I was a god in the 18th century

Chapter 431 Gift from Heaven

The most exciting event in London recently is the new product launch held by Xia Ou Company in the castle - it is said to be a gift from heaven.

The reporters from newspapers and magazines who were invited to the ceremony held the small red envelopes in their pockets, with different expressions on their faces.

This was their first time to participate in such an event, and also their first time to receive red envelopes. They were both uncomfortable and surprised. After all, who doesn’t love money?

As for the organizer of today's event, Xia Ou Company, which was newly established this year, everyone has learned about it through the brochures distributed to everyone, but they still feel weird.

The company was formerly a horse-drawn carriage manufacturer, but its new products no longer use horsepower, but human power - human-powered bicycles.

Of course there are still horse-drawn carriage products, but more production lines have been converted into bicycle production lines.

Everyone was still confused as to what a bicycle was.

After the new product launch, half of London began to talk about bicycles.

Xia Qingdai invested in many industries through Owen in 18th century Britain. One of them was the international trading company she proposed, namely the ocean-going fleet in which Fucui Villa was a partnership with the big businessman Bill.

In this day and age, if you want to go to the East for maritime trade, you certainly can't just have a ship. The most important thing is to obtain the franchise approved by the British royal family and government, and share the profits with the royal family and the government.

In other words, their ocean-going fleet contains state-owned elements, and half of the money earned must be turned over to the British Treasury. This is written into the bill.

If you want to engage in Eastern maritime trade, you must abide by this clause, otherwise you will not be able to obtain the franchise. If you insist on going out to sea, it will be considered smuggling, and not only will the customs cause trouble, but pirates will also like to rob this kind of smuggling merchant ships.

If there is a "guardian angel" to escort them throughout the journey, their ocean-going fleet can also defy human laws. But the problem is, who can hire someone? Therefore, even the fleet invested by Owen and Xia Qingdai still honestly went through the application procedures, obtained a license, and paid the official "protection fee".

But the Xia Ou Company is different. It is a company that is 100% controlled by Xia Qingdai and Owen. Even if it needs to pay taxes, the proportion is far less than that of the Ocean Trading Company.

The company is ostensibly headed by a Cambridge University graduate, Henry Law Firm is their cooperative legal advisor, and the production factory under it is managed by an old factory manager, and the main direction of development is formulated by Owen.

Now their company's main product is bicycles, and their main focus is on two aspects: one is the assembly and processing of the overall frame of the bicycle, and the other is specializing in the rubber tires of the bicycle.

The former has already produced results, and the main focus of this new product launch conference is on these bicycles that are not yet equipped with rubber tires.

The latter has very good future development prospects and will be separated out if nothing unexpected happens. At least that's what Irving plans to do.

When the time is right, he will set up an independent rubber manufacturing company. Currently, it is under the bicycle factory, and the main reason is that the rubber tire business has not produced any results. It is pure investment with no output.

The new bicycles on display this time included the first batch of local bicycles with fewer rubber tires produced by the factory, as well as the god-level "bicycle" bestowed by Xia Qingdai at the time. The former was sold for signing contracts, while the latter appeared as a future concept car.

Because of the modern industrialized bicycle model given by Xia Qingdai, the local version of the simple bicycle also looked high-end. In order to create momentum, Xia Ou Company not only placed advertisements in newspapers and magazines, but also printed a lot of promotional leaflets and sent people to distribute them.

The first thing at the new product launch was that several models and actresses carefully selected by Director Curry rode modern 28-bar bicycles and women's Phoenix bicycles all the way from the castle to Hyde Park in central London, and then back to the castle. This was the so-called "parading through the streets"!
This trick was indeed very effective. The handsome man and beautiful woman, coupled with the new bicycle, immediately attracted the attention of half of London.

Traffic jams are common on busy London streets, and they are even worse on rainy days.

But the small single-person bicycle can move freely on the road, which is really eye-opening.

Its speed is not much slower than that of a horse-drawn carriage (mainly because there are too many carriages and horses in London and horses really can't run fast), and it can flexibly shuttle through various traffic jams, making it a magical transportation tool for commuting to work.

The nobles were not very excited about the appearance of bicycles. In their eyes, it was just a little gadget that was meant to attract attention.

After all, the nobles don't need to go to work, have no concept of holidays, and don't worry about traffic jams. They have enough leisure time to while away their time on the road.

But for the middle class people in every corner of London, this bicycle is really refreshing. At least it is not afraid of traffic jams at all, which is very suitable for the needs of middle class people who need to rush to work.

When Xia Ou Company announced the price of the bicycle, the middle class who could not afford a horse-drawn carriage and had difficulty raising a horse were immediately excited.

Because a bicycle is only equivalent to the price of an ordinary good horse.

From the brochure of Xia Ou Company, we know that bicycles are a one-time investment, which can be used forever after purchase. There is no high cost of raising horses, nor is it as dangerous and unstable as steam cars.

Anyone who has seen models riding exquisite bicycles gracefully through the streets of London will inevitably have the illusion that they would be just as cool if they rode one.

Therefore, after the first bicycle flagship store opened on the commercial street, orders quickly exploded.

The first group of people who bought bicycles were lawyers, teachers and doctors. The second group was even more impressive. They were the current general manager of Xia Ou Company, who personally negotiated the order with the post office.

It is indeed much more economical for a postman to deliver letters and newspapers through the streets on a bicycle than to use a horse-drawn carriage.

Although a bicycle is not cheap, almost as expensive as a horse, it does not require subsequent investment and is very cost-effective.

As long as the postal system's existing vehicles are sold and replaced with bicycles, a lot of feeding costs can be saved immediately.

With this calculation, it is better for postmen to replace horses with bicycles sooner rather than later.

With the addition of a large number of bicycles, the whole city suddenly became lively and bustling.

Those who are well-informed will know that behind this company are the two newly promoted earls, Owen and Xia Qingdai. And behind Owen, of course, stands the patron saint of the Owen family, which is a legend throughout London.