The wheels of time rolled swiftly toward the sixteenth of November.
As the official day for the sale of government offices was tomorrow, the salt merchants of Lianghuai had arrived in Nanjing one after another to make final preparations. On one hand, they leveraged their connections to inquire with the local government and the Salt Inspection Censor, Song Quan himself, regarding the quotas for the donated offices. On the other, they wined and dined with fellow merchants, probing for their rivals' bottom lines. They understood that to emerge victorious in an auction, one must know their opponent's hand.
Song Quan understood this principle just as well. However, his approach differed from that of the merchants. They were the buyers; he was the seller. The merchants sought to purchase titles at the lowest possible price, while Song Quan’s goal was to push the prices as high as he could. In an auction, how does one drive up the price of a lot?
Chapter 910