Chapter 127 Business Insights: Untapped Markets...
Yin'e didn't answer immediately, tilting his head as if deep in thought: "Wait for me to organize my thoughts, and I'll explain it to you slowly."
The Ninth Prince's phoenix eyes widened, and he impatiently sat up in bed. He pounced on Yin'e, clinging to him and wriggling his little body, urging impatiently, "Tell me, tell me quickly!"
Yin'e had already sat up in bed, and now the Ninth Prince followed suit, resulting in both of them being exposed outside the covers. Although there was a charcoal stove burning in the bedroom, they were only wearing nightgowns, which were inevitably a bit thin.
With great effort, Yin'e lifted the quilt that had fallen down and pulled it back up to cover them. He said helplessly, trying to soothe the anxious Ninth Prince: "Ninth Brother, don't worry, we'll catch a cold if we keep going like this."
The original decorations of each courtyard in the Prince's residence were exactly the same, built by the Imperial Household Department according to the same template, with identical standards and dimensions.
The bed in the Ninth Prince's bedroom is over two meters long, and they didn't make a new bed for him just because he's still young. Because the Ninth Prince is still short and stocky, there's a large empty space at the foot of the bed when he sleeps at night.
To prevent the Ninth Prince, who had a bad sleeping habit, from rolling around in his sleep at night, his wet nurse placed several quilts at the foot of the bed, artificially reducing the area where he could move around on the bed.
At this moment, the quilts piled at the foot of the bed became convenient for Yin'e. Fearing that continuing to squeeze into the same quilt with the Ninth Prince would make the quilt even more drafty, Yin'e simply crawled out of the quilt, pulled a quilt from the foot of the bed, lifted it up, and crawled inside.
Sitting cross-legged on the bed, Yin'e wrapped himself up completely in the thick quilt, turning into a round ball. Although it was a bit unseemly, it was warm enough and kept out of the draft: "Ninth Brother, don't rush, let me explain slowly."
Tilting his head to look at Yin'e, the Ninth Prince followed suit, wrapping the quilt around himself, turning the round ball of quilt on the bed into two: "Hmm, tell me quickly, tell me in detail."
The business that Yin'e wanted to do was not glass, cement, or gunpowder, which were indispensable for time travelers.
He doesn't plan to take too big a step in the initial stage. Before his business empire has expanded, he won't touch things like glass, which are low-cost but highly profitable. He can't control himself and end up doing all the work for others.
As for cement and gunpowder, cement is essential for road construction and is crucial to people's livelihood. Yin'e plans to develop the formula and present it to Emperor Kangxi, without intending to profit from it. As for gunpowder, although Yin'e remembers the formula of one part saltpeter, two parts sulfur, and three parts charcoal, Emperor Kangxi already had cannons, so he decided not to embarrass himself by showing them off.
Having sorted out his thoughts, Yin'e's mind began to wander, and his attention couldn't help but drift toward cement: perhaps he could work with the Ninth Prince to make cement and present the cement formula to Emperor Kangxi in their joint name.
In this way, when cement, this infrastructure marvel, shines brightly in the Qing Dynasty, the Ninth Prince will also have contributed to it, so that he won't be too embarrassed when he is granted a title in the future.
"Tenth Brother, you're daydreaming!" The Ninth Prince keenly noticed Yin'e's wandering gaze, and awkwardly wrapped himself in the quilt, leaning over to gently nudge Yin'e. "Haven't you sorted out your thoughts yet?"
Startled by the Ninth Prince's actions, Yin'e shook his head and lowered his head slightly to continue sorting out his somewhat chaotic thoughts.
Yin'e first had the idea of making money through business when he was making cosmetics with the Consort in Yongshou Palace.
At that time, Yin'e was also envious of Mongolia's abundant lanolin resources and fantasized about buying wool that Mongolians didn't want at a low price and then processing it into lanolin.
But now it seems that even fantasies can become reality and come true.
The Imperial Concubine had told Yin'e that his future wife was a noblewoman from Mongolia, and that he would be marrying into the Abahai tribe of Mongolia.
From that time on, even setting aside the lucrative business of lanolin, Yin'e began to consider doing business with Mongolia.
Perhaps other princes would rather stay away from Mongolia and not get too close to the Mongols, avoiding the impression of having close ties with Mongolia in Kangxi's eyes, but Yin'e had no such concerns at all.
Yes, Emperor Kangxi was always on guard against the Mongols. Even when the previous emperor was still in power, the Qing Dynasty had always intended to weaken the Mongols and distance itself from them. This can be seen from the fact that Mongol women no longer dominated the harems of the previous emperor and Emperor Kangxi and gradually faded into obscurity.
If one harbors ambitions to seize the throne or to rule the world, then one should indeed stay away from Mongolia. However, Yin'e deliberately chose to do the opposite and actively sought to strengthen ties with Mongolia.
This was his way of protecting himself. Being close to the Mongols proved that he had no ambition to seize the throne, which meant that he had voluntarily given up his qualification to compete for the throne.
Returning to the topic of doing business with Mongolia, it's simply about selling goods to Mongolia and making money from the Mongolians; or conversely, processing resources and products from the Mongolian grasslands into commodities and selling them locally to the Mongolians or to the interior of China to make money from the Manchus and Han Chinese.
Since its founding, the Qing Dynasty maintained a friendly and harmonious relationship with Mongolia on the surface. Caravans traveled to and from Mongolia in an endless stream, and the business of selling goods on the Mongolian grasslands had never ceased since the Qing Dynasty entered the Central Plains. Many people were involved in this business, and most of them had relatives or nobles as their backers.
There's no other way; resources are scarce on the grasslands, so any goods shipped there sell well. Mongolia's huge demand has long made exporting goods to Mongolia a mature market with very low barriers to entry and an extremely large trading volume.
In a market where the pie is almost completely divided, it is very difficult for newcomers to carve out their own niche and carve out their own share from the established players. They will inevitably clash with other businesses, infringe on the interests of others, and may even offend the powerful relatives and nobles behind the scenes who are waiting to share the profits.
Even if Yin'e and the Ninth Prince were to join forces, both being princes with considerable influence, they couldn't use their power to forcefully seize market share. Those arrogant and audacious nobles and relatives were not to be trifled with either; if they united, their combined strength would be considerable.
The competition in exporting to Mongolia is too fierce, it's reached its limit. Although the profits are not low, it's obviously not wise to squeeze into it.
Yin'e did not intend to interfere. His idea was to open up new markets, use modern knowledge and technology that did not yet exist in the current era to process the products and resources of the grasslands into commodities, and be the first to try something new in this new field.
Thanks to the marriage alliance with the Abahai tribe, Yin'e was able to directly contact the Mongol tribes, eliminating the opportunity for middlemen to profit from the difference. Once this marriage alliance was fully implemented, Yin'e would have easy access to the abundant resources of the grasslands.
The grasslands are dominated by nomadic civilizations, and their produce is indeed not as diverse as that of the agricultural Central Plains. However, Mongolia is a vast and resource-rich land, and if one were to look for specific products, there would be quite a lot to find.
The most interesting thing is that Mongolia is still in a semi-developed state. Whether it is Mongolia or the Qing Dynasty, the utilization of resources on the grassland is still in its initial stage.
In other words, this is a promising, vast market with few competitors. It's much easier to make money in a completely new field than to struggle and fight your way through a mature, crowded market.
Even without having visited Mongolia in person, Yin'e could easily recall many of its products and list several on his fingers. When one thinks of grasslands, the first things that come to mind are pastures, galloping horses, and grazing cattle and sheep—these are the unique resources of the grasslands.
Yin'e had no intention of engaging in the horse business, as it offered little prospect for either Yin'e or the Ninth Prince.
Even though the Mongolian grasslands are vast, the number of exceptional horses capable of traveling a thousand miles a day and selected from hundreds is still extremely small. Although the profit per good horse is very high, the better the horse, the more only relatives and nobles can afford to buy and raise it. The market is too small and involves too many interests. It is not worth getting involved in this murky water just to make money.
Moreover, most of the good horses were actually supplied to the Imperial Household Department for the royal family. If you wanted to do business in fine horses, you would have to compete with the Imperial Household Department first, which was too troublesome and too sensitive. Everyone knew that Lingpu, the head of the Imperial Household Department, was the Crown Prince's wet nurse!
Besides the good horses, there were quite a few fine and inferior horses left, but the Ministry of War would order a large portion of them to serve as warhorses, and only the worst quality ones would actually flow into the hands of the common people.
Moreover, those who can afford to buy horses are mostly wealthy households, while the general public can afford to buy them but not to maintain them. The demand is only so big, and the market is difficult to expand.
Even disregarding profit, the issue of horses themselves is significant. The Manchus rose to power through horsemanship and archery, and horses were a strategic resource and an essential part of their cavalry. By interfering in the horse trade, even if Yin'e and the Ninth Prince's intention was merely to make money, they were still challenging Emperor Kangxi's sensibilities.
Compared to the delicate and troublesome horse, cattle and sheep are much more approachable. They are livestock that can be slaughtered for meat, and they also produce many byproducts, making them a treasure from head to toe.
Yin'e didn't want to do the livestock business either.
Driving cattle and sheep from Mongolia to the interior of China for sale is too troublesome. It is difficult to guarantee the survival rate of the cattle and sheep, and it is also difficult to guarantee that there will be any profit. The cattle grazing in Mongolia are not draft cattle. They need to be domesticated to plow fields and pull carts. This is a business with too much investment and too little return.
Yin'e wants to do business selling beef and mutton, but he can't do it for the time being.
Fresh meat spoils easily and doesn't keep well. Given the vast distance between the grasslands and the interior of China, the only options were to process beef and mutton into dried meat or canned goods. Direct transportation and sales were not feasible—the Qing Dynasty had no cold chain transportation system, making it impossible to sell fresh meat directly from the grasslands to the Central Plains.
Dried meat doesn't require much technology, but canned food, putting aside the issue of sealing and preservation, is a huge investment just in terms of the materials used to make cans. Whether it's metal, ceramic, or glass, the investment is substantial, something that Yin'e and the Ninth Prince, whose business empires are still in their early stages, can't afford to do.
Moreover, meat products not only face processing challenges, but also significant sales difficulties. Meat is inherently more expensive than vegetables, rice, and noodles, and with substantial processing fees, the final price of the finished product can't be low enough to avoid losses, making it even more affordable for a smaller number of people.
Ultimately, the majority of people in the world are ordinary citizens who can't even guarantee their basic needs. They can't afford meat on a regular basis, so where would they get the extra money to buy more expensive dried meat or canned goods? Even if this business succeeds in the future, it will only make money from the powerful and wealthy; ordinary people won't be able to afford these things.
If we're really talking about a vast market and huge demand, we should look at the by-products of cattle and sheep. Whether it's cow's milk, sheep's milk, wool, or mutton fat, they're all inexpensive and require only simple processing to become commodities. Moreover, the final products are in high demand, easy to sell, and the return on investment is extremely fast.
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