open sea

Chapter 833 Service
In fact, the most popular products on the border are not the exquisite but extremely expensive silk and porcelain, nor the brown sugar and rock sugar from Changsheng County, but cotton flour bags.

Xu Jin, a hundred households stationed in Zhangjiabao, discovered this problem very early and reported to Lin Huer, a thousand households, that the amount of cotton flour bags they sold was seriously inconsistent with the amount of grain they took back.

This is a very interesting thing in itself. Westerners want to sell grain, and they have to use cotton flour bags to sell grain. They need to buy cotton flour bags from here. The bags are very cheap. You can buy ten of them with [-] Tongbao, almost on the border. The only thing that sells cheaply.

Even if this kind of sewn cotton bag from Daming is sold in Daming, it is durable and only costs [-] Tongbao, but you have to buy it with copper coins.

Here, the cotton noodle bag is originally a one-time consumable. Grain merchants in the West bought cotton noodle bags, filled them with grain, and then sold them back.

However, hundreds of cotton flour bags can be sold a day on the border, but less than half of them can be recovered, and sometimes even a third cannot be recovered. There are fewer and fewer grain sellers, but more and more bags. many.

At first, Lin Hu'er also thought that it was because of You Shuai Lin Manjue's revenge activities on the east side of the border, which made the plantation owners rush to pay the protection fee, which caused the shortage of noodles, but later he found out that this was not the case.

On the other side of the border guarding the official road, there is a tailor shop in the western plantation, which specializes in sewing two straps on the cotton bags given by Tongbao, sewing ten face pockets for [-] Tongbao, and bringing your own straps.

Lin Hu'er couldn't even understand this operation. You are a western plantation, what kind of treasures do you collect to join in the fun?

The most exaggerated thing is that this guy later went across the border to Zhangjiabao to find Xu Jin, and asked Xu Jin if he could place an order for cotton cloth, and these words were not printed on it.

"He asked Martin to be printed on it, as if it was his surname, and this seal was also printed on it. He was willing to buy 1 of them with [-] Tongbao. If Chang Sheng could make straps, he was willing to pay [-] Tongbao. "

Lin Huer's first reaction was, 'Is this person sick? ', 1 Tongbao to buy [-] cotton backpacks, what is wrong with this?
It shows that he has 1 Tongbao. If he doesn't have one, he will say he bought it with fifteen silver coins.But you, a Spaniard, what are you doing with so many Tongbao in your hand?
"There are quite a lot of things for these Westerners. A few days ago, there was a person who wanted to write the name on the seal pattern on the porcelain, and now another person wanted to write the name on the cotton bag. Will Bingtang have to carve his name in the future? "

Lin Hu'er curled her lips and complained: "Forget about the porcelain. They want to burn the seal of King Philip's name. It is obvious that they want to give it as a gift. The price of 50 Tongbao is worth a trip as a rider. What is he? We have to make a trip for the trivial matter of Ten Thousand Tongbao?"

It's a thousand miles round trip, and the money earned by running there is not enough to nail the horse, Lin Hu'er waved: "Let him wait, there will be a rider returning next month, or let him go with the west on the border." Connect with the merchants, report the news, customize the goods, and the purchase price starts at 50 Tongbao."

The Ming army did make money in this process.

According to the system established by the Dongyang Army Mansion, the silver coins of Western merchants on the border are worth one tael or eight hundred in exchange for Tongbao. It's not counterfeit money, it's the same when melted.

The usual salaries, salaries, and silver of the Banner Army are directly registered in the army, and they are stored in the barracks at ordinary times, and they are replaced by Tongbao after Changsheng uses Tongbao.

Some of the Tongbao on the border are specially transported, but the military government has also formulated regulations. When the transport is not enough for Western merchants and needs to be exchanged, the guerrilla general Fu Yuan can purchase Tongbao from his [-] Banner Army, and register and sell them to Western merchants one by one. In exchange for silver coins, send them to Changsheng, and according to the registered amount, next month, [-]% more Tongbao will be returned to the Banner Army.

They can choose to spend it in Asia, or they can keep it and exchange it for silver taels when they are discharged from the army. They can also directly mail the silver taels back to China every six months and send them to their families through post stations.

Martin is not the only one who has the fucking idea of ​​customization on the border. There are many people who like customization. Porcelain needs to be customized, lacquer boxes need to be customized, and even the patterns of silk and satin must be customized. Now even cotton bags have to be customized. .

Martin really did not disappoint Lin Huer. Within a few days, he connected dozens of planters around him and submitted a request for a custom-made cotton backpack, including multiple details including text, seal pattern, and even color. Demand, order [-] cotton backpacks at the price of [-] tongbao.

Lin Hu'er, who was holding the request, was grinning from ear to ear... General Fu's Tongbao must not be enough, and if they receive it from Qijun, all of them can make some money.

Lin Manjue was actually happier.

His rangers have been operating on the other side of the border. Except for the occasional return to the village on the border to supply supplies, they haunted various plantations of the Westerners, investigating the surrounding intelligence, and always paying attention to whether the Western Army has increased troops to the border. trend.

The Westerners did not increase their troops. Apart from dismantling five mountain bastions and speeding up the construction of the other two checkpoints, there were not many official actions. What was more was that these plantation owners were endlessly reselling goods.

The most interesting thing is the slave labor of those plantation owners. They carry backpacks with "rice flour and half stone" on their backs, and fill them with various things, regardless of whether they are filled with sugarcane or stuffed with cotton. There are even women working on them. When working, put the child in the back backpack and put it into the busy work.

Cotton bags from Changsheng County are all the rage on the other side of the border.

When Chen Mu on the other side received the news from the front line, he didn't even know what kind of expression he should make: "They actually asked me to buy cotton bags, and asked me to make them into backpacks, and printed each The coat of arms and surname of the plantation?"

"I don't sell the cotton bag. It's not a backpack for rice noodles. As a backpack, it can't support the weight of 77 catties."

That's what Chen Mu said, but soon he drew a picture himself and asked the weaving factory to make a special backpack according to the picture. It was made of fine and thick cotton cloth, that is, canvas. Cloth is stronger, and the pockets are also sealed with drawstrings. After testing, they can indeed carry a weight of 77 kilograms. Only then did Chen Mu ask for the newly made backpack to be sent to the border.

On this backpack, Martin's seal is indeed printed, but the surname is written in Chinese. Below it is the name of the Changsheng County Weaving Factory, and the name of the backpack: 77 Jin.

After receiving the backpack, Lin Huer sent someone across the border to look for Martin with a smile, and asked him to gather the planters who had placed orders and invite them to come to Zhangjiabao. The small note that came introduced to the Western nobles: "This is the backpack that Changsheng made for you. It is durable and can meet your needs for mass use."

"My family's boss said that the cotton bag can only hold 77 catties when it is packed with rice and noodles in the car. The backpack is not good, and it will leak, but this is not afraid."

"It can be printed with your seal and surname, but the text must be in Chinese, and you can also print the map location of your plantation. Even if your slave worker runs away with it on his back, anyone who sees it can send him back. .”

Lin Hu'er smiled and said: "The selling price of this is 44 Tongbao. Of course, the ugly words must be said first. If they cross the border with this backpack on their backs, you will have to pay another [-] Tongbao as a return fee when we send them back. , the commander-in-chief said, service is paramount.”

(End of this chapter)