After being divorced, my identity as a poet was exposed

Changle City.

Yuelai Inn.

Backyard, Room No. 1.

There was a charcoal fire burning in the room, the aroma of tea was wafting in the air, and a crowd of people were sitting around the tea table!
Sitting in the main seat was Su Mingtang, the patriarch of the Jiangnan Su family. The rest of the people were all wealthy merchants from Ningguo who were invited by Li Chenan this time.

For example, Chen Dingmao was originally in charge of the construction of the Huaishan County Wharf in Yujing City together with Su Mingtang, but he unexpectedly received a letter from the emperor a few days ago.

It is said that there is a big business!

They were invited to gather at Changle Palace on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month.

They arrived in Changle City two days ago and stayed at Yuelai Inn.

The rest came from far away.

The chief of the Guo family in Lingdong Road, Guo Shanyi, the chief of the Cui family in Qinghe, Cui Sangeng, the chief of the Wang family in Taiyuan, Wang Qian, the chief of the Liu family in Shuzhou, Liu Baiyin, etc., all received the emperor's personal letter three months ago.

At that time, the emperor was not yet the emperor!

But the emperor has already invited us to this Lantern Festival gathering.

They had a long journey to go, so they set off without stopping after receiving the invitation. They only arrived in Changle City in the past few days.

Everyone is full of expectations.

After all, this is an invitation from the Emperor!
For merchants like them, being invited by the emperor is already a great blessing.

No one dares to neglect.

But until now no one knows what kind of business the emperor is talking about.

In fact, business has become unimportant.

The important thing is... being able to see the emperor up close in Changle Palace and being invited to a banquet by the emperor is enough for them to leave a significant mark in their family tree.

At this time, wealthy people from all over the world who had long heard of his name but had never met him gathered in Room No. 1 where Su Mingtang lived. This was because they all knew Su Mingtang's son Su Yian, who was a first-rank official in the Menxia Province of Ningguo!
Su Mingtang is not the richest among these people, nor does he have the best or biggest business.

But no one dared to underestimate the old patriarch of the Su family.

You have to know that Su Yian was personally invited from Sanwei Bookstore in Jingning County by the emperor when he was still the regent!
The Su family's background is much stronger than that of his own family!
Officials and businessmen, officials in front and businessmen behind!
These people are old foxes who have been in the business world for their entire lives, and of course they know it better than anyone else.

So, one corner of Su Mingtang's room was filled with various gifts they brought from home.

They are not very expensive, but they are all local specialties.

The Su family is not short of money.

These things are the real intention.

They didn't know each other originally, but after the gift was given and some polite exchanges, they gradually became friendly with each other.

Guo Shanyi, the head of the Guo family in Lingdong Road, took the teacup handed over by Su Mingtang with both hands, took a sip, smacked his lips, looked at the tea soup carefully, and praised:
“Good tea!”

"This tea must be the Bitan Spring Snow produced by the old Patriarch Chen's family!"

"It really smells like spring flowers blooming, and tastes sweet and lingering!"

Chen Dingmao was very pleased when he heard this and laughed:
"Brother Guo is indeed a master of tea. To be honest, this tea is indeed Bitan Chunxue, but if we compare it to the Baihao Yinzhen produced by Brother Guo's family, it is still three points inferior!"

Guo Shanyi put down the teacup and stroked his short beard: "No, no, no, Baihao Yinzhen is only sold well in the Lingdong area, but the tea business of the old master Chen's family has now spread all over Jiangnan."

He cupped his hands and said, "Brother, I admire you immensely!"

“I have heard a lot and felt a lot along the way!”

"I am ashamed of myself for not being as courageous as Patriarch Chen. Last night I was still discussing with Brother Liu why we couldn't become a noble family in Ningguo."

"The reason is that they are timid!"

"When the regent promoted the policy of boosting industry and commerce, the merchants in Lingdong Road actually knew about it, and I knew it too."

"But after thinking about it..." He grinned, "To be honest, I was unsure at the time, so I was just waiting and watching."

“That’s a missed opportunity.”

"Last year, the news that the Regent King returned to Ningguo from Wu and was about to ascend the throne spread to Lingdong Road. That's when I dared to expand... on a small scale."

"I think it's better to play it safe and wait and see."

"This is great. Half of the tea in Jiangnan Road belongs to Patriarch Chen."

"I want to bring tea from Lingdong Road to Jiangnan... but I'm afraid I won't be able to drink even a sip of the tea."

He spread his hands and smiled bitterly: "This is called falling behind step by step."

He leaned over and looked at Chen Dingmao, and said with a smile: "Mr. Chen, you see, when I arrived in Yujing City, I made a special trip to the dock of Huaishan County to take a look."

"Now that your Chen family owns the Huaishan County wharf and the route of the Yuguang Grand Canal, how about... consigning my Guo family's tea to your tea shop?"

Chen Dingmao stroked his long beard and laughed:

"Brother Guo, you are embarrassing me by saying that!"

“The tea from Lingdong Road has its own unique taste, and tea drinkers from Jiangnan are actually more curious.”

"Brother Guo, you can go to Jiangnan. The emperor said that the market belongs to everyone, and no bullying or market domination is allowed."

"It means that the products of the big guys have to compete on the same stage. Either they can coexist, or... the fittest will survive."

"Don't worry, I, Chen, will never use despicable means to suppress your products."

"Just like this brother Liu from Shuzhou, I heard that your family is also engaged in weaving."

"Mr. Su was talking to me about this yesterday, saying that Shuzhou silk is no less good than Jiangnan silk."

"Compared with Suzhou embroidery, Shu embroidery also has its own unique features."

"If Shuzhou silk were to reach Jiangnan via the Yangtze River route, he would welcome it."

"Even Mr. Su had a proposal yesterday. Since everyone is here, why not let Mr. Su talk about it and see what everyone thinks."

Everyone looked at Su Mingtang.

Su Mingtang groaned for three breaths and said:

"The emperor's policy to boost industry and commerce is to make our Ningguo's products more competitive."

"That is, improving equipment, increasing output, and improving quality, thereby achieving the goal of reducing costs and gaining more market share."

"The Emperor's ultimate goal is not to have us fight to the death in the domestic market, but... the Emperor hopes that our products can be sold in various countries!"

"I believe you all know that the goods of Wu have entered our Ningguo, such as ironware, porcelain, and cotton textiles."

"In these areas, our products are losing ground, and the market is occupied by merchants from Wu State, so naturally they earn the money."

"We can't just passively wait for others to come and take our territory!"

"So I'm thinking about forming a business alliance... It's not that we need everyone to hand over their technology and share it, but we should organize the best products of each family to compete in the Wu market!"

When everyone heard this, their eyes widened.

They had all heard that the goods from Wu State entered Ning State as easily as if they were in an empty land.

They have even been thinking about this issue for a long time.

If other commodities from Wu State also entered Ning State, such as silk, tea, smelting, etc., which were run by their families, could their own family's commodities resist the invasion of Wu State's commodities?

Of course, they also thought about what it would be like if their products entered Wu State.

Is it invincible in the market of Wu State?

Or return in defeat? (End of this chapter)