Entrepreneurship in the Late Tang Dynasty

Chapter 57: Divine Strategy (Seeking Follow-up Reading)

Song Wentong's eyes were red and he was crying out in grievance. It was quite funny.

Zhao Huaian quickly shook his head and pulled his hand out calmly, saying in embarrassment:
"Brother Song, it's not that we, the Zhao family, are unwilling to help you. But the head of this Nanzhao soldier is only worth three pieces of cloth, not to mention those warriors. No matter how great our friendship is, it can't compare to the thousands of pieces of cloth my eight hundred brothers have."

Unexpectedly, when Song Wentong heard this number, he was stunned:
"General Zhao, you actually have hundreds of heads?"

Zhao Huaian curled his lips and thought to himself that this was just the beginning. If he had not fought conservatively before and let the Nanzhao army in front escape, he would have lost two or three hundred heads in the attack yesterday evening alone.

Suddenly, Song Wentong waved his hand:
"It's just a few thousand pieces of cloth, my dear brother. If you don't need any help, our Shen Ce Army will have no shortage of money. I don't need anyone else's consent. I'll make the decision and exchange a thousand pieces of cloth for a hundred Nanman heads. How do you think?"

Before Zhao Huaian could speak, Song Wentong added:
"Not only that, good brother, if you sell me level 200, I'll give you 2,500!"

Zhao Huaian was stunned. He hadn't said anything yet, and this Brother Song started to raise the price? He'd better keep quiet.

Sure enough, seeing that Zhao Huaian still didn't say anything, Song Wentong gritted his teeth and stretched out two fingers:

"Well, Brother Zhao and I hit it off right away. I'll make the decision. You sell me 300 horses, and I'll give you 3,500. How about that?"

When Zhao Huaian heard this number, he cursed inwardly:
"This little Song is actually trying to play tricks on me. Damn, he thinks my old Zhao is a fool who can't count. This guy is treacherous!"

But he estimated that 13 pieces of cloth for one head was the other party's bottom line, so he spoke directly:
"Xiao Song, you and I hit it off right away. Since we're family, you can bring over 4,000 pieces of cloth and take away the 300 heads I have left."

After Zhao Huaian finished speaking, Song Wentong across from him took a deep breath, but finally managed a smile:
"Good brother, that's great! Okay, four thousand horses is four thousand. I'll have the brothers come and pull them soon."

Zhao Huaian frowned:
"Brother, we are exchanging cloth and goods. You don't want to take my three hundred-level heads for nothing, do you?"

Song Wentong was stunned. He didn't expect that Zhao Da was such a fool. But since he needed help, he could only explain patiently:

"So, brother, you know, four thousand pieces of cloth is a big deal. Who can carry it with them? But don't be afraid, brother. Even if other armies try to extort you, our Shen Ce Army won't. In Chengdu, there are three or five money-stealing houses run by our Shen Ce Army alone. Let alone four thousand pieces of cloth, forty thousand pieces is nothing."

At first, Zhao Huaian didn't know what this money-lending house was. After listening to Song Wentong's explanation, he realized that it was a loan sharking place.

This made Zhao Huaian even more shocked.

Wow, are the members of the Shen Ce Army soldiers or are they in the financial field?

On this side, Song Wentong took out several money-grabbing coupons, which were stamped with the seals of several major temples in Chengdu. He kept one as a deposit and then asked him to take dozens of them back to report.

Later, let Shangguan inspect it and then make the follow-up transaction.

Zhao Huaian nodded, thinking there was nothing wrong.

Just as Zhao Huaian was about to call Lao Liu in to set up a table, Song Wentong unexpectedly asked:
"Brother Zhao, I wonder if you'd like to make a fortune with me."

When he heard that it was about making money, Zhao Huaian got excited and quickly pulled Song Wentong to ask him to explain in detail.

Then Song Wentong said that their trip to Chengdu this time was not only to escort Mr. Zhou to take up his post as military inspector, but they also had a private job.

That is to come to Chengdu to find a group of merchants to purchase some large timber for royal construction, so they asked Zhao Huaian if he was willing to work with them.

Zhao Huaian was puzzled. Are your Shen Ce Army really that mixed? They're loan sharks and royal procurement agents. So, if they don't fight, they do everything?
Purchasing can make money, but Zhao Huaian doesn’t think much of this little money. After all, it will take a long time to get the money back.

But Song Wentong said mysteriously:

"My dear brother Zhao, is there any business in the world easier to do than ours?"

As he spoke, he introduced to Zhao Da how their Shen Ce Army made money.

It turned out that after these members of the Shen Ce Army followed the military supervisor to the local area, they directly pretended to be royal merchants and extorted tributes from the local area in the name of royal purchases.

These things would be sold directly in the local area, and then a batch of inferior products would be purchased and sold to the imperial court as good ones.

The court's finance and salt and iron officials basically relied on the Lieutenant of Shen Ce for support, and the emperor himself rarely looked at these tributes, so he could directly cheat subsidies from the court.

These are still some of the more reliable Shen Ce troops. Some are even more ruthless, and they are directly Zhongna Damu.

These people first spent a lot of money from the court in the name of purchasing large timber, then pretended to purchase it locally, and finally found a group of people to rob it on the road, and then said that the large timber was lost.

This is cruel, it is really getting something for nothing.

Song Wentong asked Zhao Huaian to cooperate, in fact, he wanted him to be the black glove, pretending to be a mountain shed or Nanzhao army, to rob the lumberyard.

Just to show his sincerity, Song Wentong also told Zhao Huaian:
"Originally, our Shen Ce Army stopped this work during the reign of Emperor Wenzong because it was too extensive. The court no longer purchased large timber. But now that Your Majesty has ascended the throne, with a new dynasty and a new atmosphere, it is natural to build in a French style. Western Sichuan is the most famous for its large timber, so we have ordered the Ministry of Finance to go to Chengdu to source large timber."

"So, Zhao Da, this is a done deal. As long as you follow our instructions and set fire to that place, you can get ten times as much, not to mention four thousand pieces of cloth."

Zhao Huaian did not refuse at the first time.

Because no matter how true what Song Wentong said was, he could not avoid one issue, that is, his official position in the Shen Ce Army was too low.

Zhao Da was not a loyal minister or general of the Tang Dynasty, nor did he have the idea of ​​saving money for the Li family. He did not care much about whether to make black gloves or not. After all, he could make a lot of money, so making black gloves was not shameful.

But Zhao Huaian can cooperate with the military supervisor Zhou Congyu, but not with Song Wentong, because the latter is too risky. Who knows if this guy has any backers and whether he can suppress the matter?

If this was just a private job done by this small group of people, Zhao Huaian would not be willing to get involved.

If the imperial court's finance department can't handle the lieutenant, how can it handle you, Song Wentong? So the risk is too great and not worth it. But Zhao Huaian didn't refuse directly, but changed the subject:
"Xiao Song, my brother only has this much money, and this is not how we run our business. Let's talk about the big wood job later, let's take care of the current one first. This business starts small and grows big, as long as we are satisfied with this one, there is no future for us to worry about."

Song Wentong nodded, and stopped talking about the big timber business. He began to chat with Zhao Huaian about some interesting things in Chang'an.

It was during this process that Zhao Huaian realized that Song Wentong in front of him was not a disciple of the old Shen Ce, but was a soldier of the Boye Army four years ago.

Wow, this little Song is making great progress. A foreigner who came to the complicated Shen Ce Army, and was able to participate in this kind of thing in just four years.

It seems that I need to have a good relationship with Song Wentong.

After thinking about it, Zhao Huaian suddenly said, "It's like investing in Song Wentong.
"Brother Song, since you called me brother, I have to show my respect as your brother. So, I will give you forty level Nanman heads. If you want captives, I can give you another twenty. I wonder if this will help you."

At this time, Song Wentong's eyes were red. He held Zhao Huaian's hand again, so excited that he didn't know what to say.

Zhao Huaian patted Song Wentong and said with a smile:

"It's okay, we brothers hit it off right away."

Song Wentong couldn't help it any longer and was moved:

"Good brother, I wonder how old you are this year."

Zhao Huaian stroked his beard and said proudly:
"Not young anymore, I'm over 20, almost 30."

At this moment, Song Wentong was stunned. He took a deep breath and finally managed to utter a word:

"Brother, I'm twenty-two."

Zhao Huaian was also dumbfounded. He didn't expect that this pretty boy was actually one year older than him. However, he was thick-skinned and forced himself to break through the awkwardness. He smiled and said:

"It's okay, let's talk about our own affairs."

This time, Song Wentong was silent. After a long time, he called out "good brother".

Then Zhao Huaian laughed even louder.

Don’t mention it, Xiao Song has a bad temper towards him.

……

Zhao Huaian looked at the sky and felt that everything had been discussed and there was no need to keep Xiao Song in the camp for dinner.

So, be considerate of him:

"Brother, I'll have someone order forty heads for you first. You can take them back first. There will be no problem later. We can clear out the goods."

As he spoke, Zhao Huaian also thought about him:
"Hurry back, we can't let the brothers of the Shen Ce Army outside wait anxiously."

At this time, Zhao Da didn't know that after Song Wentong entered the camp, there was no sound for a long time, and the ruffians of the Shen Ce Army outside were already waiting with anger.

If he hadn't been concerned about Song Wentong who had already entered the camp, he would have been cursing outside.

Song Wentong said yes repeatedly, thanking this good brother for his thoughtfulness. But before leaving, as if he had just remembered, he asked Zhao Da:
"By the way, good brother, if you need money, tell me. For the sake of brotherhood, I'll give you 30% interest."

The smile on Zhao Huaian's face froze, and he quickly faked a smile:

"No, no, this is a small book and the cost is not much. Besides, I just did a business with your Shen Ce Army, so the money is not bad for now. If there is such a job in the future, come to me again. You know, I, Zhao Dashi, am a fair person."

Song Wentong nodded repeatedly before bidding farewell to Zhao Dayi.

Seeing that Song Wentong was finally leaving, Zhao Huaian couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. He was about to take the cup to drink water, but suddenly his sleeve swept it and the cup fell to the ground.

Song Wentong had already walked to the edge of the tent. When he heard the sound of the cup falling to the ground, his face turned pale with fear and he turned around and shouted:

"Good brother, what's going on?"

Damn, this drama, they, the Shen Ce Army, are too familiar with it. At this moment, Song Wentong was really scared out of his wits.

Before Zhao Huaian could say anything, Zhao Liu and his lackey Lu Zhongyuan rushed in with a group of Beiwei.

Then, while Song Wentong was crying, they pressed him to the ground and tied him up with a rope.

Song Wentong's face was buried in the ground, but he still refused to give up and struggled and shouted at Zhao Da:

"Brother, good brother, this is a misunderstanding, a misunderstanding."

Zhao Huaian's face was also dull. He tried hard to force a smile, walked up to Song Wentong, and said with a smile:

"Brother Song, I said this is a misunderstanding, do you believe it?"

Without any hesitation, Song Wentong cried out:
"I believe it, I believe it, my brother really believes it. Wuuuuuu, brother, spare my life."

This time, Xiao Song really cried.

(End of this chapter)