Chapter 42 The Slave Trader

Qingzhou.

The winter snow fell on and off for 20 days, and it was not until this morning that a crystal-like blue appeared in the gray clouds.

The golden sunlight broke free from the shackles of the clouds and fell down, coating the white snow with a dazzling gold.

"His Royal Highness, it's been twenty days since Li San was gone. Do you think this perfume and drunk Qingzhou have made the Empress and the Emperor tempted?"

Luluo stretched out her small hand, and while roasting her hands on the briquettes stove, she oversaw the distillation of rice wine by the servants in the yard.

"To sum up the days, it's time to come back." Xiao Ming was wrapped in a thick felt. The deeper the winter, the more unbearable the cold weather in the north.

Especially when sitting still, the cold is like an invisible hand wandering around the body.

"Hmph, I don't know if the things he bought have fallen." Luluo was still thinking about her maltose.

Xiao Ming tapped Luluo's head, "You, just like to eat."

"Hee hee." Luluo squinted her eyes and smiled, as if looking forward to Li San's return, her saliva was drooling.

Xiao Ming tightened the felt on his body and looked in the direction of Chang'an, which was the political and economic center of the Great Yu Kingdom. Thinking with his ass, he also understood that few people who could live in Chang'an were good people.

He only hoped that Li San could bring good news and try to be as few as possible.

Although I didn't know about Li San's news, Qin Mu's news came very quickly. The Zuiqingzhou was very popular in Chang'an, and the literati, the pawns, the dignitaries, and the dignitaries all scrambled to buy it after tasting it.

In a short period of time, the price of Zuiqingzhou exceeded the price of 22 taels of Nuerhong, and it doubled directly. Now a jar of Zuiqingzhou can sell forty taels of silver.

Even so, Zui Qingzhou was seriously out of stock. After all, Xiao Ming only distilled a hundred jars.

For this reason, Qin Mu couldn't wait, so he dispatched a fast horse and brought the news back within five days. Qin Chuanyun heard the news and personally went to the door to ask Xiao Ming to increase the supply of Zuiqingzhou. The cost price of Zuiqingzhou was raised to 321 jars.

The profit of one altar and ten taels made Qin Chuanyun, an old fox, deeply appreciate the benefits of cooperating with Xiao Ming. This piece of Liang's shipyard was also done smoothly and was given to Xiao Ming directly. This is also an exchange of interests. .

The fiefs are in vain, and what Xiao Ming lacks most at the moment is silver. Naturally, he will not refuse this proposal.

Immediately, he asked Chen Qi to make nine more sets of stills for him, and directly transformed the side hall of the palace into a small factory. The production volume of Zuiqingzhou increased from ten altars a day to one hundred altars a day.

At this scale, Xiao Ming dare not continue to expand, because Xiao Ming needs green ant wine in the Qingzhou market, and this grain is purchased in large quantities for brewing, and the price of staple food has risen a lot for a while. The days are getting worse.

This winter, the life of the common people was difficult. As a vassal king and the parent of the people of the six states, he always had to consider the lives of the people.

Therefore, he thought about building a whole winemaking measure by himself and setting up an official winery, but this grain was no longer purchased from his fiefs, but from places with rich grains.

When the people in the fiefs have enough food, he will purchase in the fiefs to drive the economic development of the fiefs.

"By the way, Your Highness, when Sister Ziwan went to Haizhou this morning, she said that the mansion in our palace was not enough, so let me tell you if I want to buy some slaves." Luluo suddenly said after remembering something.

Today, Aster was sent by Xiao Ming to the fief of the King of Wei to purchase cattle.

Compared with the 5 million households on the fief, the shortage of cattle is too great. There are still three months before spring. If the production tools cannot keep up at that time, it will definitely affect the next year's harvest.

The old fox, King Wei, seemed to have a big gap for his own cattle, and raised the price of cattle in his fief by three taels. Now one cattle needs twenty taels of silver, which really gave him a headache.

He also wants to go to other places to buy cattle, but the journey is too long, and the transportation risk is still not cost-effective.

"Buy!" Xiao Ming said firmly.

These days when Li San went to Chang'an, he has been thinking about the issue of development. In this era of backward technology, people are production resources. In previous wars with barbarians, the purpose of satisfying many battles is to plunder the population.

Because these populations are converted into slaves, it will greatly promote various production.

Xiao Ming is now facing the same problem. One is lack of money and the other is lack of labor.

Now the fiefs are limited, and four or five million people can only be used to restore production, while the workshops require a large number of workers.

In the modern West, a large part of the initial accumulation of industrial wealth benefited from the black slave trade. According to approximate statistics, during the black slave trade, about 20 million black slaves were sold.

This is also one of the reasons why the capital world can rise rapidly.

Xiao Ming knew that he was not yet able to participate in the slave trade, because he did not even have a decent ship, and he also did not have the Heart of the Virgin at this time.

Living in this era, we must do things that conform to the laws of development of this era, so he does not oppose the slave trade. For him, this is even a necessary condition for him to rejuvenate his fiefs.

"If Your Highness wants to buy it, Sister Ziwan said that there is a slave trader in Qingzhou City. He has a slave market in Dongshi." Luluo said again.

Xiao Ming's spirit was shocked, if it wasn't for Ziwan to mention this, he would have delayed the slave affairs for a few days, he said: "Ziwan is more careful, you let Zhao Long and Zhao Hu go to the East Market and take the slave trader with him. come over."

Now Xiao Ming has gradually adapted to his identity, and he is also aware of his supreme right in the fief.

In order to develop as quickly as possible, he said not to flexibly use the power of his vassal.

Luluo replied yes, and went to Zhao Long and Zhao Hu. In half an hour, a man with stubborn eyes and eyes was brought to the Qi Wangfu.

"Caomin Liang Dahai has seen His Royal Highness King Qi." Liang Dahai bowed his head and did not dare to breathe.

When Zhao Long and Zhao Hu appeared, he was quite frightened, thinking that the government was going to take him. After all, no one who deals in slaves is clean.

"No ceremony, you are Liang Dahai?" Xiao Ming sat upright in the center of the main hall, and half of his face was flushed by the red flames of the fire.

"Exactly." Liang Dahai looked at Xiao Ming carefully and said.

Xiao Ming said solemnly: "This king asked you to come here, not for anything else, but for your business."

Liang Dahai's face turned pale, and he immediately knelt on the ground, "Your Highness! All the slaves sold by Caomin sold their bodies voluntarily or bought them from others. All of them have a deed to sell their bodies, and none of them were abducted."