Li Yang looked at the shopkeeper with a smile: Just now you said that you can get together 5 million catties of grain in a few days, but now you say that the whole of Taizhou may not be able to get together 5 million catties of grain

The shopkeeper was a little embarrassed when he heard this: If you are sincere in buying food, I will find a way to get enough food for you

Li Yang: The shopkeeper may not be able to raise 5 million catties of grain in Taizhou now, so how can you get enough of this 5 million catties of grain for me

Shopkeeper: The guest grain merchant naturally has the way of a grain merchant, and I have my own way of how to get enough grain for you

Li Yang: The shopkeeper's 6 lines per pound is too expensive, if you think that 5 lines of money is okay, then we will settle this matter

The shopkeeper hurriedly shook his hand when he heard this: The guest officer shop is also a small business, it is really not so much profitable, the guest officer, I advise you to buy it early, if it is good to buy it early, if the price of this grain may have to rise after a while, in fact, 6 lines of money are not expensive at all, and when you sell the grain next year, you will definitely be able to make a lot of money, and doing business is not expensive to buy and sell - haha

Sun Yuanwu took a deep breath after hearing this: The shopkeeper has suffered from drought and grain failure in many places in Zhejiang this year, and the life of the common people is not good, you are raising the price of grain at will to make huge profits, isn't the life of the common people more miserable, the victims begging on the street outside must have seen it, are the grain merchants indifferent to these

After hearing this, the shopkeeper leaked a trace of displeasure on his face, and his tone was not as respectful as just now: Guest officer, what you said is not right, doing business itself is something you want me to do, and I have not forced them to buy, don't look at the current grain price is so high, in fact, our grain merchants earn a small amount of money, just take me with this small shop, it is not big, but there are many places to use money, you see that I need the capital to collect grain, I have to give the wages of the guys, I still have a large family to raise, If we don't make money, my rice shop will have to close, and who will pity us

The shopkeeper's words are not unreasonable, people didn't steal and didn't rob because they ate completely by their ability, but everyone's own positions and interests are different

Li Yang saw that Sun Yuanwu's face was a little ugly, so he diverted the topic: Let's get down to business, shopkeeper, I sincerely buy grain, but the price you give is a bit expensive

Shopkeeper: Guest officer, I see that you are also a real person, so I will accept 28,000 silver coins from you for 5 million catties of grain and 30,000 silver coins

Li Yang: The shopkeeper still said that if it is 5 lines of money a catty, we will settle this business

The shopkeeper looked embarrassed: The shopkeeper really can't fit the small shop at this price

Li Yang stood up: The shopkeeper, I'm thinking about it

After speaking, he and Sun Yuanwu walked towards the outside of the store, and the shopkeeper followed closely behind us and sent us to the door: Guest officer, if you go slowly, if you buy rice, you can come, I promise to give you the price in Taizhou can not find a second one

Li Yang returned the salute: Then I will thank the shopkeeper first

After speaking, he turned around and helped Sun Yuanwu into the carriage: Second brother, let's go to the market and have a look

Sun Yuanwu sat in the carriage and closed his eyes: Forget it, let's be here today, this house is a little tired

Li Yang lifted the curtain of the car: the second child returned to the yamen of the state capital

Li Song: Okay

The two sat in the bumpy carriage, although Sun Yuanwu didn't say a word on the road, but Li Yang could see that he was worried about the disaster victims and the future of the food price and Zhejiang, although he was the prefect of a state, but the two things on the other side were also powerless, but then again, Sun Yuanwu was able to do this level in front of him is already very good, it has only been more than a month, most of the 80,000 victims have been resettled, and only the 30,000 victims in the city are left with no fixed residence, but the basic food and clothing can still be guaranteed

After a while, Li Song: The boss has arrived

Li Yang lifted the curtain and jumped down from the carriage, stretched out his hand to help Sun Yuanwu off the carriage: If the adults have no other instructions, then the general will retire first

Sun Yuanwu: Let's see what you have planned

Li Yang: My lord, do you mean buying grain?

Sun Yuanwu nodded, "Hmm"

Li Yang: The last general wants to go to the countryside to see if he can receive some food

Sun Yuanwu: If the village can't receive the grain, you might as well go to other states to have a look, and the government will also have to send a letter to the national capital asking for the allocation of disaster relief food, if the food is cut off, these victims in the city are equivalent to a rebel army

Li Yang: That's what my lord said

Sun Yuanwu: Okay, let's send it here

Li Yang bowed and watched Sun Yuanwu return to the mansion, then turned around and got into the carriage: Second brother, let's go home

In the evening, everyone gathered in the council hall as usual, and Gao Yuan leaned sideways in his chair: I have already distributed all the sea fish to the residents

Yuankui: It's the same on my side

Li Yang: I went to Taizhou City during the day to deliver sea fish to Lord Sun, and by the way, I inquired about the price of grain, and now the price of rice has risen to 7 yuan per catty, and the minimum will not be less than 6 yuan per catty

Everyone was amazed when they heard this

Plateau: This year's grain prices have risen too outrageously, in previous years, the grain prices after the autumn harvest were generally around 4 lines, and in August and September of the next year, the grain prices were a little more expensive than 5 lines, and the autumn harvest was just over a month ago, and the grain prices in Zhejiang have never been as high as this year

Yuan Kui sighed lightly: This year's 7 tattoo money a pound may not rise to more money next year

Da Niu: High food prices are a good thing for croppers, so they can earn more money

I heard that a few days ago, a group of grain merchants came to the national capital to collect most of the grain in Taizhou at a price of 5 yuan a catty

Han Juzheng: Brother Li, there was a drought in many places in Zhejiang, and grain production was greatly reduced last year, and now grain merchants are buying grain on a large scale to raise grain prices, so we have to make plans early

Li Yang: Originally, I planned to buy 5 million catties of grain if it was 5 wen yuan a catty, but the lowest price given by the grain merchant was 6 wen yuan a catty, and the four of you took some people to various villages in Taizhou to see if you could receive grain at the price of 4 or 5 wen yuan a catty

Li Song: The amount of refined salt sold by the boss recently has decreased significantly compared to when he was in Taizhou City

Li Yang: How much less

Li Song: It's about half

Li Yang: The price of refined salt we sell is more than half cheaper than the coarse salt on the market, how can it be so much less?

Han Juzheng: Brother Li, although the refined salt we sell is cheap, Alan County is located in the northernmost part of Taizhou to Taizhou City, half a day's journey, ordinary people buy salt is generally about one catty or two catties, and now most of the people who buy salt in Alan County are some villages closer to us, like people who live in the west, south, and east of Taizhou have to walk back and forth to Alan County to buy salt for a day or two miles

Guanshan: The proprietor is here today, at present, the income and wages of Alan County are all dependent on the sale of salt to make money, once the salt industry is affected, the income of the soldiers and craftsmen will not be able to be paid normally, according to the poor Dao, we should open up some other money-making business

Li Yang: I've been thinking about this for a while, and everyone has helped me think about what other business I can do

Li Song: Boss, I think we might as well get a caravan, first, we can sell our salt, porcelain and ironware to other places, and second, we can buy back the items we need from outside, and we can learn about some things outside through the caravan

Yuan Kui: The second brother is right, I think it's okay

Gao Yuan: I agree

Li Yang: The second brother took out 5,000 silver coins from the treasury and gave it to you as the capital for doing business, and you will keep the caravan's money separately regardless of profit or loss in the future, and see what else you need for the whole caravan

Li Song thought for a moment: The first time I do business, I will first get a small-scale caravan to make a trip, I need 50 carriages, 50 mules, 40 men, and 80 guards

Li Yang looked around and thought in his heart, Li Long and Li Hu needed to lead the troops, Da Niu and Er Niu needed to lead the officials to maintain law and order in Alan County, and Kang Ze and Ze Nuo were not good bandits before

Wait: how are the big cows and little calves reading the books?

Da Niu sighed and said, "Hey, don't mention it, this kid is the same as me and Er Niu, as long as he touches the book, he will be sleepy, this is not all day long, and I don't want to go to the academy all day long."

Li Yang: I don't think it's better to let the little cow go to the second caravan, let him go outside to see what to do with some new things, it will also be good for him in the future, what do you think?

Da Niu hesitated a little after hearing this: Xiao Niu has never left our brothers when he grows so big, and the merchant often sleeps outside and doesn't know if he can adapt to it

Erniu: Big brother, I think it's time to let the calf go out for a while, it's his brother Li Song who will take care of the calf

Li Song: The big cow, the second cow, and the little cow follow me, so you can rest assured

Da Niu nodded: Okay, tomorrow, I'll let Xiao Niu go to Li Song

Li Yang: After the fourth child, you will be responsible for the guard of the caravan, so that the pressure on the second child will be less

Li Pingping: Boss, don't worry, my second brother and I will definitely take care of the caravan

Li Yang: Gao Yuankui selected 100 soldiers from the Fire Trap Camp and the Trap Mountain Camp and handed them over to the caravan as guards, and equipped the guards with 30 iron crossbows in the armory, and then equipped them with armor and swords, as for the guys, select 40 people from the Li-Gao-Yuan family

Gao Yuan: With these bandits and bandits with ordinary backgrounds, they don't dare to fight caravans

Li Yang: The government of Juzheng County issued a notice to recruit 100 soldiers to supply Gao Yuan and Yuankui

Han Juzheng: The livelihood of 100 families has been guaranteed

Li Yang: Let's talk about this today, let's go back and prepare separately

A few days later, Li Song and others started their business journey with a vehicle full of refined salt, the first stop was some towns and villages in Taizhou, Gao Yuan and Yuankui, a few of them were busy training soldiers, Guanshan hid in the house all day long to design the coastal wharf is not to study the Jindan, Han Juzheng took the big cow and the second cow to lead the government to gradually plan Alan County, the second uncle and the third uncle took care of the salt fields and brick kilns in an orderly manner, but I became an idler with nothing to do, I put my hands in my sleeves and went to the street to stroll, In my heart, I am thinking about how to build Alan County next year

On this day, I was bored walking back and forth in the courtyard alone, thinking about simply taking a book to read it to pass the time, but after turning a few pages, I felt that my eyelids were a little unable to open, and I went into the house and lay on the bed, but I was not sleepy this time, so I sat up from the bed, went to the closet, and took out my armor and saber

Seeing that the armor was covered with dust and there were a few places that needed to be repaired, I picked up a linen cloth to wipe the dust off the armor, and took out the saber, which had lost its luster and had some rust on the surface, while I was sharpening the saber with a whetstone

Hearing someone shouting "Brother Li", Han Juzheng then ran in from outside

Li Yang put down the saber and whetstone in his hand: What's wrong with Ju Zheng panicked

Han Juzheng: Brother Li came to the county with a caravan from the south

Li Yang: Foreign caravans

Han Juzheng: Well, I see that they have brought a lot of goods and are selling them on the street, Brother Li, why don't you come with me to have a look?

Li Yang: Let's go and see the excitement

As soon as I got out of the manor, I saw that the streets were full of people, Alan County has never been so lively today, I and Ju just squeezed from the crowd to the front, a look at the southern people and the Zhejiang people are not much different, to their skin is whiter and more delicate than our Zhejiang people, the clothes they wear are much better than ours, the colors are more colorful, in the end it is the people of the rich land

At first glance, the goods they brought were daily necessities - sandalwood chopsticks and spoons and wooden bowls - tickling old man music - beautiful lacquerware - iron - porcelain, rouge powder for women, cloth - decorative hairpins - cloth - clothes - even wooden knives and swords for children to play with, and food such as pomegranates, walnuts, sesame seeds and some dried fruits

Li Yang picked up a box of rouge and opened it and smelled it, and there was a fragrance of flowers rushing to his face: what is the store's rouge made of so fragrant

Shopkeeper: Hello this guest officer, this is made of roses and red and blue flower petals, you want to buy a box and give it to your wife, she will like it

Li Yang: Then how did you sell this rouge?

Shopkeeper: What you have in your hand, the best rouge, only 70 copper coins

Han Juzheng: What's like this, a small box of rouge costs 70 tattoos, which is inevitably too expensive

Li Yang: You can bring me 10 boxes of rouge

The shopkeeper picked up a palm-sized porcelain box and handed it over: "Okay - look at this powder, the girls will turn white when they apply it to their faces."

Li Yang stretched out his hand to take the porcelain box, opened it and smelled it, but there was no smell

Shop: This is made of glutinous rice, which has no fragrance

Li Yang: How should this game be sold?

Shop: A box only costs 50 lines

Li Yang: You can also bring me 10 boxes of this

The shopkeeper saw that this was a big customer who was not bad for money, and picked up a delicate black wooden stick and handed it over: "Guest, you are looking at this."

Li Yang took the wooden stick and looked at it for a long time, but he didn't see what it was for, but one thing I was sure of was that it was a burnt wooden stick: I said, shopkeeper, don't frame me with this, although our place is small, people are not stupid

The shopkeeper laughed when he heard it: How dare I frame you when you look at what you said, this is Dai It is rouge powder when it is combined with rouge powder

Li Yang looked puzzled: What is Dai used for?

Shop: Guest girls like to use it for thrushes, and some even use it to spot a mole on their face

When Li Yang heard this, he understood that "I Cao" is not an eyebrow pencil, but he didn't see that this store was quite good at doing business: how did it sell

Shop: 20 pieces of money

Li Yang: Good to come 10

Shopkeeper: Guest, let's see what else you have to do

Li Yang: You wrap up those things just now, I have to take a good look at your goods

Shopkeeper: Okay, guest officer, take your time, and when you're ready, you'll greet me

Li Yang and Han Juzheng picked up a few pieces of lacquerware and looked at them repeatedly, and then picked up a few pieces of porcelain and looked at them carefully, at this time, a bulging fat man clumsily clicked off the carriage, and he should be thirty-five or sixteen years old

He walked over with a smile on his face: Guest officer, I am Ma Nan, the shopkeeper of this caravan, if you see any goods, I will give you a cheaper

Li Yang arched his hands: Thank you, I don't know how these lacquerware and porcelain are sold

Ma Nan: Lacquerware has a small 20-pattern coin and a large 35-pattern coin, and porcelain has a small 25-pattern coin and a large 45-pattern coin

Li Yang: You can give me 100 pieces of lacquerware and porcelain in the size of the horse shopkeeper

Ma Nan nodded happily: "Guest officer, I'll let the guy send these things to the house for you."

Li Yang waved his hand: Don't worry, I'll see if I'm buying something else, I want you to see how much money you have for these pomegranates, walnuts, sesame seeds and these dried fruits

Ma Nan: The 20 or so carriages are loaded with food, so you can give me 300 silver coins

Li Yang stretched out his hand and touched the cloth on the carriage, and it felt pretty good: I see that your cloth is very good, how to sell it

Ma Nan: Each piece of cloth is 500 stripes, 6 zhang long and half zhang wide

Li Yang roughly calculated in his heart that 6 zhang is about 20 meters wide and 1 and a half meters, and the price of 500 lines is reasonable: I want as many pieces of cloth as you have

Ma Nan: Guest, you are really a happy person, these four carriages are loaded with 600 pieces of cloth, and you want to buy something

Li Yang and Han Juzheng stretched out their heads and looked back and forth: It seems that there is nothing to buy

Ma Nan: I still have a batch of cotton on my hand, I don't know if you are interested

Li Yang heard that cotton is a good thing, seeing that the day is getting colder day by day, and the residents and soldiers should also change their cotton clothes, this question has been bothering me "coincidentally" The cotton seller came: how much is the cotton a catty

Ma Nan: 2 silver coins per stone

Li Yang pulled Han Juzheng and asked in a low voice: How many catties is the stone he said?

Han Juzheng: Brother Li is 100 catties for one stone

Li Yang nodded, "Oh, that pound is 20 lines, and the money is a bit expensive: I don't know how much asbestos there is in the hands of the shopkeeper."

Ma Nan: 2000 stones

Li Yang: If you can cheapen the 2,000 stone of cotton, I will ask for it

Ma Nan looked embarrassed: You are a happy person, Ma Nan likes to do business with people like you, I think so, you will give me 3,800 silver coins when you are cotton in 2000

Li Yang waved his hand when he heard this: No-no, it's too expensive

Ma Nan: The cotton itself is not beneficial, so I really can't give you a cheap price

Li Yang: Shopkeeper, I heard that you are from the south

Ma Nan: Well, what's wrong

Li Yang: "Oh, it's nothing, just ask casually, you are the first person to come to Alan County to do business, I want to invite the shopkeeper to have a meal with these guys to fulfill the friendship of the landlord

Ma Nan: We appreciate your kindness, guest officer, and we will not ask you for mercy when we have prepared dry food on the layman's business car all year round

Li Yang: Ma, you are going to see the outside, if the caravan comes a few more times in the future, and brings what we need, the life of the people who live here will become better and better, and I also want to make a friend with the shopkeeper Ma

Ma Nan: Then I might as well be respectful