A man is not rich without windfall, and a horse is not fat without night grass!
The ancients never deceived me.
Baiyaoshan and his party have seized a lot of supplies. Yaoshanhu and his gang have looted a lot of things in Baiyaoshan in the past two years.
Most of the bandits had the habit of stockpiling supplies, and in the end they all took advantage of Tie Mo and Li Jiasheng.
Now Tie Mo holds more than 6,000 taels of silver and more than 300 pieces of silk and satin in his hands, which can be regarded as a small amount of capital.
There are happy things and there are troubles.
The price paid for the conquest of Baiyao Mountain was very small. Except for two people who were slightly injured, no one died. Under such circumstances, the confidence of the people under his command increased greatly.
Han Niuer and others planned to go to Yehuling as soon as possible. After finishing the Yehuling bandits, they would then go to Mobei to barter with a lot of goods.
Tie Mo gave up everyone's idea without even thinking about it. The goods and money in hand now can fully support the first shipment, and there is no need to go to Yehuling again.
Yehuling and Baiyao Mountain are different. Although there are many bandits on Baiyao Mountain, most of them are landless refugees nearby. They are a ragtag group that will collapse at the first touch.
The bandits on Yehu Ridge are all desperadoes.
In recent years, there has been a severe drought in Guanzhong. The people have been displaced, and even the swordsmen in Guanzhong have lost their livelihood. Some of the unprofitable swordsmen crossed the Yellow River south to make a living, and some wandered around and became bandits.
Living conditions in the northeastern part of Guanxi are particularly difficult, and many swordsmen come to Yehuling at the border between Shaanxi and Shanxi.
In addition to the Guanzhong swordsmen who had lost their livelihoods, some misbehaving frontier soldiers and Mongolian strongmen also gathered in Yehuling.
Therefore, although the Yehuling bandits only number a hundred or so, their combat power is definitely not comparable to that of the Baiyao Mountain bandits.
...
On a gentle slope two miles outside Anzhuang Castle, Tie Mo was lying in a pile of hay, looking at the flowing clouds in the sky with a heavy heart.
Now that we have the money and the goods, the next step is to go north to get the goods.
Tie Mo was not worried about how difficult the road to the north would be. When he decided to take this road, he was destined to put life and death at risk.
What I am really worried about is Anzhuang Castle. I have to go to Mobei to barter for as little as three months and as long as half a year. In such a long time, no one knows what changes will happen to Anzhuang Castle.
Yang Dayong died on Baiyao Mountain. Gu Chengliang, who was in Huai'an Institute, did not investigate further and simply sent another confidant, Deng Kai, to Anzhuang Fort.
The calmer he seemed on the surface, the more worried Tie Mo became. Gu Chengliang was most likely holding back bad news.
Xie Kaela's shouts were heard in the distance. Tie Mo brushed off the grass clippings on his body and walked towards Anzhuang Castle with two jars of wine.
After walking down the gentle slope, he handed two jars of wine to Xie Kaela, "Kaela, how is the search for the guide?"
Xie Kaila nodded with an ugly expression, "I found it after looking for it, but... that person will charge one hundred taels for running errands, and other expenses along the way will be calculated separately."
"One hundred taels? Isn't he afraid of dying? Is there any other guide?"
"Yes, there are, but when they heard that we were going north at the end of the month, most of them refused. They all said that if we went to Mobei in winter, eight out of ten would survive. After searching for a long time, the only one named Fan Laowai was willing
Take us there, but the price will be charged..."
"Fan Laowai? Have you checked this person?"
"After checking, he can be regarded as an old guide. In recent years, he has often led Zhangjiakou caravans northward, and he has also been to Mobei Shuangquanhai twice."
Tie Mo sighed and gritted his teeth and said: "Then let's use this Fan Lao Wai and agree to his conditions. Time waits for no one, and we can't afford to waste it."
"Okay, then I'll go find him tomorrow." After walking for a while, Xie Jiala thought of something and slapped his forehead suddenly, "Look at my memory, Brother Tie, you've made the Pifang pay attention. Over there in Zhangjiakou
There is a company called Taichang Leather Shop that wants to sell its leather shop and offers four thousand taels."
"Four thousand taels? It's quite reasonable. Let Niu'er keep an eye on it. I'll go to Zhangjiakou in the next two days."
Buying a leather shop and opening a leather shop is Tiemo's best and only choice.
In Shanxi, the leather trading business is definitely a hugely profitable industry. All Shanxi businessmen who can be named in Zhangjiakou all started their careers in the leather trading business.
In this era, border trade, especially bartering northward, was all about barter.
The Mongolians make a living by raising animals and hunting, and the most indispensable things are furs, silks, and salt. These two items can be exchanged for furs that are ten times the price in the north.
As long as you can overcome the difficult journey, bring the fur back, process it in a leather workshop, and resell it to various parts of the country, 10,000 taels of fur can bring in an income of 40,000 to 50,000 taels.
In other words, if you go north for a trip with silk, salt and other items worth tens of thousands of taels of silver, you will get at least 400,000 taels in return when you come back.
Of course, the premise is that you have to come back alive!
Because of this huge profit, even though it is very dangerous to go north to sell goods, there are still an endless stream of people who take the risk of going north to barter.
Every two years, someone becomes rich and becomes a famous Shanxi merchant. Similarly, countless people die on the road of death every year.
Doing the fur trade business is completely helpless. If you want to get rich by selling goods northward, you can only do this, because the Mongolians have no other good things besides furs.
...
Not long after leaving the gentle slope, I heard a lazy muttering.
"Hey...it's the old sorghum wine from Xinghua Village. It's so fragrant...Tiewazi, how about leaving a jar for my uncle?"
A middle-aged man in his forties was leaning on a haystack on the side of the road. His legs were stretched out, his tattered coat was full of holes, his hair was as dry as grass, and he had a branch in his mouth.
Following the sound, Tie Mo glanced lightly at the middle-aged man on the roadside.
The middle-aged man is called Drilling Rat. No one knows his real name. Three years ago, Drilling Rat didn't know where he came from. After living in Anzhuang Castle, he has been living in a dilapidated temple outside the village, relying on begging to make a living.
born.
If the burrowing rat hadn't taken the initiative to ask for a drink today, Tie Mo would have almost forgotten that there was such a person in Anzhuang Castle.
"You have a pretty good nose. It is indeed the old sorghum wine from Xinghua Village. If you want to drink it...then I will..."
The gopher sat up straight, spit out the branches from his mouth, and said with a smile on his face: "Haha, if a jar doesn't work, half a jar will do."
"Huh? You're not greedy, but why should I share such good wine with you?"
Tie Mo curled his lips and winked, and Xie Kaila hid the two jars of wine behind his back.
The gopher scratched his dirty cheek, fell back, leaned against the haystack and returned to his lazy look, speaking in a somewhat salty voice.
"Tiewazi, if I said I could save your life, would you believe it?"
"Save me a life?" Tie Mo shrugged disapprovingly, "I think you are bragging, but anyway, I decided to give you a jar of wine!"
"Really?" The gopher was a little stunned.
Xie Kaola stepped back and opened his eyes angrily, "Brother Tie, why did you give him such a good wine? I can't believe this old guy's words!"
"Kela, give him a jar of wine and listen to me!"
Tie Mo waved his hand, turned around and walked towards Anzhuang Castle. Xie Kaola had no choice but to obediently take out a jar of wine and throw it on the haystack unwillingly.
"You are really lucky today to be able to drink such good wine!"
The gopher held the jar of wine in his arms and ignored Xie Kaola's words.
After a while, the gopher ran towards the ruined temple with the wine in his arms, a complicated smile on his face.