I am the prince of the Ming Dynasty, I don't give up

Chapter 235: Silent (New Year's Eve extra update, wishing everyone a happy new year)
"One million jin!?" Mr. Shen said in surprise. This number was beyond his expectations and made him a little dazed.

However, Mr. Shen, who had been in the business world for a long time, quickly came to his senses. He put away his surprised expression and slowly showed a hint of sarcasm on his face. "Brother He, do you know how much this one million jin is? A bag contains 100 jin, and one million jin can be filled with 100 bags!"

The sarcastic smile on Mr. Shen's face became more obvious. "Brother He, have you ever seen how high a pile of 10,000 bags filled with water can be?"

Facing Mr. Shen's ridicule, He Kui remained calm. He looked at Mr. Shen and said seriously, "I've never seen it before, but I did see it a few days ago."

Seeing He Kui's serious expression, the smile on Master Shen's face gradually disappeared. He initially thought that He Kui was pretending to be calm, but he couldn't find any flaws in He Kui's expression. He asked in confusion, "What do you mean, Brother He?"

"It's nothing! Brother Shen, are you going to buy this batch of salt? If not, I will find a new buyer," said He Kui.

"Yes! Of course I don't want to! The price is 20 cents per pound?" Mr. Shen said quickly.

"Yes! The price is twenty cents per pound. I won't sell it for less than that!" He Kui said firmly.

Master Shen looked at He Kui's determined expression, and doubts filled his heart, but he still couldn't think of anything wrong. "You won't let me go to Changlu Salt Field to transport these one million catties myself, right? Then twenty cents per catty is not appropriate."

"Why would we let the buyer transport the salt himself? We will transport the salt to Shunde Prefecture. Twenty cents already includes the shipping fee." He Kui said confidently, then he lowered his voice, "In fact, the one million kilograms of salt have already been transported to Shunde Prefecture."

Mr. Shen was stunned by these words, "Has it been transported to Shunde Prefecture?" Many thoughts flashed through his mind, and a hint of joy appeared on his face involuntarily.

"Correct!"

"Then, Brother He, can you take me to see the goods?"

He Kui sat up straight and looked at Mr. Shen with suspicion. "Will Brother Shen buy this batch of salt or not? If I take Brother Shen to see the goods and he doesn't want to buy it, then my efforts will be in vain."

"Hahaha!" Mr. Shen laughed.

"Brother He, don't worry about this. The payment for one million kilograms of salt is only 2 taels of silver. My Shen family is still able to pay it." Master Shen said firmly.

"Brother Shen's words are enough!" He Kui smiled.

Led by He Kui, Mr. Shen arrived outside Shunde City.

Mr. Shen was shocked to find that there was a long track outside Shunde City. The track was so long that he could not see the end.
The track shone with metallic light in the sun. Mr. Shen couldn't help but touch it and found that it was made of iron. The quality of the track was quite good.
Just as he was calculating how much iron would be needed for such a long rail, a gong sounded suddenly in the distance.

"Brother Shen, be careful!" He Kui pulled Mr. Shen back.

Then a moment later, a procession of carriages sped past them on the rails, beating gongs as they went.
Mr. Shen stared at this scene blankly. He saw that these carriages were very strange. They were actually divided into two sections. Some were filled with long steel rails, some were filled with people wearing uniform clothes, and some were filled with sacks.
There were thirty or forty carriages in this group, with a long distance between them. Some carriages went south without stopping, while others took the side roads. There were many side roads, and they all led to a group of simple buildings. This group of simple buildings seemed to be a large rest station for livestock. Mr. Shen saw a carriage on the side road gradually slow down and then stop next to the rest station. Several people rushed out of the rest station, untied the sweaty horses, and replaced them with two well-rested horses.

The driver whipped his whip, and the vehicle slowly started moving again, then joined the main road through another fork, and the gong sounded again.
"They beat the gong to remind passers-by to avoid the road and to remind the cars in front and behind to keep a safe distance," He Kui explained.

Mr. Shen nodded silently. What he had just seen was beyond his imagination. He looked into the rest station and found that there were at least two or three hundred horses inside. The horses that had just been replaced had been taken care of by the staff and had been fed with grass and water.
Mr. Shen looked at the logo on the staff with some awe, then looked up at the red-bottomed black dragon flag flying above the building complex, "Is this also an asset of your Royal Group?"

"Yes, but I am not in the same department. Please come this way, Brother Shen." He Kui led Mr. Shen to the edge of the building complex.

Mr. Shen was shocked to find there was a crude warehouse here. The warehouse consisted of a few wooden sheds. The roofs of the sheds were made of reeds and wheat straw, and underneath the sheds were piled high with full sacks of goods.

He Kui asked someone to open one of the sacks, and saw that it was filled with white salt.
"One bag contains 100 kilograms of salt. There are 10,000 bags in total. They were just delivered two days ago. Brother Shen, can you have someone count and weigh them?" He Kui said as he grabbed a handful of salt.
Mr. Shen also grabbed a handful of salt, remained silent for a long time, and then said goodbye and left.
Not long after, the servants of the Shen family came with 2 taels of silver, accompanied by forty or fifty carts. It took these carts seven or eight trips to transport the ten thousand bags of salt.
The servant of the Shen family also brought a message from Mr. Shen: If there is still such cheap salt, please let He Kui know as soon as possible, he wants to continue to buy it.
Feihong Building.

"The more I think about what Brother Shen said, the more strange it seems!" Mr. Zhou frowned and said after listening to Mr. Shen's story.

The others nodded silently.

"Brother Shen, you are a little too impatient. You eat up all the salt at once. What if the salt merchants find out and get angry?" Master Li also said with a frown.

Mr. Shen stood up suddenly and looked down at everyone: "I wish those salt merchants knew. It's fine if I don't go to them to ask for punishment, but how dare they blame us?"

Everyone looked at Mr. Shen in astonishment and listened to his words in silence.

"Why should we buy salt from them at a high price of fifty coins per pound? Isn't it because they guarantee that no more salt will flow into Shunde Prefecture except the salt we buy? This is their obligation!"

"Now! A full one million kilograms of salt entered Shunde Prefecture without anyone noticing. The entire Shunde Prefecture can only sell more than 10 million kilograms of salt a year! What a huge mistake! They still have the nerve to blame me! They should thank me for my decisive action!" Master Shen slammed the table fiercely.

Everyone nodded silently.

"If I hadn't acted decisively to seize this batch of salt and let the peasants buy up all the one million kilograms of salt, the salt price in Shunde Prefecture would not have collapsed. But how come we have to sell one million kilograms less salt this year? The profit of one kilogram of salt is thirty cents, which is thirty thousand taels of silver! The loss is our own silver!" Master Shen said with great sorrow.

As soon as Mr. Shen finished speaking, there was silence at the scene.
"Brother Shen is right! He is right too!" Mr. Li broke the silence first and said, slapping his thigh.

"They were at fault first! So they can't blame us."

(End of this chapter)