With the troop deployment documents in hand, Gao Kan could have directly led the battalion and followed him around, doing things expediently.
However, Jiang Jing and the others could only set off. Even if they took the waterway to the inner Huang, it would still take a day or two.
After arriving in Neihuang, a large amount of grain on the ship had to be transported up the mountain, which probably took at least another day, maybe two or three days.
If they set out from Daming Mansion immediately and take the land route without rushing, they should arrive in four or five days.
Even if we find another excuse to delay it locally for a day or two, the total added up will be six or seven days, which is too short a time.
Gao Kan was still worried that Jiang Jing and the others would not have time to make more preparations and the show would be ruined.
Therefore, he did not go to pick up the troops, but went back to the inn with Lin Chong and Yang Zhi first, just to see how the situation was at the granary.
Since entering Daming Mansion, Tian Mi has been entrusted with this matter, and Gao Kan hasn't even seen it yet.
Tian Mi was running back and forth, which was considered to be a dedicated effort. As the saying goes, "Lu Yao knows how powerful the horse is and how long it takes to see people's hearts. After a certain incident, more things can be entrusted to him to deal with in the future."
Back at the inn, Gao Kan just wanted to send someone to ask Tian Mi to come back, and then take them to the granary to have a look, maybe there would be some calculations.
Just when he ordered people to go out, Tian Mi came back in a hurry.
Hearing that Gao Kan was looking for him, he hurriedly went to the back room to find the three of them. He picked up the teapot on the table and took a swig. It seemed that he was thirsty.
Seeing this, Gao Kan smiled and said: "Drink slowly, don't choke again, why is Shopkeeper Tian so anxious?"
After drinking until he was full, Tian Mi took a breath and then explained: "Young Master, I don't know, but this morning it was a lot of work to load the grain onto the ship. If it weren't for the help of the second master's men, I might not be able to finish it for most of the day. "
"The second master hasn't left yet?" Gao Kan frowned and asked.
"I was able to get through it an hour ago, so that's fine."
Tian Mi said, his eyes turned again, and then he continued: "The villain is so anxious. It turns out that the grain merchant who sold grain before was a few people. He came back this morning and said he wanted to discuss another business."
"Oh? What business?"
The impact of two hundred thousand dans of grain was still echoing in Gaokan's chest. Hearing that there was another sale, he immediately became interested.
"Along with these grain merchants, there were also several cloth merchants from the same town who purchased high-quality brocade cloth from the south of the Yangtze River and then transported it to the north for resale. This was originally a familiar business that came and went frequently. Who knew that the four gates of Daming Mansion were closed this time? Originally, they wanted to sort out their goods and then go straight out of the city and continue north."
At this point, Tian Mi paused again, sat down and came closer: "But they didn't know where they heard the rumor, saying that the bandits from Liangshan gathered bandits from Hebei and Shandong, gathered in Daming Mansion, and had already moved north. The road is blocked."
"All the merchants who came and went, not even the people or the goods, were left behind. In the past, even a dog was barked, disemboweled, cut off the skin and ate the meat. After a few people argued about it, they became panicked, and then they went to the grain merchants from the same town to discuss it. I plan to resell all the high-quality brocade cloths on hand to us at a very reasonable price."
"But the young master didn't give any orders before. It's not easy for a villain to make the decision, so I stabilized them first, and then rushed back to ask the young master to make a decision."
Gold, silver, grain and cloth were all hard currencies in ancient times, and they could be directly circulated even during times of war.
Not to mention the current situation in the Song Dynasty, which could be overturned in an instant.
The land south of the Yangtze River has always been rich in high-quality silk. These cloth merchants bought it from there and trafficked it to the north. According to the usual market conditions, one trip back and forth was enough to make a living for a year.
When this happened, I had no choice but to sell it at a low price. I exchanged it for money so that it would be easier to carry. I could go back to my hometown in the south of the Yangtze River, not to mention risking going north again.
If Jiang Jing and the others had not set off yet, Gao Kan would have agreed.
But at this time, the ship had already departed, and Tong Guan's birthday cakes, gold and silver cakes, had been transported away together. Gao Kan was afraid that he didn't have that much cash on hand.
After pondering for a while, he asked: "How many brocades are they willing to give out in total?"
"The asking price is 100,000 guan, but if the young master is interested, I can negotiate for 80,000 guan." Tian Mi said hurriedly.
"Eighty thousand guan is not much. How much cash do we still have on hand?"
After touching his chin and thinking for a moment, Gao Kan asked again.
"Well, when we came out, we only brought the money to buy grain. The 200,000 tons of grain we bought earlier were made with gold and silver cakes. Except for the ones we asked the second master to transport away, now we still have 20,000 gu of bills with us." Tian Mi replied.
In addition to cash, bills, bills, and Gaokan were all given directly to Tian Mi.
Therefore, Tian Mi knew better than him how much wealth he had.
Originally I just thought that this trip to collect the brocade cloth would be very cost-effective, but the cloth merchants were in a hurry to sell it, and it was already more than 30% lower than the market price.
After some further talks, less than 60% was left. Where can I find such a bargain?
But he didn't estimate whether he had enough money in his pocket.
Gao Kan looked a little hesitant after hearing this. He didn't care about buying him, but he didn't have enough money.
Seeing the change in his expression, Tian Mi hurriedly advised: "Sir, I have seen the samples. The real Suzhou brocades are all top quality. These things are usually in high demand even in Bianliang, Tokyo. Ordinary people think You can’t buy it yet.”
"As long as we can buy it, at this price, if we transport it back, we can make more than double the profit. It's a rare opportunity!"
You are a bastard who doesn't want to make money. He has taken over the troops of the Left Behind Department and will expand them in the future. Money is used everywhere. The army rations and the 200,000 dans of stored grain are used as a base, but there is no shortage of pay and silver.
Gaokan wants to take the official route, and of course he cannot deduct his own troops.
Even the pay standard must be higher than that of the officers and soldiers, in order to win over people's hearts and make them die for service.
According to the standard of ordinary military sergeants' salary in the Zhao and Song Dynasty, one person is ten thousand guan per year, which can be exchanged for 10 taels of grain silver.
The five hundred people in the left-behind department are all elites. In the future, Gaokan will use them as the backbone of the army expansion. Naturally, the number will be higher, at least 20 to 30% more.
Calculated in this way, a soldier's salary would be more than twelve or three taels a year, and an officer's salary would be even higher.
Gao Kan made some calculations at the moment and found out that the annual salary of just these five hundred people would be about six to seven thousand taels.
If you are not a rich man, you don't know how expensive firewood and rice are. If you are just a high-ranking official in the Taiwei Mansion in Tokyo, you will spend hundreds of thousands of taels of silver just casually going to Goulan Place and having a good time.
But now he is no longer too old, and he will not be so in the future. There will only be more and more places to spend money.
Eighty thousand guan of high-quality Suzhou brocade cloth was transferred to Tokyo and was easily resold with the same profit. Even if it was exchanged at the market price, it would still be 40,000 taels of snowflake silver.
What is forty thousand taels of snowflake silver?
Those were six battalions of elite men, and one army of the Forbidden Army had one more battalion of men and horses.
Gao Kan pondered over and over again, and finally came to the conclusion that this business must be profitable no matter what.
Then he slapped the table and said in a deep voice: "You go and reply to their letter, just say that I want these brocade boys, but let's talk about the price. It's up to you as much as you can, and I'll figure out how to deal with the money." "
"Okay, little man, let's go now!" Tian Mi responded immediately.
