Chastity Layman 2

Article 752 Biting Gold

In Chang'an, inside Yanxingmen, Leyouyuan Shangxinchangfang.

Cheng's other courtyard.

The end of the year is approaching, Qin Lang and Lao Cheng are drinking tea and chatting.

There are a few sparrows twittering in the cherry tree in the courtyard. In the hall, there are four copper incense burners at the four corners, each with agarwood burning.The invigorating fragrance wafts around, this is a good fragrance that counts as much as one or two agarwood.

Old Cheng was discussing the preciousness of this agarwood with Qin Lang, but Qin Lang asked, "Uncle Cheng, does he know that this agarwood is not agarwood?"

"Agarwood is not agarwood, so what is it?" Lao Cheng now feels like a nouveau riche. Even the tea in front of him is specially made of waxed tea, which has a shiny surface and costs thousands of dollars.

It's just that Qin Lang can't even drink ordinary tea with green onions and salt, let alone this kind of waxed tea with musk and sandalwood. The method of decocting and adding salt completely destroys the tea aroma of the tea itself, and it is simply a mixture of a bunch of spices.

Lao Cheng patted his table, "Did you see this table, it's made of sandalwood, and this tea box is made of agarwood."

Qin Lang just laughed.

"Uncle Cheng, agarwood and agarwood are two different things, just like the difference between white and black."

Agarwood does not refer to agarwood or agarwood. Agarwood is a mixed spice produced by fungus infecting agarwood.After the agarwood tree is damaged by external force to produce a wound, the tree will secrete self-healing oil. In a humid and hot environment, the wound may be infected by a special fungus. The fungus changes the composition of the resin and condenses into agarwood at the wound.

The agarwood tree is actually just a carrier, but not all wounds will condense agarwood. The real agarwood is hard to come by, and it is often a very small number of fungal infections, and after years of slow condensation, you can finally get a little agarwood.

This kind of agarwood is hard to find, so one or two of the best ones are always a hundred taels of gold.

The agarwood burned by Lao Cheng can only be said to be a relatively low-grade agarwood, and it is even completely different from the real agarwood. As for the agarwood tea box, it is a completely different thing. Agarwood, agarwood and agarwood are completely different things.

"I was cheated?" Lao Cheng wiped his face, trying to put on a show, but unexpectedly he was slapped in the face.

"Does Uncle Cheng know where agarwood comes from?"

"where?"

"Linyi Country, Linyi Country's climate is hot and humid, so there are many agarwood trees, and the probability of being injured and condensed agarwood is also high. There are many savages in Linyi who specialize in picking incense in the jungle."

Everyone in the world knows that Linyi is rich in gold. Back then, Yang Guang sent a large army to conquer Linyi and brought back a lot of gold.However, several dynasties in the Southern Dynasties fought against Linyi more than once, and the gold robbed according to historical records is quite scary, tens of thousands of taels, tens of thousands of taels, and tens of thousands of taels.

But what many people don't know is that compared with agarwood, a major specialty of Linyi, gold is actually nothing, and agarwood is much more valuable than gold.

In addition to agarwood, Linyi also has frankincense, cloves, pepper, cinnamon and many other spices, as well as ambergris.

"Agarwood like you, Uncle Cheng, is everywhere in Linyi, and it can be packed in a boat. The incense pickers in Linyi even use it to repel mosquitoes and cook on fire."

"Grass!"

Old Cheng couldn't help cursing, Qin Lang thought the agarwood was worthless, but he bought it for a couple of gold, and as far as he knew, many people in Chang'an used this kind of agarwood.

This is not agarwood, it is agarwood.

"For firewood? If I bring this to Chang'an, even if it is sold for one tael for one gold, no, even if it is sold for one tael, it will earn him hundreds of thousands of taels, right?"

Old Cheng became a little annoyed, so he hurriedly called to take care of the house.

"Are you all fucking idiots? Even Chen Xiang couldn't recognize her, so she quickly withdrew, shame on me!"

The butler was so scolded that he didn't dare to say anything, so he hurriedly withdrew.

"When will Saburo give me some real agarwood, and ask Uncle Cheng to show off outside."

Lao Cheng came back from Lanzhou, Longyou, and he participated in the Western Expedition last time, serving as the deputy general manager. The rank of martial arts is a step further than the original third-rank champion general.

From positive three to secondary, this step is not easy.

With Qin Lang paying homage to the prime minister again, Sanjie was also awarded Kaifu Yitong Sansi by the emperor, now there is no first-rank hussar general in the entire Tang Dynasty, and there is only a second-rank general in Fuguo above Lao Cheng.The emperor has already passed Lao Cheng's step-up, and will formally issue an imperial edict after the Zhengdan Great Court Meeting.

Qin Lang handed a piece of paper to Lao Cheng.

"This is the [-] guan that my uncle gave me earlier. We agreed to buy exotic spices together. I have already asked someone to calculate your share of the income, and the money is taken here."

"No hurry, I'm not short of money." Lao Cheng picked it up with a smile, glanced at it, and then his eyes were as big as bull's eyes.Looking at the numbers above, he swallowed involuntarily, "Sanlang, did you calculate correctly?"

"I counted it several times, how could it be wrong, it's just this number."

"But this, isn't it too much?"

Lao Cheng took 30 guan as the capital and gave it to Qin Lang to invest in the spice business. The money was invested for three years, and now Qin Lang said that the profit came out, and it was a full [-] guan.

In three years, the principal has doubled six times.

This rate of return is quite astonishing. If it is only a few hundred pennies or a few thousand pennies, it is normal to have such an income. The problem is that it is fifty thousand pennies.

Such a large sum of money can still have such a high return, which is amazing.

"Spices are quite profitable." Qin Lang replied with a smile, "However, starting from next year, the spice business will be reshuffled, and the imperial court will implement a policy of buying all spices, and then distribute incense to attract fragrance merchants. The share of spices has been negotiated Yes, almost everyone has a share, and we have given up more than half of our share, and the court will make a lot of money in the future."

Old Cheng still finds it inconceivable that the [-] guan was all the cash he had on hand at the time. It was the property he had worked hard for since the end of the Sui Dynasty, and there was even half of Widow Cui's dowry in it.

He also trusted Qin Lang. Before investing money with Qin Lang, he never lost money and made a lot of money. Most of his half of the 2 yuan was earned back from investing with Qin Lang.

"Spices make so much money?" Old Cheng was amazed.

"Of course, there are some scarce goods. If you eat the spices on the Hu merchant ship in Jiaozhou, and then sell them to Chang'an, you can resell them ten times. Do you think it makes money?"

Old Cheng is on fire.

"Fucking such a lucrative business, it was suddenly snatched away by those grandchildren."

"I didn't expect to be able to monopolize this business for a long time. I took advantage of the opportunity to make a lot of money. Three years of work is enough. In these three years, we have earned enough."

Fifty thousand has become 30, which is indeed a lot, but now that such a large profit for one year is gone, Lao Cheng is not happy anymore.

"How much share do we have left? At least give us half of it?"

Qin Lang smiled, "Nowadays we all know that spices make money, but now everyone rushes forward together, how can we keep half of it? There are more than 100 wealthy families, large and small, all of which benefit equally, not to mention that the imperial court will occupy the largest end , the Emperor’s Inner Palace and East Palace also have to take care of, so we don’t have many left, the worst is Feng Ningxian’s family in Lingnan, basically nothing is left for them.”

"You share?"

"I originally said to leave some for them, but those people are more ruthless than one family, and in the end they just didn't leave any."

"Grass!"

"Thanks for Da Lang's matter." Lao Cheng didn't mention that issue anymore, and he became very angry when he mentioned it.It was mentioned that his son Cheng Chumo was transferred back to Beijing to serve as the prince Lu Ben Zhonglang general, and he was promoted to the fourth rank, and the old Cheng was very happy.

His son is happier than earning hundreds of thousands of dollars.

"Da Lang and I are brothers of our own family, so what are you talking about?"

Cheng Yaojin glanced at the list in his hand, "I don't need the money for the time being, why don't I let it go to you, do you think there is any good business to make money, take your Uncle Cheng with you?"

"There must be good deals. Lingnan is full of gold and opportunities everywhere. I just said that Linyi produces agarwood, pepper, and cloves. I'm not lying."

Old Cheng's heart skipped a beat.

"What's your plan, kid? Don't you want to instigate the imperial court to conquest Linyi? Back then, when the former court conquered Linyi, although the capital was conquered, the last tens of thousands of people were not acclimatized, an epidemic broke out, and almost died. Your Majesty is unlikely to agree. Send troops to conquer Linyi!"

"Actually, the so-called miasma, plague, etc., are not that scary. It's just that the climate over there is different, and with some diseases, the north can adapt to it for a while. Look at how many people from the Central Plains have been relocated in my fiefdom. Not many of them are now. Do it well over there? Prepare the medicine and choose a cooler season, it’s actually not that scary.”

"Of course, I didn't intend to conquer the Linyi Kingdom. I planned to attack the barbarians in Annan and Northwest. In fact, there are also a lot of spices and minerals in the mountains and forests there. If we break through the stronghold, we can also capture many slaves. At the current price in the slave market, this transaction is also a huge profit."

Old Cheng was a little moved when he heard that.

"Agreed by the superior?"

"Yesterday, the Empress Dowager Daming Palace held a royal banquet and had a briefing with the sage. The sage has basically agreed that Li Daliang will use the Sanguang soldiers and horses and the barbarians to fight against the barbarians."

"To do it, you must get some real agarwood from Annan, damn it. Is this the kind of person who can't afford to burn real agarwood?" Old Cheng said cursingly, "When the time comes, I will burn eight furnaces at a time in my living room. Use only the best agarwood."

Qin Lang chuckled, on a tree that condenses agarwood, after decades or even hundreds of years, it can only form a thin sheet of agarwood, and finally remove its woody part, the real agarwood resin that can be obtained is actually There are very few, such as the top-quality agarwood, which burns eight furnaces at a time, and the emperor dare not make it like this.

"I'm going to form a slave-hunting team in Annan. First, I'll practice with the mountain barbarians in Annan. When the team is assembled, I'll go to Nanyang to grab spices. How about we come together?"

"Naturally, I have to be counted as an old man."

"Okay, the 30 guan, you can go to Chang'an Wu'anzhou Bank to withdraw it at any time, I have already prepared it."

"Just let you go."

"I don't need it for the time being. I don't need money to go to war this time. You can collect it yourself first. If there is another good project at that time, I will call you again."

Old Cheng responded with a smile, and then asked in a low voice, "Let me ask you, Dalang has been working with you for the past few years. How much money has he saved now?"

Qin Lang chuckled.

"Don't worry, I'm just asking, and I don't want his."

"Then you ask in silence."

"Grass!" Old Cheng was helpless.

(End of this chapter)