Representatives of the four families have been coming to Daijun for several days, and they have been accompanied by Lin Wenqing in the past few days, and led the representatives of the four families to visit the papermaking workshop. Of course, only the last drying process was visited, and the first few processes were not shown to them, and there were also tens of thousands of sheets of paper that had been manufactured. But this is the case, which also reassures the representatives of the four families, and it seems that Daijun is indeed capable of producing this kind of paper on a large scale.

Then Lin Wenqing took a few sample books printed out to the representatives of the four families to see, and after the representatives of the four families read it, they were also greatly shocked, although this kind of book is a derivative product of papermaking, but the value is greater than paper, it is conceivable that if it really establishes a cooperative relationship with Daijun, it will definitely be able to open a new source of money. However, when it came to cooperation, Lin Wenqing played a one-handed way of wanting to catch the old and indulge, pretending to be a team, and he had to wait for Gao Yuan to come back, and it was up to him to decide, so the representatives of the four families were also waiting in Daijun.

After listening to Lin Wenqing's introduction, Gao Yuan was also very happy, if he could establish a relationship with these four business families, he would not only be able to expand the commercial contacts of Daijun, but also use them to expand the influence of the Qi Kingdom, maybe he would really be able to organize another alliance. Therefore, it was a very correct decision to invite representatives of these four families to Daijun this time.

Lin Wenqing said: "My lord, this time I was able to invite the representatives of these four families to Dai County, which is also the result of Liu Hong's activities in Qi State. ”

Li Yinghong said: "Who is Liu Hong?" ”

Lin Wenqing said: "Oh? I forgot to tell the lord that Liu Hong was the leader of the caravan I sent to Qi this time, and this time he was in Qi according to the lord's request, and agreed with various merchants to let these four families send representatives to Dai County together, and share the benefits of paper together. ”

Gao Yuan nodded and said, "This Liu Hong is doing a good job." ”

Lin Wenqing said: "Liu Hong is a confidant family who has followed me for many years, originally a domestic slave, but he has been quite smart since he was a child, so my father let him learn to read and write, help take care of the family's business, is very fine, serious and responsible, several things given to him have been completed very well, and he is gradually ashamed to be able to take charge of himself." Later, I paid Qi Guo's business, went to Qi several times, and many merchants in Qi have dealings, and are very familiar with the situation of Qi country, this time to Qi country, originally only Tao Zhu originally intended to cooperate with us, but Liu Hong advised Tao Zhu that the profit of papermaking is huge, once it is sold in large quantities, it will inevitably cause other merchants to blush, it is best to be able to share benefits and risks, so as not to make a big fuss, so Tao Zhu only lobbied other families, saying that Tian, Duanmu, and Guan came to Dai County together. ”

Gao Yuan nodded again and again, the so-called house slave is actually a slave, although in this era, slaves do not have any personal freedom, almost just talking animals, but it is not all without the opportunity to get rid of promotion. The first is military merit, and the Qin State stipulates that if a slave is beheaded on the battlefield, he can get rid of the status of a slave and become a normal citizen. Although other countries did not have such a system as the Qin State, slaves made meritorious contributions on the battlefield. It is also possible to break away from the status of a slave. The second is that some families will teach slaves to read and write because they require slaves to do more things, and some slaves will take advantage of this opportunity to improve their status at the master's side, so as to get rid of the status of slaves, Liu Hong is the latter example.

Obviously, this time Liu Hong did a good job, and he had been to Qi several times, and he knew the situation of Qi very well, and he had decided to send an envoy to Qi to participate in the ceremony, so the more he knew about the situation in Qi as much as possible, because he said: "Yes, this Liu Hong is there now, please ask Mrs. Wen Chun to invite him, I want to talk to him." ”

Lin Wenqing smiled and said, "Lord, I guess the lord will want to meet him, so I brought him when I came, and now I am waiting outside, so the lord can see him immediately." ”

Gao Yuan also smiled: "Okay, let's invite him quickly." ”

Lin Wenchun got up and left, and after a while, he brought a person, and after seeing the plateau, the person bowed to the ground and said, "Liu Hong sees the lord." ”

Gao Yuan nodded and said, "Get up, you're welcome." ”

Liu Hong got up, Gao Yuan saw that he was about thirty-four or five years old, his face was slightly dark, quite a bit of wind and frost, Gao Yuan said: "Liu Hong, you have lived in Qi Country for a short time. ”

Liu Hong said: "Back to the lord, the villain took over the family's business in Qi five years ago, and he will go to Qi once a year, and each time he lives in Qi for two months, and most in April and May. ”

Gao Yuan said: "I heard that you have made a lot of friends in Qi Country, and you know the situation in Qi Country very well. ”

Liu Hong said: "Back to the lord, the villain did make a lot of friends in the Qi country, but mainly merchants, and the officials of the Qi country also got acquainted with a few, but they were not important members, and the biggest was the next doctor." Because of the villain's low status, it is impossible to make friends with the biggest officials, and the situation of Qi Guo, the villain knows a little bit about it, and I don't know what the lord wants to know? ”

Gao Yuan thought for a moment and said, "Now the Tian clan, the Duanmu clan, the Tao Zhu clan, and the Guan clan have sent representatives to Dai County to discuss cooperation with us, thinking that how we should cooperate with them can best fight for our interests." ”

When Liu Hong heard this, he was also stunned, and he stopped talking, Gao Yuan smiled: "If you have any ideas, you might as well say it, even if you say it wrong, it doesn't matter." ”

Lin Wenchun also said: "Liu Hong, just say it directly, the lord will not blame you." ”

Liu Hong settled down and said: "Lord, according to the villain's humble opinion, Dafan merchants can be divided into two categories, one is to produce one or several goods by themselves, as their main commodity, as the foundation, such as the Wu family of the Qin State is engaged in animal husbandry, the Bai family of the Wei State is engaged in rice production, and the Tian family of the Qi State is engaged in salt production; The other type of production is completely transshipment, buying low and selling high, and earning the price difference. The families of wealthy merchants are mainly the former, and the latter are mostly small and medium-sized merchants, and those who can develop into the homes of wealthy merchants by transshipment are probably only the Tao Zhu family among the countries, and the rest can get rich for a while, but because the foundation is not strong, it will not last long. ”

Gao Yuan nodded and said, "That's right, what kind of should we be considered in Daijun?" ”

Liu Hongdao: "Nature is the former, our Daijun is thriving, livestock, fur are the main commodities, and now there are paper and paper books, which are the latter two, only our Daijun is unique, if you can make good use of it, it can become a unique business tool in our Daijun." ”

Gao Yuan smiled: "So in your opinion, what should we do?" ”

Liu Hongdao: "This time the four families sent representatives to Dai County, it is a great opportunity, we can negotiate with these four to establish our shops in Linzi, Qi State, and we will transport the goods to Qi State, and then sell them to the four of them, and at the same time, we can also transport the livestock, furs and other things produced by our Dai County to Qi Country for sale, and then use the connections of the four of them in Qi Country to buy the goods we need, so that although it will take the risk of road transportation, it is led by our Dai County itself, One qiē is in his own control. ”

Gao Yuan nodded again, what Liu Hong said is indeed very reasonable, although there are advantages of paper and paper books, which can attract businessmen from other countries to buy from Daijun, and can increase Daijun's tax revenue, but after all, Daijun is located in a remote area, and the goods that can be provided are also limited, so it is difficult to form a large-scale commercial center, so the income that can be brought to Daijun is also very limited.

In addition, it is not enough to just collect money, Daijun also needs to buy a large number of other materials, of course, merchants from other countries can transport the materials needed by Daijun, but the types of materials that merchants from other countries can transport are limited after all, and it is difficult to supply them in time, and the most important thing is that in this way, Daijun will be subject to others, in case that day, merchants from other countries do not come, Daijun will not be cut off? Therefore, whether it is buying or selling, this channel must be firmly grasped in their own hands. If you think about it this way, it is of course the best choice to establish your own shop in Qi country. Because Daijun now sells goods, the largest market for buying materials is in Qi country.

Gao Yuan said: "Then do you think it is feasible for us to establish a shop in Qi Country?" ”

Liu Hong immediately said: "Of course it is feasible, now the Tian family, the Duanmu family, the Tao Zhu family, and the Guan family are very optimistic about the paper and paper books produced by our Dai County, and the livestock and fur of the Dai County are also the commodities needed by the Qi State. And with the power of these four in the Qi country, it is really easy to help us establish shops in the Qi country. Moreover, with the care of these four families, there can be a lot less trouble, such as the difficulties of officials, the blackmail of local forces, and so on. ”

Gao Yuan nodded and said, "Okay, you will assist Mrs. Wenqing, and you should follow this line of thought to negotiate with the representatives of these four families." After a pause, he said, "In addition, you make another plan to set up a shop in Qi State, how to proceed, and how much it will cost, and then hand it over to me." ”

Liu Hong listened to this, and his heart was also overjoyed, although Gao Yuan just asked him to make a plan, but if he really set up a shop in Qi State, it is very likely that he will be sent to be responsible for running the shop in Qi State, because the plan is done by himself, of course, it is best to implement it by himself. This is a difficult opportunity, if it is done well, then it will not be difficult to find a half-official position in Daijun in the future, and it will be completely developed from then on, so he hurriedly said: "Yes." ”