Chapter 65

Dawang's Year Feather Hall's sunny windowsill every day had a row of little night lights; when it was time to sleep at night, he placed two at his bedside, one on the indoor table, and even beside Weini's quilt got one; the whole Year Feather Hall was bathed in warm orange light, Dawang was very satisfied. He grew more and more fond of this home~

Yin King Manor's recruitment drive went on grandly for three days; just the staff on Vermilion Bird Avenue numbered sixty, because there were three shops set to open before the year, and it's still unknown how many more there will be.

Myriad Phenomena City, Rising Peace Grain Shop, and Rising Peace Cloth Shop.

These three shops have different functions; Myriad Phenomena City is Dawang's tool for harvesting scholar-officials and rich merchants to rob the rich and help the poor, while the latter two mainly face the common people of Yin Province.

Rising Peace Cloth Shop also sourced goods from Dawang's home estate; Bai Yang wholesale some cotton cloth to him at the source.

Great Jin currently still has no cotton, let alone cotton cloth. Cotton seeds and improved wheat seeds have already been added to the King's import list; as for whether we can afford it, that hasn't been considered yet — isn't this exactly the plan to make a fortune by harvesting in Myriad Phenomena City?

The King saw the various colors of cotton cloth and was slightly shocked; the variety of colors goes without saying, he found this cloth much warmer than the hemp cloth worn by the people of Great Jin, and Secluded Prefecture really needs it.

For example, thick and tightly woven single-dyed cotton cloth, Bai Yang bought ten thousand meters of the everyday color in one go, each meter 1.2 meters wide and 100 meters long, averaging over two hundred units; he exchanged that for two ingots, while the King exchanged it for twenty taels of silver — a price barely acceptable. After all, aside from hemp cloth made from ramie, the prices of Great Jin's silks and brocades are untouchable for common folk.

A slightly lighter version costs eighteen taels per hundred meters, twelve taels for the lighter; undyed pure white is even cheaper, at ten taels per hundred meters.

This is still cotton cloth; things like polyester are even cheaper, after all, in later ages plastic bottles can be woven into fabric. But thinking that it's not easy for the people of Secluded Prefecture to buy a piece of clothing, Bai Yang selected several suppliers with relatively good quality, not just chasing cheapness.

Each roll of combed cotton weighs one catty; Bai Yang wholesale-purchased five hundred thousand catties at once for cheapness, each roll costing five units. The King kept rubbing the snow‑white rolls, soft and warm — what a great thing!

... Well, he doesn't want this; this fluffy stuff, when stuffed into clothing, is extremely unfriendly to chubby kids.

The King and Bai Yang agreed that for grain and cloth, the other party would sell to him at cost price without profit; he would, for free, make a copper design inlaid with gold and silver featuring four dragons and four phoenixes, strictly following the imperial ritual vessel standard. Bai Yang estimated the price and exclaimed: "Got it! I'll have to supply the Young King with grain and cloth for decades!"

This time, Bai Yang's purchase of cloth cost over six million; the King's hard‑earned ingot earnings from his stall these past days had just risen to 140,000, after subtracting nearby purchases and paying for the cloth, the ingot total was cut in half, leaving the account balance at 68,990 ingots.

The King clutched his ingot card, feeling the pinch for two seconds; he couldn't spare any more.

After all, what he got in exchange looked like more.

The King went out and summoned Zhu Ti, saying, "I've staked all my wealth on these three shops; you must succeed, understand?"

"Understood. My lord, may I borrow a few people? I want to send someone separately to Long Peace and Yu Yang to deliver our flagship products from Myriad Phenomena City to each of your two elder brothers." Obviously Zhu Ti hasn't been running around for nothing these days; she already knows that the purchasing power of Secluded Prefecture doesn't allow her to reap huge profits.

The King's interest piqued, he asked, "Tell me why."

Zhu Ti: "It's simple. In Long Peace, the playboys led by the Second Prince definitely set the trend for what they eat, wear, and use. In the Yu Yang–Luoyang area, that's the Prince of Yu; once those two start using our Myriad Phenomena City products, merchants from all over will know to come to Secluded Prefecture to source goods."

The King chuckled twice; needless to say, this person truly has business talent and even knows how to build momentum in advance.

Just not bold enough — doesn't he still have his father the emperor?

Imperial‑supplied is the best!

He also thought of the horse his second brother had been longing for, opened the shop and scrolled down page after page. After flipping through over a dozen pages, everything was just a replacement for items from his Prince Yun's mansion, none of them cheap. Mengmeng really is just waiting for his mansion's trinkets to break so he can make a killing, huh!

Look, roof tiles sold by the piece! Three pieces for one ingot? Why don't you go grab them!

Don't we in Secluded Prefecture know how to fire tiles ourselves? Ten taels can buy a whole cart!

Black tiles with gold speckles, glazed?

... Alright, really can't fire them.

After scrolling another dozen or so pages, finally it wasn't just replacements; some actual merchandise the shop should sell appeared.

Various fishhooks, fishing nets, and net cages; the King browsed with great interest for a while, and after a moment he suddenly realized… this might be the everyday spare parts for that treasure ship he hasn't brought out yet……

Mengmeng, you're just going to keep harvesting the leeks without shaking, right!

Again, after another dozen pages, finally we left the ship category.

The shop displayed several varieties of chickens, ducks, and rabbits, seemingly available for purchase and raising. The King finally took interest, looked at the price…… six hundred ingots per chicken?

Even a rare breed shouldn't be that expensive, right? The King had a bad feeling.

Sure enough, when he scrolled to the horses, he saw at a glance the little zao! Still called the Junior Mount Red‑Zao Horse, priced at twenty thousand ingots! But the purchase button is grayed out—his level isn't high enough to buy it. Before the Junior Mount Red‑Zao Horse, there's another horse called 【White Gold Wild Horse】, priced at six thousand ingots.

The King poked the white little horse icon, and the pop‑up bubble showed just one line: 【Untamed spirit, sturdy physique.】

Not bad looking, and it's a flashy white‑gold color; I bet his elder brother would take a liking to it.

The King, excited, spread out a sheet of paper and began writing a letter to his elder brother.

Eighty percent of the letter praises the White Gold Wild Horse's looks, and only at the end does it say that this horse is a top‑tier wild steed captured from the depths of the grasslands, extremely untamed, hard for ordinary people to make it accept a master, which is why it ended up in the hands of wealthy merchants, and then encountered by him, who is stationed in the northern borders.

He only mentioned at the very end of the letter, offhand, that the other party was asking 180,000 taels of silver, which he thought too expensive. If his second brother is interested, the younger brother can help negotiate the price.

After finishing and sealing the letter, the King handed it directly to Zhu Ti: "Put this letter together with the things you've prepared; later I'll send someone to deliver it to Long Peace."

The King left the Yearfeather Hall, but kept glancing back at the roof; upon close look, sure enough, the sunlight gave it a golden gleam!

Zhao Bao was puzzled: "Your Highness, what are you looking at?"

The King: "I'm looking at those tiles that weigh three taels and three candareens each. If this were in Long Peace, the officials impeaching me could line up from the gate of Jianzhang Palace all the way to the Jin River."

Zhao Bao: ……