Ruan Shiping, who was already worried about state affairs, soon received another imperial edict from the royal family. He was already preparing to be escorted to the capital for execution, but after reading the edict, he was stunned on the spot. It took him a long time to recover, and he kept muttering "Impossible" and "This is impossible"...
The content of the edict was actually very simple. A few days ago, a miners' riot broke out in Cambodia's only iron mine.
In fact, objectively speaking, because there is only one usable iron mine in Cambodia, Cambodia attaches great importance to this iron mine. Even when increasing taxes and cutting expenditures many times, it still guarantees the supply of materials to the iron mine. The only requirement is to ensure that the iron mine has sufficient output.
The only variable came more than half a year ago, when the former iron ore mine supervisor encountered a landslide while inspecting in the mine and unfortunately died. At that time, Cambodia urgently needed a new and experienced mine supervisor.
However, with the input of pig iron from Qinghe, the original iron ore profits have been declining.
For Cambodia, the main function of the iron mine is to provide ore for steel workshops, thereby supplying the royal family and the army. The remaining iron is made into agricultural tools or daily necessities for sale. This has become the biggest profit for this iron mine, especially for the mine supervisor personally.
In order to ensure a steady stream of profits from this golden goose, successive mine supervisors, although they exploited the miners a bit tightly, did not dare to go too far and always maintained a level acceptable to the miners. Occasionally, they would take out a portion of the profits to improve the miners' lives. Therefore, although the miners were dissatisfied, they could tolerate it. Sometimes, they could even enter the mine to dig, which was also a good job.
Therefore, although the grade of the iron ore mine supervisor is not high, it can be considered to be lucrative. Many people have been vying for this position. This time, the previous mine supervisor was finally buried in the mine as everyone expected, and the Cambodian Ministry of Industry arranged a new mine supervisor according to the plan (in fact, it was ranked according to the amount of gifts given).
In order to get this position, the new mine supervisor not only sold all his property, but also owed a lot of high-interest loan debts. To be honest, if he can't get a lucrative position, he will probably be tied up in the mountains by loan sharks and fed to mosquitoes.
Now, the mine supervisor took office amid the attention and expectations of his family and loan sharks, and then encountered the impact of steel products from Sihai Trading Company.
To put it simply, Sihai Trading Company's steel products are of good quality, low price, and their service attitude is good. They are always in stock no matter when you go to buy. Well, in general, everything is better than his. Even a nail is more cost-effective than his.
It cannot be said that the profits from iron ore were cut in half all of a sudden, it was simply amputated below the eyebrows, with nothing left.
He had also considered using some extraordinary measures, such as banning Sihai Trading Company from trading in Cambodia. However, just when he was about to try some means, he was warned by his superiors, who told him to mind his own business and not to interfere.
Faced with the complaints of his family and the threat of usury, the mine supervisor was devastated and even wanted to commit suicide.
Fortunately, there is always a way out.
One day, the mine supervisor who sneaked out to drink met a close friend. The brother who called himself "Jiang Buping" laughed after hearing about his experience and told him that it was not a big deal at all.
"Think about it, these merchants from other places are just trying to make money. Now that they can provide pig iron to the royal family, naturally someone will protect them. But how much can the royal family pay for the iron? Isn't their profit still from those private trades? If they can't make money, they will pack up and leave. Why would you bother chasing them away?"
As the mine supervisor questioned him, Brother Jiang Buping carefully analyzed the strengths and weaknesses of both parties, ultimately concluding that the mine supervisor's greatest advantage was cost. His iron ore mine had virtually no costs. The court covered the costs of mining and personnel, and the ore produced was provided free of charge. Therefore, the cost of crafting agricultural tools and the like from the excess ore was essentially zero. Therefore, he could simply lower his price, charging only half the price regardless of the other party's selling price. Even if the other party gritted their teeth and followed suit, as long as he could withstand a few counterattacks, the Sihai Trading Company, unable to make any money, would inevitably be forced to return home.
That day, everyone in the mine thought the mine supervisor had gone crazy. He stopped checking the day's output and instead locked himself in a room, muttering incomprehensible terms like "small profits but quick turnover", "price war", "bulk shipment", and "Swart analysis".
The next day, the mine supervisor announced that in order to help the kingdom overcome the difficulties, the entire iron mine had to increase revenue and reduce expenditure. Simply put, the mine would no longer provide subsidies to miners, and daily output had to be increased, changing from mining during the day and resting at night to mining in two shifts. At the same time, private trade in the mine would be anchored to the prices of Sihai Trading Company, and could only sell at half the price of Sihai Trading Company no matter what. They would even have to sell all the iron ore that had been stored for emergency use, in order to defeat Sihai Trading Company in one fell swoop.
Upon hearing the news, Sihai Trading Company, just as Jiang Buping had said, began to use price cuts as a countermeasure. The mine supervisor was very confident of this: "You shipped it all the way here, how could it be cheaper than my local cost?"
Even though Sihai Trading Company's price had already been reduced to half of its original price, the mine supervisor gritted his teeth and lowered it to half of Sihai Trading Company's. For a time, the shops under the iron mine were crowded with people, and the scene was prosperous.
Indeed, selling ironware at only a quarter of the price, regardless of its quality, was incredible in that era. It was almost like picking it up for free. Even Jiang Ping and Wang Wu used their reserve funds to buy it up.
In order to achieve the same profit as before, the mine supervisor announced that the mine's production must be increased at least fourfold...
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