Zhu Qing was drinking tea, and he seemed to be enjoying it very much.

Although the price of grain in his grain shop continued to drop, he did not lose money; in fact, he earned more than before.

Because Dazai intervened, not only was the transportation fee reduced by more than half, but the source of goods was also controlled.

Not only that, but he was even told that starting next year, the imperial court would open up iron ore mining to the private sector, and Zhu Qing could go to the Ministry of Commerce to establish a mining company, and the imperial court would entrust him with the mining of designated mines.

Businessman like Zhu Qing had long recognized the enormous profits from mineral resources.

In the Song Dynasty today, if you want to make big money in business, you should look in these directions.

First, construction.

Since the first year of the Jingkang era, when the imperial court proposed the strategy of four sub-capitals, it laid the foundation for the development direction of the Song Dynasty for the next twenty years: the migration of the population to urban areas.

For example, in Tokyo, over 700,000 people have migrated there from all walks of life in just five years.

In recent years, Tokyo has been expanding everywhere, with pavilions and towers springing up and new roads connecting all directions.

All of these require manpower, and since the imperial court is willing to pay monthly wages, merchants will naturally seize this opportunity.

The construction industry created many wealthy merchants in Tokyo, among whom Wang Wenshen of the Wang family was the most famous.

Even the headline of the Song Dynasty official gazette featured Wang Wenshen, whose personal wealth ranked first on the Tokyo wealth list!

"Wealthy beyond measure" is not enough to describe him.

The second most lucrative business was road construction, which also involved using funds from the imperial court.

The Pan family, who rose to prominence through road construction, are now enjoying a significantly elevated status in Tokyo.

After becoming successful, Pan Qishan began to claim ancestry, saying that he was a descendant of Pan Mei, a famous general who founded the Song Dynasty. For a time, he met many new elites in the officialdom.

The third thing is selling grain, which is what Zhu Qing is doing now.

As a large number of people migrate to cities, the need for centralized food supply becomes increasingly urgent, and the requirements for transportation become increasingly stringent.

This was Zhu Qing's opportunity.

This wasn't the first time he had collaborated with Xu Churen and Tang Ke; one-third of the grain in Tokyo came from Zhu Qing's trading company.

As Zhu Qing sipped his tea, he pondered the fourth way to make money. He had originally thought it was the textile business of Li's Cloth Shop.

But now he doesn't think so anymore; the fourth way to make money must be mining.

He could imagine his son going out to flaunt his wealth, watching his friends chatting and laughing about how rich his family was, and then when it was his son's turn, his son could just say, "My family owns a mine!"

Zhu Qing has figured out a pattern: the most profitable things are all given by the imperial court.

Under the new policies of the imperial court, there are plenty of opportunities.

These are opportunities that ordinary people cannot see, and even if they can see them, they cannot reach them.

He had long wanted to develop industries outside of the grain sector, since no one ever complains about having too much money.

I heard that five years ago, the current Consort Han's father acquired a mine in Yanyun, and now the imperial court is finally planning to officially open it up.

Zhu Qing felt excited just thinking about it.

Zhu Qing's steward came running over excitedly: "My lord, it's terrible! It's terrible!"

"What's the matter that you're in such a panic?"

"A shop called Yongle Grain Shop opened in Tokyo City, and business is booming. For several days in a row, people have been lining up to buy from it."

Zhu Qing had been sitting at home these past few days, deep in thought about the current state of affairs in the Song Dynasty, and had not gone out, so naturally he was unaware of the Yongle Grain Shop.

Zhu Qing said, "That's impossible! Our grain prices are currently the lowest in the entire capital city!"

"My lord, the Yongle Grain Shop doesn't sell rice or wheat, but something called sweet potato."

"Sweet potato?" Zhu Qing was slightly taken aback. "What is that? Could it be a type of rat?"

"I'm not too sure either. I heard it's a kind of grain, very delicious, and one can fill you up halfway. It costs two coins!"

"What! Only 2 coins?"

You should know that in Zhu Qing's shop now, grain is sold for 2,500 wen per shi (石), and one shi is 194 jin (斤). One jin of grain is only selling for 13 wen.

An ordinary laborer working at a cement factory or construction site could earn at least 2 strings of cash a month, or nearly 70 coins a day, so buying Zhu Qing's grain was not a problem.

The steward replied, "The selling price is 4 coins for half a catty."

Zhu Qing frowned and asked, "How much does a roasted sweet potato weigh?"

"It weighs about half a catty, but usually only four taels (half a catty in the Song Dynasty was equal to eight taels), and only costs two coins!"

Zhu Qing's grain costs nearly 7 coins for half a jin, while roasted sweet potatoes only cost 4 coins for half a jin. The difference is quite large!

Zhu Qing immediately became alert. He stood up, somewhat uneasy: "How could a roasted sweet potato suddenly appear!"

"I had no idea; it just appeared out of nowhere!"

Zhu Qing's expression changed; it seemed someone was trying to steal his business!

He immediately led his men and ran to the east of the city.

I was shocked when I went there.

There was a long queue in front of Yongle Grain Shop; business was booming.

One of Zhu Qing's bodyguards couldn't help but exclaim, "It smells so good!"

Zhu Qing glared at the bodyguard, who was so frightened that he immediately fell silent.

But even Zhu Qing herself admitted that it really smells good!

Zhu Qing started queuing up and waited for a long time. When it was finally her turn, she was told that the roasted sweet potatoes were sold out and only raw sweet potatoes were available.

Raw sweet potatoes are also sold by many people because they are so easy to prepare.

Zhu Qing also bought a few to study slowly.

The next day, Zhu Qing went to find Xu Churen. He hadn't slept all night, feeling as if his grain business was about to collapse in an instant.

These sweet potatoes are absolutely terrifying! Even if Dazai waived all transportation costs, he still couldn't sell them for less than the price of sweet potatoes!

Moreover, at this critical juncture, those farmers are always thinking about raising prices.

Zhu Qing's breathing became heavy.

Which son of a bitch invented this sweet potato thing!

This is going to kill the grain merchants of the Song Dynasty!

Zhu Qing could imagine that once sweet potatoes spread, the price of grain in the Song Dynasty would drop by one-third from the current price!

The reason he dares to maintain the current low price is because Xu Churen is backing him up.

Those grains that don't have Dazai's backing will drop by at least half!

This is absolutely outrageous!

Yesterday, Zhu Qing was saying that the third most profitable people in the Song Dynasty were grain merchants, because food is the most important thing for people, and this is an unchanging truth.

But now it seems that the grain merchants' doomsday is coming!

"Damn it!" Zhu Qing couldn't help but curse inside the carriage. "If I find out which bastard invented this sweet potato thing, I'll skin him alive!"

Upon arriving at the entrance of the Political Affairs Hall, Zhu Qing transformed from a business tycoon into a docile lamb.

He waited respectfully for Xu Churen's summons, but after waiting for a long time, he was told that the Grand Chancellor was busy with official duties.

Zhu Qing had no choice but to return home. That very day, he began to send invitations to major grain merchants in Tokyo, discussing how to nip Yongle Grain Shop in the bud.