Chapter Eleven Selling Books to Buy Wine

  The printing of the books is proceeding in an orderly manner, as for the price, some people suggested five strings, and some even suggested ten strings. The villagers knew that the book was expensive, but they didn't know the specific price, nor did they know that if there were more books, the price would come down.

  The final decision was still up to Qin Yu, and the villagers all trusted him. However, Qin Yu didn't want to sell it for such a high price. Last time he sold white paper, he unexpectedly made a profit, making black-hearted money in education, which Qin Yu deeply resented.

  As for the villagers' lion-like opening price, it's not without reason. It's precisely because the last batch of white paper was sold at a high price that they feel books should be sold at an even higher price. Qin Yu had already gained some understanding of the prices of Tang Dynasty books through Cheng Huailiang.

  The price of a book in Chang'an is generally between 500 and 800 wen, but such books are fragile, difficult to copy, and not widely circulated on the market.

  In the Tang Dynasty, one or two silver coins were basically equivalent to one guan, and one guan was equal to 1,000 wen, which is about 70 yuan. How could a book be sold for such an expensive price? In the end, Qin Yu set the price at 300 wen.

  The material for the white paper is readily available and the cost can be ignored, but labor still needs to be considered. Adding the cost of ink, it comes out to around 100 wen, with 20 wen being Qin Yu's recently proposed wages and 80 wen being the price of ink used to print one book.

  Although the villagers of Zhangjiacun had no complaints and were all very hardworking, Qin Yu understood that if you want a horse to run, you can't not give it grass to eat. So, in addition to the fixed 10% dividend for Zhangjiacun, Qin Yu also gave the villagers a performance-based salary.

  The more you do, the more you get; the less you do, the less you earn. The principle is that simple. As soon as Qin Yu's policy was implemented, the villagers' work efficiency increased significantly. Qin Yu knew it in his heart and naturally wouldn't say it out loud.

  Mathematical studies have finally made significant progress. The mathematics of the Tang Dynasty was also known as arithmetic, and at this time there should be a mention of the multiplication table, but here it should be called something like "The Nine-Nine Song", specifically what, Qin Yu had never heard of, nor did he care, what Qin Yu cared about was that he could continue to delve deeper into mathematics.

  After all, the children have already understood what positive numbers, negative numbers, decimal points, and integers are. Now it's time to talk about the decimal system. Qin Yu made a key explanation here, and with the text explanation in the math book, the children have also entered the state of learning, so they don't struggle too much.

  As long as the children learn, they can at least become accountants, and are much faster than those so-called accounting calculations. If the children master mental arithmetic, it's even more powerful. Qin Yu even feels that these children will go to take the Tang Dynasty's arithmetic exam and must get a full score back.

  The decimal system has been discussed, distinct from the Tang Dynasty, and a new abacus naturally emerged, with mnemonics originating in modern times, probably appearing during the Song Dynasty, no matter when it was invented, as long as it is useful.

  Making an abacus is also for kids to learn mental math, after all, kids are still young, if they can learn it, they will, if not, learning arithmetic is just as good.

  Day after day, the children study math in the morning, moral education in the afternoon, and do their homework at night. Qin Yu has to grade papers and give lectures again, so he doesn't have that much free time anymore. The villagers of Zhangjiacun are all the same, except for Cheng Huailiang, who sighs and groans every day, wandering around or sleeping with his head covered.

  The printing of books has come to an end for the time being. The Book of Songs, the Book of Rites, and the Book of Changes were each printed in 500 copies, while Qin Yu's writings on moral character, mathematics, Sanzi Jing, and Qianzi Wen were also each printed in 500 copies. A full cart of books was immediately transported to the county seat of Yongnian County.

  Of course, the car was also loaded with nearly 500 books that had been printed earlier, after all, the children needed them too, how could they take away the books for the children to sell?

  Among these 500 books, only the Three Character Classic was in 200 copies because Qin Yu hand-copied 52 copies for the children to use. As for the village chief's collection of books, there is no hurry for now, and the children can't read them anyway.

  The one pushing the cart was Zhang Dashan, a whole cart full of books. The printing of books hadn't stopped, but the speed had slowed down quite a bit. After all, everything is based on theory, and it still depends on the sales effect. If it's good, then more will be printed.

  Even if Yongnian County can't digest all the books, Qin Yu isn't worried. Aren't there still merchants? The books printed in Zhangjiacun will naturally attract their attention.

  Before Zhang Dashan set off, Qin Yu specially instructed him to buy all the silver he had earned from selling books with his own share and transport it back as wine. Zhang Dashan thought Qin Yu was greedy for wine, although he found it a bit strange, but didn't think much of it. However, according to the price of these books, the amount of wine bought was not small.

  To make money, Qin Yu naturally came up with the idea of brewing wine. Originally, before meeting Cheng Lingyun, Qin Yu had planned to buy a mansion and then brew wine to earn silver and become a leisurely small landowner, but things didn't go as he wished and it ultimately didn't come true. Now, however, Qin Yu was not willing to let it go.

  In this era, there was no such thing as strong liquor. The alcohol content of the wine was uniformly low and many were quite turbid. The taste was not great at times, always with a strange flavor. Of course, this had something to do with the fact that Muramasa's home didn't have good wine, but even if it was good wine, it wouldn't be much better.

  It's not just the Tang Dynasty people who love wine, but throughout China's 5,000-year history, wine culture has long been deeply ingrained in people's hearts. At this moment, Qin Yu is preparing to launch a distilled liquor that will surely be a huge hit. This is something Qin Yu is very certain about, and it can also produce alcohol, which has anti-inflammatory and antibacterial properties, with multiple benefits. Qin Yu naturally won't let this opportunity slip away.

  Wine can be used to make a lot of money, and this method, Qin Yu is not prepared to let go, in the Tang Dynasty, establishing a career and having one's own industry.

  Besides, the method of distilling liquor is very simple. Once it's spread out, almost everyone will know about it without even thinking, and before long, it'll be all over the Tang Dynasty. How can they still make a profit then?

  Qin Yu is not a saint, and he doesn't make selfless contributions to everything. As a businessman, his status is lowly, Qin Yu naturally knows this, but doing business doesn't necessarily require him to show up in person. Chatting with Cheng Huai Liang was indeed very useful, and Qin Yu gradually formed a clear idea.

  Secretly controlling some merchants, or buying some slaves and having them run the business, is basically what the current aristocratic families do. Qin Yu can also do this, plus with the identity of Master Gong of the Cheng Mansion, he can naturally avoid a lot of trouble.

  As for the candidates, Qin Yu temporarily chose Xiaotao and Xiaohong to be in charge of selling wine. Of course, it wouldn't be easy for the two young girls to sell wine, but with Cheng Huailiang around, they could ask him to help out. With his love for wine, he would naturally be happy to lend a hand.

  The craftsmanship of distilled liquor is not complicated, and it's hard to deceive those who are determined to investigate. However, Qin Yu planned to keep it a secret for as long as possible. The equipment was made by Qin Yu himself, and all he needed to do was wait for Zhang Dashan to buy the liquor back so that he could start his brewing business.

  Qin Yu was making a fuss in the village, and no one worried about secrets being leaked. At this time, Qin Yu's prestige in Zhangjiacun far exceeded that of Village Chief Zheng. The backyard had become Qin Yu's private territory, and except for Xiaotao and Xiaohong, no one else could enter, of course, Cheng Huailiang was an exception.

  As for Cai Langzhong, after Qin Yu told him about the general effect of Yunnan Baiyao, he was thinking every day about how to develop it, where did he have time to pay attention to these things.

  Unfortunately, even Qin Yu didn't know the composition of this medicine. However, the special medicinal ointment developed by Cai Langzhong had an efficacy of about 10% of Yunnan Baiyao. Qin Yu only provided a few herbs for Cai Langzhong to study and experiment with. To verify its effectiveness, the chickens, ducks, and geese in Zhangjiacun became the first test subjects.

  As the sun sets in the west, the villagers of Zhangjiacun Village who went into town to sell books returned to their village. Along with them were ten large carts of wine, several horse-drawn carriages, and some apprentices. Sitting inside the carriages were a few merchants dressed in luxurious attire.

  Zhang Dashan immediately found Qin Yu to recount the events, just as Qin Yu had inferred, and indeed some merchants came to investigate. As soon as Zhang Dashan finished speaking according to Qin Yu's meaning, these merchants didn't care about the night curfew and directly arrived at Zhangjiacun.

  Qin Yu received these several gorgeously dressed merchants, whose backing power was not important to him. However, judging from their aura, they seemed to be quite influential. Qin Yu wasn't afraid of them either. In the past, he might have still been a bit apprehensive, but now his courage had increased greatly.

  Whether intentionally or unintentionally revealing Cheng Huailiang's identity, the attitude of these businessmen suddenly changed by one hundred and eighty degrees, becoming extremely sincere.

  A mantis trying to shake a big tree, it's laughable that they don't know their own measure. These businessmen naturally understand this, and even the forces behind them wouldn't dare offend the infamous Mixed World Demon King, after all, they only have some influence in Yongnian County.

  Cheng Huailiang naturally understood that Qin Yu was just borrowing power, but he didn't care at all. On the contrary, he felt that it should be this way, and he also thought that Qin Yu shouldn't see these businessmen at all. In his words, "Dare to disobey, beat him."

  The business talks ended quickly, and the books were left to these merchants to sell. However, the circulating price was fixed by Qin Yu at 300 wen, while the purchase price was set at 280 wen. In fact, it could be raised higher, but Qin Yu would not do so. The merchants also wanted to make a profit, and suppressing them too much would be like killing the goose that lays the golden eggs.

  Because of Cheng Huailiang's reasons, these businessmen were forced to sign a contract with Qin Yu that made them break out in cold sweat. If they dared to violate it, not only would they have to compensate, but also face legal action.

  Merchants who dare to raise prices arbitrarily will be subject to severe punishment, and high prices, even if they are only one cent higher, will result in a fine of 1,000 taels of silver for each book sold.

  Apart from books, the white paper also signed a contract. Each sheet of five-foot-long and wide white paper was priced at half a cent for purchase and could not be sold for more than one cent; otherwise, it would be punished. However, Qin Yu truly did not want to make money from this, so he set an extremely low price.

  It was late at night, the road was not easy to walk on, and the county town had a curfew. The merchants couldn't return to Yongnian County, so they had to temporarily stay at Village Zheng's house. Although the merchants who originally planned to make a big profit were somewhat disappointed, they also got a steady stream of business, and in the end, they still made some gains.

  The printing workshop, the papermaking workshop, because outsiders came, Qin Yu secretly instructed Village Zheng to strictly guard against it, in case the craftsmanship was stolen, that would be bad. This time, the arrival of outsiders also reminded Qin Yu that Zhangjiacun's workshop should build a wall to protect the craftsmanship from leaking out.

  Qin Yu's silver was all exchanged for wine, almost filling the entire courtyard, but because there were outsiders present, Qin Yu could only temporarily suppress this urge.