The New Year's festival is just around the corner, and people who have been busy for a year can finally start to prepare for the New Year, even if the past year is difficult, but at this time, you have to pull some new cloth to buy some fish and meat, and get ready for a good New Year. For the people, this time is a time to spend money. For those merchants, this is the busiest and most lucrative time of the year. Not only are all kinds of goods piled up in the shops in the prefecture and county, and even many merchants have organized men to pull the goods to the roadside ferry in the countryside to set up a grass market, taking advantage of the hot days before the New Year to earn the last money before the New Year.

Huaihuang City went south to the flat road, and at this time there were endless caravans. Although there are not many days left before the Chinese New Year, if it was in previous years, those merchants who ran outside the Saiwai would either stay outside the Saiwai for the New Year, or they would have already returned to their hometowns in the Central Plains. But this year is not as good as in previous years, and the more you get to this time, the more businessmen are on the road. Before the Chinese New Year, Huaihuang City began to supply liquor openly, which made the merchants who had always had money and could not get into liquor before, their eyes were already bloody. What's the matter, the Chinese New Year is coming soon, and for the liquor business that can make a lot of money, it doesn't matter if the merchants spend this year in the snow. No one can be sure that after the shipment of this liquor, Huaihuang will always be able to supply it like this in the future. Some well-informed businessmen have already vaguely inquired about the news that it is very likely that there will be a war in northern Xinjiang next year, a large-scale war. Huaihuang is on the Saiwai Dam, where there is no danger to defend, although this year took the initiative to fight with the Tiele people and won a series of victories, but who knows what the situation will be next year. In case the war spreads to Huaihuang next year. There is no place to buy this one-of-a-kind liquor. With this in mind, merchants flocked to transport carts of liquor to the south. Originally, Huaihuang released a million catties of liquor at once. I thought it would make the price of liquor fall. But unexpectedly, because of the rumors of the war, those merchants bought liquor on a large scale, and many merchants did not have any liquor shipping channels at all, but they also took out all their cash to buy liquor, but they bought it and hoarded it when they had the opportunity to get it. The quality of baijiu is so good and so popular. The previous market had just been cultivated, but it had been in a state of hunger, and the merchants knew it. Even if there is no war next year, this liquor will definitely not depreciate when it is hoarded.

It has been three years since the Great Sui ban was issued, and the price of alcohol has also risen day by day, until now. The official production of the winery simply cannot meet the market. It is rare to have such a bold winery as Huaihuang. Not only did most of the liquor brewed in the middle plains deteriorate in quality, as was the case with the underground distilleries in the Central Plains, but new varieties of liquor were developed, and the output was still so high. It is good that the imperial court prohibits illicit brewing, but the imperial court does not prohibit drinking. Of course, selling wine is also forbidden, many businessmen who come to Huaihuang to buy wine have a background, and of course they also buy wine in the official shop, so they can sell wine in a bright and bright way. However, the supply of liquor in Guanfang has been insufficient, and now there is a shortage of liquor. Just enough to satisfy the hungry market.

In this hot wave of liquor hoarding, the price of this large batch of liquor released by Huaihuang has been rising. The further back it was sold, the more merchants waited to buy it, and the winery even had to put the rest of the wine up for auction on the exchange. Moreover, in this hot situation, the supply of liquor is in short supply, and even the amount of liquor after the newly expanded production capacity is still in short supply, which makes the liquor of Huaihuang actually produce futures trading. A large number of liquor orders were signed, and the delivery date had to be scheduled to half a year later, and now even these orders have become a hot and sought-after commodity. Many of the late, appetite of the businessmen, can not get the spot, the order is too late, eager to get the goods, they began to those who have an early delivery date of the order list of the businessmen to seek transactions, which makes those orders actually become a sought-after goods to make money, many businessmen to sell the order list has been quickly earned. Then some businessmen bought the order form and held it in their hands, but some businessmen saw that the order form was getting higher and higher, and they also began to resell, and the result was also profitable, which made the price of the order continue to rise, and the most lively goods in the exchange are no longer physical goods, but have become these order lists.

In the Huaihuang market a year ago, it became more and more popular, and tribal merchants such as Xi Fei and Khitan also came to rush to the market, bringing a large number of cattle, horses, camels, Dongzhu deer, skin, ginseng, etc., in exchange for cloth, silk, porcelain, iron pots, etc. from the Central Plains merchants.

On the way south with Yi Feng's huge team, you can see everywhere the merchants who hurriedly went north to Huai Famine, as well as the merchants who constantly pursued Yi Feng's team south with a large number of purchased goods. Fortunately, the road from Huaihuang to Daning has already been renovated, and now it is a wide and flat road, which can accommodate four cars in parallel.

"This wagon is a good thing." Xu Deyan rode a white horse and walked with Yi Feng, looking at the merchants who went south and north with four-wheeled carriages, and couldn't help sighing. Yi Feng also secretly observed that the carriages carried by the merchants were basically produced by the Huaihuang Carriage Workshop. Before the production of four-wheeled carriages in Huaihuang, there were also four-wheeled carriages in the Central Plains, but they were four-wheeled carriages without steering functions, and at best they could only be regarded as large two-wheeled carriages, and they did not have two-wheeled carriages with flexible steering. This bulky four-wheeled carriage is generally only used in and around some large cities to carry goods. Once you get out of the city streets and neighborhoods, it's hard to see them farther afield, and the key is the lack of steering system, which makes it difficult to apply in worse road conditions.

However, the four-wheeled carriage produced by Huaihuang is different, the four-wheeled carriage produced by Huaihuang solves the steering problem, and at the same time increases the shock absorber, and also increases the rolling bearings made of high-quality steel, and even the wheels are wrapped with copper and iron, which makes this four-wheeled carriage and the original four-wheeled carriage not the same item at all. The new carriage was agile and capable of transporting more and heavier goods, with a single horse being able to pull a wagon carrying 20 stones, and the modified wheels also greatly enhanced the ability to travel on some complicated dirt roads. Such an innovation immediately made the Huaihuang four-wheeled carriage favored by many merchants. For merchants, the cost of transporting goods on the road sometimes accounted for a large part, and the carriage could transport more goods, less vehicle costs, and the cost of forage for the charioteers and horses, and more goods could be transported. At the same time, Huaihuang in the successful sale of freight four-wheeled carriages at the same time, but also together with the development and sale of passenger four-wheeled carriages, this kind of carriage is more comfortable, more spacious than two-wheeled carriages, and has shock absorbers more than ordinary two-wheeled carriages more shock absorber.

"These four-wheeled carriages are also selling very well now, with high loads and comfortable carriages, which are several streets away from the original two-wheeled carriages. It has a very high performance advantage, and the price is still very reasonable, so it is difficult to get popular now. The carriage workshop has been expanded, divided into a freight carriage workshop and a manned carriage workshop, and several parts factories have been established, such as the steel mill, which has established a bearing factory and a wheel factory for the carriage workshop, as well as a shock absorber factory. Now the carriage workshop has received countless orders, but there are not enough craftsmen for a while. Yi Feng said a little proudly.

Xu Deyan didn't know much about these business things, but he was still a little puzzled, "Why is Huaihuang Carriage so popular?" Horse-drawn carriage building isn't that difficult, is it? ”

"Of course, it is not difficult to build an ordinary carriage, but the Huaihuang carriage is different, it is a carriage with a steering gear and bearings and shock absorbers."

"Is it hard to copy?" Xu Deyan is still puzzled, with his understanding of businessmen, those people don't care what new technology you invent, as long as your thing sells well, they will immediately copy it, and there is no lawsuit to fight for this thing. But in the present situation, it seems that the horse-drawn carriage of Huai Huang is powerful and sells well, but it is a little strange that those merchants come here to buy it instead of copying it themselves.

Yi Feng smiled, of course he knew the strength of the Chinese people's copycat ability, and there was no patented technology in this era, as long as the copycat was profitable, they would never let it go. But if you want to cottage and be deserted, the four-wheeled carriage, at most they are painting tigers and not anti-cats. Because of the four-wheeled carriage of Huaihuang, among the three new technologies, not only the new technology is used, but also some other technologies are used. For example, although the steering system is simple, the rolling bearing and shock absorber seem to be simple, but in fact it has extremely high technical barriers. This involves the latest steelmaking technology and steel casting technology that Huaihuang has today, without which it is difficult to manufacture bearings and shock absorbers. Of course, there must be people who can build it, but there is a key to large-scale production, and that is the cost. The new technology in Yifeng's hands makes these two key components on the carriage require extremely high-precision technology, and only the latest technology can greatly reduce the cost of these two parts and can be manufactured in large quantities. Without this technology, although it is possible to build it by hand, the final cost makes it impossible for any businessman to be able to copy the four-wheeled carriage in large quantities, without a cost advantage, and ultimately it will not be competitive. This is also the reason why Yi Feng is so confident, the four-wheeled carriage seems simple, but in fact it involves the latest steelmaking technology and casting technology, and this technology is difficult to copycat for a while. Without these two core components, the four-wheeled carriage from the cottage is just a four-way street, even if there is a steering gear, but it is difficult to carry more weight without sliding bearings, and without a qualified shock absorber, the four-wheeled carriage is simply difficult to carry people comfortably.

After listening to Yi Feng's explanation, Xu Deyan couldn't help but be surprised for a long time, this steelmaking and forging technology has always been the top technology, but he didn't expect Yi Feng to have it in his hands. (To be continued......)