Chapter 49: The Merchant Guild
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The day after Li San returned, the imperial grant arrived in Qingzhou. With the court’s silver and the palace concubines’ down payments, Xiao Ming now had a total of 500,000 taels of silver at his disposal.
In Qingzhou, this was an enormous sum, but for Xiao Ming’s development plans, it was a mere drop in the ocean.
Moreover, 200,000 taels were deposits for perfume orders from the concubines, which meant a large portion had to be spent on purchasing raw materials for production—effectively reducing the available funds.
Xiao Ming had no intention of selling perfume to anyone else. While he was willing to share certain businesses to divide and control Qingzhou’s aristocrats, some industries needed to remain under his direct control to maximize profits.
Especially in the prosperous south, where commerce thrived, trade was the fastest way to generate wealth. Given his technological advantage, he had been planning for a long time to establish his own merchant guild.
The real reason he had tasked Zhang Liang with building ships was trade—history had proven time and again that commerce was the key to national prosperity.
***
“Captain of the Fearless Cavalry, Li Kaiyuan, greets Your Highness.”
In the main hall of the Prince’s Mansion, Li Kaiyuan stood below, bowing deeply to Xiao Ming.
Now that he had funds in hand, Xiao Ming’s desire to establish his merchant guild had grown even stronger. However, he had struggled to decide who should run it—until now.
The officials he trusted—like Qian Dafu and Chen Wenlong’s family—were either his personal confidants or had no local connections, making them ideal for preventing aristocratic influence.