Chapter 179: Dividing the Spoils

"Feng'er, send someone to call Yang He over."

Having understood the intentions of the three, Zhao Xu said this to Feng'er.

Since they were discussing matters of trade, it was only natural to call upon Yang He, the manager of the trading firm.

Feng'er acknowledged the order and left.

After the time it takes to burn an incense stick, Yang He arrived at the Hui Ke Tang.

After exchanging pleasantries with the three, Yang He sat down to the right of Zhao Xu.

"The Prince's Mansion has always kept its doors open for business; the exclusive rights for the Prince's Mansion's Fine Wine and the current Perfume are naturally for sale," Zhao Xu said at this moment.

During this period, the business of the Prince's Mansion had been mainly concentrated in Yanzhou and a few nearby provinces.

To the south, aside from Jingshi, the trade routes in other regions had not been opened.

The reason lay in the fact that these provinces were controlled by the Influential Clans, who restricted merchants from selling the goods of the Prince's Mansion locally.

After all, for every bottle of wine the Prince's Mansion sold in their territory, they would sell one bottle less of their own.

And this was the fundamental reason why the income of the Prince's Mansion could never skyrocket.

Simply put, this was local trade protectionism.

Yet, when faced with this problem, he had never had any solution.

His power only flowed smoothly within his own fief; he could not reach far enough to affect other places.

Now, since they had come, it was the perfect time to discuss this issue.

Of course, it was likely impossible to seize the market in the territories of the Rich Clans.

But it was still hopeful to make them refrain from competing with him in provinces controlled by the Imperial Clan.

"Excellent! Since that is the case, I wonder how much Silver is required for the exclusive rights to all other commanderies in Ningzhou, excluding Jingshi?" Xie Hua asked hurriedly.

The Fine Wine of the Prince's Mansion was indeed delicious.

However, they did not allow the Fine Wine of the Prince's Mansion to enter the commanderies they controlled, so they could still sell their own wine.

Although some wealthy individuals secretly purchased some from Jingshi, the impact was not significant.

But once the Perfume came out, they felt quite helpless.

The gap between traditional spices and this item was too great.

Even if they banned it, those young ladies in their boudoirs would try every possible means to have people secretly buy it from Jingshi.

The desire for beauty in women is truly hard to resist.

Therefore, after weighing the situation, they decided it was better to cooperate with Yan Wang and get rich together.

As the saying goes, if there is a first, there is a second, and if there is a second, there is a third.

The abilities Yan Wang had displayed time and again made him believe that the Prince's Mansion would continue to bring out commercial goods that would amaze the world.

Upon hearing this, Zhao Xu signaled for Yang He to speak.

He saw that the three were not overly hindered by the people on the name cards.

The specific matters below still needed to be discussed between Yang He and them.

"The wealth of the various provinces of the Great Song differs, so the pricing for exclusive rights also differs. Do the three of you have any objections to this?" Yang He said, neither humble nor pushy.

If it were before, when Yan Wang was not around, he would have been excited for a long time just seeing these three people.

But having followed Yan Wang for a long time, he had unknowingly gained a sense of confidence.

So what if they were from the Eight Great Influential Clans? Their Yan Wang was not a bit inferior to them.

Dou Yong and the other two looked at each other and shook their heads simultaneously.

They knew full well that the wealth gap between Jiangnan and Jiangbei in the Great Song was like heaven and earth.

Seeing this, Yang He nodded, "Therefore, the total price for the exclusive rights to all other commanderies in Ningzhou, excluding Jingshi, is 1.2 million taels."

Hearing this, Xie Hua calculated in his heart.

It was said among the Song People that Ningzhou was the wealthiest in the Great Song, and Jingshi was the wealthiest in Ningzhou.

Where Jingshi was located, at the feet of the Capital City, his Xie Family naturally could not control it, but for the other commanderies, his Xie Family still had a say.

According to his understanding, even excluding Jingshi, these commanderies consumed several million jars of wine a year.

Of course, most of these several million jars of wine were inferior Green Ant Wine.

But there must be at least 300,000 jars of medium to high-grade Fine Wine.

Once the Fine Wine of Yan Wang entered Ningzhou, it could almost occupy this share of 300,000 jars.

Even if his Xie Family only earned one tael per jar, they could recoup their investment in four years; not to mention they would earn far more than one tael, perhaps they could recoup it in a year.

"Our Xie Family is willing to accept this price. Then, how much is the Perfume?" Xie Hua asked.

"800,000 taels," Yang He said.

Zhao Xu nodded slightly; he agreed with this price point.

In the modern era,

the market fully proved that tobacco and alcohol were the entities with invincible profits.

Although Perfume was novel, he knew its profitability still could not surpass the Fine Wine of the Prince's Mansion.

Moreover, a jar of wine might be finished in one meal, but a woman could use Perfume for quite a few days.

However, even so, the profit from Perfume was still substantial; it just couldn't compare to Fine Wine, but it was not unprofitable.

"Yan Wang is truly fair and honest; this is about what I expected," Xie Hua nodded. "Our Xie Family will buy the exclusive rights for these two items. Within a month, the Silver will arrive in Yancheng."

Seeing Xie Hua easily reach a trade agreement with the Prince's Mansion,

Dou Yong and Xiao Jian spoke up one after another. Dou Yong said, "Manager Yang, what is the value of the exclusive rights for our Jingzhou?"

"How much Silver is needed for the exclusive rights for our Yizhou?" Xiao Jian said.

"The two items for Jingzhou total 1.6 million taels, and for Yizhou, they total 1.8 million taels," Yang He said.

Jingzhou has been a place of strategic importance for military strategists since ancient times, serving as the transportation hub for the twenty-one prefectures.

However, Jingzhou's importance lies in its status as a military thoroughfare; it is not as wealthy as places like Ningzhou or Zhezhou.

As for Yizhou, although it is located in the Southwest of Great Song, it has always been known as the Land of Abundance and is called the Little Jiangnan, which shows that it is also extremely wealthy.

It was precisely because of these considerations that he and Yan Wang discussed and decided that Yizhou should be priced higher than Jingzhou.

Xiao Jian and Dou Yong nodded upon hearing this.

Seeing that Yan Wang looked satisfied, they reckoned that this price would be hard to change.

"Hmm, I accept," Dou Yong and Xiao Jian said one after the other.

Zhao Xu and Yang He had set the prices based on different circumstances to begin with, and had never intended to change them.

Seeing that all three of them had accepted, it saved them from wasting more breath.

However, this matter of exclusive sales rights was merely business.

What was most important to him now was still carving up the Great Song market to maximize the interests of the Prince's Mansion.

Otherwise, wouldn't his merchant fleet have been built in vain?

So he said, "Exclusive sales rights are but a small matter, and I have no intention of competing for profit with you Eight Great Influential Clans within your own home prefectures. However, I hope you will not sell the Prince's Mansion's goods outside the scope of your exclusive rights; this is my rule."

"We understand Your Highness's meaning; just like in Jingshi now, we will not compete with Your Highness for profit," said Xie Hua.

In truth, it was not that they did not want to compete, but that the source of the goods was in the hands of the Prince's Mansion, so they had no way to compete.

Now that Yan Wang said this, it was equivalent to drawing a clear boundary for sales with them.

They would only sell in their own home prefectures, and all the remaining places would belong to Yan Wang.

Dou Yong and Xiao Jian naturally understood Yan Wang's meaning as well.

Although they were reluctant to give up the market in places like Jingshi, they had no choice but to accept.

"This is very good." Zhao Xu looked at Yang He, who was grinning from ear to ear.

It seemed he understood his painstaking efforts.

This was the initial negotiation between the Prince's Mansion and the influential clans to carve up the commercial interests of Great Song.

Although only three influential clans had come forward for now.

It was valuable that this had set a precedent, and as the goods from the Prince's Mansion increased in the future, profits would continue to expand.

The remaining influential clans would inevitably be unable to resist, and by then, this cake of commercial interests could be gradually divided up.

And the Prince's Mansion, having grasped the source of the goods, would earn the exclusive sales rights fees from the influential clans, be able to stably supply goods to the influential clans to earn Silver from the goods, and also be able to safely conduct business within the scope allocated to itself.

In this way, the goods of the Prince's Mansion could truly reach every corner of Great Song, achieving the maximization of interests.