Since the Beiping area had just gone through war, there was no market for anything other than food. Therefore, whether it was kerosene or face cream, it had to be shipped elsewhere to be marketable. On the second day after the North-defeating Army set out to return south,
, a mighty caravan also followed southward, its destination was Jinan, Shandong.
Tie Xuan once participated in politics in Shandong and had some connections there, so he chose to go to Shandong. In addition, the only way to purchase grain nearby was to the south, either to Shandong or Henan. As for Shanxi to the west, there was already a shortage of grain there.
Even if you want to buy grain, you can't buy it.
Since it was his first time to go on a business trip, Wan Lei personally led the team. Two thousand capable soldiers escorted two thousand carriages and pretended to be an army transporting loot. There was no trouble along the way. Even if there were officials who became suspicious along the way,
It can be easily done by spending a little money. As for those mountain bandits and road tyrants, seeing such a large team, they only dare to watch from a distance.
The first stop on the way south was Baoding Prefecture. Although it was also attacked by the rebels, the losses were not too great. Many towns were intact. The oil sales team brought by Zhao Hongru broke away from the team and brought the kerosene to Baoding Prefecture.
Set up sales points in towns, no money required, only grain, one pound of wheat for one pound of oil. Generally speaking, the people will not suffer, but the sales volume is not very good, because fuel is not a necessity of life.
The female sales team led by Aunt Liu is also selling facial creams. These fragrant creams have attracted many female customers who love beauty. Of course, they just look at it and don’t buy much. After all, the price is too expensive. Neither does Aunt Liu.
I expect them to buy it right away, but I just give them some to try and then sell them on the return trip.
Wan Lei, on the other hand, was straightforward. Every time he arrived in a town, he went straight to the drug store and sold tiger balm without added fragrance as a wound healing medicine. He also demonstrated on the spot, letting the shopkeepers see the wounds on some wounded soldiers, and explained this.
It was a wound left over from the battle a few days ago. The wound, which was several inches long, was painted with tiger balm. In just a few days, not only had it healed, but there was no sign of infection.
If the store didn't believe it, Wan Lei would experiment on the spot. Seeing that the cut finger could quickly stop bleeding and heal under the action of tiger balm, they had no choice but to believe it. They bought it at a high price and used it as a medicine for wounds. Wan Lei sold it to every drugstore.
One pound, no silver, just one stone of grain.
It took three days of walking and stopping, constantly promoting products, and setting up various distribution points like a seeder, before the team left Baoding Prefecture. The next stop was Hejian Prefecture. Compared to the poor Baoding
Mansion, Hejian Mansion is much richer.
Originally, Hejian Prefecture belonged to the Chief Secretary of Peiping, but after the Yan rebel rebellion was put down years ago, the Chief Secretary of Peiping was dismembered. Except for Shuntian Prefecture, which was changed to Zhili Prefecture, the other prefectures were split and belonged to the three bureaucracies of Shandong, Henan, and Shanxi.
Chief Secretary, now, Hejian Prefecture is subordinate to the Chief Secretary of Shandong.
The so-called Chief Secretary, whose full name is Chengxuanzhengshisi, is a local regional division in the Ming Dynasty. It evolved from the Xingzhongshu Province in the Yuan Dynasty. Starting from the ninth year of Hongwu, it was changed to Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Fujian, and Peking Provinces.
In order to inherit the Provincial Envoys Division, the provincial Pingzhang Administrative Affairs Bureau and the left and right Prime Ministers were dismissed, and the Shenzhen Administrative Affairs Bureau was changed to the Chief Envoy Office, taking charge of administrative power. There are also the Prosecution and Prosecution Envoys Division and the Capital Command Envoys Division in charge of judicial and administrative affairs.
The military and political affairs were divided into three divisions.
The separation of the three divisions can indeed effectively prevent the separation of feudal towns, but it also has disadvantages, that is, the three divisions are not subordinate to each other, and they usually argue with each other. When it comes to disaster relief and other major events, the three monks have no water to drink. In order to solve the problem
Due to the problem of ineffective application, later in the Ming Dynasty, the central government dispatched supervisory censors or ministers to serve as governors (also called general governors), governors, and inspectors, who were superior to the three departments.
However, this is all a thing for later. At present, each province has not sent such special commissioners, so the wrangling is still wrangling, and the fuss is still fussy. In addition, Hejian Prefecture was newly integrated into Shandong last year, so it is normal for the government orders to differ.
Wan Lei also saw this clearly and dared to lead the caravan south in a large scale.
Hejian Prefecture is a large prefecture, with more than a dozen prefectures and counties under its jurisdiction. Due to the benefits of irrigation from the Yellow River, it is relatively rich in wheat, and ordinary people still have some grain reserves. Wan Lei sent people to each county to buy grain with silver taels, raising the price of grain.
When the money came to two taels of silver and one stone, the people rushed to sell grain. Because Hejian Prefecture was close to Jinan Prefecture and there was a Grand Canal leading to the south of the Yangtze River, so as long as there was money, there was no need to worry about not being able to buy grain.
Wan Lei did not stay in Hejian Mansion for long, and headed south to Jinan with a team of several hundred people. As the seat of Shandong Province, Jinan is home to high-ranking officials and wealthy businessmen. Wan Lei's trip was mainly to accompany Grandma Liu.
A distribution point for facial creams will be established here, and the products will be wholesaled here to be sold nationwide.
In fact, Wan Lei came to Jinan for another purpose, which was to make friends with businessmen. The Shandong Merchant Gang's territory here is so that they can save a lot of unnecessary trouble by transporting grain. As long as he is willing to buy it at a high price, he is not afraid that they will not deliver it to his door.
This reduces the risk of transporting grain. In addition, in the future, he will not only buy grain, but also have goods to sell. He should also open trade routes as early as possible to avoid having to run around later. After all, he still has many things to do and does not have time.
I often come here to do business.
Tie Xuan was originally involved in politics in Shandong, so he knew the wealthy families in Shandong very well. Before leaving, he made a long list for Wan Lei, saying that these people on the list were all people he could make friends with. Wan Lei naturally
There was no doubt that he was there. According to the list, several big and wealthy businessmen had to come to the door with gifts.
These gifts are all specially made sets, not for sale, the kind that if you have money, you can't buy them anywhere. And those rich people are overjoyed when they get such gifts. As the saying goes, they are rare because they are precious, they will not take these precious ones.
The gift is for one's mother-in-law, but it is given to officials to please the official's mother-in-law, and there are naturally many benefits.
In order to make things easier, Wan Lei also gave himself the nickname: Wang Gongzi, and pretended to be Tie Xuan's nephew. Due to his generous gifts and forthright personality, he quickly gained a reputation in Jinan's business community. Of course, it was only in the business community.
, Wan Lei didn't dare to extend his tentacles to the government. After all, the water in the government was too deep and muddy, so he had better let others go.
The focus of Wan Lei's visit was a big salt merchant named Zhou Zhennan. This guy was one of the top salt merchants in Jinan City. He also ran a grain business. He had branches not only in Jinan City, but also in the entire Shandong Province. He was a businessman.
Through Shandong.
You must know that in ancient times, salt was a specialty product and one of the main sources of national tax revenue, so the control was very strict. Generally speaking, those who could afford to sell salt had a deep official background. This kind of access to the government
People are generally more courageous. As long as there is a profit, smuggling is commonplace.
No, when Wan Lei proposed to buy rice at a high price, the salt merchant from Zhou Dynasty took action and expressed his willingness to act as a middleman and purchase grain on his behalf.