Chapter 202 Sea Ban
The next day, the maritime ban was issued, shocking the whole country. Immediately afterwards, the prices of a number of trade items, led by raw silk, plummeted.
Chen Ning bought the raw silk secretly sold by the Prince's Mansion for eight cents of silver. She received 50,000 kilograms, basically buying up all the raw silk that the Prince's Mansion had reserved for the Weaving and Dyeing Bureau.
Now, as the maritime ban was issued, the price of silk plummeted immediately. What’s more important is that even though the merchants who had raw silk were lowering their prices, they still couldn’t sell it because everyone was crazy about selling their stored raw silk. In order to sell it as soon as possible, they irrationally started a price war.
You're selling it for eight cents? Okay, I'll give you seven and a half cents... What? You're selling it for seven cents, then I'll give you six cents...
The best raw silk was first priced at seven cents, then six cents, five cents... Some people lowered the price to four cents in order to sell it as quickly as possible, but it was still difficult to get rid of it.
Within a few days, the price of silk dropped to three and a half cents... No matter how bad the market was in the past, or how large the output of raw silk was, the price had never been so low. What was even more frightening was that even though it was sold at a loss, no one wanted it.
After all, once the maritime ban was issued, the annual export of millions of kilograms of raw silk would be gone. Merchants from France, Korea and other countries could not enter, and the raw silk in the Daxuan Dynasty could not be exported. Even if the price was very cheap, what could be done with it?
The Daxuan Dynasty simply cannot consume so much internally, and if it is left in its hands it will just rot in the warehouse.
But it can’t be sold. Everyone knows that raw silk cannot be stored now, so everyone wants to sell it. Then who will buy it?
Not long after, news came that some silk merchants had jumped into the river... They were stuck with goods that they couldn't sell, and were being chased by a bunch of silk farmers and small traders demanding payment for the goods. Many merchants, especially those who had staked their fortunes, were left with nowhere to go in an instant.
After hearing the news, Mrs. Shen, who lived in the Xinchen Mansion, sneered: "Let's see how long those mother and daughter can keep jumping around."
This house almost used up all their cash, but it didn't matter, they would soon be able to get several thousand taels of silver from the Prince's Mansion. By then, they could build up the shop and revive their Shen family.
Xue Surong was also gloating and looking forward to it. After all, she already knew the inside story and knew that part of the money lost by Xie Yunqing and her daughter would go into the pockets of their Shen family. By then, she would be the mistress of the Shen family, owning a luxury house and managing the family business. Now, she was just waiting for the mother and daughter to be desperate.
But at this moment, a piece of news came out: Shen's Silk Shop was purchasing raw silk.
After receiving the news, Madam Shen frowned in confusion: "Are the mother and daughter crazy?"
Now that others can’t sell them, they are still buying them in large quantities.
Xue Surong couldn't figure it out either: "Could it be that he's desperate and wants to take a gamble?"
Madam Shen sneered: "The maritime ban has just been issued, how can they still cause trouble?"
Even if Chen Ning has Prince Ding behind him, can Prince Ding be more powerful than the emperor's order?
Unlike Old Lady Shen and the others who were gloating over the misfortune, the silk merchants were overjoyed when they learned that someone was buying raw silk at this critical juncture...
The current market price of raw silk is three cents and a half. Not only is the price low, but it is also difficult to sell. If it can be sold, the money can at least save lives.
Don’t think about making money, at least we can make ends meet and keep businesses and farmers, big and small, alive.
That is why, when they learned that Shen's Silk Shop was buying raw silk at 3.5 cents per catty, all the silk merchants rushed there, fearing that if they were a little late, Shen's Silk Shop would have bought enough and they would not be able to catch up.
Chen Ning bought only the best raw silk at three cents and a half from those almost crazy silk merchants. Soon, the stockpile of raw silk increased from 50,000 catties, 60,000 catties, 100,000 catties... to 300,000 catties.
In addition to the silver needed to purchase the raw silk, there was also the cost of preparing a warehouse for storage, which cost more than 130,000 taels. In addition to her own and Xie Yunqing's money, Xiao Nanchen also spent a full 50,000 taels.
It can be said that the investment is really huge.
But she knew that the maritime ban would not last long. The cost of these raw silks was now calculated at 140,000 taels. Once the maritime ban was lifted, according to past practices, the high-quality raw silk could be sold to French merchants for at least one tael and four cents per catty.
In other words, these 300,000 kilograms of raw silk will be worth at least 400,000 taels of silver by then... The profit is huge, but of course, the risk is also huge.
When people learned that Shen's Silk Shop was buying up low-priced raw silk on a large scale, some people were worried. After all, some people also knew that the owner of Shen's shop was the future Princess Ding. Could she be doing this because of some inside information?
But this possibility is not great. After all, the maritime ban is no small matter. The court cannot take the risk of chaos in the world to help a future princess make money.
Some people with wealth and courage also took the opportunity to buy some low-priced raw silk, but they were all small-scale and did not dare to make a big move like Chen Ning.
After all, no one knows what the court will do next?
Just a few days after Shen Ning completed the purchase of 300,000 kilograms of raw silk, Changfeng Weaving Company broke the contract as expected.
The original order was for 30,000 jin, and a deposit of 3,000 taels was paid. Because Changfeng Weaving Company took the initiative to breach the contract, the more than 3,000 taels of silver do not need to be refunded.
But Changfeng Weaving didn't care because there was someone to back it up, and that person was naturally the Prince's Mansion.
Now, everything is ready, the Prince's Mansion has taken action...
The Prince's Mansion arranged for people to go to Shen's Silk Shop to discuss the business of purchasing raw silk. After all, the best raw silk in the entire capital is now basically in the hands of Shen's Silk Shop.
Su Lianyi came forward to negotiate, and when the man finished saying that he wanted to purchase 50,000 kilograms of raw silk at the price of four coins per kilogram, Su Lianyi smiled and said two words: Not for sale!
A few days later, the man came again and the price became four cents and a half.
Because the Royal Weaving and Dyeing Bureau is about to start work... In previous years, work would start when the raw silk came in, because at this time the best quality raw silk could be bought at the lowest price.
This year, the weaving and dyeing bureau had already stockpiled enough raw silk and was just waiting to start production. However, the Prince's Mansion, which was in charge of the weaving and dyeing bureau, secretly sold all the stockpiled raw silk to Chen Ning at eight cents per catty.
They sold it at eight coins per pound. Now, the maritime ban has caused the silk price to plummet, and they can buy it back at half the price... They can then secretly reap half of the profits without telling their superiors, and get more than 20,000 taels of silver!
However, they didn't expect that Shen's Silk Shop would no longer be sold!
At this time, the best raw silk near the capital had been purchased by Chen Ning, and the rest were of inferior quality, which they would never dare to use in the Royal Weaving and Dyeing Bureau.
But if we want to buy high-quality raw silk from other places, the shipping fee will be a huge sum of money. Moreover, the Royal Weaving and Dyeing Bureau is about to start work, and there is not enough time... If we can't buy raw silk to start work, there will be trouble.
If the Empress Dowager knew that they were secretly using the raw silk from the weaving and dyeing bureau to make money for themselves, they would be finished.
According to their original estimate, after the maritime ban, Chen Ning would be left with raw silk that she couldn't sell. If they stepped in at this time, the price would still be controlled by them. By then, Chen Ning would be so grateful that she would not have time to compensate for the loss and sell the silk as soon as possible, so how could she think about anything else?
But they never expected that Shen's Silk Shop would refuse to sell the raw silk they had.
There was no time left, the Prince's Mansion was anxious, and Shen Xiang had to go out in person to talk to Shen Ning.
Her words were very nice, saying that they were aunt and niece in the past, and they would still be relatives in the future. She couldn't bear to see Chen Ning throw so much raw silk into her hands, so she wanted to share some of the burden for her.
"After all, Ningning knows that the Prince's Mansion is backed by the Royal Weaving and Dyeing Bureau. We have to buy raw silk anyway. It's better to help our own people than to give it to others. Auntie can't bear to see you lose everything you have."
This sounded nice, so Shen Ning smiled and asked, "Then what price will the princess buy it for?"
Shen Xiang didn't want to delay things, so she offered a higher price than other places: "Four qian and eight taels of silver per catty, Ning Ning, other places are now three qian and five taels of silver, and I'll give you an extra one qian and three taels of silver. Fifty thousand catties is more than six thousand taels of silver...I don't want to give this benefit to others."
Shen Ning smiled: "But I don't want to take action now, Princess, please ask somewhere else."
Shen Xiang's expression suddenly froze, but he still refused to give up and wanted to feed Shen Ning some magic potion.
"Ningning, you're young and impetuous after all. Now that the maritime ban has been issued, this is no time to gamble your future. You've already stockpiled tens of thousands of kilograms of raw silk, and I heard you're still buying... If this continues, how will you end up?"
Shen Xiang's face was filled with deep emotion as she spoke. "Even if you have your mother and His Royal Highness Prince Ding to back you up, this is too big a deal. How are you going to end it when the time comes, Ningning?"
"Auntie is always thinking about you."
Shen Ning smiled and said, "My mother and Lord Shen have already divorced, and now I have nothing to do with the Shen family. The "Shen" in Shen Ning was inherited from my adoptive father's family. I dare not claim to be related to the Princess of the County, and please do not regard yourself as my aunt in the future."
She said calmly, "As for how my family's business will develop in the future, you don't have to worry about it, Princess."
After saying that, Shen Ning stood up to see the guest off: "Princess of the County, take care, I won't see you off."
Shen Xiang's face turned pale and then blue, and he finally couldn't hold back his sneer and said, "Ningning is really ambitious now, but if you miss this opportunity, you will never get it again. If you regret it in the future, no one will help you like I did."
Shen Ning raised her hand to signal for the guest to leave.
Shen Xiang snorted, flicked his sleeves and left angrily.
As soon as Shen Xiang left, May came in. The boy who was always smiling looked serious for the first time.
"Miss, the Crown Prince has forcefully invited the young master to a banquet at the Crown Prince's residence. April managed to get word out, saying there might be a trick..."
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