Chapter 414: Trading Grain for Brocade

After returning to Qingming, Wei Yuan opened the map and continued to study the data on the seven counties in the west of Ningzhou.

The seven counties had distinct seasons and abundant produce, and in Western Jin, they could be considered fertile land. Most of the industries in the seven counties were controlled by the Xu family, while other powerful families controlled a small half, the Western Jin imperial court occupied one-tenth, and then the various local small and medium-sized wealthy households that were not part of the Xu family also occupied one-tenth.

The seven counties were also a land of mulberry and rice, producing textiles, and the Ning Brocade produced was quite famous. Ning Brocade was gorgeous and extravagant, with brilliant colors, requiring a great deal of labor time to manufacture, and expert craftsmen could weave patterns that looked like paintings. There were many quite famous old brands in the seven counties, such as the Mi family and the Yao family, all of which were large brocade firms.

Ning Brocade was deeply loved by all tribes; besides being used by the human race itself, the nobles of the Liao and Shaman tribes also had a huge demand.

Now that spring had just begun, it was the time for the transition between summer and autumn grain, and autumn was the season for replanting mulberry seedlings. Every time he saw this, Wei Yuan was lost in thought.

After careful consideration, Wei Yuan left Qingming and came to Sun Sun Chaoen's place.

In the county city of Bianning County, the number of refugees had clearly decreased a lot. At this time, the grain from the previous season had just been harvested, and it was the time for replanting, so the number of refugees leaving their homes had clearly decreased.

Arriving at Sun Sun Chaoen's mansion, Wei Yuan saw that Sun Sun Chaoen's entire temperament had changed, revealing a pearly and precious aura from the inside out, and coupled with the fact that he was clearly fatter, he appeared even more gentle, scholarly, round, and flawless.

Wei Yuan knew in his heart and said, "It seems Sun brother's Dharma Form will be in these few days; I wish Sun brother success in his Dharma Form in advance!"

"I am already at this age; how can I compare to your brave and diligent progress, younger brother. However, with the help of that 'Three Flavors Ascending Immortal Pill,' I have some confidence in this Dharma Form."

After the congratulations, Wei Yuan turned to the main topic: "I need to find a few large merchant caravans traveling to and from Ningxi to help me sell grain, and then purchase Ning Brocade and mulberry silk."

Sun Sun Chaoen was immediately taken aback: "You want to sell grain?"

At this time, summer grain was on the market, but grain prices were still high everywhere, which was why a large number of refugees had appeared. Coupled with the fact that the northern border had been fighting for half a year, grain prices had never come down.

Qingming already had six hundred million catties of grain in storage, which he couldn't digest entirely on his own. And Wei Yuan was continuing to open new fields. With the deepening of the heaven and earth transformation, the yield per unit area of Qingming's grain fields was also gradually increasing.

"And how much Shu Brocade and mulberry silk do you want?"

Wei Yuan said, "The first batch of brocade must be at least one hundred thousand bolts, and five hundred thousand catties of mulberry silk."

Sun Sun Chaoen was once again taken aback; this was a big business worth a million immortal silver, which would undoubtedly raise the prices of the entire seven counties.

"Can younger brother use so much silk and brocade?"

"I can't use it now, but I can sell it to the west," Wei Yuan said.

Sun Sun Chaoen frowned and pondered, and only after a moment did he say, "The quantity of silk and brocade to be purchased is too large; I'm afraid I'll have to contact those few old brocade firms. I still have some classmates and acquaintances in those counties, and I should be able to help bridge the gap. Especially since we are using grain to trade, there will be no problems."

Now that grain prices were high, in many places, there was even no market for grain, so using it to trade was even better than immortal silver.

"Then I will leave everything to Sun brother." Wei Yuan was busy with affairs, so after the matter was decided, he bid farewell and left.

After Wei Yuan left, Sun Sun Chaoen immediately called over a few merchant caravan bosses, secretly discussed with them for an hour, and then began to write letters to acquaintances in the various counties of Ningxi.

Ningzhou, Shanyang County.

This was the most famous mulberry brocade production area in all of Ningzhou, where there were three large brocade firms, occupying more than 60% of the mulberry gardens and 80% of the weaving workshops.

At this time, inside the Mi family mansion, the Master had just woken up from his afternoon nap, feeling refreshed, and paced to the side courtyard to feed the several fierce tigers kept there.

These few fierce tigers were extremely ferocious, and the Mi family had always used living creatures to feed them to maintain their wild nature. There were several fighting arenas in the county city that often held fights between humans and fierce beasts, each time to the death. These few fierce tigers were also frequent visitors there.

At this time, a young man entered happily and said loudly, "Father, great news!"

A moment later, the Mi family Master sat in the study, finished reading the letter in front of him carefully, and remained silent in thought.

The young man said urgently, "Father, we must make a decision early! This order is for twenty thousand bolts of brocade and one hundred thousand catties of raw silk, and the other party said that they will need at least this much every year from now on. If we don't take it, the Yao family and the Xu family will absolutely not let it go. By then, we will be surpassed by them."

The Master still had his brows locked tightly, silent in thought.

At this time, the steward hurried over and said, "Master, Yuhu Village suddenly changed its mind and sold the nine hundred mu of mulberry gardens that had been negotiated to the Yao family!"

The Master was furious and slammed the table heavily: "What? What price did the Yao family offer?"

"They offered a price that was a full 10% higher than ours!"

A cold light flashed in the Master's eyes, and he said, "Those stubborn people, for the sake of mere petty profits, dare to tear up the agreement they made with my Mi family; they truly have a way to die!"

The young man then said, "It must be that the Yao family also received the order, so they are expanding on a large scale! Father, we cannot hesitate any longer!"

The Master said slowly, "Who are the people on the other side? Why do they want so much silk and brocade, and what are they planning to use it for?"

The young man said urgently, "Father, why do you care what they use it for? They are buying with real gold and silver, and can even trade with grain! And their movements are especially fast; haven't you seen that grain prices in the county city have fallen by 30%? That's because the grain carts from that side have arrived." The Master still said, "You go and inquire again; you must find out who the people on the other side are and why they are buying so much brocade and silk."

At this time, inside the Yao mansion in the East City, the Yao family head was hosting a banquet for guests and personally accompanying them.

The guest of honor at the banquet was an old man with a peaceful face, who was surprisingly a Dharma Form cultivator with an extraordinary bearing. The old man was holding a cat in his arms and said, "The family head personally hosting a banquet, this old man is truly somewhat flattered."

The Yao family head looked middle-aged and was a Dharma Form late-stage Mind-Reflection Realm cultivator.

But although the old man's cultivation was clearly inferior to his own, he constantly made him feel a sense of danger, as if he were sitting beside a fierce tiger. Therefore, the Yao family head did not dare to underestimate the other party in the slightest, not to mention that the other party had brought a large order.

After three rounds of wine, the family head saw that the atmosphere was well-prepared and asked, "May I ask Mr. He, you just said that there will be the same order next year; is this true?"

The old man surnamed He chuckled and said, "This old man will give you the bottom line; in fact, next year's order will only be larger! This old man has also placed orders with the other families, and the order quantity is divided according to the strength of each family. Of course, if a certain family is more sincere, it is not impossible to make adjustments."

The family head's eyes were burning, but he still asked, "Then allow me to ask one more question: where are so many silk and brocade going? Who can use so much?"

The old man surnamed He smiled slightly and said, "What is difficult to guess about this? The family head might as well think about it: in the entire Western Regions, who can come up with so much grain?"

The Yao family head was startled, lowered his voice, and said, "Is it really the Military Governor?"

"The Military Governor guards the western border, and now the entire western gate is in his hands. As for this silk and brocade, naturally, as much as there is, that much can be used."

!.

The Yao family head suddenly realized that Wei Yuan was planning to reopen trade with the Shaman tribe!

This kind of thing couldn't be brought to the table, but everyone had been doing it before. Especially the Xu family, who treated human sacrifices as their main commodity. Although silk and brocade were good, they were still far from being comparable to human sacrifices.

This made sense; if trade with the Shaman tribe were reopened, the silk and brocade of the entire seven counties combined would not be enough.

This was a great path to wealth!

The Yao family head immediately made a decision and said, "If the quantity you want can be increased by another 50%, I can make the decision now to lower the price of silk and brocade by another 20%!"

The old man was quite satisfied and laughed, "The family head is indeed capable of planning and making decisions! Then this old man will withdraw half from the Mi family's order and hand it over to the Yao family!"

When the family head heard that he was cutting the Mi family's order, he was even happier, repeatedly urging the wine, and both host and guest were happy.

Late at night, after the old man left, the Yao family head regained his sobriety, ordered someone to take the map, looked at it carefully, and then drew a piece of land with a pen, saying, "Change all twenty thousand mu of land in this county to mulberry seedlings!"

The several clan elders beside him were all startled and repeatedly said it was impossible; what if Wei Yuan didn't want the Shu Brocade in the future? Wouldn't all these be smashed in their hands?

But the family head snorted and said, "Even if Wei Yuan doesn't want Shu Brocade in the future, as long as he can fulfill his promise for these two years, I dare to add another one hundred thousand mu of mulberry fields! With these fields, we can suppress the Mi family. Hmph, they have sat in the top chair for eighty years; it is time to change people!"

"But..."

"There is no 'but'! A Dharma Form before the age of twenty; do you think he won't live for three years?!"

The clan elders thought carefully and all realized, unfolding their locked brows.

In Qingming, Wei Yuan was still studying the material data of the seven counties.

Trading grain for brocade was just the first step of his plan. Qingming had Jia Mu Sheng Lu Xuan, and had a natural advantage in planting grain. Wei Yuan planned to use low-priced grain to impact the west of Ningzhou, letting more people switch to planting mulberry silk.

If this continued for three to five years, the production of silk and brocade in the seven counties would inevitably increase greatly, and various weaving craftsmen would appear like bamboo shoots after a spring rain, but it would also squeeze the number of other craftsmen.

At this time, Wei Yuan had already sent the data on weaving machines into the Ten Thousand Li of Mountains and Rivers, and some mortals were specifically researching the improvement of weaving machines. The data from Xu Xu Wenwu said that the start of the outer heaven world began precisely with weaving machines.

A large amount of Ning Brocade was sent into the Shaman tribe, which could be used to exchange for urgently needed materials, as well as Blood Blood Yingluo. Wei Yuan had discovered that this kind of evil object that could prolong life was the stepping stone to open up the upper world. And with Ning Brocade for trade, Wei Yuan could also exchange for some human sacrificial offerings.

The biggest advantage was that no matter how much Ning Brocade was imported into the west, it would not increase the combat power of the Shaman tribe by even a single bit.

With the plan decided, Wei Yuan sent a divine sense to the mortals in the Ten Thousand Li of Mountains and Rivers, and then several hundred people began to worship Xiang Little Wei Yuan's statue.

After half a day's work, the heavily injured Xiang Little Wei Yuan appeared in front of Wei Yuan.

He looked at Wei Yuan resentfully and said, "I remember giving you a contact token."

Wei Yuan's old face flushed, embarrassed to say that he had forgotten about this, so he could only vaguely say, "The signal was not good, and the token didn't respond, so I had to resort to this inferior plan; I am truly sorry. However, why are you so heavily injured?"

Xiang Little Wei Yuan coughed violently again, almost coughing up blood, and sighed, "This injury has been here for more than half a year. At that time, I don't know why, but I suddenly received a heavy blow and almost fell. The attack came inexplicably, and until now, I don't know what happened. Fortunately, after recuperating for so long, I am finally more than half recovered."

Wei Yuan was startled, calculated the time, and suddenly felt somewhat guilty.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 415 =====