With the large sum of money supported by his father, Duke Qin Zhang Chuan, as start-up capital, Zhang Chen was able to come up with some really big ideas.
Before, Ah Liu did not go to Xingtai with him, but the retainers of the Duke of Qin's Mansion protected Zhao Si and Luo Xiaoxiao, a pair of blacksmiths and carpenters, and safely arrived in Xingtai. Then the two leaders led the craftsmen recruited by Zhang Chen, and in just ten days they modified ten new looms. The few weavers who had been recruited before but had been eating idle meals started working.
Then, Zhang Chen sold the cotton that he had stockpiled in several warehouses to Zhang Wu and Zhang Lu at a "high price" and recovered the money he had lent. Then, he sent people to secretly take the cotton yarn spun in Zhang Wu and Zhang Lu's workshops, as well as the cotton yarn purchased by the two, and took it to his own weaving workshop to weave cloth. He then sold the woven cotton cloth to a cloth shop with which he had already established contact.
With this virtuous cycle, the secret weaving workshop had more and more looms and more and more cotton yarn, and naturally the output increased. So much so that when no one else noticed, the price of cotton cloth on the market fell by 10%.
Then, Zhang Chen used the money from the sale of cloth to give back to Zhang Wu and Zhang Lu in the form of banknotes through Fulong Bank...
This is just like the typical left hand throwing a ping-pong ball to the right hand, the right hand then throwing the ping-pong ball on the ground, the left hand catching the ping-pong ball that bounces off the ground and throwing it back to the right hand... He was having a lot of fun doing this repetitive transaction, and the price of cotton was raised again and again. Finally, because Zheng Yuanwai and others also began to test the waters for shipment, he immediately lowered the price of cotton.
In the end, his price remained stable at four times the cotton price. As for Zheng Yuanwai and others, after tentatively releasing some cotton, they were cheated by his sudden price drop. After calculating that Wang Shen had little cotton left, they immediately stopped.
No one was going to compete with "Wang Shen" who had the Second Prince as his backer and acted simply, roughly and recklessly. Most people were going to wait until "Wang Shen" ran out of stock, and then raise the price to make a fortune from the Qin Guogong Mansion behind Zhang Wu and Zhang Lu. Of course, Zheng Yuanwai and others even prepared a perfect cover-up for this, and did not intend to reveal their true identity.
As for Zhang Chen, when he heard that wealthy families like Zheng Yuanwai of Xingtai went to Cangzhou to purchase cotton at high prices, and that their warehouses were overflowing, and that some people even sent messengers to Jiangnan to contact shipping companies for cotton, he was overjoyed and rewarded the guards his father had given him, especially the one who often gave him advice.
However, although he was having a blast acting, it made the eldest prince of Cangzhou and the wealthy families suffer. Although they hurriedly began to stockpile cotton after learning about Zhang Wu and Zhang Lu's "prodigal" behavior, in the business world, falling behind means being beaten... no, starving. This was simply unbearable for the eldest prince who had just tasted the sweetness of profit.
As the new cotton had not yet been harvested and there was a lack of raw materials, they were unable to start work. So they desperately stockpiled cotton, intending to sell it to Zhang Wu and Zhang Lu, who were collecting cotton while desperately expanding the scale of their workshop. As for their own workshop, it was closed.
The result of the shutdown was the dismissal of workers. The result of the dismissal of workers was that a large number of unemployed poor people, with no way to make a living, directly surrounded the palace in Cangzhou. Compared with Zhang Wu and Zhang Lu, who had illegitimate identities, the eldest prince, as a descendant of the royal family, was naturally qualified to live in the palace. This was also the only preferential treatment the emperor gave to his son.