"Thank you for your reminder, otherwise I might have suffered a great loss at the hands of that old man Shatu!"
After leaving the stall of the old man Shatu and walking to a secluded place on the street not far away, Yan Liqiang thanked the young man who had just reminded him.
The man looked at Yan Liqiang and the people around him and chuckled, "Looking at your appearance, brother, are you also following your family's orders to bring your stewards and servants to the border market of Yingwei County to buy wool?"
"Well, almost. I heard that the wool cloth business is very profitable now. Several elders in the family are interested. That's why I brought people to Bianji in Yingwei County to have a look and find out how to buy wool. I didn't expect these Shatu people to be so dishonest!"
Hearing Yan Liqiang's words, the young man slapped his thigh fiercely, and said, "Who says it's not true? None of these Shatu people are honest. I have been here several times, and I have suffered losses almost every time!"
"Have you ever suffered any loss, brother?"
"It's inevitable. If you don't believe me, just ask the merchants who come here to purchase wool. Who hasn't been taken advantage of by these Shatu people? Adding sand to the wool and wetting the wool are common methods used by these Shatu people. Almost every Shatu person does this. The only difference is that some add more and some add less. The old Shatu man just now is the more excessive and greedy type. I bought from him once before. Damn it, after I went back, I could shake out three or two ounces of sand from a pound of wool! I came to argue with him, but the old man said that it was normal to have sand in the wool. Damn it..." the young man cursed.
"Couldn't you open this and check it out before you buy it?"
The young man shook his head. "I heard it was okay before, but it's slowly getting worse. The wool business is getting more and more popular, and the Shatu people are getting more and more arrogant. Look at those stalls and shops, there are sacks of wool, and they only open one or two bags to show you what the wool on the top of the bag looks like. The rest are not shown to you, and they won't open the bags for you to check. Anyway, it's up to you to buy or not. If you don't buy, others will buy..."
"I feel like the business here is too hot!" Yan Liqiang shook his head. "It seems that many people know that those Shatu people are cheating, but they still have to buy from them!"
"That's it. Now everyone is doing business with these Shatu people with a pinched nose. Even if they suffer a little loss, they have to endure it. Adding sand and water to wool is a common method used by these Shatu people. The most hateful thing is that some Shatu people will add some messy things to the wool, such as cow hair, horse bristle and sheep dung. These things are mixed in the wool, which makes it more troublesome to wash and pick them up!" At this point, the young man pointed to a Shatu shop in the distance and said bitterly, "The wool sold in that shop has the most of these things mixed in it. Do you know how those Shatu people do it? I heard that those Shatu people collect sheep dung, crush it and dilute it, put it in a bucket, and then dip the plucked wool into the sheep dung bucket, dry it, and dry the sheep dung on the wool, making the sheep dung look like it was originally stuck to the wool, which not only disgusts you, but also makes money from you. The most hateful thing is that I heard people say that those Shatu people are complacent about this, saying that we Han people are fools, using silver to buy their sheep dung..."
Listening to the tricks and fraudulent methods of these Shatu people, Yan Liqiang was also dumbfounded. He felt like he had returned to his previous life. It seemed that people everywhere were the same under the influence of profit. Thinking of this, Yan Liqiang sighed, "Do we still have to do business with these Shatu people?"
"Brother, you are joking. Of course we have to do it!" The young man said as if it was a matter of course, and laughed. "Now, all the big families in the northwest who have some ability and money are trying their best to get involved in the wool cloth business. We have suffered a loss here with the Shatu people, but once we transport the wool we bought back and make wool cloth, I don't know how many people will come to us for help. One pound of wool cloth is one pound of silver. This profitable business, as my father said, only comes once in thousands of years. By the way, brother, I see that your accent seems to be from Ganzhou..."
"Yes, I'm from Qiyun County!"
"Wow!" Hearing that Yan Liqiang was from Qiyun County, the young man looked at Yan Liqiang with new eyes, and his tone was also amazed, "Your Yan family and Lu family in Qiyun County are amazing, they make woolen cloth..." The young man gave a thumbs up, with envy on his face, "Especially the No. 1 Factory in the World. I heard that there are almost a thousand spinning machines in it now, and the money they make is huge..."
"Well, it's because the elders in the family are a little tempted when they see that the Yan family and the Lu family earn a lot!"
"I heard that the Yan and Lu families are well prepared. Several large grasslands in Ganzhou belong to either the Yan or Lu families. They have their own grasslands to raise sheep, so they are not short of wool. But it's different for us. Now the grasslands in the northwest that can be used to raise sheep have almost been snatched away. I heard that many places have used those fields to grow grass and graze sheep. We can only come to the border market of Yingwei County to find the Shatu people to buy wool!"
"Yeah, where are you from, brother?"
"I'm from Linquan County, Fengzhou. My last name is Yu, and my name is Yu Zhengxing. Our Yu family has some roots in Linquan County. If you have any problems in Linquan County, you can come to me. By the way, what's your last name?" The young man saw that Yan Liqiang and several managers and followers around Yan Liqiang were well-dressed and had good manners, and he also wanted to make friends with them.
"My last name is Yan!"
"Ha, that's a coincidence, are you and the Yan family of Yan'anbao related?"
"Haha, how could they be relatives?" Yan Liqiang laughed—of course they were not relatives, but they were originally a family.
"By the way, the Shatu people gathered here recently are still discussing raising the price of wool. The merchants who often come here to buy wool are also preparing to unite and set up a chamber of commerce to bargain with these Shatu people. If the Shatu people want to raise the price, we will resist together. This afternoon, those of us who come to buy wool will prepare to gather at the Ping'an Teahouse in Yingwei County to discuss how to deal with these Shatu people. If you are free, you can also come and listen. The wool concentrated here is more than two cents of silver per catty. Brother, you must not buy it. If you buy it, the price of wool will be driven up, which will anger everyone and cause big trouble. Even if you buy the wool, you may not be able to transport it home. Brother, you should understand what I mean!"
"Thank you for your reminder, brother. I will take a look today. I will not buy wool that costs more than two coins per pound!"
"That's good, that's good..."
Yan Liqiang exchanged a few words with the young man named Yu Zhengxing, and then the two separated.
"Uncle Qian, what do you think?" As soon as Yu Zhengxing left, Yan Liqiang and his men continued to walk and look around in this gathering, and then casually asked Qian Su a question.
Qian Su glanced at the Shatu people who were selling wool not far away, and nodded seriously, "Wool is making huge profits now. I think your method, Li Qiang, is feasible. We can't let these Shatu people make all the money like this!"
"Of course we won't let them just sit there and make the money!" Yan Liqiang nodded and smiled. Qian Su is now the money bag of Qiyun County. He brought Qian Su here this time just to take a look at the wool trade here. To be honest, the popularity of this wool trade has exceeded Yan Liqiang's expectations.
However, the good days of the Shatu people making a lot of money from wool are almost over. The Shatu people are wooling on the Gulang grassland, so he comes to woolen the Shatu people. How? It is estimated that these Shatu people in this world have never heard of what is called "monopoly policy". As for the so-called monopoly policy in his previous life, Yan Liqiang knew too much about it. Let's not talk about monopoly and market access industries. Let's just talk about the various monopoly policies that governments have introduced in history, such as salt and iron monopoly, tobacco monopoly, alcohol monopoly, etc.
The wool monopoly policy for the Shatu people is on the way!
It just so happened that at this time the Black Jie people on the Gulang grassland had made the Shatu people unable to take care of themselves, and the wool monopoly policy was introduced at the right time. On the one hand, this policy curbed the Shatu people, and on the other hand, it enriched the financial revenue of the Qiyun Protectorate. However, its greatest effect was that it was a clear signal sent by Yan Liqiang to the Black Jie people - the Shatu people and I are not in the same group, and I also hate these bastards, so let's work together to deal with them.
…
After a tour of the market on the Shatu side, Yan Liqiang came to the other side of the border market. Compared with the situation on the Shatu side, in this border market, the people selling things became Han people, and the people buying things became Shatu people and the tribes and mountain people in Yulong Mountain. The Han people here sold salt, tea, wine, grain, brown sugar, cloth, jewelry, and various daily necessities in the border market. These things were exactly what the Shatu people and the tribes and mountain people living in Yulong Mountain urgently needed, especially for the Shatu people. Without salt and tea, those Shatu people living on the grassland could hardly survive.
Those Shatu caravans came here to unload goods such as wool, and then bought things from here to bring back to Gulang Grassland. For the Shatu people on Gulang Grassland, many of the things sold here are "luxury goods"...
Among the shops selling salt, tea, cloth and the like in Bianji, almost one third were opened by the Yan family. One of the managers of the Yan family who was in charge of the situation saw Yan Liqiang in the shop and wanted to come out to greet him, but was stopped by Yan Liqiang with a look.
…
Yan Liqiang, Qian Su and others wandered around Bianji for several hours until noon, and they had almost walked around the entire Bianji. When they were about to leave, just as they were about to walk out of Bianji through Kunmen...
"What kind of shitty kerosene is this? It smells so bad and is pitch black. If you really put it in your house to light a lamp, it will make the whole house stink. You want to buy 30 copper coins for a pot of this kind of kerosene. You must be crazy about money. I think 3 copper coins for a pot is more suitable. Put it in the pigpen to smoke away mosquitoes..."
"If you want to buy it, buy it. If you don't want to buy it, get out!"
"Hey, you mountain barbarian, you're still cursing..."
"What's wrong with scolding you...why don't you go away..."
"Ouch... the mountain barbarians hit someone..."
Hearing the dispute and quarrel in front of a stall not far away, Yan Liqiang suddenly had an idea and stopped walking. He looked at Qian Su and the others and said, "Wait a minute, let's go over and take a look..." As he spoke, Yan Liqiang had already walked towards the stall, and Qian Su and the others naturally followed him...
(End of this chapter)