In two days, the boat will reach Yuanshui. There is a lot to do in these two days. Prefect Miao has secretly mobilized a small number of troops and quietly infiltrated Yuanxi. He is just waiting for the order to begin the arrest.
This operation is of great significance to Prefect Miao. If he does it well, he will achieve considerable success and be promoted. If he leaves this godforsaken place, the consequences will be unimaginable.
The more than one hundred slaves on the ship that were being sold were all soldiers in disguise, and the dozen or so human traffickers on the ship had been replaced by government officials.
They already knew the delivery process for human trafficking, and of course, a few traffickers were willing to cooperate with the government's actions to make amends.
After a night's rest, everyone's energy was greatly restored, and Zhao Xian decided to take a stroll through the Yuanshui market to check out the local market conditions.
Li Xue and several guards were still disguised as men, looking like a group of buddies. However, the residents here dressed very casually. Due to the climate, sandstorms raged, and the locals all looked dusty and dirty.
Therefore, when Zhao Xian and his group arrived, they immediately attracted people's attention. Some shops were very polite to them, knowing that they were wealthy and hoping that they would buy things from their shops.
The group arrived at a food shop. The shop didn't have many options; it mainly sold flatbreads, which looked very dry.
When customers eat pancakes, the shop owner usually serves a bowl of soup, so customers can eat pancakes and drink soup at the same time.
However, most buyers take these pancakes home to eat as a staple food, or as dry food when they go out.
Because these pancakes have low moisture content, are not easily spoiled, and are convenient to eat, they are the first choice as dry food.
Seeing this, Zhao Xian was a little disappointed. He had wanted to try the local cuisine, but there were too few varieties to choose from, unlike the rich variety of food in the Central Plains.
This place is mostly filled with noodles, which he doesn't consider gourmet food at all.
Since we're here, let's go in, have a seat, and try some of the local food.
The shop owner brought over a plate of flatbread, placed it on the table, and served everyone a bowl of soup.
Seeing the other diners enjoying their pancakes, the group followed suit and started eating as well.
The freshly baked pancakes are piping hot. Taking a bite, you get a soft and sweet feeling; they taste really good.
"I didn't expect these pancakes to taste so good. They're very chewy. I like them. I'll buy some more to take home later," Li Xue said.
After finishing their pancakes, the group prepared to leave, intending to browse other shops. Before leaving, they paid a small deposit, asking the shop owner to make more pancakes so they could pick them up later.
The shop owner was overjoyed; this was the first time in his life he had encountered such a large customer, and the deposit was enough to buy a whole truckload of pancakes.
The shops here are very scattered and cannot be effectively grouped together, which results in a fragmented market for the source water.
However, the most bustling market here is the jade market, where jade trading is relatively concentrated compared to other commodities.
The jade market in Yuanshui not only offers finished jade artifacts, but also a large quantity of raw jade stones for trading. Merchants who come here to do jade business mainly purchase finished jade artifacts.
The shops on the street were mostly set up with the shop in the front and the workshop in the back, and the jade artifacts produced were quickly sold out.
Zhao Xian didn't know much about jade; he came mainly to see what was going on. But Li Xue was different. She looked at the various kinds of jade with delight and excitement, forgetting that she was a girl.
"Young master, you seem to be an expert. The jade here is all transported from Yuanxi, and it's of the highest quality. The jade artifacts made from these raw stones are all top-notch," a jade shop owner greeted Li Xue.
Upon hearing that these raw stones were transported from Yuanxi, Li Xue became interested.
"Shopkeeper, you have a good eye. How did you know I'm an expert in jade?"
“Most people in the jade business are not particularly interested in jade artifacts; they are interested in the jade itself. The jade pieces you just looked at were all top-quality jade transported from Yuanxi, which shows that you are an expert in jade.”
Li Xue nodded and said, "What you say is absolutely right, shopkeeper. My family has been in the jade business for generations, and we have jade shops in the capital and some provincial capitals."
"This time, as arranged, I specifically sourced a batch of top-quality raw stones from Yuanshui. While your stones are good, the quantity is too small to meet my needs. It seems I'll have to make another trip to Yuanxi."
Everyone looked at Li Xue, finding it a bit unbelievable. They hadn't expected the princess to be so good at bluffing.
Li Xue's words made the jade shop owner's eyes light up, and he quickly spoke up:
"If you need a large quantity of high-quality raw stones, I can help you. Please come to my shop for a chat."
"Then we'll have to trouble you, shopkeeper." After Li Xue finished speaking, the group followed the shopkeeper into the shop.
After everyone was seated, someone brought tea. At this point, the innkeeper spoke up:
"My name is Zhou Tong, originally from the west, and I have been in the jade business for many years."
"Oh, so it's Manager Zhou. You said you're from Yuanxi. Yuanxi is famous for its jade. Why did you come to Yuanshui to run a jade business? As far as I know, Yuanshui doesn't produce jade."
"Young master, you may not know this, but the West is a place where jade is produced. However, it is a remote place with inconvenient transportation, so few merchants go there to buy raw stones. The raw stones there are only valuable when they are transported out."
To be honest, my family also owns a jade mine in Yuanxi. We transport the mined jade to Yuanshui and process it into jade artifacts. This way, we earn more money than simply selling raw jade.
“I don’t see that you have many raw stones here. Since your family owns a jade mine, it’s impossible that you only mined this many raw stones. Did you sell some of them?”
“Although my family owns a jade mine, most of the jade we mine has to be sold at a low price to a local mine owner. He has a lot of influence in Yuanxi, and we small mine owners can’t afford to offend him. We have been oppressed by him for a long time.”
Everyone was stunned. What Manager Zhou said contained a lot of information. Perhaps they could get important information from Manager Zhou.
"Who exactly is this mine owner? How come he is so powerful, bullying you small mine owners, and why doesn't the local government do anything about it?"
"This man's surname is Xiao and his given name is Taiyuan. He has been entrenched in Yuanxi for many years, accepting forces from all sides. At present, he is very powerful and doesn't even care about the government."
Xiao Taiyuan controls the Yuanxi jade mine. It is said that he has more than 2,000 miners, and in reality, there are many more miners who are underground all year round and cannot be counted.
He had several hundred henchmen; the government couldn't afford to offend someone like that, and often had to turn a blind eye.
“The western part of the land is a wild and sparsely populated area. Where did they find so many miners? How much jade do so many miners need to extract in a day? Add to that the jade they bought from you at low prices, and they must have a lot of jade in their possession. Where did all this ore end up?” Zhao Xian asked.
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