Business

During his six-month trip away from home, Zhang Xuezhou witnessed many things, while the imperial court in Chang'an City also underwent tremendous changes.

The Crimson Sky Sword made everything the new emperor had legitimate and legal, granting him the most orthodox power, even as the Anle Palace continued to relinquish authority.

The new emperor in the Weiyang Palace was no longer a figurehead, but had truly gained some of his own power.

This power is still some distance from truly controlling the court, but it's much better than before.

The court officials were still mainly from the Empress Dowager's faction, but these people obeyed the new emperor's orders under the Empress Dowager's instructions, and few of them caused trouble.

"Although the Empress Dowager currently holds the reins of the court, His Majesty is constantly inserting his own people. If Brother Dongfang performs well this time, he might even be directly promoted by His Majesty!"

"Someone like me who is sick is lucky to get even a small salary; how could I possibly become a high-ranking official!"

"Brother Dongfang, don't worry, there's always a way to deal with illnesses like this."

"Brother Hongyang has auspicious words!"

Zhang Xuezhou and Sang Hongyang didn't find the journey lonely.

Sang Hongyang's disadvantage lies in his youth and low cultivation level, making it difficult for him to enter the imperial court, while Zhang Xuezhou's disadvantage lies in his occasional return to the real world, which makes it impossible for either of them to hold any important official positions at present.

Even if the new emperor pushes them together, neither of them is fit for the position, and problems are likely to arise whenever they take charge.

This made Zhang Xuezhou and Sang Hongyang feel a sense of kinship, and when they were together, there was little difference in their abilities, and they could have long and intimate conversations.

If one cannot become a high-ranking official, one can only serve as a minor official, doing errands for the new emperor, until one day one is qualified enough to enter the court.

However, the time required to accomplish these tasks was extremely long, and satisfying the emperor was a difficult matter.

Sang Hongyang could only be thankful that the matter was within his capabilities and that he had done a good job of it.

"My hundred-odd carts carry salt, silk, cloth, furs, ironware, bronzeware, lacquerware, and dyes. These products are extremely diverse, and spreading them evenly will have a less significant impact on the commerce of Chang'an City!"

"That's right!"

Zhang Xuezhou would ask Sang Hongyang directly for any information he wanted, or simply pick up a book from the carriage and glance at it.

Finished products such as ironware, bronzeware, and lacquerware have specific design requirements, so they won't have a significant impact on Chang'an City. It's difficult to dump or monopolize them. These products can generate short-term profits, but they are not sustainable in the long run.

The three items that truly involve a steady, long-term flow of resources are salt, cloth, and dyes.

If the new emperor needs Sang Hongyang to continuously generate wealth in order to obtain greater profits, the salt and cloth merchants in Chang'an City may be impacted.

Salt merchants' salt could be stored for a long time, ensuring the goods' continued availability, while cloth merchants' cloth was affected by factors such as damp weather, making it difficult to sell quickly and potentially leading to their demise.

After some calculations, Zhang Xuezhou felt that a number of shops and dye workshops dealing in mid-to-high-end fabrics might go out of business in the next two years.

If we can take over, this could serve as a workplace for many women in Zhang Household Village.

Zhang Xuezhou had a little idea in mind, thinking that he and Rong Tianding could keep an eye on related industries later.

When Zhang Xuezhou was with Sang Hongyang, who was good at business, they would talk about arithmetic or business. Zhang Xuezhou had no reservations about arithmetic, and Sang Hongyang did not deliberately keep his business secrets.

If he didn't wander off to dangerous secret locations, Zhang Xuezhou's life in Chang'an City was peaceful and fulfilling.

His life consisted of nothing more than making money to make a living, seeking to increase his cultivation level, or seeking to repair his body.

The former is his daily necessity, while the latter two depend on opportunity and fortuitous opportunity; they are not something Zhang Xuezhou can simply decide to use.

Zhang Xuezhou is now just waiting for Jin Chang to help him find the Yin-Yang Sacred Land, and then he will fall into the trap of cultivating both Yin-Yang techniques simultaneously.

As a cultivator who had once attempted to break through to the Divine Ability Realm, his mindset was very stable, and he no longer felt the anxiety and unease he had before.

"In truth, the profession of betrothal is still the most stable; the medical industry can't be monopolized!"

Zhang Xuezhou's mind was filled with thoughts of Zheng Wukong, Chunyu Tiying, and others, wondering if these two could accurately determine the condition of his body.

"Wei Shao'er also took the gourd pill; she also has a son!"

As Zhang Xuezhou drew closer to Chang'an City, his suppressed memories began to resurface, drawing him back to life in the Chang'an City.

"Yao Yuanguang will probably come to Chang'an City to find me. I can ask him how the Immortal Court deals with plant-type Extraterrestrial Heavenly Demon!"

After much deliberation, Zhang Xuezhou realized he had quite a lot on his plate.

Of course, having hitched a ride with Sang Hongyang, he had to report to the new emperor first.

The convoy traveled from daytime into nighttime, with brief rest stops in between, before continuing its journey.

As the morning light shone on the carriage, the familiar shouts from Chang'an City reached the ears of Zhang Xuezhou and his companions.

"Those entering the city, bring out your festival flags!"

"Queue up, don't push!"

"Selling rice cakes! You can buy one big rice cake for just three and a half taels of silver, enough to last you a day!"

"We buy roe deer, millet, and wild deer at high prices. Cash on delivery, no need for you to enter the city to sell your goods!"

Before even entering Chang'an City, various shouts and calls could be heard outside the city, rising and falling incessantly.

"Wow, so many people!"

At the rear of the convoy, Rong Li poked her head out and exclaimed in surprise, realizing that there were more people at the city gate than in Hibiscus City.

"Their clothes are so fashionable!"

Unable to bear the jolting from the carriage, Jia Zhiyuan also lifted the curtain and looked around.

This was the daily scene Chang'an City, yet it was a sea of people that Rong Li and the others had rarely seen before.

"A place like this can sell at least twenty pigs a day!"

Rong Li made her judgment with absolute certainty, which made Zhang Xuezhou smile wryly, realizing that Rong Li's old ways were hard to shake off no matter where she was.

"Nearly 20,000 pigs need to be slaughtered every day in Chang'an City," Sang Hongyang corrected Rong Li.

"Two... what ten thousand, twenty thousand pigs?"

Rong Li peeked out and looked at Zhang Xuezhou in the carriage ahead. She listened to the young man in the carriage with Zhang Xuezhou, then counted on her fingers. She finally decided that pork in Chang'an City was a huge business opportunity, and then she tried to persuade Rong Tianding to return to his old trade.

"Shouldn't there be someone specifically in charge of this slaughtering business?" Zhang Xuezhou asked.

"Each market has its own slaughterhouse," Sang Hongyang nodded. "This business involves receiving goods, transportation, slaughtering, and handling waste, requiring too many people. It's not easy for us to get involved!"

"So that's why I didn't see many pig slaughterhouses or meat vendors!"

"These days, pork has to be sourced from slaughterhouses. It's not cost-effective to buy and slaughter meat privately; the cost is higher than the purchase price. Wild game, on the other hand, can be slaughtered and killed by the owner!"

Chang'an City is well-planned and completely different from small towns. Almost every industry has top-level management, making it difficult for ordinary people to enter such high-demand livelihood industries. Instead, they can only become small distributors.

Zhang Xuezhou chatted with Sang Hongyang for a few minutes and felt that Rong Li's pig slaughtering business had come to an end, and Rong Tianding could finally get rid of pig slaughtering in the future.