Chapter 171 Raising the Price
When Su Ying arrived at the Tiger Camp, Hu Wei and his men had already prepared all the carriages and horses. Because all the carriages were carrying charcoal, they could only ride horses.
Su Ying looked at Hu Wei who had climbed onto his horse, "Are your wounds healed?"
Hu Wei laughed proudly and said, "It's been so long, I've recovered a long time ago, don't worry, Madam Su, my fists are very hard now."
Su Ying heard that he was full of energy when he spoke, and thought that his internal injuries should be almost healed.
"Let's go while it's still early." Su Ying said as she jumped on the horse.
"Brother, I'll go with you." Qiao Yang also rode over on horseback.
Hu Wei glared at him and said, "You stay in the camp honestly. If anything goes wrong in the camp when I come back, I will hold you responsible."
Qiao Yang's face darkened and he looked at Su Ying sadly, but Su Ying had already ridden her horse to the front.
Qiao Yang could only wave at them, "You must come back soon."
The Tiger Camp was not far from the exit of the Northern Wilderness. If they could run fast, they should be able to reach the border of Chu State in the afternoon.
Hu Wei rode his horse in front of the team, and Su Ying followed at the end. After walking for an unknown amount of time, they finally got out of the Northern Wilderness.
Outside the northern wilderness, everything is barren, as if a door separates two worlds.
Su Ying looked around. This was the first time she left since entering the Northern Wilderness.
After walking out, Su Ying could feel the strong wind and sand outside, which made her face hurt. Perhaps the northern wilderness was surrounded by mountains, which blocked the north wind and weakened it.
Near noon, they finally saw the border gate of Chu State.
"Stop the team on the side. I'm going to the checkpoint to see if anyone has arrived." After Hu Wei instructed the people around him, he kicked his horse and ran towards the checkpoint.
Su Ying asked them to pull the car to an inconspicuous place and stop. She looked from afar and saw that there were many people waiting to do business outside the Chu State Pass. She asked the guards to keep an eye on the goods and drove her horse towards the vendors who had set up mobile stalls outside the pass.
"Pancakes, fresh pancakes, only two copper coins can fill your stomach."
"Rouge, beautiful rouge, young lady, do you want to take some back? My rouge is famous for its quality. I don't know how many people from the inner city have come out just to buy a box of rouge from me."
Su Ying looked at the rouge box in the vendor's hand, shook her head, and continued walking forward.
The mobile stalls are very long, and many people pull carts here to sell goods. Not to mention, there are quite a few people selling things here. It can't be said that there is everything, but some daily necessities can still be bought.
Su Ying walked to the front and found someone selling charcoal. She walked to the stall and asked, "How much is this charcoal?"
Seeing someone asking, the vendor quickly greeted them warmly, "Young lady, you want to buy charcoal? This bundle is 100 copper coins. If you want more, I can give you a lower price."
Su Ying saw that his charcoal was also tied into a cylindrical shape, but the volume was smaller and the quality of the charcoal was not as good. "Let me take a look."
Walking further, she met two more people who were also selling charcoal. The price she asked was similar to the first one, but the ones with better quality were more expensive.
Su Ying turned and left the stall, and saw Hu Wei walking towards the team with a middle-aged man.
"We burned a lot of charcoal a few days ago. See if you want to collect it." Hu Wei said to the middle-aged man.
The man walked to the side of the car to check the quality of the charcoal. He looked at it for several times without any change in expression, making it hard to guess what he was thinking.
After reading it, the man took out a sweat towel and wiped his hands, "This charcoal won't work."
Hu Wei frowned, "Is this quality not good enough?"
The man nodded, "The rich people want the best silver charcoal, you can't sell it at a good price, but I also know your situation, it's not easy to come out, how about this, I will give you half a silver dollar per cart of these charcoal, if you are willing to sell it, I will take it all."
Half a penny for a cart, he really dared to think about it!
There are about twenty or thirty bags in this cart. According to the price she just asked about, one cart would cost at least two or three taels of silver. This is a huge bargain.
"Since we can't sell it at a good price, we won't make things difficult for Brother Tong." Hu Wei knew that the man was deliberately trying to lower the price, and he was unwilling to sell it at such a low price.
The man was not in a hurry. He knew that every year when they reached this checkpoint, Huwei and his men would be short of food, and he was their only source of food in the State of Chu. If he did not help, it would be more troublesome for them to buy from other places. Every time this happened, he could take the opportunity to earn more money from them.
"I know the price is not high, but I can't help it. Charcoal is not something that everyone can afford, and its sales are limited. You don't know that Chu and Nanguo almost went to war before, and the price of food on the border suddenly jumped up. Before, five copper coins could buy a pound of brown rice, but now it takes ten copper coins, which is doubled."
Hu Wei's brows furrowed even deeper, "You can't ask for more or get less?"
The man shook his head in embarrassment. "If I hadn't stockpiled goods before, I might not have any goods to give you now. I only have a thousand loads left. If you don't want them, they will probably be gone in two days."
Of course Hu Wei wanted it, but the price had increased so much in an instant that he felt a little painful. After all, it was not easy for them to get some money.
"How much is a pound of white rice?" Su Ying asked.
The man raised two fingers and said, "Twenty copper coins."
Twenty copper coins per pound, one load is two taels of silver, and one thousand loads is two thousand taels. The price is more than double what she bought before.
They had limited money to begin with, and Su Ying didn't want to spend so much extra money.
Seeing that they were hesitant, the man made a ruthless move. "How about this? You two discuss it. I have an appointment with other people today. They also said they want to buy food. Let's discuss it as soon as possible. Otherwise, if someone places an order, I won't have that much stock."
"this……"
"Okay, thank you for your trouble." Su Ying stopped Hu Wei who was about to speak.
The man glanced at Su Ying, nodded, and turned back to the city.
Hu Wei was a little anxious when he saw the man leave. "Madam Su, you don't plan to do business with him? He is the only way we have in Chu. If he is gone, we won't be able to buy what we want here."
"Don't worry. There is no large-scale disaster in Chu this year. The price of grain will not rise for no reason. The war is even more ridiculous. When there is a war, so many people can flee to the border. That person clearly wants to raise the price."
"Then, if we don't buy from him, who should we buy from?"
(End of this chapter)
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