Delani estimated in his mind for a long time that one stone of rice was equivalent to about 50 kilograms in legal terms, and 20 stones was equivalent to one ton. This is 120 silver dollars to buy a ton of shelled rice.
"Well...Boss, if I have a big business for you, how much cheaper can you make the price of a ton of rice?"
"What? One ton..." The boss obviously didn't know much about the metric system that originated in France.
"That's 20 shi! Twenty shi in the Qing Dynasty is about one ton in the European metric system... What's the lowest you can give me?"
There really was a big deal. The boss quickly took out his abacus and started playing.
"This foreigner...the prices I quoted to you are actually the lowest prices. If you want to get cheaper, you have to go in larger quantities!"
"If you buy 100 stones at one time, which is the five tons you said... then I can give you 110 silver dollars per ton..."
Delaney glanced at him and smiled and said, "What if I buy more? For example, 1,000 stones or more..."
"Hiss... a thousand stones? 50 tons? You want that much? I, I, I... I can give you a price of... 100 silver dollars... This is really the lowest, there is no profit in this, that is Earn some money for the guys down there for their hard work!"
"Okay! Very good, just follow the price you said... One ton is 100 silver dollars. I need 100 tons! I can give you 30% of the total payment of 10,000 silver dollars first. This is a Chinese bank cashier's check of 3,000 silver dollars. !”
"Don't worry about the remaining 7,000 silver dollars. Just send a batch of food and I'll settle the amount for you in proportion... You can't bring this much all at once!"
"I know you are also worried that I am cheating. You Qing people are not willing to do business with us foreign devils!"
Now the boss was embarrassed. He smiled and said, "What kind of words are these? You can trust them. Of course you can trust them! Where are you going to send the food to?"
"One quarter is sent to our embassy, which has a small warehouse...the remaining three quarters are sent to our warehouse at Guangqumen Railway Station!"
"If this cooperation goes well, I may place another order soon, maybe buy another 100 tons!"
The boss couldn't laugh anymore and waved his hands desperately, "No, really no more... Mr. Yang promoted me and gave me business, I am extremely happy!"
"But there are rules in doing business. Our small shop has such a small profit that we can no longer take your order!"
"To be honest... don't go to other people's stores. Basically, the grain merchants in Shanxi merchants are no longer able to take your orders! Unless you go to the Chinese grain merchants, there may be some way!"
"You ask me why? It's actually very simple. This food trade has a shelf life. This is not wood, stone, cloth and other groceries. It doesn't matter even if you can't sell it after you buy it. You can still sell it after you put it there! "
"The grain trade pays attention to freshness and the ability to make hats! How much grain is consumed around the capital in a year is actually a fixed number!"
"The population is here. Our grain merchants in the capital are all connected. Shanxi merchants, Chinese merchants, and local merchants in Gyeonggi Province... It is probably these three groups of merchants who have divided up all the grain trade!"
"There is competition between us, but we also have to cooperate. We always communicate with each other when we meet on weekdays! No one is allowed to live... Everyone actually knows the inventory in hand!"
"It's already the twelfth lunar month, and the grain merchants in the capital have already purchased all the grain that will be eaten until the beginning of next spring. If we want to deliver grain to the capital, it will have to be after the first lunar month!"
"The 100 tons you want are from other grain merchants. I have swept away all the surplus warehouse gaps and raised them for you!"
"If you ask for another ton, you won't have it, and no one will sell it to you anymore, because if I sell it to you, it will be selling the people's rations. When the time comes, the people in the capital will not have enough to eat, and there will be a famine!"
Delaney pretended to be surprised and said, "How is it possible? In such a large capital, the amount of food surplus is only 100 tons? How is this possible?"
"Oh... Mr. Foreigner, you have already spent 10,000 silver dollars on me, why should I lie to you?"
"These one hundred tons are the last surplus in the hands of ordinary grain merchants! If you want to buy more grain, there are only two ways!"
"The first one you go to is Lord Long Live! Buy it from the government or the treasury of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. We merchants don't know how much food there is!"
"The second way is to go to the Chinese grain merchants. They have a large business and a lot of money... If you give enough money, they will use ice trucks and sledges to walk across the ice of the Grand Canal to deliver grain to you. It’s not impossible!”
"Haha...but the shipping fee is quite high!"
Delaney was very satisfied. With a business deal, he found out the situation of the grain storage in the capital, and also hoarded a batch of supplies that would be in short supply in the future.
The British had already found out how much grain Emperor Tongzhi had in his official warehouse, but now they only needed the data from this ordinary businessman.
Comparing the two sides, Delaney becomes more and more confident about next year's chaos!
The Chinese will definitely stumble in the food supply next year. This is what the prince's forces have promised! However, private grain merchants in Gyeonggi Province were completely unaware of the crisis.
If we were aware of it, we wouldn't just leave such a surplus of more than 100 tons!
As for the official warehouse of the imperial court, it is even more in danger. Emperor Tongzhi must first ensure the rations of the garrison in the capital and the rations of the workers in the railway and industrial zones!
There are also rations for the officials and bannermen of the imperial court. No matter how big the imperial granary is, there is still so much to talk about!
The boss looked at the foreign Japanese in silence, and he was confused and could only smile and said, "You drink tea! Foreign master, you drink tea!"
Delaney waved his hand and handed him a business card, "This is my business card. If you want to see me for anything, just take it to the British Embassy and they will take you to see me!"
"I have one more condition! I don't want others to know about my food purchase. You must keep it a secret! You must know that I am a foreign devil and my identity is very sensitive. I can make some extra money by doing a small business and let the court or my Commander knows, it’s very bad!”
"I understand! I understand, little one! You, the foreigner, are just trying to earn some pocket money for yourself! I understand, I often do this kind of business..."
"To tell you the truth...the people in charge of the official warehouse in the Imperial Household Department are all related to me, and they have done a lot of replacing old rice with new rice!"
"The old rice is given to the soldiers, and the new rice is sold to us... When they do the accounting later, they will definitely give the soldiers new rice, and they make a profit from the price difference!"
"No wonder you, foreigner, didn't choose a Chinese grain merchant! It turns out that you want to make extra money... Just find a small business to handle this kind of thing. I guarantee that it will be done safely for you!"
"I have a seal on my mouth, so you can rest assured!"
After Delaney left, the grain store owner watched the foreign devils leave. Only after his back disappeared did he mutter, "Haha! The foreign devils are even more greedy!"
"I've bargained the price down to 100 silver dollars per ton. How much will he report to the British official later?"
"Britain is tens of thousands of miles away from the Qing Dynasty and separated by the sea. It must not know the people's sentiments here! Maybe he dared to quote 200 silver dollars per ton!"
"Haha...come here! Let the prime ministers and ministers bring all the Chen rice they have! I must make a profit too!"
"If a ton of rice costs 100 silver dollars, you can't expect to eat new rice!"
