The pork butcher is smoother than a pig butcher!

Chapter 450 The Purchasing Power of 100,000 Taels of Silver
After the summer harvest.

More than two thousand strong men escorted more than three hundred camel carts into the Ili River Valley.

Manager Zhu, along with the merchants he had established connections with, waited early at the entrance of the ranch for the group of people.

In the eyes of traveling merchants, it gleamed brightly.

Looking at the convoy approaching from afar, it was like seeing a series of moving mountains of gold.

As for the burly men escorting the convoy, they weren't his primary focus for the time being.

His eyes were glued to the camel wagons, which were several times the size of horse-drawn carriages.

Even with years of experience in trading, he couldn't help but sigh inwardly:
Back then, he and the men from various tribes in the Iri Valley often went to Tokyo to sell goods.

Hundreds of people will go at a time.

The hardships they endured on the road are self-evident; they encountered numerous bandits and government troops who robbed them at checkpoints along the way.

Getting injured is commonplace, and losing your life wouldn't be surprising.

The merchants dared not be greedy; as long as they could bring back 30% of the goods, they could make a profit.

Even with all that hardship, merchants still flocked to the Han Chinese court before it descended into chaos.

Then compare it to what's in front of us.

The head steward in charge of making arrangements was nothing more than a servant of a noble young master.

In just one month, they moved goods in a quantity equal to the total volume of hundreds of merchants at that time.

Old, old.

I even witnessed a day when Han Chinese delivered goods to people's doors.

I never even dared to think of such a thing.

It seems that the stationing of Han Chinese troops in Guanzhong was not entirely a bad thing.

The merchant family had pooled all their resources, raising a total of 100,000 taels of silver, intending to keep it all for themselves.

If Steward Zhu knew of his ambitions, he would surely praise him, saying: "Your teeth are better than your appetite!"

The merchants with good appetites saw iron pots piled up as high as the roof inside the first camel wagon after Manager Zhu lifted the curtain of the first wagon.

He was so startled that he took a step back.

The meaning in his eyes was very clear.

You actually dare to sell iron pots?
Isn't this a capital offense?!
Manager Zhu, head held high, pointed proudly in the direction of Kansai and said:

"That's all ancient history from many years ago. Our Yongtai Dynasty is different from the previous dynasty! Our Emperor was a great general before, and he was least afraid of fighting! Just a few months ago, he pacified hundreds of thousands of barbarians in the southwest."

Killing hundreds of thousands of enemies at a time?

How scary!
The traveling merchant couldn't help but shudder, then immediately put on a wide smile:
"Your Emperor is mighty and wise! I'll take all of these iron pots!"

"Five thousand iron pots, each priced at fifty thousand taels! The only condition is that each herding household can only buy one pot based on their household registration. We will send someone to supervise the process."

peddler:"."

He can't make that decision.

Ignoring the merchants' predicament, Manager Zhu pointed to another caravan with a special sign and said, "Friend, don't worry. If you can't handle the iron pots, how about some Sichuan tea bricks?"

The traveling merchant readily agreed to the simple and hassle-free transaction: "Yes, yes! I can take them all!"

The herders do not favor the precious, stored green tea; instead, they prefer tea bricks made through processes such as fermentation, pressing, and drying.

Pry off a piece, boil it with milk, salt, and other ingredients, and you have a grassland-style milk tea.

Tea bricks are a form of hard currency on the grasslands.

Manager Zhu was clearly satisfied with the merchant's attitude and proceeded to introduce the business to himself:

"I'm not afraid you'll order too much, I'm just worried you won't be able to finish it all! This time, we've brought in a total of six thousand pieces of the finest tea bricks, each priced at five taels of silver."

He was a little hesitant about the price, because he was one of the few people who knew the purchase price of this batch of tea bricks.

These tea bricks were leftover stock from the family of the tea merchant's daughter who beheaded Zan Jiu.

The ruthless man intended to give it away to General Gan for free.

The general's noble character must be bought with real money!

After a tense standoff, the price was reduced to just cost.

Five hundred coins each, sixty thousand coins were purchased, all of which were high-quality summer tea.

The retail price in the various garrison shops in Guanzhong was two taels of silver. But with the vanguard battalion escorting it, the price jumped to five taels.

Clearly, Manager Zhu left some room for negotiation with the other party.

The traveling merchant was somewhat hesitant.

It wasn't that he didn't want to negotiate the price, but he was afraid that if he said something wrong during the negotiation process, he would offend Steward Zhu.

After all, professional vendors don't quote prices this way.

Most importantly, he can still make a profit at this price.

Tea bricks, tea bricks, the tea leaves made from them are as hard as bricks.

One piece weighs one jin (500 grams).

One serving is enough for an average herding family to drink for three months.

If you were to sell tea to Shache, the capital city that had been without tea for several years, a single tea brick could fetch eight or nine taels of silver.

With the intention of befriending Manager Zhu so that they could purchase goods on a long-term basis, the merchant readily agreed:

"I can eat it all! I can eat it all!"

Manager Zhu raised the corners of his mouth, giving the other person a look that said, "You're quite sensible."

They then brought the traveling merchants to another caravan, which was traveling alongside the iron pots and tea bricks.

He shouted at the leader, Tiger Head:

"Good lad, come over here and introduce the rare item you brought to our friends."

It is indeed a rare item.

It is a new invention that was created in the past month or so under the technical guidance of General Zhenxi.

Manager Zhu only saw the general mention it briefly in the letter.

Upon hearing this, Tiger Head jumped off the camel cart. He had grown into a spirited young man who was 1.75 meters tall.

His skills are second only to those of the head of the personal guard, Yuanzhi.

When he was out on official business, he was General Gan's most reliable military commander.

The energetic young man opened his mouth, revealing his neat, white teeth:
"Manager Zhu, don't rush to sell your goods. It's almost noon. Please have this merchant stay so that the chef from Sichuan and Chongqing who came with us can cook you lunch first."

Manager Zhu, showing consideration for his son and brother, said, "That's great! You have to queue up to get a taste of the Sichuan and Chongqing chefs' skills."

The traveling merchants were somewhat bewildered and could only go along with the host's arrangements.

The tiger's head, with its mouth wide open, waved its left hand.

Then someone carried out two barrel-shaped clay stoves, each about three feet tall, from the car.

Clay stoves are not uncommon.

But the two spherical objects burning in the clay stove core were both unfamiliar and familiar.

In less than fifteen minutes, flames shot out of the clay stove.

Tiger Head proudly pointed to the bright red furnace core and introduced it to the two of them:

"This is called a honeycomb briquette. Two honeycomb briquettes are enough to stew a whole pot of beef and mutton until tender!"

"Ah! So useful?" Steward Zhu's surprise was no exaggeration.

The traveling merchants' eyes also lit up with surprise.

The main fuel on the grassland is cow dung, but that kind of fire is very weak, nothing like the intense fire of these honeycomb briquettes.

Tiger Head was even happier to see that the two of them were stunned.

They are not mindless fans of the general.

The Great General himself is a true god!
She had the craftsmen mix the mud and coal slag together, and then used molds to create honeycomb briquettes that shocked all the camps.

Easy to use!

It saves money!

I heard that General Zhaowu personally burned several honeycomb briquettes.

They even blamed their general.

Good ideas should be put forward early to make you rich!
Honeycomb briquettes and mud stoves are selling like hotcakes in Hami New City these days.

(End of this chapter)