According to Li Xiang's original plan, the best salt was 500 coins per catty. By suppressing the price of the highest quality salt in the market, the prices of the lower quality salts would drop at the same time, leaving the major families penniless. Now it is fully on the market, and Zhou Huairen has also obtained first-hand information from Chang'an City.
"Greetings to the Emperor..."
When Zhou Huairen met the emperor, he was still a little scared in his heart, but of course he was also very proud. As a small businessman, he could actually report the sales status directly to the emperor. This was considered the pinnacle among businessmen.
“Did they change the price?”
The emperor did not care about this person's etiquette, but asked the most important thing first. Li Xiang set the price at five hundred coins, which was already a relatively low price. The highest-grade salt of other major families was also far inferior to Li Xiang's, but they had already set the price at one thousand five hundred coins.
They had already spent a lot of money to buy the salt permits from the imperial court. If they did not drive up the price of salt, they would not be able to make money, and they might not even be able to get their capital back. So during this period of time, as long as the major families had salt permits, they had been driving up the price of salt.
Li Shimin was also paying attention to this all the time, so he asked Li Xiang to take action earlier, otherwise the people would not be able to eat salt and something would happen sooner or later. Now that Li Xiang's refined salt is on the market, let's see if they can hold on.
"Forehead……"
Zhou Huairen was still a little nervous after seeing the emperor, and suddenly forgot what he had prepared before.
“How are our sales doing?”
Li Xiang did not blame Zhou Huairen. After all, he was just an ordinary businessman and it was normal that he had not seen the world.
"In reply to Your Highness, we have a total of 20,000 kilograms of stock prepared in Chang'an City today, and it has all been sold out. We have also registered a batch of pre-sales, and they have all paid deposits. The pre-sales amount is 35,000 kilograms, and this number is still increasing."
After hearing this number, Li Shimin and Li Xiang both breathed a sigh of relief. They were afraid that their salt would not be able to be sold. If their salt could not be sold, there would be no way to suppress the prices of the major families, no way to make them accept huge losses, and no way to let the people eat cheap salt.
"According to your estimation, when should the major families lower their prices?"
Li Shimin didn't know much about some business matters, but in order to fight with the major families, he had to suppress them in business. This was the way to minimize the cost and weaken them the most.
Wasn't it because of their wealth that the major families had been able to dominate the Tang Dynasty over the years? Money makes the world go round. Although Li Shimin could suppress them forcefully, if he did so, they would stir up a bloody storm in the market, destabilizing the entire Tang Dynasty economy. Even if he finally suppressed them, Li Shimin would still be left with a mess, so both sides fought within the framework.
"We'll know the outcome in a few days."
Li Xiang didn't dare to say too much. After all, each major family had its own ruler, and their governing philosophies might not be the same. Some families had a large number of salt permits, while some had a small number. So we had to wait and see what the outcome would be.
"Shopkeeper, shopkeeper, the Zheng family store in South City has reduced its prices from 1,500 wen to 1,400 wen..."
A servant at the door said loudly that they had already given instructions before, that if there was anything, just shout out from the door, and no one could come in.
Only dropped by 100?
After hearing the news, the grandfather and grandson did not look very happy. The people in the major families were not fools. If the price was reduced by only 100 wen, then the highest grade salt in their hands would not be sold at all. Compared with Li Xiang's taste, the difference between their quality and that was huge.
"The price of salt from the Zhaojun Li family has dropped to 1,400 coins..."
The second family to lower prices has also come out. As long as there are people following suit, the prices will definitely continue to drop, but we don’t know how big the drop will be.
This is different from what Li Xiang had expected. According to Li Xiang's original expectation, these people must have bought his samples first, and then compared them with their own. They would know the difference in quality and should have lowered the price directly to less than 500 wen, instead of only 100 wen.
“Do we need to adjust our selling prices?”
Zhou Huairen saw the expressions of Li Shimin and Li Xiang, and naturally knew that they had not met the standards, but there was very little we could do now. Even if we lowered the price further, we had limited salt permits. If we sold them all now, it would be difficult to resolve the situation in the future.
"Don't act rashly. Logically speaking, these people are not fools. Once our salt is on the market, they can no longer sell it at the original price. If they still sell it at the original price, their goods will likely become useless. Selling it for a little less money can at least make some money back. They can't just hold on to a pile of waste, right?"
Li Xiang also felt a little strange. This was not what he expected at all. He had dealt with the Five Surnames and Seven Families. These people were not stupid, and some of them were even stronger than himself. He could calculate the account clearly, so couldn't they?
"Oh no, someone come..."
Li Shimin suddenly thought of something, which was related to some previous cases. Li Xiang looked at Li Shimin in confusion. Two men in black suddenly rushed in from outside. Except for Wang De, Li Shimin did not bring anyone in. It seemed that he had underestimated the emperor.
"Go check right away to find out who bought all the salt."
After Li Shimin finished saying this, Li Xiang was also shocked. He remembered that at the last auction, Mr. Cui Sanye was very generous and bought almost everything that could be bought. Although they did not have any goods in their hands, they could act as a middleman, and a monopoly middleman at that.
"That's impossible. We've registered all the people who bought it, and they all belong to different families..."
Zhou Huairen also understood some of the reasons, but according to what he knew, some people had no connection with the Five Surnames and Seven Families. If the Five Surnames and Seven Families wanted to monopolize it, it would be impossible.
Li Shimin and Li Xiang remained silent. Zhou Huairen underestimated the abilities of the Five Surnames and Seven Noble Houses, and so did the grandfather and grandson...