In the carriage, Liu Feng sat with his eyes closed, pondering. He recalled the intelligence about Solo from Anri’s notebook: Solo was a local in the royal capital, descended from nobility but fallen into decline, later turning to commerce.
Solo had a keen vision and wasn’t rigid or traditional. He was someone willing to take risks. In just a short span of 20 years, he had transformed from a fallen noble descendant into a wealthy man, amassing a fortune of a thousand gold coins.
In Liu Feng’s view, Solo was a highly successful businessman and a promising partner. Building a merchant team wasn’t easy, especially in West Sun City where few had been to the royal capital, and fewer still understood commerce.
For Liu Feng, venturing out to establish trade routes or to the royal capital wasn’t feasible at the moment. West Sun City needed him to stay in charge, especially with winter approaching.
Moreover, West Sun City hadn’t yet developed to the point where it needed him to expand trade routes. So, his current approach was to find an existing merchant team to cooperate with- this was the quickest and most suitable method.
Now, Liu Feng was about to test whether Solo was a suitable business partner. What Liu Feng valued most was Solo’s team’s transportation capacity.
“My Lord, we’ve arrived at the workshop.”
Liu Feng stepped out of the carriage and saw Solo standing nearby, observing curiously with attentive ears, catching the distinct sound of clacking.
“Yes, this is the workshop area of West Sun City,” Liu Feng nodded. He was already planning the city’s urban zoning, with this southern area of West Sun City earmarked for industrial use, where all major workshops would be located.
Solo’s eyes narrowed slightly at this. There were many workshops here, and workshops were a core source of income for a city. Bringing him here indicated that there was something important.
“Anri, take me to the linen warehouse,” Liu Feng turned to Anri. He had visited North Wind City to establish the workshops.
Anri led the way, and soon they arrived at the linen warehouse. The gatekeeper opened the door, and they entered.
“Hiss…” Upon entering, Solo sucked in a breath of air, his eyes trembling as he gazed at the densely packed linen on the shelves.
Liu Feng’s lips curled up slightly as he glanced at Solo’s reaction. He asked Anri, “How much linen do we have here?”
“Young Master, we have 200 bolts of bottom-grade linen, 100 bolts of lower-grade linen, and 2 bolts of medium-grade linen,” Anri said with her notebook in hand.
“And what’s the daily production?” Liu Feng asked calmly.
“We can produce 40 bolts of bottom-grade linen and 20 bolts of lower-grade linen per day,” Anri quickly replied.
Solo was stunned. He doubted his ears. A bolt of linen was 30 meters long. Producing 60 bolts a day was like robbing money! In the royal capital, linen fetched 30 copper coins per meter. By this calculation, the daily income would be 50 silver coins, or one gold coin every two days. At this rate, it wouldn’t take long for Liu Feng to earn a sum far from his current assets.
The potential growth in production volume startled Solo. The fact that someone else might only need years to catch up with his 20 years of hard-earned income was unbelievable to him.
“The production volume is still too low. We need to aim for over a hundred bolts of lower-grade linen per day,” Liu Feng shook his head in dissatisfaction.
“Young Master, the workers we recruited today are still undergoing training. It will take a few more days before they can work, and then the production volume should exceed a hundred bolts per day,” Anri said seriously.
Solo shivered. Over a hundred bolts a day meant earning gold coins daily. In just over a year, he could earn a thousand gold coins. And this was only the workshop’s income, not the territory’s income.
He was truly astounded. If this got out, the noble families would act like bandits, and even the king might be tempted.
Therefore, Solo was afraid of being silenced. Though he didn’t understand why linen could be produced so quickly, the linen in this warehouse couldn’t possibly be fake.
“Sir Solo, what do you think of the linen here?” Liu Feng pulled out a bolt of lower-grade linen from the shelf and showed it to Solo.
“Huh?” Solo touched the linen and was amazed at its quality- it was at the level of high-grade linen, the type worn by merchants and nobles.
“My Lord, are all the linens here of this quality?” Solo asked with a trembling voice.
“Of course not. This is lower-grade linen; over there are the bottom-grade linens,” Liu Feng moved to another shelf and pulled out a bolt of linen.
Phew… Solo let out a sigh of relief. This linen was what commoners wore. If all of them were the so-called lower-grade linen like what he had just seen, the prices he speculated would have doubled.
“Lord City Lord, I don’t quite understand. Is the production volume you mentioned earlier true? Hundreds of bolts of linen per day?” Solo boldly voiced his doubts.
“Yes,” Liu Feng nodded. He didn’t planned to reveal the spinning jennies and looms just yet. He changed the subject. “Sir Solo, how about you handle the sales of these linens?”
“What?” Solo widened his eyes in disbelief.
“I have the goods, but forming a merchant team takes too much time. Therefore, I need a partner right now,” Liu Feng calmly stated.
“Really?” Solo’s eyes nearly bulged out in surprise. He pointed to himself, his voice trembling, “Lord City Lord, are you asking me to cooperate with you?”
“Yes, I value your transportation channels,” Liu Feng replied straightforwardly.
“Understood.” Solo nodded decisively. He had also considered this point. Otherwise, why would he be sought out for a linen business that could earn at least a thousand gold coins a year?
“Then let’s discuss the profit distribution!” Liu Feng smiled.
“No, Lord City Lord. I only need 1% of the profit,” Solo immediately stated. While 1% wasn’t a lot, it was still considerable earnings.
He was betting on the future. Solo didn’t believe Liu Feng would settle for his current status quo. Moreover, if they could cooperate on other goods as well, 1% would actually be quite substantial given the scale.
“You’re bold. Trust me, you won’t regret today’s decision,” Liu Feng smiled confidently. He had been prepared to argue for a bit and was ready to give 3% of the profit.