Chapter 55 Cement

Soap is selling like wildfire!

In front of the Heavenly Soap Pavilion, crowds bustled every day, resembling a bustling market fair.

Priced at a hundred taels per bar, only five hundred bars of soap were supplied each day, yet demand still far outstripped supply.

Qin Xuan sat with Zhao Luoying in a teahouse opposite the Heavenly Soap Pavilion, watching this thriving spectacle with a smiling expression.

"Your Highness, why not increase the daily supply instead of deliberately limiting it?"

Zhao Luoying took a light sip of clear tea and asked curiously.

Qin Xuan smiled and said, "Things are valued for their scarcity. I want to constantly maintain this tense atmosphere of soap scarcity so that soap can always command a high price and keep everyone scrambling for it."

"If one day this soap could be bought at any time, it would no longer be able to command such a high price."

Soap was merely meant to extract wealth from the nobility while simultaneously laying the groundwork for the popularization of ordinary laundry soap.

The true source of wealth, in fact, remained the cheaper soap.

Although the profit was only five cash per piece, the sheer base of the common populace was simply too enormous!

If everyone under the heavens formed the habit of using soap, the profit-making potential of such a fast-moving consumer product would truly become terrifying.

"If everyone can use it, and everyone actually uses it, then there will be a little less disease and a little more health under the sun."

Zhao Luoying roughly grasped Qin Xuan's train of thought and began to ponder the benefits of soap.

She had heard Qin Xuan say that many people fell ill simply due to a lack of personal hygiene.

As for the term "hygiene," Qin Xuan had specifically explained it to her, making her feel that the phrase was quite apt.

Time flew by, and before she knew it, the Spring Festival had arrived.

Yet the New Year in Beining City clearly lacked some of the usual jubilation, carrying instead a hint of tense atmosphere.

The land-clearing project in the northern part of the city had already entered its proper track. After building their own temporary wooden shelters, the two hundred thousand refugees began following Qin Xuan's plan, starting by reclaiming land to prepare for the upcoming spring planting.

As for housing, since the temporary wooden shelters had already survived the bitter winter, the weather would only grow warmer from then on, making houses less of an urgent necessity.

However, what no one knew was that the real reason Qin Xuan had postponed housing construction was that he was preparing a special material—cement.

When it came to building houses in ancient times, aside from the well-known mortise and tenon structures, there were actually many other methods, such as sticky rice mortar, white lime, clay, and blue bricks. The production of cement was not overly complicated either; the crucial factor lay in proportioning the ingredients, which necessitated repeated experimentation.

On the eleventh day of the first lunar month, in the Imperial Palace of Daqi, the Royal Study.

The Emperor of Daqi looked at the three items on the dragon desk with a complex gaze, his expression indescribably gloomy.

"It is precisely these mere three trinkets that have made that Qin Xuan wealthier than a nation?"

These three trinkets were naturally coal briquettes, refined salt, and soap.

Daqi had always monitored every move in Beining, so it was naturally impossible for them to be unaware of Qin Xuan's commercial layout.

The Minister of War, who was in charge of investigating this matter, trembled slightly and nodded, reporting, "Replying to Your Majesty, these three items have already spread to other foreign countries, and they have begun appearing successively within our own borders in Daqi."

"Is there anyone in the Imperial Manufactory who can replicate them?"

The Emperor of Daqi asked, casting his gaze toward the Director of the Imperial Manufactory.

The Director hurriedly dropped to his knees and said in a panic, "Reporting to Your Majesty, the Imperial Manufactory is currently studying these three items day and night. I believe that given time, we will achieve results."

The Director had said these exact words half a month ago.

Yet the Emperor of Daqi also knew that without the secret formulas, such items were exceptionally difficult to replicate.

However, he refused to watch Qin Xuan rise to prominence on the strength of these things, nor could he tolerate the revenue of a mere single city rivaling the wealth of the entire nation of Daqi.

If the common people below were to find out, wouldn't that prove that Qin Xuan's previous coercion of the throne had been right?

"Go and issue an imperial edict to search the realm for extraordinary talents and men of strange abilities. Qin Xuan has only one head and two eyes; I refuse to believe that the many talented individuals in my magnificent Daqi cannot surpass a single Qin Xuan?"

The Emperor of Daqi suppressed the fury raging in his heart and issued the command.

Not daring to dawdle, the Director nodded repeatedly while inwardly breathing a sigh of relief—he had managed to muddle through for the time being.

Shortly after, the officials withdrew. With a grave expression, the Emperor of Daqi summoned Chen Xuan, the Commander-in-Chief of the Jinyiwei, and instructed him, "Send men to infiltrate Beining City and make certain to acquire the secret formulas for producing these three items."

"This subordinate obeys the decree."

Chen Xuan lowered his voice in acknowledgement and quickly strode out of the Royal Study.

Meanwhile, in the council hall of the Prince's Estate in Beining City, the three major merchant guilds had sent letters through their messengers. As Qin Xuan had anticipated, the letters stated that soap had achieved unprecedented success in foreign barbarian lands.

"Your Highness, Mogu suggests establishing a soap workshop near the Kingdom of Goryeo to reduce transportation costs."

Zhuge Xuan laid out the contents of the letters one by one and offered a reminder.

Qin Xuan shook his head. "This matter is somewhat overly hasty; we cannot agree to it."

The manufacturing method for soap was relatively simple. Once workshops were established abroad, it would be difficult to guarantee whether the secret formula might leak.

Zhuge Xuan nodded in agreement and said, "Both Guild Masters Hu Xu and Huai Yun suggested in their letters that we might increase the variety of soap fragrances. Presumably, a single rose scent is no longer sufficient to satisfy those royal aristocrats and nobles."

"I have already ordered the workshop to test new formulas. By then, new soaps with chrysanthemum and osmanthus fragrances will be launched on the market."

Even as he spoke, Qin Xuan felt inwardly satisfied with the suggestions put forward by Hu Xu and Huai Yun.

Clearly, these two guild masters possessed nimbler minds and a better grasp of how to judge the changing tides.

Nominally, Beining City was still Daqi territory, merely governed by Qin Xuan in his capacity as the Prince of Chu, making it a so-called vassal fief.

To a large extent, Beining City could not yet interact with other countries on equal footing as an independent nation. If they rashly opened workshops locally, it would likely provoke endless covetousness.

"That's right, Cui Yu, the disciple of Elder Qiu, will arrive in Beining City in the next couple of days. Remember to make proper arrangements to receive him," Qin Xuan reminded. Just as he was about to continue speaking, someone outside reported that Gao Xiong had arrived.

Qin Xuan immediately ordered for Gao Xiong to be brought in and asked straight away, "Old Gao, could it be that there is some breakthrough with the cement?"

At this moment, Gao Xiong's face was covered in dust and grime, looking as if he had just been dug out of a trash heap.

He said excitedly, "Your Highness, this old servant has not failed your mission. I have indeed concocted the cement you wanted. However, as for its degree of sturdiness, I would like to ask Your Highness to test it personally."

"Really? Then let's go right now."

Overjoyed, Qin Xuan took Zhuge Xuan and headed straight for the workshop.

Inside the workshop at that moment, a pile of grayish-black powder had been deliberately placed inside a massive wooden barrel, flanked by two wooden molds measuring one meter square.

"Has it already been poured and molded?" Qin Xuan asked in surprise.

Inside these square molds were precisely the cement blocks that had already been poured, though the materials within each block varied slightly.

"Your Highness, this first block was made according to your instructions, mixing the newly produced cement with river sand."

"As for the second block, we added a specific proportion of crushed gravel, which, according to your phrasing, is called homemade concrete."

"Both types of cement blocks have solidified. Please, Your Highness, test their sturdiness."

Gao Xiong wore a look of eager anticipation.

Standing to the side, Zhuge Xuan was in a state of utter bewilderment. Could this grayish-black substance resembling a hard lump of mud really be the cement his Highness had been waiting for so anxiously?