Chapter 111 Small profits but quick turnover
In the Qi family hall, Etuo paused, his gaze became darker, and he continued:
"Once, we were so ruthless that we pulled a caravan of 30 people and a total of more than a hundred grain trucks on the road. This time, I insisted on not selling grain along the way, and vowed to go deep into the hinterland of Zhishou County and go to the foot of Sanqing City. Refugees are flocking here, why do you think?"

Without waiting for Sheng Jiaojiao and others to answer, Etuo asked and answered by himself,

"Because our food team is too large, it has attracted the attention of refugees along the way, and we have gone deep into the hinterland of Shanqing City. If we go further, it is impossible for them to buy food."

"What do you mean?"

Qi Rong didn't quite understand Etuo's words, so he asked again.
"Why can't they afford food after passing through Shanqing City?"

But E Tuo changed the topic and expressed his feelings again.

"When I was selling grain for the first time, I saw Zhishou County's embarrassment. What I thought in my heart was that I would make less money, or even not make any money. This would solve some of the difficulties in Zhishou County."

Sheng Jiaojiao, who was on the main seat, shook her head and said in disapproval:

"It's a drop in the bucket, how much trouble can you solve for your cartload of food, no matter how low the price is?"

"Yes, the food is all bought by the rich. Those who have no money to buy food can't actually spend a dime to buy food, and they still just starve to death."

E Tuo nodded, as if thinking of his innocent self when he was young, with a mocking smile on his face, he continued:

"In the middle of winter, what the rich think about is definitely not to give up grain and buy it for the poor, but to prepare more grain for storage, just in case, so the second time, I transported more grain. Yes, but have I gone farther? No, I have benevolence and righteousness in my heart, even if I transport a hundred grain trucks into Zhishou County, I still can't get past Shanqing City."

Because the rich have been hoarding food continuously, crazily hoarding, and how much grain Etuo transported has been hoarded by the rich.

For the last time, he decided not to sell grain to the rich along the way, so he got ruthless and took a hundred grain trucks to cross Shanqingcheng to the north of the county. Refugees are on the lookout.

"That time, our entire convoy lost all its money, and more than a dozen of the more than 30 shopkeepers who were traveling with us were beaten to death for protecting food."

Unknowingly, the Qi family hall fell silent, and a needle could be heard falling on the ground.

Er Niangzi stood on the path outside the main room, listening quietly, her fists clenched slightly.

Etuo smiled desolately, with tears in his eyes, he looked at Sheng Jiaojiao,
"Jiao Niang, we are just businessmen, and the high price of food in the middle of winter is unconscionable, but our conscience is not born without it. From the beginning, we didn't make people in Zhishou County unable to afford food. , we don’t do poor people’s business, so we might as well make more money from the rich.”

Anyway, those who shouldn't be able to afford food, even if they empty their homes, still can't afford food, and they can't buy food.

It's better to make more money from the rich.

And who is to blame for all this?I can't blame them on the heads of businessmen, that's how the world's shopkeepers do business, buying low and selling high, this is a businessman.

If we really want to be conscientious and not sell high-priced food, what will be the final result?It was the refugees who rushed forward, but the salesman couldn't stop him, and at the cost of more than a dozen lives, he explained the consequences of a businessman's conscience.

Sheng Jiaojiao on the first seat lowered her eyes, put down the teacup in her hand, picked it up again, put it down again, picked it up again, and after doing this several times, she lowered her head and put aside the tea leaves on the water, sighed, and said:
"It can be regarded as another kind of killing the rich and helping the poor?"

After finishing speaking, Etuo laughed, and she laughed herself.

Putting down the teacup for the last time, Sheng Jiaojiao looked up at E Tuo, her words were serious,

"The law of heaven is not fair. In the past, you raised the price of grain in Zhishou County in the middle of winter. Although you had no intention of harming people, you were doing it indirectly. This year, I put you together for the sake of righteousness but also for profit, so it will be considered even. That being the case, according to what you said, you give the profit and pay the grain, and I will take it all."

And said:

"When you come again in the next year, the grain trucks exceed the regulations. If you can't enter Zhishou County, send someone to inform me. Junbei Erlang will protect you all the way north, and your lives will be safe."

Her original goal was also the same. Both sides would earn a little less, stabilize the price of food, no one would come to the Qi family to ask for food, the interior of Zhishou County would not be chaotic, and brother and Ji Lang could fight with peace of mind.

This is a win-win situation, and Sheng Jiaojiao has gone to great lengths to facilitate such a win-win situation.

However, she was also prepared to fight against those peddlers in Zhishou County who traveled from north to south. She joined them and led them into the fire pit, anticipating how much she would be hated.

Anyway, she doesn't like these businessmen who are not benevolent, so they tear up their skins, expose each other's ugliest faces, and hate each other to the end. She wants to see, with her identity here, can these salesmen What to do with her.

But he didn't expect that Etuo would have such a heartfelt heart, which made Sheng Jiaojiao extremely embarrassed.

That's all, the businessman is looking for profit, she can neither get angry and kill all the vendors who want to sell high-priced grain in Zhishou County, nor can she prevent them from coming to Zhishou County.

In fact, because these peddlers wander around in Zhishou County, the people here can still get some supplies to survive. In the future, as long as these peddlers do well and don't mess up the prices in Zhishou County, Sheng Jiaojiao is quite happy with them Active in Jiju County.

E Tuo stood in front of Sheng Jiaojiao, wiped away the tears from his eyes, cupped his hands and said:
"Jiao Niang is a real woman, thank you Jiao Niang."

The matter has been discussed, and Etuo is about to go out to go back to the rest of the shopkeepers. He was about to leave when he remembered something, and he clasped his hands with Sheng Jiaojiao and said:

"Jiao Niang, I heard that the fur goods that Chao Sect bought were all from the military camp. If Jiao Niang is willing, we can actually cooperate and give the commission to Jiao Niang."

Before she finished speaking, Sheng Jiaojiao raised her hand to stop E Tuo from continuing. She looked at E Tuo with a smile,

"Thank you for this, but needless to say, I didn't know about the leather goods you took from Mr. Chao, neither did my Qi family nor my future husband. Mr. E is a smart man. Knowing about this business, Mr. Chao must be the one who handles it."

Daze banned trade with the vassal states, in order to impoverish the vassal states.

Therefore, it is also strictly forbidden for large fur traders to buy fur goods from the subordinate countries and bring them back to the hinterland of Daze for trading.

The peddlers are just small businesses, as long as they are profitable, they can buy and sell everything, so these peddlers often wander around the north of the county, doing some leather goods business with the subjects who sneaked into the north of the county.

There are also people from Zhishou County who will buy fur goods from the vassal state, and then sell them to shopkeepers, earning the sporadic price difference.

Anyway, the amount of each transaction is no more than a few skins, at most a dozen skins, and the chief soldier of Zhishou County just turns a blind eye and closes his eyes, and doesn't even bother to check.

People have to eat, Zhishou County is so poor, everyone is struggling hard on this land, buying and selling a few skins is enough for a family to survive, why is this way of life strictly prohibited, and people are forced to a dead end?

Both Sheng Jiaojiao and E Tuo are well versed in this way, it is not worth fighting for a few leather goods if they make a fuss.

But the amount of leather goods out this time is too large.

Except for military camps, there is no small household that can produce so many fur goods. Anyone with a discerning eye knows where the fur goods come from, but they don't say anything.

E Tuo is kind, he wants to take Sheng Jiaojiao's line, so he proposes to give the commission to Sheng Jiaojiao and give Sheng Jiaojiao a concession.

With such a large amount of leather goods, the commission alone is quite a sum.

However, the amount of fur goods in Chaozong's hands was too large, enough to violate Daze's laws, and the whole family, including the nine clans, all beheaded for public display. Sheng Jiaojiao refused to take risks for this commission.

There's no need, she hasn't been mercenary to this extent yet.

Anyway, the rules are promulgated by the people of the Tian family, so let the people of the Tian family take the risk.

E Tuo bowed to Sheng Jiaojiao again, this time with a little more admiration in his eyes.

After he turned around and left Qi's house, he told the price of grain he had discussed with Sheng Jiaojiao to the waiter outside, and cheers erupted outside Qi's house.

A salesman happily asked:

"Is Jiaoniang planning to accept the whole price at this price?"

"Take everything, not a single grain of rice."

E Tuo nodded with a smile, then bowed his hands towards the Qi family,

"Jiaoniang also said that we can inform her when we transport food into Zhishou County in the future, and the son of the county can protect us all the way to the north of the county."

"In this way, we can transport a lot of grain to Zhishou County in the future?"

"But there are too many grain trucks, won't they be investigated by the government of Zhishou County?"

The shopkeepers were chattering, the government is an administrative agency set up by the imperial capital, and it can be directly accessed, and they are also very strict in checking grain trucks. Large grain merchants are not allowed to enter Zhishou County. within the regulations.

A peddler can have up to five grain trucks, no more, any more will exceed the regulations, and the extra grain trucks will be confiscated.

Therefore, if a large number of grain trucks want to enter Zhishou County, the shopkeepers need to form a team.

Etuo waved his hand and said:

"Since Jiao Niang has said this, it proves that she has the ability to let our grain come in. The government wants to check the grain carts, and the soldiers from Zhishou County are not used."

How many people are there in total in the government?A master official, a teacher, a few long-term attendants, and a group of yamen servants are invincible. If they want to check the grain carts, it is not the only way to send troops to guard the grain carts.

After walking in Zhishou County for a long time, I know that it is not the government that speaks here, but the leader of the army.

The bigger the leader, the more effective his words are.

To put it bluntly, the one who is walking sideways in the north of the county is actually not the abolished prince, but Tan Ji.

Tan Ji and Bai Tao are both wing leaders, but as the battle continues, Tan Ji's reputation is now much higher than that of Bai Tao who has been stationed in Jishang.

So Tan Ji walks sideways, can Sheng Jiaojiao follow suit?

All the shopkeepers thought it made sense, and a group of people went to collect and disperse, and heard Etuo say:
"It's just that you have also seen it this time. We wanted to earn money for high-priced food in the middle of winter this time, and we almost went bankrupt. We can't do it like this in the future. Jiao Niang is kind, let us go, it may not be the next time." With such a good nature, this little lady is a powerful character, offending her will not do us any good."

Everyone said yes, they turned around and counted the grain carts in their hands, and handed them over to Lu Shou who collected grain for Sheng Jiaojiao.

Lu Shou was very happy, all he did was verify that the grain truck was okay, so he paid the grain with one hand and the money with the other. There was no written record left, the money and the goods were cleared, no one was in arrears with the other, and no one wanted to hold anyone's hand.

Looking at the empty grain truck, there was a salesman with a lot of money and banknotes in his pocket, and some couldn't believe it. Someone came to the side of Etuo, and the two looked at the soldiers who came to help carry the grain bag because Lu Shou was alone. Unable to move so much grain, I went to Qi Ming in Jishang.

Qi Ming was also straightforward, and found two small captains in the North and South Battalions, gave them some money, and asked the two small teams to carry food for Lu Shou.

Anyway, these grains were also moved to the warehouses in the North and South Camps for storage, so they were transported directly to the barracks with one hand.

The shopkeeper beside Etuo looked at the wind and snow outside the eaves and said:

"According to the price of grain, if we transport more grain to Zhishou County, we can still earn a lot of money."

"Small profits but quick turnover."

Etuo under the corridor expressed his understanding. He tilted his head and smiled at the shopkeeper beside him, and asked jokingly:
"What? Are you going to take another trip to Nanjun to transport food before spring begins?"

"Why not? This time, I will bring two hundred carts of grain, and the ticket is big. Anyway, it's just a trip to the water. You also said that small profits but quick turnover. When I go outside Zhishou County, I will go find Jiao Niang. She promised I will let our grain trucks enter the county, and I will also take a look at it, what this little lady said can't be counted."

E Tuo couldn't help laughing,

"Okay, if you have two hundred cars, then I will also have two hundred cars, together."

"Go one?"

"Walk."

Once a businessman seeks profit, once he breaks away from the rules and regulations, he will have the courage, the strength, and the small gap.

The emperor didn't allow big grain merchants to enter Zhishou County. If the country was poor, it actually restricted Zhishou County.

But now that Sheng Jiaojiao has made it clear that he wants to obey the law, why don't powerful shopkeepers take advantage of this opportunity to transport more food and make more money?

The snow has been falling, and the whole winter is coming to an end, and Sheng Jiaojiao is busy harvesting grain.

But this year in Zhishou County, only the bodies of soldiers and subjects from Zhishou County remained in the northern part of the county.

Tiaoma Lake was besieged by heavy soldiers, Lu Shou brought news to Sheng Jiaojiao that Yin Ze was ready to leave for the imperial capital.

At this time, Sheng Jiaojiao was in the main room of Qi's family, playing with a new set of tea sets sent by Etuo.

The shopkeepers entrusted Sheng Jiaojiao to carry food into Zhishou County. Since they asked Sheng Jiaojiao to do things, they naturally wanted to find something to honor her.

Precious shopkeepers can’t afford to give it away, and Sheng Jiaojiao won’t accept it, so if it’s not 35, a shopkeeper will come to the door and send some tea, bowls, plates, chopsticks, cloth, etc. The price is not expensive, and the gift giver will bear the burden. It's not heavy, and there is no pressure on Sheng Jiaojiao's harvest.

She asked Qi Rong to cut a piece of camphor wood for her, made a wooden table and put it in the main room. While making tea for Lu Shou, she asked in surprise:
"How did you know this news?"

"It's not a secret. The old emperor called his grandson back to the imperial capital. All the counties along the way know about it. By the way, Yin Ze also entrusted Chief Bai Yi to escort him this time. He will leave in a few days."

 Has anyone actually read this book?

  
 
(End of this chapter)

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