Father Xiang did not doubt and directly persuaded the people to eat: "Then let's eat quickly. Come, try this braised beef. This is not ordinary beef. It is made from cows that have grown up eating fresh grass and plowed the land."
Zhang Qicheng said: "Then I have to try it."
Xiang Yang also ate a piece and praised: "It's chewy and delicious."
"Yeah, if it tastes good, eat more." Xiang's mother said happily.
Father Xiang said to Mother Xiang, "It's rare for Boss Zhang to come. Please help me get the jar of medicinal wine from the bedroom. I want to drink some with Boss Zhang."
Xiang Yang also likes to drink some wine. He said to Zhang Qicheng: "That wine was made by my father himself. He added a lot of medicine to it. It's very good."
Zhang Qicheng nodded. He was not very interested in wine, but that was not something he could not drink. Since Xiang Yang told Xiang's father that he wanted to drink, he would drink too.
After three rounds of wine, the dishes have five flavors.
Zhang Qicheng talked to Xiang's father about business. "Boss Xiang, your purchases have not been very strong recently. I heard from the people below that the goods you delivered in the past few days are getting less and less. Do you think the price I gave you is not fair and have found other sales channels?"
People in most places don't mind talking about serious matters over a drink, at least not in Longcheng. Zhang Qicheng took advantage of the alcohol and went straight to the point. In fact, he didn't care much about the seafood provided by Xiang's father. That amount of seafood was dispensable to him, but he was telling the truth. During this period, the amount of seafood provided by Xiang's father was indeed getting less and less. What Zhang Qicheng was worried about was the attitude of Xiang's father and son towards him. He didn't care about Xiang's father's seafood, but he cared very much about Xiang Yang's catch.
"Alas." Unexpectedly, Mr. Xiang, who was so excited before, put down his wine glass and sighed.
"What's wrong?" Zhang Qicheng felt that the atmosphere was wrong.
"We are lucky to still be able to receive the goods now." Xiang Yang replied on behalf of Xiang's father: "Maybe after a while, even this little bit of goods will be gone."
"Oh?" Zhang Qicheng asked doubtfully.
So Xiang Yang told Zhang Qicheng about the three seafood buyers in the town. After that, Xiang Yang added: "In the beginning, we purchased seafood from several villages in Huhai Town around Yanlong Village. Now we only purchase fish from Yanlong Village. It is really good to be able to maintain this volume."
Father Xiang nodded and said, "If I wasn't the first one to buy fish in Huhai Town besides the three seafood buyers, and if ...
Zhang Qicheng raised his eyebrows, "There is such a thing?"
"That's right!" Father Xiang took a sip of wine.
Zhang Qicheng was speechless when he saw Xiang's father's helpless look. He said, "Among the tens of thousands of fishermen in Huhai Town, is there no one who can do anything about those three fishmongers?"
Zhang Qicheng really felt speechless.
It only takes a little over an hour from Yanlong Village to Lian County, and at most two hours to Longcheng. If you have catches, instead of selling them in town, can't you sell them in Longcheng
Xiang Yang knew what Zhang Qicheng was thinking. He smiled and said, "It's not that everyone can't do anything about those three seafood buyers. It's that they think less trouble is worse than more trouble. You've seen the current fishing situation in Huhai Town. Everyone fishes manually in a small boat? They only catch 20 to 30 kilograms of fish a day? And they are all worthless sea fish? The prices given by the three seafood buyers for these fish are fair, so everyone naturally sells them nearby."
As Xiang Yang spoke, Zhang Qicheng's face gradually became solemn. He found that the three fishmongers were smarter than he thought.
They don't make money from the fishermen's low-end seafood, but start to lower the price of mid-end seafood? The higher the quality of the catch, the harder they lower the price.
Most of the time, most fishermen catch low-end fish? Earlier, some fishermen would send high-end seafood to Longcheng themselves? After knowing this, the three seafood buyers came up with an idea, which was to stop buying low-end seafood from those fishermen who sold their catches in the city, forcing those fishermen to go to Longcheng every day to sell low-end seafood.
Some low-end seafood products don’t sell for much money in the first place. After deducting the round-trip transportation fee every day, it can be said that there is really no profit at all.
The move of the three seafood buyers frightened all the fishermen in Huhai Town. From then on, no one dared to offend the three seafood buyers. Even if they caught rare fish, they could only accept the slaughter or secretly take them to the city. As time went on, everyone was eventually eaten by the three fishmongers.
"What a good trick! First, they scare the fishermen with this trick, and then use the price to drive away all the competitors." Zhang Qicheng laughed.
"That's right." Father Xiang said angrily, "Besides, it's useless to sue them. From the perspective of market monopoly, there are three of them, so they haven't monopolized the market. From the perspective of driving up the market price, there are now four buyers in the entire Huhai Town, including me. The prices of the three of them are the same, and mine is the lowest. It seems that I am suppressing the price."
Zhang Qicheng looked at Xiang Yang, "Brother Xiang, what do you think?"
Xiang Yang smiled indifferently, "Letting these three seafood buyers go is still a big deal, but since I bought the first large ship in the entire Huhai Town, their business model is doomed to fail. As long as we have a few decent large ships in Huhai Town, there will naturally be countless seafood buyers outside who will take the initiative to run to Huhai Town."
Zhang Qicheng nodded slightly, "Relying on such petty tricks that are not presentable can only bring temporary glory, but it will never achieve success."
Father Xiang said anxiously, "But they are deliberately raising the price now. What should I do if I can't get any fish?"
"Let him raise the price." Xiang Yang said with a smile: "The seafood market in Huhai Town in the future will never return to the situation where they share the market in three parts. The more they raise the price now, the more money they will lose. The longer they raise the price, the longer they will lose money."
Zhang Qicheng also smiled and nodded, saying meaningfully: "I'm afraid it won't be long before they become second-rate seafood buyers in Huhai Town. In fact, based on their previous actions, it is not impossible that they will be completely eliminated when more people engage in seafood buying in Huhai Town in the future."
Father Xiang was slightly stunned. "Will there be many people engaged in seafood purchasing in Huhai Town in the future?"
Xiang's father didn't think as far as Xiang Yang did, nor did he have the vision of Zhang Qicheng. In his opinion, he was engaged in seafood purchasing in Yanlong Village, and the three seafood buyers in the town were his only competitors.