Chapter 68: Huge Capital

"Exclusive sales rights?"

Yan Commandery Trading Firm.

As soon as Yang He took office, he immediately put the matter of exclusive sales rights on the agenda.

Unable to obtain goods from the Prince Mansion, the merchants were extremely anxious.

Upon learning that all business for the Prince Mansion was now under the jurisdiction of the trading firm, they flocked over one after another.

After arriving at the trading firm, they saw a huge map on the wall, on which all the cities of the Great Song Dynasty were marked.

And under each city, the purchase cost for the exclusive sales rights of that city was marked.

"Exclusive rights for Yan Commandery cost 60,000 taels of Silver, exclusive rights for Fanyang cost 80,000 taels..."

Gathering in front of the map, the merchants looked at it one by one, shaking their heads and clicking their tongues incessantly.

"If two or more people set their sights on the same city, they must bid against each other; the highest bidder wins."

Seeing that the number of merchants was gradually increasing, Yang He walked down from upstairs at this moment.

Many of the merchants knew Yang He, and they also knew that Yang He was now an official of the Yan Prince Mansion.

Some who were well-acquainted said: "Yang He, you are too ruthless; you actually thought of cutting flesh off our bodies to eat."

Yang He did not change his expression; everyone knew the thickness of his skin.

In a leisurely manner, he continued to say with a smile: "How is this cutting your flesh to eat? It is clearly to let you make a fortune, and also to let the Prince Mansion's business be done better. May I ask, how many merchants were selling the Prince Mansion's Fine Wine here in Yan Commandery alone in the past few days? With so many people, how much profit did you make?"

When Yang He said this, the merchants had nothing to say.

Because there were too many people selling Wine in Yan Commandery, their Wine had indeed accumulated quite a bit.

Seeing the thoughtful expressions on the merchants' faces, Yang He struck while the iron was hot, "That is why the Yan Wang and I are providing this method to you all. Just imagine, once you secure the exclusive sales rights for Yan Commandery, other merchants will not be able to sell Wine in Yan Commandery. Won't the profit from this Wine all belong to one person? You will be able to earn it back in a few years. Furthermore, if you don't want these exclusive rights anymore, you can resell them; it is a steady profit without any loss."

Yang He's words awakened the dreamers.

"That's right, after earning enough, selling the exclusive rights to someone else is not a loss."

"Exactly, the exclusive rights themselves are Silver."

"..."

The merchants whispered to each other.

Yang He continued: "Furthermore, Yan Commandery has seven counties. After you secure the exclusive sales rights, you can further subdivide them into seven portions and let the merchants in the counties purchase them. This is also a right the Merchant Association grants you."

The merchants became even more tempted upon hearing this.

One person hurriedly said: "I want the exclusive sales rights for Yan Commandery."

"Give the Shanggu Commandery one to me."

"Give the Fanyang one to me."

"..."

The merchants began to clamor one by one.

There were also a few merchants calling for the same commandery, and the two sides began to compete.

Yang He's eyes narrowed into slits from smiling.

The smoothness of the sale of the exclusive rights exceeded his expectations.

However, he was very clear that this was all due to the unique goods of the Prince Mansion.

After all, in the entire Great Song Dynasty, this was the only one of its kind.

"Do not be anxious. Bring the Silver, and the exclusive sales documents will be delivered on the spot. For those competing, the highest bidder wins. You are having great luck today; any later, and you won't even have a chance to buy," Yang He said loudly.

Upon hearing this, the merchants immediately sent servants back to fetch Silver, and those who did not have enough Silver went to borrow it just to secure the rights.

"Manager Yang, I am a merchant from Jinzhou. It is far from here, and I cannot carry so much Silver on me. What should I do if the delay in going back and forth causes trouble?" a middle-aged merchant said with an anxious expression.

Yang He sighed in his heart; the Yan Wang had already considered this situation, so he gave him a method.

So he said: "It is fine. You can pay a portion of the deposit first and agree on a date to pay the Silver. If the Silver does not arrive by the deadline, the trading firm will no longer hold it for you."

The middle-aged merchant was overjoyed upon hearing this, "Good, good. Six days, just give me six days."

The situation the middle-aged merchant faced was also encountered by many merchants from other regions.

They breathed a sigh of relief and stepped forward one after another to sign the deposit documents with Yang He, agreeing on the time to pay the Silver.

After a whole morning.

The exclusive sales rights for all commanderies in Yanzhou had all been sold, and the exclusive sales rights for Jinzhou to the west of Yanzhou, Jin Prefecture to the south, and even Qizhou to the south of Jin Prefecture had also been more than half sold.

As for further south, including the various commanderies in Jiangnan, fewer were sold.

One reason was that the exclusive sales rights in these places were expensive, and the second was that there were few merchants from these places in Yan Commandery, and the reputation of the Prince Mansion's Fine Wine had not spread to these places.

However, Yang He believed that before long, merchants from these places would come one after another.

By evening, the merchants who could bring the Silver had basically sent it over.

Yang He ordered people to carry the Silver and the signed documents to the Prince Mansion.

"Your Highness, today we sold a total of 20 exclusive sales rights, receiving 360,000 taels of cash Silver. The rest have all signed documents. If all the Silver is sent over, our Merchant Association can earn a total of 1,220,000 taels this time." Yang He himself was also startled.

Looking at these exclusive sales rights individually, one commandery was not much.

But added together, it was truly not a small amount.

Zhao Xu nodded with satisfaction.

He was not that surprised; after all, the high agency fees for various brands in his previous life were common.

Once, a classmate of his in a small, obscure county town paid over a million in agency fees just to represent Coca-Cola.

And the exclusive sales rights these merchants secured were for the one-and-only Fine Wine of the Great Song Dynasty.

This bit of Silver was not much.

"Not bad, this is a good start," Zhao Xu said with a smile.

This was also one of the reasons why, when he had just woken up, he thought it over and finally decided to bring out the ice-making technology to sell instead of monopolizing it.

Because ice-making technology simply cannot be monopolized like Wine and other goods.

Although novel, it can only earn a temporary windfall.

Whereas Wine and the things he will bring out in the future are things with a long history.

"Take the Silver to the treasury," Zhao Xu instructed again.

After counting the Silver last time, he suddenly felt very poor, to the point that it was difficult to even equip a Cavalry of five thousand men.

Now, with this income, the problem is easily solved.

"Continue to keep an eye on the monopoly, and also, maintain contact with these merchants; it would be best if they could have six contacts at the trading firm, so that when the Prince's Mansion needs something, it can contact them in time and have them provide it."

In Great Song, supplies are all in the hands of merchants and Rich Clans.

Controlling the merchants is equivalent to controlling the supplies.

Therefore, it is necessary to establish a platform that can contact these merchants in a timely manner.

Nowadays, this platform is undoubtedly his trading firm.

"Yes, this subordinate understands," Yang He replied.

Thinking of the matter of establishing the Cavalry, he said: "There is one more thing; the Prince's Mansion needs ten thousand fine horses, and this matter also needs to be handled by the trading firm."

"Ten thousand fine horses?" Yang He clicked his tongue, "Your Highness, this is not a small number; I fear it will take some time."

"No matter, you just need to keep it in mind and handle it."

Establishing the Cavalry is not something that can be completed in a short while.

Even if the horses are bought back, they still need to be trained.

But this matter must be planned; the Northern Di invade Yan Commandery every year, and this is no way to go on.

Sooner or later, he will let his Cavalry gallop across the Grassland, making the Northern Di dare not head south to graze their horses, and their soldiers dare not draw their Curved Bow to complain.