After Transmigration: Building a Kingdom in Turbulent Times-Chapter 632 - 626 Business Acumen

Zhao Hu, enraged, slapped his own head as he reprimanded, "Fool, fool, how did I choose someone as stupid as you to manage the shop? In such a big store, we don’t even have a few bolts of fine linen, and the coarse linen is still sourced piecemeal locally. Knowing that there are people weaving linen here, why didn’t you send the staff to the countryside to purchase? Buying in bulk is much better, you buy cheaply in front of customers, then turn around and raise the price to sell on the shelf. Do you think customers are fools, are they fools?"

With each time Zhao Hu said "fool," he slapped his head, causing the manager to tremble in fear and kneel on the ground repeatedly admitting his mistake, "I know I’m wrong, master, I, I’ll change right away?"

Zhao Hu withdrew his slightly numb hand, looking at him expressionlessly, "Are you asking me?"

The manager shivered, shaking his head repeatedly.

Zhao Hu glared at him darkly, "Also, use your pig brain to think further. Since there’s a shortage of cloth here and few cloth merchants, can you open a genuine cloth shop, collect all the linen from Chen County, hire people to weave it, then resell it to other cloth shops?"

"Can you hire someone to plant mulberry trees and raise silkworms, and weave silk for me next year!" Zhao Hu shouted the last sentence.

If he hadn’t brought enough people with him to Luoyang, he would have wanted to replace this manager immediately.

Fuming, Zhao Hu returned to the Governor Mansion.

Upon arriving at the Governor Mansion, he paused for a moment, then turned to find Zhao Ming.

Zhao Ming has always handled government affairs quickly; he is well-read and has a strong memory and work ability. He can usually handle submitted documents after a quick glance without needing to think further, so he only works half a day each day.

Thus, at this moment, he was sitting in a pavilion in the garden... fulfilling filial duty.

Indeed, fulfilling filial duty, he was accompanying his father in a chess game.

Zhao Hu strode into the pavilion, disdainful, "Zi Nian, your Governor Mansion is too simple, not to mention my courtyard. Even your hall lacks any beautiful decorations, not a single painting or calligraphy piece."

Previously, there was such, but ever since Zhao Ming decided to advocate austerity, everything was put away.

He said indifferently, "I am impoverished, unlike Seventh Uncle who is wealthy."

Zhao Hu sat beside Zhao Song, flattering him with a smile before speaking, "Isn’t it Chen County that’s impoverished? Your father, no matter how deficient, wouldn’t cut your expenses."

He said, "Chen County is impoverished, selling land would be good."

Before Zhao Hu could continue, Zhao Ming knew what he intended. He raised his eyelids to glance at Zhao Hu, unsurprised but curious, "Seventh Uncle, what do you want to plant on the land you intend to buy in Chen County?"

Zhao Hu replied, "I want to buy some dry land, level it a bit, then plant hemp and mulberry trees. Afterwards, I’ll seek people in nearby villages, distribute silkworms to villagers, and have them raise silkworms and peel hemp for me."

No need to open a workshop, just collaborate directly with the nearby villagers. Raising silkworms can be done by children and the elderly, while tasks like peeling hemp are mostly done during the farmers’ leisure time, only short-term laborers need to be hired. It’s much cheaper than hiring permanent workers or buying serfs.

Even twisting hemp threads and weaving linen can be outsourced directly to the farmers, all you need is to collaborate with the local village chief, pay some money, and there’s no need to delegate a manager.

However, linen can be simpler, as most women are capable of spinning hemp yarn and weaving linen. Silk and satin are different; the silk is highly valuable, so a workshop must be set up to hire special weavers.

"I also want to buy some fertile land," Zhao Hu said, "These people need to eat and drink; we can’t rely on purchasing externally. Transporting grain from Xiping is too troublesome and costly, so we need to grow it ourselves."

He continued, "Since we’re planting, then we should plant more. Isn’t Luoyang short on grain? Perfect, the output from here can be sold to Luoyang, and I’ll open a grain shop here..."

The plan was so perfect.

Zhao Ming nodded repeatedly, unable to help but commend, "Seventh Uncle truly thinks things through."

"But I must remind Seventh Uncle, Hanzhang ordered that all gathered refugees, regardless of gender, as long as they are fourteen years old, be allotted five acres of fertile land and five acres of dry land. You may buy land, leaving aside the dry land for hemp and silkworm farming using local villagers, but fertile land farming requires labor all the way through. So, where will the people come from?"

Zhao Hu snorted, "If you ask me, Third Lady is too soft-hearted, how can she be so kind to refugees?"

"But you needn’t worry about this, I can hire people."

Zhao Ming squinted, "Seventh Uncle, if slaves are forcibly bought, once verified, the officials will regain them without charge and restore their civilian status."

For instance, those forcibly made into slaves like Shi Le, if encountered by Zhao Hanzhang at this time, and if verified that the purchased slaves were once civilians captured and sold, no matter the buyer, as long as it’s within Zhao Hanzhang’s jurisdiction, the slave status could be directly canceled, restoring civilian status.

They can then choose to return home or settle with land and property where they are.

Most rescued slaves currently choose the latter, because for the former, they don’t know if they would be captured again on the way home.

Zhao Hu has previously bought such slaves often because they were cheap.

He had collaborators, some stationed soldiers or gentry. They would form teams to rob pass-by refugees on the road and sell them to him as slaves, much cheaper than buying on major roads.

Unfortunately, this business has now failed.

Zhao Hu snorted, "Don’t worry, I won’t let your officials take advantage of this, I can recruit people myself."

He glanced at Zhao Ming, somewhat smugly, "Not everyone is willing to take that five acres of fertile land, five acres of dry land from your officials."

"There are still many fools in this world, some people can’t see that far ahead and aren’t willing to endure such hardships." He said, "Working for me, aside from the slave status, isn’t it better than being a slave? I’ll make sure they get two meals a day, won’t let them starve, and they’ll receive monthly wages. But your officials, aside from the first ten days with relief grain, for the remaining days if they want grain and cloth, they’ll have to work for it, by developing wasteland, digging water conservancy, and repairing roads, which are much harder than cultivating my land."

However, working with Zhao Ming makes you a civilian; you just need to endure for half a year. After the first harvest, life will gradually improve.

Furthermore, as a civilian, life accumulates and improves with time, as long as there’s no war or major disasters, life will definitely get better, unlike being a slave, where you can see your life stagnating for decades.

But Zhao Ming glanced at Zhao Hu and had to admit he was right; there are always fools who can only see the little space before them, and everyone has their own fate.

Zhao Ming is not the type of parent who spoon-feeds every bite to the child, so he was open-minded, "Since Seventh Uncle has decided, then go choose land."