As soon as the porcelain bowl was taken out, it immediately attracted the attention of Khotan, and the Sogdians traveled all over the world to communicate the trade routes between the East and the West, mainly transporting tea, porcelain and silk from the East to the West, and also transporting Western spices, precious stones, Horses and other things were shipped to the East, since the decline of the Tang Dynasty, the Central Plains war, the Great Liao became the main object of trade between the East and the West, but the quality of the porcelain of the Liao State is far less than that of the Tang Dynasty, so it can not be sold at a high price in the West, although the famous firewood kiln made by Zhou Shizong is far better than the previous generation, but the number is scarce, it is already a treasure in the Central Plains, and it is impossible to export a large number of them. At this time, most of the kilns in the north of the Central Plains, such as Xingyao, Yaozhou kiln, and Cizhou kiln, were affected by the war, and the kiln masters moved south, and the quality and quantity of production declined, and the Changsha kilns, pottery kilns, and Huo kilns in the south prospered because of the southward migration of the kilns, but they had not yet reached the heyday of the later Song Dynasty, and the southern kilns were often exported by sea, although the Kang family also had a fleet, but it was not dominant, after all, the Sogdian merchants were still business groups that started from the land Silk Road.

Taking the porcelain bowl from Wu Yingying's hand, Kang Ketian rubbed it quite excitedly, the porcelain bowl was cold to the touch, the milky white glaze was as moist as jade, and he raised it to look at the light, and he could vaguely see the fingers on the opposite side of the bowl wall. Holy, Khotan finally found the word in his heart to describe the feeling of this porcelain bowl.

After a while, Kang Ke Khotan calmed down, raised his head and said to Wu Yingying: "May I ask General Wu, this porcelain bowl is made in Lanzhou, what is the output?"

Wu Yingying will just now his reaction at a glance, and his heart is also relieved, it seems that human appreciation of beautiful things, has not changed much in the past thousand years, the Sogdian people are good at knowing treasures, it can be said that they represent the mainstream aesthetics of the East and the West in this era, and the bone china marketed in later generations can be affirmed by Sogdian merchants, which is equivalent to being made in modern China and entering Wal-Mart. Listening to Kang Ke Khotan's question, Wu Yingying smiled slightly: "This porcelain bowl is indeed made in Lanzhou, but the output is still small, and the only one that has been successfully fired and flawless is Kang Jun." ”

As soon as his words fell, Kang Ketian couldn't help but let out an "ah" regretfully, and Wu Yingying said again: "However, my potters will try their best to improve the yield of each kiln, and there will be batches of high-quality porcelain, I wonder if Kang Jun is interested?"

"Of course," Kang Ketian was excited, and blurted out despite the taboo of bargaining in the mall, and immediately regretted it, I promised so urgently, I don't know if this Lord Wu will put forward harsh conditions.

Wu Yingying nodded with satisfaction and said with a smile: "In your opinion, how much income can this porcelain business have every year?"

In business, listening to Wu Yingying's question, Kang Ketian frowned and said: "Lord Wu, forgive me, this white porcelain is extremely beautiful, but the treasure must be known and held by someone to sell it at a good price. In modern terms, he said that everything that is new needs to be accepted by the world. Wu Yingying nodded knowingly, and muttered: "Wulanzhou is in urgent need of money and food, this is a bit late. ”

Seeing him frowning and hesitating, Kang Ketian was in a hurry, and said: "If the lord hands over the marketing of this item to my family, with my father's extensive contacts with our fellow businessmen in all directions, maybe it will be a big business in a year. Seeing Wu Yingying nodded, Kang Ke Khotan remembered the purpose of his visit to Wu Yingying, and said: "If adults need a way to make money, villains have one here." ”

Hearing him say this, Wu Yingying, who was worried about Lanzhou's financial problems, became interested and leaned closer: "I want to hear about it." ”

Seeing his eager eyes, Kang Ketian deeply realized what his father meant when he said that "generals are businessmen", and said with a smile: "Since the decline of the Tang Dynasty, the Central Plains has been dangling, and the Tubo and Party items have risen one after another, these two have cut off the trade routes between the East and the West, resulting in the tea, silk and other things exported from the Central Plains to the Western Regions have to detour to Yinshan and the northern foot of Helan, which is expensive. ”

Wu Yingying nodded, and listened to him again: "What my father means, since the general is friendly with the Khitan, he might as well use Lanzhou as a base to buy tea in the Central Plains, and the general will send his warriors to pretend to be the guards of the caravan to escort these Middle Earth goods to Dunhuang, and then Dunhuang will escort all kinds of treasures from the Western Regions to Lanzhou and sell them to all parts of Middle Earth." This route does not have to detour further east to the Khitan city, and it should be more lucrative than usual. ”

Wu Yingying asked again: "Although the Longyou Old Road is controlled by the party members, as far as I know, the Tuoba clan only pays one ten taxes to and from the goods, so why do you have to take a detour?"

Kang Ketian smiled bitterly and said: "The general doesn't know, the party items and Tubo departments in the area of Longyou Xiazhou, although they are designated as the leader of the Tuoba clan, but they are not under the control, so although the Tuoba clan has drawn commercial taxes, the ministries along the way will still collect taxes, and if there are good goods that are favored by the head, then take them directly." These tribes are sometimes allied, sometimes at war, but they are all dominated by the Tuoba clan, and the caravan guards can't resist, so it's better to take some risks and make a detour. ”

I see, the so-called official bandit family, the jackal is in charge, this is probably the case, for the caravan, it is really more difficult than the horse thieves and barbarians infested outside the Saiwai, listening to what Kang Ke Khotan said, Wu Yingying was quite moved, and muttered: "The goods are transported from the Central Plains to Dunhuang, how much is the benefit?"

Kang Ketian listened to his words, which was completely different from ordinary officials in China, and he also had a good impression of Wu Yingying, and replied truthfully: "If it is transported to Dunhuang, the price will be three times that of the Central Plains, and if it is transported to Persia, it will be ten times the price of Middle Earth, and if it is transported to the homeland of Great Qin, the price will be higher than gold." ”

Wu Yingying was completely shocked, huge profits, the revolutionary mentor said that with 300% profits, people will not be afraid of crime, and even the danger of hanging their heads. But after holding back his excitement a little, Wu Yingying remembered something again and asked: "Kang Jun, although the road on land is not passable at the moment, the sea route is still good, why is the price difference of tea still so large, your information is an old thing in Wu Nian, right?"

Kang Ketian smiled slightly, and arched his hand: "Lord Wu is really familiar with trade routes, so that adults know that although the sea route is good, the sea route is quite risky, and it is not as safe as the land route." Moreover, the tea is a very special commodity, and it is very easy to get damp by sea, and the flavor is far from that of land transportation, and the price is only less than one-tenth. The Hu people west of Persia, because they could not afford to buy good tea sold by land, grinded the tea leaves into tea powder, and added cow and sheep milk, honey, cinnamon, ginger slices and other flavors, which was also a helpless move. ”

Wu Yingying said in his heart, he thought that the style of foreign devils, drinking a tea and adding this and that, it turned out that the ancestors couldn't drink good tea, and these condiments were used to remove the musty smell and trendy taste of the tea sold by sea, Kang Ke Khotan's words were still a little credible, so he nodded, and asked: "The tea shop monopoly in the Central Plains, how can you buy a large amount of tea?"

Kang Ke Khotan saw that he asked in detail, so he was not bored, but felt that this person sincerely cooperated, so he patiently explained: "Although the Central Plains government has a monopoly law enforcement, how can the local gentry be willing to give away this heavy profit, as long as the government is clear, there is no obstacle to transportation and sales. Seeing that Wu Yingying's face was still in disbelief, he said in a low voice: "Salt is also monopolized, but most of the salt on the market in the Central Plains is private salt, otherwise poor families may not be able to taste salt all year round." ”