It is the coldest time in Tianjin Acropolis in December. The icy cold wind penetrates through the gaps in the collars of clothes, making people's hands and feet feel cold. Most of the pedestrians on the road are wearing black cotton coats full of patches.
, walking quickly on the dirty road. Hurry up and get indoors without cold wind as soon as possible, which is the biggest wish of these pedestrians.
In the Zuixian Building in the west of the city, it was warm as spring at this time, very clean and tidy. There were many copper heaters in the hall on the third floor to keep the entire hall at a comfortable temperature, so that Tianjin gathered here
The wealthy businessmen could not feel the cold. The incense burner on the coffee table was burning spices, making the whole hall fragrant.
Li Zhi had previously asked the waiters in Zuixian Tower to arrange the chairs in the style of an auction in later generations. At this time, all the chairs were facing the stage to the west. Most of the wealthy businessmen from Tianjin came and sat on the chairs to chat and discuss.
for today's auction.
Xu Mince had already written the rules of the auction on the invitation card before, and these big businessmen all knew today's rules.
"This auction is really a strange thing!"
"The Li family has a lot of new ideas!"
"I just came to see something strange today!"
"Don't tell me, it's a good thing to be able to buy goods from the Li family. Look how much money Xu Mince made from following Li Zhi?"
"Tsk, tsk, no matter what, I want to buy a share of glass wine sets today! I'll sell them to Suzhou!"
Everyone was discussing there when they heard a noise coming from downstairs. Everyone looked at each other, walked to the window, opened the window, and looked at the noise downstairs.
Everyone saw Lu Huarong.
Lu Huarong, the younger brother of Lu Hualin, a colleague of Tianjin Qing Military Department, was about to break into Zuixian Tower, but was stopped by Li Zhi's servant.
"You can't go in without an invitation!"
"Your family is inviting a big businessman from Tianjin today. My father, Lu Huarong, is one of the eight major businessmen in Tianjin. Why don't you let my father in?"
Li Zhi's servant took out the short stick on his waist and said loudly: "My master Li Zhi has ordered that the Zuixian Building be reserved for today! Those who do not have an invitation are not allowed to enter, and intruders will take it!"
Lu Huarong snorted coldly and said to the Li family servants: "Don't you dare to take me, Lu Huarong, in Tianjin?"
Several of Li Zhi's servants looked at each other, stood up straight, and said loudly: "The intruder will be taken down!"
Lu Huarong was about to curse, but he heard a cold shout from behind: "Who dares to barge into my private banquet?"
Lu Huarong looked back and saw Li Zhi and Xu Mince walking over together. When Lu Huarong saw the red military attaché uniform that Li Zhi was wearing, his face wilted and he lost some of his momentum - even his eldest brother Lu Hualin couldn't wear the same clothes.
It is a cyan official uniform of the fifth rank. Even though a military attache is not valuable, he is still a fourth rank official after all!
What's more, Li Zhi's strength is not limited to his official position. He has a strong army and strong horses, and has made great achievements in the suppression of the war. He is now a popular man next to the governor. Xu Mince standing next to Li Zhi proves that Li Zhi now has a close relationship with He Shishou.
Lu Huarong looked at Li Zhi, gritted his teeth and said, "Li Zhi, you're hosting a banquet for a businessman without inviting me?"
Li Zhi said calmly: "You and I have grudges, have you forgotten? Is there no problem if I don't invite you?"
Lu Huarong was a little nervous when he heard that Li Zhi said he had a grudge against him, and said: "Li Zhi, what happened before is in the past!"
Li Zhi smiled and said: "Whether it passes or not is up to my judgment, you don't need to decide!"
Lu Huarong's face turned pale when he heard Li Zhi's words. Li Zhi is now in the limelight. Not only does he have the support of the governor, but he is also said to have raised one or two thousand tough servants. He is very powerful and can no longer be bullied by his colleagues in the Qing military department.
He has become a little person. Everyone is talking that Li Zhi will be promoted sooner or later.
Lu Huarong now really doesn't want Li Zhi to think about him.
Seeing that Li Zhi was holding a grudge, Lu Huarong swallowed his saliva and said, "Li Zhi, now I'm here to do business with you! Let me in, and I'll buy your colorless glass!"
Li Zhi said coldly: "I have no business with you! See you off!"
With Li Zhi's support, several servants came up to him with sticks and forced Lu Huarong down the steps at the entrance of Zuixian Tower.
Lu Huarong looked at Li Zhi, then at Xu Mince, gritted his teeth, and left silently.
Seeing that Li Zhi forced Lu Huarong away, the big businessmen beside the windows on the third floor all let out a "tsk, tsk" sound, praising Li Zhi's rise to the top and his power was very different from before. If Li Zhi had no official position in the past, he would
How could Lu Huarong be so tough in front of him?
The big businessmen watched the excitement for a while, then closed the windows and returned to their seats.
Li Zhi was in a good mood and walked up the stairs to the third floor of Zuixian Building.
Seeing Li Zhi walking into the lobby on the third floor, the wealthy businessmen all stood up to greet Li Zhi.
"Li Caoshou is here!"
"I've seen Mr. Conduct!"
"Commander Qianshi, please come back and be safe!"
Li Zhi took a look and found that six of the eight major merchant houses in Tianjin had sent people, and some even had their owners come in person. Together with Xu Mince beside him, all seven major merchant houses except Lu Huarong and the Lu family had gathered together. Li Zhi watched from the crowd.
Looking around, I saw Dong Zhiyi of the Dong family who was selling Li Jiajing cloth, and Xue Yuanwai who was selling alkaline noodles to me.
Li Zhi cupped his hands and said: "Everyone, sit down!" Walking to the stage, Li Zhi said: "Everyone knows the rules of today's auction. There are fifty sets of drinking utensils per month as one group, a total of ten groups, and everyone bids to buy each group
The goods will be awarded to the highest bidder. The merchant who successfully bids will pay me a deposit of 100 taels, and then select a date to deliver the goods!"
After a pause, Li Zhi added: "It's been half a year since the glass wine set was launched. Everyone has heard of this product and knows how many taels they can sell for the wine glass. When bidding, please act according to your ability!"
After Li Zhi said this, he asked the servants to take out several sets of glass wine sets, fill them with soju and distribute them to various merchants, so that they could take a closer look.
Everyone looked at the wine glass again, and many people exclaimed:
"Colorless, transparent, crystal clear!"
"Colored glass is common, but this completely transparent glass without bubbles is really rare!"
"I have seen colorless glass cups sold by the Western Yi people, but they are much more expensive than those from the Li family."
"This glass is filled with soju, and it looks like a crystal glass."
Li Zhi saw that everyone had glasses in their hands, and after appreciating them all, he asked Zheng Hui, the manager of the textile factory, to stand on the stage as the host and start the auction.
The glass wine vessels will be auctioned starting from the base price of thirty taels per set, with an additional price of five cents.
"Thirty-one taels!"
"Thirty-one-two-five cents!"
"I'll pay thirty-two taels!"
During the auction of the first set of glass wine vessels, the buyers sitting below were thinking that there would be more opportunities later, and they were very cautious. After adding thirty-five taels, no one added more, and they let the Dong family, who sold cloth, pick it up.
It was a bargain. Then Dong Zhiyi thought that if he sold this wine set to Shandong, he could sell a set of 40 to 50 taels, and he was very happy.
For the second set, the competition started, and the price was directly pushed to thirty-six taels. In the end, Yuan Xingxing’s boss, Zha Yunke, grabbed the second set of drinking utensils. Zha Yunke was in the general maritime trade business.
He knows the market of luxury goods best and has the channels to sell luxury goods. He knows that the glass wine set purchased for thirty-six taels and five cents can earn a lot of money.
In the third and fourth groups, the price went up little by little. By the eighth group, the price had risen to thirty-nine taels. Finally, Cha Yunke won the eighth group.
The prices of the ninth group and the tenth group were stable at thirty-nine taels.
After the last auction, Li Zhi received a deposit of one thousand taels and sold 500 sets of glass wine sets at an average price of thirty-seven five cents. Based on the situation of this auction, Li Zhi did the math and calculated the glass wine sets.
The monthly profit of the workshop increased to seventeen thousand taels. This profit was almost the same as that of the textile factory and soap workshop combined.
This is a large amount of wealth that allows Li Zhi to do many things.
