53 On the third day after Zhang Fukun returned from the state city, he and Zhou Dao came to Xu Wei's home. "How is this trip to the state city?" Xu Wei asked as he drank tea. "It's going well, there will be a batch of 100 quintals to be sent over in two days, and if you can receive the advance payment for the next batch of grain, then this road will be passed." Lao Zhang said with a smile, "Next time I remove Taixiang, I'm going to contact Jugufeng's shopkeeper to see how they are doing." Xu Wei nodded and said, "Well, this is what we have discussed, if he is not willing to find someone else." ”

He thought about it and looked at Zhou Dao and asked, "How about this trip, this trip down, the account is okay, right?" Zhou Dao smiled, "It's okay, I have to ask him specifically." Lao Zhang took over the conversation, "Now the price of grain we buy is 1,750 wen per quintal, and before it was sold to Taixiang, the state city, it was 1,850 wen per quintal, and now it is 1,900 wen, and the gross profit is about 150 wen per quintal, which includes freight." We use a big Wupeng boat to transport grain, a boat can be loaded with 20 quintals, can be sold for 42 yuan, each ship's gross profit is 3,000 Wen, the charter fee is 500 Wen, a guy's salary for two days and food is roughly calculated at 200 Wen, and the boat money at the wharf in the state city is half plus other expenses are 100 Wen, a total of 800 Wen per ship, and the net profit of a ship is about 2,200 Wen, that is, two and 400 Wen, that is to say, if we calculate that we transport 20 quintals of grain to the state city every day per ship, there will be 73 yuan of input in January.

Our current practice is that, no matter how the price of grain changes, we will always maintain a price difference of about 150 wen per quintal between our purchase price and our selling price, so that it will be at least 100 wen per quintal cheaper than the price they buy from other places, so that we will not have to worry about sales. The state city is a big city, there are more than 5,000 households, nearly 30,000 mouths, and if it is calculated at a low level, according to the average daily grain of each mouth, the whole city will almost need 300 loads of grain per day. Judging from the current situation, the surrounding areas near the state city can be called to solve almost half of the grain, so there is still a need for 150 quintals of grain to be transferred from outside the city, these grains are transferred from several counties near the left, our Ziyang County and the state city are connected by the Tuojiang River, and we are in the upper reaches of the state city, it is most convenient to return by heavy ship and empty boat, if you can eat half of this 150 quintals, it is really considerable. Lao Zhang couldn't help but twist his beard and smile when he said this.

What is the concept of half of the grain purchased outside the state city? That's about 80 quintals a day, and if that's the case, the profit from this alone is 3,500 quintals a year. There was silence in the room for a while, and several people were immersed in the aftertaste of Lao Zhang's words, although there had been a plan before, but Lao Zhang had actually done it once to calculate it in detail enough, and it proved to be feasible.

Zhou Dao licked his lips, excited and frightened. He leaned forward and said, "Lao Zhang will pay attention to the reaction of the rest of the families next time", "This I can save money, in general, someone sells grain to them at a lower price, and they are still willing." I guess once or twice more, they'll come to the door themselves. At this time, Xu Wei took over: "As long as there is a difference in the price of grain sold between the grain merchants in the state city, they will pinch each other." Taixiang, who sells grain this time, and Jugufeng, who will contact us, are both small grain merchants compared to Shaohe Grain, so I estimate that although their grain is cheaper in our place, they will not lower the price in the short term, first, they are afraid that they will have low-price purchase channels due to premature exposure, and more importantly, it is necessary to avoid stimulating Shaohe Grain. Besides, our channel, it won't be long before Shao and them will know. ”

"If Shaohe finds us to buy exclusively, how should we reply." Zhou Dao asked. "It's okay to take out a loan, but it's not possible to be exclusive, and besides, Taixiang and us have a transaction first, and Xinyi still has to talk about it." Xu Wei paused, glanced at Zhou Dao and the others, and said, "What I just said is just a table talk." Our real purpose is to let them fight each other, on the surface we will not mix, nor will we get involved in the grain retail trade in the state city, we are just one of their suppliers, we will not compete with them for territory, and we do not have that strength. At present, the strongest grain merchant in Xiazhou City is Shaohe, and we have to secretly help several other families deal with him. Of course, you can't come hard, that's creating a strong enemy. Our plates in our county are not yet clean, so we sell them to each family at the same price to show fairness, and besides, this cannot be hidden. However, it can be made in terms of the supply quantity and cycle of each company, that is, to fight one side and pull one side. Lao Zhang nodded when he heard this, and he didn't need to explain that he had a tacit understanding. Whether it can be understood in this way, our strategy is to attack from afar and close to this county; For the state city, it is to help the weak and fight the strong. Zhou Dao said with a smile.

The hours passed quickly between talking and laughing, and it was already dusk in a blink of an eye, Xu Wei left them to eat, and Zhou Dao was not polite when he came too much. There were three tables for dinner in this way, one table for the ladies in the backyard, one table for Xu Wei, Zhou Dao and Zhang Fukun, and one table for the stewards of the outer courtyard and Feng Yi and Zhang Hanwa. Now Zhou Dao is very cautious, as long as he enters the city, he will definitely take Feng Yi with him.

"Oh, there's a good thing recently", Xu Wei said with a wine bowl, "I received a report from Di two days ago, as early as mid-January, Yu Shuai and Tartar fought a battle, and in Jiazhou, they won the battle and beheaded more than 100 people. Come and dry this bowl first, respect Yu Shuai! "To Yu Shuai! Several people raised their bowls and drank the cup. Xu Wei put down the wine bowl and said slowly, "I heard Lord Yu talk about this before, the so-called Tartar is actually the Han Army in the North, and the commander is Wang Dechen, this person can be regarded as a fighter, but after all, he is not a real Tartar." Beheaded more than 100 people, just a temptation, it's a pity! The main force of the Tartars has moved south to Dali. Hey, but it's a win. ＂

After saying that, he raised his head and made another bowl of himself. Zhou Dao asked, "In this case, will you take the opportunity to start a large-scale war to form a north-south flank attack on the Tartars?" Xu Wei shook his head when he heard this, "First of all, it is difficult to say whether the imperial court will send troops or not, and secondly, it may be earlier to send troops on a large scale now, I think even the main battle faction in the court will think so, if the two of them are not exhausted, what kind of soldiers will we send out?" This is a three-way game, they are all willing to be the fisherman, and when to send troops is indeed a hot question, which is not easy to grasp. "Then what should I do if Dali can't stand it?" Lao Zhang on the side asked. "I can't stand it and send troops again, I think this is the best way." "Then what if the reinforcements don't arrive, Dali will be defeated?" Lao Zhang continued to ask. Xu Wei spread his hands, "Then there is no way, if this is the case, you can only blame the Dali army for being too weak, and basically don't do anything." So how much difference does it make if there is him or not? ”

When I came out of Xu Wei's house and returned to Hesheng, it was already dark. Zhou Dao invited Lao Zhang to sit in the hall where the guests were gathered. "Lao Zhang, there's something I want to tell you." "Hmm." Lao Zhang looked at Zhou Dao. "That's right, I want you to take half of the shares of Hesheng, I hope you don't shirk." Zhou Dao looked at Lao Zhang. Lao Zhang listened and had no expression, "I won't shirk." He said, pausing for a moment and then saying, "Thank you, boss." "I didn't say anything grateful." No thanks, you deserve it. Zhou Dao replied, probably feeling that the atmosphere was a little serious and awkward, he waved his hand and smiled, "Forget it, don't call the owner, now you are also the owner." ＂