Chapter 404 Settlement Dividends

Jiangzhou, Linchuan County, Linru County

Tian Yue and Wei Qianyang led their horses and walked through the streets of Linru County.

The two men belonged to the inspection department of the Liaodong Chamber of Commerce, and they were comparing their hometown addresses provided by Zhou Congguang.

"Is the Zhou family here?" Tian Yue looked at the copper-ringed gate in front of him.

Wei Qianyang glanced around and said, "This should be the right place. Didn't the uncle at the alley just say that? The second one at the turn after entering the alley." They took the address and asked about it all the way.

This is the last family. Before coming to the Zhou family, they had already visited the Zhan family, the Wei family, and the Sheng family.

"Come on, knock on the door."

They knocked on the door for a while.

Not long after, the Zhou family's sister-in-law opened the door and saw two strange men. She found that she didn't recognize them and asked in confusion, "Who are you looking for?"

Tian Yue cupped his hands and said, "Sister-in-law, is this the home of Master Zhou Bingxian?" Zhou Congguang's father was a private tutor, so they just called him Master Zhou.

"Yes, are you here to find him?"

A quarter of an hour later, Tian Yue and Wei Qianyang were invited in.

After entering, the two explained their intention.

"Master Zhou, Mrs. Zhou, it's like this. We were entrusted by Zhou Gong and Zhou Congguang to come to visit the two elders."

Sister-in-law Zhou learned that the two were friends of her brother-in-law, so she went to the kitchen to prepare food, and asked her mother-in-law to get some fodder to feed their two horses.

In the hall, Mrs. Zhou asked with concern, "Congguang? How is he in Liaodong County now?"

After Zhou Congguang arrived in Liaodong County before, he wrote a letter to report that he was safe.

"Gong Zhou is very good in Liaodong County."

"Zhou Gong?" Master Zhou noticed this word.

Tian Yue and Wei Qianyang briefly explained to the two elders Zhou Congguang's current work in Liaodong County.

Hearing this, Master Zhou and his wife were very surprised. Master Zhou had always thought that his younger son's learning was a bit off, but he didn't expect that he would actually apply what he learned in Liaodong County?

"By the way, Master Zhou and Mrs. Zhou, this is what Zhou Gong asked us to bring to our two elders. Please accept it." Tian Yue and Wei Qianyang took out the money that Zhou Congguang asked them to bring to their parents.

Eight hundred taels of silver were more difficult to bring, so seven hundred taels were exchanged for gold, leaving the remaining one hundred taels in silver.

Looking at the gold and silver in front of them, Master Zhou and his wife were shocked.

"This - this - where did he get the money?" Mrs. Zhou's voice stuttered.

Master Zhou was the same. His youngest son actually asked someone to bring back so much money. He thought he was showing filial piety by asking his two friends to come and see them.

"Master Zhou, Mrs. Zhou, don't be surprised, all this money was earned by Zhou Gong..."

At that moment, the two of them talked to Zhou Fuzi and his elders about Zhou Congguang's life and contributions after arriving in Liaodong County.

Master Zhou and his wife were in a daze when they heard this. Is this really his idiot son?

Tian Yue took the opportunity and said, "If you two have time, you can go to Liaodong County to see Zhou Gong."

Wei Qianyang followed, "Yes, as long as the two elders want to go, we will arrange the way back and forth."

Upon hearing this, Master Zhou and his old wife looked at each other, hesitating and wanting to move.

At this time, Sister-in-law Zhou, who was in charge of setting the meal, laughed and said, "The two distinguished guests were joking. Liaodong County is too far away, so we won't go. We are tired of traveling and traveling, and we are old and may not be able to bear it."

Hearing this, Tian Yue and Wei Qianyang stopped trying to persuade him. However, they suggested that the two elders write a letter and they take it back.

Master Zhou and Mrs. Zhou readily agreed.

Liaodong County, Houcheng

Lu Songli appeared at the Liaodong Chamber of Commerce building. She once again summoned Lan Bingrong, Geng Yuan and other local aristocratic families and wealthy businessmen to come. This time the purpose was to settle accounts and distribute dividends.

While waiting for them, Lu Songli was settling accounts with Ji Wuyin.

She had asked Ji Wuyin to calculate his side's costs before, just to calculate the net profit earned by their alliance in the battle of Nanyang.

Ji Wuyin's cost is easy to calculate. If the cost is shared equally, he will eventually need to supply Liaodong Chamber of Commerce one hundred thousand taels.

However, Ji Wuyin agreed to sell it to the Liaodong Chamber of Commerce at a price of 150 wen per bucket.

The price is slightly lower than the market price, and he can still make money.

Lu Songli ate all of Ji Wuyin's five hundred thousand shi of grain. At this time, for Liaodong County and the entire Pingzhou, food was more important than money.

The Ji-Liao Alliance put 800,000 shi of grain in Luoyang to maintain the stability of grain prices in Nanyang, and the Liaodong Chamber of Commerce accounted for 400,000 shi.

After some exchanges and offsets, Lu Songli finally gathered together a supply of 300,000 taels of Ji Wuyin.

Ji Wuyin approved the accounts she calculated, and both parties signed and pledged to complete the settlement.

Because Lu Songli had something to do later, Ji Wuyin left first with his confidant Liu Xiaohuai.

After coming out, Liu Xiaohuai said with a smile, "Sir, Mrs. Qin Liu is very generous in her work." If she had calculated things neatly just now, Mrs. Qin Liu would only need to supply them with about 250,000 taels, but with a wave of her hand, she directly gave them a sum of 250,000 taels. all.

"That's right, your master, I have a good eye and I'm with the right person." Ji Wuyin is still very excited now. He has earned more than a million taels of silver in two months, which he couldn't do even at the peak of his career as a big businessman. arrive.

The master and servant walked all the way back to Ji's Building. They talked about their previous experiences in Nanyang and couldn't help but talk about the current food prices in Liaodong County.

Since Ji Wuyin decided to focus on investing in Liaodong County, he naturally conducted some investigation on it.

Don't look at the fact that the current price of grain in Liaodong County is one hundred and sixty cents per bucket, which is only slightly lower than the ten cents and twenty cents in other states and counties across the country. But most of this food price is the result of the efforts of Lu Songli and others.

You know, from the beginning of the year to April and May, just after the war, the price of food in Liaodong County soared to 300 cents per dou.

Since Lu Desheng became the governor of Liaodong County, the price of food in Liaodong County has been reduced three times.

Lu Songli initially obtained a batch of grain from himself, and the Liaodong Chamber of Commerce sold cheap grain at 200 cash per bucket. This was the first reduction.

Then Xue Xu and Qin Sheng went south and brought back a batch of grain from the south. The price of grain was again reduced to 180 cents per dou.

The most recent price reduction was after the autumn harvest, when the price of grain dropped to 160 cents.

Liu Xiaohuai was a little puzzled, "Master, you said that the price of grain in Liaodong County was so high back then, so similar to Nanyang, why did it not attract grain merchants from all over the country to transport grain like Nanyang did."

Ji Wuyin said slowly and authentically, "There are three reasons. First, because Liaodong County is located in a remote area, unlike Nanyang, which is located in the Central Plains, the distance for grain merchants from various places to transport grain is short. The cost of transporting grain to the destination is terrifyingly high." For specific reference, Qin Sheng went north with 100,000 shi of grain before, but when he finally returned, only half of it was left.

"Second, the population in Liaodong County was sparse at that time and was not as densely populated as Nanyang."

"Third, and most importantly, there were ruthless bandits on both land and sea at that time, and the risk of transporting food was too high."

"But this was the situation at the beginning of the year. Around the middle of the year, the water bandits and pirates were fighting among themselves and had no time to care. This made the entire sea area calm for a few months."

In the past few months, Liaodong County has been frequently transporting supplies.

Thinking of this, Ji Wuyin had to say that Liaodong County had some luck.