Kays Translations

Chapter 58: Bidding

A grand convoy of more than eighty horse-drawn carriages approached Wuyang City, but there seemed to be something unusual about this caravan. As people observed the peculiar procession, they began to voice their opinions:

“This carriage is so large; can these horses even pull it?”

“Look at the tracks on the ground; those carts are so heavy. What on earth are they carrying? Poor horses! How could anyone be so cruel as to not take care of them?”

“You fools! You don’t know? These carriages use bearings. According to my neighbor’s son, after they started using bearings in their horse-drawn carts, they became three to five times easier to pull! If you add a few more wheels, a single horse could pull hundreds of stones worth of goods!”

“Is that true?” The crowd looked closer and saw that indeed the horses showed no signs of fatigue.

All the carriages were drawn by two horses side by side, pulling a cargo box about ten feet long, six feet wide, and five feet high, with four wheels. Judging by the tracks on the ground, nearly all the vehicles were fully loaded with goods.

This caravan had more than eighty carts, stretching for about a mile, slowly arriving outside the city gates of Wuyang, attracting countless curious onlookers.

Song Xing led the way, dismounting and waiting quietly.

Soon, a royal guard came out, saying, “His Majesty has decreed that all horse-drawn carriages may enter the city immediately.”

The guard walked ahead while Song Xing and the others dismounted and led their horses forward. The magnificent procession, under the “protection and supervision” of more royal guards, directly entered the palace and ultimately gathered closely in the training ground—an area usually used for guard drills.

The Emperor strode over with Fu Minghui accompanying him.

“Your Majesty, I pay my respects.” Song Xing quickly greeted him.

“Song Xing, tell me, how many items has Li Xian sent to me?” The Emperor was very pleased. Li Xian had acted swiftly; it had only been less than two months since he “escaped” back to Anyang and had already sent a letter saying that the first batch of textile machinery items was ready. However, he hadn’t mentioned the specific quantities, only that he would provide a surprise.

The Emperor regarded Li Xian’s little antics as a joke; in this world of cultivation, there were not too many rules or constraints.

Song Xing presented a simple document while fluently reporting, “Mainly bearings, main shafts, and sea soul silk. A total of twelve thousand bearings and six thousand main shafts, along with one hundred kilometers of sea soul silk.

In addition, there is the princess’s dowry, totaling ten thousand taels of gold, one thousand mirrors, thirty large crystal chandeliers, and two hundred sets of stainless steel weaponry and armor. There are also twenty tons of stainless steel ingots.”

Upon hearing this, His Majesty the Emperor was immediately delighted, “Good, very good, haha. Speaking of which, the industrial standards of your Brilliant Star Trading Company are indeed quite impressive.”

It turns out that over the past two months, the industrial fire ignited by Li Xian had already spread throughout the Great Xia Kingdom. The unified industrial standards proposed by Li Xian were gradually being accepted by everyone—people were beginning to see the benefits of standardization.

Furthermore, with the Brilliant Star Trading Company holding a dominant position, they firmly guided the market and led the entire industrial development through so-called “standardized parts.” Everyone had no choice but to follow in Li Xian’s footsteps. If you didn’t adhere to Li Xian’s standards, your bearings would be useless!

In addition, internally, the Brilliant Star Trading Company had officially upgraded to a “group,” but externally, people still preferred to refer to it as a “trading company.” These were minor issues that didn’t require much attention.

Soon, personnel from the Royal Trading Company arrived to take stock and settle accounts. Naturally, the betrothal gifts didn’t need to be settled, but the bearings, main shafts, and sea soul silk, which were legitimate goods, had to be accounted for.

Bearings were sold at one tael of silver each—Li Xian was quite unscrupulous about this. One tael of silver was equivalent to a thousand copper coins, similar to a purchasing power of a thousand yuan. If it were on Earth, no one would dare sell a regular bearing for a thousand yuan; they would be killed for it.

The small main shafts for the engine were cheap, at fifty pieces for one tael of silver. The reason the main shafts were so cheap was that they were easy to refine using magic. Of course, the engine main shafts sold by Li Xian were all medium to small-sized.

The sea soul silk was the most expensive; even when sold to His Majesty the Emperor at a discount of 20%, it still cost four taels of gold per meter! For a hundred kilometers, that would amount to 400,000 taels of gold!

The amount of gold was too large for His Majesty to take out. But it didn’t matter; His Majesty had plenty of ways to manage it. A century-old ganoderma cost between twenty to thirty thousand taels of gold, and His Majesty generously calculated it at thirty thousand taels. The century-old ginseng, costing between forty to fifty thousand taels, was also generously estimated at fifty thousand taels by His Majesty.

Thus, the payment was completed with ten century-old ganoderma and two century-old ginseng. As for the 132 taels of gold for the bearings and main shafts, His Majesty rounded it up generously.

Listening to His Majesty’s “arithmetic,” Song Xing broke out in a cold sweat. Fortunately, Xu Ren had already calculated that His Majesty would try to evade payment; getting these items was already a good outcome. Moreover, the prices of goods here were also inflated.

After leaving the palace with the empty cart, Song Xing first reported the situation to the Li residence and delivered the precious century-old medicinal materials to Li Yulong before leaving Wuyang City and checking into the Li workshop outside the city.

Here, countless merchants had already arrived.

“Lord Song has arrived.”

“Greetings, Lord Song.”

 

……

It is said that Li Xian is a captain, and Song Xing has also obtained a small official position.

Amidst such calls, Song Xing slowly walked over. “Thank you all for your support. Today, on behalf of the Brilliant Star Group, also known as the Brilliant Star Trading Company, I am here to announce the following message:  

We will hold a bidding for regional agency rights.

If there’s money to be made, let’s make it together! We will start the agency bidding in a month. Currently, the Brilliant Star Group has several products, including bearings and spindles, large bells, silk, cotton fabric, hemp cloth, mirrors and glass products, colored lanterns, finished engines, stainless steel weapons, steel ingots, large steel plates of uniform thickness suitable for construction, thick glass plates, screws, nuts, and a dozen other items.

All items will be publicly auctioned one month later, on the delightful date of April 1st (O(∩_∩)O Ha!).

The bidding details are as follows:  

First, each product will be bid on separately.

Second, the scope includes the 12 counties of the Great Xia Kingdom, excluding Wuyang and An Yang, leaving 10 counties.

The surrounding countries of Cai, Qi, Chen, and Jin will also each recruit a general agent.

Third, we will auction at 79% of the market price, with the highest bidder winning.

Fourth, no credit; payment in cash and on the spot.

Fifth, each agency term defaults to three years; after three years, there will be an evaluation. If performance is unsatisfactory, we will terminate the contract and look for new agents.

Sixth, in areas with agents, we will no longer interfere in sales. The original Brilliant Star shops will be transformed into after-sales service points, responsible for product quality and maintenance. This means that we will take care of after-sales repairs, and you won’t need to worry about this aspect at all.

That’s the general situation. If anyone has questions, you can ask now.”

“I have a question!” a person squeezed forward with great effort. “Captain Song, does the agent only manage the area they are located in?”

“Yes, according to the existing county divisions, everyone is only responsible for the corresponding products and regions. There should be no crossing of boundaries. But this is just theoretical; after all, we don’t have the capacity and it’s impossible for us to manage the situations between you all.”

“I understand.” The person stepped back.

Another person stood up, “Lord Song, can one person only represent one product, or can they represent multiple?”

Song Xing smiled slightly: “As long as you have the capability, we won’t impose restrictions. After all, merchants are not ones to turn down money.”

“Haha, Lord Song is right.”

Next, more people asked various questions, covering almost every aspect, and Song Xing answered them one by one.

Finally, someone brought up a crucial question, their attitude somewhat arrogant: “Song Xing, since you are going to establish an agency, you must have a large production capacity. May I ask about the production levels of your fabrics, bearings, iron ingots, steel plates, etc.?”

Song Xing raised his head, “As of four days ago, we are producing twelve thousand pieces of fabric per day, five thousand sets of bearings, and around five hundred tons of iron ingots and steel plates daily; we produce three hundred fifty tons of glass daily.

It is expected that by this August, the production capacity of all our items will increase by more than three times, or even more.”

“That’s quite a boast.”

Song Xing smiled proudly, “Because we are the Brilliant Star Group, because we have ignited the fire of industry. Everyone, you are welcome to visit our headquarters.

Goodbye!”

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