Dividing the Profits
Is there really no rush?
Without the Emperor's name, it wouldn't matter. But with the Emperor's name, those high-ranking officials and nobles weren't buying the iron cabinets for practical use, but rather under the guise of supporting the Emperor's business and doing him a favor, only to find themselves unable to purchase the goods.
If no one could buy them, that would be fine. But some quick-handed people managed to buy them while others didn't, and they couldn't help but feel uneasy, fearing that they hadn't shown enough enthusiasm and that the Emperor would find out and write it down in his little notebook, waiting for an opportunity to settle scores later.
So everyone went to the Emperor to complain about not being able to buy a safe, and incidentally made their stance clear—it's not that we don't want to, but that we can't.
Although Xiao Ge was the emperor, he was constantly monitored by the censors, and he didn't have much private money. He often had to spend it on rewards, so he lived a rather difficult life.
As emperor, one must maintain a balance, especially when a crown prince has been appointed. He cannot openly favor any prince or faction other than the crown prince. Therefore, it is not advisable for him to get involved in any business.
But this time is different.
Kang Shilin did not belong to any side, and his young apprentice naturally followed suit. Other investors like Zhang Changshen, Wu Huaisi, Gong Cheng, and Wu Zong were all Kang Shilin, truly belonging to his faction. He made a small profit from his investments, and neither the Crown Prince nor any other prince could accuse him of favoritism. Furthermore, since he was in the luxury goods business, earning money from wealthy and powerful families, the censors could not accuse him of competing with the people for profit.
This deal was practically tailor-made for him.
But now that everyone is complaining to him that they can't buy a metal cabinet even if they have money, he's really anxious.
That junior sister from the Zhao Family is indeed too young and unreliable. How could she not make money when there's an opportunity? Everyone's rushing to buy the metal cabinets is because of his reputation. Once this situation calms down, maybe no one will buy them anymore.
He immediately sent a eunuch to inquire with Zhang Changshen, and learned that the low production capacity was due to a lack of trustworthy personnel. He then immediately transferred blacksmiths who had worked on the imperial mausoleum to Zhao Ruxi.
Anyway, he's eating well and is in great shape right now, so he won't die anytime soon. It doesn't matter if the imperial tomb takes a little longer to be built. It's more important to rob money first... oh no, to make money first.
Zhao Ruxi had already had carpenters create many molds, just waiting for the Emperor's order so she could make the iron cabinet.
So when the twenty-odd blacksmiths arrived, she immediately and methodically arranged things, separating Blacksmith Li from Li Da, Li Er, and Li San, and having each of them lead a team of new blacksmiths, working in an assembly line style, with each team doing different tasks. In just a few days, they had made some iron cabinets.
Once the new blacksmiths became skilled, the blacksmith workshop's production speed increased even further, with at least a dozen iron cabinets being delivered to the shop every day.
There was already some stock of drawer locks. Zhao Ruxi also distributed the larger parts to several coppersmiths in the workshop in the north of the city. Locksmith Hu and Locksmith Jiang only made the small parts for the key parts. Each of them had two or three subordinates, so the speed of drawer lock production was perfectly in line with demand.
Although they could find more blacksmiths to increase production capacity, Zhao Ruxi felt that maintaining this pace was sufficient.
While it's true that you need to capitalize on the hype, scarcity marketing is essential. After all, people in Beijing won't dare not buy the safes; they'll buy them no matter how long they have to wait. Selling them using scarcity marketing will have a much greater impact.
She not only wanted to seize all the money from the people of Beijing, but also to make money from wealthy families in other places.
Although safes in the capital are still in short supply, with many servants queuing up to buy them every day, at least the supply is continuous. Since the adults and gentlemen don't need to queue up themselves, everyone is less anxious.
With Xiao Ge's backing, no one in the capital dared to extend credit; all transactions were conducted using banknotes, and no one dared to forge any of their banknotes.
Each safe costs eight hundred taels of silver, and seventeen or eighteen are sold a day. The money is carefully counted. After the money is received, it is sent directly to Wu Zong, Wu Zong then secretly sends someone to deliver it to Zhao Ruxi. Zhao Ruxi had already transported several safes back to the Earl of Suiping's Residence. Except for Zhao Jingtai, who did not have much private money, she sent one to the old lady, Zhao Yuanxun, and Lady Zhu.
This business involves too much, and her elders at home will definitely worry endlessly after hearing about it, fearing that she will make a mistake, that she will attract hatred, and that the banknotes are not safe, etc. In addition, she plans to send most of the money she earns to Xiao Lingyan to change the political situation, keeping only 10% of her hard-earned money for herself. It's not easy to explain all this to her family.
Therefore, she never told her family that the business was hers.
If when she first transmigrated, she was unfamiliar with the environment, lacked control over her future, felt insecure, and was unsure of the nature of the old lady, Lady Zhu, and others, and was wary of them, then now she has completely let down her guard and treats them as true family.
Therefore, in her mind, her money belonged to her family.
She wants to make money from money, and she also wants to buy property in Jiangnan and move her family there. So she won't be giving this money to her family for the time being.
If she gets married in this lifetime, she will leave half of her family fortune to her family when she leaves home.
In less than ten days, Zhao Ruxi's small box containing silver notes was almost full.
She kept the accounts herself. She knew exactly how many metal cabinets were sent out each day and how much money was collected. Although the amount of money was large, the accounts were incredibly simple. She already knew exactly how much she could earn in ten days.
She has now decided to distribute the first dividend.
On the first day of opening, the shop sold out of the twenty or thirty safes it had in stock. After that, it was out of stock for three or four days. After the new blacksmith arrived, his production capacity was low for the first two days because he was not skilled. After that, he maintained a production capacity of seventeen or eighteen safes per day. In these ten days, a total of one hundred and fifty-two safes were sold.
After deducting costs, each safe nets a profit of 600 taels of silver, and 150 safes would amount to over 91,000 taels of silver. The remainder would be used to reward the craftsmen, and Zhao Ruxi decided to distribute 90,000 taels of silver as dividends.
The Emperor originally owned 20% of the shares, but he transferred the blacksmiths who worked on the imperial mausoleum to the site. Zhao Ruxi couldn't pretend this hadn't happened. If the Emperor was petty, the business wouldn't be able to continue.
The Emperor's influence was excellent, serving as a convenient shield and even proactively recruiting manpower, demonstrating his outstanding performance. Zhao Ruxi tasted success from this collaboration and planned to partner with the Emperor again once the Feicui returned.
Therefore, she included the twenty-odd blacksmiths as part of the Emperor's investment, considering him to own 30% and receive 27,000 taels.
His investment of six thousand taels of silver not only recouped its cost in ten days, but Youyu quadrupled. He must be quite satisfied with this deal, right? It wasn't for nothing that he worked so hard as a shield and even sent over the blacksmith who was building the imperial tomb.