Chapter 691 Commodity Circulation
County Magistrate Tang smiled and ignored him, continuing to ask, "How big is the difference between these two wheat varieties?"
Zhou Silang thought for a moment and said, "I haven't planted anything either. But the first year after my family harvested the new wheat, we sifted it and exchanged the wheat seeds with the villagers. Only my family planted the carefully selected wheat seeds. In the second year's harvest, my family generally had two more baskets of wheat than others, per one acre of land."
Manbao frowned and thought for a moment before saying, "But these years, the village has been planting seeds carefully selected from the previous year, and the yield per mu has been getting higher and higher. Even if the wheat seeds have only been screened twice now, they are still better than the first time we gave them to the villagers."
County Magistrate Tang nodded and then asked the price.
Zhou Silang thought for a moment and said, "I'm selling wheat seeds for 140 wen a bushel now. If Lord Tang wants it, I'll give you a discount of 5 wen a bushel. How about that?"
The seeds in the grain shops in Yizhou City now cost 150 wen per dou of old wheat, while the new wheat costs over 200 wen. Basically, ordinary people cannot afford to buy new wheat seeds.
County Magistrate Tang raised his eyebrows and asked Zhou Silang curiously, "Why are you selling it so cheap?"
Zhou Silang didn't think it was cheap, because it wasn't that expensive for him to buy these wheat seeds when he returned home. Even if some villagers tried to trick him by giving him wheat that had only been screened once, he and his brothers would screen it again after returning home, so he wouldn't lose anything.
You can make a lot of money from one bushel.
Moreover, "Master Tang, I don't have a store, so I go directly to the countryside to sell. If I don't sell it at a lower price, who will buy from me?"
Mr. Tang laughed and asked, "Do you know that things like grain seeds cannot be sold without a store, and after selling them, a tax must be paid to the county government?"
Zhou Silang was stunned for a moment and said, "Master Tang, I have paid the tax for entering the city."
"There's more to doing business than just the taxes on entering the city. If you don't believe me, ask your sister to look up the Laws of the Great Jin."
Zhou Silang immediately turned his head to look at Manbao.
Bai Shan had stood behind Man Bao at some point, and seeing this, he said, "Brother Zhou Si, you were clearly selling extra wheat from home, so how did it become wheat seeds?"
Zhou Silang came back to his senses with a start and nodded immediately, "Yes, yes, I sell wheat, not wheat seeds. As for whether they buy wheat to eat or to plant, I don't know."
Manbao nodded repeatedly, looking at County Magistrate Tang innocently. "Sir Tang, I heard there are still many refugees in Yizhou City. The price of grain here is high. My family is a farmer. It's normal for them to buy some wheat from us to take home."
County Magistrate Tang tapped Bai Shan on the forehead and said to the three men with a smile, "Sly fellow, your wheat is only 140 wen a dou, isn't that expensive? It's even more expensive than at the grain store. Which refugee would buy wheat from you?"
Bai Shan rubbed his forehead. Seeing that he didn't look like he was going to accuse him, he asked, "Then what do you want to say?"
"I don't think anything's wrong," County Magistrate Tang said with a smile. "I heard that before the flood, the price of good wheat seeds in the Yizhou area fluctuated between 110 and 120 wen."
Manbao said, "How about we sell it to you for one hundred and twenty coins?"
County Magistrate Tang looked at her without saying anything.
Manbao couldn't help but shout, "Master Tang, the villagers all know that this wheat of ours is to be used as wheat seed, so the price we get is much higher than what the grain merchants pay us. My fourth brother even has to transport it from home. One hundred and twenty wen is not expensive at all. Just think about what the new wheat seed sells for in the grain store."
County Magistrate Tang agreed and nodded, saying, "All right, one hundred and twenty coins is one hundred and twenty coins."
"Let's sign a contract," Manbao said, "Master Tang, we have to agree in advance that you cannot resell the wheat seeds we sell to you. You can only use them for yourself. Otherwise, if you take the wheat seeds from us and then sell them for a higher price, we will have no business. What a loss!"
County Magistrate Tang thought for a moment and then smiled, "That's fine. However, this is the first time I've signed such a contract with anyone, so I'll make it clear to you that these wheat seeds are not for my use."
The Zhou brothers and sisters stared at him fiercely, and County Magistrate Tang laughed heartily and said, "But don't worry, I won't resell it. Consider it a purchase from the county government."
Manbao was surprised, "Hey, your county government is also going to distribute grain and seeds to the people under its jurisdiction?"
County Magistrate Tang paused and asked, "Does County Magistrate Yang often distribute grain seeds to you?"
Zhou Silang nodded and said, "We distribute some seeds almost every year, whether it's wheat seeds, corn seeds, or various bean seeds. Sometimes there are even some unusual vegetable seeds. We plant whatever the county magistrate distributes. Vegetable seeds don't take up much land, and other seeds don't take up much either. Basically, we can just clear out a piece of land and plant them. If the crops are good, we can continue planting the next year. If they're not, we can stop planting the next year."
County Magistrate Tang sighed, "Your County Magistrate Yang is really rich."
Zhou Silang nodded in agreement.
But Bai Shan and Man Bao, who had more contact with County Magistrate Yang, disagreed, saying, "County Magistrate Yang only spent money in the first year, and he earned it back."
Manbao had seen the chief clerk of the county government do the accounting. He counted on his fingers and said, "When the new wheat was planted that year, County Magistrate Yang paid for a lot of new wheat seeds. When he distributed the wheat seeds to everyone to plant, he agreed that the new wheat seeds harvested the following year must be sold back to him at a price he set. He would set a price no lower than the market price."
"Then the following year, County Magistrate Yang harvested a lot of new wheat, sold half to merchants, and distributed the remaining half to others to plant. The same rules apply. Now, almost every village in Luojiang County, big and small, has planted new wheat. Every year, apart from the wheat seeds they keep for themselves, County Magistrate Yang takes all the best seeds. No matter how many grain merchants go, they can't compete with him."
Zhou Silang nodded repeatedly, "Besides, the price offered by County Magistrate Yang is slightly lower than those grain merchants. Master Bai can't compete with County Magistrate Yang. It's only because County Magistrate Yang doesn't like this sifted wheat right now, otherwise, other villages wouldn't sell to us."
But he didn't react. What does this have to do with what they said before?
He thought for a moment and asked, "Manbao, are you saying that County Magistrate Yang is also making money by speculating in trade like my family?"
Manbao emphasized: "It's not County Magistrate Yang, it's the County Government Office!"
"However, since the county government has made money, it will naturally pay back the money owed to Lord Yang." So Lord Yang did not lose any money at all.
County Magistrate Tang calculated the back and forth and sighed, "This is what a dishonest businessman is."
Manbao and Baishan looked at him silently.
County Magistrate Tang coughed lightly and asked, "Can't it be a little cheaper? I'm distributing these wheat seeds to the refugees under my jurisdiction. Our Huayang County is not as poor as your Luojiang County. We are very poor."
The next update will be around 8pm
(End of this chapter)
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