Chapter 15: Selling Furs

People are not rich without windfalls, and horses are not fertile without night grass!

The ancients did not deceive me.

The Baishan Mountain and his party have seized a lot of materials, and the gang of Waist Mountain Tigers have not scavenged anything in the Baishan Mountain in the past two years.

Most of the thieves have the habit of storing supplies, and in the end, they all cheapened Tiemo and Li Jiasheng.

Now Tiemo has more than 6,000 taels of silver and more than 300 pieces of silk in his hands, which can be regarded as a small capital.

Where there are happy events, there are troubles.

The price paid for the conquest of Baiyin Mountain was very small, except for two people who were slightly injured, no one died. Under such circumstances, the confidence of the people under his hands has soared.

Han Niuer and others made a fuss about going to Yehuling as soon as possible, and when they finished suppressing the Yehuling thieves, they went to Mobei to barter with full of goods.

Tie Mo didn't think about it, so he dispelled everyone's thoughts. Now the goods and money in hand can fully support the first shipment, and there is no need to go to Yehuling to toss again.

Yehuling and Baiyin Mountain are not the same, the mountain bandits on Baiyin Mountain don't look at the crowd, but most of them are landless people nearby, rabble, and they will collapse at the first touch.

The thieves on the Wild Fox Ridge are all outlaws.

In recent years, there has been a severe drought in Guanzhong, the people have been displaced, and even the swordsmen in Guanzhong have lost their livelihoods. Some of the unprofitable swordsmen crossed the Yellow River south to make a living, and some of them wandered around and became thieves.

The living conditions in the northeastern part of the Guandong region were particularly difficult, and many swordsmen arrived at Yehuling at the junction of the border between Shaanxi and Shanxi.

In addition to the Guanzhong swordsmen who lost their livelihoods, some unscrupulous border troops** and Mongolian strongmen also gathered in Yehuling.

Therefore, although there are only more than 100 thieves in Wild Fox Mountain, their combat effectiveness is definitely not comparable to that of the Baishan bandits.

......

On the gentle slope two miles outside the Dark Village Fort, Tie Mo lay in the barren grass, looking at the flowing clouds in the sky with a heavy heart.

The money is there, the goods are there, and the next thing is to go north.

Tiemo didn't worry about how difficult the road to the north was, and when he decided to take this road, he was destined to put life and death aside.

What I'm really worried about is the Dark Village Fort, this barter in Mobei, at least three months, more than half a year, for such a long time, no one knows what will happen to the Dark Village Fort.

Yang Dayong died on the White Waist Mountain, and Gu Chengliang, who was in Huai'an, did not investigate deeply, but just sent another confidant, Deng Kai, to Dark Village Fort.

The calmer he was on the surface, the more worried Tiemo became, Gu Chengliang was holding back bad water.

In the distance, Xie Kela's shout was heard, and Tiemo slapped off the grass clippings on his body, and walked towards the Dark Village Fort with two jars of wine.

Descending the gentle slope, he handed the two jars of wine to Xie Kela, "Kela, how is the guide looking?" ”

Xie Qila nodded with an ugly face, "I found it, but ..... The man asked for a hundred taels of errands, and other expenses along the way were calculated separately. ”

"A hundred taels? He's not afraid to die? Are there any other guides? ”

"Yes, yes, but when they heard that we were going north at the end of the month, most of them refused. They all said that when they went to Mobei in winter, eight out of ten people lived and died. After looking for a long time, this guy named Fan Lao Crooked is willing to lead us there, but the price is ......"

"Fan is crooked? Have you checked this person? ”

"I've checked, he can be regarded as an old guide, he has often led the Zhangjiakou caravan north over the years, and he has also been to Shuangquanhai in Mobei twice."

Tie Mo sighed, gritted his teeth and said, "Then use this Fan Lao Crooked and agree to his conditions." Time waits for no one, and we can't afford it. ”

"Okay, then I'll go find him tomorrow" After walking for a while, Xie Qila remembered something and slapped his forehead suddenly, "Look at my memory, Brother Tie, you have made the leather shop you pay attention to also have eyebrows." There is a company called Taichang Leather Company in Zhangjiakou that wants to transfer the leather shop and bids 4,000 taels. ”

"Four thousand taels? It's reasonable, let the cow keep an eye on it, I'll go to Zhangjiakou in the past two days. ”

Buying a leather mill and opening a leather shop is the best choice and the only choice for iron ink.

In Shanxi, the leather trade business is definitely a profiteering industry, and Shanxi businessmen, but anyone who can count the names in Zhangjiakou all rely on the leather trade business.

In this era, border trade, especially bartering in the north, was all about bartering.

The Mongols lived by animal husbandry and hunting, and the most important thing they lacked was furs, silk and salt, which could be exchanged for furs ten times the price in the north.

As long as you can get through the difficult journey, bring the fur back, process it through the leather mill, and resell it to all parts of the country, 10,000 taels of fur can bring 40,000 or 50,000 taels of income.

That is to say, if you take silk, salt and other things worth tens of thousands of taels of silver to the north for a walk, and when you come back, you will get at least 400,000 taels in return.

Of course, if you have to come back!

It is precisely because of this kind of profiteering that even if it is dangerous to go north, there are still endless people who take the risk of bartering north.

Every two years, someone gets rich and becomes a famous Jin merchant, and similarly, countless people die on that road of death every year.

Doing the leather trade business was purely helpless, and if they wanted to get rich by going north, they had to do this, because the Mongols had nothing but fur in their hands.

......

Not long after leaving the gentle slope, I heard a lazy muttering in my ears.

"Huh..... It's the old sorghum wine of Xinghua Village, it's so fragrant...... Tiewazi, how about leaving a jar for my uncle? ”

A middle-aged man in his forties leaned against a haystack on the side of the road. His legs were outstretched, his torn jacket was full of holes, his hair was so withered, and he had a branch in his mouth.

Following the voice, Tie Mo glanced at the middle-aged man on the side of the road lightly.

The middle-aged man's name is a drill gopher, and no one knows what his real name is. Three years ago, the drill gopher didn't know where it came from, and after being exiled to the dark village fort, he had been living in a ruined temple outside the village, begging for a living.

If it weren't for the gopher taking the initiative to beg for wine today, Tiemo would have almost forgotten that there was still this person in Dark Village Castle.

"You have a pretty strong nose, it's really the old sorghum wine of Xinghua Village, you want to drink it...... Then I'll ......"

The gopher sat up straight, spit out the branches in his mouth, and smiled all over his face: "Haha, if one jar doesn't work, half a jar will do." ”

"Huh? You are not greedy, but why should I give it to you with such a good wine? ”

Tie Mo pursed his lips and made a look, and Xie Qila directly hid the two jars of wine behind him.

The gopher scratched his dirty cheeks, fell back, leaned against the haystack and turned back to his lazy appearance, and his voice was a little salty.

"Tiewazi, if I say I can save your life, do you believe it?"

"Save my life?" Tiemo shrugged his shoulders disappreciatively, "I think you're bragging, but well, I've decided to give you a jar of wine!" ”

"Really?" The gopher was a little stunned.

Xie Qila stepped back, his eyes widening in anger, "Brother Tie, why did you give him such a good wine to drink?" I can't believe this old guy's words! ”

"Kela, give him a jar of wine, listen to me!"

Tiemo waved his hand and turned around and walked towards Dark Village Fort. Xie Kela was also helpless, so he had to obediently divide a jar of wine and throw it on the haystack unwillingly.

"You're really lucky to be able to drink such a good wine today!"

The gopher held the jar of wine in his arms, ignoring Xie Kela's words.

After a while, the gopher ran towards the ruined temple with wine in his arms, with a complicated smile on his face.