In the living room of Xia Zhu's residence after the state, Du Zhongxiao and Xia Gui sat opposite each other, and Xia Zhu sat in the middle.

The servant brought the meat slices up, and Xia Zhu said: "The weather is very cold, and it is very comfortable to sign this method of eating the meat slices." The sheep here in Bingzhou are said to be raised on the saline-alkali flats, without a trace of smell, which is not comparable to the Central Plains. Come, let's eat meat, drink wine, and gossip. ”

Du Zhongxiao said yes, and drank a glass of wine with Xia Zhu and Xia Gui.

After talking about some weather changes, things in the city, Xia Zhu changed the topic, and said to Du Zhongxiao: "I heard from the supervisor, I signed a judgment and suggested that he throw away the incense medicine in his hand immediately, I don't know if there is such a thing?" ”

Du Zhongxiao nodded: "Not bad." Now the price of incense medicine is high, and there is no market in the trading hall, so it is the best to sell. ”

Xia Zhu paused for a moment before saying, "But if you throw it away at this time, if the price doubles again in a few days, won't you make a lot of money?" ”

Du Zhongxiao smiled and shook his head: "Xianggong, the account can't be calculated like this." This kind of hoarding business is only real if you make money in your hands. I can only calculate how much money I make by selling it now, and I must not think about how much I will make if the price rises. Now the price of incense, like a blown bubble, looks huge, and if it doesn't collapse, there will be nothing. At that time, the incense in his hand could not be sold even if he wanted to. ”

Xia Zhu thought for a while and nodded: "It also makes sense." Just watching the price rise, there is always unwillingness. ”

Du Zhongxiao drank a glass of wine and was silent for a while before he said: "Xianggong, this kind of quick money seems to be easy to earn, but in fact, there are countless risks. Today, I will analyze them one by one and consider them fairly. ”

Xia Zhu said: "This is the best. When we speak for ourselves, we don't have to worry so much. ”

"First, for Xianggong, it is best to throw away the goods in hand as soon as possible. Nowadays, the price of incense medicine has not risen fast, and it may not be possible to make more money by selling the incense medicine in your hand and changing it for money to do other businesses. This kind of speculative business, once there is no stock in the market, it is easy to suddenly turn downward, and those who have goods in their hands start to sell. As a result, the price fell rapidly, and it was impossible to pull it back. ”

"Second, private transactions are supposed to communicate with each other and make money from them. For example, the fur business in Bingzhou is to traffic sheepskins from the north to here, make mature skins, and then sell them to the north and the Central Plains. The money we make is the difference between cooked and raw hides. This is real money, but the merchants involved in it have different shares. Hoarding incense for profit has no effect on whether there is a communication or not. Everyone buys all the incense medicines on the market and sells them when they make enough. The goods have changed owners, and the money has changed owners. The biggest benefit this time is undoubtedly the Bingzhou Yamen. All the furs from the military arsenal go into the yard and can be slowly cleared. The salaries of the soldiers and officials were paid by the money earned this time, which not only saved a large number of furs from entering the market and price fluctuations, but also saved them from entering the freight yard and the military treasury was insufficient. The money from the subsequent sale of furs was a surprise. It's just that the yamen scrapes money from the market in this way, which is another kind of tax collection, and there must be a lot of money from outside the staff that has been collected by us. Once you do too much, it will inevitably be cold in the market, and it is not a long-term solution. Xianggong, although the yamen has benefited a lot from the increase in the price of incense medicine this time, this kind of thing cannot be easily done in the future. It is still a real long-term solution to let the merchants do the fur business with peace of mind, and the yamen to collect taxes from it. The day before yesterday, I made an analogy with the supervisor, the private merchant staff is like a leek, and the time has come to cut it. Or, like the sheep of the people of the north, whose hair grows long, must be sheared. The purpose of this is not only to scrape money from the people, but also because there is such a large fur market in Bingzhou, and the merchants and outsiders have more money in their hands, so it is inevitable that they will make waves. Whether it is hoarding Juqi to manipulate prices, or controlling the supply of goods in the yard and suppressing small merchants, it is not conducive to the development of fur trade. It is like leeks and wool, and if it is not cut when the time comes, it will be harmful. ”

Hearing this, Xia Zhu nodded. Du Zhongxiao repeatedly used leeks as an analogy, which made him feel extremely interesting.

In fact, Du Zhongxiao only got to the position of controlling and managing the market by himself, so he had a new understanding of the popular saying of cutting leeks and sheep in his previous life. In the previous life, he said this because of his dissatisfaction and helplessness with those who control power and capital, taking advantage of their dominant position and using financial means to harvest wealth from the people, especially ordinary people, which is essentially different from the cutting leeks that Du Zhongxiao talked about now. With the explosion of the fur market in the state, many merchants made a fortune from it, and in just a few months, there were signs of manipulation of the market with the help of guilds and business alliances. The leeks that Du Zhongxiao wanted to cut were these merchants, not ordinary people. In the merger stage of industry development, commercial capital is too concentrated, which is not conducive to the development of the industry. Just like planting leeks, if not harvested in time, the whole field will be wasted.

In the previous life, cutting leeks was different, it was more like pointing to a wheat field and saying that it was a leek, cutting it all with a knife and cutting off the harvest.

"Third, to do this kind of thing, you must not endanger the fundamentals. What is the root of business in the state? Naturally, it is the fur trade. This time, the yamen manipulated the price of incense behind the scenes, fundamentally speaking, in order to ensure the stability of the price of fur. The soldiers and officials will be sent out every month, and the furs from the various warehouses in the state will be put in the freight yard, and they will be slowly cleared, and the food will be out of food. However, incense is not actually a daily necessity, and manipulating it will not affect the livelihood of the people. With this extra income, the yamen has the confidence to not sell the fur at once. Otherwise, once cleared, the price of fur will rise and fall sharply, which will damage the root of the state. If the fur market here is unstable and the merchants don't come, our hard work for half a year will be in vain. It doesn't matter if the incense medicine doesn't come, the merchant won't come if he doesn't come. ”

After hearing this, Xia Zhu raised his wine glass with a smile and said, "Come, come, drink!" ”

He was also dizzy for a while, and when he heard Xia Gui say that he had made so much money in a few days, he was greedy in his heart, and he forgot that he was Zhizhou. As a Zhizhou, of course, the career is important, and money can always be earned slowly. The fur industry, which was built up with great difficulty, was not worth it for Xia Zhu once it was affected by such a turmoil. Du Zhongxiao chose to make a fuss about incense, in fact, making money is secondary, and the most fundamental thing is to protect the fur industry. Those businessmen who participated in the staff were cut leeks once, and they could only say that they deserved it, and they should be considered to contribute to the yamen.

Although Xia Gui felt that Du Zhongxiao was too complicated and couldn't understand what was going on, he knew in his heart that all the incense in his hand should be thrown out. Xia Zhu's attitude is undoubtedly to recognize Du Zhongxiao's approach.

Coming out of Xia Zhu's house, facing the cold wind blowing, Du Zhongxiao let out a sigh of relief. This time there will be a turmoil, and there will inevitably be a lot of businessmen's property in the state, and it will be difficult to get through it as the year approaches. But what can be done? The price of fur is stable, and if you don't do business well, you can only think that you are unlucky. Fortunately, leverage is not popular in this era, but the property has shrunk, so that the family will not go bankrupt. As for anyone who dares to borrow money to participate in this hype, it is their own death.

With this lesson, I hope that the merchants of the state will learn well and concentrate on the fur business. This is the pillar industry of the state, involving a large number of employees, well developed, and the market is prosperous. Manipulating the market, skyrocketing and plummeting, is not a good way to make money. It's just that now the biggest capital in the world is the government, and it is also the government that can manipulate the market, and it can decide which leeks to cut.

Small businessmen earn producers' money, big businessmen earn small businessmen's money, and the government uses this method to make money from big businessmen. In a sense, it's also a ladder tax. Is this considered robbing the rich and helping the poor? Du Zhongxiao smiled self-deprecatingly. This method, the use of the skillful, with one mind, in one's own hands to rob the rich and help the poor, change an official, it may not be. For example, the price of salt and grain is a completely opposite picture.