Republic of China: Guandong Ginseng King

Chapter 221 A great harvest
Da Zhuzi took Qu Shaoyang to the homes of several wealthy families in the village and introduced Qu Shaoyang to them.

Several wealthy families in Tadian planted a lot of land, and after paying for their own consumption, they still had a lot of food left over every year.

Qu Shaoyang wants to harvest soybeans, and is planning to open a distillery or a flour mill next year, so it would be a good opportunity for him to get acquainted with these big farmers.

Then we can come and collect food and so on, which can be regarded as laying the foundation in advance.

Tadian is located in a remote area. Although it is under the jurisdiction of Tonghua, it is actually far away from Tonghua.

Transportation is inconvenient here, so every household has something to sell and basically relies on the wood gang and the row gang.

In winter, carpenter gangs go into the mountains to cut down trees. A carpenter gang can consist of dozens or even hundreds of people, and their food and drink alone cost a lot.

Tadian is close to the mountain field, and many timber gangs buy food from Tadian.

Another way is to wait until the spring when rafts are launched and sell your own produce to the rafting workers to make money.

Most of the things purchased by the Mubang were sorghum rice, corn grits, cornmeal, potatoes, squash, cabbage, etc. The worst that they would buy was a pig when they started harvesting crops.

As for other things, if the Mu Gang doesn’t want them, they have nowhere to sell them.

So when these people heard that Qu Shaoyang was collecting mountain products, pig bristles and so on, they all widened their eyes.

Everyone has these things, but no one has ever thought that they can be exchanged for money.

Several people were tempted and asked about the price.

The price Qu Shaoyang quoted was actually not high, but these people didn't care about that. In their eyes, there were plenty of these things in the mountains, and as long as they could be exchanged for money, it would be fine.

So he quickly arranged for people to search everywhere and find everything that could be sold in exchange for money.

Qu Shaoyang was in a hurry to meet the hunter and told him that he would bring people to collect the goods tomorrow and asked everyone to make preparations in advance.

As long as the quality is good, we will accept them all, whether they are mushrooms, fungus, pine nuts, walnuts, etc.

After the two parties reached an agreement, Qu Shaoyang and Da Zhuzi left and continued to wander around the village.

Although there are only about two hundred households in Tadian, there are quite a few hunters.

Da Zhuzi took Qu Shaoyang to visit seven or eight families, and almost every family had saved up a lot of things.

Various kinds of skins, bear bile, deer antlers, musk, otter liver, leopard cat bones, and some families even have mallets.

Qu Shaoyang still said what he had said before, that he would bring people tomorrow to collect the money door to door.

When the other party saw that Qu Shaoyang didn't look like a swindler, and with Dazhuzi acting as a go-between, they stopped being anxious.

Qu Shaoyang followed Dazhuzi around the village and got a general idea of ​​the situation. It was already getting late.

Dazhuzi wanted to go home, but Qu Shaoyang didn't let him and dragged Dazhuzi to the inn.

The innkeeper was asked to prepare two tables of delicious dishes and two jars of good wine, and everyone ate and drank to their heart's content.

The meal lasted quite late, and Dazhuzi drank a little too much in the end, so he staggered back home.

The next morning, everyone got up and had breakfast, and Dazhuzi also packed up and came over.

The crowd was divided into two groups. Da Zhuzi led the Chen brothers to collect mountain products and pig bristles, while Qu Shaoyang took a few people to collect various skins and medicinal materials.

Tadian is one of the larger villages in the upper reaches of the Yalu River. Everyone worked here for four days and harvested everything they could before leaving.

Before leaving, Qu Shaoyang found Dazhuzi and asked him to help continue collecting mountain products and other things in Tadian.

In addition, Qu Shaoyang also gave Dazhuzi some money as a reward for his hard work over the past few days.

Dazhuzi originally refused to accept it, but Qu Shaoyang threatened him that if he didn't accept it, he would not need Dazhuzi's help in the future.

Dazhuzi had no choice but to take the money and promised to get the job done.

When Qu Shaoyang and his companions left home, they were a team of horses, each carrying a load of goods. This trip was quite fruitful, but when they were about to leave Tadian, they found that there were too many goods for the horses to carry.

There was no other way, so Qu Shaoyang asked Dazhuzi for help again. He bought four sleds from Tadian, loaded the heavy goods on the sleds and pulled them back.

In this way, everyone left Tadian and returned along the same route, collecting a lot of skins and other things.

It took more than twenty days to go back and forth. The harvest was rich, but the money they brought was basically spent.

So, everyone decided not to go anywhere and returned to Linjiang to rest for a few days.

Qu Shaoyang was running around outside with his men, while Liu Dongshan was also busy at home with the other guys.

Not only do they have to take care of housework, arrange people to patrol every night, but they also purchase mountain products and other things around Maoer Mountain.

Every now and then, Liu Dongshan would take his men into the mountains to check out the traps and snares on the mountain.

If they saw traces of wild animals, they would lead people and dogs into the mountains to hunt and get some game to improve their lives.

"This is the silver and copper coins I exchanged for Tonghua. Please check the amount.

You collected so many things this time, you must have spent all your money, right?"

Before leaving, Qu Shaoyang asked Liu Dongshan to exchange the banknotes at home for cash when he had time.

They want to do business now, but the country people don't recognize silver notes. Besides, most families don't have that much stuff worth three or five hundred taels.

In fact, most of the time, silver is used less, and copper coins are the most flexible.

When his apprentice went out to do business, Liu Dongshan gave him all his support. It was just to exchange for some money, a small matter, and he would do it when he had time.

When Qu Shaoyang came back, Liu Dongshan hurriedly handed all the accounts to his apprentice. The two of them handed over the accounts face to face and checked them to make sure they were correct.

"What are your plans next? Continue to receive the goods or go to Yingkou?" Liu Dongshan asked casually.

"Well, I want to go to places like Badaojiang, Shuidong, and Tonghua in the next few days.

We will collect as much as we can and send a shipment to Yingkou before the twelfth lunar month."

It is winter now and the ice on the Yalu River is getting thicker, so there should be no problem in passing.

Qu Shaoyang planned to collect some more goods, then form a sled team and deliver them to Yingkou in one trip, so that he could exchange the money and come back for the New Year.

"Well, that's fine, then let's do this, you take your people to collect the goods first.

I'm almost done collecting the goods. Send someone back with a message. I'll bring people and goods directly to find you. We'll meet up and go to Yingkou together.

It’s such a long journey, and we might encounter any problems on the way, and not enough manpower would be enough.

Let's bring more people and guns, so we won't be afraid even if we are robbed." Liu Dongshan is old and thoughtful, so he suggested.

Qu Shaoyang thought about it and decided that this was the most reasonable arrangement. "Okay, that's it. Master will have to follow us and suffer again."

Qu Shaoyang and the Chen brothers went out to collect the goods, and the only one in the family who could support the business was Liu Dongshan.

"What? Do you look down on your master? I'm telling you, I'm in great shape, nothing's wrong with me.

Don’t look at my age, just a few young men, don’t think you can get any advantage from me.”

Liu Dongshan widened his eyes and patted his chest. He was not old, not at all, no worse than a young man.

"Yes, yes, I said the wrong thing, Master is still strong and healthy.

Tomorrow, let my master's wife give birth to another junior brother." Qu Shaoyang teased his master with a playful smile.

(End of this chapter)