In Shouningfang, north of the city, under a tea stall, Du Zhongxiao looked at the more than 50 fur merchants sitting in front of him and whispered: "How many of you are trafficking fur from the north? How many are doing local business? How many are selling to the Central Plains?"

As soon as the words were finished, the merchants started to chatter and couldn't hear what they were saying.

Leng Yuanwai, the guild leader, coughed and bowed to Du Zhongxiao: "The signing of the verdict is the small one, let the small one say it. Nowadays, most of the fur business in Bingzhou City purchase goods from the north, and only six or seven people do local business. Most of them are sold to the east and west of the Central Plains, and less than ten people do local business. There is no way. There is a lot of sheep raised in the countryside, and the fur they produce is for their own use, so it is difficult to sell the goods."

Du Zhongxiao nodded and asked again: "Is the fur you sell now raw or cooked?

Leng Yuanwai said: "There are still many raw skins. Although there are craftsmen in this city who tanned skins, they are not many and cannot handle much skins. The merchants came from the north to fur, so where could they wait for cooking in Bingzhou? Most of them were transported directly to the Central Plains."

"That's it." Du Zhongxiao sat down and took a sip of tea. "To be honest, such a business is not profitable. As far as I know, a cooked skin is equivalent to several raw skins, and tanning skin can be more profitable than selling skins."

Leng Yuanwai shook his head: "After that being said, when you go to the craftsmen to make raw leather, they charge a lot of money. Our craftsmen did not make a big profit, so it would be better to sell raw leather directly. Besides, there are few craftsmen in Bingzhou City, and Glauber's salt is expensive, so the price cannot be reduced."

"This is what I told you today. I want to set up a fur yard in Bingzhou City, and recruit craftsmen to tannate leather here. This state is rich in Glauber's salt. How expensive can it be? If this is done, everyone will benefit a lot."

After hearing this, Leng Yuanwai obviously disbelief: "I'm so stupid to sign the verdict. I've never heard of Glauber's salt produced in this state. The goods were shipped from Jiangnan before, and the price was quite high, and they were made of raw skin and cooked. Besides, there are not many craftsmen in the city now, and relying on us merchants, we can make a lot of money. How can we give in? The officials are good, but this is a bit difficult to do."

"Is it difficult? As long as you have the heart, it cannot." Du Zhongxiao smiled. "Glauber's salt can be obtained from soil salt, which is not too difficult. As for craftsmen, there are always people who are willing to work with the government and hope to make a lot of money. The key to this is that if the goods yard is built, the amount of fur you buy and sell is not enough now. At that time, you can enter raw skin from the north and cook it here before selling it. As for the journey to the Central Plains, the journey is too far, it is better to let other merchants take over."

Official Leng bowed: "What should officials do? The younger ones obey orders."

Du Zhongxiao still didn't believe him when he saw that he looked, and said to Feng Yuan beside him: "This Feng Manwai is also a fur dealer from the north. Many of you should know him. Let's listen to him about the business."

Mr. Leng: "I met Mr. Feng several times. He has been doing this business for many years and is a reliable person."

Feng Yuan stood up and said loudly: "A few days ago, I passed by the salt field of Wynn Prison. The judge was also there. The officials were loved by the officials and drank and ate meat together. During this period, they talked about my business of selling fur. The officials said that Glauber's salt could be made from earth salt. At that time, I didn't believe it, just one day, and the officials ordered their subordinates to make a lot of salt from earth salt. In a few days, they used these salts to tan all the furs I sold into mature skins. Let's see--"

Speaking of this, Feng Yuan picked up a piece of cooked sheepskin beside him and handed it to Mr. Leng.

Leng Yuanwai is an expert. He took the sheepskin in his hand and looked at it, rubbed it, smelled it again, and nodded and said, "Yes, this sheepskin is fluffy and soft after being cooked, and has no odor. It is already a top-quality product. With this quality, it will definitely be easy to sell when transported to the north."

While talking, he handed the sheepskin to the people around him and everyone passed it on.

It is said that after reading the sheepskin, some people were thinking. After all, simply selling raw skin will not make much profit. If mature skin can be made, the profit will suddenly become larger. The current situation is that it is too expensive to make mature skin by craftsmen in Bingzhou City.

However, some people still felt suspicious and said loudly: "Officials, don't know how to build a fur yard?"

Du Zhongxiao looked around and said to everyone: "Shouning Fang has few people and many empty spaces. For example, there are no people around here, only these tea sheds, and they set up sheds to do some business here. The government can buy this place, build a store and rent it to you, and the other side is a place to tannify the skin. Across the street is the cattle and sheep market in the city, which is an excellent location."

After hearing this, someone laughed: "What are the officials saying? We all have our own shops, why do we come here to rent?"

Du Zhongxiao said: "Don't worry, I do this by voluntarily and I won't force you to rent a shop. As long as you build a fur tanning business here, there will be many conveniences for opening a shop here. Once the shops gather more and more people sell, there will naturally be more people buying, and the business will get better quickly. It is better to start a business and market than to open shops everywhere."

In Du Zhongxiao's previous life, the government would build markets at any time, and sometimes they would ask for shops to settle in. When the scale was larger, it would form a agglomeration effect, and then collect money. Du Zhongxiao had the same idea. As long as the market was formed, would he worry that merchants would not gather here?

This was something that had never been done before. A group of businessmen were talking about it, and some people agreed, but there were still many people who opposed it.

The official Leng of Xingshou was a little embarrassed and said to Du Zhongxiao: "The officials don't have to listen to these people's talk. When the goods yard is opened, the small ones will have to bring a few big merchants here and rent a few shops to do business. The situation will not be cold."

Du Zhongxiao smiled and said, "Do you think it's giving me face? Master, have you ever been to the capital?"

Official Leng said: "I was a young man who did business a few years ago and went to many places. I have been to Beijing several times."

"In the capital, fruit and fish shops are all by the Bian River. Niuma City is in the north of the imperial city. Not far from Nanxunmen, there is a pig-killing lane. All kinds of businesses are gathered in the market. Why do you think this is the case? Because of this, everyone's business is easy to do. Those who open shops are not street vendors, for fear that others will steal the business. Foreign merchants arrive in the capital and ask where the market is, and no matter what they want, the business will be completed there. The same is true for us here. When the fur business in Bingzhou is done big, it is known to everyone that how many merchants will come to Bingzhou to buy fur? By that time, when they arrive in Bingzhou, they will inevitably ask where the fur business is, and then the benefits of opening a shop here will be revealed."

This principle is easy to understand. Some people suddenly felt a sudden ray of heart after hearing it. They thought they would take a shop here as soon as possible, but some did not believe in this prospect at all. They didn't believe anything Du Zhongxiao said.

Du Zhongxiao did not force it. As long as the fur market opened, merchants would naturally gather slowly. However, by that time, whoever takes the initiative to make business bigger and loses the opportunity to make business die depends on everyone's fate.

The talks with the fur merchants in the city did not end until the evening. Leng Yuanwai and a few head-to-face merchants invited Du Zhongxiao to a nearby restaurant for a drink.

Du Zhongxiao took Feng Yuan and the other two to a nearby restaurant, and went to the pavilion on the second floor with Leng Yuanwai and others.

Tao Shiqi watched everyone enter the restaurant and said to Shisanlang on the side: "These merchants are really ungrateful. The officials give them a chance to make a fortune, but they are suspicious. If these servants knew how many industries the officials had made in Yongcheng, they would still be like this!"

Shisanlang said: "Do you know what these birds do! We will also drink a bowl of wine and wait for the officials."

Du Zhongxiao arrived in the pavilion and took a seat with Leng Yuanwai and others. The servant came to drink.

After three rounds of drinking, Du Zhongxiao told Leng Manwai: "Uncle Master, how long do you think the cargo yard I mentioned will take to be built?"

Mr. Leng smiled and said, "It's autumn now, and it's winter. It's cold and it's hard to start construction. If it's going to be completed, it will take a year. Don't worry, we must prepare early and rent a few shops here."

Du Zhongxiao understood that these merchants still didn't believe in themselves, but they just kept in charge of them and flattered them. The more they did this, the more Du Zhongxiao had to use extraordinary means to build this cargo yard as soon as possible.

Shaking his head, Du Zhongxiao said: "The official is so bad. It's just a cargo yard. It's still a long time to grow up. What can I do?"

Mr. Leng hurriedly replied: "How many days does the official think it will take?"

"One month!" Du Zhongxiao finished speaking, looking at the shocked people, smiling without saying a word.

After a while, Leng Yuanwai shook his head: "The official is joking, how can it be built in a month? Not to mention the goods yard, even the shop cannot be built. How can you do business with an open space!"

Du Zhongxiao said: "However tea shops do business, you can do business. First set up a shed and set up a stall, and then slowly build various shops. Now it is autumn, and it is time for fur business to be prosperous, so you can't wait!"

Mr. Leng looked at the other people and remained silent.

Du Zhongxiao did not explain much and asked again: "The official thought, what is the most important thing in building this cargo yard?"

Mr. Leng did not think: "Of course, I built a shop and recruited merchants. With more merchants, the cargo yard was built."

Du Zhongxiao shook his head: "No, the most important thing is to recruit craftsmen who tanned leather. The most important thing in building this yard is not to buy and sell fur, but to do a cooked leather business. With tanning craftsmen, there will naturally be merchants to do business."

Mr. Leng obviously didn't believe it, and did not dare to offend Du Zhongxiao, so he had to nod his head awkwardly to respond.
Chapter completed!