Chapter 166 Showtime
Next, Lu Songli used her expertise to embark on a journey of identifying the quality of medicinal materials.
For example, the Forsythia suspensa and Bupleurum chinense from Shexian County, the Ziziphus jujuba seeds from Neiqiu, Xingtai County, the Honeysuckle from Julu County, the Scutellaria baicalensis from Chengde County, the Atractylodes lancea from Longhua County, the Anemarrhena asphodeloides from Weixian County, etc. These authentic medicinal materials that were qualified by her hands were all collected.
The key point is that she was not idle along the way and also brought out two apprentices.
Whenever their caravan stopped near a village, they would trade with the villagers, using either the supplies they had brought from Chang'an City, or money, or something else. As long as the other party wanted it, as long as they had it, and as long as it could be exchanged for medicinal herbs in the other party's hands, they would trade.
Their display was so grand that those who didn't know them might have thought they were a mature caravan. Who knew they were actually a patchwork group?
The noise they made led to what Lu Songli had anticipated: someone came to cause trouble for them. The troublemakers were none other than the small herbal medicine vendors who had connections with the various villages.
It was just after the Lunar New Year and the beginning of spring, not yet the lean season, so they hadn't gone out to the village to collect herbs, waiting for a while to bring down the prices. But before they knew it, their house was robbed. How could they not be anxious?
Some reasonable people would use courtesy first and then force, and would go straight to them and say that what they were doing was a bit unsportsmanlike, like Guo Mao of Julu; some unreasonable people would start a fight right from the start, like Feng Kui.
For Lu Songli, these people arrived at the perfect time, playing into her hands. These were her catches, er, no, cough, her targets. What a joke! Purchasing the medicinal herbs the villagers had gathered themselves was just a small-time operation. Her plans were never just that. Big fish eat small fish, small fish eat shrimp. She'd willingly eat the shrimp, but her goal had always been the small fish.
For those who used courtesy before force, Lu Songli set up tables and chairs in a beautiful place in the wild, and placed delicious biscuits and snacks brought from Chang'an City on them. He also brewed a pot of good tea, and then asked his brothers to politely invite the people over and treat them well.
Those who are unreasonable and start fights will be left alone. Qin Sheng will lead his troops to beat them up first and then bring them here.
Anyway, the second process is the part where Lu Songli comes out to convince people with reason.
People like Guo Mao are easier to persuade. In fact, no matter whether they are the first or second type, as long as they come, they will be intimidated by the military force of the soldiers led by Qin Sheng.
In fact, when Guo Mao was brought here, he had already started to back out. He had acted impulsively. At that time, he no longer cared about the other party purchasing medicinal herbs on his territory. He just wanted to return with everything he had. However, unexpectedly, the other party set their sights on the medicinal herbs he had stored.
Guo Mao actually felt the other party's offer was quite sincere, not forcing him to pay a huge price. If he sold his stockpiled herbs to the other party, he could make a small profit of 10%. If he followed his plan and stored them until mid-year before selling them, he would still have to find someone to transport them. The market conditions were uncertain; if it was good, he could make a 30% to 40% profit. If it was bad, he could even lose money.
"...Brother Guo, when it comes to business, just make a little, and forget about it. Never aim for the biggest profit. The price of medicinal herbs is so volatile. If you hold onto it for the middle of the year, not to mention the capital tied up, is it guaranteed to make money? It's not certain, is it?"
"You might as well sell it to us and make some money first. Then you'll have working capital. With your keen eye, you'll be able to act quickly if you find a good project, so you don't miss out on a great opportunity to make money."
Xue Xu looked at Guo Mao who was already lost in thought, and knew in his heart that this man had been fooled and was about to be deceived.
Sure enough, it didn't take long for the other party to give in.
Strike while the iron is hot, Lu Songli immediately asked someone to bring the silver back with him to deliver the medicinal materials.
Xue Xu, who was sitting nearby, thought to himself, women’s mouths are full of lies.
"You're such a sharp talker, you've inherited your father's true teachings." No, it should be said that he's even better than his father. That guy, Lu Desheng, only knows how to criticize people to pieces, wishing he had never been born. And his daughter, on the other hand, is even more amazing. She can even trick a coffin into opening.
Lu Songli didn't care about what he said, "Did I say something wrong?"
She just briefly analyzed for the other party the "prospects of unstable prices of Chinese medicinal materials" and "how to rationally utilize the resources and funds at hand", and the other party listened to her. Is there a problem?
"Yes, yes, you are right."
"Mr. Xue knows my father?" Lu Songli asked casually.
Xue Xu said nonchalantly, "Your father is so famous in the court, who in the world doesn't know him?"
The two chatted for a while.
Of course, there are also medicinal herb merchants who don’t buy into their tricks, such as Feng Kui.
Lu Songli didn't care. For those who were stubborn and refused to cooperate, she just asked them to pay their appearance fee and let them go.
When you are under someone's roof, you have to bow your head. Feng Kui gave the money and left with a feeling of aggrieved.
In this way, when they crossed Jizhou, they traded along the way, mainly trading with local medicinal material purchasing merchants, and the traded items were authentic medicinal materials of high quality.
When others were exiled or traveling, their supplies would become less and less. But during this journey, their carriages were never empty. The food they consumed, and the space left, was filled with medicinal herbs.
It is worth mentioning that after Lu Songli’s tea party, some small medicinal herb merchants were inspired to sell when they could make a profit, and not to expect to sell at the highest price. It was with this approach that they finally grew bigger and stronger.
Some of them even return the favor by introducing them to their clients, some big herbal medicine dealers or big medical clinics.
Because Lu Songli knew the goods and was responsible for quality control, the medicinal materials they received were all of first-class quality. In order not to leave the carriage empty, they would accept some of the lower quality at the beginning, but later, as the space became smaller, they basically only accepted the best quality ones.
The phrase they said most along the way was "squeeze, squeeze more, fit as much as you can, and don't leave any gaps."
Later they bought more carriages, and basically all the young and strong men in the team took turns driving the carriages.
When they added the thirteenth carriage, Yang Wei went to Lu Songli and complained, "Sixth Young Master's wife, we can't add any more carriages. No one knows how to drive them!" In total, their fleet already had twenty-five carriages!
Lu Songli said coldly, "You don't know how to drive a carriage? Then learn! As long as you can learn it, learn it to death!"
Yang Wei: ...Do we have to include even a ten-year-old boy like Chen Changan?
When Lu Songli collects too much of some medicinal herbs, he will sell some of them at the right time. The targets of the sales will naturally be the big medical clinics introduced by the small medicinal herb merchants.
For the big medical clinic that Lu Songli and his group had visited, a whole winter had passed and they had used up a lot of their medicinal materials, so they needed to replenish their stock.
Because the herbs Lu Songli and his team purchased were of high quality, the price, while slightly higher than what they'd purchased elsewhere, was right within their acceptable range, and they were already somewhat willing to make the deal. The other party also provided door-to-door delivery, saving them a lot of effort. Not bad, very good.
Moreover, Lu Songli and the others can accept cash settlement or use medicinal materials as compensation.
The herbs Lu Songli and the others specifically requested were all local, authentic herbs, which they happened to have in stock. The price they offered was just enough to allow them to make a small profit.
The other party knew at a glance that they were connoisseurs and experts, so the owners of the large clinics put away their fancy tricks, calculated the amount the clinic would need, and gave the excess to them.
Xue Xu was in charge of the general ledger. He found that after all the shuffling, although there seemed to be no change, when you counted it all, the assets of their fleet were growing rapidly.
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