Under the night, Yecheng was flashing with countless lights, and halos reflected snowflakes like falling catkins. In the palace, Prince Yuwen Weicheng was studying the account books with Princess Wei.

The emperor and the empress visited Liaodong, so Yuwen Weicheng stayed in Yecheng to supervise the country and handle ordinary government affairs. She has been busy for the past few months, while the Crown Princess Wei temporarily supervised the daily operation of the royal industry for her aunt (mother-in-law), and was also very busy.

Now, the couple is thinking about the account books, of course not to make money by doing business. Yuwen Weicheng wants to see how Hanhai Trading Company makes a lot of money from the grassland.

Hanhai Trading Company has only been established for a few years. Like Liangyang Trading Company, it is a large trading company run by the government and is also engaged in "foreign trade". However, Liangyang Trading Company mainly engages in maritime trade, and its trading target is overseas foreign countries, while Hanhai Trading Company's trading target is tribes on the grassland.

To be precise, Hanhai Trading Company's current trading area is mainly grassland areas under the control of the Eastern Turkic Khanate, while the areas under the control of the Western Turkic Khanate are still in a state of "under development".

But even so, Hanhai Trading Company, which has been established for several years, has grown its turnover so quickly that it makes people stunned: How can there be such a large "profit space" in the rich grassland areas far less than the Central Plains?

This problem also bothered Prince Yuwen Weicheng, so today I saw the Crown Princess reconciling accounts, and the account transactions related to Hanhai Trading Company were exactly the same, so I became interested and wanted to "one leaf to know the autumn".

The royal family is one of the major shareholders of Hanhai Trading Company. Weiss participated in the management of the royal industry, so she had some understanding of the profit method of Hanhai Trading Company. She was worried that her husband would not be able to see the answer he wanted from the complicated account transactions, so she spoke out.

The grasslands are different from the Central Plains, and their products are barren (relatively), and each nomadic tribe lives by catching aquatic plants. However, they will grazed in pastures in several seasons all year round, and nomadic years will be circulated year after year.

Such living conditions lead to the fact that each tribe has no place to live and live in groups with the tribe.

As a result, many tribes lack medical treatment and medicine, and ordinary herdsmen live a difficult life. Once they encounter "white disasters" and "black disasters", they will easily die.

Life is not easy, let alone settle down in one place to carry out handicrafts and mining. Therefore, the tribes in the grassland have less gold and silver in their hands. The transactions between them are mostly bartering and exchanging the materials they need.

Even though the grassland tribe urgently needs all kinds of products produced in the Central Plains, the other party’s ability to pay is limited, and the items that can be exchanged are mostly livestock, fur and herbs.

Such payment methods cannot support the rapid growth of trade volume year by year, so Hanhai Trading Company's profit method is a bit special.

Every time at the turn of spring and summer, Hanhai Trading Company organized a large number of caravans to enter the grassland. Each caravan used carriages to carry tea, silk cloth, wine, iron pots and various daily necessities to trade with the tribe.

The transactions are carried out on credit. The caravan arrives at the camps of each tribe and sells the goods to the other party first. The goods are converted into livestock in person. The amount of fur will not be collected at first.

When the livestock is fat and strong in autumn, the merchant will arrive at the other party's residence and collect livestock, fur and livestock products according to the numbers on the account book.

This method of selling credit involves the evaluation of the value of the goods by both buyers and sellers, and needs to be completed with an equivalent, and the "tea brick" with a specified size (weight) is this equivalent.

Tea bricks, as the name suggests, are brick-shaped tea leaves that look like bricks. They are brick-shaped teas processed by steaming and pressing processes such as tea leaves and tea stems. They are resistant to storage and easy to transport.

In Fengzhou, the border trade port, the price of tea bricks is about the same price, while in the grassland, a tea brick is about equal to a sheepskin or a calf.

The Central Plains merchants used tea bricks as equivalents to calculate the actual payment for goods from the grassland tribe. The calves and other livestock they received were not taken away immediately, but instead made a mark and let the original owner continue to raise them. After three or four years, the merchants would come to pick them up again when the calves grew up.

Such a cow was transported back to the Central Plains for sale, and the price was about 40 to 50 cents.

If the selected calves and other young animals died young, the merchant would choose the existing adult livestock to pay off the debt, so there would be no loss.

It can be said that a businessman spent three or four years to earn 40 or 50 or 50 or tangs of money on a consistent basis. If divided by year, he could earn at least ten or tangs a year. Based on the principal, the profit was nearly ten times.

Cattle can be handled like this, horses and sheep are the same, it is just that the profits are different.

In these three or four years, merchants do not need to pay any price. They can trade with the grassland tribe every year, so they can make money from four years after the first transaction.

In fact, nomadic tribes use grazing for people as a means of payment in exchange for tea bricks, silk cloths, salt and other daily necessities in the hands of merchants in the Central Plains. The "profit growth" actually comes from the Central Plains.

The merchants in the Central Plains used the cost of their usual money to let the nomadic tribes raise cattle, horse, and sheep for themselves for several years, and then transported the grown cattle, horse, and sheep back to the Central Plains, and used the livestock price difference between the grassland and the Central Plains to make money.

Therefore, the nomadic tribe with poor payment ability can still make Hanhai Trading Company a lot of money.

Wei's explanation was simple and clear. After hearing this, Yuwen Weicheng quickly concluded: "Is this similar to laying eggs with a chicken?"

Wei nodded: "Well, that's the case."

"This method is simple, but the flaws are also big..." Yuwen Weicheng pondered and frowned: "Once the other party refuses the debt, it will be a waste of money."

Wei nodded again: "So some time ago, Hanhai Company learned that a tribe dared to pay the debt. Without saying a word, she organized a team to collect debts and went to the Khan Court to ask for an explanation. The government army did not react so quickly."

"Yes... it's faster than the official army's reaction..."

Yuwen Weicheng sighed and finally realized what it means to "cutting off people's wealth is like killing parents."

There are fewer border trades with profits of several times. Whoever dares to disturb them is enough to make the wealthy merchants and powerful people involved in border trade go crazy, and they don’t even want to mobilize the court. These people will organize the desperate to "set rules."

Yuwen Weicheng felt that with these people so "hearted", the court would have less burden on the northwest border...

While feeling moved, he saw Wei's desire to speak but stopped and asked: "There should be more than one way to make money. Is there any other way?"

"Well, it's...it's just usury."

After hearing this, Yuwen Weicheng murmured: "Gaoli......Do... Once those tribes get involved, they will never be paid back in their lifetimes..."

Ultrition will harm the country and the people, but if it is used to the outside world, he doesn't know what to say. After a long time, he sighed: "If you want to lend usury on the grassland, you must have the assistance of Turkic nobles."

Wei replied: "Yes, you must bribe the nobles to ensure that the other party dares not refusal to pay the debt after lending..."

The Turkic nobles who participated in the border trade made great gains from the trade between the two sides. Similarly, the Central Plains merchants lent usury to the grassland tribes, and these Turkic nobles also got a share of the pie and made a fortune together.

Therefore, these Turkic nobles also believed that the tribes that tried to make a debt were "unbearable" and deserved it.

It is precisely because of this that the Khan of the Eastern Turks could only "obey public opinion". Faced with the threat of the envoy of the Hanhai Trading Company without officials and without qualities, he could only agree to "advocate justice."

The Hanhai Trading Company's practice of winning over the Turkic nobles to "cut wool" together and making money from ordinary tribes made Yuwen Weicheng feel that it was really sharp. The merchants were seeking profits. After such guidance, they became a helping for the court to manage the grasslands.

In the Central Plains, the demand for livestock and livestock products is almost bottomless. Not to mention cows and horses, the number of mutton consumed in Guanzhong is huge every year. Therefore, this kind of transaction of borrowing chickens to lay eggs can last for many years.

If this continues, the grassland will become the pastures of the Zhou Kingdom, and the tribes will become herders of the merchants of the Central Plains, raising a large number of cattle and sheep to supply the huge demand in the Central Plains.

Is that true?

Yuwen Weicheng doesn't think so.

My father said that you can look down on your opponent, but it does not mean that your opponent will be so stupid that everything will be as you wish.
Chapter completed!