Fanjun was a little far away, so on the third day of departure, Song Yan returned with the money and grain he had plundered from Fanjun's treasury.
With the money and food from the two counties, there will be no need to worry about food and military pay for at least three months.
At the same time, the caravan formed by Song Yan and Song Xiu had already set off two days ago. The main items for sale were various books printed and bound by movable type printing machines, as well as paper that could be used for writing and drawing.
Ordinary paper is sold for one yen a piece, while fine inkstone paper is priced at 100 yen a piece.
After eight days of long journey, the caravan arrived at Shangdang County, the country of Chu.
Among Qi, Chu, Yan, Zhao and Qin, the destroyed Qi State had the largest territory, the Chu State had the most prosperous literary style, the Yan State had the largest and most powerful cavalry, the Zhao State was rich in various weapons and armors, and the Qin State was most famous for having a female Prime Minister who knew how to reform. .
Jiang Kui, the leader of the caravan, is a very wise man.
After entering Shangdang County, he did not go to the market to sell books or buy paper. Instead, he planned to visit Mo Fei, the dean of Jixia Academy.
Jixia Academy is the place where the literary style is most prosperous in the Chu Kingdom and even on the mainland of China.
Its dean, Mr. Mo Fei, is known as the number one poet in mainland China. Therefore, even the King of Chu must treat him with courtesy.
It was not easy to meet Mo Fei. It cost Jiang Kui a full gold to get in touch with Mo Fei before he could meet Mo Fei.
"What's this?"
Looking at the brocade box presented by Jiang Kui, he was very unhappy. He was a person who cherished his reputation very much and did not like to accept gifts from others.
Jiang Kui said quickly: "Mr. Mo, please don't misunderstand. This brocade box contains a Book of Songs. This Book of Songs contains more than two hundred poems."
Hearing this, he showed doubts as to how a small brocade box could contain more than two hundred poems.
With such a trace of curiosity, Mo Fei took the brocade box and opened it.
I was suddenly stunned. It was a book with a light yellow cover, and the word "Book of Songs" was written in small seal script.
Picking up this thin Book of Songs and opening it, he saw the white and black letters, and the extremely neat fonts came into view. He, who was originally calm, became extremely excited.
Continuously turning the pages of the book, they all have the same white characters and black marks, and the content recorded is the Book of Songs.
"This, what is this made of?" Mo Fei asked with a trembling voice.
Jiang Kui said proudly: "Mr. Hui, this paper was invented by my general!" As he spoke, he offered another object with both hands.
"What is this?"
Holding the paper as white as snow and as smooth as snow, Mo Fei asked again.
"This is called inkstone paper. It is specially used for great scholars like Mr. to leave their calligraphy treasures."
Jiang Kui explained.
"Good! Good! Good!" Mo Fei looked at it for a moment and couldn't help but praise loudly: "How to make this thing."
"Mr. Hui, this thing was made by my general. I don't even know what it is made of!"
Could it be that he was a little disappointed and then asked: "How big is this thing?"
"Mr. Hui, this time I brought two million pieces of white paper, one hundred thousand pieces of inkstone paper, and thousands of volumes of various sutras bound together."
"How much is it worth?" Mo Fei's eyes lit up and he asked in a somewhat urgent tone.
Jiang Kui said respectfully: "Before leaving, my general has given instructions that if a great literary man like Mr. buys it, ordinary white paper will cost one yuan a piece, inkstone paper will cost a hundred yuan a piece, and a bound volume of the classics of various philosophers will cost a thousand yuan." Book."
"Good! Very good. I, Jixia Academy, have bought these papers and collections of scriptures!"
Two million sheets of white paper cost one qian each, a total of 2 million qian. Ten thousand pieces of inkstone cost a hundred qian each, a total of one million qian. A thousand-fold collection of Sutras worth a thousand qian, a total of one million qian.
In other words, the total income this time is 4 million.
Those who can enter Jixia Academy are the sons of princes and ministers. Therefore, Jixia Academy is quite wealthy, and millions of dollars are just a drop in the bucket.
After transporting the papers and books to Jixia Academy and handing them over, Jiang Kui received 4 million yuan.
After receiving four million yuan, he ordered his men to use the money to buy food.
Nowadays, wars are raging, and the price of food is getting higher year by year. A liter of corn is about 4 yuan, and 4 million yuan can buy 1 million liters of corn.
One million liters of corn is not a small amount, and it will not be available for a while.
It took nearly ten days to buy all the millions of liters of corn, and during these ten days, the paper also caused a sensation in Shangdang County of Chu State.
Before the advent of paper, the cheapest carrier for recording text was bamboo slips. A bamboo slip cost about five yuan, while the more expensive carrier was white silk. Those who could afford silk were all nobles.
Therefore, after the emergence of paper, a cheap and portable carrier, it has become popular throughout Shangdang County in just ten days.
Jiang Kui, a paper merchant, also became famous and received visits from countless people every day.
And orders for tens of millions of sheets of white paper and hundreds of thousands of inkstones have been signed.
Jiang Kui signed a large order in Shangdang, and Linshui County was also stepping up the production of ordinary white paper and inkstone paper.
At the same time, the 30,000 troops led by Gu Min, together with the auxiliary troops and civilians, a total of 50,000 people, came to Yi'an County.
After arriving in Yi'an County, Gu Min's tens of thousands of troops only had enough food for three days. When he asked the county governor Hetai for food, the other party directly opened the treasury.
Looking at the empty treasury, Gu Min was dumbfounded.
There is no food, how can there be no food
Gu Min couldn't help being furious, and ordered people to capture Hetai on the spot. Then while interrogating Hetai where the food had gone, he sent people to Fan County to ask for food.
That night, Hetai and Ye first personally escorted hundreds of carts of money and grain out of the city, which simply could not withstand the investigation.
Therefore, in just one day, Gu Min investigated the whole matter clearly, and Hetai actually gave food to Qi.
After learning the news, Gu Min couldn't help but be furious. Just when he was about to issue the order to kill Hetai and Yesian, Song Yan appeared.
Then he used his puppet powers to enslave Gu Min and the nine military veterans.
Then, like Zhao Yan, Gu Min carried out a major purge in the army, killing all the diehards loyal to Zhao, and then led his army to defect to Qi.
The number of Qi soldiers also increased from 26,000 to 56,000.
After defeating another 30,000-strong army without a fight, Song Xiu and Shen Du were more in awe of Song Yan, and Meng Bozhao's attitude was also more respectful.
Song Yan also took the opportunity to capture the entire territory of Yi'an County and Fan County.
In this way, the three counties can each have their own corner and jointly defend against the enemy.
For ordinary people in Qi State, it is a matter of joy and encouragement for Qi State to have three counties. But for Song Yan, it is an annoying thing. The addition of three counties means that there are many more people to eat with him. .
Fortunately, not long after taking down the 30,000-strong army, Jiang Kui returned successfully with one million liters of grain.
Also coming were some businessmen from Shangdang County.
Song Yan was very happy about Jiang Kui's return and rewarded the entire caravan.
What made him even more excited was that the merchants who came back with him all needed to buy paper.
To this end, Song Yan personally met with these merchants and sold each merchant two million pieces of ordinary white paper and 100,000 pieces of inkstone paper. A total of 22 million pieces of ordinary white paper and 1.1 million pieces of inkstone paper were sold.
Revenue reached 33 million yuan.
However, after satisfying these merchants, Song Yan made a request that if he wanted to trade next time, he would have to exchange grain for it, and each liter of corn could be exchanged for five pieces of ordinary white paper.
After the sales of paper opened up in Chu State, Song Yan ordered Jiang Kui to lead a caravan to Qin State, and at the same time arranged two other caravans to go to Yan State and Zhao State.
After the caravan set off, Song Yan further expanded the paper mill, because the current paper mill could only support Chu's sales. If the sales of Yan and Zhao were opened, the output would not be able to keep up with the sales. (To be continued)