In May of the third year of Huangyou, the imperial court established the River and Canal Division and the Railway Division at the same time, which were under the three departments. The deputy envoy of salt and iron was also the River and Canal Division, and the deputy envoy of Duzhi was also the Railway Division, representing the Three Departments, one in the canal and one in the railway department.

In June, Guo Zi served as the supervisor of Baiting, and Su Song was transferred to the governor of Xiangzhou, where the supervisor began to roll a large number of railway tracks. Xiangzhou railway tracks were mainly provided for Hedong Road for use, and the railway from Baima to Bingzhou was officially laid.

Du Zhongxiao was still promoted to Changpingsi, Jingxi Road. Last year, he used Mingtang's kindness and promoted the first rank. At Du Zhongxiao's level, it was very difficult to get promoted. Even if you have any contribution, you can delay it. When the position is over, you will be lucky and have your job first, so that the official rank will be promoted quickly.

With the opening and operation of railways such as Kaifeng to Luoyang, Kaifeng to Xiangzhou, Luoyang to Ye County, Kaifeng to Dengzhou, and other railways, the market was opened and commerce was unprecedentedly prosperous. Shopping malls have been opened in various prefectures and important counties on Jingxi Road and important counties, and Changping Office has abundant finances. With the rapid development of Changping Office, the court decided to add a judge and divide it into the southwest Beijing North Road. The candidates have not been decided yet, and Du Zhongxiao organized Yamen County to have personnel to prepare to set up branches in Luoyang.

If the shopping mall under Changpingsi is opened to Northwest Jingxi Road, the commercial network will be completely formed, and a unified market appears on Jingxi Road. It turns out that the guilds of various cities that dominate business can no longer manipulate business, and a new situation will appear. The success of Changpingsi on Jingxi Road has been recognized by the court. Recently, it is discussed that the Changpingsi is widely established in various ways in the world, allowing Du Zhongxiao to improve the regulations of Changpingsi as soon as possible.

A new situation occurred in Fancheng, which was the first to open a shopping mall. After the guild and Yaren lost control of their business, they began to slowly unite after a period of development. Most Yaren and some merchants paid their capital together and opened shopping malls in Xiangzhou opposite. The system and settings basically imitated the Changpingsi shopping mall, and even dug up some people to go there. This was the first private shopping mall in the Song Dynasty, and it directly formed a competition with Fancheng shopping mall.

After going to Xiangzhou to see it, Tsui Hark rushed to the Yingtianwu Office and reported to Du Zhongxiao.

Sitting down in the flower hall, having tea, Tsui Hark said: "Tao Ju, two days ago, some merchants jointly invested their capital and opened a shopping mall in Xiangzhou with the people from Xiangyang and Fancheng. Since the opening, they have only reduced the discounts, and there are countless discounts, and the situation is very fierce. If they become a climate, I am afraid that our shopping mall in Fancheng will be unfavorable."

Du Zhongxiao said: "What can we do? We can't do this business, so the people are not allowed to do it."

Tsui Hark said: "It's nothing to do business, but they are so big that they don't look like they do business. They have been so excited for soliciting customers for so many consecutive days, and they are obviously going to fight for life and death with our shopping mall. That's not bad!"

Du Zhongxiao smiled and said, "They are all the people in Xiangyang and Fancheng, so how can they fight with Changpingsi for life and death? You think too much. In my opinion, Changpingsi's shopping mall has two benefits, which is something their shopping mall cannot do. One is the circulation of goods. We have opened shopping malls in my prefectures and counties, with special transportation teams and regulations on goods exchanges, which saves money and is fast. Second, there are a large number of villages and communities under the shopping malls, which produces many goods for shopping malls, with low prices and stable quality. With these two advantages, we can find more ways to do business and be invincible."

Tsui Hark shook his head repeatedly: "Essay, although we have these two strengths, we also have weaknesses. Changpingsi's shopping malls have regulations and must not violate them. Compared with the newly opened shopping malls in Xiangyang, they appear to be old-fashioned. Moreover, in our shopping malls, the goods sold must be real, and they are different."

Du Zhongxiao said: "Why? As soon as the shopping mall opened there, it was short of weight. Is it better to use inferior products as a substitute?"

Tsui Hark said: "You can't say that, but you still use a lot of small methods. For example, the citrus inside is obviously produced nearby, but it is said to be Dongting citrus from Liangzhe. It is sold cheaper than ours and has a big reputation. I don't know how many businesses I have robbed. There are countless small methods like this. If you say they are cheating, there is no evidence, and they are citrus. How can we do this business?"

Du Zhongxiao looked at Tsui Hark and was speechless for a moment. This method seemed familiar, taking advantage of the people's greed for cheapness, using inferior products as good ones, and snatching the business of regular shopping malls. The Dongting Oranges in Taihu Lake are famous all over the world. When the people heard it, the price was not expensive, so many people would buy some to taste it. How far is it from Xiangzhou? There is no train access, so how could the price be cheaper than in Fancheng Shopping Mall? But this kind of thing is just a slight difference in taste. How many people in the city have eaten Dongting Oranges? They can't taste it. Real experts don't buy it, but they are a minority after all.

After thinking for a while, Du Zhongxiao said, "There is no good solution for this matter yet. Just follow the previous rules and do business in real terms. Even if there is a temporary loss, you will slowly regain your business by relying on your reputation."

Tsui Hark smiled bitterly: "Why is it so easy to pick up the tribute? In the past two days, many customers who came to our mall have complained that our price is higher than that of Xiangyang opposite, and they are dissatisfied with it. If this continues, the reputation of the people is that our goods are expensive, and they will become worse every day in the future."

Du Zhongxiao can certainly use experience to adopt measures, such as proof of origin, shelf life, and so on. But in this era, these methods cannot be actually implemented, the cost of fraud is too low, and the cost of verification is too high. Official shopping malls cannot adopt such methods, otherwise they cannot be managed, which is a natural disadvantage. When everyone has an impression that the things sold by official shopping malls are expensive and privately owned, the business will be difficult to do.

After thinking for a long time, Du Zhongxiao said: "Supervisor, logically speaking, we have special orchards in the place like citrus fruits, which should not be more expensive than the newly opened shopping malls in Xiangyang. Even if they use land as Dongting oranges and are cheaper than us, wouldn't it be profitable?"

Tsui Hark said: "Where do you know where they received it? It looks worse than the quality we sell. Just say that Dongting oranges are like this, but the taste is more special. Where can ordinary people distinguish them? Or are they greedy for the cheaper ones and buy them. This is the case with many other goods. Compared with the two, the quality is far inferior to ours, but if they don't put them together, it will be difficult to distinguish them for a while. What are the solutions?"

Du Zhongxiao was speechless for a moment. This was really a difficult problem. The ones sold there were not as good as those sold by Changpingsi, but they were cheaper. What do you do? The mall has fixed supply channels, aquatic products have fishery, fruits have orchards, and even rice and flour are produced in fixed places. In this era, ordinary people have not yet paid attention to the taste, quality, and nutritional differences. This is a big disadvantage.

After thinking about it, Du Zhongxiao said: "There is no way to do this kind of thing for the time being, so they can go there for the time being. After you go back, ask someone to sort out the prices on the opposite side, and we will also reduce the prices appropriately and make less money. This is a long-term business, and we must do it according to the long-term business method, and we must not learn from them."

Tsui Hark agreed, looking sad. He was not competing against him, but many regulations of Changpingsi were limited, so there was no way to do it. Especially since the shopping malls were newly opened there, there were a lot of people, and the tricks of doing business emerged one after another, which was eye-opening.

After thinking for a while, Du Zhongxiao said, "How about this, how about you try the membership system?"

Tsui Hark said: "Membership system? What is the membership system?"

Du Zhongxiao said: "When I was in Tanglong Town, I used this method in the cabinet shop. Any old customers or those who buy more goods can be asked to apply for a membership. Whenever they buy goods, they will be given points and various discounts based on the points. In this way, you can try to attract the buyers and try to avoid the impact of the opposite mall."
Chapter completed!