Yan Lu asked, "Boss Xiao, where in Yanchuan do you plan to open this supermarket?"

Xiao Luomu said, "Besides Yanchuan City, one will be opened in every county within Yanchuan territory."

Yan Lü's pupils contracted, and the other merchants began to whisper among themselves.

Only Li Zhi and Zhu Guoneng remained calm and secretly glanced at Zhao Cheng.

"How can this be? The supermarket is so big, it has all kinds of goods. Who will patronize our store in the future?"

"I already have enough unsold stock in the shop. If the supermarket does something, how am I supposed to sell it?"

"Didn't you hear? The purpose of opening a supermarket is to make things more convenient for ordinary people, and we will also appropriately lower the prices of goods. How are we supposed to do business in the future?"

"That's what I mean..."

Yan Lu raised his hand and glanced at the table, staring at Xiao Luomu as he said, "Mr. Xiao, did you hear that? Opening this supermarket might benefit you, but it will harm all of us! I advise you to reconsider; this is not a good idea!"

Xiao Luomu maintained his smile and said, "Boss Yan, opening a supermarket is a necessary step for the Eastern Chamber of Commerce. I'm not discussing this with you, but just letting you know since it's rare for you all to get together."

"you!"

Yan Lü was immediately enraged and shouted, "Is this how unreasonable your Xiao family is?"

Xiao Luomu said, "As I just said, this is the business plan of the Eastern Chamber of Commerce, and it has nothing to do with my Xiao family. Besides, since the Chamber of Commerce started supplying you with products like soap, cologne, and lip balm, how much money have you made from the Chamber of Commerce's products?"

"When you were making money through the Chamber of Commerce, I never saw you so angry, Boss Yan?"

Yan Lü was speechless, so he took the lead in sitting down and slammed his hand on the table.

Seeing this, the merchants all sat down, their faces solemn.

Yin Nan rolled his eyes and looked at Dong Shier, who was sitting next to Li Zhi, and said, "Boss Dong, your Dongji Trading Company was the first to make soap. It was only after you cooperated with the Xiao family that Boss Xiao founded the Oriental Chamber of Commerce. Now that the Chamber of Commerce has grown stronger, it wants to take away your Dongji Trading Company's business. Aren't you heartbroken? Aren't you going to say something?"

The ball was kicked over, and Dong Shier slapped his thigh, looking helpless.

"Okay, if you want me to say something, then I'll say something."

Dong Shier drank a cup alone, and seeing the merchants casting expectant glances at him, he said, “First, the profit characteristic of supermarkets is that they attract a large flow of people and sell at a high volume with low profit margins, which is beneficial to the common people. Secondly, supermarkets have high supply and demand and require a large amount of inventory, which means that each supermarket is a large warehouse. In the event of disasters or emergencies, supermarkets can cooperate with the government to allocate resources, which is also beneficial to the imperial court.”

“I support anything that benefits the people and the court.”

"Secondly, the Oriental Supermarket in Yanchuan City will be based on Dongji Trading Company. In other words, there will no longer be Dongji Trading Company in Yanchuan City, only Oriental Supermarket."

Boom!!

After hearing Dong Shier's words, the Yan Chuan merchants' heads were buzzing.

Only then did I realize that Dong Shier and Xiao Luomu were on the same side!

After hearing Dong Twelve's first point, the officials in the capital, such as Wei You and Lu Zhao, as well as the local officials, such as Li Dai and Cheng Xu, all nodded in agreement.

This is a game of strategy among businessmen; they won't interrupt, but they have their own judgment.

Lu Zhao had served as a secretary in the Ministry of Revenue in his youth, and he was particularly moved by Dong Twelve's analysis.

On the surface, the Great Jing Dynasty appeared to be a prosperous era, but in reality, disasters struck various places every year, and disaster relief was a mandatory expenditure that caused headaches for the Ministry of Revenue every year.

In peacetime, things were alright, but during wartime, the Ministry of Revenue was so preoccupied with other matters that it couldn't possibly provide adequate relief.

The Ministry of Revenue, having no other option, had to order local governments to find solutions, which in turn required them to procure grain from wealthy families. They borrowed from the Su family, then the Li family, then the Zhu family, and often these powerful families would try to take advantage of the grain shortages to hoard grain and drive up prices. In their eyes, making money was paramount; the lives of ordinary people were utterly unimportant.

But things are different when supermarkets are available.

As a large warehouse, the supermarket has more grain stored than several families combined. In the event of a disaster, the government can directly cooperate with the supermarket and will no longer be constrained by those large families.

This has inadvertently weakened the power of large families.

In Lu Zhao's eyes, this was more than just a good thing.

This is absolutely fantastic news!

He was thinking to himself that he should study the matter of the Oriental Chamber of Commerce running a supermarket carefully, and then go back to Changsui to praise this model to the emperor.

If Your Majesty supports it, then this supermarket model could potentially be rolled out across the country, which would truly be a blessing for the people.

Snap!

Yan Lü was far more hot-tempered than Yin Nan. He slammed his wine glass down, stood up again, pointed at Xiao Luomu, and shouted, "What does your Eastern Chamber of Commerce mean? Are you trying to wipe us merchants out?!"

Xiao Luomu finally suppressed his smile and said coldly, "The supermarket will indeed harm your existing interests, but compared to the benefits brought to you by the products of the Eastern Chamber of Commerce, it's a fair trade-off. But what's wrong with you? Can you only take advantage and not suffer losses?"

"As I said, we should all make money together. If you follow the steps of the Chamber of Commerce, you may suffer some losses now, but you will have greater room for development in the future."

"As for the issue of stockpiled goods that some people have mentioned, is that really a problem? Once the supermarket opens, the amount of inventory it needs is beyond your imagination. Any stockpiled goods you have can be taken to the supermarket for recycling."

"Xiao Luomu, what enormous ambition you have!" Yan Lü roared, "Give you the stockpiled inventory to recycle? You're trying to devour us all!"

"You, a man from Jingdong, come to our Yanchuan with your gaping maw, what are you up to?!"

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