Finally, Li Yao set a price.
"Let's do 3 coins per catty," she said.
One mu of land needed 3,000 seedlings, about 300 catties, which was 900 coins.
It seemed expensive, but if one mu of land could produce 2,000 catties of sweet potatoes, it would sell for at least 10,000 coins. It was a guaranteed profit.
The villagers provided the labor and could earn money. Everyone would not lose out.
"Okay, let's go with this price," said Song County Magistrate, finalizing the task. The other 22 villages had to buy all of He Wan village's sweet potato seedlings and plant them strictly according to Li Yao's methods.
He knew the village chiefs would resent this, but he had to do it.
Only large-scale farming, allowing more people to reap the benefits, could quickly promote this crop.
In just a few days, all of He Wan village's sweet potato seedlings were sold out.
Song County Magistrate estimated that the sold seedlings were enough to plant over 12,000 mu, about 550 mu per village on average.
If the yield was as high as Li Yao said, Baichuan County could produce 28 million catties this season alone...
But was it really possible?
Song County Magistrate didn't know, but he knew that if the yield was that high, Great Ling would no longer lack food in the future.
Just wait for the autumn harvest.
...
After planting the sweet potatoes and potatoes, every household began preparing to plant rice.
Li Yao's family had over 10 mu of paddy fields. She didn't plan to manage it and left it all to Da Zhuang.
Still, she taught some advanced farming knowledge, like raising seedlings first before transplanting. When transplanting, use ropes to plant in straight lines and make the space between rows face east to benefit photosynthesis.
Da Zhuang followed her words diligently, spending every day in the paddy fields.
He Xiaoya's belly was very noticeable now. Li Yao didn't let her go out now. She took walks in the yard every day and cooked by herself.
After the farming was done, the two workshops resumed full production. Jia Zhanliang and Liu Yuan, who had been gone for months, each brought long convoys to He Wan village.
Producing soap required huge amounts of lard. Now, Wang Yuanguo had bought up almost all the lard in Yizhou Prefecture, but it still couldn't meet production needs.
To get more goods, the two simply purchased lard directly, continuously transporting it to He Wan village.
The cost was higher, but better than no goods.
"This time I've brought 3,000 catties," said Jia Zhanliang. "I'll have about this much every month from now on."
"I've brought 2,000 catties."
5,000 catties from outside plus about 3,000 catties purchased locally per month was enough to produce 120,000 bars of soap.
But even so, they both still felt it wasn't enough.
"I don't know who said it, but frequently washing hands with soap can not only prevent minor illnesses but also prevent plagues," said Jia Zhanliang. "So soap is in shortage everywhere now."
"Yes, I don't know if it's true or false."
"Of course it's true," said Li Yao. "And I'm the one who said it."
"Ah?"
Jia Zhanliang really didn't expect soap to have such benefits.
"Then... since it's so good, why not sell it at a higher price?"
Li Yao shook her head. She never intended to raise prices. She was even considering lowering them at the right time to allow more people to use it.
She understood better than anyone that high prices and monopolies seemed profitable short-term but couldn't dominate the market. Once others manufactured soap, they would flood the market and take over.
Lowering prices then would be like losing people's hearts. Defeat would be certain.
"Oh, that reminds me," Li Yao didn't want to continue discussing this and changed the subject, "there are new products this time."
"Really? That's great, what are they?"
"Cologne and white ointment."
Producing cologne required bezoar, a precious medicine material with limited output. Li Yao positioned it like fragrant soap, a luxury item.
But white ointment had low costs and easily obtained ingredients, so she priced it low.
Jia Zhanliang and Liu Yuan didn't care about high or low prices. Li Yao would leave them enough profit margins. More product varieties brought more income.
The two agents couldn't wait to take the goods, already planning clever marketing tactics.
After sending off the agents, Li Yao put all the bicycles and tricycles in stock onto the shelves at Yizhou Prefecture's stores.
Customers who had waited long eagerly came with silver to pick up their goods, then started showing off all over town.
For a time, the sound of bicycle bells could be heard everywhere in Yizhou Prefecture's markets.
Especially in Baichuan Market, many people's thinking had become active under Li Yao's influence. Many borrowed money to buy a bicycle, then rode to other counties or even Yizhou Prefecture to do small business.
So when Li Yao went into town again, she saw people riding bicycles and tricycles constantly, making her feel like she had returned to modern society.
"Mistress, bicycles and tricycles sell too well!" exclaimed Zou Boss. One bicycle earned several taels of silver. His face was about to bloom with joy these days. "There are still dozens of people waiting, urging early delivery."
"They can pick up in three days max."
"Good, I'll have someone notify them," said Zou Boss. "Mistress, we have stores in every county now, but not Yizhou Prefecture."
In his view, a store in Yizhou Prefecture would definitely boom.
But Li Yao didn't open a store there because of Magistrate Hu.
A store opened there would inevitably face all kinds of trouble and oppression from him. It was better not to open at all.
If people in Yizhou Prefecture wanted to buy things, they could go to the counties or find agents. Having to spend more money wasn't her problem.
"It's fine not to open one. Oh, Granny Liu came looking for you at the store earlier."
"Granny Liu? What does she do?"
"You don't know Granny Liu?" Zou Boss laughed. "She's the most famous matchmaker in Baichuan County. She's arranged marriages for many wealthy families. If she's looking for you, she probably wants to find a match for Young Master Er."
In the time Li Yao had been in this world, she hadn't encountered a matchmaker yet.
Speak of the devil.
A gaudily dressed old woman came to the boutique store entrance.