Chapter 30: Counterattack

The capital of the Great Xia Kingdom, Wuyang City, has been bustling lately; to be exact, it has been lively since Li Xian's departure.

When Li Xian left, the Brilliant Star Trading Company was already at its peak, supported by the Li family and employing countless new business strategies, making it hard not to thrive. Not to mention that Li Xian's actions in killing Wang Ming had indeed stirred a significant response among the public, primarily in the form of support.

Just as Xu Ren anticipated, through this action, Li Xian swiftly transformed from a bully into a hero—Wang Ming had been far more arrogant than Li Xian. This act of establishing authority not only solidified Li Xian's reputation and announced his arrival but also cleared away past stigmas. It can be said to have achieved multiple goals at once.

Because of this incident, Li Xian was able to leave the imperial capital easily and develop along the coast.

However, after Li Xian's departure, Wuyang City became even more vibrant. Less than a month later, the Wang family retaliated; they deciphered the secrets of grounding wires and created colorful lanterns.

Subsequently, the Wang family launched an assault on the colorful lantern market; without glass, they used colored glaze. Speaking of which, colored glaze isn’t bad, though it falls slightly short compared to pure glass; but it’s okay, we’ll lower the prices!  

Utilizing their price advantage, the Wang family's neon lantern business rapidly became popular—though only in the mid-to-low end market. But even in this segment, the Wang family was doing quite well, striving to carve exquisite artistic lighting fixtures. Thus, they managed to establish a foothold in the mid-range market and prepared to challenge the high-end market.

In response to the Wang family's provocation, the Brilliant Star Trading Company remained steadfast, not making any response at all; business continued as usual, seemingly unchanged, with products selling out every day.

However, just a few days ago, the Brilliant Star Trading Company suddenly reacted—completely abandoning the low-end market and most of the mid-range market, focusing all efforts on developing the high-end market, and launching the slogan “Strike for the Top Market.”

This seemed like a concession to the Wang family. In no time, people began to speculate: had the Brilliant Star Trading Company softened? Although the trading company belonged to the Li family, everyone knew it was also backed by the Grand Marshal, the General, and the Minister of Revenue—backing down seemed illogical.

Quickly, people realized—the counterattack was coming!  

On that day, across the imperial capital and all the Wang family's cloth stores nearby, a new fabric store suddenly appeared—a fabric store belonging to the Brilliant Star Trading Company, named Colorful Fabric Store, with all fabrics sold at ninety percent of the market price.

This is an open and obvious counterattack, and they have also engaged in a price war.

“Wow, it’s so cheap! They’ve lowered the price by a full ten percent! Hurry and grab it!” Countless people exclaimed.

“Wow, the fabric quality is all top-notch!” More people gasped in surprise.

Naturally, this situation was immediately reported to the head of the Wang family, Wang Chuan—his rival had counterattacked, and the retaliation was exceptionally sharp!  

Wang Chuan furrowed his brow as he looked at the information in his hands and asked someone beside him, “Wang Yuan, what do you think?”

Wang Yuan was, of course, a member of the Wang family and was in charge of the trading affairs.

Wang Yuan reviewed all the materials multiple times and said, “All 16 of our fabric stores have a Colorful Fabric Store opening across from them at the same time; they must have been planning this for a long time.

To open a fabric store, you would need to prepare at least two hundred bolts of fabric on the first day. For 16 stores, that means over three thousand bolts.

Fabric isn’t like gold; it’s woven stitch by stitch, and the profits are already slim. So I believe they must have acquired their fabric from somewhere else, likely through some underhanded means.”

“I think the same,” Wang Chuan pondered for a moment before suddenly ordering, “Wang Yuan, purchase all their fabric, as much as you can. I want to see how much fabric they have.”

“Understood.” Wang Yuan departed.

Wang Chuan continued to look at the information in his hands, muttering to himself: Selling at ninety percent of the price is almost cost price; if you add in shipping costs, they’ll be losing quite a bit. This situation doesn’t make sense!!!

Wang Chuan thought for a long time but couldn’t figure out the reasoning behind it. Finally, he could only sigh: fine, let’s purchase it. At worst, I can resell it and still make a profit.

However, when Wang Yuan returned to the fabric store, he was taken aback. He saw that there were already five or six hundred people lining up in front of the Colorful Fabric Store, and the line stretched back to his own store, with not a single person glancing at the Wang family’s store.

The attendants at the Colorful Fabric Store were extremely busy, quickly bringing out bolts of silk and other fabrics, displaying and measuring them on the spot, and closing deals smoothly. People kept shouting, “Great fabric, great fabric!”  

Meanwhile, one attendant at the entrance shouted continuously, “Line up, line up! Limit one bolt per person!”

Wang Yuan realized that even a rush for purchases was too late; the public reacted to line-cutters with fierce beatings, and occasionally spells flew out. The citizens of this celestial realm were not to be trifled with!

However, Wang Yuan did not leave; he watched closely—let’s see how much fabric you really have!

Sure enough, by noon, the manager of the Colorful Fabric Store came out to apologize, “Dear folks, I’m sorry, but we are sold out today; all 400 bolts of fabric have been purchased.”

“Ah…” The remaining crowd felt immense disappointment and a bit of anger, and chaos was inevitable.

Wang Yuan smirked, thinking, let’s see how you handle this!  

What could they do? The manager shouted, “Everyone, please calm down and listen to my explanation.

We truly have nothing left at the moment; just look at my store behind me, there isn’t a single bolt of fabric remaining.

However, there’s no need to worry; this is only today’s shortage. We will have more tomorrow, and even more the day after.

Please line up properly; we’ve prepared tokens for you. Everyone can collect a token and come back tomorrow according to the token number. I promise the price will remain the same tomorrow; it won’t increase by a single copper coin!”

The manager repeated his plea several times, and the agitated crowd finally calmed down, beginning to step forward to collect tokens. The tokens were simple—just thick cardboard; each piece was randomly torn in half, with the storekeeper and the customers each holding one half, which they would match tomorrow.

Wang Yuan stared blankly at the orderly crowd in front of him collecting numbers, feeling as if he had been struck with a heavy blow. The Colorful Fabric Store's promise essentially meant—don’t buy from other stores; just wait for ours.

As sunset approached, several carts slowly entered the city; these were from An Yang, carrying over a thousand bolts of fabric, set to serve as stock for the next day for all 16 fabric stores.

Yuan Zhao saw only a thousand bolts and felt distressed. “I say, brothers, how can you still laugh? Adding our stock, we’ll have only two thousand bolts tomorrow; it’s simply not enough!”

Zhang Quan chuckled, “Didn’t you understand Li Xian’s strategy? Hunger marketing, bait marketing—don’t feed the crowd all at once; instead, sprinkle a little bait. We’ll sell a thousand bolts tomorrow, and do the same the day after. In five days, we’ll have another big push.

By the way, where are your looms? Why aren’t you using them?”

“They’ve been dismantled. Don’t tell me you haven’t taken yours apart!” Yuan Zhao looked disdainfully at Zhang Quan, as if looking at a fool.

Zhang Quan was furious. “You dismantled something worth ten thousand taels of gold just like that?!”

“Of course, if we’re going to dismantle it, we should take apart the best! What can you learn from taking apart a piece of junk?!”

“You…”

“Come on, come on, brothers shouldn’t be so stiff with each other.” Shangguan Yong stepped in at the right moment to smooth things over. “For now, let’s just follow the younger brother’s plan. As long as we keep the customers interested and prevent them from buying from other stores, that’s enough.”

Yuan Zhao stuck out his tongue apologetically, “Brother Zhang, don’t be angry; I’m sorry, little brother!”

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