The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 631 The Monopoly War
As the sun sets, Manila Port finally comes into view.

Emperor Wanli raised his binoculars and scanned the neat docks and the densely packed garrison soldiers, and couldn't help but nod slightly.

In just over a month, the Port of Manila has undergone tremendous changes.

The old, dilapidated wooden dock has disappeared, replaced by new docks supported by steel frames on both sides of the river mouth.

The docks where the 800-ton shuttle boats and centipede boats were moored were arranged like a comb on both sides of the harbor, and were still extending to the left and right.

A long row of twenty giant docks were also built for the Weiyuan warship. Some were still under construction, while several in the middle had already been completed.

At the very center of the dock, Xu Guangqi, Wang Xiangjin, Li Yuansheng, Pan Hewu, Deshera, and others were already standing there waiting.

What's De Shera doing here?
Just as he was wondering, the flagship slowly pulled into the dock.

A short while later, the cabin door was lowered, and Xu Guangqi, Wang Xiangjin, and others, having received the imperial decree, hurriedly filed in.

After the courtiers exchanged greetings, he gestured for everyone to sit down before asking, "Desila, what brings you here? Are you here to deliver the payment?"

Payment for this goods won't come so quickly.

Descartes quickly explained, "Your Majesty, our fleet returning to mainland Europe has not yet returned, and the payment for the last shipment may have to wait another month or two."

Oh, it's alright. The Spaniards have already paid for the last batch of goods, and Wanshengtang's various businesses and internal treasury have all received the payment.

It doesn't matter if your payment arrives a few months later.

Wanli nodded slightly, then asked, "So what are you doing here?"

I came here because I needed to see you.

Deshera asked cautiously, "Your Majesty, in the future, if we need any goods, will we simply need to give the list to Kapitan?"

Stop calling me Kapitan, I'm no longer a pirate captain.

Upon hearing this, Li Yuansheng couldn't help but feel embarrassed.

Wanli nodded slightly and said, "Yes, just give Yuansheng the list of what goods you want, and he will arrange for a fast ship to deliver the goods to Goa. Your merchant ships should not come to Southeast Asia anymore, and they should not go to the mainland of Ming."

Then I can't stay in the Ming Dynasty's mainland anymore.

Desila said with some helplessness, "Your Majesty, I waited for several months without seeing our merchant ships, so I asked someone to help me come here on your naval warships."

Our merchant ships can't even enter Southeast Asia anymore, so if I want to travel from Macau to Southeast Asia to find the Kapitan, there's no ship available.

What do you want to do?
Do you really want me to make an exception and let your merchant ships go into Southeast Asia or even to the coast of the Ming Dynasty?
This is impossible.

You bunch of colonial robbers, when you can't win a fight, you resort to underhanded tactics.

I cannot make an exception for you. If you do, you will definitely bring a bunch of scoundrels and turn the Ming Dynasty into a complete mess.

After thinking for a moment, Wanli decisively said, "Then you should take all your men and move to Malacca."

We don't need the houses you built over there; you can move in with your men.

This way, it will be easier for your governor to contact you, and it will be easier for you to contact Yuansheng.

what?
You want us to move to Malacca?
That place is unbearably hot.

However, it is indeed much more convenient after moving there.

Forget it, let's just listen to His Majesty the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty. We're relying on His Majesty the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty to make money right now.

Desila thought for a moment, then slowly nodded and said, "Very well, Your Majesty, then I'll trouble you to send a few fast ships to help us migrate."

Guess you know the truth.

Wanli nodded slightly and said, "That's no problem. Just have Yuansheng arrange a fast boat for you. Is there anything else?"

How do you say this?

Desila said cautiously, "Your Majesty, there is one more thing, which I only received after arriving here."

Our Governor sent someone to say that the British seem to have opened a textile mill in the Mughal Empire.

The cotton there is cheap, and labor is even cheaper, so they sell it for a very low price.

If calculated according to the Ming Dynasty's pricing system, it would be about one tael of silver for two bolts of cloth.

But we sell it for two taels of silver per bolt according to the Ming Dynasty's pricing.

Although the cloth produced in the Ming Dynasty was much better than theirs, it was more than four times more expensive.

Ordinary people in Western countries aren't very wealthy either; they've all started buying cheap goods, making our cloth business increasingly difficult.

Did the British go and open a textile factory in the Mughal Empire?
These guys seem to have started their economic colonization by monopolizing the cloth business.

The Mughal Empire was playing with fire; once they fattened up this vicious tiger, they would eventually be devoured.

This has nothing to do with the Ming Dynasty.

But the British wanting to monopolize the cloth trade is related to the Ming Dynasty. These guys want a monopoly, right?

Let's have a monopoly war!
You guys haven't even grown your hair yet and you dare to play monopoly with me?

I will make you colonial robbers pay up your underwear.

Wanli thought for a moment, then asked, "Chang Geng, have the looms already started mass production?"

Of course.

Song Yingxing nodded repeatedly and said, "Yes, Your Majesty, the looms started mass production last year, and by now the looms in Wanshengtang Cloth Shop are probably almost all replaced with steam looms."

This means that Wanshengtang Cloth Shop's cloth production will increase by at least ten times, and its costs will be reduced by about half.

In other words, they can still make a profit even if they sell ten bolts of cloth for one tael of silver!
After thinking it over carefully, Wanli decisively said, "Then you can sell it for one tael of silver for three bolts of silk, and we will supply you in large quantities. We will supply you as much as you can sell."

what?
That immediately dropped the price to one tael of silver for three bolts of cloth!
Wouldn't it sell like hotcakes?

Upon hearing this, De Shera nodded repeatedly and said, "Then the British have no chance in the cloth business. Our cloth is much better than theirs, and much cheaper. Western countries and even European countries will definitely buy ours."

This is just the beginning; if these guys push them too far, they'll probably lower the price.

For manual spinning and weaving, the maximum price is five bolts of cloth for one tael of silver; any lower and you'll lose money.

If we also consider the efficiency of the Indians, these guys would probably lose money even if it cost them one tael of silver and five bolts of silk.

Wanli nodded slightly, then carefully instructed: "You should send someone to tell your governor to keep a close eye on the price of cloth in the West and even Europe."

If they lower their prices, we lower our prices too. If they sell three bolts of silver for one tael, we sell four bolts of silver for one tael. If they sell four bolts of silver for one tael, we sell five bolts of silver for one tael.

In short, we must sell cheaper than them, no matter how much they lower their prices, we will follow suit.

what?
Upon hearing this, De Shera couldn't help but ask, "Then how are we supposed to make money?"

You don't understand monopoly, do you?

In this monopoly war, the goal is to crush the enemy with high-quality, low-priced goods, forcing them to completely withdraw from the industry and dare not venture into it again, so that prices can be raised later.

You don't understand, and I'm too lazy to explain it to you.

I will not teach you how to do business.

After thinking for a moment, Wanli said simply, "We will set the price. Whether we make a profit or not is our business. You just need to focus on selling. Anyway, you will get your share of the profits."

This does make sense.

We just need to focus on selling. Even if the price is low, our dividends will still be high, so why worry about anything else?
Upon hearing this, Descartes nodded repeatedly and said, "Yes, I will arrange for someone to speak with our Governor as soon as possible."

Upon hearing this, Wanli nodded slightly, then waved his hand and said, "Yuansheng, go and make arrangements for him, and send his men to Goa as soon as possible."

This needs to be done quickly; we can't let the British take advantage of the Mughal Empire's cheap labor and cotton to build up their cloth trade.

Upon hearing this, Li Yuansheng quickly stood up and, together with Deshera, bowed and took their leave.

Seeing that they had all left, Xiao Zhu Changxun finally couldn't help but ask, "Father, with such a price reduction, will we still make a profit?"

I'm too lazy to teach Descartes this, but you still need to teach him properly.

You must understand monopolies.

Wanli nodded slightly, then patiently explained, "We use steam looms to weave cloth at a much lower cost. We can still make a profit even if it costs one tael of silver for ten bolts of cloth."

Moreover, at this point, we can't care about whether we can make money or not; the British want to wage a monopoly war against us.

They're trying to steal our business by offering low prices, leaving us with no business to do, which will make it impossible for our Wanshengtang Cloth Shop to survive.

To put it bluntly, they wanted to do a unique business and monopolize all overseas fabric trade.

If we ignore them and don't lower our prices along with them, they will slowly steal our overseas fabric business.

If Wanshengtang can't sell the huge amount of fabric it has stockpiled, it will have to build warehouses to store it, which will lead to more and more losses and make it unsustainable.

Therefore, if they lower their prices, we must follow suit. Monopoly wars are like wars between two countries; it's either you die or I die.

To put it bluntly, the monopoly war is a battle of resources; whoever has the most resources will ultimately win.

Britain has only just begun to seize colonies; their resources are nothing compared to those of our Great Ming Dynasty.

In other words, if we're going to compete on sheer wealth, they won't stand a chance. So we'll keep lowering prices until their businesses can't continue and they have to close down, at which point the price of fabric will rise again.

We'll earn even more then, because all the fabric business will be ours, including what they used to do.

This is monopoly. The Ming Dynasty must control pricing power. We must monopolize our large-scale business. Anyone who tries to take our business will face a monopoly war.

Oh, so when you're fighting a monopoly war, you don't have to worry about making money.

Upon hearing this, Xiao Zhu Changxun thought about it carefully, then slowly nodded and said, "Son, I understand."

(End of this chapter)