Chapter 167: Profiteer
Further ahead is Youzhou.
They are now temporarily stationed on the edge of a small town on the edge of Youzhou, which is about forty miles away from the town to Youzhou.
They spent half a month in the Jizhou area. They originally entered from Handan, passed through Xingtai, Julu, Xuecheng, and Wucheng, and then directly entered the Youzhou area.
At this moment, Lu Songli planned to sell most of the medicinal materials one after another. She had already told Qin Heng to send someone to the main city of Youzhou to inquire about the buyer who could consume their batch of goods.
They went with samples of medicinal herbs, and not long after, the people who inquired for information came back, not only bringing back the approximate price of the medicinal herbs they had, but also bringing back a list of buyers who were interested in trading.
Everyone was shocked to hear that the price they inquired back was three times their purchase price. So, they actually made twice as much profit this time?
Some people are already secretly counting on their fingers, calculating how much silver they can get this time.
Their capital was the property seized in Qinglongzhai. After calculation, it was converted into silver, which was about 30,000 taels.
In fact, this amount of silver is not small. After all, Qinglong Village is a large mountain village with more than 400 people. The daily expenses are not small, and the people they support are all bandits who eat, drink and spend all the money without any sense of saving money.
Of the 30,000 taels, 20,000 were from the private treasury of the village chief Qiu Hai, 10,000 were from the main storehouse of Qinglong Village, and Zhang Xian, the county magistrate of Tonghua County, took away items worth 20,000 taels. Of the 10,000 taels, 1,000 taels were various grains that were replenished in the caravan.
Qin Sheng and his men discovered Qiu Hai's private vault and immediately offered them 8,000 taels as a reward. Qin Sheng received 4,000 taels, and the other 4,000 taels were shared equally among all members of the reconnaissance team.
The total amount of silver that the fifty or so people could share was 22,000 taels. In other words, if they successfully sold this batch of medicinal herbs in the near future, they could get back 66,000 taels?
"That's a lot of money."
"So traveling for business is so profitable? Is making money so fast?" someone murmured.
Is it a lot? Lu Songli didn't think so. She quickly calculated that she would get about 5,000 taels of silver. She felt that the profit rate was still too slow. Back then, she had sold painkillers to Zhao Bin and earned 15,000 taels of silver in just half a month. But there was no way around it. Fat sheep are hard to come by. For now, she would just make do. Any profit is good, even a mosquito leg is still meat.
Lu Songli said, "Don't think this is very profitable."
Almost everyone looked at her, including the three brothers of the Qin family, Xu Zheng, Yang Wei and others. The profit doubled in half a month, isn't that a huge profit?
Lu Songli sighed in her heart, these are honest children.
"Think about it, business is risky. When you're out and about, you're bound to encounter all sorts of disasters and accidents, natural catastrophes or man-made calamities like bandits. If you're not careful, you can lose everything. If you're unlucky, you might even lose your life. So, we have to factor these risks into our costs. Just based on this risk factor, a 50% increase in costs isn't too much, right?"
Everyone's eyes widened even more. No, nothing happened along the way, but you still want to take the risk value into account?
Most people just thought about it in their hearts, but Lu Mingzhi muttered what was in his heart, "No, second sister, isn't this a bit too much?" They had obviously said that they had a safe journey.
Everyone turned around and looked at Lu Mingzhi, their eyes full of admiration. When it comes to courage, it has to be you, little brother Lu.
Qin Sheng next to him secretly pulled Lu Mingzhi.
Lu Mingzhi turned his head to look at his second brother-in-law.
Qin Sheng lowered his head slightly and lowered his voice, "Don't say anything, let your sister speak."
Lü Mingzhi: ???
"Little brother, do you think I'm overcharging?" Lu Songli gave her silly brother a loving smile. "It's all thanks to everyone, including your second brother-in-law, that we've been able to travel safely this long."
What's going on with his second sister and second brother-in-law? Lu Mingzhi suddenly felt very full. Just now, his second brother-in-law asked him not to speak and asked his second sister to speak: Now his second sister specifically picked out his second brother-in-law to praise him, and he felt very full.
Qin Sheng stood up straight, his back unconsciously straightened.
Qin Heng took over the conversation, "Sixth sister-in-law is right. In fact, there are many bandits in this area of Jizhou. It's mainly because there are only about 40 or 50 of us in the group, and there are 30 or 40 strong men. They have a strong aura and look very tough to deal with. That's why we have avoided a lot of trouble."
Lu Songli: "The most important thing is that everyone worked together to take down Qinglong Village. The news of Qinglong Village being uprooted spread throughout Yanzhou and radiated to Jizhou. The strongholds in Jizhou should have heard about it."
You have to know that bandits all have their own circles, and it is necessary for them to share information with each other, especially since Yanzhou and Jizhou are adjacent to each other, so the news is more well-informed.
Without this premise, even if Youzhou and Jizhou bordered each other, it would not have been so easy for other medicinal herb merchants to bring these herbs out of Jizhou safely. It was their strength that intimidated these bandits, making them dare not act rashly.
Lu Songli had guessed correctly. With the news that Qinglong Village had been wiped out, their group had become famous, and the bandits in Jizhou were truly avoiding them. They were the only one trading in the winter, so they were easy to spot.
Therefore, although their caravan made such a big noise in Jizhou, the leaders of the mountain strongholds in Jizhou were as quiet as chickens.
Even though it was obvious that they were a big fat sheep, the bandit leaders could only drool in secret, but they all told themselves that this must be their strategy to lure the enemy in. It was too treacherous! Don't be impulsive, don't be impulsive, impulsiveness will lead to falling into the trap! Can't see - can't see -
They hypnotized themselves and pretended to be blind, so that they could not see Lu Songli, the fat sheep, jumping around in their territory.
Qinglong Village is a lesson for us. There were more than 200 young and strong men in Qinglong Village, but they were wiped out just like that.
The people at Yang Wei's escort agency didn't react at first, but later they realized that the journey had been a bit quiet. There was no place in the entire Jizhou where they could demonstrate their professional abilities.
"So, we were able to ensure a safe journey thanks to our own abilities, but that doesn't mean there aren't risks. A 50% increase in costs is justified."
Everyone: Okay, whatever you say is fine, you are right.
Lu Songli continued, "We also have to take into account the losses we incurred along the way, and increase the cost by another 50%."
Brothers: What a profiteer! Even if they didn't buy herbs along the way, they would still take this route to Pingzhou. Wouldn't there be any losses? And she's going to treat these losses as costs and spread them over the cost of the herbs?
"After calculating this way, do you still think we earn a lot?" asked Lu Songli.
Everyone shook their heads. With an algorithm like yours, no one would dare to say that they made too much money.
Lu Songli nodded with satisfaction. "We deserve to earn double the profit. We should accept it with peace of mind."
Lu Songli accepted the price without feeling it was excessive. They'd eliminated quite a few middlemen, profiting from the price difference. One middleman might not make much, but what about two, three, or four? With each layer of markup, wouldn't the price skyrocket? Their low purchase price was a product of their skill.
"Master, I think our medicinal materials are of good quality and the price can go up a bit," Xiao Wu said.
When Xiao Wu said this, many people gasped. "Swindlers, earning twice as much is not enough? So, they are too conscientious?"
The others looked at him sideways.
Lu Songli encouraged him with a smile, "How much higher do you think it can be raised?" Xiao Wu was one of her recent apprentices. She found that this young man was very smart and learned things very quickly. She was very happy to give him the opportunity to train and grow.
"I think it's okay to raise the purchase price at the origin by another 50%, but I would suggest raising it by 30% or 20%. This would be more conducive to our shipments."
"Wu Ren has thought it through very well. Let's do as he says!" Lu Songli made the final decision. "The price is set. Everyone, get busy. Work hard for two days and try to sell all the herbs."
Everyone dispersed, but Qin Sheng refused to leave, no matter how others pulled him away.
Qin Sheng hit a straight ball, "You treat Wu Ren a little differently."
"Really?" Wu Ren, every time she heard this name, she wanted to laugh.
Qin Sheng looked at her smiling face dimly, not understanding why she was so happy when she saw Wu Ren. Wu Ren was not as tall as him, his face was not as pretty as his, his legs were not as long as his, and he was definitely not as nice to touch as him!
Lu Songli rubbed her forehead. She could see that her eldest baby was unhappy. God knows, she was just thinking about the five-nut mooncakes in the future! She found an opportunity later and took him to the grove nearby to comfort him.
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