Gao Zunhui from Guangxi was busy drinking and drinking with the toasts.
In the tiles of the Sang family in Bianjing City, Xing Shu was also drinking and exchanging cups with Yeluju.
The contemporary Li Shishi, smiling brightly, sat aside and poured wine for the two of them.
She can be regarded as the fastest Li Shishi to retire in the history of Sangjiawazi.
She had just taken over at the beginning of the year, and within four months, she had been redeemed.
Although people are still here in Sangjia Wazi, they should no longer show off their laughter.
And all of this was brought about by the two men in front of her.
Therefore, she served very diligently.
When Xing Shu and Yelu Ju had almost finished drinking, Xing Shu winked at Master Li, who immediately obediently bowed to him: "Guan Liu (Yelu Ju calls himself Liu), Xing Guan, please go down and get ready first."
, singing for the two officials."
Yeluju looked at this beauty's incomparably beautiful face and body that was so plump that she could squeeze out water. His soul felt a little unstable, and he immediately said: "Let's go, let's go!"
Then they kept looking at each other until the beauty disappeared from sight.
Only then did he reluctantly look back.
Then he took a sip of wine and said, "What a pity, what a pity."
"Such a beautiful woman, I don't know when I will see you again?"
"Brother Liu, why do you sigh?" Xing Shu said with a smile: "Those of my friends have already redeemed themselves for Miss Master."
"We have even prepared a separate courtyard for Brother Liu at Waqiao Pass, thinking that the golden house hides the beauty."
Yeluju cupped his hands and said, "It's very polite of those friends who thanked Brother Xing for me."
"Hey!" Xing Shu laughed: "We are all friends, and it is natural for friends to help each other."
"Perhaps, in the future, my friends here or below will have to rely on Brother Liu when they arrive in Shangjing."
"This is guaranteed by a certain family!" Yeluju made a promise while patting his chest.
Last time, he and the Liao envoy took a cut of 100,000 guan from the Song-Liao trade, and almost 50,000 guan ended up in his pocket.
Yeluju is now rich and powerful, and his voice is a bit higher than before.
Xing Shu smiled and said calmly: "Brother Liu, this time it's one million dollars again!"
"Has your country thought about what it wants to purchase?"
Yeluju knew that the drama was coming, so he smiled and said: "Of course it's silk and satin, fine wine and porcelain."
Recently, many people from Beijing and Nanjing have sent letters.
Everyone was very satisfied with his work in this Southern Dynasty.
In particular, the big shots in the Fifth Academy, the Sixth Academy, and Prince Xi gave thumbs up to him for the goods he sent back, saying that he was loyal to the country.
Even the queen issued an edict and rewarded his mother and wife.
So much so that Yeluju heard the news that someone in the Fifth and Sixth Academy wanted to recommend him to be the privy envoy.
When Yeluju learned about this, he was frightened out of his wits.
Privy Councilor?
If it had happened in the past, he would have danced with joy.
but now……
Privy Councilor? Not even a dog!
How much does a Privy Council member cost?
Can it be compared with how easily you can make tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of coins with your eyes closed in this Southern Dynasty?
Not to mention, this Bianjing city is simply paradise!
Now, Yeluju finally understood why the emperor (Yelühongji) wanted to inscribe the words - 'I wish to be born in China in the next life' on the base of the Buddha statue he enshrined.
Bianjing is already the Western paradise on earth.
However, Xing Shu chuckled and said: "They are all made of silk and satin, fine wine, porcelain, fine tea, and tea sets. Wouldn't your country consider some daily necessities?"
"Huh?" Yeluju didn't quite understand. He looked at Xing Shu and frowned: "Isn't there a border market for everyday things?"
"If the people need it, they can go to the border to trade with your country."
The annual trade volume of Jiaozi is three million guan. When you first came to Beijing, you may have thought about whether you should allocate 1 million guan to purchase daily consumer goods to meet domestic demand?
Now, after tasting the top luxury goods from Bianjing, the powerful people in Beijing have thrown this idea out of the window.
Whether it is the nobles in the North Court or the scholar-bureaucrats in the South Court, few people have such an idea.
According to the envoys from the country, the only ones left now are Yelu Dilie, Xiao Wuna, and Wang Shiru, who are still chattering in front of the emperor.
Others have already expressed that the people's needs can be met by the border market.
And what about these three million strings?
It is Your Majesty's wealth, how can you squander it at will?
Good steel must be used on the blade!
The emperor was very satisfied with this and agreed with the views of his ministers.
Good steel does have to be used on the blade!
As a result, the North Court and the South Court reached an agreement.
Whether it is the herdsmen on the grasslands, the Han people in Youyan and Liaodong, or the Bohai farmers, they are all abandoned now.
Xing Shu calmly poured a glass of wine for Yeluju and said, "To be honest, your envoy, my friends have encountered some troubles."
"Huh?" Yeluju sat up straight and asked, "What kind of trouble is the unknown? Can someone help me?"
Xing Shu sighed and said, "I have a friend whose family is a tea merchant. Now he is in trouble."
“There is a lot of second-hand and old tea squeezed into the house.”
"If we can't sell it, I'm afraid the family business will be ruined. It's really a pity!"
"I was wondering if your envoy could help..."
When Yeluju heard this, he immediately patted his chest and said, "Since I am a friend of Brother Xing, I am also a friend of a certain family!"
"Brother Xing, please speak frankly. How much backlog of secondary and old tea does his family have?"
"How much does it cost per pound? A certain company covers it all!"
Xing Shu looked at Yeluju and remembered that the officials summoned him this afternoon and gave him the tasks assigned to him.
According to reports from the Ministry of Household Affairs, various tea farms in the Song Dynasty found that the backlog of secondary tea and old tea this year reached a terrifying figure of three million kilograms.
Officials asked him to sell these teas to the Liao people.
As long as you promote it, you can get high rebates!
At the same time, as long as he did this well, the official promised to promote him next year.
Let him realize his dream of a bachelor's college and step into the holy land that all scholar-bureaucrats dream of!
This made Xingshu full of energy.
He sighed softly and said to Yeluju: "To be honest, my friend has a lot of old tea in his backlog."
"Maybe as many as millions of pounds!"
Yeluju was stunned. Millions of catties of tea?
This is indeed a terrifying number.
At the same time, he also learned that Backlog was probably not a friend, but the government.
After all, who else but Nanchao himself could accumulate so much tea?
But when doing business, what matters is courtesy.
Others have helped him so much, how could he not express his gratitude?
Anyway, it’s not his money that was spent!
Right?
"How much does it cost per pound?" Yeluju asked tentatively.
Xing Shu smiled and said: "It's very cheap for you to rest assured!"
"For Chencha, your country can just give me a cost price!"
"uh-huh?"
"Twenty dollars per cake is enough!"
Yeluju's eyes widened: "How much?"
Xing Shu looked at him and replied: "Twenty dollars per cake!"
During the Song Dynasty, tea leaves were all made into cakes, and there was a fixed method. Twenty cakes were equivalent to one pound.
One loaf is less than one tael.
And the price of tea is even more different.
The most expensive top-grade tea, one cake is worth two taels of gold - tea cakes are more expensive than gold!
The next level also requires more than 40,000.
As for ordinary tea, it is very cheap for ordinary people to drink. A cup of tea often costs sixty or seventy yuan.
As for old tea, if you can sell it for more than ten yuan a cake, it’s amazing.
However, in trade with the Liao Kingdom, these teas will basically not appear.
The reason is simple. The freight and taxes combined may be more expensive than the selling price.
A piece of tea cake sells for more than ten yuan in Bianjing. When you get to Waqiaoguan, you won't be able to get back your money unless you sell it for fifty or sixty yuan.
Liao people are not fools.
They will naturally choose to buy those tea cakes that cost more than a hundred dollars.
The price Xing Shu offered can be said to be the cost price.
There is no way, if those old teas are not sold, once the rainy season comes, if not properly stored, they may become moldy, rot, and eventually have to be burned.
Rather than burning it, it is better to sell it at the cost price. At least the tenant's losses can be avoided first.
At the same time, Xing Shu also guessed that the emperor also had his own thoughts, but he didn't know it.
Yeluju started to ponder.
Twenty dollars a piece of cake?!
Is there any problem with such cheap tea cakes?
But then he thought about it, what was wrong with him?
If such cheap tea is shipped back to China, the Zubu people on the grasslands, the Bohai people in Liaodong, the straight women, and the Korean people will all rush to snatch it up.
And where have these people ever had any good tea?
It would be nice to eat some!
So, he nodded: "What about that tea?"
Xing Shu said, "The price of tea and cake ranges from fifteen to twenty-five yuan."
Then Xing Shu looked at Yeluju and said something that shook his heart: "My friend said that if your envoy is willing to help facilitate this matter, then I am willing to give you these teas in addition to the normal benefits.
You get half the benefits for being expensive!”
"These benefits are given to your emissary alone and will not be known to anyone."
Yeluju swallowed.
Even with his mathematical skills, he knew that the value of millions of kilograms of tea leaves would probably far exceed one million kilograms.
Even if it is calculated as one million guans, he can draw 100,000 guans out of it.
Money moves people's hearts.
Yeluju took a deep breath, then looked at Xing Shu and said, "Brother Xing, please tell that friend that I can give this favor a try."
"But I might not be able to buy that much."
"The most I can do is buy three to five million catties first."
If you buy too much, you will be beaten when you go back.
Of course, persuading the country is also a technical job.
Yeluju knew that to accomplish this, he would probably have to get close to the dignitaries of the Chinese Beiyuan like Yelu Dilie and Xiao Wuna.
In addition, how to convince the emperor is also a problem.
Xing Shu smiled: "As long as your envoy is willing to help."
Xing Shu believed that as long as Yeluju tasted the sweetness, he would never give up.
He could swallow up all the benefits of old tea from the Song Dynasty in one gulp.
The emperor could take the opportunity to solve the problem of farmers all over the world having a backlog of old tea and second-grade tea that could not be sold.
In this process, the only thing that was damaged was probably the local government's commercial taxes - things that the emperor wanted by name, who dared to collect taxes?
Old tea and second-grade tea from teahouses all over the world can be sent directly to Waqiao Pass duty-free.
Note: According to historical records, during the Northern Song Dynasty, the most expensive tea was produced in Fujian, and one cake was worth twenty taels of gold.
Top-quality tea leaves from other places can also be sold for a sky-high price of 40,000 yuan!
At that time, tea leaves were basically made into cakes, and people drank tea by grinding tea leaves into powder, just like we drink coffee now, and added many ingredients to it.
The best tea leaves are milky white, and rich businessmen and literati are proud to show off the quality of their tea.
This gave rise to tea fighting, an activity that combines gambling and entertainment.
Doucha went on to give birth to the famous art of tea ordering.
This is a true luxury event.
Nowadays, those so-called nobles in the West are just younger brothers when it comes to ordering tea.
