Pay‑to‑Win King of Martial Arts (Novel) - Chapter 147 - Central Plains Merchant Union Council (2)

Chapter 147 – Central Plains Merchant Union Council (2)

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Translated by Heavenly Cat

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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I dealt with the backlog of merchant company business that had piled up in the meantime.

No matter how many matters Jo Chung-heon handled on my behalf, I still had no choice but to personally approve anything that determined the overall direction of the entire company.

While I had been away, Jo Chung-heon had raised the company into something truly solid. Though to be fair, I had been deciding by letter which items should be stocked in the warehouse at what times and which goods should be sold.

Now the merchant company was steadily producing stable profits.

Of course, we were earning those profits by borrowing Heaven’s Gift Merchant Company’s distribution network for now, but the construction of a network of our own was also under way. That was something I had not even told him to do, yet Jo Chung-heon had proceeded with it on his own.

As the one handling all the company’s operational affairs, Jo Chung-heon had to remain at my side whenever I handled work inside the merchant company.

“How much ready cash do we currently maintain?”

“At present, we should have about seventeen thousand silver taels on hand.”

Though I had phrased it somewhat indirectly, this referred to the surplus left in the company after deducting the employees’ wages and the rest of our upkeep costs. The money left after everything the merchant company needed had been taken care of. That meant net profit. In other words, my money.

“Then the amount that went to the Wudang Sect should be a little over four thousand silver taels.”

“That is correct.”

“The sect leader must be feeling very reassured.”

The agreement with the Radiant Crystal Merchant Company had been that total revenue would be divided eight to two in our favor and the Wudang Sect’s.

If two shares went to the Wudang Sect and the remaining eight were mine, then our total revenue had come out to about twenty thousand taels.

“Have there been any points of friction with the Wudang Daoists?”

“How could there be? We have been managing things well with mutual respect.”

“Well, it is not as though Wudang Daoists are the sort who go looking for fights with people.”

I nodded in satisfaction.

Now the Wudang Sect no longer accepted escort commissions from other merchant companies. They only provided protection when the Radiant Crystal Merchant Company went on trading journeys or entered the marketplace.

No Green Forest bandit or street thug in his right mind would think of laying a hand on us after seeing the Wudang Sect’s flag.

On top of that, the Wudang Sect had built up trust in the martial world over a long period of time, which meant we could extend our routes not only among ordinary commoners but into the martial world itself. I was not handing over twenty percent of the total revenue to the Wudang Sect for no reason.

“Here are the accounting records.”

Jo Chung-heon promptly brought the documents over to me.

“Mm.”

As I looked through the records, I nodded in satisfaction. Jo Chung-heon truly was an excellent acting head steward.

He could have left a large surplus to flatter me, but he had not done that. Instead, he had invested heavily in the company’s development and, without leaving me feeling slighted, had even rolled the surplus over each quarter to grow it.

Considering that I had not been able to pay attention to the merchant company at all for about a year, it meant my salary for that single year came out to seventeen thousand silver taels.

“This is good. You have worked hard, Acting Head Steward.”

“Thank you.” “How much is your monthly salary again?”

“Around one hundred silver taels.”

“You should be making at least twice that. Starting next month, take two hundred taels.”

“…Huh? I am fine as I am. I already live comfortably…”

Jo Chung-heon glanced at me. Then again, with a salary of one hundred silver taels a month, comfort was only natural. Even so, his eyes were shining. When it came to money, more was always better.

“Just take it. And calculate the company’s annual growth rate. Raise the monthly wages of the company’s employees every year in proportion to that growth rate. Naturally, do not raise them all uniformly. The head stewards should evaluate the clerks and errand boys according to objective indicators, and their wages should be raised based on those records.”

“That is a good system. Understood.”

“But if you do that, you will have to train and monitor the head stewards carefully, so that no private bias enters into their evaluations of the clerks or errand boys.”

At my words, Jo Chung-heon flinched.

“If it goes that far, it becomes too much work for me…, no. I will do it.” “Ah, really? I did not think of that.”

“No. I can do it!”

Jo Chung-heon looked full of drive now that his monthly salary had just doubled, but he was not the kind of man to call something hard when it was not. I humbly admitted that I had not thought it through enough.

“No. You already handle a great deal as it is. If more work is added, the efficiency may actually drop.”

“Then how about entrusting that work to Madam Yu?”

“Madam Yu?”

I tilted my head briefly, then realized who he meant. He was talking about Yu Cha-ryeon, whom I had brought from the Fang Estate.

“Ah. How has she been? Is she adapting well?”

“Adapting? She is doing more than that. There is something unusual about the dignity she carries, so even without any official position, she has already taken hold of the merchant company people. She seems perfectly suited to that role.”

“That is good. There will not be any sense that a stone that rolled in has pushed out the stone that was already there, will there?”

“The merchant company people have already acknowledged Madam Yu. She is astonishingly erudite.” I nodded.

So Yu Cha-ryeon was that capable. I had not expected that at all, but it seemed I had gained quite a solid subordinate from the Fang Estate.

“Then shall we call for Madam Yu?”

“Understood.”

Jo Chung-heon left the branch master’s office and brought Yu Cha-ryeon in.

Now that I was seeing her head-on, I realized Yu Cha-ryeon was quite tall. About the same as Jo Chung-heon, who was around the male average. Slightly shorter than me.

“It has been a while. Have you been well?”

“Yes. Thanks to you. The people of your merchant company are very well trained. Their attitude is excellent as well.”

“We judge character too. That is not for nothing that we pay the best wages in the trade.”

“I only heard the name Radiant Crystal Merchant Company for the first time after coming here, but judging solely by the employees, it truly feels like this company will become a great merchant company one day.”

There was no falsehood in Yu Cha-ryeon’s gentle tone. As expected, great families really did know how to educate people. “There is something I would like to ask of you, Madam Yu.”

“Madam? Me?”

“Yes.”

At my words, Yu Cha-ryeon reacted as if in disgust and bristled.

“What do you mean, madam? That is a title for married women. I am a woman who divorced and severed ties. And it is not as if I am old enough to be called madam either. I am only twenty-three.”

Avoiding Yu Cha-ryeon’s gaze, I cast Jo Chung-heon a quick glance. It seemed Jo Chung-heon had never actually used the term Madam Yu in front of her.

Then again, Fang So-hwa, the daughter she had brought with her, looked around five years old. So she must have given birth when she was still very young. Well, great families married early, so it could happen.

“Then I will call you Young Lady. Is that acceptable?”

“That is fine. Branch Master, you would not like being called Great Man either, would you?”

“It would not bother me…” I had heard that title plenty in my previous life, so I was actually rather used to it. But at my words, the corners of Yu Cha-ryeon’s eyes sharpened like those of an irritable cat.

“How old are you, Branch Master?”

“I am three years past twenty myself.”

“The same age, then. What a coincidence.”

“You are not about to start speaking casually to me, are you?”

“I have never spoken informally to anyone in my life. Polite speech is more comfortable for me.”

“I see.”

Then again, it would not really suit Yu Cha-ryeon to speak casually. She simply looked like that sort of person. She had a face that did not seem to fit casual speech at all.

“Enough small talk. Let us get to the point. There is something I would like to propose to you, Young Lady Yu.”

“What is it?”

I repeated to her what I had already said to Jo Chung-heon. To put it simply, I was asking her to serve as the merchant company’s internal inspector. Yu Cha-ryeon nodded readily without much thought. “Very well.”

“I like how direct that was.”

“I am living here on your kindness, so if there is something helpful I can do, I should do it.”

“I had no intention of carrying you that far.”

“How could I abandon my daughter and come alone?”

“That is true.”

I had no choice but to agree with Yu Cha-ryeon. In my previous life, I had never even married, let alone had a proper lover or children, so I could not dare claim to understand that feeling.

“Come to think of it, how much time is left until we leave for the Merchant Union Council?”

“About a month.”

The Central Plains Merchant Union Council, shortened to the Merchant Union Council. It was located in Beijing. For old men whose only thing worth boasting about was their network of connections, there was no place better to settle than Beijing.

“Then the acting head steward and I should be enough to go, correct?” “Mm, would it not be better if Young Lady Yu came with us as well?”

Jo Chung-heon smoothly drew Yu Cha-ryeon into it from the side.

“Really?”

“She comes from an extraordinary family, does she not? She will be of help somehow. In conservative groups like the Merchant Union Council in particular, family matters a great deal.”

“I was not planning to reveal that…”

Yu Cha-ryeon grumbled. Jo Chung-heon shook his head.

“Anyone could tell from your conduct and the way you speak that you carry breeding. They would have figured it out anyway. Even now, although you hold no official position, everyone in the merchant company listens to what you say.”

“That is true.”

Stroking my chin, I considered how practically useful Yu Cha-ryeon would be at the Merchant Union Council. As Jo Chung-heon said, she would certainly help. If Yu Cha-ryeon herself did not mind, there was no reason for me to refuse.

“Then let us do that. The three of us will go together.” “Will you not need escorts?”

“What for? I am here. And that place is too worldly. It would be awkward to bring Daoists along.”

I shrugged.

Now I knew my own level. Unless something very unusual happened, it would be difficult to encounter an expert in the streets who surpassed me.

“Then let us leave in about half a month. Finish everything you need to finish by then.”

I clapped my hands and summed it up. And just like that, the party traveling to the Merchant Union Council was formed in short order.

* * *

All-Under-Heaven Merchant Company.

To tell the truth, the name All-Under-Heaven Merchant Company itself had once been common.

All-under-heaven. How easy a name that was to attach to a merchant company.

A name that sounded grand, looked impressive, and inspired trust. Many people had attached that prefix, all-under-heaven, to their merchant companies. But the name All-Under-Heaven Merchant Company was not a name granted to such a rabble. Among the merchant houses, one of the Shanxi Four Families, the Na Clan, had thrust itself into that name.

Among small and medium merchant companies, people generally did not even know what names companies in other regions were using. After all, regional small and medium companies only dealt with customers from those same regions.

In other words, there was no reason for the All-Under-Heaven Merchant Company of Gansu to start trouble with the All-Under-Heaven Merchant Company of Fujian. But once the Na Clan, one of the Shanxi Four Families, stepped in, the story changed. That was because the Na Clan’s All-Under-Heaven Merchant Company did not target one region but the entire Central Plains.

Every merchant company in the Central Plains that used the name All-Under-Heaven Merchant Company either submitted to the Na Clan’s All-Under-Heaven Merchant Company or trembled before it. Meanwhile, the owners of a few older All-Under-Heaven Merchant Companies that tried to keep their pride ended up losing the name to the Na Clan’s financial power.

“And so I always obtained what I wanted. I want you to become that sort of predator as well.”

“Understood.”

Na Hyeon-wi lowered his head. His father, whom he had watched since childhood, was a figure far too difficult and lofty for him.

That was only natural. After all, Na Hyeon-wi’s father was none other than Na Han-geol, the Golden Sword, a towering figure who ran one of the greatest merchant companies in the Central Plains while also occupying one of the Five Great Sword Masters Under Heaven.

“But Father, there is something I do not understand.”

“What is it?”

“Is the Radiant Crystal Merchant Company really valuable enough for us to move to swallow it ourselves?” “You can think that because you have not seen the information on that fellow. In my view, if he is cultivated properly, he will lack nothing to be called the next Merchant King.”

“To that degree?”

Na Hyeon-wi was shocked.

Na Han-geol stood at the highest level both as a merchant and as a martial artist, so naturally his standards for judging people were high as well. It had been a long time since Na Hyeon-wi had heard him praise someone like that.

“There is a reason I go to that loathsome Merchant Union Council, my son.”

“Understood.”

“Keep this in mind.”

Na Han-geol smiled.

“What we will obtain on this trip to Beijing is one thing only.”

“The Radiant Crystal Merchant Company.” At that moment, the predator of Shanxi fixed his prey.