Qin Official

After all, he is one of the top businessmen in the world. Wu Shiluo was not surprised by the "big business worth tens of millions" mentioned by Heifu. He just smiled lightly and without comment, invited him home for a banquet after the cattle and horse competition. It was obvious that, Wu Shiluo didn't want to talk about it outside.

Heifu just gave an introduction. If he couldn't wait to continue talking at this time, it would appear that he was asking for help.

So the two of them avoided talking in a tacit understanding, but chatted all the way, and drove in the same car to the foot of Jitou Mountain.

Wu Shiluo enthusiastically introduced it to Heifu: "Because the rocks here are dark red, like clusters of burning flames, it is called flint. It also looks like the crest on the top of a chicken's head, so it is called Jitoushan."

His home is located in the wilderness at the foot of Jitou Mountain. It is a fortress made of fiery red stone, and the high brick walls are covered with vines. There are heavily armed cavalry patrolling around. He must be a disciple of Wushi Luo.

After returning to his residence, Wu Shiluo did not have to follow the law that "no businessmen are allowed to embroider silk and silk" as he did outside. He went into the inner room and when he came out, he had changed into a set of loose red silk clothes. , appearing more bloated, in sharp contrast to his capable and lean brother.

Moreover, Heifu discovered that every finger of Wu Shiluo had precious stones shining, and even the servants at home were all wearing silver collars on their necks, which were rumored to be made of gold.

Wu Shiluo noticed Hei Fu's gaze and said with a smile: "The border areas are not as rich as those in the Central Plains, and wealth is not exposed. In Wushi, if you don't show your wealth to the visiting guests, you may be looked down upon." ."

Hei Fu nodded: "Before I left, my colleagues in the county advised me to bring as many people as possible to serve as ceremonial guards. If I bring fewer people, the Rong people will think that I, the county lieutenant, have no power, and may be looked down upon."

The banquet began soon. In the magnificent hall, the air was filled with the fragrant aroma of pepper, ginger, dogwood, fuliu vine, cinnamon twigs and other spices. The lamp oil was burning continuously, and all kinds of delicious meats were flowing in. The Jedi was carried up, and the most exaggerated thing was that there was a whole roasted little camel..." This tuo camel is also found in the land of the Xiongnu and Yuezhi, and is often found near the desert." The black man sitting beside him Shiyan was afraid that Heifu and Chen Ping didn't know about it, so he specially introduced them.

Chen Ping looked strange, but Hei Fu didn't feel anything strange. He just took a closer look. Is this a dromedary camel or a bimodal camel?

After talking about food and Heifu's recent experiences in the North, the topic froze again. Heifu glanced at Chen Ping and signaled that he could start.

So Chen Ping stood up solemnly and said to Wushi Luo, who was slowly cutting meat with a knife: "Ping is from Dangjun, the land of Dangjun, Sanchuan, and Yingchuan. Its customs govern industry, focus on industry and commerce, and have many businessmen. Ping has been urinating since he was a kid. I have heard about the names of various powerful merchants in the Central Plains over the past three hundred years, such as Zigong, Tao Zhu, and Bai Gui, but the one I remember most is Yidun. It is said that he, like Wu Jun, made his fortune through animal husbandry... …""oh?"

Wu Shiluo became interested when he heard that there were people like him who got rich from animal husbandry.

Their brothers were Nairong people. Although they had traveled a lot in foreign lands, they did not know much about the culture of Zhongxia. Although Yidun was very wealthy for a while more than two hundred years ago, his wealth and fame had long since passed away. The Wushi brothers didn't know, so they asked Chen Ping to explain. "Na Yidun was originally from the state of Lu, which is today's Xue County. He was very poor. He was always hungry when he was farming, and he was always cold when he was growing mulberry trees."

Wu Shiluo nodded while touching the bright gemstone ring on his finger, which looked very similar to when their brothers were young. "But Yidun was not willing to be poor and lowly. Hearing that Tao Zhugong was doing business in Dingtao, managing property and accumulating residence, competing with the times, and acquiring three large fortunes in nineteen years, he was so envious that he took advantage of the opportunity of Tao Zhugong recruiting followers to go there. consult."

Tao Zhugong and Fan Li were so famous that Wu Shiluo had heard of him, but the most enviable thing was that the Tao Zhu family enjoyed a fortune of tens of millions, but they were able to maintain their wealth for hundreds of years.

For businessmen, it is not difficult to get rich suddenly, but it is rare to get rich in a long time.

Chen Ping continued: "After Tao Zhugong talked with Yidun, he thought about the prices at that time and taught him a shortcut, saying, 'If you want to get rich quickly, you should be a female (pin)'!"

Wu Shiluo couldn't help laughing when he heard this: "This method is exactly the same as my brother's method of raising animals in the early years!"

Males are male and females are female. Domesticate cows and mares and let them mate with breeding cattle and stallions. The babies they give birth to will gradually multiply and grow stronger. Over time, they can become rich. This is Wu Shiluo's accumulated experience in his early years. Suddenly, Hearing that Tao Zhugong thought the same way, he felt like a confidant.

Hei Fu held up his palm and praised: "All the wise men in the world have the same idea." "However, it is a pity that I could not have been born three hundred years earlier to meet Tao Zhugong."

Wu Shiluo was quite regretful: "I really envy Na Yidun. He has the guidance of famous teachers, but I have to figure out everything by myself. I wonder how his business will do in the future?"

Chen Ping said: "Yidun listened to Tao Zhugong's words and traveled all the way to Jin. He settled in Yishi County with rich water and grass. He raised cattle and sheep. After ten years, he had become rich. Because he started his family in Yishi, So he was named Yidun, and he was well-known in Jin and Lu. However..."

Wu Shiluo was still sighing at the wonders of the world. It turned out that before him, there was a wealthy businessman who was engaged in animal husbandry, but because he was living in the land of Birong and Di, he didn't know about it. Hearing that Chen Ping had something to say, he asked : "But what?"

Chen Ping stretched out his hand, picked up the salt shaker on the table, and sprinkled white green salt on the camel meat in front of him: "But after Yidun worked as an animal husbandry for ten years, he said that merchants cannot become rich by just one business. So in addition to animal husbandry, he started trading gu salt. When selling cattle and sheep, he used the livestock to transport some pond salt and sold it together with the livestock..." Sure enough, Yidun's worries were not unnecessary. A few years ago, Zhao Wuxie, the head of the Zhao family, planned to destroy the Dai Kingdom and open up the Hu land. The Zhao family had many cattle and horses, and Yidun's livestock became difficult to sell. "

Wu Shiluo was silent, but secretly thought in her heart: "Yidun and I are so similar..."

Wushi also made their fortune from livestock, and Wushi Yan was content with a small fortune of a hundred gold. However, Wu Shiluo believed that the market was as fickle as the weather. Business was good at the moment, but it might not be possible tomorrow, so he started to do transshipment again, engaging in the silk horse trade between the mainland and the Rongbu. Later, he gradually added grain, brown sugar, and salt. etc. In the words of later generations, only by increasing the diversity of goods can we avoid risks.

But even so, as the emperor was determined to implement the strategy of westward expansion, targeting Wushiluo's trading partners, the Xiongnu and Yuezhi, he also understood that his business was about to enter a cold winter.

Qin's capture of Hexi, Henan, and Hetao will create three more large pastures. Massive cattle, sheep, and horses will flood into the interior, and the price of his Wushi livestock will definitely plummet. Furthermore, after the Qin Dynasty took it all and eliminated all independent independent regimes in the surrounding areas, their family's concurrent transit trade also came to an end...

Wu Shiluo himself was thinking hard. He also wanted to know how Yidun, who was in a similar situation to himself, solved this problem.

For the first time, Wu Shiluo took the initiative to ask a question. After Chen Ping and Heifu looked at each other, they coughed lightly and said:

"Yidun took advantage of the separation of the four ministers, the decline of the imperial family, and the lack of an owner of Jiechi. He spent a lot of money to bribe the ruling magistrate of the Jin Dynasty, and obtained the right to manage the salt in Hedong Chi..." Dunzhen (zi) was a prince and became famous all over the world. It was not until his death that the Wei State took back the salt pond. ""Get rich by operating the salt pond?"

Wu Shiluo's eyes dimmed, because he couldn't learn Yidun's method. Without him, the national conditions were different.

The government does not directly manage the development of Sanjin's mountains, forests, rivers and swamps. Instead, it allows "rich citizens" like Yidun to manage and develop the land and impose heavy taxes.

However, Qin was different from the six countries that engaged in market economy. It followed the route of a big country, a big government, and a planned economy. Not to mention the country's great interests such as salt and iron, even wine, meat, and cloth were eager to be monopolized by the government. The "official mountains and seas" proposed by Guan Zhong were completely implemented by Qin, which was the farthest away from him.

Therefore, although Wushi Luo was in a higher position than a feudal lord, he was just a dog of the government and was not qualified to interfere in the mainland salt industry.

If it doesn’t work inland, what about the salt outside the Great Wall? Wu Shiluo is actually operating secretly.

The salt in Beidi County mainly relies on the "Huamachi" located two hundred miles outside the Great Wall (now between Yanchi County in Ningxia and Dingbian County in Shaanxi). Huamachi is rich in salt brine, the water tastes bitter, and the lake surface is as crystal clear as a mirror. The pool is vast and white, and can produce a lot of salt every year. The local Yanyanrong established their clan based on this.

Every year, Wuzhi's caravan takes two routes. The western route is to Yuezhi Huangzhong. On the eastern route, they first went to the Xiongnu grazing land at the eastern foot of Helan Mountain, exchanged goods from the Central Plains for cattle and horses, and then drove the cattle and horses eastward to Huamachi. The horses and oxen camel loaded with local green salt, then traveled east to Shangjun, and then south to Xianyang. There was no shortage of salt in Xianyang. After the oxen and horses were disposed of, the remaining horses dragged the salt back to the north, making a huge profit.

This is also one of the reasons why Wu Shiluo didn't want Qin to use troops against the Xiongnu and Yan Yan. He had been Qin Shihuang's dog for so many years, and he still didn't know the nature of the Qin Dynasty's officialdom? At that time, officials will definitely be sent directly to Huamachi to engage in the imperial court's monopoly.

Wu Shiluo secretly said: "The Bashu Qing family originally had the right to develop Bashu well salt, but since Widow Qing was moved to Xianyang, this right was also taken back by His Majesty. The salt in Bashu will be exclusively mined by counties and counties."

Wushi Luo was not only gloating over the misfortune of his fellow travelers, but also feeling sad that the rabbit had died and the fox had died.

What he could feel was that unlike when he had to rely on the financial resources of Wushi and Ba to conquer the Six Kingdoms, after unifying the world, Qin Shihuang was wealthy and no longer needed wealthy businessmen like them.

Policies are tightening, and the government has not yet stepped in. There are not many profitable businesses left for the two families. After the salt industry was gone, Ba Zhong, the son of Ba Zhuqing, could only increase the human trafficking of Botong. He used the slaves bought from Yunnan and Bo to plant sugar cane in Jiangyang, Fuguan and other places in central Sichuan, trying to follow suit. Anlu, Nanjun, manufactures and sells brown sugar.

"But where is the way out for my family?"

Thinking of this, Wu Shiluo glanced at Heifu. Brown sugar was created by this family. The name "Mrs. Sugar" was already known in the south and Xianyang. In addition, he supervised the creation of "Heifu Paper". It has also spread in many counties and counties and has become a new source of revenue for the government.

"No wonder my brother said that if Heifu comes to do business, his wealth will be no less than that of Wushi."

He also understood that Chen Ping's talk about Yidun today was just a brick. In the final analysis, he still wanted to make him understand his situation and then bring out the "jade" in Heifu's hand.

At this point, Wu Shiluo couldn't wait to know what the "big deal worth tens of millions of dollars" that Heifu mentioned was! Maybe there really is some novel idea that can bring his family back to life!

Wu Shiluo didn't want to lose face anymore, stood up abruptly, moved to the table in front of Hei Fu, and bowed to him.

"I am stupid, I hope the county captain can give me some advice!"

Heifu knew that when Chen Ping's performance was over, it was his turn to play the finale.

He swallowed the roasted meat and said with a smile: "The big-profit business I'm talking about has one far and one near. I wonder which one Wu Jun wants to hear first?"

"Far away." Wushi Luo didn't follow the routine.

In this case, Heifu started from afar:

"There is a saying in the Central Plains, a leaf can't cover your eyes, and you can't see Mount Tai. Wu Jun, after all these years, haven't you been curious about whether those silks sold to the Yuezhi and the Huns kept them for themselves? Or should they continue to go west and use them for ten years? At twice the price, sell it to a foreign country on the other side of the quicksand?"

On the 28th of the Yin month (the first month of the lunar calendar) in the 28th year of Qin Shihuang, in Heifu's murmuring narrative, a trade route that later generations called the "Silk Sugar Road" appeared in Wu Shiluo's mind...