Chapter 451: Night Talk
Shen Qing raised his eyebrows in surprise.
It wasn't that he was surprised that no one was at the Huo family, but that he didn't expect them to go in person and didn't think of sending a servant.
After all, the capital is a real three thousand miles away from Bashu!
The Huo family was indeed grateful and they were not the first to throw away their crutches after regaining their sight.
Huo Qinglin expressed his troubles: "There are thirteen households in the village where we were exiled, with some households having more than thirty people and others having only ten. They all took good care of our family.
Today I sold peppercorns for ninety taels of silver. This is easy to divide among the families.
But my family has also prepared an additional five hundred taels of silver - the things awarded by the emperor cannot be sold for money, and there are other expenses. This five hundred taels is the most we can come up with at the moment. Now we are struggling with whether to divide it per person or per household?"
Five hundred taels was a huge sum of money for the villagers, and even if it was divided among the thirteen families, it would be very good. But in the capital, especially in such a large general's mansion, this amount was indeed too little to treat the benefactor.
However, jade, agate and jadeite were not as valuable as silver and money to the villagers, and gold and silver jewelry were even harder to divide, so they could only be converted into snowflake silver and taken over.
Shen Qing asked, "What should we use this money for? It would be best used to buy things."
"Buying things?"
"Yes, you can bring it this time, but what about next year? And the year after? You can't keep doing this every year, right?
Besides, when spicy hotpot spreads to other places, you can bring back the ones from Beijing, but you can’t take over the delivery of all the ones from other places.”
Upon hearing this, Huo Qinglin hurriedly shook his head. Not to mention other places, even the capital could not guarantee that supplies would be delivered every year. After all, the main force of the Huo family would have to move away from the capital and garrison at the border.
Shen Qing continued, "So, you have to open up the subsequent transportation channels. There are so many good things in the mountains, why can't they be sold at a high price?
Because they can't transport it out. When I say transport it out, I don't mean just out of the village, but out of the city. Even if it's to a higher-level prefecture, the price will be completely different!"
Huo Qinglin nodded continuously as he listened, like a chick pecking at rice.
Shen Qing is so right!
The Huo family is a criminal family and cannot go out, but the people in the village always sell things in the market or town, and rarely go to the city. After all, it costs two cents to enter the city, not to mention going to a big city.
It takes an hour to get from the village to the town market, and at least two hours to go into the city. However, it is possible to go back and forth and return home on the same day, but it would take at least two or three days to go to the provincial capital. Moreover, since I am illiterate and have not seen much of the world, I am afraid of being cheated or getting into trouble by taking the wrong road.
She asked tentatively, "I heard Xiaobing talk about the transport team in your village. Can I ask them to form one?"
Shen Qing immediately analyzed it for her: "You can copy it. The villagers don't have money, so it's definitely not possible to ask them to buy donkeys and carriages by themselves. Your five hundred taels of silver are more than enough to buy animals and vehicles.
Each household provided strong laborers to form a delivery team, and then allocated donkeys according to the number of people provided. These donkeys could be raised for transportation and work, but they could not be bought or sold. If a donkey died, it would not be replaced, but replaced by the donkeys themselves.
If the peppercorns in their village are not enough, they can buy peppercorns from surrounding villages or even the entire county and transport them together, and use the transportation fees as wages for their work.
This way, their families can earn money from selling peppercorns, they can earn money delivering goods, and the entire county can also benefit from selling peppercorns. Furthermore, since they have a lot of forests, they can also sell other dried goods besides peppercorns. Isn't that killing two birds with one stone?"
Huo Qinglin was stunned when he heard this. So it could be like this?
I got my blood boiling after hearing the latter part!
Yes, as long as the transportation channels are opened up and the things in the mountains are shipped out, they will no longer be worthless dry goods in the mountains, but silver and money!
Silver that can be exchanged for silver to buy clothes, oil, salt, sugar and food.
"Okay! I'll go home early tomorrow morning and tell my dad and brothers."
Shen Qing added: "The villagers are illiterate and have no experience in going out. If there is any unexpected situation when they go out, it is easy to lose confidence.
Therefore, it would be best for you to select a few servants who are literate, good at arithmetic, and clever, and go over there to spend some time with them. Firstly, you can teach them, and secondly, you can escort them out a few times, and then they can come back."
Sometimes it’s not that they don’t work hard or lack the drive, but that the world out there is difficult, so it’s best to give them a little more help.
These words touched Huo Qinglin's heart, and she responded excitedly, "Okay! I understand."
No wonder everything went so smoothly in Shen Qing’s village. It turned out to be because she had thought about it in advance!
Five hundred taels of silver were divided among thirteen households, and each household would receive more than thirty taels of silver. This was a huge sum of money for them, but who doesn't understand the principle of eating up all the money that is left over?
Seeing your savings dwindle day by day, how can you not feel anxious? You don't dare to spend your money, or worry after spending it, and your quality of life doesn't improve much.
But if it can be changed into livestock, especially donkeys, they can walk on mountain roads, carry people and supplies, and do farm work. They are more practical than strong laborers!
A donkey costs a little over ten taels, so five hundred taels is enough to buy more than thirty of them, plus a carriage.
Each household received two or three heads of pepper, plus wages from selling the peppers and transportation. Although the money came slowly, it was always there, and life was full of hope.
This is much better than simply giving them money!
It is better to teach a man to fish than to give him a fish. Shen Qing understood and applied the saying more thoroughly than she and the Huo family.
Huo Qinglin asked a lot of questions about details, fearing that mistakes might occur in areas he had not anticipated.
The two of them talked by candlelight all night long, and it got later and later. Finally, they were so sleepy that they fell asleep on the kang with their clothes on.
Early the next morning, Huo Qinglin got up quietly without disturbing the sleeping Shen Qing. After washing up, he said hello to Jiang Xiangdong and Huo Bing, and rode back to the city at full speed.
She had to quickly tell her father and brothers about last night's decision and select people according to the standards Shen Qing mentioned.
In addition, it is inconvenient to bring livestock and carriages with you, so you can buy them locally.
The journey to Bashu is long, and the peppercorns on the trees won’t wait for anyone. If you delay for a day, you may lose a piece of peppercorns. You have to get there as soon as possible!
Here, Shen Qing woke up naturally and was startled by the bright sky outside the window.
We chatted too late last night and couldn’t get up, but why didn’t the boss and the others come to call her?
In the yard, Jiang Xiangdong, who was chopping wood, saw his mother coming out and hurriedly asked loudly, "Mom, why don't you sleep a little longer? My fourth brother and my aunt went to the spicy hot pot shop first, so you can sleep a little longer. You've been working hard these days!"
"I've had enough sleep. Hitch a car and go to the shop." Shen Qing ordered.
She was just ordering people around, so she wasn't really tired. She just stayed up late last night.
Jiang Xiangdong put down his axe and said worriedly, "My fourth brother and my aunt said they can handle it, why don't you take a rest for two days?
Don't worry, they have experience!"
Shen Qing thought so too.
But it wasn't a rest, there was another thing waiting for her to do.
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