Ellan's knowledge of the situation basically confirmed Buqi's relevant investigation. The elk family goes to sea to do business, freight from north to south, and the sea route is the most risky link. If you really have to encounter a big wind and waves, you will basically lose all your money, which is worse than encountering pirates.

In the face of the angry sea, even the pirates have to retreat.

From a safety point of view, a large ship is certainly safer, and a building ship is the best choice. But there are also requirements for the building ship, the four- or five-story building ship is not suitable for navigation, it is easy to be blown over by the wind, but the kind of building ship with only two floors is the most suitable, with heavy load, deep draft, wind and wave resistance, unless it encounters that kind of huge wave, there will be basically no big problem.

Ellan also mentioned one thing: navigating in the sea is different from rivers, the sea is full of water, often miles or even tens of miles from the coast, there is no terrain to refer to, and it is easy to get lost without a special sea guide.

"Sea people are people who specialize in making a living on the sea, right?"

"Not much, right?" Ellan said: "There are two kinds of sea people in the land of Qingxu, one is a guide who is proficient in coastal routes. They not only understand the hydrology along the way, but also can locate by astrology, most of them are skills left from generation to generation, and they don't pass on to outsiders, and my elk family has a few. The other one is more magical, similar to the legendary immortals, but most of them are illusory, anyway, I have been in charge of the elk family for so many years, and I have never seen one. ”

Sun Ce listened very carefully and asked a lot of questions, such as the law of the monsoon, the time required to travel to and from Liaodong and Jiaozhou, what matters to pay attention to when sailing at sea, what kind of diseases the crew will have, and what to pay attention to in diet. As far as Ellan knew, the investigation that could verify Bu Qi was meticulous and basically true. There are some situations that Ellan doesn't know, so she can only leave it to ask others.

Ellan has been in Gepi for nearly two years, but there are not many opportunities to meet Sun Ce, this time Sun Ce returned to Gepi to recuperate, and he met more often, but he also talked about business a lot, and there were a group of people around him, and there were very few opportunities for the two to sit opposite each other like this. At first, it was still a question and an answer, with a clear eye, Ellan was a little nervous, after talking for a long time, seeing that although Sun Ce asked carefully, his attitude was very easy-going, so he gradually relaxed and talked a little more.

"Is it because the general is too tight on money and wants to do sea business?"

Sun Ce pondered for a moment and shook his head. "No, I want to form a sailor to attack from the sea."

"If that's the case, then I can't help you." Ellan smiled sheepishly.

"If it's business, how are you going to help me? You know I'm really short of money right now. ”

"If it's a business, I have some suggestions." Ellan was embarrassed by Sun Ce, lowered her head, and wrung her fingers. "It's not just my elk family who is doing the sea business, it's just that my family is relatively big. From Youzhou in the north to Jiaozhou in the south, people who make a living from the sea abound. In terms of doing business, the best place is neither in Youzhou nor Jiaozhou, but in the middle of Qingxu and Yangzhou, specifically, Langya and Donghai in the north, and Wujun and Huiji ...... in the south."

At the mention of doing business, Ellan suddenly became radiant, and her eyes shone with confidence. She told Sun Ce that doing business is a matter of necessity, and to earn the difference, cost and profit are the most critical factors. How can we reduce costs and make more profits? One is to choose the goods, and the other is to choose the route. If there is no profit margin, the business will be bigger and the more you will lose. How do I choose a route? Consider both the length of the route and the checkpoints along the way. Every time you pass a checkpoint, you have to pay an extra tax, which is a cost.

Generally speaking, the peaceful and prosperous times are suitable for doing business, especially when the imperial court is prohibited, not only can you pay less taxes, but you can also borrow pavilions along the way, and you don't have to bring your own food, which saves transportation capacity. But troubled times also have some benefits of troubled times, some things that were not very valuable in the first place, are now valuable, and there are often windfall profits. There are two of the biggest of these: one is grain, and the other is salt and iron.

"The general needs war horses, and Liaodong needs grain, salt and iron, and bartering is more cost-effective than buying it directly with money. In peacetime, Youzhou needed lacquerware from Yizhou and cloth fabrics from the Central Plains, but now in wartime, the demand for those luxury things has greatly decreased, but the demand for grain, salt and iron, which seem to be unprofitable in peacetime, is greater and can be sold at a high price. The ordnance produced in Nanyang and Runan is the best in the world, and the supply exceeds demand, but the supply of iron is a shortcoming, and there is iron in Liaodong, if you can buy iron in Liaodong, process it into ordnance, and sell it back to Liaodong, the profit will inevitably be considerable. In addition, there is food, Youzhou's food can not be self-sufficient, often need to be transferred from Qingzhou Jizhou, now Jizhou is occupied by Yuan Shao, Qingzhou has lost most of it, Gongsun Chan has no food source, he can't support it for too long. ”

The more Sun Ce listened, the more fascinated he became. He usually discussed this matter with Guo Jia and others, but it was only from a political point of view, and he didn't know whether it was economically cost-effective. If it is a loss-making transaction, it can only be an emergency, not a long-term one. Ellan is familiar with trade, and knows these data better than them, and after calculating the accounts, he feels that he not only makes a profit, but also makes a lot of money. More importantly, he can thus offset Youzhou's advantage on the war horse. If he didn't have enough chips, he could only let Gongsun Chan blackmail and raise the price of the horse. Now that he has the two items of ordnance and food, especially food, he can blackmail Gongsun Chan in turn.

"You've got a very good idea." Sun Ce was very excited. "I'll have to ask you for advice. Do you care about food here? ”

"My husband is here, can I not take care of the food?" Yuan Quan walked in from outside, and said with a smile: "You talk slowly, I have already arranged it, now there is only one thing to ask the husband to decide, do you want to invite Guo Saijiu to come along?" ”

"Why hasn't he gone back yet?" Sun Ce patted his forehead. "Want to eat and drink again?"

"Then you have wronged Guo Saijiu, he finished talking about things and wanted to go back to Pingyu, but Shang Xiang detained his son, saying that he was going to conduct a military exercise, and the military advisor couldn't leave. Guo Xijiu cared about his son's safety, so he had to stay and accompany him. By the way, Ah Yi is also going to participate, and he has already been called away. ”

Sun Ce frowned. "Isn't this nonsense, it's so hot, what kind of soldier is playing? In case of heat stroke, wouldn't it be troublesome? ”

"Don't worry, Shang Xiang thought carefully, and decided to ask for food and grass logistics before the exercise, and even the rewards were ready. No, I, the captain of the baggage battalion, have officially joined the company. ”

Sun Ce was stunned. No wonder Yuan Quan appeared here, it turned out that Sun Shangxiang asked her for money.

Seeing that Sun Ce was still a little reluctant. Yuan Quan smiled: "You don't have to worry, it doesn't cost much, just squeeze it." The weather is getting hotter, and these children can't sit still if they don't practice the army, so it's better to let them toss and toss, and by the way, they can learn some things and experience the difficulty of serving in the army. There's just one thing you might have to ask, and others can't control it. ”

"What's the matter?"

Shang Xiang selected more than 100 girls from among the orphans of fallen soldiers to be her personal guards. This would have been a good thing, but the name was not the right one. ”

"What's her name?"

"Yu Lin Wei."

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