Chapter 164 Let Money Make Money
After Lu Songli and his convoy entered the territory of Jizhou, they slowly advanced to the northeast, and the villages became densely populated.
They didn't want to go into the village. There were more than 50 of them, and going in would be too big a scene and cause panic. They had gone into Qingxi Village before because it was winter and the snow was so heavy that sleeping outdoors would freeze to death.
They now usually find a place to stay near the village and try not to disturb the villagers.
Living on the edge of the village, it is convenient for them to exchange things.
I don't know how it started, but their caravan would exchange supplies with local villages for some local products.
Although they had enough food, it was nice to change things up occasionally. After all, their supplies were brought from Chang'an City, and the locals were happy to exchange with them.
In addition to local specialties, Lu Songli and his colleagues also consciously collect some local high-quality grains.
Then the opportunity came during an exchange when an old local man took half a sack of herbal roots that he had collected and dried himself, and wanted to exchange them for some cloth from Chang'an City.
Xiao Wu, who was in charge of exchanging supplies, was unsure and didn't want to exchange with him.
This scene happened to be seen by Lu Songli, and she walked over and said, "Wait, let me take a look."
Lu Songli not only looked at it, but also broke off a small piece with his hands and chewed it.
She recognized the cylindrical or oblong-conical bupleurum in the half sack as the Shexian bupleurum, whose roots were thick, dark brown or light brown in surface, hard and tough, difficult to break, with a faint fragrance and a slightly bitter taste.
The Bupleurum and Forsythia suspensa from Shexian County were later designated as national geographical indication products and are also commonly known as authentic medicinal materials.
The old man spoke eloquently, "Madam, don't be fooled by the appearance of this sack of herbal roots, but they can really be exchanged for money."
Lu Songli smiled and said, "Uncle, I believe what you said. This sack of stuff is actually a medicinal herb called Bupleurum. You can exchange it for money at a pharmacy in the city."
The old man gave her a thumbs up and said, "Yes, every year people who make medicinal herbs in our county come to our village to buy this kind of medicinal herbs." After the people in their village knew that this thing could be sold for money, they would go to the wild to collect it every year and sell it to the merchants who came to the village to buy it.
"Apart from Bupleurum, are those herbal medicine merchants purchasing another kind of herbal medicine in your village?" Lu Songli was referring to Forsythia.
The old man gave a thumbs-up again, "Madam, you are connoisseur of goods."
"Uncle, we want all your Bupleurum. Just tell him what you want to exchange it for." Lu Songli pointed at Xiao Wu.
Xiao Wu stepped forward smartly and said, "Uncle, what kind of cloth do you want? We brought a lot with us when we left Chang'an City. Come and take a look."
The old man followed with a smile.
Lu Songli returned to the temporary camp carrying half a sack of Bupleurum chinense. She looked at the half sack of Bupleurum chinense and fell into deep thought.
The gold, silver and treasures they seized from Qinglong Village have not yet been divided up, no, they have not yet rewarded them according to their merits.
However, the plan of rewarding according to merit has been finalized.
The tone of the entire plan is: all team members have a share, after all, everyone bears the risk together.
The difference is that some members contribute more and some don't, so the rewards they receive vary depending on the size of their contributions. If we divide members into five tiers based on their contributions, we'll tentatively say they're divided into five tiers.
Everyone was very happy about this plan.
In terms of rewards based on merit, the Qin family is naturally the team that gets the most money and property.
Because the Qin family has four people in the first echelon who contribute the most, and Xu Zheng and Yang Wei are also in the first echelon.
Hu Guangcong, Yang Wei Escort Agency's deputy Yang Zifa, and four officers were considered the second echelon.
The third echelon was naturally the soldiers responsible for reconnaissance led by Qin Sheng, and they also contributed a lot.
The fourth echelon is the escorts from Yang Wei Escort Agency, they are the peripheral personnel.
The women and children of the Qin family are considered the fifth echelon. Their participation is the most important thing, and they get the least rewards, which are just a per capita fee at most.
And because Qiu Hai's private vault was discovered by Qin Sheng and his men, Qin Sheng and the soldiers who were patrolling with him at the time were given an extra reward.
The seized property should have been immediately distributed according to merit, with the gold and silver distributed to individuals. However, Xu Zheng, Yang Wei, and the others considered the long journey ahead. If they kept the property themselves, what if they lost it? It would be better to keep it together in one or two carriages for easier storage and less risk of loss. The distribution would then be made to individuals before arriving in Pingzhou.
Their concerns were not unreasonable, so the property was not divided up for the time being, but the amount of gold and silver each person received was recorded in a book.
Lu Songli thought about these things mainly because she couldn't bear to see so much wealth lying idle.
Her best friend in her previous life often said, "If you don't manage your finances, your finances won't manage you."
Okay, she admitted, she was itching to play the money game. As the saying goes, if you don't make money, you're a jerk. Jizhou has so many authentic medicinal herbs, and she happens to be an expert in them. The opportunity is right in front of her, and she has the capital, so why not give it a try?
She pondered it for a while and decided her plan should be feasible. If they were willing, she decided to take them with her. They could all contribute money and effort, making money multiply and achieving common prosperity.
As for how many people will respond, it doesn’t matter. She is sure that the Qin family will support her.
Qin Sheng went to the river to catch a few fish and came back to see his wife in a daze. "What are you thinking about?"
Lu Songli asked Qin Sheng to invite Qin Heng and Qin Zhao, and then revealed his plan.
Qin Heng: That’s a good idea, let’s try it.
Qin Zhao: Sixth brother’s wife is making trouble again.
Qin Sheng: As for the money, just use it if you want, no need to ask me.
The three Qin brothers all supported her idea. All the money the Qin family received was given to her to manage.
They were very open-minded. After all, the money she was going to use was unexpected money, and she had put in a lot of effort to get it. Now she could use it. If she made money, it would be good, but if she lost money, she could just pretend it never happened.
After the Qin family reached a consensus, they gathered everyone to discuss the matter.
"...This is how it is. I'll give you all half an hour to think about it. Those who are willing to invest can invest, no matter how much or how little. When we make money, we will distribute dividends according to the amount of money invested. Those who are unwilling can choose not to invest, but the profit or loss of this trip has nothing to do with you. We will not touch the money that belongs to you, don't worry." After saying this, Lu Songli called for everyone to disperse.
This incident affected all members of the team, and everyone gathered in groups of three or four to discuss it.
Xiao Lu, Ding Ge and the other four officers approached Xu Zheng and asked, "Xu Yasi, what do you think about this? Do you want to surrender or not?"
"I decided to vote."
"How much?"
“All of them.”
"Xu Yasi, so generous!"
After learning of Xu Zheng's decision, the four officers gathered together and whispered to each other.
The escorts from Yang Wei's escort agency surrounded Yang Wei and asked him what he meant.
"Vote, I've voted all!"
The soldiers on Hu Guangcong's side were much more tacit. They attacked, all of them! Follow Master Liu, and there's meat to eat!
The most conflicted were the escort brothers from Yang Wei's escort agency. Some of them were timid and only planned to invest half. After all, Madam Qin Liushao said that this was okay. They figured that even if they lost, they still had half in hand.
However, they had just made a secret decision, but when they saw that their brothers who had always played well with them had all voted, they couldn't help but hesitate again.
For example, when Liu Yi saw Xiao Wu invested all his money, he couldn't help but ask, "Xiao Wu, why did you invest all your money too?" What if he lost money? Wouldn't all his efforts be in vain?
Xiao Wu knew Liu Yi's hesitation. The two of them played well together, so he couldn't help but want to persuade him. "Ayi, what do you think of yourself here?" Xiao Wu pointed at his solar plexus and asked, "Do you think you are smart?"
Liu Yi used to think that he was quite smart, at least he thought that he was one of the smart ones among so many brothers in Yang Wei Escort Agency. But this experience of escorting made him doubt whether he was really smart?
"Okay, you don't have to tell me the answer. What I want to say is that it doesn't matter if we're not smart, we just have to follow the smart people. On this ticket, Xu Yasi and Chief Escort Yang both went all-in. Do you think they're stupid?"
Liu Yi: No, they are not stupid.
Xiao Wu felt that he had said everything that needed to be said. If the cows don’t drink the water, can you force them to drink?
After listening to others' advice and having a full meal, Liu Yi finally decided to go all-in with everyone else!
Do it, and if you win, you can take charge of the situation; if you lose, the worst that can happen is that you just pretend that the wealth never came.
If there is one, there will be two. The herd effect is not just talk. In the end, everyone went all in, and no one was left behind.
So, the wealth they got from fighting the bandits was put to good use by Lu Songli.
Later, as everyone waited for the money to be divided, the timid ones were incredibly glad they had followed the crowd. Otherwise, the gap between their brothers, who were originally in similar situations, would have widened significantly. If that had really happened, they would have regretted it to death.
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