Chapter 2037 Analysis
Xiao Qian repeated these words to her husband and son. Zhou Dalang was still looking at the cloth on the table when Zhou Lizhong said, "I know. My second sister and second brother and I have all said privately that although business makes a lot of money, it's also difficult."
"Anyone who manages to achieve something in business is either incredibly smart and comes from a wealthy family, or they have someone behind them who can back them. Otherwise, they won't get far." He said, "To be honest, aside from my aunt, no one in our family is particularly bright. Even my third brother is better at studying than the rest of us siblings, but he often has to study by lamplight at night to keep up. So unless my aunt takes over as the head of the household, our family won't achieve much through pure talent."
"Then we can only find a backer," Zhou Lizhong lowered his voice slightly when talking about these secrets. "Fourth Uncle has always wanted to cooperate with Princess Changyu in business. It's not that he has any big ambitions or wants to expand the business, but he just wants to avoid being bullied when he goes out."
When Zhou Dalang heard this, he immediately asked, "Were you bullied outside?"
Zhou Lizhong said, "It's impossible not to feel a little wronged. The first time I went out with my fourth uncle, we were invited to their village on the grassland. Although my fourth uncle and I were 'invited' at that time, we didn't even have a seat. The person talking in front was the manager of the caravan who was traveling with us..."
Even when they were being robbed, Zhou Silang and his companions didn't have the dignity to step in front of the robbers, which shows how insignificant they were.
Later, they were able to get out because the Tufa tribe, who brought them into the grassland, found that they could not reason with the caravan, so they simply took the two bags of tea given to them by Zhou Silang privately and asked people from nearby tribes to come forward. They also met Xiang Mingxue, who had some connections on the grassland. Only then were they able to get out safely, but they lost some money.
At first, he and his fourth uncle felt very aggrieved and thought they must talk to their aunt when they returned. But after entering the grassland and teaming up with Xiang Mingxue, they realized that the grievances they were suffering were nothing at all.
Compared to Xiang Mingxue, they had a smooth journey. When Xiang Mingxue was doing business on the grassland, he had to rely on his head for survival.
It's just that he was only thinking about revenge at that time. He would kill Buddha if he stood in the way, and he would kill God if he stood in the way. Plus, he was smart, so he managed to carve out a bloody path for himself.
After two trips back and forth, Zhou Lizhong and his fourth uncle vaguely understood some things. They admired Xiang Mingxue even more and wanted to find someone to rely on.
He said, "Now when our family enters and leaves the grassland, we only need to give some money to some villages and caravans to pass through. This is because we have good relations with the tribes on the grassland and our good relationship with Brother Xiang."
"But in fact, both relationships are not reliable. The Tufa tribe is like a mother who only cares about milk. We are doing well now because we buy medicinal herbs and cattle from them, and we sell them silk and tea. But if there are merchants who offer higher prices or sell tea and silk cheaper, they will kick us away."
"Brother Xiang's situation is also unstable. He has no capital right now. In addition, our two families have a special relationship, so he is willing to cooperate with us. But in fact, our family is taking advantage of this cooperation."
Xiang Mingxue has no capital, but it is not difficult for him to get capital. Even if the source of the capital may not be very clean, he can have it.
But connections and routes are not something you can get just by having money.
Last year, entering the grassland was much smoother because Xiang Mingxue was with me, and the profits also increased a bit.
Zhou Lizhong said, "This kind of taking advantage of others is fine once or twice, but if it happens too often, it will cause resentment. And Fourth Uncle also said that relying on feelings is not as reliable as relying on interests. It's better to talk it out clearly than to maintain the relationship based on old feelings."
"So we all want to do business with Princess Changyu. If she participates in our family's business, we can make money for her, and then we can openly use her name when we go out." Zhou Lizhong said, "Many people without any foundation who want to expand their business are like this. There's nothing we can do. Let alone officials and dignitaries, even if we pass through a place with goods and the local gentry is more powerful and really tries to force us to buy or sell, we will have to swallow our anger. Wasn't that what happened to the Luo family in Gu County, Liangzhou?"
Zhou Dalang and Xiao Qianshi had both heard about how Zhou Silang and his fourth brother and his wife were forcibly sold when they were passing through Gu County, and that both their children and their wives were almost in danger.
"My aunt was already quite famous at the time, but even so, the county magistrate of Gu County didn't make the decision for Fourth Uncle. Even if he wanted to, he probably couldn't. In some places, the gentry are even more powerful than the county magistrate and don't fear the county government at all." Zhou Lizhong said, "It's not just the local gentry, but also the people in the caravans who travel with us. They compare themselves with each other and privately rank each other. People like our family, although our business is small and our foundation is shallow, are still considered upper-middle class."
In fact, it was not so good at the beginning, but in the past two years, the younger aunt's fame has grown, and she has become more and more favored in the palace. After the prince had a boy, it would be much more effective for them to go out and announce the younger aunt's name.
Especially this time Zhou Lijun went along with them, they carefully inquired about the details of each caravan and learned some little secrets.
"Aside from the caravans of the top few businesses, the caravans are the most important to avoid, including the aristocratic families and the powerful, such as the Cui family, the Lu family, and the Wang family... My uncle's Bai family is also among them, but they only benefit from the Bai family's influence. Unless it is necessary, no one will bother these aristocratic families. Even more unacceptable are the Guanlong nobles like the Duke of Zhao and the Duke of Su. Business must be avoided with them. Then there are those families with members in the court. Because my aunt is here, we can barely be counted among them."
"But this is because my aunt's reputation is growing, and my uncle's name has spread too. Everyone knows that my aunt will marry into the Longzhou Bai family in the future, and my uncle is a great student. He is currently the prince's companion, so he will definitely have a bright future." Zhou Lizhong said, "In my family, my third and fourth brothers are all studying. Although they haven't made any achievements yet, it's obvious that they want their children and nephews to take the imperial examinations. Outsiders don't dare to bully us because no one knows what will happen to our family in the future."
"So our family must have land. If we have land and someone is educated, we can move from being a farmer to a farmer and a scholar. That's much better than being a merchant. Sometimes, traveling abroad depends on status and reputation."
Or do people like to brag when doing business?
Because bragging not only makes people afraid of you, but also makes it easier to get things done.
Zhou Lizhong rattled off so much, and Zhou Dalang and Xiao Qianshi finally understood. They immediately said, "Then buy it! Buy the land!"
See you at 10pm
(End of this chapter)
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