I was a conman in the Ming Dynasty.

Chapter 244 Breeding Base

Chapter 244 Breeding Base

Xu Yingjie cursed and said, "You stupid little Wu, I'm your grandpa!"

Wang Wenhua's face darkened, and he stood up, saying, "Brother Xu, what are you saying?"

Xu Yingjie said embarrassedly, "Brother Wang, I didn't mean you, I meant silly Xiao Wu!"

Wang Wenhua shook his head with a wry smile. "You're Sha Xiaowu's uncle, which means you're my uncle too!"

Wang Wenzhou laughed and said, "Brother Xu, we don't even care about that little bit of money. Let's have everyone here as witnesses. A month later, if anyone in the franchised supermarkets sells less merchandise than their original shop, you're my boss! If not, I'm your boss! Do you dare to take this bet?"

Xu Yingjie cursed and said, "Fine, I'll gamble! You idiot Xiao Wu, let's see how you call me grandpa now!"

Wang Wenzhou rolled his eyes at Xu Yingjie. "Idiot! I never make bets I'm not prepared for. And when I do, I win. You really think I'm not confident? Supermarkets in the future will be making way for a fortune!"

Xu Yingjie's outburst caused many who hadn't initially planned to join to do so. After all, Wang Wenzhou's willingness to make the bet showed he had confidence. Besides, even if they didn't make money, they'd only lose some of their employees' wages. Regardless of who won between Wang Wenzhou and Xu Yingjie, one was the heir of the Earl of Xinjian, and the other the heir of the Duke of Dingguo; who was calling the other "Grandpa" would be a spectacle worth watching.

Another reason why Wang Wenzhou opened his first supermarket in Nanjing was that a large portion of the Ming Dynasty's nobles resided there. For example, half of those present today are members of the Ming Dynasty's noble families.

Once the Nanjing supermarket became popular, Wang Wenzhou would open supermarkets in various places, but he didn't have enough money. So he would seek investment from these nobles, one for each noble. Moreover, with these nobles involved, Wang Wenzhou didn't have to worry about or manage relationships with local officials.

The nobles who cooperated with him would naturally manage the relationship, and who would be so foolish as to provoke a noble? Although in the Ming Dynasty, civil officials were valued more than military officials, no civil official would be so idle as to provoke a noble.

After seeing the guests off, Wang Wenzhou and Zhang Shize burst into laughter, holding the franchise list in their hands.

Zhang Shize said, "Boxin, with so many people joining, we can reduce the amount of money tied up in our own products."

Wang Wenzhou nodded and said, "The remaining silver will be divided into three parts: one part will be used to purchase goods, and the other part will be used to lower the prices of grain, vegetables, meat, and eggs."

"Huh?" Zhang Shize frowned and asked in confusion, "Boxin, what do you mean by this?"

Wang Wenzhou said with a smile, "Grain, vegetables, meat and eggs are things that everyone, whether rich or poor, needs to eat. We don't make any money on these four things; in fact, we sell them at a loss."

Zhang Shize had also learned about monopolies from Wang Wenzhou. He nodded and said, "Boxin, do you mean we want to monopolize these goods in Nanjing?"

Wang Wenzhou smiled and said, "That's right! Monopolizing these daily necessities is our ultimate goal. But we're doing this initially to attract customers. The supermarket sells the cheapest grains, vegetables, meat, eggs, and other daily necessities in Nanjing. Customers will definitely come to buy them!"

"Yes!" Zhang Shize nodded.

Wang Wenzhou continued, "When customers come to buy these cheap goods, the foot traffic naturally increases. Many people will also buy other items on the go. Although I haven't calculated it in detail, over time, even if we lose money selling daily necessities, we will make up the money from the other items we sell."

"I understand!" Zhang Shize gave a thumbs up and said admiringly, "Boxin, you're a genius!"

"Hahaha..." Wang Wenzhou laughed. These are all tricks that supermarkets in later generations have overused. Discounts, promotions, buy-one-get-one-free and other deceptive methods are not something I have used yet.

Zhang Shize suddenly asked, "Boxin, you divided the silver into three parts, what are you going to do with the remaining part?"

Wang Wenzhou said with a smile, "With the remaining money, we will build breeding bases such as chicken farms, cattle farms, sheep farms, pig farms, and vegetable greenhouses."

"Pfft..." Zhang Shize laughed in exasperation, and said with a smile, "Boxin, stop fooling around! How could we, the nobles of the Ming Dynasty, do such despicable business?"

"Lowlife?" Wang Wenzhou said disdainfully, "Brother, what does 'lowlife' mean? What's wrong with it? Are farmers lowlifes? You need to understand, even if you're selling yourself, as long as you can make big money, you're still the boss!"

Zhang Shize asked doubtfully, "Boxin, what you're saying is something ordinary people can do. How can you make a lot of money from it?"

Wang Wenzhou asked helplessly, "Brother, you like playing Go. What's the most important thing in Go? The opening! What I'm doing is part of the opening?"

Zhang Shize frowned and said, "Boxin, I still don't understand!"

Wang Wenzhou explained, "We're selling these daily necessities at rock-bottom prices, even lower than the purchase price. Tell me, who around Nanjing would still raise pigs, sheep, or chickens?"

"Haha!" Zhang Shize suddenly realized and said, "I understand! Boxin, you want to make it so that those people in this business can't continue, and they stop raising them. Only we will raise them, and scarcity will make them valuable, so the selling price will naturally be higher."

Wang Wenzhou nodded and said, "That's exactly right. Moreover, the larger the scale, the cheaper the cost. The cost of one person raising one pig is very different from that of one person raising 100 pigs."

"Pat pat!" Zhang Shize patted Wang Wenzhou's shoulder hard and said admiringly, "Boxin, I admire you more and more!"

Wang Wenzhou said with a smile, "I'll give you the detailed plan later. You can have your people follow the plan. By the way, are there any sites near Nanjing for building a breeding base?"

Zhang Shize smiled and said, "Boxin, don't worry. Our Duke of Ying's mansion has a hundred acres of fertile land outside the city, enough to build a breeding base."

Wang Wenzhou nodded and said, "We need to expand the scale so that supermarkets in other cities near Nanjing will source their goods from here in the future."

"Hmm?" Zhang Shize suddenly asked, "Boxin, do you plan to open supermarkets in other places?"

"Haha!" Wang Wenzhou laughed loudly, "Of course! I plan to open Hanshan Supermarkets in every city in the Ming Dynasty, whether it's a county town or a prefecture capital!"

"Boxin, what a spirit!" Zhang Shize said with a smile. "Boxin, even if you're making money, you can't forget your elder brother!"

“Brother, investing in so many places is too much, and you don’t have that much money. If we have money, of course we should all make it together. As for the other places, I want to find other investors.” Wang Wenzhou wanted to tie all the nobles to the Hanshan Supermarket chariot.

At that time, Hanshan Supermarket will definitely control the economy of the Ming Dynasty. The civil official group should think twice before trying to cause trouble and anger the noble group of the Ming Dynasty.

Zhang Shize nodded and said, "Boxin, my brother wants to invest in Hanshan Supermarket in Beijing!"

“No problem! Brother, we’re family, this is easy to talk about!” Wang Wenzhou said with a smile.