Chapter Thirty-Two: Blazing Inferno

  In Lin Chunhong's view, as long as his own financial strength is stronger than that of Hui Wang's team, this timber merchant war will surely be won. To achieve strong financial strength, there are only two ways: weaken the opponent's financial strength; enhance one's own financial strength.

  To enhance his financial strength, Lin Chunhong had already made up his mind. He planned to sell some of the shares of Yiling Warehouse and obtain a large sum of silver in the short term. Selling warehouse shares was something Lin Chunhong had been thinking about for a long time. After all, leaving a golden egg in Yiling City would only give officials an opportunity to get their hands on it, and they would eventually become jealous and resentful. Unfortunately, his subordinates couldn't think of a way to do it. This time, he could take advantage of the pressure from the Huaiwang Fu to make it happen, which would be a win-win situation.

  As for weakening the opponent's financial strength, Lin Chunhong found inspiration in the news he heard from Wang Yitao. It is said that King Hui was greedy and obtained salt certificates through various channels, then sold them to merchants at a high price, making a profit of several tens of thousands of silver coins per transaction. Lin Chunhong planned to get some salt certificates and have an intermediary sell them to King Hui, who would likely resell them to Chen He and Fu Jiahe at a high price. So, Lin Chunhong immediately got 30,000 dan of Huai salt certificates through Zhang Daohuan, then gave the intermediary a good commission, instructing him to sell them to King Hui at a low price.

  Lin Chunhong is making arrangements in secret, and various plans are unfolding like wildfire in Jingzhou.

  Just then, Chen He had just arrived at the gate of his house when a family member reported that his uncle had invited him to come immediately to the residence of Prince Hui.

  Chen He didn't dare to delay, and immediately took a sedan chair to the Hui Wang Fu. His uncle was very satisfied with Chen He's recent performance, and didn't make him wait long before seeing him. His uncle got straight to the point and said: "The Hui Wang Fu has obtained 30,000 dan of Huai salt salt certificates, considering you are usually quite filial, I want to give this benefit to you."

  Chen He's face changed as soon as he heard it, and he couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat on this hot summer day. Chen He knew that now one stone of salt was worth three taels of silver, and if the Duke of Huai's estate transferred it to him, they would have to sell it for at least five taels of silver. Last year, Chen He had already given tens of thousands of taels of silver to the Duke of Huai's estate through this method, but he didn't expect that this year the Duke of Huai would be even more ruthless and get so many salt certificates.

  Originally, according to Chen He's recent earnings from logging, taking over the salt business wouldn't be a big problem. But now he is in a fierce battle with Lin Chunhong, and if he takes over the salt business, his funds will be tied up for a while, and he will definitely be finished.

  Chen He's legs went soft and he knelt on the ground, pleading: "Uncle, you also know that I'm in urgent need of funds to fight Lin Chunhong. If I take over the salt business now, I won't be able to turn it around in time, and that would be the end."

  Chang Shi said, "You don't know the value of goods. You made a lot of money from logging last time, enough to win over King Hui. Look at Lin Chunhong spending a fortune in Qingjiang to maintain his guards, while King Hui just gave a nod to Rongmei Tusi and you had smooth sailing, with all the locals fearing him. If you hadn't let Lin Chunhong open his warehouse, King Hui would have bought that land. One should know what's good for them, if we keep King Hui comfortable, both of us will be at ease."

  Chen He listened and knew that he couldn't change the fact, so he begged: "Uncle, please help me out, lower the price a bit, I'll buy the salt certificate. Also, can you ask King Hui to extend the payment period by a few months?"

  Uncle shook his head and said, "Extend the deadline for a few months? The Huai Wang Fu's daily expenses are already unbearable, and now they want to renovate the garden, it's simply impossible to extend. As for the price, don't worry about it, would I, as your uncle, take advantage of you? By the way, your mother has been missing you terribly lately, go back and visit her often, don't always be wandering around outside."

  Chen He nodded in agreement, and with a dejected air, he went out the door. As he was leaving, his uncle shouted after him: "Next month, Prince Hui will be taking on a new concubine, you'd better prepare yourself well and not lose face for either of us!"

  Chen He was even more heartbroken when he heard this, and thought that it was all over, with tens of thousands of taels of silver gone again!

  Chen He is now a little worried that Lin Chunhong will last longer than himself, but then he thinks that Lin Chunhong asked him to cooperate, guessing that he is about to die and told Chen He with sorrow. Chen He can only comfort himself like this, praying for Lin Chunhong to finish as soon as possible.

  Yiling Warehouse

  Directly opposite the North Gate is a large street paved with bluestone, entering from the North Gate, on the left is a tavern and on the right is a teahouse. The tavern and teahouse have archery fields, wrestling fields, chess rooms... etc. set up on either side. Behind the tavern, there is also an arrow field. The tavern is still thirty steps away from the main street, so in front of the tavern door, there is a square with acrobats, kickers, and even a permanent theater stage, mainly used for merchants to sell goods, occasionally used for singing and dancing. In short, all kinds of sports and entertainment facilities are available in Daming, except for polo fields. Originally, Lin Chunhong had planned to build a polo field inside the warehouse, but everyone thought that the polo field took up too much space and few people played it, so they gave up. The archery field, wrestling field, and arrow field already have people betting on each other, seeking the joy of making a fortune with one throw. As for gambling, the warehouse doesn't care about it. Originally, according to Lin Chunhong's idea, he wanted to build a casino directly inside the warehouse, but under Li Chongde's firm opposition, it was abandoned. Li Chongde believed that gambling is the source of all evil, second only to prostitution. Lin Chunhong secretly disagreed with this view, thinking that people who can't even tolerate gambling deserve to be eliminated.

  The Yiling warehouse was bustling with activity, like a riot of colorful flowers and sizzling hot oil, but in the core area of the warehouse, Lin Chunhong was discussing with everyone about selling shares of the warehouse.

  Zhang Daohan has also been in Yiling these days, and he first opposed the way: "Now your difficulties are not lack of silver, but the most critical problem is that income does not match expenditure. Selling goods can only raise silver, but it cannot solve the problem of revenue and expenditure. Now the most important thing is to find a new financial path, which can fundamentally solve the problem!"

  Everyone nodded in agreement. Lin Chunhong thought for a moment and said, "Sir, your words make sense, but I think the issue of not making ends meet and lacking silver are actually two sides of the same coin. Let's think about it, our main problem is that Chen He is selling wood at a low price, if we sell wood at this price, we'll be losing money, and the wood can only pile up on the island. As long as we solve the problem of Chen He, the issue of unbalanced income and expenses will be easily resolved."

  "Having a lot of money can't immediately solve Chen He's problem, right? At most, it would just be a stalemate with him, and in the end, the money would still run out." Li Chongde said.

  "No, Chen He is also selling timber at a loss now. We have plenty of silver and can completely buy out his timber. This way, Chen He will face the problem: continuing to cut down trees would be unprofitable; stopping cutting down trees, we would control the price of timber in Jingzhou!"

  Everyone listened, and the twists in their minds turned around, and they nodded in agreement one after another, thinking that getting a large sum of silver was also a way out. Lin Chunhong continued: "Although the Yiling warehouse is making money now, it's hard to guarantee that there won't be big businessmen imitating us in the future, which will directly affect our business. If we pull in many businessmen as shareholders in advance, if someone else wants to open a warehouse in the future, they will definitely be subject to the joint resistance of the shareholder merchants and will not be able to stand in Yiling. Moreover, we can also pull some Yiling officials into the shares, reducing the possibility of human sabotage."

  In the end, everyone thought that Yiling Warehouse should not only be sold, but also other industries can be sold as long as we control it. After discussion, Yiling Warehouse was priced at 360,000 taels of silver, and 60% of it was put up for sale, with a dividend distributed once a year.

  Everyone was delighted when Lin Chunhong suddenly said, "The last time with Teng Yuheo made me think a lot too. I also feel that we've made money from doing business, but none of us have gained much wealth. This time with the Yi Ling warehouse contribution, I want to take out 20% and give it to my brothers as shares. As for how you all will divide it, discuss and come up with a plan."

  Everyone listened, stunned and unable to utter a word. Li Chengzong quickly spoke up, saying: "Last time it was Tun Yu's fault, but actually we're already quite satisfied with our current lives." As soon as Li Chengzong finished speaking, everyone began opposing Lin Chunhong's measures. Lin Chunhong could also see that these people were genuinely opposed to this matter. After all, they had been poor for a long time and now had such a good life, so they were still quite satisfied and very grateful to Lin Chunhong. But now, who knows what the future holds? Lin Chunhong understood in his heart that this time he not only needed to unite some merchants and officials around him but also, more importantly, tightly unite these hard-to-find talents around him.

  Lin Chunhong insisted on giving his brothers a share of the stock, and everyone couldn't persuade him otherwise, so they agreed to set aside 10% for the brothers. Lin Chunhong also agreed and stipulated that in the future, whenever there were shares to be distributed, 10% would be set aside as the brothers' share money. As for how to divide it, Lin Chunhong and everyone else discussed and decided that ordinary workers who received one or two silver coins, the team leader would receive two silver coins, the supervisor above the team leader would receive four silver coins, and so on. If there were changes in job positions in the future, they would be decided then. Moreover, Lin Chunhong also decided that all subordinates were welcome to participate in share distribution and enjoy priority rights.

  Finally, Lin Chunhong arranged for Li Chongde to organize today's discussions into a program, and from now on everyone will follow this.

  Teng Yu-Hao still held the position of captain, and he looked at the charter in his hand for a long time, unable to calm down. He knew that Lin Chun-Hong had been stimulated by him, and that's why he came up with this idea of distributing shares to everyone. Looking at his workers rushing around, he finally realized how strong the cohesion of Lin Chun-Hong's team was. It wasn't because they were tied together by hometown relationships or forced together by violence, but because they were united by common interests. Teng Yu-Hao was extremely sensitive to changes in benefits, and he believed that as long as people could make money, no difficulties or obstacles could stop their enthusiasm.

  Teng Yu Hao hasn't saved up any money over the years, so he plans to borrow some from relatives and friends. He also wants to buy a share in the Yiling warehouse. On one hand, he's waiting for the dividend, but more importantly, he wants to show everyone his attitude: "Look, I'm Teng Yu Hao, and even though I have to borrow money, I still want to buy a share, which shows that my heart is with all of you." Isn't this opportunity to pool funds also a chance for Teng Yu Hao to change his image?

  This month, he continued to contact Fu Jiahe and passed on some false information as instructed by Lin Chunhong. For example, passing on that Lin Chunhong was about to collapse, with less than 50,000 taels of silver left in storage. Also passing on that Lin Chunhong was unable to cope, preparing to sell a large quantity of timber at a low price in order to get through this difficult period. This information caused Chen He and Fu Jiahe to push the wood prices even lower, waiting for Lin Chunhong to go bankrupt and run away.

  Teng Yu Hao also learned that Chen He was forced to spend 120,000 taels of silver from the Huai Wang Fu to buy 30,000 dan of salt certificates. This salt was temporarily unsellable and occupied a large amount of funds. However, Lin Chun Hong's side obtained more than 200,000 taels of silver through the Yi Ling warehouse. The strength of the two sides was vastly different, and Teng Yu Hao also realized that Chen He would soon be finished, and he couldn't help but regret his past foolishness for thinking of following Chen He. Lin Chun Hong was like a newborn calf, getting stronger and stronger by the day, and it's estimated that in no time, he would become a big bull. Who knows, maybe even a tiger.