Chapter 414: Best Seller

The clanging sound of metal filled the military workshop.

After learning about the production of cannons and firearms, Xiao Ming reminded Song Changping and Chen Qi about their production tasks.

The workshop’s production capacity had tripled, but for Xiao Ming, it was still far from enough. The reason was simple: his current strength was far behind the Western powers.

In modern times, even the Dutch, with a land area of only 40,000 square kilometers, had hundreds of warships. During the Anglo-Dutch Wars, one side could deploy as many as 8,000 cannons at once—and that was in the early 17th century.

Now it was the 18th century, and these empires’ navies had become even stronger.

Compared to these huge numbers, Xiao Ming’s forces were far behind. So now he planned to vigorously develop trade and continue expanding the number of shipyards. Otherwise, competing for colonies with these old empires would be a lifetime struggle.

After experiencing political darkness in Chang’an, he did not want to waste energy on court intrigues. Internal strife would only distract him and slow Qingzhou’s business development.

Moreover, he now controlled both Youzhou and Qingzhou, with a land area not smaller than Great Britain’s main island at the time.

Great Britain’s island was about 240,000 square kilometers, and he had about 150,000 to 160,000 square kilometers, just a little less.

With such land, he had no urgent need to acquire more. The remaining problem was industrializing the land and making the people prosperous.

While thinking about this, Xiao Ming headed to the merchants’ association.

Today Pang Yukun was responsible for distributing potatoes, having counties and villages promote potato planting. To support this, he needed help from the merchants’ association.

Common people were not fools. If you brought them something they had never seen, they wouldn’t care to plant it unless they found out it could be sold for money.

That’s why this time the merchants’ association needed to promote the potatoes. Actually, for Xiao Ming, how many potatoes were sold and for how much didn’t matter much. What mattered was letting local people know planting potatoes could make money.

Entering the merchants’ hall, the smell of potatoes greeted him. Around ten coal stoves had iron pots boiling potatoes in water.

Merchants gathered around eating boiled potatoes—the most basic way to eat them.

Deeper inside, one cook was frying potato shreds, another was making fries. After trying boiled potatoes, merchants ran to wait here.

Xiao Ming entered, and Li Kaiyuan immediately came forward. Merchants quickly gathered, eyes full of expectation.

"Your Highness, many merchants want to buy potatoes. They think the price is too high, so I discussed with them. They think five taels of silver per shi is more reasonable," Li Kaiyuan said.

"Five taels?" Xiao Ming frowned. This was much lower than they expected.

Now the price of one shi of rice was only fifty wen (a small coin), so this price was already ten times the price of rice—a very high price.

After hesitating, Xiao Ming said, "Five taels it is. The main thing now is to sell potatoes. Five taels per shi means over one hundred taels per acre. The people will get rich."

"Yes, that makes me want to go home and plant potatoes," Li Kaiyuan said happily.

Shaking his head, Xiao Ming said, "Don’t be too proud yet. When potato output rises, the price will drop. If it stays a bit higher than rice, that will be good."

Li Kaiyuan agreed deeply.

With Xiao Ming’s approval, Li Kaiyuan told the merchants, "The price is five taels per shi. Anyone who wants to buy can place orders now."

At once, merchants crowded around Li Kaiyuan, shouting:

"I want twenty shi."

"Give me one hundred shi."

"Two thousand shi, I’ll sell them in Chang’an."

"…"

The merchants were very enthusiastic, and Xiao Ming was satisfied.

Potatoes would slowly spread throughout the Great Yu Empire. As expected, after the merchants bought the potatoes, they prepared to turn them into real profits.

Merchants appeared at the docks selling potatoes to other regions. Qingzhou’s East and West markets reacted quickly. Potatoes soon appeared in the markets.

The next day, people entering the city were surprised to see potatoes on stalls.

Yesterday, officials had sent people to villages to promote potato planting. Many were afraid to plant this unfamiliar crop.

Land was the lifeline of common people. One failed harvest could be deadly. But when they heard the price…

"Five taels per shi!" a villager exclaimed.

The vendor nodded and pushed hard, "It’s true. I just bought these from the merchants’ association. I have to make a profit. Five wen per jin. The taste is good. This pot is for sampling. Try some."

The villager looked around. His family had sold grain to the government for about fifteen or sixteen taels a year.

Compared to before, they were better off. Five wen per jin wasn’t expensive. So he said, "Give me two jin. I’ll let my family try it. Maybe next year we’ll plant an acre of potatoes."

The vendor smiled broadly. Business was good. From morning till now, he sold three shi of potatoes. It seemed selling potatoes was no problem. Thinking this, he planned to buy more from the merchants’ association. The supply was limited, and if he didn’t buy soon, there might be none left.

As the vendor thought, more merchants came to buy potatoes. Even many villagers came to buy potatoes to sell in their villages.

Street vendors blocked the merchants’ association entrance, crowding it.

These were not big merchants but small vendors, buying one or two shi each time. But with Xiao Ming’s approval, the merchants’ association gladly sold to these small vendors.

The reason was simple: these vendors and villagers were locals. Xiao Ming wanted to support local commerce and the grassroots people.

Moreover, these vendors and villagers moved goods throughout the region and spread the news directly to common people.

Places big merchants wouldn’t go, these vendors would. This way, the potato news could truly reach every corner of the region.

Later, Li Kaiyuan reported the day’s potato sales to Xiao Ming. Overall, they sold two thousand shi on the first day—a very good number.

In the next few days, the sales target of ten thousand shi would probably be reached quickly. That meant an easy fifty thousand taels of silver in hand.