Chapter 404 Settlement and Dividends
Jiangzhou, Linchuan Commandery, Linru County
Tian Yue and Wei Qianyang were walking on the streets of Linru County, leading their horses.
The two men belong to the Investigation Department of Liaodong Chamber of Commerce, and are currently comparing the hometown address provided by Zhou Congguang.
"Is the Zhou family here?" Tian Yue looked at the copper ring gate in front of him.
Wei Qianyang glanced around and said, "This should be the right place. Didn't the old man at the entrance of the alley just say it? It's the second one around the corner after entering the alley." They took the address and asked for it along the way.
This was the last family. Before coming to the Zhou family, they had already visited the Zhan family, the Wei family, and the Sheng family.
"Go ahead and knock on the door."
They knocked on the door for a while.
Not long after, the eldest sister-in-law of the Zhou family opened the door and saw two strange men. She didn't recognize them and asked in confusion, "Who are you looking for?"
Tian Yue bowed and said, "Sister-in-law, is this the home of Master Zhou Bingxian?" Zhou Congguang's father was a private school teacher, so they should just call him Master Zhou.
"Yes, you are here to see him?"
A quarter of an hour later, Tian Yue and Wei Qianyang were invited in.
After entering, the two explained their purpose.
"Master Zhou, Madam Zhou, it's like this. We were asked by Mr. Zhou Congguang to come and visit you two elders."
When Mrs. Zhou learned that the two were friends of her brother-in-law, she went to the kitchen to prepare food and asked the maid to get some fodder to feed their two horses.
In the main hall, Madam Zhou asked with concern, "Congguang? Is he doing well in Liaodong County now?"
Before Zhou Congguang arrived in Liaodong County, he wrote a letter back to report his safety.
"Mr. Zhou is very good in Liaodong County."
"Mr. Zhou?" Master Zhou noticed this word.
Tian Yue and Wei Qianyang briefly explained to the two elders the work that Zhou Congguang was currently responsible for in Liaodong County.
Upon hearing this, Master Zhou and his parents were very surprised. Master Zhou always felt that his youngest son's learning was a little off-track, but he didn't expect that he would actually put his knowledge into practice in Liaodong County?
"By the way, Mr. Zhou and Mrs. Zhou, this is the silver that Mr. Zhou asked us to bring to the two elders. Please accept it." Tian Yue and Wei Qianyang took out the silver that Zhou Congguang asked them to bring to their parents.
Eight hundred taels of silver were difficult to carry, so seven hundred taels were exchanged for gold, and the remaining one hundred were silver.
Looking at the gold and silver in front of them, Master Zhou and his elders were shocked.
"Where did he get the money?" Mrs. Zhou's voice was a little stammering.
The same goes for Master Zhou. His youngest son actually asked someone to send back so much silver. He thought that asking two friends to come and see them was already a manifestation of his filial piety.
"Master Zhou, Madam Zhou, don't be alarmed. This money was earned by Mr. Zhou..."
The two of them then talked to Master Zhou and his elders about Zhou Congguang's life and contributions after he arrived in Liaodong County.
Mr. Zhou and his elders were confused after hearing this. Could this really be their foolish son?
Tian Yue took the opportunity to say, "If you two elders have time, you can go to Liaodong County to see Mr. Zhou."
Wei Qianyang followed up, "Yes, as long as the two elders want to go, we will arrange the round trip."
Upon hearing this, Master Zhou looked at his wife and hesitated to move.
At this time, Mrs. Zhou, who was in charge of setting the table, said with a smile, "You two distinguished guests are joking. Liaodong County is too far away. Why don't you two elders go? The journey is tiring, and I'm afraid they can't handle it at their age."
Hearing this, Tian Yue and Wei Qianyang stopped trying to persuade them. Instead, they suggested that the two elders write a letter and they would take it back.
Mr. Zhou and Mrs. Zhou readily agreed.
Liaodong County, Houcheng
Lu Songli appeared in the Liaodong Chamber of Commerce building. She once again summoned local families and wealthy businessmen such as Lan Bingrong and Geng Yuan. This time the purpose was to settle accounts and distribute dividends.
While waiting for them, Lu Songli was settling accounts with Ji Wuyin.
She had previously asked Ji Wuyin to calculate the costs on his side in order to work out the net profit their alliance had earned in the battle of Nanyang.
The cost on Ji Wuyin's side is easy to calculate. If the cost is spread evenly, he will eventually need to supply the Liaodong Chamber of Commerce with 100,000 taels.
However, Ji Wuyin agreed to sell it to the Liaodong Chamber of Commerce at a price of 150 wen per dou.
This price is slightly lower than the market price, so he can still make money.
Lu Songli ate all of Ji Wuyin's 500,000 dan of grain. At this time, grain was more important than silver to Liaodong County and the entire Pingzhou.
The Ji-Liao Alliance placed 800,000 dan of grain in Luoyang to maintain the stability of grain prices in Nanyang, and the Liaodong Chamber of Commerce accounted for 400,000 dan.
After a series of exchanges and offsets, Lu Songli finally made up the total amount and gave Ji Wuyin 300,000 taels of silver.
Ji Wuyin agreed with the accounts she had calculated, and both parties signed and sealed the agreement to complete the settlement.
Because Lu Songli had something to do later, Ji Wuyin left first with his confidant Liu Xiaohuai.
After coming out, Liu Xiaohuai said with a smile, "Master, Madam Qin Liu is very generous." According to the calculation just now, Madam Qin Liu only needed to compensate them with about 250,000 taels, but she waved her hand and directly made up the amount for them.
"That's right. I, your master, have good vision and followed the right person." Ji Wuyin is still very excited. He has earned more than one million taels of silver in two months, which is something he could not achieve even during the peak period of his entire career as a big businessman.
The master and servant strolled all the way back to the Ji family building. They talked about their previous experiences in Nanyang and inevitably talked about the current grain prices in Liaodong County.
Since Ji Wuyin decided to focus on investing in Liaodong County, he naturally conducted some investigation on it.
Although the current grain price in Liaodong County is 160 wen per dou, which is only slightly lower than the price in other prefectures and counties nationwide, this grain price is largely the result of the efforts of Lu Songli and others.
You know, from the beginning of the year to April and May, coinciding with the war, the price of grain in Liaodong County once soared to 300 wen per dou.
Since Lü Desheng became the governor of Liaodong County, the grain price in Liaodong County has been reduced three times.
Initially, Lu Songli obtained a batch of grain from his own hands, and the Liaodong Chamber of Commerce sold the grain at a fair price of two hundred wen per dou. This was the first price reduction.
Then Xue Xu and Qin Sheng went south and brought back a batch of grain from the south. The price of grain was reduced again to 180 wen per dou.
The last time prices were lowered was after the autumn harvest, when the price of grain dropped to 160 wen.
Liu Xiaohuai was a little confused. "Master, you said that the grain prices in Liaodong County were so high back then, very similar to those in Nanyang. Why didn't it attract grain merchants from all over the country to ship grain here like Nanyang did?"
Ji Wuyin said slowly, "There are three reasons. First, Liaodong County is located in a remote area, unlike Nanyang which is located in the Central Plains. The grain merchants from all over the country have a short distance to transport grain, and the cost of transporting the grain on the way is frighteningly high." For example, Qin Sheng once took 100,000 stones of grain to the north, but when he finally returned, only half of it was left.
"Secondly, the population of Liaodong County was sparse at the time, not as densely populated as Nanyang."
"Third, and most importantly, there were bandits everywhere, both on land and at sea, and transporting grain here was too risky."
"But that was the situation at the beginning of the year. Around the middle of the year, the pirates were fighting among themselves and had no time to take care of other things. This made the entire sea area calm for a few months."
These months were the period when Liaodong County frequently transported supplies.
Thinking of this, Ji Wuyin had to admit that Liaodong County was quite lucky.
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