North and South groceries

Changle County is located in a remote place, without abundant labor force, lack of water source, and no other resources. The only thing that is located on the commercial artery of East-West trade can bring some living water to this place.

However, this business route is not always smooth. There are so many small countries in the Western Regions. Whenever there is a war, the business route will be hindered. This is unavoidable, unless the Central Plains Dynasty can unify the Western Regions and always adopt a relatively loose foreign trade policy.

The Central Plains Dynasty began to manage the Western Regions from the Han Dynasty, and now the emperor of the Tang Dynasty is also very concerned about the Western Regions.

It's just that the area of ​​the Western Regions is not easy to be annexed by anyone.The Turkic people have always regarded the Western Regions as their sphere of influence, and now they have to add a big food country that is constantly devouring all around.In the next few decades, the Tubo Dynasty will also become stronger and stronger.

Great powers collided with each other to contain each other, and there were also various forces of small countries mixed in. This area of ​​the Western Regions was destined to be peaceful.

Under such circumstances, perhaps Luo Yong should not complain about the obstruction of business. He should thank the Hu merchants of this era for being brave enough to run thousands of miles to do business under such harsh conditions, although it is only a trickle at present. , and from time to time, but after all, it still brought vitality to Changle County.

Whether it is a tofu workshop, a cement workshop, a bacon workshop, or a needle workshop, all that Luo Yong has done so far is just to make the people of Changle have enough food and clothing.

And if you really want this place to prosper, you may ultimately have to rely on the tea market.

After tea is widely accepted, how can the market be concentrated in Changle County, not Dunhuang and Zhangye, where there are many Hu people, or Liangzhou, which has developed rapidly in recent years, but their small Changle County? Le County.

If this problem can be solved, then Changle County will be prosperous and the local people will be rich. Luo Yong has outstanding political achievements, and it will not be far before he is transferred back to Chang'an City.

Although he has now adapted to life in Changle County, Siniang Wulang and the others are all in Chang'an City, Qiao Junlin probably wants to go back, and his disciples, their families are also in the Central Plains.

While Luo Yong was thinking about the tea business, the tea merchants from Lishi had just left Mengmen Pass a while ago, and these days they were walking on the concrete road paved by Luo Yong's disciples.

This year, because of the war in Gaochang country, their trip was delayed for some time. After returning to their hometown in Lishi from Na Jiangnan, they have been waiting for news from Changle County.

Ma Silang and others from Changle County asked Tang Jian for help, and wrote a letter to Lishi’s hometown through the post station, telling them not to rush to transport the tea to Changle County this year, and they still have some on hand. Besides, once this year is delayed by the war, the tea business will probably be ruined, so we might as well wait a little longer and avoid meeting with those tens of thousands of troops.

It's normal for a few scumbags to emerge out of tens of thousands of people. They are the victors at this time, and they are inevitably proud. The status of merchants is very low these days, and it is always right to hide and walk.

So they stayed in Lishi's hometown until the merchants who came from the west told them that Li Daozong's troops had passed Liangzhou City and were heading south.

As far as Mengmenguan Lishi County is concerned, there are merchants traveling from south to north, and the news is really well-informed. There is also Dingda Express operated by Wang Dang and others, which has a close connection with Chang'an City.

Coming out of a place like Lishi County, I feel that everything is very inconvenient. I don’t know much about it, there is no express delivery, and there are no merchants traveling from south to north. Even if I have money, I can’t buy any delicious food, unlike them in Lishi County. Those food shops even know how to cook Dongpo Pork with corner seeds, tofu, and it's delicious and not expensive.

"...is your place really that good?" A young man grinned cheerfully. His face was dark and dark, but his teeth were quite white. The light in the room was dim and not very bright. Mouth full of white teeth.

"Why not, don't pick the best ones in the food shops on the street, just find a mediocre one and go in, and it will cost you less than ten yuan, and I will keep you eating until your stomach is round." A middle-aged businessman said.

There was an autumn rain in the past two days, so they stayed in a small village by the roadside. A group of people lived in several families. The family they stayed in had a young man of seventeen or eighteen years old, who was the person facing the outside. When the world is full of curiosity, anyway, there is nothing to do in this rainy day, and a few people just sit in the room and gossip.

"Ten Wen?" The young man clicked his tongue: "I can't spend ten Wen in a month."

"That's because you have no place to make money here." A Lishi man in his 20s laughed and said, "In our place, for someone as old as you, the family members should find a way out for him, and you have to be brave. At one o'clock, come out and work with us. It's dangerous to do our hard work. In spring, I will go to Jiangnan, and in autumn, I will go to Longxi again. I am afraid of encountering bad people when I walk outside. But when we deliver this batch of goods to Changle County, you can earn money and silk."

"How much can you earn?" the young man asked.

"Just like you, you won't be able to earn that amount for most of your life." A little old man laughed.

"Let's talk about the timid ones. If you don't have capital and don't dare to run away, then go to work for Boss Wang. Boss Wang is good to his brothers. He will work diligently for ten or eight years. , as long as you don't have an elm head, you should be promising." Just now the man said again.

"Ten years and eight years?" The young man felt that it was a very long time when he heard ten years and eight years. Since he came to this world, he has done everything he can, and it is less than ten years plus eight years.

"Then if you can't survive the ten or eight years, and you don't like to run outside all day, then why not go to work in the workshop. We have a Yin's wheel shop and a Heng's car factory. If he is really clever and dexterous, he may earn more by working there than under Boss Wang's hands."

"They like to have crafts and ponder over there."

"The eldest son of my sister's family, my eldest nephew, entered the workshop at the age of 13, and now he can earn more than 100 yuan a month."

"so many?"

"What is this? The craftsmen who make bearings in the Yin's Wheel Co., Ltd. have at least a consistent income every month. If there are too many, I don't know how much they will spend."

"Their Yin family are all carpenters. No one knows how to forge iron. I heard that these blacksmiths were specially invited from Taiyuan Mansion."

"How did I hear there was a Turkic man there?"

"The Turks are good at forging iron."

"Whoever he is, he's just working and getting paid when he comes here, and our place is not Chang'an City, so there's nothing to do."

"The bearings are not easy to get. The Yin family has been thinking about it for so long, but they don't know how much money they put in. Fortunately, they finally got them to get it out."

"Now they sell a lot of bearings to Chang'an City every year."

"There are also man-made ones in Chang'an, but the workmanship is still worse than those made by the Yin family."

"If a carriage uses Yin's bearings and Heng's springs, it will be smooth and stable on the concrete road, without any bumps."

"Ordinary people can't afford it."

"We can still walk on the concrete road right now. After staying in Liangzhou City, I don't know how much more we have to suffer."

"Then Yanzhi Mountain is not easy..."

"I'm afraid we'll have to go down and push the cart..."

"..."

These Lishi merchants talked, and then talked about the next itinerary.

The young man who had talked with them just now was sitting in front of the kang cave in a daze.

A thirteen or fourteen-year-old boy went to the workshop and could earn more than 100 Wen in a few years. It would be great if he could go to Lishi County.

Otherwise, he would go to work with that boss Wang and deliver couriers to people. He just heard about ten or eight years ago, and he thought it was a long time. Looking back now, after ten or eight years, he will still be less than [-] years old.

If it doesn't work, it's good to find a shop to work as a clerk. I heard from them that there are many shops of all kinds on the street in Lishi County. Also take over.

At that time, her daughter-in-law will make oil-paper umbrellas at home and take the baby with her. He will work outside every day. If he earns money, he will buy some delicious food to take home at night. His wife is pregnant right now. The old man in the village said that her baby looks like a baby girl, and the baby girl is also very good. When the time comes, I will buy flowery clothes with her, and buy rouge with her when I am older, and I will help her buy a decent dowry.

They are only more than ten days away from Changle County, and when they miss Ye Niang, they come back to have a look and send some more money and silk to his elder brother's house, so that the old couple can also enjoy the blessings of their children and grandchildren...

"When will you come back from Changle County?" He asked those Lishi merchants.

"Come back? At least you have to wait until next summer."

"What, you want to go to Lishi County?"

"It's not bad for young people to go out and have a look, just follow the right people and don't imitate the bad."

"If you really want to go, don't wait for us, just go to the nearby city to see if there are any merchants who want to go there. You have to find a reliable local merchant in your place, and don't be fooled by those black-hearted people. Go, when the time comes, I will sell you to mine."

"You go to find a big company to be a porter first. If you can't find a job in Lishi County for a while, you can go to the paper-making workshops by the river outside the city. Those workshops are recruiting people all the year round. You can earn two dollars a day. Sanwen, you earn some money there first, and then slowly find a way out."

"It's not easy to go out alone, it's better to find one or two safe companions."

"Be careful when you go out, don't ask others to believe everything..."

"..."

The rain stopped that night, and in the morning of the next day, these people from Lishi got up early to load their carts. After breakfast, they drove the carriages and set off. The villagers in this village sent them all the way out of the entrance of the village.

In these villages next to the concrete road, as long as the caravan came from Lishi, they would probably receive a warmer reception.

When the road was being built back then, these villagers worked with those Lishi people.After this road is opened, the number of caravans passing through them has increased throughout the year. As long as there are caravans passing by, these villages will have income.

One autumn rain and one cool, it is late autumn now, after the rain two days ago, there is a bit of chill in the air.

The leaves of the big and small trees on both sides of the road have almost all fallen, and the fields have been harvested, and they are all bare at this time. Only a few fields near the village have been planted with some reeds and cabbages. cold-hardy vegetables.

There were many difficulties on the way to transport the goods, the road was long and hard, but fortunately they transported tea, which is light, and they have accumulated some experience in business for many years, so this time their team was equipped with a carriage, and the carriage ran like a horse. The ox cart and the donkey cart are much faster.

"It's almost winter, isn't it?"

"It's time to add more clothes." The two men sat on the shaft of the car and talked, and they could already let out a little white air.October of the lunar calendar can indeed be regarded as winter.