Wen Dihan paced to a stall selling grain next door, reached out and pinched a few grains of grain, rubbed them in his hand, and asked, "How much do these rice grains cost in your Central Plains?" ”

The owner of the grain obviously didn't expect someone to ask about their cost so unceremoniously, and was stunned for a moment before he smiled: "This lord doesn't know, our purchase price is not cheap, now is the time when the green and yellow are not available, the grain is a price a day, and our batch of grain is transported from the Central Plains, the road is far away, and the road fee alone will be how much." ”

Wendihan glanced up at him and asked, "If I am willing to pay for your food, what is the lowest price you can give?"

The merchant shook his head, lowered his head and thought for a while, then reported a number.

Wendy Han frowned, "That's too high, too." ”

The merchant smiled and said: "This is not high, this is one percent cheaper than the current price, in fact, we are not very profitable to sell grain in this mutual market, because the county lord strictly requires that the price of grain should not be higher than five hundred wen." ”

Wen Dihan was slightly angry in his heart, looked at the merchant and asked, "What, you still think that the current food price is not high enough?" ”

"It's not, the main reason is that this grain is not easy to transport, a stone of grain, in addition to all the costs, the money we earn is not as much as we can earn by selling a piece of silk, so you say, are we willing to sell silk or grain?"

Wendihan asked curiously, "Then why do you still bring the grain?" ”

The merchant smiled and said: "This is a long time ago stipulated by the county lord, anyone who takes the road to participate in the mutual market must carry a certain amount of grain, and we bring the minimum amount, and there will be no more after selling." ”

However, grain is indeed the most popular in the mutual market, and it is not worried about selling, but it does not make as much money as other commodities.

In fact, if it weren't for Lin Qingwan's restriction on the price of grain and the heavy tax on exporting grain over a certain amount, they would still be very willing to sell grain.

It's a pity that Lin Qingwan set these two rules, which directly diluted everyone's enthusiasm for exporting grain.

Wendihan didn't know what to say.

Lin Qingwan saw Wen Dihan's back from a distance, smiled slightly, and walked over, everyone recognized her, after all, she appeared in the mutual market every day, so they made way for her.

Wen Dihan's guards reminded him, and he turned to look at Lin Qingwan, "Lord Lin." ”

Lin Qingwan stepped forward with a smile, "Does Master Wen have something you like?" ”

glanced at him and saw that he was slightly dressed, and Lin Qingwan didn't reveal his identity.

Wen Dihan dropped the grain in his hand and said with a light smile: "Your Liang Guo's things are too expensive, and I can't afford them." ”

Lin Qingwan laughed and said: "This is not right, you ask the Liao people who come here, are the things in our mutual market expensive, or the things in the Liao country?" ”

A sheep can be exchanged for about five catties of general tea here, but in Shangjing, Liao Kingdom, a sheep can only be exchanged for less than two catties of tea.

Wen Dihan nodded at the grain bag in front of him and said, "Lord Lin, the Ming people don't say code words, in your Liang country, no matter how much the price of this grain rises, it won't be this price." ”

Lin Qingwan lowered her face and said: "Master Wen, when you go to Beijing, the ordinary ones are only about forty taels, why do you need sixty or seventy taels when you go to the mutual market?" ”

Wendy Han choked.

Lin Qingwan softened her face again, "In business, you go down this street and ask those merchants who sell grain, if I don't set the highest price for grain, what price do you see they can sell." In contrast, what I sold to Master Wen was already at a loss. ”

"Otherwise," she said, pointing to the Liao people who were carrying grain out, "I will open it and sell it to them, and I will earn an extra hundred wen for just one stone, and they will be grateful to me." ”

Wen Dihan smiled and said: "Lord Lin, I don't think the price you gave me is high, but I just feel that the price of grain in this mutual market is a little too high, if they sell it at the same price as you gave me......

Lin Qingwan shook her head and said: "Master Wen, I can't interfere too much in the market, setting the highest price is already the limit of what I can do, otherwise, believe it or not, I will fix the price at which they sell the grain today, and tomorrow they will be able to put away all the grain and not sell a single grain." ”

Wendihan choked for a moment, but she also knew that she was telling the truth.

The merchants on the side were frightened when they heard this, and looked at Wen Dihan in disbelief, who is this person, such a big face, not only can the county lord come out, but he also dares to ask the county lord such an opinion.

It's just that why is it so hateful, the county mainly listens to him, what kind of money do they still make?

Wen Dihan didn't care about him, and said slightly sideways: "Lord Lin, let's find a place to talk, you said last time that the second batch of grain is about to arrive, I don't know where it is now?" ”

Lin Qingwan also followed him naturally, "I have arrived in Dingzhou, but I haven't counted it yet, and I have to wait for two more days." ”

Lin Qingwan paused and said: "Master Wen, I haven't sold all the sheep you exchanged for me last time, I don't want sheep this time, if you don't want to exchange horses, then give me more cattle, and I want medicinal herbs." ”

The two of them walked to the tent set up by the Lin family, and basically there was such a small tent behind each stall, which was prepared for guests who came to discuss big deals.

At this time, there was no one inside, Lin Qingwan invited Wen Dihan in, and the two of them asked them to open the tent door and directly watch the people outside come and go to discuss business.

Wendihan sighed, "But in less than ten days, the breath of war has disappeared. ”

Lin Qingwan smiled and poured him a cup of tea, "That's why I said that no one wants to fight, even the Liao people." ”

Wendihan lowered her eyes and drank her tea, but did not answer.

Lin Qingwan took the contract from Lin An's hand, handed it to Wen Dihan and said: "You take a look, if there is any objection, if not, we will sign it, and when I count the grain, I will send someone over to trade with the Khan." ”

Wen Dihan took it and asked, "I see that the county lord's stall sells cloth, tea, and paper, why is there no food?" ”

"Khan knowingly asked, didn't I sell you all my grain?"

Wen Dihan smiled and said, "I thought that the county lord was sitting on dozens of hectares of fertile land, and the grain that was traded to me was just a drop in the bucket. ”

"Does the Khan know how much grain can be produced in an acre of land?" Lin Qingwan asked, "And how many people do I have under my hands?" To put it mildly, I have already traded more grain with the Khan than I have, and now I am buying it from the Liang merchants in Jiangnan. ”

"Hey, but I heard that Liang is at war with Chu, if you also collect grain from the grain merchants in Jiangnan, then the grain and grass of your front-line soldiers ......"

Lin Qingwan sighed, "No way, this is what I promised Khan, so even if I am wronged by the soldiers on the front line, I can only prepare this promise to you first." ”

Lin Qingwan said it righteously, but Wen Dihan didn't believe it at all, it seemed that the strength of Liang Guo was stronger than he expected, which could not only support the battle against Chu, but also exchange food for him.

Thinking about it like this, he loosened his heart knot for the truce and peace agreement, and confirmed that the contract was fine, so Wen Dihan waved his pen and signed it, and then he saw the two children who had been silently following Lin Qingwan's side, and saw that there were a lot of patches on their clothes, so he asked with a smile: "Where did these two children come from?" ”

"It's the translator I asked," Lin Qingwan said with a smile: "Taking advantage of the fact that things are cheap now, I want to buy some and send them back to my family, how about it, do you want to go shopping with Khan?" ”

Wen Dihan looked at her with a smile and said: "I remember that the Lin family has always regarded my Liao Kingdom as a big problem, and they have been learning my Khitan language from generation to generation since their father, and the Lord of Lin County should also understand it, why do you still need to ask for a translator?" ”

Li Siwen looked at Lin Qingwan with some apprehension.

Lin Qingwan reached out and touched his head and said with a smile: "I haven't studied for many years, and I have long forgotten it." ”

Wen Dihan snorted, thinking that Lin Qingwan was looking for an excuse to take care of this boy, but I don't know if she is simply charitable, or if this child is special.

Yi Han stood silently aside, and glanced up at her when he heard Lin Qingwan say that he hadn't studied for many years.

The group left the camp tent and left, although Wen Dihan disliked that the things here were more expensive than those in Liang State, but he also wanted to buy some things to go back, after all, the prices in the mutual market were indeed much cheaper than those in Liao.

Lin An took the money bag and followed, afraid that the money they brought would not be enough, Lin Quan also picked two silk horses for him to hug, and said: "If you meet someone the county lord likes, if the money is not enough, you will exchange it for silk." ”

Lin An twitched the corners of his mouth and hugged it.

The mutual market does not recognize silver bills, only gold and silver, and in addition to gold and silver, silk and horses are the second hard currency.

Lin Qingwan thought that Yubin's child would be born in June and July, and it was winter when he could sit up, so she wanted to pick out some fur for him to make clothes.

And Yubin also needs to buy new clothes, and if she has a good fox skin, you can splice a cloak for her.

Li Siwen had to come to the mutual market every day to take a stroll, and followed his memory to take Lin Qingwan to find several stalls, and finally they stopped at a relatively simple stall.

The other party has been here for several days, and when he recognized Lin Qingwan, he turned around and pulled one out of a pile of leather bags, and then took out all the fox skins inside, and said with a smile: "Honorable county lord, this is all reserved for you, only you can be worthy of such furs." ”

Li Siwen's face was slightly red, but he still translated it word by word.

Lin Qingwan looked at the pure red and pure white fox skins in front of her in surprise, and asked, "This is specially reserved for me?" ”

The other party nodded, looked at Lin Qingwan with a grateful face, and said, "Thanks to the county lord, we can all survive the right banner of Bahrain." ”

Wen Dihan was angry when he heard it, he was the Khan of Da Liao, shouldn't this be his credit?

The other party has already started to tell the story, but fortunately, Li Siwen has been speaking Khitan with his mother since he was a child, so it is not difficult to translate.

"The year before last, it snowed a lot in our tribe, and we wanted to stay up until the beginning of spring, but it snowed heavily in spring, and many of the lambs we left behind died, and even the horses were frostbitten, and we had no choice but to migrate south, thinking that it would be better here."

He sighed and said: "We went all the way south, grazing through many tribes, their situation is slightly stronger than ours, but the water and grass are not abundant, can not accept us, in the autumn when the royal court conscription, many warriors of our tribe have been recruited, only we people with the tribe of the elderly, children and women continue to graze, we originally wanted to go back, but the weather is getting colder and colder, we are afraid that after going back, only the remaining cattle and sheep will also freeze to death." ”

"Fortunately, thanks to the county lord opening the mutual market, we exchanged furs for food, and also exchanged the gems we collected before for medicinal herbs and salt, and the children of our tribe can now eat a leg of mutton, although they eat a little more, but they are healthy, and now they are growing taller, and they will become warriors in the future."

Li Siwen scratched his head, feeling that his translation was not good enough, but it seemed that there was nothing wrong.