Late Qing Dynasty Executioner

Chapter 116 Talents, Talents

"But selling something like kerosene to others has its pros and cons!" Lao Gao reminded.

This is true. After all, gasoline is definitely a weapon of war. It is very useful whether it is used to attack ships, siege cities, or even in field battles.

Chen Gu thought for a moment and said, "The main trade is car oil, followed by knife oil, and then small fire oil. Big fire oil is not for sale."

"What's the price?" Zhang Haomin asked.

"As for the price!" Chen Gu really didn't know how to set the price. After all, although he had been here for half a year, he was still not as familiar with many things as the people in this world. It's not that he didn't know the prices of various things, but he didn't know how to judge the specific value of a thing.

After all, oil is actually a new thing.

Lao Sha thought for a moment and said, "Vegetable oil and lard are both about 100 coins per pound. We'll just go with that price."

"That's definitely not possible. At least the Han family has to make money. I think fifty cents per pound is about right." Zhang Haomin said with a smile, "After all, the Han family needs to make money, and the people who distribute it to retailers also have to make money!"

Chen Gu shook his head and said, "The price is still too high. After all, kerosene smells bad when it burns. It is actually not as good as vegetable oil. If it is sold at the same price as vegetable oil, it will not be easy to sell.

Moreover, our goal is the Han family's cluster guns and muskets, so it is inevitable that we have to make concessions. If we make less than the money from selling vegetable oil, let alone cluster guns and muskets, the Han family may not be willing to do business with us!"

"So you want to sell it at a low price?" Lao Gao asked unhappily.

"How about this!" Chen looked at Lao Gao and smiled, saying, "Lao Gao, tell me, how much are you willing to pay per pound for our oil?"

"Well, ~!" Lao Gao didn't know how to answer for a moment, because he was afraid that if he bid too high, Chen Gu would ask him to go out and sell oil, which would be a bit embarrassing if he couldn't sell it. But if he bid too low, he would be embarrassed again, which would also be embarrassing!
"For example, I give you 30 cents per pound of this oil. After deducting the transportation fee, the money for opening a store and other expenses, how much profit do you think you can make in the end? How much can you guarantee to sell in a month?" Chen Gu asked.

Now everyone was silent. It seemed that oil was not as valuable as they had expected.

"In fact, we can completely change our thinking. At least 4,000 to 5,000 kilograms of oil can flow out of that canyon every hour, which means 50,000 to 60,000 kilograms a day. After removing 20,000 kilograms of oil residue, we can still harvest about 40,000 kilograms of various oils.

Even if we only sell a pound of oil for ten cents, we will still have an income of four hundred taels of silver a day, which means twelve thousand taels a month. The cost can be ignored, and the sales expenses can be added together to make two thousand taels. In this way, we can still make a profit of ten thousand taels of silver every month.

Ten thousand taels may not sound like a lot. After all, we made more than 200,000 taels by killing Addis. But you have to know that killing Addis is not easy, and it is difficult to encounter such an opportunity. However, the oil business is very stable and long-term.

In fact, it is already very good." Chen Gu persuaded.

After all, no matter what kind of oil it is, it is actually a daily consumable. If it is sold too expensively, ordinary people simply cannot afford it, and the unpleasant smell is destined to be disliked by rich people. Therefore, its status is actually very embarrassing and it can only be sold at a low price.

"But the price of ten cents is really too low!" Lao Sha looked a little uncomfortable. Although he understood that what Chen Gu said was true, the price was a bit different from what they expected.

Chen Gu smiled and said, "Then let's start with a price of fifteen cents. As for the exact selling price, you guys can go and negotiate with the Han family in person when the time comes and try to get a little more money.

But remember that our target is the Han family's mother-and-child cannon and musket. We must get these two things in order to deal with the next attack of the imperial army. Otherwise, no matter how good the things are, if we can't keep them, everything will be in vain. "Everyone nodded. It is true that no matter what, we must first have the ability to protect ourselves, otherwise these things will become others'.

"Are the three types of oil the same price?" Zhang Haomin asked.

"Let's set the same price for now!" Chen Gu thought for a moment and said, "In fact, prices can be changed. Let's see how the market reacts.

After all, it is a new thing, and it is still unclear whether people can accept it. If it doesn’t sell well, we may have to lower the price a bit. Of course, on the contrary, if it sells very well, we can slowly increase the price at that time.

If you add a penny this month and another penny next month, the price will go up after a year or two. "

Everyone couldn't help but smile. After all, the pricing of goods still needs to rely on feedback from end consumers.

After discussing the oil issue, everyone then discussed the demand for Buddhist treasures.

At present, there is no shortage of basic Buddhist supplies. There is enough food, and every household raises pigs, sheep, chickens, ducks, and a lot of cattle and horses. They will soon be self-sufficient in meat. A lot of iron tools, sulfur, and saltpeter have also been stockpiled in the past few months.

However, the Buddhist treasure lacks high-end talents, such as scholars, doctors, goldsmiths, and skilled blacksmiths, all of which are urgently needed by the Buddhist treasure.

The blacksmiths are better. The base is large, with more than a hundred people. Although their skills are not very good, Chen Gu has borrowed two skilled blacksmiths from the Bian family to teach them. At present, they are barely enough, of course, without making gun barrels.

A seamless gun barrel was definitely the most advanced technology for blacksmiths of that era.

As for goldsmiths, Chen Gu also asked Wu Hua to recruit a large number of apprentices, and as for scholars, he was also trying to educate everyone. However, this was not something that could be accomplished overnight, and training talents on one's own was really too slow.

Liu Er was right. Rebellion is not something that can be done overnight. It must be done slowly.

But although Chen Gou is willing to take it slow, the imperial court will definitely not give him that much time.

Recruiting loyal personnel is another big problem. For example, those doctors who stayed in the mountain strongholds were thinking about running back to the city all day long.

Chen Gu had a headache when thinking about talents. He even considered whether he should just take over Jiangjin County. There were 200,000 to 300,000 people in the whole Jiangjin County. Among the ten major families, there were countless talents of all kinds.

Unfortunately, with Chen Gu's current strength, he can still deal with the imperial court while hiding in the mountains. If he occupies a county town, he will only end up being surrounded and suppressed by the imperial army.

After all, this was the Qing Dynasty with a unified regime, and it was also the early Jiaqing period, not the chaotic era of the late Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period.

No matter how weak the imperial court was, it was still a behemoth that could gather millions of troops from across the country, and it was simply not something that a single city or county could resist.

(End of this chapter)