Chapter 3 Wilderness (Sanshang) The first ray of sunshine in the early morning had just emerged from behind the clouds in the southeast. Li Xu crept back to his tent. After listening to the introductions of Uncle Jiu and Hao Laodao, he felt deeply about the Xi clan in his heart.
He no longer had any contempt for his customs, but he suddenly began to worry that the blue-eyed girl would be very angry if he found out that he had slipped away after waking up. If that were the case, it would be a pity. It was the first time in his life that he had seen such a beautiful girl.
It's also a pleasure to be able to chat together
There was no sign of the girl in the felt tent. The large floral velvet blanket lent by Xiren was folded up and placed neatly beside the pillow. The charcoal in the brazier had already cooled down, and the pale white ashes were suddenly thrown out from the door.
The cold wind blowing in rolled up and floated gently in the sunshine like mist or smoke.
Everything last night seemed to have never happened. Li Xu felt as if he had had a bizarre dream. After waking up from the dream, except for the morning sunshine, everything was gone without a trace.
Maybe it was a dream! Li Xu thought in a daze that he had not seen the girl again for two days. At Xu Dayan's suggestion, the vendors took the initiative to collect a sample and gave it to the tribe leader Su Chui.
Xier and several respected elders, while the leaders and elders of the Suchui tribe gave gifts of higher value to the caravan. In the three days before waiting for the arrival of several neighboring tribes, in order to show that they were doing things fairly, the Suchui tribe
Instead of taking the lead in trading with the vendors, the guests and hosts just drank and sang every day. Women's singing and dancing were still the highlight of the banquet, but the blue-eyed girl evaporated like dew and never appeared in front of everyone again.
"Why, Lord Zixi, I miss your Yue girl again!" Xu Da laughed in a low voice when he saw that Li Xu was distracted while drinking.
"Nothing, I'm just thinking about how to get rid of the goods as soon as possible tomorrow!" Li Xu shook his head and argued forcefully, but the girl's clothes suddenly floated through his mind, and the music in his ears also vaguely carried the rhythm of the ancients.
"What evening is it tonight? On the middle of the river, what day is it today? I have to be in the same boat with the prince and am embarrassed. I don't want to be criticized and ashamed. I feel annoyed and never stop. I know that there are trees in the prince's mountain, and the trees have branches. My heart
I am so pleased with you, but you don’t know!” Did the same misunderstanding also occur between Zixi, the commander of the Chu State, and the Yue people who did not understand Chu language?
"Everyone gets together tonight to discuss what will be sold in the market tomorrow at what price. We all know what we are doing. We have gone through all kinds of hardships to get here. Don't destroy your own stall!" Uncle Zhang heard Li
Xu's words brought out the word "get out of hand", and he quickly came over to warn him not to mess around with beautiful women. To the vendors, it was like a banquet in front of them. After eating, no matter whether they were drunk or awake, the first priority was to make enough money.
Capital, so that your whole family will not suffer
"For the same goods, everyone will set the same price. Uncle Jiu has already told the messenger to ask all the ministries to bring as many raw skins as possible to barter. Tomorrow we will use raw skins as the standard. How many skins are a pound of tea, how many skins are a piece of cloth, all in advance
We have discussed other things and fold them with leather as much as possible!" With the opportunity to make a fortune imminent, Wang Mazi no longer only focused on the woman's waist, but very smartly made a good suggestion.
The people of the Lin people do not have the copper coins of the Sui Dynasty. It would be too troublesome to barter everything. Using the whole piece of leather as money can just solve this problem. And at the moment, rawhide is very popular in the Central Plains. There is a risk of being frozen on the grassland.
The traders who risk their lives are all here for the rawhide.
That night, the vendors crowded in front of the fire and started arguing. The goods they brought were all of different textures, and they were all folded with rawhide. The difference in quality was difficult to reflect. No one wanted to earn less than others, and everyone was afraid that they would not get enough.
It's a good thing that Lin Ren can't understand the Central Plains dialect and thought that the vendors were discussing the itinerary to go home. Otherwise, they might have turned against each other and beaten all these unscrupulous customers out.
In the end, it was Uncle Jiu, Zhang San and others who made the decision, dividing similar goods into grades according to the standards of the Central Plains, and minimizing the price difference between each grade. As for the unique goods of individual vendors, they could sell them at will. Anyway, the price
Whether it is high or low, it will not have any impact on other people's transactions.
"This is Su silk. How can I compare with his Shandong cloth!" Someone muttered unconvincingly that the silks and satins in the Central Plains have always been the best, followed by Zhejiang silk.
The silk weaved is the worst. Wealthy families never wear it. Only middle-class families sew clothes for appearance. Therefore, the prices of the three types of silk and satin are also very different in the market. Other factors such as color, pattern style, width and width, etc., also have an impact.
As for the transaction price of silk and satin, but the price set by Sun Jiu and others, the difference between the three places of silk and satin is limited, which naturally dissatisfies those who have high cost of bringing goods.
"If you have the skills, you can explain the difference between Su silk and Lu silk to Xi Ren!" Uncle Zhang instantly turned cold and scolded, "How about you set a high price yourself and finally pay it in your hands, so everyone can't stay here and wait.
You look for buyers!”
"Stay, stay, whoever leaves won't survive!" the silk merchant yelled angrily, and finally sat down dejectedly to discuss the difference between silk and satin with the people from Xi, which is similar to discussing the texture of mutton with people from Jiangnan. You can tell the difference.
It's so dazzling that in other people's eyes, they're all the same thing
There were also a few people who brought lacquerware and painted pottery. They were also dissatisfied with Sun Jiu's decision and saw that the silk and satin merchant could not explain it. They were afraid of offending Zhang San, a black-faced man, and would be offended on the return trip, so they had no choice but to give up. But those who brought exclusive
The vendors of goods were all in high spirits, happily planning how to make a lot of money tomorrow.
Li Xu's cargo carried relatively simple goods. In addition to dozens of kilograms of crude tea, there were several pieces of Shu brocade. Crude tea is a popular commodity on the grassland. Both buyers and sellers are well aware of its market prices. Even if the traders want to take advantage of the opportunity to raise the price, they cannot raise the price much.
Shu brocade is not produced in the north, and the price in Shanggu County is already ridiculously high. As a vendor who wants to make quick money, no one will sell such thick, heavy and high-cost things, so he has no conflict with everyone.
He withdrew from the crowd early and sat by another fire to drink and relieve his boredom.
"Don't mess with them tomorrow. Those pieces of Sichuan brocade will be sold at a discount!" Xu Dayan whispered in Li Xu's ear while no one was paying attention.
It was this matter that Li Xu was worried about. He frowned and asked in a low voice, "How to change? Everyone is buying rawhide!" He knew almost nothing about doing business. The original plan was to follow the instructions of Shu Brocade in the Central Plains.
and the price of silk and satin, he folded all the brocade in his hand into leather goods, and asked Sun Jiu to take it back to Shanggu, and then his father would exchange it for copper coins to make up for the family's shortfall. But judging from the price everyone set tonight, the number of rawhide that can be exchanged tomorrow
It is far more than I expected before leaving the fortress. It would be a bit unkind to ask others to carry such a heavy cargo back.
"Fold the Shu brocade into silk cloth according to the price in the Central Plains, and then fold the silk cloth into rawhide according to tonight's price, and then fold the rawhide into silver pieces according to the price of the Xi people. The people here are decorated with slow silver bells. I estimate the price of silver.
It won't be too high!" Based on his observations over the past few days, Xu Dayan took a blackened branch and wrote on the ground.
Soon, he calculated the price ratio of Sichuan brocade and rawhide, asked Li Xu to remember the number, and then wiped it off the ground with the sole of his boot.
Li Xu silently recited the number given by Xu Dayan twice and agreed with the other party's suggestion. If he asked Uncle Jiu to bring money home, the journey would not be too tiring. And considering Sun Jiu's personality, no matter how much money he gave him,
, and he won’t swallow him halfway.
"I have to change one or two horses tomorrow, otherwise there will be too many rawhide, and Uncle Jiu won't be able to help me carry it back! Then I will change some cheese and fried rice for them. If you live here permanently, you can't always eat and drink for free.
Something," Li Xu said to Xu Dayan very frankly.
No matter how enthusiastic the people of Lin are, there is a limit in the end. In the Central Plains, a person will be hated by others if he lives in his relatives' house for a long time. What's more, at the moment, he and Xu Dayan are not related to the people of Lin.
"I asked Uncle Jiu to help me find out. Every year at the beginning of winter, all the men in the tribe go out hunting in groups. The weather has been good this year, and there are a lot of yellow sheep nearby. So, what we eat should not be a big problem!" On how to survive on the grassland!
, Xu Dayan was already prepared, but when Li Xu said about buying a horse, he made a very ridiculous suggestion: "You can buy a horse, try to buy a small one, a slow running horse that can carry the load, but don't buy it."
He looks tall!"
"Why?" Li Xu asked Xu Dayan in surprise but refused to explain to him. He just asked him to do what he said no matter what. Li Xu was originally easy-going, but seeing Xu Dayan's serious words, he had to bite the bullet and agreed.
The next day, the Xi people from several neighboring tribes came over after hearing the news and crowded the Su Chuan tribe's camp. This place was too far away from the Great Wall, and separated by the Xi tribe. The goods from the Central Plains were always in short supply. Moreover, after the snow fell every year, there was always a shortage of goods.
The road will be cut off, and other caravans may appear again until next May. Therefore, many tribal elders personally led the team here, on the one hand to express their gratitude to the leaders and elders of the Suchu tribe, and on the other hand to prevent their own Erlang
Because of lack of experience, he was deceived by traders from the Central Plains.
Rawhide is a cheap thing on the grassland. Every autumn, the tribe must eliminate the old, weak, sick and disabled animals in large numbers based on the amount of hay accumulated and the condition of the pasture. There is so much skin to peel off that they can't use it up, and the people in Lin don't have the patience to take it one by one.
If you keep the leather in your hands for a year or two, the hides will be full of insect holes and become worthless. Therefore, although the prices of the goods in the hands of the traders are a bit high, they are still within the affordable range of the people of the Xi people.
All the goods they brought were new, and even the worst quality ones were far higher quality than the second-hand goods brought by the Xi merchants.
Wang Mazi, Du Scaru and others were so happy with their profits that they even sounded three points more polite than usual when talking to others. As Uncle Jiu said, with the surplus, the traders were much more generous than before, especially Du.
Scary, Li Xu saw with his own eyes that this stingy man secretly wrapped a large piece of tea brick when he closed the stall on the first day, and stuffed it into the hands of the woman from the Xi tribe who was helping him look after the stall.
The woman thanked her repeatedly. Although she and Du Scaran didn't have many words to communicate with each other, their eyes for a moment were exceptionally gentle.
Li Xu had also seen that kind of look. At that time, Jin Jin was holding a bowl of medicine, complaining that her uncle was not strong enough and was always sick, dragging her down. The words in her mouth were unpleasant, but the look she looked at her uncle was nothing like this.