Chapter 647: Exhausting the Treasury
"At the end of the period, all the families that the general contacted were selected according to the requirements of Master Lang. They were the chiefs of five wealthy families: the Qiao family, the Luo family, the Yan family, the Ren family, and the Yang family. They were all the Jin family, and each of them raised hundreds to thousands of weaving households. wait."
While talking, Li Qianzhe handed over a list.
Sichuan has its own popular sentiments. Elsewhere, powerful people can show their strength by occupying land and raising soldiers. However, whether powerful people in Shu have enough face depends on whether they can weave Shu brocade. Being able to make brocade means that there are mulberry fields, weavers, skill inheritance, private armed forces, etc. Only then can it be called old money.
Take the Qiao clan of Brazil as an example. If Li Tai remembers correctly, celebrities of the Qiao clan have appeared in the annals of history as early as the Three Kingdoms period. During the Eastern Jin Dynasty, they even established a separatist regime in Shu. Unexpectedly, until the end of the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the Qiao family was still active in Shu, and their historical origins were even longer than that of the Li family in Longxi.
Li Qianzhe recorded the situation of these families in detail, including how many direct clan members there were, what official positions they held in Shu, as well as how many weaving households each family had and the approximate output of Shu brocade.
Adding up several companies, there are thousands of weavers, and they can produce thousands of pieces of brocade every year. Part of this needs to be turned over to the Chengdu government, and the rest is at the disposal of each family.
Li Tai was slightly disappointed when he saw this figure. After a period of trial and accumulation, the white sugar production process here has already been matured. When the scale is expanded, the annual output of tens of thousands of kilograms will be no problem. Even if the price cannot reach this first high price, it will definitely not be much lower. It is far from being able to afford such a small amount of Shu brocade.
Moreover, it is already the sixteenth year of the Great Unification, and it will not be long before Shuzhong will also face a situation. Once the Tai government sends other troops to capture Shuzhong, then Li Tai will have to be a little cautious about whatever actions he wants to take, and he will not be as free as he is now.
Therefore, this business should not be done slowly and slowly. It is necessary to squeeze out as much wealth as possible in Shuzhong in a short period of time, trying to leave an empty shell for the Tai government.
There is no doubt about the gold-absorbing ability of white sugar, but what is currently limited is sales channels. It's not that those thousands of pieces of brocade are not greedy, it's just that Li Tai's requirements are higher.
After pondering for a while, he looked at Li Qianzhe and said, "It's still a bit slow for just these few companies to buy brocade. Can you try to attract more brocade masters? The price of sugar can be lowered, and we can try to replace more of Shu brocade.”
Li Qianzhe did not have Li Tai's far-sighted vision. After hearing what Li Tai said, he slowly shook his head and said: "It's not that the general is afraid of difficulties, it's just that the Shu people attach great importance to rural capital and are narrow-minded and aggressive. If they don't compete with the Brazilian tribes Negotiations may make it difficult for foreign goods to travel smoothly.
At the end of my stay, I heard a lot about the disciples of various families pretending to be bandits and wandering around the countryside to plunder. Now I have difficulty escorting goods into Sichuan. Whether the goods are safe or not depends on the strength of the country. I can still move forward and retreat freely when trading on the border. If I go deeper, my luck will inevitably be uncertain! "
Li Tai was a little speechless when he heard this. The isolated geographical environment in the middle of Shu is difficult to determine the direction of the world, but if the powerful people in the country just live in the countryside and live a life guarding their own land, then the stubbornness of these powerful people It is powerful and much stronger than other areas. An example of this is the Qiao clan, which has been struggling since the Three Kingdoms period and is still very active today.
"Actually, if Master Lang is not limited to Zuojin's family, but only asks for Shu brocade, there is no other way."
Li Qianzhe pondered for a moment and then spoke again: "The reason why this transaction into Sichuan was achieved was because a countryman from that place came to arbitrate and negotiated the price. Why is his name Xihu? Jia Hu, who was born in the Western Regions, became extremely wealthy through his many years of business and settled in Shuzhong.
Because he was familiar with merchant affairs and the prices of things, he was called into the palace by King Wuling and appointed as Cangcao to join the army. He was in charge of the gold and silk trade in the palace. He was named the Great Merchant of Xizhou. His valuations were highly praised by the current people. Because of his new house in Shuzhong, he has not yet established a weaving household. "
Being able to make brocade is not only a difference in the means of livelihood, but also a symbol of the status of powerful people in Sichuan, such as whether powerful families in other places have inherited the classics and righteousness. Even if a certain Jin family in Sichuan is ruined and reduced to abject poverty, it is still possible to turn around with a few exclusive brocades.
"Although various brocade masters have slave workers, their numbers are never as high as those in Yizhou Prefecture. Chengdu alone has tens of thousands of weavers under its supervision, and they also harvest and collect brocade in prefectures and counties. The government treasury receives tens of thousands of brocade workers every year. The horses are huge. These brocade items are easily traded in the market. The state leader only inspects them briefly, and the actual transactions are still carried out by the officials.
He Xihu also liked frosting sugar very much, and he paid a high price for it because of his appreciation, which was also recognized by many powerful people. If you can communicate with him, tens of thousands of pieces of brocade goods will come in and out, and the master's wish will naturally be fulfilled. "
Hearing what Li Qianzhe said, Li Tai's eyes lit up. The reason why he was eager to hoard a large amount of Shu brocade was to prevent the Tai government from seizing the middle of Shu. With the high-quality Shu brocade and the cooperation of Longyou's cultural director, he could take away the dominance of Longyou's trade in one fell swoop.
Of course, it would be best to be able to grasp the source of Sichuan brocade production in one fell swoop, but it seems to be quite difficult now. After all, Sichuan brocade production has a long history, and a series of local interests-related order have already been formed in Sichuan. It is difficult to achieve this by relying solely on remote control from abroad. Even if white sugar has a temporary high price, it will be difficult to shake this pillar industry in Sichuan.
Therefore, we can only settle for the next best thing and achieve our goals by hoarding and manipulating prices to influence the price trend of Shu brocade in a short period of time. The idea proposed by Li Qianzhe is worthy of careful consideration and in-depth exploration.
"A few wealthy families in Brazil can continue to participate in commerce, but they need to send their children as hostages. They need to build a city on the border to receive goods for trade, and they can get 10% of every transaction in the city. When the number of transactions is reached, With over 100,000 pieces of Sichuan brocade, I can teach them how to make sugar."
Li Tai said while thinking, since these local powerful people cannot be circumvented, they can only tie up their interests. He didn't mind sharing the profits with others, as long as he had somewhere to go, he would be able to come back one day.
"One hundred thousand horses..."
When Li Qianzhe heard this number, he couldn't help but stare in surprise. Even one hundred thousand pieces of silk was not a small number, let alone one hundred thousand pieces of brocade!
Li Tai glanced at Li Qianzhe, who was making a fuss. How much is a hundred thousand pieces of Shu brocade? It is said that when the Shu Han fell, there were still more than 200,000 pieces of Shu brocade stored in the treasury. This was certainly the result of years of accumulation by the Shu Han regime, but Xiao Ji, the king of Wuling, had been in charge of Shu for many years, so there was probably no lack of accumulation in the treasury.
In the future, even if the Tai government captures Shuzhong, it will be difficult to organize and resume the production of Shu brocade immediately, so it is very important to clear the inventory in Shuzhong.
Although it is difficult to achieve large-scale transactions of a single commodity in the short term, when it comes to strategic value and convenient transportation and storage, as well as its own market value and scarcity, white sugar is not far behind compared to Shu Jin, and in some places it is even better.
"After those wealthy families have sent in their hostages, they will deliver one thousand catties every half month. Tell He Xihu, the Hu man, that if he can facilitate this trade, there will be generous rewards here, which can be distributed to Longyou and Shannan Extract it, or send it directly to Shu. If you don't like goods, you can also send your son to do so. I can use it in the mansion or recommend it to the court, it all depends on your wishes. "
Nowadays, Li Tai's brand is also very bright, and he can bribe ministers of other countries with ease. It can be said that he is full of temptation.
Of course, for such a large deal, it was impossible for him to rely entirely on a Hu official in the middle of Shu. He still had to make two preparations: "If all parties involved in the negotiation are unwilling to cooperate, then they will directly send envoys to the middle of Shu to meet with King Wuling." Please open mutual trade. If he doesn’t allow it, I will join forces with Jiangling to guard the river and trap him in Shuzhong!”
The stronger a person is, the more choices they have. The main reason why Li Tai didn't want to send people directly to Shuzhong to threaten Xiao Laoba was that he didn't want his behavior of emptying Shuzhong's treasury to be too obvious. Otherwise, when he controls the market price of Shu brocade in the future, there will be a conflict between him and the Tai government. It will inevitably look a little ugly in terms of face.