That night, except for a few guys who arranged to guard the warehouse, the remaining more than 60 guys were invited to the lobby by Liu Ze. As for the few guys who couldn't come, Liu Ze had already ordered someone to send wine and food.

Liu Ze stood in front of the hall and said loudly: "Everyone, please take a seat." ”

The guys had never seen such tables, chairs and benches, not to mention that in the Han Dynasty, only the scholar class could sit on the mats, and these guys were originally the subordinates of the Zhang Mansion, and they had sat with the master there, and they were all hesitant.

Liu Zelang said: "Today is the night of Chinese New Year's Eve, Liu Mou is here to prepare a little thin wine, and celebrate the New Year with all the monarchs. The crowd agreed and sat down. Liu Ze, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, and Jian Yong sat at the upper seat.

Liu Ze stood up with a wine glass and said: "Thank you for being born and died with Ze this year, through thick and thin, Ze is fortunate to have a place in the business community in Luoyang today, all thanks to your merits, please drink this cup to express Ze's gratitude." ”

Everyone was so frightened that they all stood up, and they didn't even dare to say it. Zhang Fei had already drunk all the wine in the cup, and when he saw that everyone was shirking, he stopped drinking: "This is the wine of the eldest brother's toast, let you drink it, you can drink it, is there so much nonsense?" ”

These people were originally the servants of the Zhang family, but they were used to it, and when they heard Zhang Fei speak, they hurriedly drank the wine in the cup.

Liu Ze said again: "Today is the night of Chinese New Year's Eve, Zete presents you with a red envelope, a small meaning, not a tribute, please smile." ”

Jian Yong immediately ordered someone to carry it into a box, which was full of red cloth bags, and distributed them according to the head. Someone quietly opened it and took a look, and was immediately stunned, and there was a whisper below: "Oh my God, twenty taels of gold!" ”

"That's 20,000 yuan, and you can buy hundreds of stones of grain!"

In the Han Dynasty, the Taishou of Yulu County was 2,000 stones, and the county magistrate of the small county was only 300 stones, and the guys were just the slaves of the Zhang family.

Liu Ze smiled slightly: "I discussed with you Zhang Ye, from today on, you will no longer be the slaves of the Zhang family, all of you are free." Those who are willing to return to their hometowns can take the road fee home after the Chinese New Year, and those who are willing to follow Liu Ze can continue to stay, and next year I will pay you monthly salaries according to your duties. ”

As soon as these words came out, all the guys were already in tears, and they all knelt on the ground, kowtowing to Liu Ze again and again, and thanked them a thousand times. As for the matter of returning to their hometown, no one is willing, one is that most of these guys were sold into the Zhang family when they were young, and they have long been separated from their families, and they have no concept of home at all, and the other is that Liu Ze's salary is almost equal to the monthly salary of the county-level adjutant, and I am afraid that there will be no such a high-paying unit in the world, so everyone is willing to follow Liu Ze to the death.

Liu Ze raised his glass again and said: "Thank you for your trust in Ze, I solemnly promise you here, if you are willing to follow, I, Liu Ze, will definitely not treat you badly!" Come, let's get drunk today! Then there was a lot of drinking, and everyone was very drunk.

┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈

Winter goes to spring, and in a blink of an eye, it is the season of peony blossoms, the flowers are splendid, and the whole Luoyang City is intoxicated with the fragrance of flowers. Due to the chaos in Shu, coupled with the large purchase of Shu brocade by Persian merchants, the price of Shu brocade skyrocketed, and the price of high-grade Shu brocade approached the price of 20 taels of gold per horse.

Last year he spent 100,000 taels of gold to buy 10,000 horses of Shu brocade from Liu Ze, and after arriving in Rome, he made a fortune, but before he could sell all the tail goods, a large number of cheap Shu brocade poured into the Roman market, which made him a little remorseful, knowing that the price of Shu brocade had plummeted, and he should not have made the unjust 100,000 taels of gold. To make matters worse, the collapse of the price of brocade has caused chaos in the sales of oriental silk in the Roman market. And as soon as he stepped into Luoyang City this spring, the Shu brocade that soared to twenty taels of gold surprised him even more.

For many years on the silk road, he is also confused about the way of doing business, such a sharp rise and fall of the Shu brocade market has never been seen for more than ten years, looking at the Persian counterparts have begun to eat Shu brocade one after another, he also made a difficulty. If you don't buy it, you won't have any business to do, after all, only silk is the main commodity of the Silk Road, but you don't know if the price is stable or not, in case of a big plunge in the price like last year, this time it will not be as lucky as last year, but I am afraid that I will lose all my money.

But the result of these few days of wait-and-see, but the price of Shu brocade is rising day by day, making him even more undecided, several partners have already urged, and then do not start to eat, I am afraid that Shu brocade will be snatched up, without Shu brocade, how to do this year's business? Lukaz thought about it again and again, and decided to visit Liu Ze, although Fuyuanzhuang no longer sells Shu brocade, but the shrewd Lukaz determined that Liu Ze must have a large amount of hoarding in his hands, and even he could feel that this young man was the mastermind behind the manipulation of the price of Shu brocade in the Luoyang market.

Just as he was about to travel, the next person came to report that Liu Da, the shopkeeper of Fuyuanzhuang, came to visit. Lukaz has been in business for many years and has read countless people, but this Liu Ze really makes him unable to see through, if he really has Shu brocade in his hand, he is now a strange commodity to live in, and he can't go to the door to sell? Although he was confused, he didn't dare to slack off, and personally went out to welcome Liu Ze and others into the living room.

This time, Liu Ze came to visit Lukaz accompanied by Jian Yong. Liu Ze looked at Lukaz's living room, spacious and bright, typical European style, several cases of mahogany, Persian wool carpets, showing the luxury and wealth of the owner, Persian tapestries that can be called works of art are hung on the wall, Roman oil paintings, and a Roman soldier's armor is hung in the corner of the wall.

The two sides sat down with the guests and hosts, and their own servants served tea. Lukaz said: "Which gust of wind blew you over?" ”

"I took the liberty to visit the house today, and I bothered you."

"Shopkeeper Liu is a great nobleman, and today I am fortunate to deign to our mansion and make our mansion shine. But I don't know what Shopkeeper Liu has to say? ”

"Mr. Lukaz has been in business for many years and knows how to do business, but he doesn't know what he thinks about the future of business between the East and the West?"

Lukaz looked at Liu Ze secretly, the more he looked, the more he felt that there was something unpredictable in him, that kind of maturity that did not match his age at all, Liu Ze's simple question aroused the pain in his heart, and sighed and said: "Our country values agriculture and light business, and closes itself off, while Rome is reckless, and the only thing that the two countries have in common is the same heavy as harsh taxes and miscellaneous taxes, a Silk Road, bandits, barbarian plunder, violent winds and sandstorms, scorching heat and cold, for businessmen, it is just a chestnut in the fire." In the eyes of outsiders, businessmen are mostly well-dressed and spend money, but how can they understand without personal experience that this Silk Road is a sad road, a road of blood and tears, and a road of death! When you ask what the future holds, I can only answer that it is a bleak business. ”

"Rome's trade in the East, variety, jade, jewelry, medicinal materials, spices, etc., while the Han export goods are only silk as the bulk of goods, and the price of Shu brocade in Luoyang City today fluctuates, Mr. Lukaz has been in business for many years, I'm afraid it is difficult to grasp, right?"

"The price of Shu brocade changes three times a day, and the shopkeeper Liu is the one who is behind the scenes, right?"

Liu Ze smiled indifferently and said: "Liu has such a thing that leads to the sky, but he has some insight into some opportunities, this time the price of Shu brocade has risen sharply, and the cover is related to the rebellion of Shuzhong Banyu, but in this way, the trade between Han and Rome will be unsustainable, but I don't know what Mr. Lukaz plans?" ”

Lukaz shook his head and sighed: "Hundreds of people in the caravan are waiting to eat, even if it is difficult to do, they have to do it, I heard that Shopkeeper Liu has a large number of Shu brocade in his hands, and I hope that Shopkeeper Liu can give a discount on the face of past friendships." ”

"It's easy to talk about Shu Jin, but Mr. Lukaz doesn't want to change to other commodities to do?"

Rukaz was slightly surprised: "Other goods? Isn't there something better in the hands of Shopkeeper Liu? ”

Liu Ze smiled without saying a word, and as soon as he beckoned, an accompanying man brought a large wooden plate, on which were several pieces of porcelain of different styles. Rukaz's eyes lit up, and he reached out and grabbed a blue and white porcelain plate, looked at it carefully, and exclaimed: "Good! It's beautiful! It's beautiful! Good stuff! ”

"Mr. Rukaz, what do you think of these porcelains? Is it eligible to enter the Roman market? ”

Lukaz also did porcelain business before, and Oriental porcelain was also relatively popular in the Roman market, but because of the average quality of porcelain and uneven color, it was difficult to be favored by the Roman aristocracy. But the blue and white porcelain carcass in front of you is white and delicate and lustrous, and the blue and white blue is deep and verdant, which is very different from ordinary porcelain, and it can be called a work of art.

"Yes, yes, good things, I think there will be a big market in Rome, but I don't know how many goods Shopkeeper Liu has?"

"Two cars, a total of 10,000 pieces."

"Okay, I want this batch of goods, shopkeeper Liu will make a price."

Liu Ze gestured with a ten.

Lukaz frowned slightly, and said: "This batch of porcelain is good, but the price seems to be higher, and the price given by Shopkeeper Liu may not be affordable to anyone, can it be lower?" ”

Liu Ze shook his head and said, "The price of a penny is a penny, Mr. Lukaz, you should understand its value." ”

Lukaz pondered for a long time and said: "Yes, although this batch of porcelain is expensive, it is also worth the price, in all fairness, 100,000 taels is not expensive. However, porcelain is fragile, difficult to transport and long distances, and if the loss is too large, the gains will outweigh the losses. ”

Liu Ze smiled slightly: "The problem of transportation is not a problem, all the porcelain has been completely wrapped with six straw ropes, even if it falls from a height of one zhang, there is no damage, if Mr. Lukaz does not believe it, he can inspect it on the spot." ”

Rukaz said: "Shopkeeper Liu is a person of faith, what he said is definitely true, I should believe it, and there is no need to test it again." Just ......"

Liu Ze said indifferently: "In this way, although the price of this batch of porcelain cannot be discounted, Mr. Lukaz must still buy a batch of Shu brocade, and I will give you 10,000 horses of high-grade Shu brocade as compensation according to last year's price, what does Mr. Lukaz think?" ”