Northern Dynasties

Chapter 33
Shangyuan made a mistake by harvesting flax in advance at the summer price. The matter quickly spread throughout Wuxiang County, and even in Nanbaishui County on the other side of Luoshui River, some big households sent their slaves to inquire.

"Although there are few flax plants in the countryside, the harvest is not limited to failure. The new harvest after autumn is too full of water vapor, which is used to feed oil. The farming season is halfway through this year, and a bumper harvest is expected, and the price will be lower then."

Liu Gong, a local tycoon from Nanbaishui County who had done business in Huazhou City before, also came to Shangyuan. After seeing Li Tai, he said with a puzzled face: "Mr. It has become a gimmick. But as far as I can see, Mr. Lang is definitely not the unwise person in the rumors, and there must be something hidden in this operation?"

Li Tai smiled slightly after hearing the words, he had also heard what kind of idiot he was portrayed by the rumors in the village.The mouth grows on other people's faces, and he can't control what he wants to say.

Hearing Liu Gong's question, he took the other party outside the newly built workshop in Zhuangbei, pointed at the wall that was already half a person tall and said with a smile: "Villagers rarely see things that are out of common sense. I made a big fuss. When I lived in this village, I saw that the oil pressing efficiency of the villagers was poor, and the oil produced by a dendrobium of flax was only more than [-] catties. But I knew that there was an oil pressing technique in Hebei, and a dendrobium of flax could produce nearly [-] catties of oil. The difference is enough for homework."

"So, that's how it is! Hebei's farmers are far more prosperous than those in Kansai. I've known for a long time, but I didn't expect there to be such a big gap! It's even rarer that Mr. Lang anointed Liang Hua, and he is so familiar with small-scale farming operations."

After hearing the words, Liu Gong suddenly realized, and said a little embarrassedly after a while: "My family will also grow flax for half an hectare this summer. I don't know if we can make this contract?"

Naturally, Li Tai would not let go of the target that came to his door.In order to ensure the scarcity in the region, Nanbaishui County was originally within his target range, so he cheerfully signed a contract with Liu Gong to receive [-] dendrobium sesame in advance, and asked him to take away [-]% of the price. Cloth as a deposit.

In the nave that had just been built in the manor, He Basheng pointed to the full basket of contract orders, half distressed, half puzzled, and said, "Thousands of bolts of cloth are exchanged for such a basket of waste paper?"

"If it's just me doing the homework, most of these paper materials are just waste paper. But since my uncle has something to do, these tyrants on the surface have to consider whether they dare to break the contract!"

After Li Tai heard the words, he said with a smile, and sorted out these contracts again. The sesame order of more than [-] hu was of course more than a few thousand pieces of cloth, and he only needed to pay [-]% of the deposit.

Of the several thousand bolts of cloth produced by He Basheng, quite a few of them were for the purchase of sesame and oil.

"They don't dare to break the contract, that's a bad thing. Is it really necessary to raise tens of thousands of pieces of cloth to buy these flax door by door after autumn?"

When He Basheng heard this, he gritted his teeth in worry: "I thought you had some clever tricks, but it turned out that it was just bulk goods. I can tell you clearly that taking out these thousands of bolts of cloth has already been done." It is the limit of my financial resources, I am afraid that my family will not have enough materials to add clothes this winter! I am also really crazy to make such a big gamble based on your few words."

"Uncle, please don't worry, these people will only hold back their goods and sell them reluctantly, and they will never dare to come to the door to demand. I am confident that the price of flax oil will only soar in the future."

Li Tai said confidently that he was quite excited about operating such a large-scale futures transaction.

After He Basheng heard the words, he was worried and said: "I warned you before that Daxingtai focuses on people's livelihood and will never allow hoarding to harm the market! If you break the order, even I can't protect you !"

"The oil and hemp materials in my warehouse are all collected at a higher price than the current price. The original intention is to lose officials instead of hoard them, and damage my fat country. What is the crime?"

Li Tai was plausible about this, and pointed to those contracts and said: "These paper contracts are free from half a grain of flax and no specks of grease, so why hoard them?"

"That's true. Daxingtai has nothing to say that it is impossible to make a long-term contract. Who can say that I broke the law!"

He Basheng was also amused when he heard the words, he twirled his beard and said with a smile, but then frowned and said: "So you want to wait until after the rewards are distributed, and rely on the oil in hand to force the villagers to bow their heads, and then let them follow you. Redeem the spot at a high price in your hand?"

Li Tai quickly shook his head and said: "Daxingtai hangs up the grid to collect rewards for the purpose of letting the people in the court get two benefits. If I make a noise out of it, it will be a bigger crime than hoarding and harming the market. How dare you do that! But if The other local tyrants are afraid of me gaining power, so they search the village to raise the price, and I can't blame me for this."

The reward price proposed by Daxingtai is not just a simple exchange of money and power. In addition to supplementing the use of goods, it also has the intention of bringing the powerful in Guanzhong into the rule.

In this era, those who can raise enough donations and supplies within the time limit are all local tyrants with a large amount of land and population.They transported goods and became officials, which meant that their respective productive forces and means of production became part of the Western Wei regime, and Yuwentai also got all the characters because of this.

This was an important project for the Western Wei Dynasty to prepare for the military system. If Li Tai dared to interfere and sabotage it, no matter how clever his words were, Yu Wentai might have to deal with him. This bottom line must not be touched.

Li Tai's goal is to make the local tyrants in the vicinity consume themselves.

Under the conventional format, once the Daxingtai donation rewards are announced, the big households in the village will naturally choose a donation method that is most beneficial to them and the most cost-effective in exchange for official positions according to the current situation of their respective families.

But now, everyone in the village knows that Li Tai has a large amount of oil in stock, which leaves no room for the villagers to choose calmly.On a runway, everyone is gearing up at the starting point, but they have already stood at the finish line, one step closer to the line, so how can they fight?
If the official position exchanged for the reward is another official position, it will be fine, but it is the official position of the governor and commander-in-chief who controls the village soldiers. check.

Li Tai didn't even need to make any more publicity, these local tyrants would throw themselves into chaos.

The reaction of the local tyrants was faster than Li Tai expected. On a certain day in late June, the brothers Shi Gong, the county captain, came to visit in person.

Li Tai didn't deliberately put on a show, let the trilogy lead the two brothers directly into the hall.

After entering the hall, Shi Gong strode forward, first bowed to Li Taishen, then turned his head and glared at his brother Shi Jing and cursed: "You poor thing, don't hurry up to the hall to apologize to Li Lang and beg for forgiveness! "

That Shi Jing limped forward and knelt down in front of Li Tai's seat with a plop. Li Tai hurriedly avoided the seat, pretending to be surprised, and said, "What is Shi County Captain doing? Shihou Xiangxian elder, How dare I accept this great gift!"

"Alas, the family is unlucky! Former Zheng was engaged in the prosecution of the government, but I dare not be negligent because I am in charge of the county's public property. I also know that Li Lang has some materials, so I sent a letter to inform..."

Shi Gong said with a face of embarrassment, Li Tai laughed again after hearing the words: "It is true, I would like to thank Shi Hou for helping me, supplying a full ten thousand catties of raw hemp materials, which will greatly relieve the family's urgent needs."

Shi Gong couldn't help being taken aback when he heard this, and Shi Jing also raised his eyes to look at Li Tai, and was about to stand up, but was kicked on the ground by the five big and three thick brothers.

"Li Lang, you focus on your prosperity, or ask less about the family's business. But I dare not hide it. This scum is born in the family. He is greedy for temporary material benefits. He actually uses the bad to fill the good, and the less to fill the more, corrupting the righteousness of the village. It really makes my family ashamed!"

Shi Gong made another long bow, and then said with a face of shame: "I have been in the yamen for a long time, and I seldom ask about housework. I only went home today to interrogate and check the facts. Therefore, I caught this disgusting thing and came to plead guilty to Li Lang. This matter is my family's fault. , the cloth and silk obtained by the former will be returned together, I beg Li Lang to forgive me!"

"There is such a thing? I really don't know."

Li Tai still pretended to be confused, watching the two brothers continue to perform.

Shi Gong's attack was really ruthless, he kicked and kicked his brother repeatedly, not long after, the already thin Shi Jing's face was bruised and bruised.

When Li Tai saw that the fire was about the same, he raised his hand to signal the brothers to stop, expressing his forgiveness generously.

"I'm really ashamed of bad materials before. I'm really ashamed. Fortunately, Li Lang is good at managing the business. The new oil factory has a long-term business. I heard that Li Lang used seed oil ointment in the village before. It should be rich in storage and use now, right?"

How arrogant he was before, how embarrassing he is now, Shi Gong laid the groundwork for a long time with this bitter plan, and finally revealed the fundamental purpose of this trip.

"The work in the village is really smooth. The oil mill in my household has not yet made cakes and pressed, and the county lieutenant already knows about it. The soil is scarce, and I can only rely on this industry to make ends meet. It is not as decent as the rich family's farming and constant production, which made the county lieutenant laugh. "

Li Tai chuckled when he heard the words, this is his home court, so what he said and did would naturally be in the eyes of others.

"Excuse me, how much oil storage cream does Li Langhu have?"

Shi Gong said hastily again, and then pretended to be calm and said: "To tell the truth, a few days ago when the yamen gathered colleagues, Daxingtai was going to give a reward. Although I don't dare to be greedy for power and position, after all, I live in Kansai for generations. The good people, knowing that the country is in trouble, want to do their best to help..."

"This time, the reward will be given to the governor of the village army. Li Lang, you are a newcomer to Dongzhou. Even if you lose the reward and win the official, how many people do the local people know? At that time, the soldiers will not know the generals, and it will be difficult to carry out orders, which will add to the trouble. My family wishes Redeem at old price..."

Shi Jing groaned while covering his slapped face like a pig's head, before he finished speaking, he slapped his brother again.

"Although this member is clumsy, what he said is true. The people in Kansai are tough, so they have to be chosen by the people of their hometown, and they can't frighten the public. I think I disdain dirty officials."

The two brothers performed role-plays, but they also explained their intentions clearly.

"The county lieutenant came to visit for this reason. I also heard about it when I was at Grand Master Heba's residence. It just happened to be a coincidence that I was going to work in the oil factory."

Li Tai laughed when he heard this, and pretended to be arrogant: "I am simple by nature, and I really don't like to be the leader of the army. Since Captain Shi Xian asked honestly, I will not hide the truth. There are more than [-] dendrobium ointments, after the oil workshop is completed, I hope there will be more supplements, but I have no intention of selling them yet."

(End of this chapter)