Chapter 42: Sky-High Price Slaves

A small pack horse who doesn't even know the three-way transaction of the business line is ridiculous to talk about big business.

But it's like the gatekeepers of the county town, who only talk about how much more money they extorted when chatting.

When the gatekeepers of the capital city chat, they love to discuss, if the military collapses and the alien iron cavalry is under the city.

Then whether the thickness of the city gate they guard is enough to maintain the national destiny.

The lower the status in a large organization, the more they love to discuss the major events of the organization.

It's all about "not forgetting the country despite being humble."

Zhou Guanshan is shrewd and capable in small things,

But in fact, in the "Benevolent People Society," he is just a low-to-middle-level wage earner who has to work hard and brave the wind and rain to escort slaves even during the New Year.

And his former intellectual heart, which loves to worry about the future development plan of the organization, forms a sharp contrast.

The wind blows from all directions on the commandery road.

The long line of young slaves who have traveled long distances, even if they are not short of food and drink and are dressed warmly, are still shivering with cold.

At this moment, even Liu Hu, who has practiced martial arts for many years and is a Nine Grade cultivator, has no interest in talking.

But Zhou Guanshan was greatly interested in being supported by Zhang Gui, drinking the wind, and pulling his throat,

"Yes.

I heard people say after I took the job this time that the Pingyang Zhang family has a huge business in Luan Ya, just with some setbacks recently.

But as the saying goes, the more setbacks, the braver.

Sometimes setbacks are not necessarily bad things.

For example, the lack of manpower for developing industries in Luan Ya that you mentioned, wanting to rely entirely on family-born slaves, when will that be saved?

It has to be found by us skilled hands.

Look at the Rong family.

After buying your Zhang family's manor, you use one hundred laborers to operate, they want to use three hundred.

Why.

Because you grow grain, hemp, and cotton, but they want to grow high-quality medicinal herbs.

Then naturally, they have to fill in several times the manpower, but the profit is more considerable.

Don't think that bought slaves are worse than family-born slaves.

That's because you haven't met a large merchant society like our 'Benevolent People Society' that specializes in one thing.

Ordinary people think that the skills of carpenters, porcelain makers, and blacksmiths are hard to learn and time-consuming and material-consuming.

Such slaves must be family-born slaves who have learned the craft since childhood in a noble family with a hundred-year foundation.

Actually, that's just wishful thinking.

The key to the difficulty of learning various crafts is that the master is afraid that 'teaching the apprentice will starve the master,' so there are various restrictions when learning.

Learning to be a carpenter, for the first three years, you only learn to peel bark.

Learning to be a chef, you cut the vegetable block for two years first.

Naturally, it is very time-consuming and laborious.

But actually, you go find some fifteen or sixteen-year-old teenagers who are not stupid, not crippled, and not missing, and follow a master who teaches skills with heart for one to two years.

I dare not say they are good hands, but the craft can definitely be polished.

Of course, such slaves are more expensive.

Stonemasons, porcelain workers, blacksmiths, etc., are twenty taels of gold each..."

"How much?" Zhang Gui asked in surprise.

Twenty taels of gold at the current price is six hundred taels of white silver, which can buy sixty thousand catties of white flour, enough for a person to eat from birth to death,

and it is also the salary of a head clerk of a noble family like Zhang Gui for nearly five years.

Seeing his surprised wide eyes, Old Zhou felt unspeakably happy and smiled:

"This money is not small, but don't be afraid of not knowing the goods, be afraid of comparing goods.

Now there is a continuous drought in five commanderies in the southwest of Shijin, you take food to the place, 'half a catty of rice for a catty of people' to buy, that is considered a high price.

But those rotten wood-like goods cannot be recuperated on the spot, and if you want to walk out of the disaster area alive, five out of ten will be removed first.

Then you don't know if the survivors are thieves or good people.

What if they eat a few days of full meals, recover their bodies, and flee together.

Isn't that a total loss.

And when the victims are suffering from disaster, the imperial courts of various countries don't care, don't ask, and don't release grain to provide disaster relief.

Others save them, but they are unwilling, and every time they make various difficulties or even kill them directly.

What do you do?

And our 'Benevolent People Society' doesn't need you to worry at all, or spend a little effort.

We sell high-quality slaves, and you can help you do work as soon as you buy them.

Working eight hours a day without complaining, one can top two hired workers.

Even if you don't have a workshop or manor, you can make a profit by renting to others.

Calculate it this way, do you say it's better to buy expensive ones or cheap ones?"

This kind of talk is similar to a kind of talk called "string selling" before Zhang Gui transmigrated.

But Zhang Gui still listened carefully.

During the period, he also showed a sudden realization, nodding to express appreciation and emotion, making Zhou Guanshan more and more interested, simply unable to stop.

As a result, many inside stories were inquired.

It turns out that the new family head of the Pingyang Zhang family, Zhang Qitai, "selling the grandfather's land without heartache," actually intends to sell half of the manors in the clan.

It is because since he wants to violate the ancestors' decision, he should "either not do it, or do it thoroughly."

Let the ancestors have short pain rather than long pain.

And the Shuanghu Rong family, as imperial merchants, also has deep pockets.

After buying so much good land from the Pingyang Zhang family, they still have spare money to order ten thousand young and strong skilled slaves, half male and half female, from the "Benevolent People Society."

They plan to sign the land deed after the new year and immediately put it into operation.

As for these slaves before the new year, they will gather in "Wangbei Manor," which has been handed over to the Rong family for trial operation, to spend the new year.

Recuperate the body that was depleted by the long journey.

You know, half of the slaves bought by the Rong family this time are women, which means this batch of slaves is intended to be paired two by two to raise "family-born slaves."

Then they must be treated with both kindness and prestige, and not be treated too harshly, so as to build up grace.

Zhou Guanshan rode a horse and talked with Zhang Gui, and after half an hour, he finally arrived in front of the gate of Wangbei Manor.

Blue tile ridge gate eaves, ironwood painted black gate.

The courtyard wall is over a zhang high, surrounding a large manor of about a mile in radius.

The main hall where stewards and accountants live and handle affairs;

The dormitory where slaves live;

Water mills connected to river canals and workshops for lacquer making, oil pressing, etc., are connected by crisscrossing bluestone roads.

In addition, there are hundreds of mu of greenhouses built with red bricks that can produce off-season fruits and vegetables.

The green melons, honey melons, red dates, and large tomatoes used in the banquets of the Pingyang Zhang family's big shots during winter sacrifices and festivals are all produced here.

But now these greenhouses have been transformed by the Shuanghu Rong family into temporary residences for slaves.

In the cold winter month, the greenhouses burning ground fire ridges are as warm as spring.

The heat rises through the newly built low-legged beds.

No matter how cold the weather is outside, people living inside don't have to cover themselves with thin quilts, and don't have to spread felt blankets under them.

A hundred mu of greenhouses can be crowded, let alone ten thousand young and strong, even adding another ten thousand is completely fine.

It's just that the new family head of the Pingyang Zhang family this year will not be able to eat the melons and fruits produced by his own family during the Spring Festival.

Although Zhang Gui had heard of the name of Wangbei Manor, he had never been here.

He didn't expect that things would be different when he first arrived, and the owner would have changed.

The one who met and connected with Zhou Guanshan, Liu Hu, and other "Benevolent People Society" escorts was a middle-aged fat third clerk of the Shuanghu Rong family whose face was as puffy as a steamed bun.

After the handover, Zhou Guanshan pointed out the identity of Zhang Gui beside him.

The white fat man was stunned, and bowed to Zhang Gui with a smile that didn't reach his eyes,

"So it's the head clerk from the Pingyang Zhang family, neglect, neglect.

I am Zhao Bingcheng, currently listed as the third clerk in the manor.

Our head clerk is in the main hall, you can see him if you go there now."

(End of Chapter) ===== CHAPTER 43 =====