Take the mall to Datang

"Let's go to the conference room of the medical center to talk." Yuan Shan said to Li Chengqian, and then told the female nurses to go to work.

As soon as he entered the small conference room of the medical hall, Li Chengqian said, "The Yuanshan court is going to buy corn, and I will handle this matter. Please help me figure out how to do it best."

"His Royal Highness, the matter of this business is naturally to be discussed with the merchants. Why don't we first call together a few big merchants who grow corn to discuss this matter." Yuan Shan said.

"How should we negotiate the price? The imperial court offered two coins per stone." Li Chengqian said.

Two pennies per stone means less than seventeen cents per catty, which is half cheaper than the current wheat. It seems that the imperial court already knows that the base price of corn in Chengdu is ten cents per catty, and the price is about the same when the transportation costs are added. .

"There is a shortage of grain in Hanzhong, and a large number of grain merchants are waiting to transport grain to Hanzhong to make money. At this time, the price of corn may be slightly higher. Your Highness, the Crown Prince, must be mentally prepared." Yuan Shan said casually.

The imperial court’s collection of grain had already been discussed during the corn plan, and this part of the grain rich merchants can sell anyway. The purpose is to expand the influence of the merchants themselves, and the things Li Chengqian asked him, Yuanshan just casually Deal with it. After all, he is not Li Chengqian's staff and there is no need to advise him. This involves the issue of standing in line.

Yuan Shan is not prepared to participate in the royal affairs, but if Li Chengqian discusses business with him, that's another matter.

And now Yuan Shan is indeed negotiating business with Li Chengqian. Now many businessmen have rented centralized warehouses to store corn. In just half a month, they have stored no less than tens of millions of catties of grain. 400 million catties of grain.

Moreover, this number will increase every ten days, and the centralized warehouse has now become a transfer station, which is very lively. In addition to being a warehouse lessor, Yuan Jing also acts as a cargo transporter.

After chatting with the prince about corn, the next day Li Chengqian called the rich merchants who participated in the corn project on the first floor of Chang'an. At the beginning, the corn project was carried out under the name of Li Chengqian, and now the merchants are very face-saving. .

Yuan Shan also came today. The corn planting area he participated in is not large, but the Yuan family team now has a lot of capacity, but this capacity is not the only one. Last time I bought horses, other big families also bought a lot of horses. The number of horses purchased from other channels is not less than that of the Yuan family's fleet. The difference is that the horse-drawn carriages of many big families are distributed in various places, instead of being used in a centralized manner like the Yuan family.

Li Chengqian asked someone to explain the imperial court's plan to purchase grain when they arrived. Today, Li Chengqian was not the only one present, but several officials sent by the imperial court to participate together. Today is considered to be a negotiation.

Soon the officials and the rich merchants started a war of words. In the end, the merchants absolutely sold the corn at the price of [-] guan per stone, but they were not responsible for the transportation.

The imperial court paid two pennies per stone after considering the transportation cost, but the transportation is not centralized transportation, but directly distributed to various state capitals, so the cost will increase greatly, because the road conditions and transportation distances are different. The time is also different. The merchants decided to give up the responsibility for transportation after careful discussion.

In this way, the two parties had a disagreement, and then they started to bargain too much on this issue, but the businessman's attitude was very clear. Although the imperial court purchased a large amount, it was actually not much more profitable than their own sales.

Li Chengqian was a little stunned at this time, he didn't expect the attitude of the merchants to be so tough, and as a result, the price of transportation was set by the merchants at [-] yuan per stone, and now it was the court officials' turn to make things difficult.

As a result, the first purchase negotiation was unsuccessful. In fact, the amount of grain purchased by the imperial court was not much. After reporting to the imperial court, the second price was purchased at a price of two guan. A total of 30 shi of grain was purchased, totaling 60 guan.

These grains are enough for 20 people to feed for half a year, and the grain and grass collected by the court from the people are enough for the court to consume normally. The merchants don't care that this grain is nothing to them, and it saves the trouble of grain transportation. Businessmen are also happy to see the success.

The merchants still made money at the price of [-] Wen per catty for the mixture. When the imperial court purchased the grain, the grain from Chengdu had already been sold to the nearby state capitals, and the purchase price was still [-] Wen per catty.

Yuan Shan never thought that the price of grain would fluctuate so much. At the beginning, the grain received by the Yuan family was only ten cents, but after the imperial court purchased it, the price immediately rose to twenty cents.

Grain merchants from all over the Tang Dynasty rushed to Chengdu to buy goods, and there were especially many grain merchants in the south, but the place where they sold was indeed in the north. More than 30 rich merchants also quickly transported corn to the industries of various families. In one month, almost one-third of the people in Datang bought cheap corn.

The centralized warehouse, as a transit station in Zhang'an, also welcomes major grain merchants from Luoyang and other places. The economic development zone welcomes and sends a large number of convoys every day, and the business of inns and restaurants in Lantian County is also extremely hot. , Even the business of renting farmhouses has begun to rise. There is no way to increase the number of people who need accommodation.

By the end of November, the Yuan family had already put [-] carriages into use, and at the same time received an order for some bearings from the imperial court. Now the price of the bearings has dropped to [-] sets, and the imperial court immediately ordered [-] sets of bearings. It took less than a month to produce these bearings, and the Yuanjia Workshop didn't care how the court used them.

At the beginning of December, Yuanjia Workshop’s first steam noodle mill was built. The flywheel drives the long iron sheet in the noodle mill box to crush the corn and then adjust the thickness of the cornmeal through a filter. This machine It seems simple, but the production of the filter screen took a lot of effort.

The grinding speed of the steam noodle mill is very fast, but the disadvantage is that the cornmeal is not as fine as the stone mill, but it is enough to feed chickens and pigs.

Judging from the current corn price, it is still not stable, so Yuanshan does not buy grain now, but transports the corn planted by the Yuan family in Chengdu first, hoping that the corn price will drop before making another plan.

Chapter 392 Feng Zhidai's Sudden Visit

"Master, now that grain prices are so expensive, the cost of raising pigs is very high." Lan Lan said holding the accounts.

"You're right, but don't worry, the price of grain will drop soon. With so much corn, do you think those merchants are not in a hurry." Yuan Shan said while drinking tea.

"It turns out that the young master already knew it in his heart and made Lan'er worry blindly. It's really necrotic." Lan Lan said.

"Why did you come to the study again today if you didn't accompany Madam?" Yuan Shan asked.

"It's not that madam is afraid that the young master will forget to eat and sleep and ask Lan'er to serve here." Lan Lan sat at the boss's table and leaned on her chin and said softly.

While Yuan Shan was drinking tea, he heard sounds from all around. This is the new steam mixer that Yuan’s family used in the pharmaceutical room. The sound of the machine is not loud, but the sound is very loud when the boiler is deflated. Yuan Shan has heard it these days. I'm a little bored.

"It seems that this pharmaceutical room still needs to be changed." Yuan Shan said heartily.

The application of these steam engines is no longer in the original manor design, but these boilers will provide heating for the manor in winter.

Caiyi walked in and said, "Young master, the project for one mile and two mile has been completed, and now the construction team has withdrawn."

"Well, let them send some people to do maintenance on the concrete road going to one mile or two mile. Let's talk about the deficiencies after spring. In addition, inform the construction team to let them have a holiday when winter comes. If anyone wants to pick up work, let them They went to find Zhang San." Yuan Shan said.

The construction team's holiday is just to say that there are no large-scale projects to be constructed in winter. After all, Tongtian digging can't dig the soil, but this does not mean that they have no money to make. The hot kang and water jacket furnace that were popular last year are the best business at this time. At that time, repairing the kang, setting up the stove and selling coal along with it were all full-service.

Caiyi immediately went to make arrangements after hearing Yuan Shan's instructions, and Lan Lan said from the side: "I have invested a lot of money for the two Zhuangzi during this period, will I really be able to get back the money next year?"

"You're still worrying about this, don't worry, next year's meat price will definitely be able to earn back the cost, and the price will definitely come down when more corn is planted next year." Yuan Shan said, but Yuan Shan didn't explain the meat price. It also needs to fluctuate with the market price. The higher the cost, the more expensive the meat price. The main reason is to cultivate the habit of eating meat among the people. Of course, this started from the cafeteria.

Ordinary people can't always eat meat, so what Yuanshan can do is to provide more jobs. Recently, the medical school needs some people to serve as security guards. After all, it is open and needs someone to maintain it. all at once.

"Master, you slipped away again." Lan Lan said suddenly.

"Is there, you have an illusion." Yuan Shan quibbled.

"Sister Caiyi, why did you come back after you went out just now?" Lan Lan said.

"A guest is coming." Caiyi said.

Then Yuan Shan came to the living room and saw a middle-aged uncle. Originally, Yuan Shan didn't want to meet people he didn't know, but when he heard that this man came from Lingnan, that is, from Guangzhou, he became interested. And I heard that he is still the eldest son of a chief who is quite powerful in Lingnan.

That's why Yuan Shancai came over to have a look, and he was very curious about what this man was looking for him for.

"Feng Zhidai, Shaoqing of Weiwei Temple, has met Yuan Shilang." Feng Zhidai came over and cupped his hands.

The splicing of these two people is almost the same, but Yuanshan is special because he should be from the fourth rank, but in fact he is from the third rank, and Yuanshan belongs to the Ministry of War, although he is also a deputy, but the Ministry of War is not comparable to Wei Wei Temple.

Although Feng Zhidai didn't understand the situation, but since Yuanshan was an official, he still liked him a little bit less, who made him an idler.

"So it's General Feng. I don't know if I have anything to do with you today." Yuan Shan asked directly.

"To take the liberty to visit today is to ask Minister Yuan for advice on how to do business," Feng Zhidai said.

"Is General Feng interested in doing business?" Yuan Shan asked rhetorically.

"To be honest, the life of the people in Lingnan is very difficult. The main reason is that the roads are not smooth and they want to build cement roads, but they have no money. I don't know if Minister Yuan can do it." Feng Zhidai said directly.

"This road construction is between the imperial court and the state capitals. What can I do?" Yuan Shan said casually.

"Suwen Yuanshilang has the ability to turn stone into gold. If Yuanshilang finds a way to improve the lives of the people in Lingnan, my father and I are willing to give our all." Feng Zhidai said.

This is to win him over. Yuan Shanxin said that this middle-aged uncle looks like a big bastard, but he is actually quite a wise person. Unfortunately, Lingnan is located in a remote place, and I can't rely on my own strength to develop it. So I just wanted to refuse, but I suddenly thought of a problem. The current Lingnan is the future Guangzhou. It is rich in natural resources, especially medicinal materials and water resources. If it is not used, it will be a waste.

But when he thought about investing, he felt that the gain outweighed the gain. A small Lingnan chieftain only had the power of tens of thousands of people. To be honest, the Yuan family now has more savings than the chieftain's property. The financial resources are not on the same level at all, but They have human and material resources and natural resources.

Then Yuan Shan fell into thinking, what kind of joke is it that he is not stupid to leave such a large salt field without making money, and the Lingnan area is still in the hands of Feng Zhidai, so it doesn't mean that he can do whatever he wants, However, if the salt situation develops at that time, maybe the life of the Feng family and his son will have some turning points, whether to do it or not.