After Wang Yiming left, Shen Hao stood up and walked to the wall on the left. He looked at the military-level map of the entire territory of the Jingji Dynasty hanging on the wall without moving for a long time.
In the past, when I was working on the front line, there were always endless cases. Every time I went out, I didn't know if I would die outside.
Just like after the promotion of missionary teams in various places, small-scale collisions between the Black Flag Battalion and the evil monks became more and more frequent. Every time there were casualties, the death toll alone in the hands of Shen Hao reached more than 200 People. Shen Hao used to be one of those people who rushed to the front.
What made Shen Hao stand out was not his ability to play, but his clever mind that was good at analysis and deduction. Over time, he developed the habit of thinking about things whenever he had nothing to do.
Now that he is in a high position, there are very few cases that require Shen Hao's specific participation, and most of his attention has been transferred to intrigues with others.
But once there is a case that affects Shen Hao's mind, he will also think about it subconsciously. The fun in it is addictive, but he himself is not aware of it.
How many people are there in the Qin family? It is estimated that there are more than a hundred people in the master's family, and the branches are also scattered, but most of them are in Jingbei.
At the top, there is Qin Mu, the governor of Xuanqing Guard Town, who protects against wind and rain, and at the bottom, there is the family power that has been carefully managed for many years. With each step up and down, even a side branch of the Qin family can prosper in Jingbei, and then Not good is also the so-called "upper class" of a place.
Will the Qin family be short of food? Of course not.
Then why did the Qin family buy so much food? Not only did they buy it from the black market, but they also secretly smuggled it in the open and framed it, all with the intention of wiping away the traces so that no one could find out what was going on.
Judging from common sense, food is for eating. If the Qin family cannot finish it themselves, others will definitely eat it. This is essentially the same thing as what grain stores outside do.
But who are the Qin family’s “customers”? Where is it?
In addition, where did the pills sold by the Qin family through the black market come from? Could it be that there is an alchemist in the Qin family?
Once you figure this out, you can in turn figure out all the context of what the Qin family has done secretly.
After standing in front of the map for a long time, Shen Hao could not find any place within the Jingji Dynasty where he could create high profits from food.
Now that there is no war, food in the granaries in various places is gradually becoming abundant again, and even wineries have returned to normal brewing and sales as before. Are there still places in the country that are short of food?
Of course there is no more.
The Jingjiu Dynasty was basically very relaxed about the movement of grain within the country. New grain and old grain were the same. As long as there were complete procedures, there was no place where they could not go. Of course, only within the borders of China and North Korea.
Moreover, grain prices have been severely suppressed by the Jingjiu Dynasty, which not only set the farmers' payment prices, but also set the retail prices of grain merchants. The profits in the middle were extremely low, so generally small-scale grain merchants had no room to survive in the Jingjiu Dynasty. Large grain merchants can only rely on volume to obtain sufficient profits.
Therefore, it is basically impossible for the Qin family to engage in grain trading within the country.
If it is not within the country, then it is outside the country.
There are currently only two places outside the country that Shen Hao knows that have a large demand for food. One is the barbarian territory that has been destroyed. Food is the most sought-after thing there. It can be exchanged for medicinal materials, crystal stones, and slaves. It is definitely a hugely profitable business. But this business requires the cooperation of the border army, otherwise it will be no different than a meat bun beating a dog. Therefore, most of the grain business in the barbarian territory is taken away by the border army, and even the imperial merchants can only drink some soup there.
High risks are accompanied by high profits. Naturally, some people take the risk and want to smuggle grain to the barbarians to exchange for good things, and then come back with a huge profit. It's just that not many succeeded. They were either buried on the road across thousands of miles of bamboo sea, died under the iron cavalry of the barbarians, or were caught and beheaded by the border troops. There are very few people who succeed, and they basically stop doing it once they succeed, which is enough to make them rich for a lifetime.
Another place where food is needed is overseas. Generally speaking, maritime merchants collect grain, ship it to sea, and then return it in exchange for maritime goods. It is also a hugely profitable business, but also extremely risky, and the threshold for this bowl of rice is very high, and ordinary people are simply not qualified to serve it.
It is said that there is a continent on the other side of the Treasure Sea. In the evil sea to the west of Jingjiu Dynasty, there lives another ethnic group: the Hai tribe.
The food shipped out by sea basically has these two outlets.
In Shen Hao's view, the path of maritime merchants basically has nothing to do with the Qin family. The threshold is too high, and the maritime merchant circle is strict and excludes outsiders. The Qin family is still too far away from trying to squeeze in. Moreover, maritime trade is a legitimate business, and it pays taxes to the country. Even if you want to import grain, there is no need to buy black market grain with poor price and low quality or old grain with unknown origin, right? Totally worth the loss.
There was only one place left: the barbarian realm.
But even if you send things to the barbarians, there are still many problems that don't make sense. This was also the reason why Shen Hao slowly frowned.
Although the Qin family is considered "powerful" in Jingbei, it is only limited to Jingbei. Can it affect the south? And can he still sell food to the barbarians for a long time?
Are you really a fool to be a border soldier, or are you saying that you can open up all the relationships with the border soldiers so that you can come in and out at will?
If this matter had occurred before the barbarian war, Shen Hao would not have been so suspicious. After all, it was difficult to smuggle things into the barbarian territory at that time, but it was not that difficult. It can be easily accomplished by relying solely on the slave caravan and a large number of storage bags.
But now, the above path will no longer work. Every move of the slave caravan on the barbarian border in the south is now under the surveillance of the border troops. There are even unknown spies from various forces deployed in the slave caravan. The complexity of the personnel structure can be said to be absolutely unparalleled in the entire Jingjiu Dynasty.
Under such circumstances, it is naturally impossible for the Qin family to take the slave caravan route.
It is not feasible to sell the grain by sea merchants. It is also not feasible to take the route of border troops and slave caravans. There is no room for consuming such a large amount of food elsewhere... Shen Hao's speculation was cut off immediately, leaving him with no clue.
This is like a person drinking water vigorously, but you can't see him going to the toilet. I know it's impossible, but I can't find any clues.
Looking at the map, Shen Hao's hand slid on it unconsciously.
It is absolutely impossible for the Qin family to take the route of maritime trade, so he does not think too much. Only the barbarian territory is the only way to digest the food that the Qin family has purchased for a long time. But it can't be transported by normal means, and the Clumsy Fire Pass can stop everything.
unless......
Shen Hao slowly moved his gaze to the huge and wide sea of bamboo next to Zhuhuo Pass.
"Unless the Qin family has a way to repeatedly and safely cross the Bamboo Sea and penetrate into the hinterland of the barbarians... Or maybe, they don't need to worry about the transportation of that batch of food?" Shen Hao's finger gently touched the map. Knocked a few times...
vertex
