Chapter 357 Preparing to Open a Branch

Following Shen Xiangwan's suggestion, Zhao Dashan personally took his eldest son and two nephews to the county town the next day, preparing to visit each restaurant and food stall one by one to reach a cooperation intention with them. It was obvious to all how well their braised offal and sauced pork ribs sold last year, and almost all restaurants and food stalls had signed contracts with them.

A few days later, the Zhao family's pork processing workshop was operational again. Based on the total amount of offal and bones needed by the county, they temporarily only slaughtered twenty pigs a day. In order to slaughter more pigs, the young people soon took the prepared braised offal and sauced pork bones to other counties to develop the market.

"Madam, can't you sell more wine every day? Those rich people are almost eating me up."

In the main hall of the Wei family, Cheng Yusheng, who had taken some time off from the county town, asked with a sad face, the special effects of wine had spread, and those rich people were almost crazy, buying dozens or hundreds of bottles at a time, and a thousand bottles were not enough. In order to buy wine, the servants of each household started queuing outside the winery in the middle of the night, especially those who came from the provincial capital and other county towns. They simply did not stay in the inn, but slept on the floor outside the winery. This almost became the most unique landscape in the county, and the Wei family winery became more famous because of it!

"What are you afraid of? Just ignore them."

Shen Xiangwan couldn't help but laugh. It seemed that those people were indeed crazy. Otherwise, how could they force him, who was always calm, into such a situation?

"Ma'am, could you please be a little more sincere?"

He is the shopkeeper and has been in the shop almost every day recently. Those rich people have come to visit him, so he can't just kick them out, right?

"Alright, even if I give you a thousand more bottles, you still won't have enough to sell. The reason they're buying so much right now is because they're afraid we'll run out of stock again, so they're buying them to stockpile. As long as we keep having stock, they'll have enough in stock, so this shouldn't happen again."

Besides, she wanted this kind of hunger marketing momentum, so how could she sell it freely? The rarer the thing, the more expensive it is, and wine is no exception.

"Ma'am, you are wrong this time."

Shaking off his previous dejected look, Cheng Yusheng said seriously, "In the past few days, customers who have come to inquire about wine have already come from other provinces. As long as our wine remains this good, business will only get better and better, and will not show signs of weakness."

Not to mention wine, even sorghum wine is not sold openly in Chenzhou. Otherwise, he would have suggested his wife to open branches in other cities. By then, their income would be even more substantial. Not only will the second master not be short of money in the future, he will probably have more than enough to spend.

"Yeah?"

Raising an eyebrow, Shen Xiangwan picked up the teacup and lowered her eyes in thought. Her fair, delicate fingers twisted the lid of the cup, occasionally shaking off the floating camellia flowers. She was not at all soft-handed in making money from the rich. If the reputation of the wine had really spread to other states, perhaps she should really consider increasing production? Making more wine?

Probably guessing what she was thinking about, Cheng Yusheng did not disturb her. He just sat silently beside her and drank tea. This was also one of the reasons why he came back today.

"I'll set up a wine workshop someday. I'll also expand the sorghum wine workshop. Once the new wine is ready, it will be sold freely in Chenzhou. As for other prefectures, the quantity will still have to be appropriately limited. We'll discuss this later."

After a moment, Shen Xiangwan put down the teacup and said slowly that since the reputation of the wine has spread to other prefectures, there is no need to engage in hunger marketing in Chenzhou anymore. Their attention should be focused on other prefectures.

Hearing this, Cheng Yusheng suggested, "Madam, why don't we send people to open a branch in the nearby Mingzhou and Jiaozhou?"

Since we are going to expand the scale of the sorghum wine workshop, opening branches can also be put on the agenda.

"Well... OK, you decide."

Shen Xiangwan agreed after a moment's thought. If they wanted to expand into other states, they should indeed have their own shops, otherwise they would have to find other wine merchants to cooperate with. Wine was fine, and she wouldn't mind selling it at any high price after the wine merchants took it over. After all, the real rich families had plenty of money. But if the price of sorghum wine increased, the common people would probably not be able to drink it.

"yes."

Cheng Yusheng did not refuse and agreed immediately. Then the two of them discussed some details. Half an hour later, he said goodbye and left.

Wei family, study.

"Send it out as soon as possible."

Wei Chengyi handed a letter to the guards. Two days ago, the rebels, unable to withstand the fierce attack of the Binzhou army, had abandoned the occupied city and retreated to another city. The two sides are currently in a truce, but the rebels' disadvantage is still obvious. All they can do is try their best to help them defend the remaining cities and delay the time of defeat as much as possible.

"yes."

After taking the letter with lacquer seal, the guard bowed and retreated.

"Second Master, regarding the Imperial Envoy's arrival in the capital, we..."

"Cheng Yi!"

Yuan Shu, who was waiting on the side, was about to continue discussing the matter of the prefectural capital with him when Shen Xiangwan's voice suddenly rang out: "Did I disturb you?"

"No."

Looking up at her, Wei Chengyi curled the corners of his lips slightly. She would never disturb them at any time.

"What are you talking about?"

Walking over and sitting next to him, Shen Xiangwan asked casually.

"What else can I say? It's just about the mess in the capital."

Leaning back in his chair, Yuan Shu continued, "As you know, the imperial envoy we brought in has already arrived in the prefectural capital. In order to deal with the corrupt officials in the government office in an upright manner, we secretly had people spread the news. Unfortunately, the people who have been oppressed for many years simply don't believe that the imperial envoy can make a decision for them, and no one has sued those officials. We are discussing whether to expose all the corrupt officials for whom we have sufficient evidence, and have the imperial envoy ask the military to come forward and deal with them in public, so that the people can see with their own eyes that he can really make a decision for them, just like what happened in Datong County back then. As long as one person stands up to sue those corrupt officials, there will be a steady stream of victims speaking out."

It’s not that they haven’t thought about having someone pretend to be a victim, but fake is still fake and won’t stand up to scrutiny. If the officials notice anything, it would be a waste of such a good opportunity.

"That's not necessary."

Chen Xiangwan looked at them with some confusion, and continued in response to their puzzled looks, "Have you forgotten what happened when the Western Hu people broke through the city gates and those corrupt officials threatened to close the city gates, completely disregarding the lives of the people? Since it's difficult to start with the government office, why not start with the county offices first? Let the military directly come forward to argue with the imperial envoy. By then, those people in the government office will be unable to cover up the truth. Anyone who dares to come forward to protect the county officials will be investigated by the imperial envoy. The military can also assist us generously. Maybe we can take advantage of this situation and completely disintegrate them from bottom to top?"

Moreover, with the strong and open support of the military, even if someone wants to interfere, they have to think carefully first. The greater the freedom of the imperial envoy, the more things they can do, and the shorter the time it will take to take over the remaining power in Chenzhou. It will also not give people a handle to exploit loopholes and create trouble among the people. This is why they have to go to such great lengths to get an imperial envoy.

Of course, the most important reason for her suggestion was that the crops in the fields would be mature by June at the latest, and the potatoes could be harvested around the middle of next month. They had to seize power in the shortest possible time to mobilize all the people in Chenzhou to plant the second season of crops and completely solve their problem of not having enough food.

[End of this chapter]

There will be more later, please vote!!!