit in this?

40,000 households a soap, that is, 400,000 copper, converted into gold coins is 40 gold, according to Zhang Li said, a piece of soap can basically wash more than a dozen large pieces of clothing, a person has at least two large pieces of shirts and pants, that family of several clothes piled up there, how can you use a piece of soap for half a month, you have to buy it again, there are twelve months a year, that is 960 gold, 960 gold in addition to material costs and manual costs, the annual net profit is almost 600 gold.

600 Gold ......

To tell the truth, 600 gold is nothing to a duke, he receives no less than 3,000 gold in agricultural taxes every year, and the 100,000 subjects in his territory contribute at least 30 silver worth of grain and other materials to him every year, plus a large number of his industries and other taxes, his annual income is at least 20,000 or 30,000 gold, which he uses to maintain his army, as well as his family's life that has nothing to do with luxury.

However, the duke was still moved, because 600 gold was only his extremely conservative estimate, as long as such a commonly used item in life could be popularized, it would be impossible for ten households to sell one, and it was not impossible for each household to buy it.

There must be a woman in the family who buys this kind of soap, and as long as she doesn't want to be gossiped about, then she has to wash her clothes at least once a few days, right? There is no laundry detergent in this world, so she just uses soap, and it will be washed away after two or three times.

So...... If soap is popular, maybe add a zero to 600?

6000! Thinking of this, the duke was full of spirits, and this is still not the share sold to the nobles.

6,000 gold He wouldn't even look at it before the orc invasion, when his territory was so fertile that it attracted a large number of freedmen to live in, and the total annual income was twenty or thirty thousand plus zero, and now ......

In short, this is only a possible benefit in the Stormwind Kingdom, if it spreads to other countries, or even other races, it may not be impossible for him to earn more than 10,000 a year, and an annual income of more than 10,000 is already very attractive to him now.

He immediately asked: "Is the process of making it complicated? Is it really impossible for outsiders to steal it? As far as I know, a normal craftsman can take several apprentices at a time, and these apprentices will take at least a few years to become a teacher, and will it take several years to master the process of making soap?"

"How many years?" Zhang Li smiled: "No, no, no, it's good in a few days, maybe I can't use it for a few days, because I didn't plan to teach others how to make soap in the first place, I plan to build a factory, in the form of an assembly line, and everyone is only responsible for one of the steps, so that the output is large, and it can also play a role in confidentiality." Zhang Li began to explain to the Duke what an assembly line was.

"There are a lot of hidden benefits to building a factory like this, your territory will attract more and more free people, and workers need to be recruited, right? If soap can spread all over the world, we need at least thousands of workers to be able to maintain production, and that's thousands of families, and the families of these workers can't just wait for the factory to pay their wages to make a living, right? This has led to the breeding industry in the territory, and the livestock can not only produce oil, but also have by-products such as leather, animal hair, milk, etc., and the more prosperous the business, and the more people, the more adventurers in your territory, the fewer threats in those territories, and there are all kinds of chain reactions, the hidden value of which is immeasurable, you must understand this, my lord. ”

"Smack!" the duke slapped the table at once, "It's done!" he exclaimed, "Your idea is very good, I decided to try to produce a few batches first, and even if it can't be popularized in the end, I can keep it for my own use." ”

It could be seen that the duke's mood was very excited, and after making this decision, he didn't even eat, and stood up directly and said to the garrison officer who guarded him, Sorigal: "Go and gather all the nobles in the city and let them come together to participate in the allegiance ceremony." ”

"Yes!" Sorigal was about to leave, when Zhang Lileng said, "What allegiance ceremony?" Didn't they just discuss soap?

"Your allegiance ceremony, of course. The Duke smiled and said, "Regardless of whether or not such a factory can be built as you say, I will not treat you badly, and I have decided to give you the title of knight, and from then on you will officially become a member of the nobility of my domain." ”

"Wait!" Zhang Li hurriedly stopped Sorigal: "You seem to have misunderstood something, I never intended to give up my freedom." ”

The Duke frowned: "Oh, if you don't owe allegiance to me, then you want me to pay this soap all at once? With all due respect, you can't guarantee that soap will be in demand, and if you want to pay it all at once, I won't give you a lot of money." ”

"You don't have to pay all at once, and you don't have to take any risks, we can work together. ”