Emperor Zhengde

Chapter 10 The Emperor Earns a Small Consulting Fee
Soon, the "Soothing Cream" soap officially began mass production.

Zhu Houzhao priced the "Shufu Cream" at 15 wen per piece. He believed that after 18 years of rest with the people during the Hongzhi period, although the court was short of money, there must be many wealthy people among the people. The purchasing power of 15 wen should not be a problem for most people, especially those in the capital.

However, Zhu Houzhao no longer took care of the specific operation of these soaps. After all, his main responsibility was to rule the entire empire.

Wei Bin was responsible for the sale of the "Soothing Cream" soap, but he was smart enough to ask his housekeeper to buy 10,000 bars of soap in bulk at a low price of twelve cents for his shop, and he also paid three hundred taels in advance as an order for subsequent soap orders.

Qiu Ju, Luo Xiang and the other eight tigers were also unwilling to be left behind, so they asked their shops to find Wei Bin to place bulk orders for goods with a total value of more than three hundred taels at low prices.

Because of this, the Royal Industrial Company made a net profit of more than 400 taels on the first day of its opening.

Wei Bin and other eight tigers' own shops took advantage of the information to purchase the "soothing cream" first, and then directly raised the price of each soap to one tael per piece. The price increased more than eighty times. Even Qiu Ju, who was familiar with the production process, asked his servants to heat the "soothing cream" soap and re-solidify it to make half the size of the soap and then sell it at a high price of one tael per piece.

Zhu Houzhao naturally guessed their little thoughts, otherwise, Wei Bin would not have been able to find a partner so quickly to place a bulk order for soap from his Royal Industrial Company, and he seemed to be very clear about his cost price.

But Zhu Houzhao did not expose it. As long as the Royal Industrial Company could still make a profit, he didn't care if Wei Bin and others became the first batch of middlemen.

However, what Zhu Houzhao did not expect was that Qiu Ju, Wei Bin and other eight tigers all suffered losses. After nearly half a month, they hardly sold a single bar of soap.

One day, Zhu Houzhao called Qiu Ju and told him his intention to make glass.

After all, the Royal Industrial Company now has more than 100,000 taels of reserve funds, so developing glass is naturally no problem. Glass is a simple process product and the main manufacturing material for experimental instruments in the chemical and biological industries. If the Royal Industrial Company wants to further develop its industry, manufacturing glass is urgent.

However, at this time, Qiu Ju expressed his opinion: "Your Majesty, this soap doesn't seem to make money. Now you want to make glass, don't waste your time."

"What, soap doesn't make money?"

Zhu Houzhao asked with some surprise.

Wei Bin nodded hurriedly: "Your Majesty, what Qiu Ju said is true. Wei's Grocery Store has only sold five out of the ten thousand bars of soap it ordered, and several stores we contacted before are unwilling to purchase any more."

Wei Bin couldn't help but think, it's not just not making money, it's losing a lot! If Your Majesty hadn't said that you are the biggest boss of this Royal Industrial Company, the eunuch would have directly asked for compensation. More than 600 taels of silver were all wasted.

Qiu Ju also nodded, and looked at the eunuchs carrying cartloads of coal to the mountain with great distress. He thought that he had invested more than 10,000 taels of silver out of the more than 100,000 taels in the Royal Industrial Company. He had to spend his own money on buying coal and making crucibles!

If the glass he made couldn't be sold, he would lose his savings of many years.

Liu Jin was also very disappointed with the Royal Industrial Company, but did not dare to oppose Zhu Houzhao openly. He only said, "Your Majesty, the left-hand officials (civil servants) in the outer court are very dissatisfied with this. It is rumored outside that Your Majesty is not doing his job properly. He spends all day in the Leopard Room doing some strange tricks and neglecting government affairs. The eunuchs are very angry when they hear this! Why don't we stop this Royal Industrial Company? Our foundation is not stable now, and we can't do anything reckless." Gu Dayong and others also hurriedly expressed their agreement. After all, losing a few hundred taels now is nothing, but they are really worried that their emperor will lose all the tens of thousands of taels of silver he invested.

Zhu Houzhao just smiled at this time: "Wei Bin, didn't you say you were good at business? But you ended up ruining a business that could have made a lot of money! You are so incompetent! Go find the owner of Wei's shop and tell him to give me ten taels of silver and I will give him a way to turn losses into profits. If it doesn't work, I will compensate him with twenty taels!"

Wei Bin could not help but feel happy. He thought that if he could really sell 10,000 bars of soap and turn a profit, it would not matter if he spent another 10 taels. If he could not sell them, the emperor's compensation of 20 taels would be enough to make up for the loss. So he asked hurriedly, "Is your Majesty serious?"

"I am the Son of Heaven, how could I lie to you!"

Zhu Houzhao said this and returned to the Leopard Room.

The other "Eight Tigers" did not object, and were all watching, wondering if His Majesty really had a way to turn losses into profits? If so, it would naturally be a good thing, at least so much money would not be lost in vain.

The next morning, Wei Bin eagerly gave Zhu Houzhao silver: "Your Majesty, the owner of Wei's shop is ashamed to see the emperor, so I asked you to help convey this. Here are ten taels of silver."

"Well, they haven't studied the market thoroughly. The price of this soap can't be too high. Think about it carefully. One tael of silver is enough to buy a lot of new clothes. Who would buy a bar of soap? The people who can afford soap with one tael of silver are naturally rich people, but rich people don't need soap to change clothes every day, and they don't need much soap even for washing their bodies. So the main target of this soap should still be the common people. Fifteen cents is just right! In addition, people are resistant to new things. I will teach you how to promote it."

Zhu Houzhao then told Wei Bin the method.

Wei Bin immediately asked Wei Ji Shop to follow Zhu Houzhao's method and first give away small soaps for free, and then lowered the price to only fifteen cents a piece. Soon, on the third day after the free small soaps were given away, six or seven hundred people came to buy soap, and more than two thousand pieces were sold that day.

On the fourth day, all the soap in Wei's shop was sold out, and the profit was 300 taels! The actual profit was 290 taels! In this era, making 290 taels in less than a month was considered a very profitable business.

Wei Bin happily came to Zhu Houzhao the next day:
"Your Majesty is worthy of being the Emperor. I really admire you. Weiji Store sold out all the 10,000 yuan worth of stock in just four days. There are still people waiting anxiously for it!"

Seeing this, Qiu Ju and others hurriedly asked Wei Bin in private: "Brother Wei, what method did the emperor tell you that was so effective?"

Wei Bin hoped that Qiu Ju and others would not be able to sell their soap, but he refused on the grounds that it was taught by the emperor himself and could not be passed on to outsiders.

Qiu Ju and others had no choice but to come to Zhu Houzhao with the silver.

Zhu Houzhao taught him everything he knew, and made a small profit of eighty taels of silver. Eighty taels of silver was certainly a lot of money for ordinary people, but for an emperor like him, it was just a little money earned in consulting fees.

(End of this chapter)