OBS Chapter 621 Good girl, say thank you
Chapter 621 Good girl, say thank you
The longer Chang Yuchun stayed in Dengzhou Prefecture, the more he wanted to sweep the prefecture clean.
Especially the Dengzhou border market.
"He, Yang the Madman, is not human."
"But these barbarians are indeed stupid."
Chang Yuchun sighed with no small amount of sarcasm: "A mere few glass cups, and Yang the Madman dares to sell them for tens of thousands of strings of cash, and those barbarians are actually willing to buy them."
"Especially those iron pots and hoes, aren't they ten times more expensive inside the market than outside?"
"Tsk."
"His heart is completely black."
Feng Sheng chimed in with a complaint: "What's even more incomprehensible are those barbarian envoys at the Dengzhou border market, aren't they? Look at their obsequious manner; they must have suffered quite a bit of grievances on a daily basis."
Xu Liang, the executive deputy prefect of Dengzhou Prefecture, remained silent and indifferent to the complaints from Chang Yuchun and Feng Sheng.
Chang Yuchun, however, had no intention of letting Xu Liang go.
Pointing at Feng Sheng, Chang Yuchun finally asked, "Tell this old scoundrel what's going on with those barbarian envoys, and why they're all so obedient?"
"Also, I noticed that the barbarian merchants at the market were a bit too honest. How did your Prefect manage to do that?"
Feng Sheng glanced at Chang Yuchun with great dissatisfaction and said sarcastically, "You old fool, if you don't understand, just say you don't understand. What are you doing using my name to do things?"
After criticizing Chang Yuchun, Feng Sheng turned his gaze to Xu Liang and said with a smile, "Vice Prefect Xu, why don't you talk to Chang Heizi about it?"
Xu Liang respectfully bowed to Chang Yuchun and Feng Sheng and replied, "The reason why these envoys of the State of E and the State of Song are so obedient and the merchants of the State of Song are so honest is all because of the rules that the Prince Consort set for the border market."
Pointing to a shop not far away, Xu Liang continued, "The first rule is that beating merchants without cause is strictly prohibited."
Xu Liang sometimes wanted to complain about his master, who actually set such a rule.
"The more we prohibit the unprovoked beating of merchants, the more likely similar cases will occur."
"Sometimes when people don't see eye to eye, they can start fighting."
"The second rule is that the trade volume of the vassal merchants will fluctuate, and the standard for fluctuation will be based on their performance in the previous quarter."
"Those who are honest and abide by the rules of the border market will have their trade quotas increased next season."
"Those who are dishonest, or have a history of fighting or other problems, will have their trade quotas reduced in the next season."
After a slight pause, Xu Liang continued, "The third rule is that merchants from a particular vassal state are managed by the envoy of that vassal state."
"The Prefect is usually too lazy to bother those merchants, but if any problems arise at the border market, he will summon those envoys to teach them a lesson."
They would find some fault with the merchants and summon the envoys to scold them. After scolding them, they would reduce the trade quotas at the border markets, and in the end, they would make those envoys thank them.
Xu Liang sometimes felt sorry for those envoys.
"The Prefect said that the barbarians are all afraid of power but not of virtue."
“Give them a little kindness and they’ll dare to open a business.”
“When you discipline them, be a little harsher, and the envoys will take it for granted.”
Upon hearing this, Chang Yuchun couldn't help but turn his head and exchange a glance with Feng Sheng.
Are all these envoys despicable scoundrels who deserve to be disciplined?
Seeing the incredulous expressions on the faces of Chang Yuchun, Feng Sheng, Fu Youde, and the other nobles, Xu Liang could only smile helplessly and say, "The Duke of E should know about Nahachu, right?"
Chang Yuchun hummed in agreement and asked, "What about the five thousand warhorses?"
Xu Liang nodded and replied, "It's those five thousand warhorses."
After glancing around, Xu Liang deliberately lowered his voice and said, "In the end, the price the Koreans offered to Naha was twelve taels of silver per bolt."
Chang Yuchun's eyes widened immediately, and he asked, "How much? Twelve taels?"
Damn it, this isn't right.
The court ordered that Yang Dianfeng be charged fifteen taels of silver.
The price the stick offered to Naha was twelve taels.
Do the Koreans have the guts to take a three-ounce kickback?
Xu Liang nodded again and replied, "Yes, the price the Koreans offered to Naha was twelve taels."
"Of the remaining three taels of silver, only one tael belongs to the Bangzi, because the Bangzi is responsible for transporting the warhorses from Naha to Dengzhou. The cost of food and supplies for the people and horses along the way is all contained in this one tael of silver."
"The Prefect has told the Korean envoy that whatever amount of silver they can save is theirs, and neither the Ming Dynasty nor the border market will interfere."
"The remaining two taels of silver are taxes to be paid at the border market."
Chang Yuchun was a little confused.
What was originally a shady business was transformed into a border market trade by Yang the Madman.
No, something's definitely wrong here.
Chang Yuchun shook his head, frowned, and asked, "Nahachu agreed to the price of twelve taels of silver?"
When Chang Yuchun asked him this question, Xu Liang's expression immediately turned strange.
"As far as I know, Nahachu has to thank my master."
"Firstly, I thank my family for raising the purchase price of the warhorses."
"Secondly, I thank my lord for solving his urgent problem."
"For this reason, Nahachu specially sent a few lambs, which were said to be of the finest quality from the Khorchin region, to the Prefect."
Chang Yuchun was completely stunned, and it wasn't until a while later that he turned to look at Feng Sheng.
Feng Sheng was completely dumbfounded.
No.
How exactly did Yang the epileptic do it?
Also, when did Zhu Chongba's temper become so good?
Yang the Madman arbitrarily changed the price at which the imperial court purchased warhorses, and Zhu Chongba didn't say a word about it.
Xu Liang continued, "Similar to Nahachu's situation, merchants from countries like Annam, Siam, Burma, and Champa transport grain to the border markets at prices that are actually lower than the grain prices in our Great Ming Dynasty."
"In our Great Ming Dynasty, one shi (a unit of dry measure) of rice costs five hundred wen (another unit of dry measure)."
"But the rice brought by Siam and Champa only costs four hundred coins per shi (a unit of dry measure)."
Chang Yuchun couldn't help but complain: "I'll never be ashamed to say I was a bandit again. Compared to Yang the Madman, I'm just a great philanthropist who repairs bridges and roads."
Feng Sheng frowned and asked, "If they transport rice to the Ming Dynasty and sell it for four hundred coins, isn't that a losing proposition?"
Xu Liang nodded and replied, "The Duke of Song is right, it is indeed a losing proposition."
"But they have to lose money."
"Because there are regulations in the border markets that the Ming Dynasty can only purchase certain categories of goods from them. Not everything can be purchased, but grain is one of the items that can be purchased."
"Those merchants from the vassal states had no choice but to accept the loss, even though they knew they were losing money, in order to earn more paper money."
As Xu Liang finished speaking, Chang Yuchun felt he had a lot to say, but didn't know where to begin.