I seek economic hegemony in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 25: Business export, let’s start!
"Xue Liang."

"Mr. Lang, what's the matter?" Xue Liang, who was walking forward carrying the wood, turned around and asked.

After more than half a month of construction, Li Heng's county government office has taken shape.

Wang Fugui's land had been plowed long ago and the seeds had been sown.

The rest of the time, I either dug canals or helped build the government office here.

With food to eat every day, Wang Fugui and the others were happy to do their best and proactive in doing things. Xue Liang only had to call out and they would all come over.

This saved Li Heng a lot of trouble.

Li Heng asked: "What happened to the iron ore that Mr. Tian mentioned before?"

"We have already dug up a batch and brought it back. It was a bit hasty to transport it back last night."

While the two were talking, Dong Hong came over.

"Ming Gong, [-] kilograms of iron and stone were brought back yesterday." Dong Hong handed over the document.

"How much iron can be smelted from ten thousand kilograms of iron stone?" Li Heng asked Xue Liang.

"About two thousand pounds."

"Oh, that's enough." Li Heng nodded and said to Dong Hong, "Yang Yi must not know about this matter."

"At present, no one except us knows that the iron mine is not that big."

Li Heng said: "It only needs to meet our needs at this stage."

"That should be more than enough."

"By the way, Xue Liang, you said last time that there would be business travelers passing through this area. When will those business travelers pass by?"

Xue Liang replied: "There will be one or two batches every month."

"Why do you ask the merchant?" Dong Hong asked curiously.

Li Heng said: "It's nothing, I just want to sell some goods in exchange for food."

Dong Hong said: "Yesterday, a business trip came from the direction of Chang'an, crossed the Xianshui, and stationed under Wuzhangyuan. Fei Sima also met with those people."

"Why did Fei Sima meet those people?" Li Heng asked doubtfully.

What did Fei Yi see when he came from Chang'an?
Shouldn't they be arrested?

Seemingly seeing through Li Heng's doubts, Dong Hong explained: "The Prime Minister attaches great importance to trade. I sell a lot of brocade to Wu and Wei every year. The Prime Minister naturally welcomes merchants from Chang'an, and no one dares to touch them."

"Aren't you afraid that they will inquire about military affairs?"

"We will not meet at the military camp, but at the banks of the Weishui River. If we can find out the information there, Wei Jun can just send his own scouts."

Li Heng nodded.

That's reasonable.

"You haven't said what Fei Sima did when he saw those business travelers?"

"To sell some brocade, those merchants go from Chang'an to Longxi. There are regular merchants who sell local ceramics and cloths in Chang'an. These merchants are very powerful in Chang'an. They have official backgrounds in Wei State and are influenced by them along the way. Protected by the counties.”

Li Heng couldn't help but sigh, the historical data were indeed not deceptive!
Ji Han and Wei Guo fought a bloody battle in Guanzhong, but the trade between the two countries was never heard of.

The most famous one is the brocade mentioned by Dong Hong. The princes and nobles of Luoyang liked the brocade of Shu very much.

Even Wei Ming Emperor Cao Rui sometimes lamented: Those people in the Shu Kingdom actually cut corners in order to sell us more brocade, and the quality is not as good as before. Go tell Zhuge Liang!

The battle must be fought, but the life that should be enjoyed must be enjoyed!

Therefore, if there are businessmen passing by in Chang'an now, the prime minister will never detain them and will even negotiate the sale.

"Where are those businessmen now?"

"I saw him early this morning. He should be here soon." Dong Hong glanced at Li Heng and became confused, "What does Ming Gong want to sell?" "Selling paper."

"Sell what?"

"Sell paper!"

Dong Hong's expression changed, he looked around, lowered his voice and asked, "Do you know what you are doing?"

"I know, let's make a deal!"

"Can paper be sold casually?"

"sure!"

"You..." Dong Hong flicked his long sleeves and said reproachfully, "Do you know what the consequences will be if Yang Yi knows that you sell paper?"

“What’s not to sell about paper?”

"Paper is now for military use..."

"It's enough, it's completely enough. Wouldn't it be better to use the extra paper in exchange for food?"

"If the paper falls into the hands of Wei Jun, Sima Yi will definitely know about it."

"Sima Yi got the paper a long time ago. The paper has been produced for two months. It is used by everyone in our army and in the fields. If Sima Yi doesn't know it by now, then he can go back to Luoyang and cover himself in a quilt secretly. Tears!"

"What you said is just speculation!"

"Ziling! It's not necessarily a bad thing for Sima Yi to know about paper. It's not necessarily a bad thing for Lord Wei to know about paper. They don't know how to make paper yet. If they want paper, they have to find us. Just like if they want brocade, it's not a bad thing either. Will look like us."

"What do you mean by temporarily?"

Li Heng said: "The Wei State mastered the method of making paper sooner or later."

"Impossible!"

"Can you stop the Yellow River from flowing into the sea?"

"Of course not!"

"Then why do you say you can cut off Wei's control of papermaking?"

"Then if we are making paper now..."

"It will take at least one or two years, or even several years, for Wei to master our papermaking technology. By the time Wei has mastered the method, we have already built large-scale papermaking facilities in Chengdu and Hanzhong, and can produce paper every day. Millions of pieces of paper. When the Wei Kingdom first started, a piece of paper in Luoyang sold for one hundred cents. Our paper could be sold for fifty cents. When the paper in Luoyang sold for fifty cents, we sold it for twenty cents. Because we can build more than them at the same time, this is called production capacity. Building production capacity cannot be accomplished in a day."

Dong Hong was a little confused. He frowned and thought about it carefully, and felt that it seemed to make sense.

"Then we now..."

"Our current papermaking factory can meet our expenses in Guanzhong, but food is more precious to us, and the powerful families of Longyou have excess food. They need paper more than us, and we need food more than them. "

"I understand!" Dong Hong's whole body was shaken and he became excited, but he was very good at restraining himself. He suppressed his excitement and said, "Just like when we used brocade to exchange for Cao Wei's food."

"Yes, food is very precious, but for most civilians, and for some wealthy and powerful playboys, food can be exchanged for something they are more interested in at any time."

"But how much paper is recorded in the papermaking industry? If we want to sell it, we have to declare it. After the declaration, the income cannot be counted in Chencang County, because although you are in the papermaking office now, it belongs to the Zhuye Supervisors, not to Chencang.”

This is the result of a staggered administration.

"That's why I built our own papermaking factory in Chencang in advance." Li Heng said, pointing to the papermaking factory not far away that has been basically completed.

Dong Hong praised: "You are smarter than we thought!"

"It seems that I am not very smart in your imagination." Li Heng chuckled, "Where are those business travelers? Take me to see them. It depends on them how much food we can bring over next."

"They seem to be coming." Xue Liang suddenly pointed into the distance and said.

(End of this chapter)