Water Margin people

Chapter 1693 Business War (Part )

"Don't worry, Governor. I'll arrange it right away!"

Cao Zheng immediately took the order and went out.

Cao Zheng went to the port to find those merchants as soon as possible.

The merchants at the port were worried. Lin Chong's indifferent attitude scared them. After all, this was overseas and the war had just ended. They had no idea how the governor would treat them.

"Everyone, I am Cao Zheng, a general under Governor Lin, and I have come here specially to greet you!"

Cao Zheng looked at the group of merchants and smiled.

"Meet General Cao!"

The merchants were overjoyed. The fact that someone came to receive them meant that Lin Chong accepted them.

"How much cargo did you bring?"

Cao Zheng looked at the group of merchants and asked, he needed to understand the situation first.

The merchants immediately handed over their account books and started introducing their products. This time, they brought special products from the Central Plains, such as tea, silk, porcelain, glassware, paper, etc. These things were not available in the West.

"That's some nice stuff!"

Cao Zheng nodded, these things will be easy to sell in the West.

"Let's go check out the goods!"

Cao Zheng invited the merchants to go on board to check out the goods.

The merchants were naturally willing to do so. All the goods had to be sold in front of the army, and all the money earned had to be recorded truthfully.

Cao Zheng's brows gradually furrowed as he looked at the boxes of goods.

"This silk...is defective!"

"This tea... is it from the year before last? And it's all old leaves, coarse tea!"

"This porcelain... must have been made in a small workshop!"

"This paper... is too rough even for the toilet!"

"This glass... the glass is pretty good!"

……

The more Cao Zheng looked at it, the more he shook his head. If he dared to sell this kind of goods in the Central Plains, he would be scolded to death.

"General Cao, it's not that we don't want to bring good goods. These are requested by His Majesty. His Majesty said that Westerners' lives are cheap and they don't need good things. It's good enough to just give them some defective goods! If there are too many, it might shorten the Westerners' lives!"

"Your Majesty, what are you still talking about? You are already the kindest person in the world for not selling opium! What is this opium?"

A group of merchants looked at Cao Zheng and said that they were very much in favor of selling defective products to foreigners. There were many defective products in the production process of tea, silk, porcelain and paper. These things were thrown away as garbage in the past. Now that garbage can be sold for money, they are extremely happy.

"Your Majesty, I understand."

Cao Zheng nodded. These pieces of trash that no one in the Central Plains would even look at were rare treasures in the West.

"I will give you a piece of land in the city, and you can sell your goods there!"

Cao Zheng looked at the merchants and said.

"Thank you, General Cao!"

All the merchants were overjoyed and bowed to express their gratitude.

Cao Zheng left to make arrangements. The news that the merchants from Qi had arrived in the Mesopotamian region spread quickly, and the locals were all worried. However, the bold will die of overeating, while the timid will die of starvation. There are always some people who are willing to do anything for money.

On the day when the trade started, it was still deserted early in the morning, with only a few dozen people coming. These people just looked around and bought only a little.

"Why is the West so desolate?"

When the merchants saw that no one came, they all started to grumble. They heard that business in India was booming.

"Don't worry, everyone. We are just here to gather intelligence. We will know in the afternoon!" Cao Zheng laughed. There are quite a lot of people in the two river basins. They were also important trade routes in the past. There are many people with business acumen.

Sure enough, just after noon, someone came with boxes of money to make purchases. The value of these goods from the Central Plains was so great that those people in the dark could no longer hold back.

The last time these goods appeared here was in the Tang Dynasty. Those goods were shipped from the Silk Road. The high freight directly caused the price of the goods to increase dozens of times. But now the goods are delivered to their doorstep, and the price seems to them to be free.

"Mr. Merchant, I want all of these... all of them... all of them!"

A bearded businessman said generously, pointing at the boxes of goods.

"Okay, okay, it's all yours!"

The merchants laughed loudly. These worthless garbage were sold at ten times the price of treasures. In their opinion, these foreigners were really being taken advantage of.

“Is this the legendary win-win situation?”

Cao Zheng smiled as he watched everything. It seemed that no one was at a disadvantage, so this business would definitely last long.

Soon the excitement became too much, and the bearded foreign merchants started fighting for the goods. These goods were boxes of money, and whoever grabbed them would own them. Who would be willing to give in in front of money?
“Maintain order!”

Looking at the chaotic scene, Cao Zheng immediately ordered his soldiers to maintain order.

The soldiers didn't waste any time, they just drew their swords and stepped forward, their murderous aura instantly intimidating those foreign merchants. The Qi army's swords were merciless.

The shock restored trade to normal.

They had spent all the money brought by the foreign merchants, and they were itching to get other goods, but they knew it was too late to go home and get the money.

"I also brought five hundred camels this time!"

"I have eight hundred cows!"

"I have dozens of beauties!"

……

"I have several wives!"

Those foreign merchants also said that if they went too far, they would have to sell their wives if they had nothing.

"My dear, there is no need to do this. There is no need to do this. We will not accept your sister-in-law!"

The merchants from the Central Plains waved their hands. If they were beautiful women, they would accept them, but they could not sell them back to the Central Plains. It would be nice to take them as concubines, but they would not accept wives from foreign races.

“My wives are all very beautiful!”

The bearded man said seriously, as if he really wanted to sell it. Here, selling a wife is not a big deal. There is no difference between a woman and goods.

"It's not a question of beauty..."

The Zhongyuan merchant still refused. No matter how beautiful she was, she was someone else's wife. Wouldn't it be annoying to marry her? I would definitely be laughed at when I go back.

Cao Zheng didn't care about these. He just stared at the accounts. Looking at the ever-growing amount of money on it, he was a little frightened. This was only the first trade. Once he got familiar with it, the money would increase exponentially.

The trade lasted until dark. The bearded merchants spent all their money and put all their valuable items on the platform. They even took off their clothes and put them on the platform. They wanted to make money even if they were naked.

After checking the accounts, Cao Zheng returned to the central army and just happened to meet Lin Chong in a meeting.

Lin Chong arranged the garrison and patrol tasks in various places in detail, and asked several generals to introduce the local situation.

"Governor Lin, this is the trade situation of the merchants today. The profit is about one million guan. According to your majesty's request, 70% will be handed over!"

Cao Zheng looked at Lin Chong and said.

"so much?"

Lin Chong was also a little surprised. He made so much money in just one day. This place should not be underestimated.

"Governor, why should we let merchants participate in this profitable business? Why should we let them take 30% of the profits if we can just do it ourselves?"

Someone said that 30% would be 300,000 strings of cash, which is a huge sum of money.