Zhao Yiming nodded. Things at the border hadn't been peaceful recently. He'd been in frequent contact with the Crown Prince and gotten a lot of information.
Although the terrain on the grassland is good for raising cattle and horses, there is little arable land. Winter is about to come, and they will have a hard time due to lack of clothes and food.
The rulers were unwilling to spend a lot of money to buy food and cloth from Tianling, so they allowed the tribes under their command to rob the people on the border of Tianling to survive.
There were frequent frictions between the two sides, with large and small battles constantly occurring, especially during the winter, when the people on both sides suffered particularly hardship.
The nobles were the ones who started the war, and the barbarians who could come to Tianling were just ordinary people. The nobles only cared about themselves and naturally didn't care about them. They only drove their sheep out to risk their lives when they had no other choice, and sold the sheep in exchange for what they needed.
The reason why the higher-ups turned a blind eye was, firstly, out of their great love. Secondly, their sheep were good and sold cheaply, which also benefited their own people.
Not long after they walked, they found the Hu people at the entrance of a small alley.
There were more than a dozen of them squatting or sitting in the alley.
Seeing someone coming, the Hu people immediately looked over nervously.
As soon as they turned their heads, the face that looked completely different from Tian Lingren was exposed in front of the three of them.
Chen Feng was startled and his hand instantly reached for the long sword at his waist.
Since the establishment of the general's mansion guard team, Tian An has spent a huge amount of money to equip everyone with weapons. Even if they don't know how to use them well, the sight of them carrying weapons can still intimidate people.
Moreover, she saw that other people's families had guards, so it would be too inferior if her family didn't have any. After all, it was a general's mansion.
The Hu people were also startled when they saw Chen Feng's actions and immediately became alert.
Seeing this, Zhao Yiming hurriedly pulled Tian An behind him.
Seeing that the situation was about to get out of control, Tian An patted Zhao Yiming's hand and asked Chen Feng to step back. Then he smiled and stepped forward and asked, "Do you have any sheep to sell?"
The other party was stunned, and then an older Hu man responded, "Yes, yes, yes, young lady, do you want to buy a sheep?"
He spoke standard Tianling Mandarin. If you didn't look at his face, no one would be able to tell that he was a Hu person.
"If you want to buy, how much are your sheep?"
Tian An took two steps forward as he spoke, Zhao Yiming followed closely behind, and Chen Feng's hand on the sword remained motionless.
The Hu people in the alley were frightened and took a few steps back.
Tian An was stunned, turned to look at Chen Feng, asked him to take his hand away from the sword, and then explained with a smile: "I'm just defending myself when I'm out, don't mind it!"
It was the same Hu man from before. He turned around and said a lot of things in their language to his companions. Only then did Tian An see that their expressions relaxed.
I should be explaining it for them! Tian An thought so.
The man spoke for a long while before turning around and saying to Tian An and the others, "My companions are rather shy, so I'm sorry for that."
As he said this, he made way for Tian An and the others to enter the alley.
After they came in, he said enthusiastically, "Our sheep are all raised on the grassland and driven here. They are eight taels each and are guaranteed to be delicious."
At eight taels per head, it was much cheaper than the sheep sold in Beijing. The wonton man had indeed not deceived her. Chen Qiang had also asked the price when he went to buy mutton before, and most of them were around fifteen or sixteen taels, which was exactly double!
But Tian An didn't buy the sheep just for food. "I want to buy the kind with thick wool. Do you have any?"
The man was stunned and asked, "You want to buy sheep?"
Tian An nodded, "Yes, it's sheep. Are there any?"
Under Tian An's expectant gaze, the Hu man finally nodded and said, "Yes, there is, but sheep meat is not as firm as goat meat. You Tianling people don't like it very much. Are you sure you want to buy it?"
It was only after they arrived that they realized that the Tianling people did not like sheep. The Tianling people bought sheep for food and did not know how to make wool felt, so the sheep they brought were difficult to sell. They all regretted bringing sheep. If they had known earlier, they would have brought all goats.
He had never expected that someone would actually ask to buy a sheep. Although he was happy, he decided to remind the girl in order to avoid trouble.
I never knew this guy was such an honest businessman. Tian An said with a smile, "I definitely want to buy it. How much is it?"
The man said, "The same price, eight taels each."
Although the sheep were difficult to sell, they all received the same price and he did not quote a high price.
Tian An asked, "If we buy a lot, can you give us a discount?"
The Hu man shook his head and said, "This is the lowest price. We didn't bid. It's not easy for us to drive these sheep here."
It was indeed not easy for them to come here. They had to avoid the generals on both sides of the border, sneak into the capital, and avoid the daily patrols.
Tian An could probably imagine what he said, but in business, being kind to others is being cruel to yourself, so it was impossible not to bargain, after all, she wanted to buy a lot.
"We need at least two hundred! Think about it!"
Two hundred!
That's big business!
They may not be able to sell this much even in a month.
The Hu man quickly gathered the others together and started whispering.
Zhao Yiming pulled Tian An and said, "Two hundred is a bit too much. I don't even know if you can make that yarn!"
Tian An turned around, and the two of them began to murmur, "It's because we haven't done it yet, so we need to keep experimenting. The initial cost is inevitably a bit high, so we should buy more!
What if you are halfway to success but run out of wool?
It's not easy to grow this wool, so we need to have more on hand."
Zhao Yiming nodded and said, "Are two hundred enough? If not, buy some more! If we succeed, we need to produce the finished product quickly! Winter is almost here."
Tian An glanced at the Hu people and said, "I just don't know how many sheep they have."
Zhao Yiming stood up straight and said, "Just ask and you'll know."
It just so happened that the Hu people had also negotiated the price and offered seven taels per head.
The price is indeed much cheaper than that of Tianling.
But Tian An wanted to push the price down further. "If we want to buy 300 heads, can you sell them to us for 5 taels each?"
The Hu man who could speak Mandarin said something in Hu to the group of Hu people behind him. They all shook their heads. No matter how much they bought, it couldn't be cheaper. This price was too low, it didn't even cover their costs.
The man spoke in Mandarin, "We have to spend money to buy the sheep, and we have to travel a long distance to get here, so there will be losses along the way. Seven taels is the lowest price, and we can't get any lower."
Tian An saw their determination, hesitated for a moment, and then stretched out his hand to make a number six. "Six taels a head, we'll buy four hundred."
Zhao Yiming agreed from the side, "They probably don't have that many sheep! They still need six taels."
The Hu man hurriedly said, "We have as many as you want, sir. Don't worry."
Four hundred heads is a big deal, and we can negotiate the price!
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