"What? The Royal Chamber of Commerce no longer accepts gold and silver? Only Cloud Notes? Is this Cloud Note thing really reliable?"
"Excellent, excellent! With Cloud Notes, there's no need to carry so much weight in gold and silver for trade! It will save a considerable expense!"
Starting today, the Royal Chamber of Commerce will no longer accept gold and silver, switching entirely to Cloud Notes for both purchasing and supplying goods.
This news sent the franchisees and manufacturers into a frenzy. Those who knew the news rejoiced, while those who didn't found it unbelievable and began inquiring about what Cloud Notes were.
Soon, all merchants, through various means, learned about Cloud Notes and their value.
With the Royal Chamber of Commerce, a behemoth, backing it and the credibility of the royal family, most merchants did not hesitate. They brought a portion of their grain reserves in Shuangyue City to the money changers and exchanged them for Cloud Notes.
However, these Cloud Notes were not enough to purchase many goods from the Royal Chamber of Commerce. They had no choice but to have people simultaneously acquire more grain and send others back to retrieve stock from other locations.
Even more astute merchants directly dispatched their personnel to the vicinity of the road construction crew. Not far from the Royal Chamber of Commerce, they set up small trading posts and began selling goods.
Others, taking advantage of the workers' rest in the evening, even sent people in to attempt to buy Cloud Notes from the workers at a premium.
Even more ingenious was Chu Chen, who directly notified the road construction official to give the workers a paid day off.
The next day, as the workers were having breakfast, preparing to return to work after eating, they were informed of the holiday.
"Why is there a sudden holiday today? And we still get paid for not working, how strange!"
"Who knows? Who cares!"
"Everyone, I met a merchant last night who was willing to pay twenty extra copper coins for my Cloud Notes. Did you sell any?"
"I sold a little, but not all of it."
"Me too, more or less."
"I didn't sell a single one."
Since it was a holiday, the supervisors were eating with other supervisors, so there was no order on site. They ate and chatted in a chaotic manner.
This was also intentional on the part of the supervisors. They wanted the workers to talk and realize the benefits of Cloud Notes. Someone was already offering a premium price for them!
With nothing to do on their day off, and many of their wives not by their side, with Cloud Notes in hand, what would the workers do?
Naturally, they would go out in groups, arm in arm, to have fun.
Soon, the unsuspecting trade posts were completely swarmed.
Workers who couldn't get in found several other trade posts nearby. Although hesitant, they still went.
"Boy, does your trade post accept Cloud Notes?"
"Yes, of course! Not only do we accept them, but if you purchase goods with Cloud Notes, you'll get a 10% discount compared to usual! That is, if you would normally need ten coins to buy something, you'll only need nine coins with Cloud Notes!"
The young attendant's eyes lit up with excitement. He had been worried about not completing the task his employer had assigned for the day, but now his luck had turned.
He became even more persuasive, saying, "Opportunity knocks but once! Esteemed customers, you must seize the chance! Buying one item with Cloud Notes saves you 10%, buying ten items saves you even more coins! You can save money or buy more goods!"
"Is that true? Damn it, boy, I remember rice sells for fifty coins in the city, right?"
"That's correct, sir! But today we're selling it for only forty-five coins! A full 10% discount!"
The young attendant became more excited. He wasn't afraid of customers asking for prices, only that they wouldn't ask at all. As long as they had Cloud Notes in their pockets, he was confident his glib tongue could persuade them to buy!
"Damn it, it's actually true? Quick! Give me a hairpin, the ones supplied by the Royal Chamber of Commerce are not enough!"
"???"
The young attendant looked bewildered. Wasn't he asking about the price of rice? Why wasn't he buying rice? He wanted a hairpin? What on earth?
However, the young attendant was quick-witted. After a moment of stunned silence, he began to introduce wooden hairpins to the customer.
The workers here only earned a monthly salary of one tael. Gold and silver were unreliable, so they didn't stock them. However, they did have many wooden hairpins. In this regard, private merchants were better at understanding customers' shopping desires than the Royal Chamber of Commerce.
"There are indeed hairpins! I haven't bought one for my mother yet! I want one too!"
"Do you still have fruit candies? Give me three fruit candies!"
"Embroidered shoes! Give me a pair of embroidered shoes! I want to buy them for my wife!"
"Ah, esteemed customers, please calm down, calm down, one by one!"
The initially excited young attendant's expression changed drastically. So many people wanted to use Cloud Notes to shop, and with him and the shopkeeper, there were only four people. They didn't have enough staff! Damn it, weren't these people usually so stingy? Why were they so generous now!
Some smart workers, seeing that these private trade posts, not affiliated with the Royal Chamber of Commerce, also accepted Cloud Notes, wondered if the other trade posts that were open also accepted them.
Someone took the lead and ran over, followed by a crowd.
The shopkeepers of four or five private trade posts were simultaneously overjoyed and troubled.
In Shuangyue City, Chu Chen was still handling state affairs when someone from the Royal Chamber of Commerce rushed in in a panic.
"Prime Minister, Prime Minister, things are not looking good!"
"What is it?" Chu Chen frowned and looked up, only to see someone from the Chamber of Commerce. His heart sank. Could the Cloud Note plan have gone wrong?
"What happened?" Chu Chen asked urgently.
"Outside the road construction team, next to the trade posts we set up, private merchants have also set up their own posts. And they are even franchisees of our Chamber of Commerce. It's not easy to drive them away, but if this continues, all the Cloud Notes we issued will be earned by them!"
"???" Chu Chen was completely confused. He thought the Cloud Notes had collapsed.
A moment later, he realized and exclaimed, "These merchants are actually intercepting me from behind! Utterly despicable!"
Giving the workers a day off was intended for them to spend their Cloud Notes in the city. He had prepared several dummy shops in the city, but before they could even enter the city, they were intercepted.
As expected of businessmen, their minds are truly agile.
"Hey, Prime Minister, I'll notify the Embroidered Uniform Guard to drive them away immediately!"
Seeing Chu Chen's expression, the steward had an idea and was about to leave when Chu Chen grabbed his wrist.
"Where are you going?"
"To drive away the private trade posts for you, Prime Minister!"
"Why would you do that, you idiot? Now, immediately order people to sell the grain receipts for Chen and Qi countries in batches to these merchants. Remember, do this under the name of Shao Lili's Shao family, not the Chamber of Commerce. Also, inform Miss Shao Lili!"
"Yes!"
Although the steward didn't understand why Prime Minister Chu was making such a convoluted transaction, he still obeyed the order.
"The grain is all in the city. We only need to trade the receipts, the grain doesn't move. Left hand to right hand, waste paper for silver and gold! You dare to intercept me from behind, I'll show you what it means to get something for nothing!"