Wei and Jin cooks

Tinghe knows the money in her private coffers best.

Zhao Hanzhang immediately went back to ask Tinghe.

Tinghe reported a huge figure to her as soon as he heard it. Seeing that there was not much expression on her face, he whispered: "There are still three caravans that have not been accounted for. Among them, Wu Erlang's caravan is the most valuable. Last year, two caravans were accounted for. 14.68 million yuan, this year is good and the road is much smoother, so I should be able to get more."

Zhao Hanzhang was speechless, "How can you make so much money?"

Ting He said: "Lang Jun divided their routes. One caravan was responsible for the western region, and another caravan was responsible for the south. They were not allowed to cross the border again. The goods they brought back were distributed in Luoyang, which shortened their time. In the past, Wu Erlang went out It takes a year for a caravan to sell goods from the north to the south, and then from the south to the north, earning some price difference over and over again."

"But starting from the year before last, because the girl had a good relationship with Xiliang, the husband made Wu Erlang only responsible for the caravan north of Xiliang. He asked Wu Erlang to sell furs, medicinal materials, cattle and sheep and other items from Xiliang and other places, and also I asked Wu Erlang to bring a lot of people over and open a paper mill and a wool mill on the other side of Xiliang."

"Xiliang admires things from the Central Plains very much. Paper sells very well, and even the books he brought there are very popular. The threads and blankets woven from wool in the wool workshop are sold in Xiliang, Qianghu and Xianbei. It's very good, and it sells well even in the Chang'an area. It's a pity that people here in Luoyang don't like it very much, so they haven't been sold here."

Tinghe explained: "Last year, Wu Erlang met a merchant from the Western Regions from the Da Yuezhi and bought a lot of gems and spices. He made a lot of money just by selling those gems and spices."

Zhao Hanzhang: "I know this. He gave me a box of gems and a box of spices when I got married last year."

Then she kept a few and gave the rest to Wang, who could rarely use them.

Tinghe smiled and said: "That's the best batch. Those who go out are all picking the leftovers for the girls. This year Wu Erlang has not come back to settle the accounts. He should have gone to Da Yueshi. He If we can fully open up the route to the Western Region, money will not be a problem in the future."

Zhao Hanzhang lowered his eyes and said: "Copper coins are not easy to carry, so we have to look for silver and gold mines."

Tinghe also nodded, "Wu Erlang also said that it is difficult to bring money. There is a lot of silver in Xiliang, so he often exchanges glass, tea and other items for the gold and silver there."

Zhao Hanzhang was very excited. With so much money in her private treasury, this battle could definitely be fought.

She asked Tinghe, "Do you know how much money Tinghan has?"

Tinghe shook his head, "I can only ask Fu An about this."

She paused and then whispered: "But it should be quite a lot. I heard from Fu An that Lang Jun has two caravans that are very profitable, and the seventh prince likes to do business with Lang Jun. Many workshops have them. Lang Jun’s stocks, so I made a lot of money.”

Zhao Hanzhang understood and felt relieved. She asked Tinghe with a smile, "Do you have any difficulty in taking care of this?"

Ting He: "It's just that the manpower is not enough. Uncle Cheng and Zhao Tong are both old. They have not had enough energy in the past two years, and many things have been delegated to me."

So now Zhao Hanzhang uses Tingyu and Zhao Ya around him. Zhao Ya goes out, Tingyu stays at home, and Tinghe only follows occasionally.

Zhao Hanzhang thought for a while and then said: "You can go to the school for a walk when you have time, or you can look outside. Places like weaving workshops and embroidery workshops mostly use girls. They need to find girls who are independent, capable and loyal." , go back and promote them, each workshop has its own manager, ask them to take care of their own affairs, and then you can manage them well. You can also bring two people around to help, and you should also let them exercise."

Listen to the load and respond.

Zhao Hanzhang thought about the various managers who made money for her, and said: "Bring Hu Zhi to Luoyang. I may need a lot of money in the next year to let him help you."

Listen to the load and write it down.

Zhao Hanzhang then said: "Let the stewards of the workshops in various places start buying and hoarding food, and store it in the warehouses of their respective workshops. Each workshop must fill up a warehouse, but they must not drive up prices."

"Save this batch of food. I will use it. Let them come here quietly without making a big fanfare or letting any news leak."

It was impossible not to leak the news. With so many places, so many people buying so much food at the same time, and all belonging to Zhao Hanzhang's industry, how could it not attract attention?

At this time, the annual grain tax has just been paid, and it is the time when farmers begin to count the year's harvest and sell the excess grain, so the price of grain is much lower than in the past year.

No, it's much lower.

Prior to this, food shortages, locust plagues, wars, and various natural and man-made disasters kept food prices high.

This year's harvest was bumper, and Zhao Hanzhang reduced and exempted many taxes. There was suddenly more grain on the market, and grain prices naturally fell.

As the prices at grain stores have fallen, grain merchants and farmers will only buy lower grains. Many people have already sold grains, but most people who are suffering from hunger are much more cautious and unwilling to sell grains.

Seeing this, the grain merchants began to hook up with some gentry. While buying their grain at a price slightly higher than the market price, they negotiated with them to release lower grain prices.

Obviously they did not receive much food when they went to the countryside, but the price of food given by the grain merchants was lowered every three days. Each time, the price was not much, just a few pennies per stone. On average, one kilogram was about It only dropped a few centimeters, but for ordinary people, these few centimeters were enough to cause them heartache.

In addition, the gentry took the lead in selling grain, saying, "This year's harvest will be good, and the grain is worthless. If we don't sell it now, it will only get lower and lower in the future."

Someone said harshly: "It looks down upon itself, so I won't sell it anyway."

"We have extra grain at home, what should we do if we don't sell it? I think next year will be a good harvest year, and it will be worthless to keep it as old grain," the gentleman said: "And if we don't sell the grain, how can we have money to repair houses, buy farm tools, and exchange seeds? Do you want a wife in your family? You have to buy some pots and pans to survive. After a busy year, you have to buy some meat to eat back, right?"

To trade, money is needed, but where does the money come from in rural areas?

Naturally, they sell agricultural products.

Moreover, people are inevitably subject to birth, old age, illness and death. Medical treatment requires money. When a child is born, he needs to buy various things and money. People still have to spend money after death.

So some people began to panic. Seeing the food prices getting lower and lower day by day, they panicked and started to take out food.

Soon the county magistrate noticed this unusual scene. He remembered the "strange case of hoarding collusion between business gentry, government officials, and government gentry" mentioned in the school. He immediately wanted to take action to stop it. As a result, he had just met with several gentry and businessmen. , before they had time to convince them, some people began to go to the countryside to collect grain in large quantities.

In order to receive grain from the grain merchants, the visitors even raised the price of grain, which was actually the same as the price of grain taken out from the grain shop.

See you tomorrow