Chapter 616 Choking to death

While Pingzhou was busy with peace talks, Ding Jun and Zhou Yi, two managers of the Liaodong Chamber of Commerce, were entrusted with important tasks due to their outstanding performance.

After receiving the order, the two people immediately secretly rushed to Qingzhou to see Manager Wu.

After the two arrived, they went in one after another to meet Manager Wu.

After coming out, the two looked at each other. It was obvious that they had both taken on a new mission. However, Liaodong Chamber of Commerce has confidentiality regulations, so neither of them said anything, let alone inquire about each other.

Then, the two of them split up to carry out their tasks. Ding Jun went to Zhuozhou, and Zhou Yi went to find a famous local medicine shop in Qingzhou.

Cai Guang is a well-known local donkey dealer in Zhuozhou. He owns four or five large ranches and numerous related shops and industries, and is also well-known in the local area.

On this day, he received a businessman who wanted to discuss a business with him.

This businessman was linked to his old friend He Shizhong, and he thought it wouldn't hurt to meet him.

The three met and exchanged pleasantries before Ding Jun got straight to the point, "Shopkeeper Cai, Ding wants to buy a batch of adult donkeys from you."

Cai Guang said nonchalantly, "That's easy to say. How many do you want?"

Ding Jun smiled lightly, "One hundred thousand."

"How many?"

"Dong Cai, you heard me right, I really want to buy 100,000 donkeys."

Cai Guang looked at his old friend, when did such a powerful buyer appear in the donkey industry? Is it reliable?

He Shizhong nodded slightly at him to reassure him, "Shopkeeper Ding's strength is only one hundred thousand donkeys, just sprinkle it with water."

For a time, Cai Guang had many thoughts in his mind.

"Shopkeeper Ding, to tell you the truth, you want 100,000 adult donkeys, but I can't afford that much right now."

"Oh, look at my memory. I forgot to mention it just now. Dong Cai's family and I do need so many donkeys, but we don't need them now. You can deliver them at the end of the year."

Cai Guang was overjoyed when he heard this, "That's it, that's easy to say. You can come back at the end of the year."

"Dong Cai, please listen to me first and then give me an answer, okay?"

"Shopkeeper Ding, tell me."

"It's like this. Our Ding family plans to buy 100,000 adult donkeys from you at a price of ten taels per donkey, for a total price of one million taels."

Hearing this, Cai Guang's heart moved. The price of adult donkeys has been fluctuating around eight taels of silver these years. Ding Jun gave him ten taels of silver, so he was basically sure that he would make a profit by trading with him.

"To show my sincerity, I will pay you a deposit of 60,000 taels."

After hearing this, Cai Guang was already willing to trade.

"However, there are two points that I must make clear." Ding Jun said, "First, I hope that every donkey delivered by Dong Cai's family at the end of the year will be an adult and healthy."

Cai Guang said categorically, "This is necessary. I am not the kind of profiteer who sells shoddy goods. Besides, you were introduced by Lao He. If I cheat you, I will have no face with Lao He. Finally, I I still want to continue doing business with you for a long time.”

Ding Jun nodded, "The second point is that I must declare that if the price of donkeys fluctuates greatly at the end of the year, I have the right to cancel the order at any time."

"Then the deal is cancelled, and the 60,000 taels of deposit will be treated as compensation for my inability to perform the contract."

"Is that so?" Cai Guang said thoughtfully.

"Oh, Mr. Cai's family, where is your latrine? You just drank too much tea." Ding Jun said, holding his stomach.

Cai Guang quickly called the boy to take him to the convenience.

"Dong Cai, please think about what I just said. I'll excuse you now."

After Ding Jun left, Cai Guang asked He Shizhong, "What is this man's background?"

"Don't worry about it. You just need to know that the other party is tough behind the scenes."

"Ding Jun is tough backstage?"

"It's harder than you imagine." After replying to him, He Shizhong said seriously, "Old Cai, to be honest, after hearing what I just heard, I think this deal can be done."

Cai Guang thought about it again and again and found nothing wrong with this transaction.

"If I want to do this business, I will have to raise another 150,000 donkeys, which will also involve fodder and feed. I have to prepare more." This is called pulling a hair and moving the whole body.

"Why? There are more than 100,000 donkeys in your pastures, right?" He Shizhong was puzzled.

Facing his old friend, a business idiot, Cai Guang rolled his eyes, "Don't want my old customers? I only see the smiles of the new ones, but don't hear the cries of the old ones?"

"Ahem - I didn't think it through well." He Shizhong said doubtfully, "But even if you prepare supplies for this deal with Shopkeeper Ding, you don't need to raise 150,000 donkeys, right? You can raise 100,000 donkeys." "

"You don't understand." He couldn't guarantee that every donkey would grow up safely and healthily. Why not raise more donkeys to ensure delivery? In addition, he thought that Ding Jun should be very optimistic about the price of donkeys this year. Is it normal for him to prepare more donkeys for the market?

Ding Jun gave him a deposit of 60,000 taels, which gave him the confidence to raise another 150,000 donkeys. If the deposit is very small, he will not do this.

When Ding Jun came back, Cai Guang also made a decision in his heart.

So they signed the contract smoothly.

At the same time, Zhou Yi also negotiated with a large pharmacy called Anhe Pharmacy, whose main business is donkey-hide gelatin.

Their pharmacy needs a large amount of donkey skins to make donkey hide gelatin every year. In addition, other parts of donkeys such as hair, meat, bones, heads, donkey treasures and donkey hooves can also be used as medicine, and their pharmacy is also involved in this.

All in all, Anhe Pharmacy has a huge demand for donkeys every year.

Zhou Yi discussed with the chief steward of Anhe Pharmacy, "I can supply you with 100,000 adult donkeys, each donkey is calculated at six taels of silver, and the delivery will be at the end of the year. However, if there is any accident on my side by the end of the year, I have the right to cancel the contract and pay 60,000 taels of liquidated damages, okay?"

The chief steward of Anhe Pharmacy pondered, six taels of silver per adult donkey is lower than the market price. If they sign this contract, at the end of the year, if the other party fulfills the contract, they will buy a batch of donkeys at a low price. If the other party cancels the contract, they can also make a net profit of 60,000 taels.

They will not lose money anyway.

After weighing the pros and cons, the chief steward of Anhe Pharmacy decided to sign the agreement.

Next, Ding Jun went to several big donkey owners to reserve donkeys from them, and the number of donkeys to be purchased was about 300,000.

Zhou Yi also went to three or four workshops with a large demand for donkeys to negotiate contracts, and the number of donkeys ordered was also about 300,000.

After the completion, the two of them quietly retired with a few contracts.

…

With the end of the peace talks in Juyang, the court of Dali and the government office of Pingzhou both issued official documents to announce that after negotiations, the two sides proposed a salt price of 200 wen per catty.

Pingzhou also announced the relevant regulations on tax refunds for salt and the news that Dali lifted the blockade on Pingzhou.

When Song Mo heard the news about the tax refund for salt in Pingzhou, he was very angry and even asked the Honglu Temple to send an official letter to reprimand them for going back on their word.

Pingzhou's reply was also very simple. There were only the relevant regulations on tax refunds for salt in Pingzhou. In other words, we in Pingzhou are willing to give our people preferential treatment in eating salt. What do you Dali have to do? We in Pingzhou only promised not to dump affordable salt in Dali. We limited the amount of tax refunds for Pingzhou people. We did it. You Dali people should stop telling us what to do!

Pingzhou's reply was choking.

At this time, the people of Dali learned about the price reduction of official salt through the notice posted by Dali.

"The price of official salt has been reduced!"

"But it still costs 200 wen per catty."

"Be content. Official salt costs 200 wen per catty. Although it is not as cheap as the private salt from Pingzhou, it is 100 wen cheaper than the previous 300 wen per catty. It's better than nothing."

"There is no other way. The price of salt in Dali and Pingzhou is unified now, both are 200 wen per catty."

"Now all crows are the same."

"You are wrong. I heard that during the negotiations in Juyang, because the people in the court insisted on selling at a high price, Pingzhou had no choice but to argue for a long time before finally agreeing to Dali's price. For this reason, Pingzhou also launched a special tax refund policy..."

"Calculated in this way, the price of salt in Pingzhou is only 150 wen per catty? That's great." The people of Dali are really envious.

Some people were puzzled, "Can't Pingzhou just sell it at 150 wen per catty? Why go through so much trouble?"

"There's no other way. Pingzhou and Dali have an agreement that the price of salt sold to the people in Pingzhou cannot be lower than 200 wen per catty."

"The people in Pingzhou are so happy. The Pingzhou government is doing everything it can to treat the people under its jurisdiction well, but we in Dali are never satisfied with the plunder."