Li Zhi carelessly managed the good soap industry, but he spent time improving the loom and building a weaving workshop? Either Li Zhi is fooling around, or the loom improved by Li Zhi is really very efficient! What if?
If it is the latter, this Li Zhi is really a genius. If so, I have to build a good relationship with him. Maybe by clinging to Li Zhi, I can get the wealth for the rest of my life.
Cui Wending thought for a while, but said easily: "There are only three wholesalers of cotton yarn and cotton cloth in Tianjin. The Yuan family in the west of the city, the Fei family in the north and the Dong family in the east. I am familiar with them all. Which family do you want to do business with?
I’ll just take you there.”
"It turns out that Mr. Cui knows everyone, so that would be the best!" Li Zhi said: "Which company is bigger and offers a fairer price?"
"The prices are all about the same, and they are all wholesale prices that follow the market. The largest one is the Dong family in the east of the city. His family imports cotton from the north and sells it to the south. When the southerners have finished weaving the cloth, he entrusts the Cao army to bring the cotton from the north to the south.
Selling from the south to the north, we do all the business in the cotton cloth industry, and we are the largest cotton cloth merchant in Tianjin Wei."
"Then let's go find him!"
Cui Wending nodded and replied: "I will take you there right now!"
Cui Wending didn't waste any time, got up immediately, and took Li Zhi to the Dong's house in the east of the city. The Dong's house was not far from Jingbianfang, and he had to walk through four or five alleys to get there.
As soon as he got there, Li Zhi saw a large shop outside the Dong family's yard, which was filled with various kinds of cloth and cotton yarn. There were not many people in the large shop, but there was a waiter who was carrying cotton yarn out one load at a time.
Transport. There were several horse-drawn carriages parked outside the shop, which were obviously used for hauling goods. From this appearance, it looked like a large cotton cloth merchant.
Cui Wending handed the name card to the store steward, explaining that he was here to discuss business. The clerk took Cui Wending's name card and walked into the backyard. Not long after, a businessman with a square face and a long beard came out.
It is Dong Zhiyi, the head of the Dong family.
"Which gust of wind brought Cui Xianggong here?"
"Mr. Dong, I'm here to introduce you to business!"
"Good thing! Good thing! Please come inside!"
After inviting the two of them to sit down in the main hall, the Dong family's servant handed them new tea. Li Zhi took a sip and felt that the aroma filled his mouth. It was indeed good tea.
"Mr. Dong, my little brother has now opened a weaving workshop. I want to buy cotton yarn from you, and then weave and sell cloth to you!"
Dong Zhiyi nodded and said: "Cotton textiles have always been concentrated in the south of the Yangtze River. We sell cotton produced in the north to the south of the Yangtze River, and buy cloth from the south of the Yangtze River and sell it to the north. Not to mention the round-trip freight, even the taxes and fees collected by the customs are all
A lot. If we set up a weaving factory in Tianjin, it would be an obvious way to directly supply northern cotton yarn with northern cotton yarn."
Li Zhi interjected: "I have to weave more than 10,000 pieces of cloth a month, and Mr. Dong will give me a cheap yarn price!"
Dong Zhiyi twirled his beard and said calmly: "This little friend wants to build such a big weaving workshop!" After a pause, he said: "The market retail price of cotton yarn is seven taels and five yuan per load, so I will give you a
Wholesale price, seven taels and four cents!”
How could Li Zhi be willing to accept such a high price? He patiently bargained with Mr. Dong, and finally agreed on a compromise price of seven taels per load. After discussing the price of cotton yarn, the two discussed the price of cotton cloth.
"Mr. Dong, what is the price of cotton cloth in the market?"
"The price I pay for white cotton cloth from scattered weavers in the market is nine cents per piece."
"How about I sell you more than 10,000 pieces per month at this price?" After a pause, Li Zhi said: "But my cloth has a special feature, it is twice as wide as ordinary cotton cloth. When making clothes, you can
Cut the cloth into standard width, or you can make clothes directly from twice the width of the cloth without cutting it, and you can make new patterns."
"Oh? Is there such a cloth?" Dong Zhiyi pondered for a while, then raised his head and said: "This kind of cloth is quite rare and will definitely be very popular. If my friend sells this kind of cloth, I will buy it at the market price no matter how much!"
"Okay! It's a deal! I will come to you next month to purchase and sell goods!"
“It’s a deal!”
After finding a purchase and sales channel, Li Zhi began to recruit people.
Li Zhi's treatment for the weavers was still the same as before, two taels of silver per month and meat for three meals. However, the difference from before was that both men and women recruited by Li Zhi this time were required.
Female workers were widely used in weaving workshops in the Ming Dynasty. Xu Jie, the chief minister of the Wanli Dynasty, was engaged in business and once opened a large-scale weaving workshop, employing many female weavers and producing a large amount of fabrics for trade in the market every year. Li Zhi hired
For women workers to be weavers, it was a matter of course in the minds of people in the late Ming Dynasty.
The benefits offered by Li Zhi's recruitment were excellent, and the job was a good one, so the recruitment was first of all within the family. Almost all the male relatives of the Li family worked in Li Zhi's soap workshop, so this time the second grandfather recommended more than thirty Li family members
Daughter and daughter-in-law. Over at the Zheng family, Li Zhi's grandfather also found more than 20 male and female relatives.
Li Zhi accepted these people after a short interview. He recruited so many relatives, almost all the relatives of the Li family and the Zheng family were recruited.
In addition to relatives, Li Zhi also recruits people from the neighborhood. Some time ago, the soap workshop hired six neighborhood children. Now they have received monthly money and are living a well-off life. If you have money to take care of food and meat to eat, where can you find such a thing?
The good days? The neighbors saw it and were envious of the six lucky ones. As soon as the news of the new recruitment was released, all kinds of neighbors came to apply for jobs. Li Zhi screened and hired seventy more people.
Multiple qualified men and women.
However, these people were not enough. Li Zhi also needed to recruit from the society. Li Zhi asked his eldest cousin Zheng Kaicheng to write dozens of notices and post them in the prosperous areas of Tianjin Wei.
Two taels of silver a month, and three meals a day with meat, such treatment is hard to find even under a lantern. As soon as the notice was posted, the applicants filled the Li family yard, almost breaking through the Li family's threshold.
Gu Laoer, who lived in Sitong Alley in the north of the city, stood outside the Li family's yard, standing in the queue waiting for the interview, feeling very uneasy.
He was lucky enough to know a literate accountant, so as soon as the Li family posted a recruitment notice, he learned the news from the accountant and hurried to the east of the city. He thought he knew the news so much
Early, he would definitely be hired. But when he arrived at the Li family yard, he secretly realized that the situation was not good - there were more than a hundred people waiting in line for the interview.
There are too many people who want to come to Li Zhi's family to work as weavers. In these years of war and economic depression, it is very difficult to find a job. It would be good for poor families to have a bowl of rice to eat. Two taels of silver a month and three meals of meat, such a life sounds decent.
It feels unreal. But since it is the Li family in the east of the city who is recruiting people, this condition must be true - before, the Li family recruited six people from the neighborhood and paid them two or two months a month and took care of food and meat.
The news has spread throughout Tianjin Wei, and everyone knows that the Li family is a rare and good employer.
Not only the poor people who have no jobs come here, but also some people who have jobs have lost their jobs and come here to apply for jobs - who doesn't want to live a good life?
