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13.48% Battle Royale of the Sinners / Chapter 75: Conning the Merchants – Part 2

Chapter 75: Conning the Merchants – Part 2

Chapter 75 – Conning the Merchants – Part 2

The merchants read the details in the scroll, then their eyes were glittering from greed.

"Are you sure that you can give us such perks?"

The merchant leader was baffled. The promise was unbelievable. He even thought that Tong was stupid and naïve.

In the scroll, Tong gave them the right to buy the renowned soap in bulk at the price of 20 gold a piece, which were only lower than the market price by half.

In exchange for that right, they had to sell any food product to the city government with the amount of at least 10,000 tons with the fixed price that the city government had set.

For 10,000 tons of food that they sold, they could buy 1,000 bars of soap from Tong. If they brought in 20,000 tons, then 2,000 soap bars could be purchased. The more they brought the food here, the more goods they could take back.

The fixed price that the city used was 5 tons of any food for one tael of gold, which the merchants would suffer deficit if they complied with the condition. However, the profits from the margin of the soap would make up for their loss.

"I forgot to tell you one thing. I'm the one that sold all of my soap to Yuan family. You catch my drift?"

Tong's revelation made the eyes of merchants opened wide. After processing the information with their brain, they could see the big picture now.

"I see. So you don't want to deal with Yuan family, you've come to us instead. Most importantly, you are the creator of this goods."

Tong shrugged and kept quiet. He pretended that he did not want to answer or gave them any more hint.

The merchants had wicked smiled on their face. They whispered among themselves for 10 minutes, then they concluded their decision.

"We accept these conditions. We want to buy the soap from you right away, and we also want to buy the soap recipe."

Tong raised his hand up to stop them.

"I'm afraid I can't sell you any soap at the moment. First, all of you have to sign the contracts, that you acknowledged and accepted these conditions with your own free will. Second, you have to sell the food to the city government before we can sell you any soap. We need to know the amount of food that you have, so we can fulfill our conditions. And also, you need to make a reservation in advance. It takes times to make each batch, so first come first served. As for the soap recipe, I will put it in the incoming auction. It would not be fair if I sell it to any of you right now."

Lu Zhi walked forward and handed a scroll to each of the merchants with a pen and ink. They were the contract that Tong had written beforehand.

The merchants did not reread the contract. They signed it immediately and frantically tried to reserve a large amount of soap at once. Tong had them signed another contract, which indicated the amount of soap they wished to buy and the amount of food that they would bring.

After the signing was done, all of them rushed back to their stores and formed up multiple convoys to the nearby cities. They were planning to buy every kind of food and provision from other cities or counties, and then they were going to transport all of them back to Julu.

In the contract, the five of them had reserved for 50,000 bars of soap, which were higher than what the Yuan family used to trade with Tong.

Seeing how frantic the merchants were, Tong grinned. Meanwhile, Lu Zhi gazed at Tong with an odd look.

"Are you sure that this is the right idea? This is a lucrative business. Why did you promise them that you will put it in the auction?"

After two days that Tong came under his tutorage, Lu Zhi realized that Tong was already better than him in terms of creativity and domestic management. However, in terms of his character and culture, he needed improvement. There were also many things that he lacked, but Lu Zhi planned to teach him slowly. For now, he would sit on the side and would criticize him if he did something weird or out of ordinary.

"It's alright, master. In the future, one of our workers will eventually leak out the recipe. Before that happens, I'll just reap as many golds as I can at the moment. Once it the recipe gets into the hands of noble, I'll just sell these cheaply to the commoners."

With this trade, Julu city would acquire 500,000 tons of provision. Tong would also profit from the soap trade by 899,900 gold, which had already deducted the soap processing costs and the provision costs of 100,000 gold. If the merchants knew that the cost of 50,000 soap was actually only 100 gold, they would die from anger.

Fifty thousand soap bars could be made within a month and a half as long as he had enough helpers. The ingredients were also easy to gather as they were sold commonly in the market.

'Before the other reincarnators or nobles dib their hands into this, I'll crash the market first.'

January 13th.

The officials post the auction announcement news on the signboards around the city. All merchants and nobles were excited about this event.

At the same times, Tong placed an announcement that he would hire ten thousand employees for his soap business factory, shops, carpenters, blacksmiths, and tinkerers. Strangely, the announcement restricted a few jobs as they only accepted female employees. All the applicants would be trained by the government officials for free.

The third announcement was made later on the same day. The city hall would construct unique buildings within each outer district in different directions. They would be named as "Swing-Eleven Convenient Store" and "Wall-marked Convenient Store". No further details were announced of what these buildings were for. The soap factory and various shops would also be constructed on top of the previous land of the executed nobles.

Meanwhile, the five representatives that visited Tong yesterday rushed out of the city with their caravan. They determined to gather every food they could buy or find, so they could buy more soap and make more profits.

February 1st. Ye City.

The news about the auction and the soap business caught the ears of a young big-body businessman. He was the eldest son of the wealthiest merchant in this city.

His name was Te Langpu. He had a unique hairstyle, which he combed it to the front and the side as if he was bold and wanted to cover it. His fat face was in squire-shape. The chubby fingers of his were shorter than average men. His lips were thin and his mouth was so small and gave off obnoxious feeling to the point that whenever he smiled, it made people around him wanted to punch him in the face. However, because of his status and wealth, nobody dared to bully him.

If Zhang He saw him, he would kill him on the spot. This man was the one who had conned him 1,000 gold and made him fell into debt.

"Are you sure this is not fake news?"

"Young master Te. I've confirmed this news from that fatty's follower. It's true!"

"A ten thousand tons for the right to buy a thousand soap? That's a bigly rip off! Why did those losers run around for Zhang Tong!? Is the soap business that profitable?"

"Young master, the current price for soap is 40-50 gold for one bar. But Zhang Tong promised them that he will sell it at 20 gold each."

Te Langpu clicked his tongue. He had a rough idea about the ingredient costs for one bar of soap, but he did not have a clue of how to make it. He knew that Tong made a killing in this deal, and the merchants would be the one who shouldered the risk.

"What about the soap recipe? Can anyone get a hand on it yet?"

"No, sir. But Zhang Tong is recruiting workers. There should be a leak soon. Oh, and they are planning to put the soap recipe in the next month auction!"

Te Langpu used his chubby short fingers to touch his chin and fell into deep thought.

"It's bigly late, but we can make our family great again! Gather our gold, we will attend the auction next month!"

"Sir, but half of our money was spent on grain. We don't have many lefts."

"Bah, I get it. Just take all the remaining."

"Sir, but I don't think we can buy it with the current fund."

"… We'll see what happens."


CREATORS' THOUGHTS
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Chapter 76: Tyrants

Chapter 76 – Tyrants

February 1st. Outskirt of Chang An City.

Li Ru, Niu Fu, Zhang Xiu, Zhang Ji, and their 10,000 troops were marching through this territory. Their mission was to deliver half of these troops to Julu city and form an alliance with Tong.

Dong Bai and Zou Shi were also in a carriage among the logistic teams behind the troops. Dong Zhuo commanded his own granddaughter, Dong Bai, to become one of the gifts that would be sent to Tong, which she happily consented. Meanwhile, Zou Shi was forced to relocate her home to Julu along with her fiancé.

Zhang Ji and Zhang Xiu were ordered to be transferred to Julu along with their 5,000 Qiang Cavalry Archers.

Li Ru would act as the negotiator while Niu Fu and his 5,000 troops would take the bodyguard roles. They had to escort Li Ru back to Tian Shui on the return trip.

Chang An City was under control of Huangfu Song, one of the elite generals of the royal faction. He was holding the post as the governor of Chang An to keep watch of the western regions where Ma Teng, Han Sui, and Dong Zhuo were currently at.

Li Ru sent a messenger to inform Huangfu Song of their arrival, so they would not be mistaken as invaders.

Half a day later, the messenger came back with a grave expression.

"Urgent report! All officers and majority of the garrison troops in Chang An city were summoned back to Luo Yang! Only a deputy governor and a thousand garrisons were present in the city!"

Li Ru tiled his head in confusion. It was a common occurrence that they could be summoned by the emperor from times to times. Why was the messenger so panicked?

"Is that all?" Li Ru asked.

"No! There is another report! Emperor Ling has passed away half a month ago! The crown prince Liu Ping will hold his coronation ceremony after the 100-day mourning period is over!"

Li Ru turned silent from shock. Niu Fu stared at the messenger in disbelief. The other officers looked at each other in panic.

The death of the emperor was too sudden! Dong Zhuo and Li Ru had been plotting to take advantage of the imperial court if the emperor fell sick. However, they had never expected the sudden death.

Li Ru was caught off guard. He immediately yelled at his nearby officer.

"Send news to our lord immediately! Tell him to mobilize all forces to Chang An along with the baby prince or we will miss this chance! Also, tell our lord to deploy a detach force to occupy Anding City as well. We need that city for the supply relaying point."

The officer dashed out, got on his horse and galloped away as if his life was on the line.

"Niu Fu! Lead the army and take over Chang An immediately! Kill the deputy governor if you have to! Hurry!"

"On my way!"

Niu Fu also rushed out and shouted his order to his men.

Meanwhile, Zhang Ji and Zhang Xiu were looking at each other in nervousness. They could not decide what to do next.

"Um, what about us?" Zhang Xiu asked.

Li Ru gave them a meaningful stare.

"You two will still have to move to Julu. However, I cannot go together with all of you. After we occupy Chang An, I will give you further instruction. For now, help Niu Fu if he has to resort a siege!"

"As you command!"

The entire Li Ru Army was in frantic as they were preparing for the urgent tactic to take down Chang An without noticing the deputy governor.

At the side of Li Ru, a young muscular guard was observing them with a deep frown.

'The Yellow Turban Uprising hasn't started yet, but the emperor is already dead. That motherfudger prince ruined the timeline! If he keeps this up, I won't be able to predict what will happen in the future anymore.'

Then he thought about the mysterious flyer that he had kept when he passed Luo Yang last year.

The flyer had an unknown inscription on it that the local natives could not decipher no matter what. But to the otherworlders like this man, he could read it at glance.

In the small papyrus paper, the secret message was not written in traditional Chinese, but English!

"To all reincarnators,

I am Liu Ping, the crown prince of Han. I am sending this message to invite all of you to join me.

I promise that once I have become the new emperor, you will not have to worry about the natives in this world ever again.

You will be bestowed with noble status, lands, and gold!

But there is only one condition. You have to swear allegiance to me and accept me as your emperor!

Head to the royal palace in Luo Yang. Show this paper to any eunuch and tell them that you can understand this. They will lead you to me.

Become my subjects, and we shall conquer this ancient world together!"

The muscular guard considered his options for half an hour. Then he woke up from his deep thought when Li Ru ordered everyone to move out.

A friend of the guard tapped his shoulder and joked around.

"Let's go. We'll try the brothel in Chang An after this. I've heard there's a prostitute with gold hair in that city. I want to try her for sometimes now."

The reincarnator guard ignored his friend. He did not feel like laughing or messing around.

'Should I bet on this Liu Ping, or should I keep staying here?'

'GRR! Screw this! I still want to plunder! I want to rape someone!'

'There's no way I'm siding with that prick!'

'I'm siding with Dong Zhuo! Once I can find Diao Chan, I can taste her before Lu Bu!'

'I'll steal his wife. I'll steal his horse. I'll live the way I want!'

'Still … what a pity that the infinite yang seed skill was taken by someone.'

'I want that skill, too.'

Luo Yang, Imperial Palace, Throne Room.

Liu Ping sat on the throne with Wang Li by his side. He ignored all the reprimand by senior officials and eunuchs who tried to stop him from sitting on the throne because they had not held the coronation ceremony yet, so Liu Ping's status was still a prince.

The coronation date was set on the 15th of June because they had to hold 49 days of the emperor funeral and another 100 days of mourning period before they could start any kind of traditional celebration, including the coronation ceremony.

Ping clicked his tongue in annoyance. He did not like the traditional custom of the ancient Han Dynasty.

"Your Highness! Please refrain from your disrespectful action! Until you've officially enthroned in the coronation ceremony, you cannot sit on the throne yet!"

An elder minister cupped his hand and continued begging Liu Ping in loud voice.

Liu Ping glared at the minister, yet his hand was still groping Wang Li's round breast. He did not show any sign of the royalty upbringing, but a hoodlum.

"Guards, drag this idiot out and behead him!"

"Your Highness! I'm your loyal subject, please don't! I'm doing this for your own good! NO!!"

The palace guards dragged the minister away with a bitter expression. They knew this minister. He was a kind and honest official that they respected, but they had to kill him because it was the future emperor's order.

Several officials stepped forward and bowed to Liu Ping in frantic.

"Please, your Highness! Don't kill him, he's your loyal minister. He had served the Han Dynasty for 3 generations already. He …"

"Guards, behead these morons too. Also, I'll declare my first edict. I'm your master and you're nothing buy my slaves! None of you assholes can tell me what to do! Now all of you, scram! I want to f**k my empress here. Do you want to stay here and watch!?"

Behind the crowd of officials within the throne room, two men gazed at the emperor in hostile. Both of them was dissatisfied with this development and gritted their teeth in anger.

"The eunuchs are going to go on a rampage once the coronation is done. The new emperor is nothing but an incompetence tyrant. What are you going to do, Mengde?"

The tall man asked the stern-looking man next to him. Both of them had the same beard style, but the serious man had an unusual aura that could make people around him shrunk in fear. Meanwhile, the taller man had unexplainable charisma that made people wanted to approach him.

"He Jin and the empress will not take this lying down without a fight. There will be a chance for us to strike back. For now, increase our security, protect ourselves from the assassins, but keep ourselves low-profile. Benchu, contact your younger brother to make a preparation to mobilize at any moment. We'll probably have a chance to make a move before the coronation."

Mengde spoke and blended into the leaving official crowd.

Benchu followed suit. However, before he left, he turned around to glance at the throne. His eyes were flickered with the light of envy and ambition.

'Warm the seat for me, brat. I'll be the next person who will sit on that chair!'


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