My life is like walking on thin ice

Chapter 389 Dilemma
A few days later, the caravan packed up again and set out on the "journey" again under the reluctant gaze of the Zhebie tribe.

After walking for several miles, the Han merchants asked the caravan to stop and count the caravan's supplies.

It was just as the Han merchants had expected: in addition to the several hundred kilograms of coarse salt, more than a kilogram of fine salt, thousands of kilograms of tea, and various medicines that were traded, the caravan's original goods also included a few pieces of cloth and a bronze ware.

The money that was supposed to be paid to the caravan also included a few old horses and lambs.

——This is also the daily routine of Han caravans traveling on the grassland.

In addition to normal transactions, Han caravans often suffered similar petty thefts or withholding of payments while staying with grassland tribes.

This is also the reason why the Han merchants came here - just a few miles away from the Zhebie tribe camp, they asked the caravan to stop and rest, and count the goods.

Fortunately, the loss was not too great and was still within an acceptable range, or within the 'budget';
After making sure that nothing else was lost, the Han merchant finally relaxed, grinned, and immediately called out to the caravan: Roast a lamb for us.

Overall, the trade volume of this transaction with the Zhebie tribe was not small.

Hundreds of kilograms of coarse salt, thousands of kilograms of tea, plus various medicines weighing more than 30 kilograms;
In addition, there was a pound of fine salt, a few pieces of cloth, and some stolen goods as a gift or "bonus".

Among the more than ten carts of goods that the caravan brought out of the pass and to the grassland, this accounted for nearly two carts.

But the gains from this transaction are proportional to the effort, and are also incredibly rich.

——Three Hun stallions!
Although he is not a true stallion, he is still a male horse with eggs hanging!

As long as the caravan can successfully bring these three stallions back to the Han area, whether they are "retailed" in the market or directly sold in packages to the imperial steward, they can earn thousands of gold, or tens of millions of dollars!
This is not over yet.

In addition to these three stallions, there are a full two hundred "old horses". Although there is a high probability that they cannot be brought back to the Han area, they can save the caravan a lot of trouble on this "expedition".

First of all, of course, the caravan changed from walking to each person riding two horses, which greatly improved the caravan's travel speed.

Secondly, when food is scarce, these two hundred seemingly useless old horses can also become the last food reserve.

The last and most important point is that with these horses, the hundreds of guards originally belonging to the caravan will directly become hundreds of cavalry!

Although they had not received any systematic training, they were still cavalry!

The combined military force of one hundred infantrymen and one hundred cavalrymen on the grassland is completely different.

With these 200 horses, the entire caravan completed the gorgeous transformation from 'infantry' to 'cavalry', and the risk factor of the caravan's trip out of the border was undoubtedly greatly reduced.

Although it is still dangerous;

There is still at least a 20% to 30% chance that this caravan will be buried outside the Great Wall;
But it is still much better than before, when 80% of people could not bring back goods or payment, and 60% could not return to the Han area alive.

To be honest, the Han merchants at this time actually had the urge to turn around and go back home.

——Two truckloads of goods, with a total value of no more than 200,000 coins, were exchanged for tens of millions of coins in less than half a year!

Even if the remaining 200 horses are of poor quality, they can at least be used as horses to pull goods, or they can be killed directly as old horses for meat.

When a poor horse is sold, it can be worth several million coins - a price of 40,000 coins per horse may even cause a rush for it!
Even if they were killed and sold for meat, the price would be at least 20 to 30 coins per catty. A horse weighed a thousand catties, and each one would cost 20,000 to 30,000 coins. Two hundred horses would cost about five million coins.

And this is just a horse.

——Three healthy stallions worth tens of millions of dollars and two hundred old horses were just part of the payment the caravan received in the Zhebie tribe.

In addition to horses, the Zhebie tribe also provided twenty lambs as food reserves for the caravan.

A hundred or so people driving twenty or so lambs, especially lambs used as food reserves, are obviously not included in the painting.

In addition, there is the bronze sword that came from Qin Shaofu, and several crossbow machines made by Qin Shaofu that are unusable due to damaged parts but are equally valuable.

Logically speaking, no one would dare to privately own strictly controlled military equipment such as armor and crossbows that are "worth losing".

But who are the Han merchants?

He was a man who could go to the grassland to do business, despite the legal regulations prohibiting the export of contraband items, carrying more than a dozen truckloads of contraband items that were almost all prohibited from flowing out!
He who can sell three stallions to the Imperial Household not only does not have to worry about being targeted by the officials, but can also count his money with peace of mind!
For such a "well-connected" person, these three crossbows could be sold to the Shaofu through his official connections, and after being repaired and replaced with spare parts by the Shaofu, they could be deployed to the Han army.

——It must be said that the bronze ware, especially the military equipment, produced by the Qin Shaofu is still far superior to that of the current Han Shaofu.

After all, the young master Qin at that time mastered the most advanced smelting and manufacturing technology of bronze civilization;
Today, Han Shaofu has invested a considerable amount of his energy into the new generation of metal: steel smelting technology.

Although they have never done similar business, according to the rough estimates of merchants, the three bronze crossbows from Qin Shaofu, which only need to replace parts to be restored to use, are probably worth tens of millions of dollars.

If there is a way to get the replacement parts, the best option for the merchant is to sell the three crossbows to individuals or unofficial groups through some shady channels, similar to black market transactions.

After all, according to the current Han Dynasty's control over armor and crossbows, a crossbow that does not exist in the Han Dynasty's military equipment catalog and has no "identity card" must be unsalable in the black channels.

It's a pity that eighty years ago, only the Qin Shaofu could handle bronze ware, and nowadays, only the Han Shaofu can handle it.

But it’s not bad - tens of millions of dollars can also recover the original cost of the goods that the merchants prepared when they went out of the customs.

By this calculation, the goods on the two carts, which were worth less than 200,000 coins in the Han area, were exchanged for three stallions worth tens of millions of coins, two hundred old horses worth at least five million coins, plus a sword and three scrapped crossbows.

The total value reached more than 16 million coins!
The 'payment' obtained in exchange for the two truckloads of goods was worth more than ten times the value of the dozen truckloads of goods in the entire caravan!
If everything goes well in the future, and the remaining ten or so truckloads of goods can be exchanged for goods of similar value, then this time out of the customs, the merchants will most likely make a hundred times the profit and become one of the few wealthy people in the Han Dynasty with "tens of millions of dollars"!

Just thinking about the hardships of the subsequent journey and the value of the "payment" already received, the merchants couldn't help but feel a little conflicted.

"If we go back now..."

"There are more than a hundred people in the caravan. Even if each person is given 100,000 coins, there will still be nearly 10 million coins in revenue."

"The remaining goods can be brought to the grassland next time - that is, the next time you go through customs, you don't need to spend the capital to purchase the goods."

"But with such huge profits, if we exchange all these dozen truckloads of goods..."

After a simple calculation, the merchants were completely trapped in the troubles of happiness.

——If they turn back at the same place, the merchants will complete the gorgeous transformation from millionaires to multi-millionaires, and the hundreds of people in the caravan will all have a property of one hundred thousand yuan that only a "middle-class family" can have.

From now on, these one hundred or so people will most likely become the merchants' old friends. When merchants go out to trade in the grasslands in the future, they will no longer need to look for unknown guards, but can cooperate with these one hundred or so people for a long time.

Now that May has just passed, I am heading back home. If everything goes well, I may be able to get home before the end of the year.

Next year, I will bring other goods, a dozen more carts of goods, and then lead a larger caravan out of the customs...

This option is really tempting!

But the temptation of the second option is even more deadly.

——Keep going forward and trade all the goods in your hands!
As long as this can be done and most of the "payment" can be brought back to the Han area, the goods worth millions of dollars that the merchants carry out of the customs this time can be directly converted into tens of millions of dollars in profits!

Even if each of the hundreds of people under his command is given 200,000 or even 300,000 coins, the merchants will still have a profit of tens of millions of coins left!
With so much money, who would go out to do business?
Even in the Chang'an area, where every inch of land was worth a lot of money, an acre of land was worth only tens of thousands of coins.

Tens of millions of dollars are enough to buy two or three thousand acres of land near Chang'an!

The merchant's hometown was in Suiyang, Liang State, Guandong. The price of land there was only a few thousand coins per mu, even for the best fields.

In other words, as long as the merchant completes the plan before leaving the country and returns home safely with a net profit of tens of millions of yuan, he can become another well-known and powerful family in the territory of Liang State.

Find a place that is not too bad, buy 18,000 acres of land, rent it out to tenant farmers, and collect several thousand shi of grain in rent every year.

If I buy a few more shops and start a business, and sell the savings of 20 or 30 million yuan in the cellar, wouldn't I have enough for my life?

Not just this life - from now on, it will last for generations to come!
It is difficult for merchants to say "no" to such a good opportunity - a once-and-for-all opportunity that will benefit them for a lifetime, and even for their descendants.

It’s just the danger of being a trader in the grasslands…

"I will roast the lamb."

"Brothers, come up here. I have something to say."

After thinking for a long time, the merchant had made a decision in his mind, but he did not make the decision immediately. Instead, he gathered everyone in the caravan except his servants.

Seeing the merchant's conflicted expression, everyone roughly guessed his intention, so they walked forward and sat in a circle with the merchant as the center.

——I haven’t neglected my main job;

Among the more than one hundred people, at least thirty of them handed over the decision-making power to their close relatives, or directly to their fathers and brothers, and then consciously assumed the responsibility of sentinels.

Seeing this, the merchant did not think much about it and put his thoughts directly in front of everyone.

"This time, the goods I prepared cost me nearly two million yuan."

"Before leaving, I thought to myself: if I can earn 10 million yuan and give each of my brothers 100,000 yuan, then this trip will be worthwhile."

"——At present, the profit of 20 million yuan has probably been earned."

"Brothers, you are not rookies, and this is not your first time to make a living on the grassland."

"If we continue down, we will know the outcome. We all know how difficult and dangerous it is."

...

"If you go down, you can earn more, of course;"

"But it is also a good idea to go home and be content with what you have."

"I couldn't make up my mind, so I just laid it out and talked to the brothers."

"——We will go back now, and each person will receive 100,000 yuan, not a penny less!"

"Keep going down, it may be dangerous or smooth - when we return, each person will be guaranteed 300,000 coins, and if the profit is large, we will increase it."

"how?"

With a "how?", the merchant's originally kind, honest and harmless face suddenly changed into a hawk-like gaze, scanning the faces of everyone in the caravan.

——In fact, at this time, merchants should not bring up this matter.

After all, folk cooking may not be suitable at all times.

Especially when it comes to decisions that concern the fate of a caravan, the wisest choice for merchants is to make their own decisions, then announce their decisions directly, and let the caravan implement them.

But the merchant still expressed his dilemma and handed over the decision-making power of the matter - at least the right of suggestion - to the hands of the hundred or so rough men.

This will lead to a very bad result.

——There are always people who are dissatisfied.

If in the end, the merchant decides to move forward, then the person who proposed to go back home but whose suggestion was ultimately rejected will start to grumble and complain from then on.

It's fine if nothing goes wrong, but once something goes wrong, they will start to shake the morale of the team by saying things like "I told you a long time ago that you should go back, but you didn't listen."

The same is true in reverse - the person who originally proposed to continue going down will also feel unwilling to finally decide to turn back.

It would be fine if they could return smoothly, but once the returning apprentice makes a mistake, they will say something like "I said I dare not go back", and they will keep mumbling to each other, which will also make people lose morale.

If people's hearts are broken, it will be difficult to lead the team.

Especially on the grassland, for a caravan that is afraid of nothing but "variables", no matter what accidents happen, the entire caravan needs to work together to barely find some possibility of a solution.

If people's hearts were scattered, then if they encountered unexpected situations, it would really be...

"Maybe..."

"Return?"

...

"Is it too cowardly to just go back like this?"

"Thirteen truckloads of goods, at least half of them should be exchanged, right?"

"We have only exchanged two cars..."

As expected, as soon as the discussion started, the caravan, which had been united as one, instantly split into two camps.

Those who thought it was time to go home were mostly middle-aged people over 30 years old. They usually contributed to the caravan by being cautious, but at this moment they instinctively sought stability.

Those who think that they should continue to move forward are all young people under 30 years old, or even in their twenties.

From their eyes, the merchants only saw three words.

——Not willing to give in.

They were not willing to go back just like that;

Not willing to leave this time, he returned with the originally planned 100,000 yuan in hiring money.

They want more.

They want to risk their lives for the possibility of earning more.

There is nothing difficult to understand.

As early as when they decided to follow this caravan and set foot on the grassland, their lives had already become the bargaining chip for their pursuit of wealth...

(End of this chapter)