The trade route to the Western Regions lasted for more than a year, with two large-scale trades and countless private trades. The most popular commodities were silk, porcelain, copper coins and ironware.
You can make money from most commodities. As long as you are not stupid enough to sell livestock to the Western Regions and come back safely, you will definitely make a lot of money, but not as much as these four.
In fact, soap is also very profitable, but the output is not high, and the channels for obtaining goods are monopolized by military caravans, so it is not included in the bulk transactions.
Liu Xiang had no plans to expand the soap workshop again. Firstly, the demand for oil was too high and he did not want to destroy the food planting structure. Secondly, he did not want to improve the sanitary conditions of foreigners and let the nobles treat them as luxury goods.
How can there be so much soap to sell to them? The common people of Han Dynasty have not yet popularized it.
For other bulk commodities, because ironware and copper coins are prohibited items, silk and porcelain have become extremely scarce, production cannot keep up, and prices have skyrocketed, which has affected domestic circulation.
The commercial transactions between the Han Dynasty and the Western Regions were interrupted for several decades. There was a huge demand for Han products there, which was a good thing. However, merchants pursued profits, and doing business in the Western Regions carried great risks, so the products gradually became simplistic.
It became an unstoppable trend.
Liu Xiang felt that just increasing the production of porcelain and silk was not enough. He also had to develop trading products with high enough profits. Tea was naturally the best choice.
For nomadic people, tea will gradually become a necessity, supplementing vitamins and trace elements, and treating a series of diseases caused by poor nutrition.
Does selling tea to them constitute capitalizing on the enemy?
no.
In other words, we should look at it from another angle. We have cultivated the dining habits of the Qiang and Hu tribes, making tea a necessity of life for them, and then protected the tea seeds and tea seedlings so that they can only buy finished products from us.
That is equivalent to tying a rein to these Qiang Hu and adding another means to control them.
At that time, all you need to do is use commercial means, such as unbalanced commodity ratios and commodity embargoes, to drive their power, sow discord between them, and achieve certain political or military goals.
Is this kind of product that can make a lot of money and influence foreign strategies a good thing or a bad thing?
It goes without saying.
Of course, if you catch up with a bunch of useless emperors and useless ministers, it will be nothing.
Sea trade is making a lot of money, the handicraft industry is highly developed, and the technology is half an era ahead of its neighboring countries. But in the end, it was beaten like a grandson. Who can explain this?
right?
A strong country pays tribute to a weak country so that others can raise an army to fight against them. This method is so clever.
Liu Xiang shook his head and retracted his wandering thoughts. The matter of tea could be slowly planned as a national policy.
He decided that from today on, he would be a staunch tea drinker. Important officials in the court, such as Liu Yu, Yuan Huan, Xun Yu, and Cao Cao, were also tea drinkers.
It doesn’t matter whether it tastes good or not, whether it is refueled or salted, you have to say you like it outside anyway.
I still have this face.
Then we will find a few influential Confucian scholars to compile a book similar to the Book of Tea, brag about the benefits of drinking tea, and design some tea drinking etiquette.
If you make it more elegant and mysterious, you will naturally attract a large number of arty and wealthy people.
The high-end market can be hyped up quickly.
Tea needs to attract people from top to bottom. As long as you lead the trend, promoting tea will be a big part of it.
You can't expect the people at the bottom to drink tea and consume, and lead foreigners to follow suit, right? That's the wrong way to go.
In this era, whatever the high-ranking Han people like, the surrounding Qiang and barbarian nobles will definitely pursue it. This is the superiority of Han culture.
By the way, Mr. Yuan Pang is over 90 years old. He really loves to drink tea and will never be happy without tea. Many people know that he is a natural tea promotion ambassador, a tea spokesperson given to him by God.
The concept that drinking tea can lead to longevity needs to be promoted quickly, so
If good resources are not used, it will be a waste!
A rough plan for commercial promotion was instantly formed in Liu Xiang's mind. He reviewed it from scratch and felt that it was very feasible.
That’s it then!
"Send a message to Tian Chou and order the young master to go to Yizhou to establish a tea garden and tea-making workshop.
He sent an order to the governor of Yizhou to expand the tea garden planting area, improve the treatment of tea farmers, recruit a group of tea farmers who are good at growing, picking and making tea. After the war, they were sent to Lu'an to look for tea trees. If they couldn't find them, they would transplant them.
I sent an order to Jia Xu and sent the Jin Yiwei to spy and secretly spread the news that drinking tea can lead to longevity."
Then he wrote a private letter to Xun Yu, Liu Yu, Yuan Huan and Cao Cao, explaining the promotion of tea and asking them to start from receiving the letter. If they like drinking tea, it is best to make tea to entertain guests.
He also wrote a letter to his father-in-law, Cai Yong, asking him to find celebrities who really liked drinking tea and start compiling the Tea Book.
For early promotion, this intensity is about the same. Later, depending on the situation, you may drink tea soup several times in public, or invite a group of celebrities who like to drink tea to debate the scriptures in public, so that the public can take a good look.
Drinking tea while bragging about your cool style.
Slowly it will become a trend.
So, the most important thing now is to pacify Lu'an, the second largest tea-producing area, and increase tea production.
Thinking of this, he sighed. If Zhao Yun hadn't stopped him, he would have destroyed the Huai River defense line with his cavalry, and there would be no need to attack city after city.
I raised my head and glanced at the night outside. The crescent moon had already set in the west, leaving only a few stars swimming in the dark sky. It would be dawn in a while.
Go to sleep, you have to have a good rest. During the war, as a coach, you must not show a tired look. You must pay attention to anything that affects the morale of the army.
Liu Xiang slept peacefully in the county yamen. After an afternoon, the news of the fall of Lu'an was spread to Anfeng County dozens of miles away by the defeated soldiers who escaped by chance, and was soon spread by messengers to Yangquan, which was farther away.
Liu Xun was so worried that his head ached. The army on the north bank had been trying to cross the river. There was no large-scale fighting, but the small-scale fighting never stopped. He did not take advantage at all, but lost four thousand soldiers and horses.
Nearly 20% of the combat strength was eaten up one by one by the opponent, and the morale of the army dropped sharply.
How long he can hold on, he doesn't know.
Now that the emperor has fought a hundred miles away, how can we continue the war that was already at a disadvantage?
"Send someone to send an order to Li Feng, asking him to stick to Liao County and inspect the rivers without neglecting them."
Liao County is forty miles west of Yangquan. These two cities are important fulcrums of the Lujiang and Huaihe River defense lines. If any one of them is lost, the entire defense line will collapse immediately.
"I'm happy to pass on the order and defend Anfeng City to the death. I will send troops to support you."
Liu Xun was actually hesitant to support An Feng. He only had 10,000 soldiers left, and Li Feng had 5,000 soldiers in Liao County. The two of them combined to resist Guan Yu on the opposite side, and they were already stretched thin.
There are only more than a thousand people in Keke. Although there are tens of thousands of young people from Lu'an County transporting grain in Anfeng City, how can we count on the combat power of those people?
"Send someone to ask for help from Liu Jiujiang and ride on a fast horse. The faster the better!"