strictlysupreme Chapter 2729 Developing a Car Dealership
Chapter 2729 Developing a Car Dealership
Li Shen recounted his agreement with the imperial court, but Wang Hongfu was completely confused.
He had never even heard of the term "maintenance".
Repairing is easy to understand, but I still have some questions:
"Your Highness, I don't quite understand what 'maintenance' means, and how to tell which carriage they've repaired themselves."
Even if it's been repaired, how do we mark it?
"Maintenance involves checking their vehicles to see if anything is loose, such as bearings or wheels, and applying some lubricant."
Also check if the vehicle body is deformed and if the shaft is sturdy.
As for the marking, it's very simple. From now on, every time a carriage from our Prince Ji's residence leaves the factory, it will have a mark stamped on it.
Use the simple numerical label we told you about to put the same number on the back of the car.
When a car is sold, the buyer's name, place of origin, and phone number must be registered for our records.
Different types of carriages were marked with different colored numbers. For example, the imperial carriages were marked with the words "Imperial Court" and were painted in white.
Ordinary freight cars should be red, ordinary carriages should be blue, my license plate should be purple, and Your Majesty's license plate should be yellow. You can decide for yourself.
With good license plates, we can better distinguish the vehicles.
"Your Highness is truly talented." Wang Hongfu continued to flatter him, having already understood the explanation given by Prince Ji.
"What I want to tell you about this repair workshop is that, in essence, we don't charge for repairs; we only charge for materials. Do you understand?"
Li Shen gave Wang Hongfu a deep look, and the latter nodded immediately after considering it:
"I understand, Your Highness, please rest assured."
"Well, since the carriage company needs to be expanded, let's just start that business."
Li Shen thought about it. He used to look down on the carriage business, but now that there were orders from the imperial court, he might as well do it too.
"Your Highness, our carriages are not selling well, mainly because the price is too high."
Our cheapest carriage costs over a thousand strings of cash, while the top-of-the-line carriage costs over ten thousand strings.
This is a large sum of money for most merchants.
Right now, only those nobles can afford our carriages.
Wang Hongfu hurriedly reported that the carriages of Prince Ji's residence were hundreds of times more expensive than others, making them difficult to sell.
After thinking for only a moment upon hearing this, Li Shen had an idea:
"How about this, we'll modify the exterior to resemble the old carriage design and then announce to the public that it's a newly launched model this year."
Add some advantages, such as using more materials for the carriage and making the axles thicker, and add some additional functions, such as a support for the furnace inside, or like my carriage, a small folding table.
Basically, you just need to add one or two items, and then triple the price.
"Three times? Your Highness, our cheapest carriages are already a thousand strings of cash. If we triple the price, wouldn't it cost three thousand strings of cash?"
Upon hearing this, Wang Hongfu immediately tried to dissuade them, saying that if they did that, those luxury carriages would cost tens of thousands of guan, which was too expensive. Who could afford that?
Li Shen waved his hand:
"Don't worry, I haven't finished yet. The price I'm giving you is the suggested retail price from the Prince Ji's residence. You can ask the car dealership to sell it for a lower price."
For example, a carriage costing 1,000 strings of cash might have a suggested retail price of 3,000 strings of cash at the Prince Ji's residence. If you ask a carriage shop to sell it for 2,500 strings of cash, that's a discounted price.
"But 2,500 strings of cash is still very expensive, Your Highness," Wang Hongfu said with a wry smile. Everyone else was lowering their prices, but Prince Ji was raising them.
"This is just a discounted price. When the time comes, you can tell them that the imperial court bought the carriages and found them very useful. In order to benefit the people, the Prince Ji's Mansion did not add any carriages and gave the buyers a subsidy of 500 guan."
Then, the Prince Ji's mansion welcomed a new member this year, which pleased me greatly. I will also give the person who bought the carriage a subsidy of 500 strings of cash.
"That means the last 1,500 yuan," Li Shen explained confidently.
"This way we can earn an extra five hundred strings of cash." Wang Hongfu suddenly understood; Prince Ji was indeed treacherous and cunning.
If someone can sell something that originally cost 1,000 strings of cash for 1,500 strings, those who bought the car should congratulate Prince Ji on the addition of a new member to his household.
Wonderful, truly wonderful!
Those who bought the car were smugly pleased with themselves for getting a good deal, unaware that the car was only worth a thousand strings of cash to begin with.
Wang Hongfu quickly took out paper and pen and began to write down everything Li Shen said, as if afraid of missing anything.
"Your Highness, should we also establish carriage shops and repair workshops in various places?"
Li Shen smiled slightly, knowing exactly what Li Shen wanted.
"We will definitely build it, but for now we can just build it in the state capital and leave the county towns as is."
Prices should be clearly marked; they shouldn't be too expensive, nor too cheap.
Just like a maintenance service, spending money on it isn't unreasonable, is it?
With over two thousand counties, Li Shen really can't afford to expand that much. He can just collect a small service fee; there's no need to make it that big.
Wang Hongfu wrote them down one by one.
"There is one more thing. I want to support education. I have already promised His Majesty that I will sponsor those students who pass the exams in the name of the Crown Prince."
As long as the exam is passed, regardless of the stage, after verification through visits, we will provide three years' worth of living expenses, tuition fees, and expenses for writing materials. We will not be responsible for any expenses incurred by the individual, including visits to brothels and pleasure boats.
We also need to prepare 100,000 sets of exam textbooks and 100,000 sets of writing materials to donate to impoverished students across the country so they can continue their studies.
Li Shen then began to talk about the second matter.
"Your Highness, won't the aristocratic families object to this? Your Highness's move is further weakening the influence of the aristocratic families in the court."
"I'm afraid..." Wang Xuance hesitated before speaking, but Li Shen understood.
This, like papermaking and building academies, is an attack on aristocratic families. The Ji Prince's Mansion has not made a move against aristocratic families for a long time.
"What are you afraid of? Why do you think I'm using the Crown Prince's name? It's just to shift the focus to the Crown Prince."
The Crown Prince has grown up and it's time for him to shoulder some responsibilities. I'm doing this to train him."
Li Shen spoke in an old-fashioned manner, completely disregarding the fact that the Crown Prince was ten years older than him.
"My concern is that aristocratic families will find ways to prevent this. Of the 100,000 impoverished students, even if only one or two out of ten are selected in the future..."
They would also occupy positions held by ordinary officials in the imperial court. At that time, the influence of aristocratic families would be further weakened, or even completely eliminated.
"Are you afraid they'll do something desperate?" Li Shen understood Wang Xuance's concerns, which were nothing more than fear of retaliation under false pretenses. But was Li Shen really afraid?
He had said long ago that he would gradually devour the powerful families. This was also his life goal.
Wang Xuance nodded. He was indeed afraid that the powerful families would resort to desperate measures.
"Don't be afraid, we can just clarify it in the newspaper, right? Anyway, it was the Crown Prince who did this, we were just following his orders."
"Can't you even pass the buck?"
(The content used in this article is for dramatic purposes only and does not represent any specific meaning. It is unrelated to any particular industry. This is hereby declared.)