Chapter 511

“Your Highness, these past few days I was almost devoured by merchants.”

In the main hall of Prince Qi’s mansion, Li Kaiyuan offered the Chamber of Commerce’s account book with both hands, complaining.

Xiao Ming smiled. He had heard about the events of the past two days, how the merchants almost broke down the Chamber of Commerce’s threshold because of the white sugar.

However, for him, he had already prepared himself mentally when he was about to release the white sugar technology. After all, the success of the soap workshops had made many merchants quite envious.

Moreover, this time, the white sugar had not even been sold in the Great Yu Empire by the Chamber of Commerce, which meant that white sugar would be a completely new commodity. Compared to soap, which had already brought in huge profits for the Chamber of Commerce, the profit from white sugar would surely be even higher.

It was precisely because of this that the merchants were so eager to get their hands on the white sugar production technology.

“They won’t devour you, but it’s possible they’ll give you tens of thousands of taels of silver notes and pick out a few concubines for you,” Xiao Ming said with a smile as he took the account book from Li Kaiyuan.

Li Kaiyuan said with a tearful face, “Your Highness, please don’t denigrate me. I have always been incorruptible.”

Xiao Ming was, of course, just joking. He paid Li Kaiyuan a high salary precisely to foster integrity with high pay. If it were outside the enfeoffed state, Li Kaiyuan’s position would probably be fiercely contested.

Smiling teasingly, Xiao Ming looked at the account book. This account book recorded the merchants who had purchased white sugar production technology in the past few days.

“Three hundred and seventy-eight people.” Seeing the number of people in the account book, Xiao Ming was somewhat shocked, “So many.”

“Exactly. I have been reminding them not to blindly purchase the technology, but they just wouldn’t listen,” Li Kaiyuan shook his head.

“Since they’ve been reminded, let them be. Whether they lose or earn is up to their own fate, but even with over two hundred people, they will probably make a profit in the initial stage.”

“I also think so. White sugar has never appeared on the market, so the sales volume will be very high. Besides, now that the maritime trade routes are open, merchants can also sell white sugar to Goryeo and Japan,” Li Kaiyuan said.

Xiao Ming nodded upon hearing this. This number seemed large, but it was only because the white sugar workshops were concentrated in Qingzhou. It was like there was only one small shop in a modern town, but across the entire country, there would be thousands.

Similarly, if these over three hundred white sugar workshops were evenly distributed across the Great Yu Empire, they would be like a drop in the ocean. Moreover, I now want to open up private capital and cannot interfere too much with the behavior of these merchants.

Doing business naturally involves both losses and gains. I only needed to control the overall commercial operations of the enfeoffed state, and the government office would manage the specific details.

“Over three million taels, plus the sale of sulfurous acid, this white sugar Chamber of Commerce is making a net profit. Good, good.”

The numbers on the account book made Xiao Ming smile happily. In fact, he was the one making the most money. He could sell both sugarcane and chemicals, which meant that merchants had to share a portion of their earnings with him.

Besides white sugar, the pendulum clock had not yet been sold. Once it was sold, that would be another substantial income. The previously strained finances due to the frantic military expansion were finally relieved.

Li Kaiyuan’s eyes narrowed with a smile, but he suddenly remembered something and said, “Your Highness, there’s something I almost forgot. After these merchants bought the technology, they complained that they couldn’t find enough craftsmen to be responsible for production, and the slaves in the Qingzhou market are also very scarce, simply not enough for the merchants to divide. I believe this problem will cause some issues for the development of commerce.”

“Hmm, you’re right.” Xiao Ming nodded. It had to be said that Li Kaiyuan’s observation was very accurate.

In fact, he was also pondering this issue. Now, he clearly could not compete with Europe for the slave trade, and engaging in slave trade in Asia was very difficult. After all, neither Japan nor Goryeo existed only in tribal forms like Africa.

However, he already had a specific replacement plan in mind, so he said, “You can tell the merchants to recruit craftsmen from outside the enfeoffed state.”

“Recruit craftsmen from other places?” Li Kaiyuan’s eyes darted around, and he suddenly smiled. “Your Highness’s move is truly brilliant. In this way, whether these merchants buy or trick people from outside, it will be an increase in population for Qingzhou.”

Xiao Ming’s lips curved into a sly smile. This was precisely the goal he wanted to achieve. After his hint, these merchants, in pursuit of profit, would inevitably traffic people from outside the enfeoffed state to Qingzhou to meet the industrial demand for population.

In his view, this situation was similar to European merchants trafficking African people for profit, except his method was more civilized, akin to modern labor export.

“Exactly, so after you go back, you can discreetly remind the merchants,” Xiao Ming said.

Li Kaiyuan nodded, “Yes, Your Highness, I will prepare for this matter when I return.”

After sending off Li Kaiyuan, Xiao Ming had a horse prepared. He was going to the military machinery department.

Now, the situation in the Great Yu Empire could take a sharp turn for the worse at any time. He had to prepare in advance, so he had not been idle these past two days, but rather had been considering replacing the equipment of the armies of various prefectures.

After discussing with Niu Ben, he felt that the focus should now be on re-equipping three armies. The first in line was naturally the Youzhou Army.

Comparatively, the Youzhou Army was currently the largest among the enfeoffed state armies, with twenty thousand infantry and twenty thousand cavalry, totaling forty thousand men. The second was the current Dengzhou Army.

After Dengzhou’s position became increasingly important, he expanded the Dengzhou Army from ten thousand to twenty thousand men. The last was the Yunzhou Army, which currently had only ten thousand men.

This army was prepared for the resources of Prince Yong’s enfeoffed territory. If war broke out in the Great Yu Empire, he might have to deploy this army.

As for the armies in other prefectures, Xiao Ming only kept a standing army of one thousand men. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to expand the army, but his enfeoffed territory only had a population of two million. The armies of Youzhou, Qingzhou, Yunzhou, and Dengzhou combined totaled ninety thousand men, which was already the limit the enfeoffed territory could bear. This meant that one out of every twenty or so people was a soldier, a very high proportion.

Even so, he couldn’t possibly deploy all ninety thousand troops at once. After all, the logistics for a hundred thousand troops would require five to six hundred thousand laborers. If he were to fight like that, his enfeoffed territory would be finished.

So after much deliberation, Xiao Ming felt that he could only improve the army’s equipment level, using quality against quantity. It was for this reason that he decided to go to the military machinery department to check on the equipment, urge production, and have Chen Qi deliver the stockpiled equipment to the armies of various prefectures.

Upon arriving at the military machinery department, the sounds of metal clanging echoed. It had been two months since Xiao Ming last visited the military machinery department, ever since his last sea voyage.

Recalling the rifled gun that Song Changping had once sent him, he first headed towards the firearms workshop.