The pork butcher is smoother than a pig butcher!

Let's keep watching the strange things.

Gan Minglan's gaze quickly settled on a long list of medicine merchants and businesses.

After counting, there were a total of eighteen merchants selling medicinal herbs.

The medicinal herbs carried by these merchants were mostly rhubarb, gallnut, licorice, angelica, ginseng, poria cocos, cassia seed, astragalus, etc.

In this dynasty, pulse diagnosis was the best medical technique.

She never imagined that traditional Chinese medicine would be such a significant part of the export business.

When the garrison commander of Guazhou met her, he lingered for quite some time on the medicinal herb lists of the merchants, and quickly vouched for these merchants:

"Please rest assured, General, all medicines entering Guazhouwei have undergone full inspection, and there are absolutely no adulterated or prohibited drugs among them."

The medicine merchants brought two-thirds of the raw herbs, half of the prepared medicines, and the remainder were all top-grade Nine-Leaf Hibiscus Grass.

"What ailment does the Nine-Leaf Hibiscus Herb treat?"

Several generals in their thirties, seeing that they had finally stumped the all-knowing and all-powerful General Gan, could no longer help but burst into laughter.

The garrison commander of Guazhou quickly explained for her:
"General, the Nine-Leaf Hibiscus Herb is said to be a good medicine presented to Zhuge Liang by the hermit Meng Jie during the Three Kingdoms period to treat patients suffering from miasma."

Later, someone added more than 20 kinds of Chinese medicinal herbs, such as angelica, vanilla, borneol, sophora japonica, and purple flowers, to this medicine.

Cut it into small strips, roll it up, and put it in a pipe to smoke. The smoke can be used to refresh the mind, regulate breathing, and repel mosquitoes.

Gan Minglan was completely speechless.

This tobacco called Nine-Leaf Hibiscus is now being exported as a medicinal herb!

It sounds reasonable enough; it can be invigorating and refreshing when inhaled. Who can say it's not a good medicine?!

half a month later.

Merchants from various regions, small businesses, foreign merchants, tribal leaders, and others were allowed to bring their goods to the two border trade cities.

First visit to the border trade city of the Iri River Valley.

Everyone was amazed by the brand-new city with its blue bricks and gray tiles, and its unique internal structure.

This is a city shaped like a Bagua (eight trigrams).

Centered around the central square, eight main streets radiate outwards, covering an area roughly the size of a medium-sized prefecture within the territory.

The eight main streets are named according to their directions: Qian Street, Dui Street, Kun Street, Li Street, Xun Street, Zhen Street, Gen Street, and Kan Street.

The merchants on Qian Street had already moved in before them.

The managers of Han Chinese merchant houses passing by Qian Street loudly read aloud the signs hanging at the entrances of the shops on Qian Street:
"Bashu Flavor Restaurant Yili Branch, Zuixiangju Yili Branch, Ganweixian Yili Branch"

"Oh dear, there are also two teahouses and three inns!"

"How come even a branch of the Embroidery Pavilion has opened in the Border Trade City? It seems that selling embroidery products in the Border Trade City will be difficult in the future!"

"The main store of the Kansai Trading Company? Is it run by the Kansai garrison? What kind of things do you think this trading company sells? Could there be overlap with our products?"

"You want to know? Why don't you go in and take a look? Anyway, the shop we rented is on Dui Street next door. We can go to Qian Street first and learn from the merchants there."

Learn from experience?

No matter where the merchants came from, once they entered the Kansai Trading Company's main store, they wouldn't be able to leave for at least half a day!
If it weren't for the fact that the Kansai Trading Company's main store operated on an order-based system, requiring a 30% deposit upfront, they would have gone in with their pockets full and come out naked.

Gold and silver coins from other countries can be exchanged for Yongtai Dynasty silver notes at the Yili branch of the Yongtai Grand Bank on the same street!

Once all the sellers had found their designated commercial streets and rented their shops to display their goods, the opening day arrived quickly. All this was for this day.

In order to find the things I want in the border trade city.

The local residents were prepared to spend a fortune.

The herders in the Iri River Valley are very enthusiastic:
"I just sold all the livestock that were ready for market this year half a month ago, so now I can buy all kinds of livestock without restraint."

"Although I can buy daily necessities from Kansai Trading Company on weekdays, nothing beats having thousands of vendors selling all their goods and having so many to choose from! I still love going to these big markets the most!"

"I heard that a lot of medicine merchants have come this time, and the shamans from several nearby tribes have all come out!"

"Not only can we buy life-saving medicinal herbs, but this time we also have plenty of tea! With this city here, we'll never lack tea again!"

"Do you want to buy silk? If you ask me, that cool, slippery silk satin is not as comfortable as the cotton fabric sold by the Kansai Trading Company. Cotton absorbs sweat and is breathable, and it doesn't fade no matter how many times you wash it."

"."

The herders in the Ili River Valley are all skilled at making a living.

Although they were both well-off, they had their own plans and discussions before choosing the goods.

The immigrant new village presents a completely different scene.

The immigrant families have been waiting for this day for almost half a year.

"My husband and his friends have been praising the Bagua City they built all day long, saying how extraordinary it is. Tomorrow we can finally go and see what the inside of the city looks like!"

"There are over a thousand shops on eight streets, and it would take three to five days to see them all! We need to take advantage of the large number of people coming these days. The General is kind and has allowed us to set up stalls in the central square. Let's make the most of this time and earn some extra money!"

"I'm best at steaming meat buns. I plan to prepare the dough tonight and steam five hundred meat buns tomorrow morning to set up a stall!"

"Tsk, you can only make a penny per meat bun. If you have that kind of skill, you should learn from those herdsmen. You could make a fortune selling grilled meat skewers at a stall!"

"Barbecue? We can't compare to the skills of those herdsmen! You guys help me think of something, how about selling fried chicken in the central square? My husband took me to the Bashu Flavor Restaurant in Guazhouwei last month, and the fried chicken was crispy and fragrant, and tasted really good!"

"Salty food should be paired with some sweet soup, right? How about I sell plum juice and mung bean soup next to your stall?"

"."

All the people who knew the opening day were excited and eager to go.

There are also people who don't have a strong desire to shop, like Gan Minglan.

Zuo Wenkang then asked her:

"I heard that the foreign merchants brought a lot of jewelry and jade. Why don't you go and buy some, my lady? You can keep some to make jewelry for yourself to wear in rotation, or you can save some for Yuanyuan as a dowry."

Gan Minglan: "."

That's because you don't know.

Ever since we looted the treasury of the previous Khan of the Kashgar Khanate, we haven't even looked at ordinary gemstones and jade.

She couldn't say it outright, so she pretended to be disgusted:

“No matter how beautiful the gemstones and jade are, they are still stones. You see, during times of war, how many kilograms of rice can these beautiful stones be exchanged for? Whether it is a prosperous time or a chaotic time, gold is still the best store of value! Let’s exchange all the profits that each workshop distributes to our manor each year into gold and save it.”

The profits from the workshops openly distributed within the government office amounted to no less than 300,000 taels of silver a year.

Even if all three children grow up to be spendthrifts, the family fortune they receive will be enough to squander for generations.

The well-off couple decided to postpone their participation in the fun. (End of Chapter)