Books are luxury goods for wealthy families, and bookstores are equivalent to luxury stores. Not everyone can afford to open one. Most bookstores have aristocratic family background. Although they cannot make much money by selling books, after all, the people who come and go are wealthy families, and those who can become shopkeepers are also well-known figures.
After a few pleasantries, everyone got down to business.
A middle-aged man with a beard asked, "Master Su! Why did you invite us here today?"
Although the Li and Yan countries have been at odds for a long time, the merchants in Jiang City did not reject Ji Su because of this. To be precise, they did not reject doing business with Yan State. They would even cooperate with Ji Su to suppress Gan State's industries in Li State.
They want the country to be strong, but they don't want the country to be stronger than themselves.
Only a country that has always been poor, always relied on the State of Li, and can still fight is a good country!
It just so happened that the relationship between Gan and Yan was even worse, and Ji Su was also good at doing business, and he also took the lead in suppressing your Gan Guo Paper Company, so their contacts were still quite close.
Ji Su smiled and said, "Of course we have something important to discuss! I think you all have heard about what happened at Shangmo Bookstore today!"
"Shangmo Bookstore!"
Everyone looked at each other. They all worked in the bookstore. Any movement in the book market would be visible to them. How could they not know what happened today?
But they didn't take it seriously.
The 3,000 copies of "Shan Hai Gui Tan" in Shangmo Bookstore are definitely not due to bankruptcy. It is most likely a means of losing money to gain publicity.
But so what?
They can't keep losing money. The most they can do is let more people know about this bookstore, and eventually there may be more customers, but that's all. If the location is not good, the business will not take off. In the end, it would be good enough if they can make back the money they lost.
Someone smiled and waved his hand: "Shangmo Bookstore is just a show to attract attention. There is no need to worry about it at all."
Everyone smiled knowingly, thinking of the widely circulated story, and found it funny and amusing.
Ji Su shook his head and smiled: "You may not understand something, why not listen to me first, then it's not too late to draw a conclusion!"
"Please speak, Master Su!"
"The paper used by Shangmo Bookstore is from Gan Guo Paper Company. If it is really suspended, Shangmo Bookstore will not make any money, but Gan Guo Paper Company will be able to survive. Don't forget, we had discussed many times to kill Gan Guo Paper Company."
Everyone looked at each other in bewilderment. If this was the case, then Gan Guo Paper Company would indeed be the biggest beneficiary.
If the Gan Guo paper industry is defeated, the Li Kingdom will be eligible to negotiate with the Gan Kingdom and purchase the royal bamboo grass directly from the Gan Kingdom. If the purchased items are changed from finished products to raw materials, they can make more money.
They looked at Ji Su: "Master Su wants to destroy Shangmo Bookstore?"
Ji Su nodded: "Of course!"
Everyone was a little hesitant: "But Shangmo Bookstore wins by price. If you want to suppress it, I'm afraid you will have to pay a lot of money."
Ji Su's smile was full of confidence: "Don't worry, everyone! I have thought of a way to have the best of both worlds."
“The best of both worlds!”
Everyone's eyes lit up. Although they didn't like Ji Su's personality, they still recognized his ability in business. After all, he was the one who managed Yan Country's industries personally, and he was doing quite well.
If this continues, it would be great if he could come forward and destroy a few more industries of the country.
"Young Master Su, why don't you elaborate?"
“It’s simple!”
Ji Su smiled and said, "I have never opened a bookstore, so I don't know much about the ins and outs of it. Could you please tell me what the approximate cost of a book is?"
After some discussion, everyone came to a conclusion: if all costs were calculated, it should be around four hundred and fifty coins. Because many people in the community could not afford to buy books from the bookstore, they often charged high prices to the copyists. In order to retain the copyists, the bookstores gradually increased the wages they offered.
Ji Su's mouth suddenly raised a smile: "That is to say, Shang Mo Bookstore will lose 150 coins for each book! In this case, let's send more people to Shang Mo Bookstore to guard it. As long as they open, we will buy all their books, and then take them back to our respective bookstores and sell them at the price of 250 coins.
By then, the people who would have originally gone to Shangmo Bookstore would have all gone to your bookstores. They would be busy coming and going, but in the end they would get nothing.
When they can no longer bear the price increases, we will make a large investment, and within a month at most Shangmo Bookstore will completely go bankrupt.
As for the money to be paid, I can share half of it with you!"
“Great!”
Everyone's eyes lit up.
Reselling a book would only result in a loss of fifty cents, but Shang Mo Bookstore would lose three times that much. Moreover, Ji Su could share the loss with him, so he could just play along with him. In the end, Shang Mo Bookstore would definitely be the one to go under.
However, someone still asked, "Master Su! Have you ever thought about the possibility that Shangmo Bookstore can make money by selling 300 coins? If so, wouldn't we be at a huge loss?"
The atmosphere in the hall suddenly became tense. Everyone turned around and looked at the man with conspicuous eyes.
The man felt a little uncomfortable being stared at, and thought to himself, how could one make money from a book worth three hundred coins?
However, he still felt something was wrong, and took out another booklet from his arms: "I have seen that every page of this book has the seal of Shangmo Bookstore. If we put their books in our bookstore, wouldn't it be like promoting them? Our customers are all nobles, and we can't let Shangmo Bookstore take advantage of them for no reason!"
Ji Su laughed loudly: "What's wrong with shouting for him? Even if everyone in Jiangcheng knows about Shangmo Bookstore, it's just a dead Shangmo Bookstore. What impact will it have? Didn't they say that Shangmo Bookstore went bankrupt? Then I will make it really go bankrupt!
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