Liu Bei: My younger brother is a deity.

Chapter 7 Getting Rich

Liu Quan ultimately decided to start by expanding the Liu family's straw mat and straw sandal business.

After all, this industry has low barriers to entry, low capital requirements, and fast turnover, making it most suitable for the current situation.

But it certainly can't be like before, where Liu alone makes straw sandals and mats.

She could knit a few pairs of shoes even if she stayed up all day long.

If you take them to the county to sell, a pair of straw sandals will only sell for three or five coins. After deducting the cost, you won't make much profit.

To make money, you have to expand production and scale up operations.

However, this matter cannot be accomplished by Liu alone.

Liu Quan decided to go find Liu Yuanqi.

Liu Yuanqi was the village head of Lousang Village and also the clan leader of the Liu family, so his words carried weight in the village.

With his support, things will be much easier.

Having made up his mind, Liu Quan went to find Liu Shi and explained his thoughts in general terms.

Liu only half understood what Liu Quan was saying, but seeing that Liu Quan was speaking earnestly, she nodded and led him to Liu Yuanqi's house.

After Liu Quan finished explaining his purpose, Liu Yuanqi stroked his beard and pondered for a moment.

Logically, he should have complied with the elder's request unconditionally, but since it concerned the livelihoods of other villagers, he still needed to ask for clarification.

"Xian, Quan, you mean... to gather all the women in the village together to weave straw sandals and mats?"

"good."

"But how much money can you make in this business? There are at least eight or ten shops selling straw sandals in Zhuoxian County. If you expand your business, who will you sell to?"

Liu Quan smiled slightly, "Master Liu, you are unaware of the facts. I have done the math. Currently, a pair of straw sandals in Zhuo County sells for three coins, with a cost of about one and a half coins, resulting in a profit of one and a half coins. If our production increases, the cost can be reduced. I can reduce the cost of a pair of straw sandals to half a coin."

Liu Yuanqi was taken aback: "Half a penny? How is that possible?"

Liu Quan then explained his method in detail.

The process involves eight steps: selecting grass, composting grass, pounding grass, twisting rope, weaving the base, weaving the surface, finishing the edges, and shaping.

Each step of the process is handled by a specific person. One person does the same thing every day, and practice makes perfect, so they can do it quickly and well.

With just a dozen or so people on the assembly line, a hundred pairs of shoes can be made a day.

With increased production, the cost per pair of shoes decreases.

Liu Yuanqi was stunned.

He had served as the village head in Zhuo County for over a decade and had met many merchants, but he had never heard of such a method.

"Making so many shoes a day, can you really sell them all?" Liu Yuanqi asked again.

"We're offering a price reduction; shoes are consumables, and straw sandals are even less durable. We're aiming for low profit margins and high sales volume."

"Low profit, high volume?"

"That's right, there's another advantage to this move. Our costs are low, so we can still make a profit even if we lower the price, unlike the other sellers. They lose money on every pair they sell, and they won't last long before they go bankrupt. Then, the entire straw sandal business in Zhuoxian will be ours."

Liu Yuanqi gasped.

The immortal is so vicious, no, so insidious, no, so clever!

Although Zhuo County is not large, it has tens of thousands of households. The business of selling straw sandals and straw mats can generate a surplus of at least tens of thousands of coins a year.

If they could really monopolize it...

"Alright." Liu Yuanqi had no further questions and slapped his thigh. "I'll go and gather the heads of all the households in the village to discuss this matter."

Three days later, Liu Yuanqi persuaded sixty or seventy households in the village to let the women in their families join the "Liu Family Straw Sandal Workshop".

Liu Quan then asked Liu Yuanqi to find an empty large house at the east end of the village and clean it up to use as a workshop.

On the day the workshop opened, more than thirty women sat on long benches, each performing their duties according to the procedures set by Liu Quanfen.

Some were selecting grass, some were twisting rope, and some were weaving soles; everyone was busy and having a great time.

Liu was assigned by Liu Quan to be the "chief instructor," responsible for checking the quality of each process and making sure that anything that didn't meet the standards was reworked.

A month later, the first batch of straw sandals came off the factory.

Liu Quan had Liu Yuanqi hire two assistants to carry loads to Zhuoxian County to sell.

A pair of straw sandals was priced at two coins, one coin cheaper than the market price.

The quality is no worse than others, and because of the fine process, it is even more durable than ordinary straw sandals.

Two coins for a pair of straw sandals caused quite a stir in Zhuoxian County.

Poor people buy straw sandals to save money, and now that there are cheaper ones, who would buy the expensive ones?

In just half a month, the reputation of Liu's straw sandals spread throughout the streets and alleys of Zhuoxian County.

Those small vendors who used to sell straw sandals started to get restless.

The cost of a pair of straw sandals for them is at least one and a half coins.

Selling it for only two coins, wouldn't that be a waste of time?

Some of these people also had other businesses, so they simply gave up the straw sandal business.

There were also some people who truly relied solely on this craft to survive. If they couldn't sell straw sandals, they couldn't make a living, and naturally, they harbored resentment towards Liu.

The people of Youzhou have always been fierce and usually vent their anger with knives.

However, the Liu family of Lousang Village was a large clan with many able-bodied men, and even if they united, they could not defeat them.

Just when these people were at their wits' end, the Liu family of Lousang Village sent someone over to have a "polite" talk with them.

Soon, these people joined Liu's workshop's distributor network.

A year later, the straw sandal and straw mat market in Zhuoxian County was completely dominated by Liu's straw weaving workshop.

No, it's not just Zhuoxian County.

Due to the expansion of its scale, the prices of straw sandals and straw mats produced by Liu's Straw Weaving Workshop have been reduced again.

It's so cheap!

This attracted people from several counties along the Juma River, including Fanyang, Liangxiang, and Fangcheng, to come and purchase the goods.

A pair of straw sandals costs only one coin, which is more cost-effective than making them at home. Who would bother with that effort?

As the major shareholder of the workshop, the Sanpang family's life became increasingly better, with more and more meat and oil in their diet.

After a year of eating rich, fatty foods, Sanpang not only didn't gain weight, but actually lost weight.

It wasn't that Liu withheld his food.

On the contrary, the Liu family now has a constant supply of cured meat on their stove, and they kill a chicken every few days. Sanpang eats to his heart's content at every meal.

However, in the past year, he has been learning martial arts from Liu Quan. He gets up at dawn to practice horse stance and run, and at night he also hits the sandbag and practices punches and kicks.

The fat on my body gradually disappeared, replaced by solid muscles.

The Liu Bei of today is no longer the chubby, fat boy he was a year ago.

He had grown taller, his shoulders were much broader, his back was ramrod straight, and he walked with a powerful stride.

His face was thin and well-defined, with a high nose bridge and bright, dark eyes that exuded a heroic air.

But his ears were still unusually large, hanging down on both sides of his cheeks, and the villagers couldn't help but take a second look when they saw them.

Because of his increased martial prowess, Liu Bei is now the king of the children in Lousang Village.

His favorite thing to do every day was to gather the children of Lousang Village together and command them to "fight on horseback".

On this day, Liu Quan watched Liu Bei leading the village's mischievous children in chasing dogs and chickens.

This guy rushed to the front, wielding a wooden stick, and beat his older cousin's big black dog until it ran away in terror, barking excitedly "Oh oh."

The group of mischievous kids behind him also swarmed after him, and Liu Deran was among them.

This kid was initially unconvinced.

But after being beaten by Liu Bei several times, he finally resigned himself to his fate and became Liu Bei's loyal lackey.

He might even develop into the number one lackey.

That's why they say "spare the rod and spoil the child"!