Chapter 177: Packaging

"Yan Wang, I am the father-in-law of Prefect Yuan. If you dare to touch a single hair on my head, Prefect Yuan will certainly not let you off."

Pinned to the ground by soldiers, Gao Yuan struggled incessantly, still refusing to yield.

His eldest son, Gao Man, wore a look of utter dejection.

When the Yan Wang's soldiers stormed the Fortress, he and his father had hidden in their family's secret chamber.

They hid for a night, but were discovered nonetheless.

"Just you wait, the Yuan Family Army will arrive soon, and when they do, they will slaughter you all without leaving a single soul alive," Gao Yuan continued to clamor.

"Hahaha..." Zhao Xu laughed out loud and said, "I'm afraid you'll be disappointed. The Yuan Family Army you've been pinning your hopes on has already been here, only to be soundly defeated by this Prince and sent scurrying back to Fanyang in a sorry state."

"Impossible," Gao Yuan shouted, "How could your mere twenty thousand men possibly withstand the Yuan Family's two-hundred-thousand-strong army?"

Chang Wei and the other generals all burst into laughter upon hearing this, their eyes filled with mockery.

Liu Fu said, "Commandery Governor Gao, you take yourself far too seriously. Where would this two-hundred-thousand-strong army come from? It was nothing more than twenty thousand old, weak, and crippled soldiers."

Gao Yuan still refused to accept this reality, muttering incessantly, "Impossible, this is impossible."

Zhao Xu could not be bothered to waste any more breath on this pair of father and son, and made a beheading gesture to the soldiers guarding them.

"Hang their heads on the city gate," Zhao Xu said, leaving behind this sentence as he turned to depart.

With the death of the Gao family father and son, the affairs of Shanggu Commandery came to an end.

From now on, Shanggu Commandery would be under the unified administration of the Prince's Mansion, just like Yan Commandery.

Leaving the Fortress, Zhao Xu and the generals returned to Shanggu City.

In the Government Office, Zhao Xu said to Liu Fu, "I will leave the remaining miscellaneous tasks to you. One is the confiscation of the assets of the Rich Clans in Shanggu Commandery, and the other is the distribution of the seized farmland to the commoners."

"Yes, Your Highness," Liu Fu said, bowing with a face full of smiles.

This was a stark contrast to the furrowed-brow expression he wore when he first took over Shanggu Commandery.

After all, just like in Yan Commandery, there was now no one in Shanggu Commandery who could obstruct the decrees issued by the Government Office.

Zhao Xu turned to Chang Wei again, "One of you and Mo Yu should stay behind. Now that the Rich Clans of Shanggu Commandery have been eradicated, it is the perfect time when the commoners' emotions are running high; recruiting new soldiers should go more smoothly. We must replenish the Prince's Personal Guard to sixty thousand men as soon as possible."

"Let this matter be fully entrusted to Vice General Mo," Chang Wei said.

Mo Yu showed a look of gratitude; ever since he arrived in the Yan Wang's army, he had not yet had the opportunity to display his skills, and he had been feeling quite unhappy.

Now that Chang Wei had put him in charge of the recruitment of new soldiers, it was equivalent to handing over the training of these tens of thousands of new recruits to him.

Zhao Xu nodded and did not object.

This was for the best, even though he trusted Chang Wei deeply.

But it was ultimately somewhat improper for the troops under his command to be held by only one person.

Chang Wei was usually carefree, but he was still cautious and careful when it came to major matters.

He must have realized that holding sole military power would inevitably lead to suspicion from the officials under the Yan Wang in the future.

So he simply brought Mo Yu out, splitting the military power in half between the two.

In this way, many criticisms could be avoided.

At the same time, this could also give Mo Yu an opportunity to display his talent as a general.

After giving further instructions regarding the political and military affairs of Shanggu Commandery,

Zhao Xu set off to return to Yan Commandery with Chang Wei in the afternoon.

By the evening of the next day, the group arrived.

Before even entering the city gate, Zhao Xu looked at the endless stream of carriages on the official road with a puzzled expression.

He had only been gone for a few days, yet Yancheng seemed noisier than usual.

Chang Wei led the troops back to the camp, while Zhao Xu returned to the Prince's Mansion under the protection of Xu Lie.

"Your Highness, you've returned," upon learning that the Yan Wang had returned,

Feng'er and Luan'er waited at the gate of the Prince's Mansion.

Seeing Zhao Xu, the two showed expressions of joy.

A short separation is better than a new marriage; the two girls were usually so attached to Zhao Xu that they didn't think much of it on a daily basis.

But after being separated for a few days, they felt a bit of the bitterness of lovesickness.

In front of everyone, the two still had to maintain their reserve,

but once they reached the backyard and were away from others, they revealed their true selves, each clutching one of Zhao Xu's arms as they walked toward the bedchamber.

Because the layer of window paper between them had long been torn,

Zhao Xu had grown accustomed to it and frolicked with them along the way.

Returning to the bedchamber, a table of sumptuous dinner had long been set in the room.

Zhao Xu took their hands and had them sit down beside him.

He was all alone in Yan Commandery.

Although there were old men like Chang Wei and Liu Fu, there was a camaraderie among men.

For him, both iron-bloodedness and tenderness were indispensable.

Luan'er and Feng'er were that tenderness.

They allowed his manic heart, stirred by slaughter, to gradually grow tranquil.

"Your Highness, Yancheng has been very lively these few days you were gone. Many merchants came from Jingshi, clamoring to buy the Prince's Mansion's Perfume," Feng'er leaned against Zhao Xu and said in a sweet voice.

"No wonder, I was wondering why Yancheng suddenly became so lively. So that's how it is. It seems the reputation of this Perfume has already spread in Jingshi," Zhao Xu said.

After pacifying Shanggu Commandery, this was another piece of good news.

Now the Prince's Mansion could have one more important source of income.

"Indeed, I heard from those merchants that the young ladies of noble families in Jingshi are now crazily scrambling to buy the Perfume. Your Highness is going to make a fortune this time," Luan'er said softly.

"When Your Highness first made the Perfume, this servant felt that this thing would definitely sell well." Feng'er was full of pride, and remembering something, she said, "While Your Highness was away, Manager Yang sent a letter, which is said to have been sent from Jingshi by Assistant Manager Dong."

After speaking, she walked out, and before long she returned, holding a letter in her hand which she handed to Zhao Xu.

Opening the envelope, Zhao Xu scanned the contents and nodded slightly.

This was a letter from Dong An; the letter mainly discussed one matter regarding Dongwan, which was the pricing of Perfume in the Capital.

According to his investigation, twenty percent of people felt that even if Perfume were one hundred taels per bottle, they could accept it.

Fifty percent of people felt that the price of Perfume should be between twenty taels and thirty taels.

Another thirty percent of people felt that Perfume should be under twenty taels.

After reading the contents of the letter, Zhao Xu had a plan in mind.

This was actually the three consumption levels of consumers.

Those who did not find one hundred taels expensive were naturally the top-tier noble ladies and young misses of Jingshi; they truly were not short on money.

They only bought the best and did not care about the price.

Those at twenty or thirty taels represented the middle-tier noble ladies and young misses.

Those under twenty taels were the bottom tier.

With this investigation, he had a plan in mind.

This time, it seemed the Prince's Mansion's Perfume would have to follow the same method as Wine and implement a three-tier sales strategy.

However, this time, he did not intend to distinguish them by lowering the concentration as he did with Wine.

Instead, he decided to rely formally on packaging, re-packaging both Wine and Perfume.

This would allow the three tiers of goods to have a more obvious degree of differentiation.

And he had already thought of the method to increase this degree of differentiation.

This was Glass.

As long as he made Glass and produced Glass Bottles.

Whether it was Wine or Perfume, the packaging would immediately be elevated.

The goods of the Prince's Mansion would also truly have a degree of differentiation.

Others would not even be able to imitate them.