For more than a year, Dingzhou, Youzhou and Yunzhou have been very different, in the past, because of the war, although Dingzhou is a border city, but it is only a prosperous leather business, and the other hundred lines are withered very much, and the loss of residents is serious.

But this time, from the beginning of entering the Dingzhou area, there was an endless stream of merchants on the official road every day, and there were nearby villagers pushing small carts or carrying burdens along the official road to sell some of the food they made.

The merchants traveled mostly to bring dry food, and the food for a few pennies was not expensive, and they were happy to spend this money, so the villages on both sides of the official road developed better and better.

Dingzhou is only the first stop to enter the mutual market, and most of the small and medium-sized merchants who have no road guide will choose to sell goods here.

They sold the goods they brought from the Central Plains or Jiangnan to local merchants or large merchants with road guides, and after they transported the goods to Youzhou, they raised the price to trade with the Hu merchants.

Nowadays, there are not only Liao merchants in the mutual market, but also Tubo people who have come from afar and merchants from the Western Regions.

Some small rules of the mutual market have also changed again and again, in addition to the large merchants who can enter the mutual market, some small traders can also enter and exit, but each time they enter and exit, the goods carried cannot exceed ten taels.

The hawkers who have been in the food business in the city belong to a different situation.

Lin Ren and Lin Zhi, who came with Lin Qingwan, wanted to enter the mutual market in this way, and in the caravan organized by their clan brother Lin Chuan, every time the guys could also bring some goods privately, and after arriving at the mutual market, they traded with some small herdsmen in the Liao country, and they could make some money.

The two young men are young, much younger than Lin Chuan, so they don't quite match, this time Lin Qingwan said that he could bring his nephew to Youzhou, and the two of them signed up.

The clan has already felt Lin Qingwan's exercise rules, she will help the children of the clan, but she will not interfere too much, whether it is a dragon or a worm, she has to rely on her own struggle.

Like Lin Chuan, who is the best businessman in the clan now, Lin Qingwan used to just lend him a sum of money and give him a few words.

It's his ability to break out, and if he can't break out, the money he owes still has to be repaid.

Not everyone is willing to endure the hardships of leaving their homeland and take the risk of becoming rich if they succeed and being poor if they fail.

After all, the Lin family is living a good life now, in Suzhou, the clansmen rely on each other, as long as they are diligent, food and clothing are always no problem.

So in the end, there were only two people who were willing to follow Lin Qingwan to Youzhou.

The family knew that they couldn't stop the two children, so they simply divided the money that the family had saved over the years of making straw paper and tofu, and let them bring their share.

The two of them borrowed some from their parents and their brothers, and they scraped together enough funds for this time, not much, just more than 20 taels.

As soon as they arrived in Youzhou, the two of them immediately said goodbye to Lin Qingwan, picked out something worth ten taels and wanted to enter the mutual market, Lin Qingwan was amused when she saw it, and beckoned them and said: "You have a lot of time, don't be in a hurry, first put the goods at home, go to the mutual market to take a look, see what price people sell, what price is the goods you want to buy, whether it is more cost-effective to exchange it for silver and then buy it, or it is more cost-effective to barter directly." If it's barter, you might find someone to get it? ”

Looking at the two teenagers who were only fourteen or fifteen years old and still had a childish face, Lin Qingwan shook her head and smiled: "It's not good to be too tender, my suggestion is that in the past three days, you should be cheeky and go to the mutual market to ask, and then talk about it after you have a thick skin." ”

The two teenagers scratched their heads and went in a daze.

Lin An waited for them to leave, and then stepped forward to ask for peace and asked, "Do you want the little one to send someone to follow the two young masters?" ”

"No need," Lin Qingwan said with a smile: "It's not a child anymore, they dare to come, these are all things to learn, and when Lin Chuan took the silver and went out, he wasn't much older than them." ”

Lin An didn't mention it anymore, and bowed down to invite Lin Qingwan to the backyard.

This is the Lin family's courtyard, because the Lin family's business in Youzhou is also quite large, and the aunt and grandmother are the scholars of the Lifan Academy, so they have to come to Youzhou from time to time to inspect, so Lin An applied for a sum of money to build a courtyard.

It's not big, only three and that's it, because it was built early, and the land price in Youzhou was not expensive at that time, so most of the money applied for was used to decorate the yard.

Lin Qingwan felt quite comfortable living in.

Before she sat down, Lin An came in from outside with a bunch of posts, and picked up the important report first, "Master Wu and Youzhou Thorn History sent someone to send a post, I want to visit my door, Yunzhou and Dingzhou Thorn Shi sent someone to ask yesterday, aunt, grandma, look ......at it."

Lin Qingwan said while washing her hands: "I'll go to the mutual market in the afternoon, let Master Wu and Zheng Tingshi go to the mutual market and wait." ”

After thinking for a while, she asked, "There have been no major incidents in Youzhou recently, right?" ”

"The little one has never heard of it."

Lin Qingwan nodded.

The situation of the mutual market has been transmitted back to Beijing, after all, some things still have to be approved by Lin Qingwan personally, so although the mutual market has changed a lot, Lin Qingwan still understands its situation.

Wu Shilang and Zheng Tingshi were in the mutual market early, and when they saw Lin Qingwan, they stepped forward to salute, so she waved her hand and smiled: "The two adults don't need to be polite, let's talk while walking." ”

Zheng Tingshi had already set a location in the restaurant, thinking about picking up the dust for Lin Qingwan first, and then reporting some things, but he didn't expect Lin Qingwan to come directly to the mutual market, and he talked about business directly before he was foreshadowed.

Fortunately, he had also worked with her for a while, although he was not as good as Wu Shilang, but he still reacted in time, and walked in with a smile, while briefly reporting the situation in Youzhou.

As for the matter of the mutual market, it is up to Wu Shilang to speak.

The autumn harvest is coming, after the autumn harvest, the mutual market will usher in a grand event, Youzhou and Yunzhou are bound to receive more merchants, so Youzhou Thorn History will come, otherwise, Lin Qingwan is not his direct boss, it is said that he should not come to report to her.

Nowadays, the goods in the market are more diverse, although tea, silk and porcelain are still the mainstay, but there are also many other kinds of goods.

Lin Qingwan was very satisfied and asked, "How is the grain transaction in the mutual market?" ”

"The daily turnover has always been within our control," Wu Shilang said, "In accordance with the order of the county lord, I have set a rule with several major trading houses that the grain transaction must reach a certain amount every quarter. ”

He couldn't help sighing, at first they were afraid that the large-scale transaction of grain would be unfavorable to the Liang State, who knew that the Liao State had just passed that hurdle, and the merchants of the Liao State were not very willing to trade grain.

For one thing, it was not only heavy, but also expensive, and even if they doubled the price and sold it to the tribes and herdsmen, they would not make as much profit as a silk horse.

What's more, the grain merchants of Liang also increased grain prices in order to buy less grain and sell more tea and silk.

Less than two months after Lin Qingwan left, the price of grain in the mutual market was so high that Wen Dihan was so angry that he ran from Shangjing to Liang Guo to settle the score.

Fortunately, Wu Shilang was shrewd and sensed that something was wrong, so he immediately discussed with Lin Qingwan and reformulated a few rules.

It not only restricts the range of grain prices in the mutual market, but also stipulates the daily trading volume range, which is high and low.

At first, the Liao side also objected, because it obviously violated the contract they signed at the beginning, and even stipulated the upper limit of the trading volume, so it was not impossible for them to buy more if they wanted to?

Wu Shilang argued with them for more than two months, letting them see that if the range was not restricted, they were afraid that they would not be able to buy even one stone of food a day.

Because after the opening of the mutual market, the profit of grain is indeed not as good as that of other commodities, and merchants prefer to trade other commodities rather than grain.

The Liao State demanded that only the lower limit be set, not the upper limit, and Wu Shilang almost laughed angrily.

Tell them that if they want to set a lower limit, they must set a ceiling, otherwise there will be no upper limit in the Liang Kingdom, and everything will depend on market transactions.

However, the Liang State collected high taxes on the exported grain, and now that the disaster in the Liao State has eased, the demand for grain is not so urgent, and the types of goods in the market have also increased, so the merchants of the Liang State do not like to sell grain very much, and even the merchants of the Liao State do not like to buy grain.

In the long run, I am afraid that there will be even fewer grain deals.

But the Liao State agreed to open this mutual market for the grain, salt and tea of the Liang State, if this most important material is lost, then what is the meaning?

In the end, he agreed to Wu Shilang's proposal, and the rules of the mutual market also changed.

Of course, it is impossible for Wu Shilang to force the merchants to sell grain, so he can only cooperate with the big merchants in the mutual market, and the imperial court will give them some preferential treatment, and they will be responsible for these grain transactions.

This also has the advantage that if the imperial court cooperates with them, then even if the imperial court controls the grain trade, whether it is more or less, it is up to the Liang court to have the final say.

Lin Qingwan, accompanied by the two of them, only visited half of the mutual market after shopping for a long time, which shows how big the mutual market is now.

Lin Qingwan dropped the tea leaves in her hand, and after asking the price, she nodded with Wu Shilang and said, "The price is quite reasonable, and there is not much difference between the same quality." ”

Wu Shilang smiled and said: "Now Hu Shang is also very shrewd and knows how to shop around, so there are very few people who can cheat people in terms of price." ”

The new merchants didn't know Lin Qingwan, but they were familiar with the martial servants who often appeared in the mutual market, and Zheng Tingshi was also a little familiar, so they were a little curious about Lin Qingwan, who could be accompanied by the two adults.

Walking all the way to the small street where food was sold, someone saw Lin Qingwan, was stunned for a moment, reacted, and immediately dropped the stall, took a bowl of mutton soup and sent it over, "Lin, Lord Lin?" ”

Lin Qingwan turned her head to look at it, she didn't recognize it, but she still raised a smile and asked, "Is the old man's business good?" ”

"Oh, it's really Lord Lin," he hurriedly put the mutton soup in his hand, knelt on the ground and said, "I didn't expect to see Lord Lin in my lifetime." ”

Lin Qingwan hurriedly stepped forward to help the person up, took his mutton soup and said with a smile: "Well, just by smelling the smell, you know that it is a good sheep on the grassland." ”

The people around also found Lin Qingwan, and they all rushed up to salute, and if they hadn't seen it, they couldn't help but jump up behind the crowd, wanting to see what Lord Lin looked like.