180: 127: A tragedy beyond human imagination, back to Qin Shu!_2 180: 127: A tragedy beyond human imagination, back to Qin Shu!_2 About this point, both Suo Mu and Suo Ningbing had already calculated more than once.
Even with the strong support of Duke Zhi Ting, if the other two salt fields were to allocate all five thousand of their salt slaves to the Chaotic Stone Peninsula, at most they would only be able to develop over ten thousand acres of salt fields in the remaining three months, which, added to the already existing several thousand acres, would only total twenty thousand acres.
Moreover, autumn and winter were about to arrive, and although the sunlight conditions here were still good, and the sea breeze strong, the efficiency of salt production was after all not as good as in summer.
Therefore, the limit of salt production for this half year was twenty million catties.
This amount of salt could sell for nearly twenty thousand Gold Coins, and Suo Lun would receive half of that, which was ten thousand Gold Coins.
Although this was already an astronomical profit, it was still a very large gap from the one hundred and fifty thousand Gold Coins he needed.
Even if Chaos Stone Island were to produce salt for an entire year, it would only sell for around fifty thousand Gold Coins.
To truly reach a production of one to two hundred million catties, at least two to three years would be needed until the tens of thousands of salt fields were fully developed and had tens of thousands of salt workers.
Therefore, even though Suo Lun’s salt production was defying common sense and was a revolutionary breakthrough, to earn one hundred and fifty thousand Gold Coins would still take at least three years.
But Suo Lun needed this sum of money within three months.
However, anything that Suo Mu and Suo Ningbing had thought of, Suo Lun had of course already calculated countless times.
Immediately, he confidently said, “Your Grace, there is actually another way to sell salt.”
Duke Zhi Ting said, “I am eager to hear it.”
“By issuing salt vouchers, we can sell not only the salt that has already been produced but even the salt that hasn’t been produced yet, or even the salt for the next year or the year after,” Suo Lun said.
“We will exchange salt for vouchers, one voucher for a hundred catties of salt.
Normally, we sell to salt merchants for around twenty copper coins per catty, but our salt vouchers will be sold for eighteen hundred copper coins each, meaning it is equivalent to just eighteen copper coins per catty of salt.”
Upon hearing this, Duke Zhi Ting’s eyes cooled, and he slapped his thigh, exclaiming, “Right, we will only sell salt vouchers and then use the salt vouchers to get salt.
We don’t have much salt on hand right now, but there’s no limit to how many salt vouchers we can have.”
Suo Lun asked, “Two copper coins cheaper per catty, can we sell our salt vouchers?”
“Of course we can,” said Duke Zhi Ting.
“Moreover, I can mortgage my properties and my Gold Coin mint to ensure that these salt vouchers are as solid as can be.”
Suo Lun added, “We can also buy back the salt vouchers, selling them for eighteen hundred copper coins each but buying them back at seventeen hundred.
That way, the merchants will not have any doubts or concerns.”
“Yes, with that, the salt vouchers will surely sell,” Duke Zhi Ting said.
“Although I am infamously greedy for money, I do have a good reputation, and my brand is very strong.
Let’s not delay; we should go to the royal city as soon as possible to produce these salt vouchers, and then sell them immediately.”
Then, Duke Zhi Ting said, “There’s another concern, which is how to prevent counterfeiting of the salt vouchers?
My Gold Coin mint has issued gold notes before, but it wasn’t long before fake gold notes appeared on the market, and even my shopkeepers couldn’t distinguish the real from the fake.
I know those counterfeit notes were manufactured by that fox-like brother and sister, Zhi Li and Zhi Ning, but as their skills were better, all I could do was swallow blood with clenched teeth.
Although Zhi Li and I are sworn enemies, my gold note business still had to use the gold notes they issued.”
That was indeed a thorough tragedy.
With the support of all the nobles and nobility in the royal city, combined with an uncrackable anti-counterfeiting technology, it was almost like the Federal Reserve on Earth Plane.
Suo Lun assured him, “Don’t worry, leave the anti-counterfeiting of the salt vouchers to me.
I can’t crack the royal city Gold Coin mint’s anti-counterfeiting, but they also won’t be able to crack the anti-counterfeiting I use for the salt vouchers, absolutely foolproof.”
At this point, Duke Zhi Ting had one hundred percent trust in Suo Lun.
It wasn’t just the anti-counterfeiting technology—if Suo Lun said that the sun would rise in the west, Duke Zhi Ting would probably instinctively look west the next morning.
Because, from beginning to end, Suo Lun had indeed created too many miracles.
Even though his words sounded incredibly unbelievable and impossible to trust at the time, in the end, they all became reality.
“To our making huge fortunes.” Duke Zhi Ting raised his glass.
“To our making huge fortunes,” Suo Lun raised his glass, and then Suo Ningbing also lifted hers.
Duke Zhi Ting looked towards Suo Ningbing and said, “I owe it to Miss Suo for being willing to listen to a commoner like me talk endlessly about money for a whole night.”
“Your Grace is the most passionate person I’ve ever met, and I really enjoy listening to you speak,” Suo Ningbing said with a smile.
“Hahaha…” Zhi Ting laughed.
“Your compliment makes me feel as though even my fat is lighter.”
Then, he hesitated slightly before saying, “Next, I have a few private words to speak with the young lady, if it wouldn’t be too much trouble.”
Suo Ningbing looked stunned and instinctively turned to look at Suo Lun.
Even though Duke Zhi Ting’s reputation regarding women was still acceptable, and nothing had been heard about him coercing women, Suo Ningbing was still very worried; after all, Zhi Ting was known as the number one profligate under heaven.
But Suo Lun nodded and said, “Sister, go with peace of mind; the Duke truly has something to discuss with you.”
Even, Suo Lun had a vague idea of what Duke Zhi Ting might want to discuss.
In Duke Zhi Ting’s study, after a eunuch served Suo Ningbing a cup of tea and then exited,
“Bai, don’t let anyone close by, and don’t listen in,” Duke Zhi Ting said to the eunuch with completely white eyebrows and formidable martial skills.