That day, Qin Shiyu and Zhao Cheng returned from delivering goods to the county town, their faces looking somewhat somber.
In the past, Qin Shiyu would always be beaming with joy when she returned with deliveries, but today she seemed a little off. Could there be some problem with the sugar market?
"What's wrong, Shiyu? What's the problem?" Zhao Xian asked.
"When we went to the county town to deliver goods this time, we encountered some things, which were pretty much what you expected. There were indeed similar products to white sugar on the market. This kind of white sugar is not priced high, which has had a certain impact on our white sugar sales."
Manager Lin's shipments of white sugar are clearly not selling well. He's asking us to reduce the supply to only 50 jin per day, which has caused our supply to drop by two-thirds.
Although it was expected, it still surprised Zhao Xian. However, he didn't quite understand why Manager Lin only asked for a reduction in the supply volume and not a price reduction.
Seeing that Zhao Xian had raised a question, Qin Shiyu explained:
"This newly launched white sugar, although not expensive, is of poor quality and cannot compare with the white sugar we produce."
Because our white sugar is of good quality, it still has some market demand, although there are far fewer buyers.
After Qin Shiyu finished speaking, she took out a packet of white sugar and handed it to Zhao Xian.
"It's this kind of white sugar. Manager Lin specifically asked me to bring it back to study."
Zhao Xian took the white sugar and examined it carefully.
This white sugar has a dull color, doesn't look very good, and smells like yellow mud.
He tasted it and immediately understood what was going on. At the same time, he was puzzled as to how the method of using yellow clay to decolorize and make white sugar had appeared so quickly.
After a moment's thought, he understood the reasoning behind it, and it was not surprising that a new type of white sugar had appeared at this time.
In any era, scarcity drives up value. The white sugar they produced caused a sensation as soon as it appeared, bringing huge profits to the first operators.
The profit margin is simply too high; shrewd businessmen wouldn't let this opportunity to make money slip by.
At this time, someone would develop a method for making white sugar, and it would only be a matter of time before a new type of white sugar was produced. However, it was unexpected that the ancients developed a method for making white sugar in such a short period of time.
"This kind of white sugar is made by decolorizing yellow mud. Although this method can produce white sugar, the quality of the produced white sugar is far inferior to that of the white sugar we produce."
However, this type of white sugar is relatively inexpensive, so it can attract some consumers, but high-end consumers are still willing to accept our white sugar.
We don't need to worry too much about this. Those merchants can't produce high-quality white sugar in a short time. Even if we only sell fifty catties a day, the profit will still be very high.
We'll ignore the market changes for now. Since Manager Lin has asked for a reduction in supply, we'll supply him according to his request.
In the next stage, we plan to produce baijiu (Chinese liquor), which should be more profitable than sugar.
Once the main structure of the workshop is completed, we will begin interior construction; this is our primary task at present.
Qin Shiyu smiled. Her Qin family used to be businessmen, and in the business world, they were always afraid of being suppressed or robbed by others. But now she didn't have to worry about that anymore. The head of the family was smart and wise, and had plenty of ways to deal with it.
With the main construction of the workshop finally completed, Zhao Xian arranged for people to level the ground around the workshop and lay many stones on it. After that, the ground was compacted so that it would not become muddy even on rainy days.
After all this was done, the rice could finally be harvested, and the countryside officially entered the "double rush" season.
The so-called "double rush" refers to the rush to harvest and plant rice, which means harvesting the early rice and planting the late rice.
Zhao Xian's rice paddy is less than one mu (approximately 0.16 acres), so there is basically no rush to harvest it. However, he never expected that his small amount of rice would become the focus of attention for the entire village.
This small paddy field is estimated to yield 500 jin of rice, which is more than the yield of the three mu of paddy field next to it.
The villagers were very curious that such a small paddy field could yield so much rice.
What kind of rice variety is this? The villagers all want to plant this rice variety next year. Many people have already made reservations to buy their rice as seed.
Zhao Xian knew that these rice stalks were fine as seed, but achieving a high yield next year was definitely impossible.
Since the villagers want this rice as seed, then I'll sell it to them. But I need to make it clear beforehand that I can't guarantee next year's harvest.
There were many people in the family, and the rice in the paddy field was quickly harvested. The rice was carried back by everyone and placed on an open space in front of the door. The next step was to thresh the rice.
The ancients had a very simple method for threshing rice. First, they would prepare a large stone, then pick up a handful of rice and smash it against the stone. After smashing it more than ten times, all the rice grains would be knocked off.
This method of threshing caused Zhao Xian a headache; it was not only time-consuming and laborious, but also extremely inefficient.
He told his family not to rush to thresh the rice, as he wanted to make a threshing machine. This machine was made by manually stepping on a pedal, which drove a wooden wheel on top through gears. The wheel had raised parts that could knock the rice grains off when it rotated at high speed, thus completing the threshing process.
When the family heard that Zhao Xian was going to make a threshing machine, they became interested and wanted to know what it would look like.
Zhao Xian immediately drew up a blueprint, which was full of wooden parts for the threshing machine. He told Zhao Xiaoshan to take the blueprint to a carpenter to make the parts, and then bring them back and have the carpenter come over to help him install them.
After Zhao Xiaoshan left, Zhao Xian went to the blacksmith shop, intending to have the blacksmith make some iron parts for him.
In the blacksmith's workshop, the blacksmiths who were busy at work immediately dropped what they were doing and came to greet Zhao Xian when they saw him arrive.
"What does the scholar need made today?" the blacksmith asked.
"Help me make some iron parts for the threshing machine. I need to take them back and install them."
The blacksmith didn't know what a threshing machine was, but that didn't stop him from making the iron parts for it.
He took the blueprints, glanced at them, nodded, and said:
“These are easy to make. Just wait a moment, I’ll make them for you now. It won’t be long before they’re done.”
The blueprints detailed the dimensions and specifications of the parts. It would take some time to make a few gears, but the other parts would be easier to make. At this point, several apprentices came over to help.
With a series of clanging sounds, some iron parts on the threshing machine were quickly completed.
"Would you like me to come over and help you install it?" the blacksmith asked.
If a blacksmith could come and help with the installation, that would be great.
Zhao Xian nodded, and the two of them, carrying the iron parts, quickly hurried back.
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