The general military officer of Gansu Town is located in Zhangye, far away from the Central Plains, and belongs to the bitter cold land, but the military position is extremely important, on the front that stretches for nearly 2,000 miles from east to west, any place may be the target of the Mongol attack, once Gansu is lost, the Mongolian cavalry will drive straight down along the Hexi Corridor and enter the Guanzhong area, and the consequences will be unimaginable. Pen, fun, and www.biquge.info

The transportation of strategic materials from the Central Plains to Zhangye is a long way, which costs the people and money, and the price is high after arrival, which is not at all what the local military households can consume. After learning that the price of grain in Ningxia Mansion and Xi'an City was very cheap, and that military households were given large discounts, and that they often gave soup kitchens and distributed sheepskin jackets, etc., which made the chief military officer very envious, he sent his staff to Ningxia Mansion to find the manager of the grain store, hoping to invite them to Gansu to open a grain store.

The staff sent out is called Chen Shaokuan, a weak scholar, almost 50 years old this year, after half a month of travel, finally arrived in Ningxia Mansion on March 15, first to stay in the hotel, rest for one day and then visit, it is too tired.

On March 17th, Chen Shaokuan came to the Sihai Grain Store, and after revealing his identity, he came out to receive him from the second shopkeeper, and the second shopkeeper said: "Mr. Liu, our big shopkeeper is in the warehouse, and I will immediately send someone to lead you over, but you have to be mentally prepared, I am afraid that the big shopkeeper cannot call the shots in this matter, and we need the nod of our host." ”

"It's okay, visit the big shopkeeper first, and then talk about other things slowly, aren't the sales all negotiated."

"Okay, you drink tea first, I'll arrange it."

"Shopkeeper, please."

Chen Shaokuan, under the leadership of the grain store guy, took a carriage to the fort outside the city, and after the guy explained the situation, Chen Shaokuan was invited to the living room for tea.

Someone went to invite Li Jiafu, the shopkeeper here, is a high-ranking businessman who is now in charge of the business of Ningxia Mansion.

The shopkeeper Li entered the door and said, "Mr. Chen came from afar, and it was too late to greet him, my sin." ”

"It's okay, we didn't make an appointment in advance, we were at fault first."

"Please have tea"

"Please"

After the exchange of politeness, Li Jiafu said: "Mr. Chen came from afar, I don't know what the trumpet can serve you?" ”

"The great treasurer is polite." Chen looked at the soldiers standing guard at the door.

"But it doesn't hurt to say it, it's all my own family."

Chen Shaokuan told the invitation of the Gansu general soldiers, hoping that they could start a branch in Gansu.

"I don't know which city the chief soldier wants us to open a branch in? We are not familiar with Gansu. ”

"The chief soldier didn't explain which city it was opened in, but I think it should be in Zhangye, after all, it belongs to the central area."

"The distance between Zhangye and the Central Plains is too far. To be honest, I can't do this for the time being, but I can give you a suggestion. If you can be satisfied, I can recommend it to the owner, after all, our owner has a very good impression of the soldiers, or there will be no half-price preferential measures for military households and soldiers in any grain store. ”

"The big treasurer, please speak."

"Mr. Chen, as you have seen, our warehouse is located in the outer fort, and the same is true for the store in Xi'an, so I hope that you can provide us with a piece of land for us to build the fort ourselves, or you can allocate one of the forts that have been built to us, and we will be responsible for guarding it, and agree that we will station at least one soldier of a thousand people; The second is that our proprietors not only deal in grain, but also salt, and the price is much lower than the market price, and you have to agree that we sell salt there, which must also be a policy for the benefit of military households; As for the rest of the supplies, let's put it simply, we can provide you with whatever you need, and the price is definitely at least 20% lower than your current price. You must know that the western region, especially Gansu, is far away and the people are poor and the market is small, and all the merchants are unwilling to go, so if we go to simply deal in grain, and if we want to sell it at a low price, we will definitely lose money, so we must operate in a variety of ways, and it would be good to be able to protect our capital. If these two conditions can be met, our young owner will definitely provide preferential prices to the military households or soldiers in Gansu Town. ”

"I can't reply to these two conditions, so I'll write to the chief military officer and wait for him to reply to you, okay?"

"Yes, we look forward to seeing you at any time."

"Thank you, big shopkeeper."

"Mr. Liu, I have arranged a coarse tea and light meal, at noon, let's have a light meal first."

Liu Shaokuan also wanted to continue to listen to some news, so after a little thought, he agreed, and hurriedly said: "Then it will be troublesome for the big shopkeeper." ”

In the afternoon, Liu Shaokuan wrote down what he had seen and heard, the local grain prices, the preferential policies for military households and soldiers, and the conditions proposed by Li Jiafu, so that the soldiers who followed him could be sent back to Zhangye on horseback.

Five days later, Liu Jialiang, the chief military officer of Gansu Town, raised his head to the sky and roared happily after the letter of request, God help me, not only can I bring food but also salt and other substances, and more importantly, I must defend a fort alone and support 1,000 soldiers, this condition can be agreed. So I hurriedly went to the governor of Gansu and the imperial history of the prison army in Gansu to discuss this matter, at least I had to report it, or if I did something good, I would be involved.

The governor and the prison army also have a supportive attitude towards this matter, which is a good thing for the benefit of the country and the people, but it is not good to make private decisions about the matter of salt, but you can invite people to discuss it first, although it is a bit unauthentic, but the matter is urgent, the governor and the prison army respectively asked the saint for instructions, I believe that the saint can pass this matter, and exchange grain for salt.

As for the choice of forts, the superintendent and the governor did not agree to give them the existing forts, in case they could not hold it, then everyone could not escape the involvement, so they decided to let them build the fort at any location south and east of Zhangye. It's finely calculated.

So the chief military officer replied immediately after replying to the other party's request, and he could choose to build a fort in Zhangye by himself, but at his own expense.

Li Jiafu also made a report when Feng Youcai came to the grain store, and put forward 2 conditions on behalf of the young master, Feng Youcai felt completely feasible after listening to it, as long as the other party can accept it, let's go to open the store, it doesn't matter if you build a castle by yourself, if the other party comes to talk again, it's okay to have these 2 articles, as for the other conditions, let's do it yourself. Feng Youcai is also very lazy, and he will never interfere if he can let his subordinates do it.

A few days later, Chen Shaokuan received a letter from the chief military officer, and he came to the Four Seas Commercial Bank again to have a detailed discussion with the big shopkeeper.

After the big conditions have been negotiated, the rest of the things are nothing more than trivial things, what cannot be owed on credit, whether the interests of certain officials will be touched, whether there will be people making trouble, etc.

As for the specific time of the construction of the fort, it will be decided by the owner after the road is opened in Gansu and delivered to the Ningxia Prefecture, but Li Jiafu promised that it should be very soon, and the fort will be built and the grain store will be opened before the autumn harvest this year.

In the end, Li Jiafu promised that the firm would not go to other cities to open branches, and after Mr. Liu returned, he could suggest that the chief military officer contact some personnel to open branches in each city, and the purchase price of the branches could be 15 points cheaper than the retail price, which could be regarded as a transfer of benefits.

Chen Shaokuan also felt that this was the dividend of this negotiation, and he should make a good calculation with the chief military officer after going back, which was really an unexpected joy.