One Must Have Ideals in Life

Everyone began looking at each other with expressions of mutual bewilderment, and before long they were all sweating profusely as they stared at Fang Zheng.

Fang Zheng chuckled softly. "I'm sure you all already have the answer in your hearts."

"Once the textile factory starts selling to the market, it will be a devastating blow to quite a few people."

"Within five years, I believe more than half of those seated here won't be qualified to appear in this place anymore."

The smaller cloth merchants had already shifted from nervousness to fear.

Unlike those major cloth merchants who had backing from nobles and could sell goods like silk in large quantities, they relied on small profits and high volume. The textile factory would hit precisely this group of people.

Five years was an overestimate. Two years! At most two years and they'd be finished!

Seeing their terrified expressions, Fang Zheng casually waved his hand. "However... everyone need not be too nervous."

"This textile factory isn't managed by me personally, but is personally managed by our dynasty's Fifth Princess."

"The Princess is pure and kind-hearted, and couldn't bear to see other merchants suffer losses because of this, so the textile factory's goods have remained piled in warehouses to this day without a single item being released!"

"Moreover, this textile factory wasn't established to make money in the first place, but to ensure the people of the capital could safely pass through winter!"

"Even though the Princess has such a benevolent heart, I still occasionally hear some gossip among the people. I hope everyone present will go back and spread word of the Princess's good deeds. Do you all understand?"

Spread the word well!

Sooner or later, I'll let His Majesty the father-in-law know I'm earning reputation for his daughter... hehe.

This way I'll have both sides pleased, won't I?

Thinking of the strawberry-flavored Princess, Fang Zheng lecherously licked his lips.

Tonight I'll have to enter the palace again to continue reporting!

The matter of the Princess managing the textile factory had actually long spread among the people, and was being discussed heatedly in public.

But the Six Ministries had once published articles in the newspaper mentioning this matter. Although they never spoke directly, their words clearly denied it.

A prince gallivanting around outside every day without His Majesty taking a stance was something everyone accepted!

But a princess, a young lady, personally getting involved in business? That wouldn't do!

The Banshan Daily remained silent on this matter.

Although palace people had some complaints about this matter, they didn't think it was anything major.

The Princess has always been in the palace! What business is she doing? Rumors! All rumors!

With so much gossip among the people, how could the imperial family mind every single thing and still survive?

So this matter had also died down for the time being, and Fang Zheng hadn't faced any pressure from his end.

It was just that people occasionally still talked about it. Who would have thought it would be confirmed by Master Fang today!

This textile factory really was opened by the Princess!

The merchants immediately stood up and bowed in unison.

"Master Fang, this matter is on us. The Princess's benevolence to this extent, with such a heart for loving the people, truly fills us with gratitude."

Fang Zheng smiled and said, "Good, good, good, as long as everyone understands."

"Now let's talk about some serious business."

"Since the Princess couldn't bear to see everyone suffer losses, we need to think of a solution that benefits everyone."

"But I've thought it over and over... there's no good solution, so why don't we just buy up all the cloth in your hands?"

"However, this money comes from Banshan District's funds, which means it's His Highness the Crown Prince's and my money, roughly sixty thousand taels."

"You can discuss among yourselves later how much each family sells and at what price."

The merchants looked astonished!

This was truly excellent news, a relief to everyone present.

If the textile factory really prepared to sell goods, then at least this winter their existing inventory could be offloaded. Who would have thought officials could be this generous? This was truly unprecedented!

"If you think the purchase price is too low, you can choose not to sell. I won't force anyone."

"But the cloth and clothing we've already purchased will be sold at low prices in the market along with the textile factory's cloth and clothing. You can consider this yourselves."

The merchants began whispering among themselves again.

"Sigh, it seems Master Fang really wants to ensure all the city's people have new clothes for winter."

"This is a good thing. With the textile factory's such great advantages, we can't compete, so it's better to just sell everything to him directly and save ourselves a lot of trouble."

Someone sneered coldly. "You're all being foolish. No matter how efficient the textile factory is, it can't produce enough fabric to satisfy the entire capital this winter."

"Once the officials buy up our goods and set up sales points throughout the city for comprehensive coverage, where will we have any foothold? Then we'll be completely at their mercy!"

"But with this kind of efficiency, covering the entire city is just a matter of time. Does it matter if it's half a year earlier or later for us?" someone retorted.

"Of course it matters. Haven't you noticed that what this factory produces is all plain cloth that hasn't been dyed yet? We all use our own dyeworks. Just because they spin well doesn't mean they dye well, and if they can't dye well, how can they sell well? We might not be without time to catch up!"

The whispered conversations inevitably leaked some content.

Hearing fragments, Fang Zheng could only shake his head with a bitter smile.

Even doing good deeds wasn't easy. No more beating around the bush!

"Everyone, if you're unwilling to sell, that's fine too. Let's try a different approach."

"You can provide Banshan District with your purchase ledgers, then sell cloth and clothing to the people at cost price. For however much you sell, the district can subsidize half a percent! Of course, if anyone dares to falsify records, that falls under the Great Jing Code!"

"Furthermore! The textile machines you saw today can all be sold to everyone!"

Instantly, the discussion stopped abruptly, and then the merchants exploded.

"Is Master Fang speaking the truth!?"

"The truth. I never speak false words." Fang Zheng sighed.

"As they say, give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime."

"I know what you're all worried about in your hearts. You're just afraid the textile factory will encroach on the market and destroy your livelihoods."

"But I can guarantee to you all that Banshan Textile Factory currently only handles production, not sales."

"If everyone's shops are willing to sell the textile factory's cloth, you'll have the opportunity to purchase the textile factory's looms."

"Of course, the pricing of the factory's cloth and clothing must follow my rules. So... are there still any problems?"

Problems? Of course there were no problems!

You can sell however you want in my shop, what I want are the textile machines!

With textile machines, who cares about you?

One merchant was filled with doubt and stood up directly to ask, "Master Fang, I don't understand what this means."

"Forgive my small-minded suspicions, but would the textile factory really be willing to do such things that harm themselves to benefit others? You must know, if the textile factory sold goods themselves, no one in the market could be their opponent!"

Fang Zheng smiled slightly and clasped his hands behind his back.

Harming themselves to benefit others? Not really. He already had enough money, although the various research institutes in the county did cost quite a bit of silver.

But there really was no need to compete with people over livelihood matters.

When he sold textile machines once in Jianjiang, he had secretly hoped someone could reverse-engineer them and sell them on the market.

But the results were disappointing. It seemed he had sold too few textile machines, and everyone was keeping them as treasures.

Commerce was the greatest charity, and competition provided the driving force for progress. Moreover, he couldn't possibly have the energy to personally oversee a textile factory every day.

Kissing the Princess was important, ensuring the people had winter clothing was even more important.

Since he had come out from the county, he carried responsibilities on his shoulders and inevitably felt some sense of historical responsibility.

With large-scale promotion of textile machines, in ten, twenty, or even fifty years, perhaps everyone would have clothes to wear.

This time might be very long, and might even come to nothing.

But in life... one must have ideals!