Chapter 1381: Really Smells Good

"Everyone, the Hanzhong Hou's attack this time has dealt us a serious blow."

Liu Yan finally spoke.

This time he had to admit that he really had no good way to deal with Bai Feng's move to jointly build a steam engine workshop and a soap workshop.

Because this is no longer a question of opening up new markets.

The problem is that Youzhou cannot imitate steam engines at all.

Moreover, steam engines were far more popular among the Wei gentry than soap.

After all, no matter how good soap is, it is a daily necessity. Once you buy it and use it up, it is gone.

The steam engine is a machine, a machine that can continuously create value for the nobles.

Even though the Wei Dynasty has not yet entered the industrial age, after the use of water-powered looms.

All the nobles agreed that machines are more efficient and easier to manage than people. The key is that there is no need to pay the machine a salary, and there is no need to worry about the machine getting sick.

The efficiency of steam looms is not only improved more than water-powered looms, but the output is more stable.

Because water-powered looms mainly rely on rivers to power the looms.

The winter in the north is very cold and the rivers freeze.

This made water-powered looms unable to work during northern winters.

And when there is a drought, the output of water conservancy looms will be greatly reduced.

But the steam loom solved this problem perfectly, producing uninterrupted production 12 hours a day and 24 hours a day.

Don't worry about the weather yet.

On the surface, it seems that the output of steam looms is 30% higher than that of water looms, but if it is calculated based on the annual output.

Compared with water-powered looms, the output of steam looms more than doubled.

After hearing what Liu Yan said, the Youzhou nobles all looked sad.

"Prefect, the soap in our hands has indeed been sold in Liangzhou and Yongzhou."

"But the new soap workshop has also started construction, and soon the quantity of soap in our hands will exceed the first batch."

The nobles in Youzhou, as well as the craftsmen in the soap workshops, are also constantly making spontaneous improvements in soap production technology.

The current output of Youzhou Soap Factory has increased by more than 20% compared to the beginning.

But just when they were about to make a lot of money, Bai Feng worked together to make the Youzhou nobles deeply understand what a two-level reversal was.

"If this batch of soap cannot be sold, then we will really lose money!"

The Youzhou nobleman said this, the despair in his tone was very obvious.

The other noble clansmen were also very silent at this time.

After a while, another Youzhou nobleman spoke:

"Prefect, how about we sell this batch of soap in Liangzhou and Yongzhou at a lower price now?"

Just like before when Bai Feng used a batch of soap to open the Xianbei market at a low price, this time some Youzhou nobles still made suggestions to quickly sell the soap in their hands to recoup their capital.

No matter what, Youzhou's soap can still be sold to Liangzhou and Yongzhou this time, which is much better than before.

After this nobleman proposed the idea of ​​restoring blood, no other nobleman directly stood up to speak out against it like last time.

They also all know that soap has no advantage at all when facing steam engines.

After Liu Yan heard this, he couldn't help but nodded.

"Yes, we have no better way now."

In the face of Liu Yan's approval, the Youzhou nobles present also acquiesced in selling the batch of soap in their hands to Liangzhou and Yongzhou at a low price.

Then the nobles left Liu Yan's mansion one after another.

Most of them are preparing to transport the soaps in their warehouses to Liangzhou and Yongzhou and sell them at low prices.

As for whether the nobles in Liangzhou and Yongzhou who have invested in Youzhou Soap Factory will still receive dividends, it is no longer within their scope of consideration.

If you are going to lose money yourself, how can you still think about other people's dividends?

There is also a small group of Youzhou nobles who are not in a hurry to go to the warehouse to transport goods.

"Let me tell you, isn't it just for money that we are going against Hanzhong Hou this time?"

“Now it’s clear that we can make more money by investing in Hanzhonghou’s soap factory and then investing in steam engine factory!”

In a private room of a restaurant, several Youzhou nobles were talking in a low voice.

"In order to make money, it's true that we are not greedy, but aren't we just human beings inside and outside?"

The reputation of a noble family is sometimes quite important. After all, only aristocratic families that have a huge reputation either in the officialdom or among the people can be qualified to be called a noble family.

So faced with this choice that all depends on money, one nobleman couldn't help but speak out.

The other two nobles who were about to agree suddenly became silent after hearing this.

"It's true that there's no other pot that you can't open!"

The nobleman who spoke first cursed in his heart.

"What Brother Wei said does make sense."

"But we have offended the Hanzhong Marquis. If we don't seize the opportunity now to make amends to the Hanzhong Marquis as soon as possible, there will be no chance later!"

"To offend the prefect, Liu Yan is almost seventy years old this year. How many years can he stay in the post of prefect?"

"But the Hanzhong Marquis is only in his early thirties, but he is not much different from His Royal Highness the Crown Prince!"

"Guys, think about it carefully!"

After finishing speaking, this nobleman looked at the other noblemen in the private room.

The nobleman who said he was not human inside and out also became speechless at this time.

"Yes, yes, Brother Cheng is right!"

"Why are we neither here nor there?"

"We are now ready to stand on the side of the Marquis of Hanzhong. If you want to say it, we are also abandoning darkness and joining the light!"

With the Cheng clan of the aristocracy finding a suitable excuse for them, other aristocrats immediately echoed them.

Compared to continuing to cling to Liu Yan's thighs, Bai Feng's thighs are still thicker and longer!

Anyone with a discerning eye can see this clearly.

"Brother Cheng is right. I am a little confused. Haha, hahaha!"

The aristocrats who said they were neither here nor there finally joined the ranks of those who were neither here nor there.

Just when the Youzhou aristocrats were busy preparing to transport the soap to Liangzhou and Yongzhou for sale, and a small number of Youzhou aristocrats were ready to "abandon darkness and join the light".

The aristocrats in Liangzhou and Yongzhou were not idle either.

Although Liangzhou and Yongzhou were far away from the emperor, they were not isolated from the world.

The news that Cao Jie was linking the steam engine workshop and the soap workshop in Yizhou naturally reached the ears of the Liangzhou aristocrats and Yongzhou aristocrats.

Now the nobles in Liangzhou and Yongzhou are thinking about how to get Cao Jie to Liangzhou and Yongzhou as soon as possible to build soap workshops and steam engine workshops. They have prepared silver to invest.

This silver is the remaining dividend after investing in the Youzhou soap workshop.