Chapter 145: Benefiting the People
In that instant, Chu Qiguang temporarily lost the ability to think, and countless strange murmurs began to ring out in his mind.
These voices were accompanied by all kinds of bizarre images, and he felt as if he had been drawn into a captivating dream.
All of a sudden, he was snapped out of his reverie.
"You again? I've found you..."
The dry and raspy voice exploded in Chu Qiguang's mind like a rumbling thunderclap, completely tearing apart his mental serenity.
As he returned to his senses, he found himself back in the textile workshop, still standing before the large crowd of spectators.
He could sense that he had just undergone a mental evolution, one that had taken him roughly sixty percent of the way to the fifth state.
That was incredible! The enhancement is even more drastic than what I experienced during the martial examination!
At the same time, Chu Qiguang felt as if he had forgotten something. He had no recollection of the fleeting moment he had just experienced, and despite his best efforts, he couldn't recall anything.
All of a sudden, his attention was drawn to a sharp pain in his chest, as if someone had sliced a gash into the skin there.
However, the sensation vanished just as quickly as it appeared, almost as if he had imagined it. He didn't have a chance to dwell on it, as he still had to continue his presentation.
Let's wrap things up here first. I'll see what's going on with my chest once I get back.
With the two machines unveiled, excitement quickly spread through the entire crowd.
Everyone tried to get as close to the two machines on the raised stage as possible, eager to witness this miracle with their own eyes.
After verifying that the machines were indeed being powered by nothing more than flowing water, everyone was utterly astonished by their incredible efficiency.
"It really doesn't need any manpower to function!"
"It's so fast, way faster than the existing machines on the market!"
"How is this possible? How are these things operating?"
Wang Cailiang and Wang Chengwang had also been invited to the presentation, and at this moment, Wang Chengwang was staring at the two machines, his eyes wide with shock.
"These two machines... They're priceless treasures! Are you sure Nephew Chu truly intends to let so many people in on this money-making opportunity? Why? I don't understand!"
"These two machines are capable of turning raw cotton into fabric. Not only do they not require human operation, they can produce cotton fabric over twenty times faster than traditional machines," Chu Qiguang said. "Each machine only costs around forty to fifty taels of silver to build."
A chorus of astonished gasps instantly rang out from the crowd.
Chu Qiguang clapped his hands together, and yet another sheet of fabric was unfurled behind him, this one displaying figures comparing traditional machines to the new water-powered ones.
"Traditional machines need to be manually operated, and even a skilled worker can only produce around one pi of cotton fabric a day. These water-powered machines, on the other hand, can operate day and night without rest, and they're twenty times more efficient than traditional machines. This means that each machine can produce fifty pi of cotton fabric a day. Even if we take seasonal factors into account, such as reduced water flow in the rivers, each machine can still easily produce ten thousand pi of cotton fabric a year.
"On top of that, there will be next to no labor costs, so no one will be able to compete with us in the cotton market when it comes to price. A hundred new machines would produce a million pi of fabric a year. Right now, cotton fabric is selling for three qian of silver per pi . Even if we only sell our cotton fabric to the northern fiends for six qian per pi, we would still be making six hundred thousand taels of silver for a million pi."
Another sheet of fabric was unfurled, this one displaying figures from the cotton market of the northern provinces.
"If we can build a thousand of these new machines, then we'll have ten million pi of cotton fabric a year. Even if we sell it to the people of the Great Han Empire for only two qian of silver per pi, that would still amount to two million taels of silver in revenue, while a thousand spinning machines and a thousand looms would only cost around a hundred thousand taels of silver to produce."
Everyone was already over the moon, and what Chu Qiguang told them next made them even more excited.
"Master Wu, Abbot Chen Zhu, and I didn't invent these two new machines just to make money. No, our goal is to benefit the entire county and allow everyone here to make money with us. Hence, we have to decide that the three of us will only hold fifty percent of the shares, while the remaining fifty percent will be given to all of you. Together, we will establish the Azure Sun Trade Association and make money together!"
The entire crowd instantly erupted into an ecstatic frenzy. Who wouldn't want a cut of such a lucrative business?
"However, because there are so many of us, we're worried that the fifty percent of shares won't be easy to distribute, so we've turned them into ten thousand shares."
Everyone faltered slightly upon hearing this. This was the first time they had heard of something like this, but it quickly made sense to them, and some had already begun calculating how much money each share would make.
The other fifty percent of shares was split among Chu Qiguang, Wu Wei, and the Daoist temple in a 2:4:4 ratio, which meant that Chu Qiguang held two thousand shares, while Wu Wei and the Daoist temple each held four thousand.
"Right now, each share has a price of ten taels of silver. This place will serve as the temporary headquarters of the Azure Sun Trade Guild, and all shareholders can trade shares here. This is also where the price for each share will be displayed on a daily basis."
After establishing the premise, Chu Qiguang rattled off a long list of rules and rights that applied to all shareholders. For now, no one was able to fully understand everything, but they would learn quickly once Chu Qiguang began pulling maneuvers like short selling, whipsaws, and rug pulls.
From there, everyone was given a chance to purchase shares, with priority given to the most prominent clans in the county, while people like Wang Cailiang and Wang Chengwang were pushed to the back of the line.
Thanks to the tantalizing vision Chu Qiguang had laid out, all of the shares were quickly sold for a total of hundred thousand taels of silver.
The Ding Clan had only recently been looted, so all of the upper elites of Azure Sun County had plenty of money on their hands.
Wu Wei was left in a daze. We managed to get a hundred thousand taels of silver just like that? Hold on a second, doesn't that mean that my initial investment of ten thousand taels of silver is now worth forty thousand taels of silver?
Making money had never felt so easy before.
However, when he excitedly brought up this matter to Chu Qiguang, the latter told him that this was only just the beginning.
Two days later, Wu Wei finally came to understand why Chu Qiguang had said that, because the price for each share had already risen from ten taels of silver to twelve.
