Silver Overlord

“Thank you for your advice earlier, Brother. Otherwise, I would have been cheated by that old Shatu man!”

After leaving the old man’s vendor stall, Yan Liqiang thanked the young man when they reached a less crowded area on the street.

The young man looked at Yan Liqiang and his companions, then chuckled. “Brother, did you come with your men to buy wool at Yingwei County’s border trading post for your master too?”

“Yes, something like that. The elders in our clan swayed after hearing that woolen fabrics are very lucrative right now, so I was asked to come look around Yingwei County’s border trading post with my subordinates to see how I can procure wool back home. Little did I expect the Shatu people to be so dishonest!”

Upon hearing Yan Liqiang’s words, the young man suddenly slapped his thigh, looking as though he could empathize with Yan Liqiang. “I know right?! I’ve never met one that was honest! I came here a few times and almost got cheated every time!”

“Oh, you got cheated before?”

“It’s inevitable. You can ask the other patrons who came to buy wool. Most of them have been cheated by these Shatu people before. It’s common for them to mix sand in the wool or wet the wool. In fact, almost every Shatu seller does that. The only difference is the amount they add in. That old Shatu man from earlier was a very greedy person. I bought a jin of wool from him once before too and goddamn, I ended up extracting three taels of sand out of it after I went home! I came to confront him but he insisted that it was normal for wool to have sand in it. F*ck…!” The young man cursed.

“Can’t the sack be opened for inspection before buying?”

The young man shook his head. “I heard you could do that before, but they eventually stopped allowing people to do that. As the wool business soars, the Shatu people grow more pretentious. Look at the sacks of wool in front of their vendor stalls — they only leave one or two open for you to see how the wool on top looks like. They won’t show you the rest or allow you to open the sack and inspect because they don’t care if you are buying or not. If you’re not buying, then someone else will eventually buy them too…”

“I do feel that the business here is doing too well!” Yan Liqiang shook his head too. “It seems like many people know the Shatu people are cunning but still, they have no choice but to buy from them!”

“That’s right. Everyone is now pinching their nose while doing business with the Shatu, even if it means suffering some losses. It’s normal for them to mix sand and water inside the wool, but the most ridiculous thing they can do is mix horse mane or sheep dung in it! Those things are very troublesome to take out when cleaning the wool!”

The young man pointed at a Shatu store in the distance, then seethed. “The wool they sell there is the most impure. You know what they do? I heard they collect sheep dung, mash them up in a bucket, then dip the wool they sheared into the dung bucket. After that, they dry the wool to make it look like the dung had been stuck to the wool from the beginning. They are selling disgusting things like that for money. Worst of all, I heard they are very pleased with themselves and call us idiots who buy sheep dung from them…”

Yan Liqiang was dumbfounded by all the dirty tricks the Shatu would use. It even reminded him of his previous world. It seemed like humans were all the same when clouded by greed. Thinking up to this point, Yan Liqiang sighed. “So we’re still doing business with these Shatu people?”

“Brother, you must be joking. Of course we still do!” The young man chuckled. “Every influential clan in the northwestern region is now racking their brains to start their own wool business. Although we suffer some losses because of these Shatu people, many people will start begging us for our woolen fabrics. A jin of woolen fabric is sold for a jin of silver. As my father puts it, such business opportunity is so rare that it won’t happen in another few thousand years. Oh by the way, you sound like you hail from Gan Province from your accent…”

“Yes, I hail from Qiyun Prefecture!”

“Wow!” The young man seemed to be looking at Yan Liqiang in a new light as soon as he heard about him coming from Qiyun Prefecture. He even sounded surprised.

“The Yan and Lu Clans from Qiyun Prefecture are really something! They specialize in producing woolen fabric don’t they…?” The young man gave Yan Liqiang a thumbs up with an envious look on his face. “I heard there are more than a thousand spinning frames at The Greatest Mill by now… They are probably earning oceans of silver…!”

“Indeed. The elders in my clan are tempted when they see the profits that the Yan and Lu Clans are making!”

“I heard the Yan and Lu Clans are very well equipped. Several large fields in Gan Province are owned by either of them, and they are rearing their own so they’ll always have enough wool for themselves. Unlike us, most of the fields in the northwestern region that are suitable for rearing sheep have pretty much been taken by someone. I even heard many people have turned their own fields into pasturelands to raise sheep. People like us have no choice but to buy wool from the Shatu at Yingwei County’s border trading post!”

“That’s true. Where are you from, Brother?”

“I’m from Feng Province’s Linquan Prefecture! My name is Xu Zhengxing. My clan is considered to be quite established in Linquan Prefecture so if you run into any trouble there, you can come find me! What’s your name?” The young man noticed Yan Liqiang and his companions’ unusual speech, so he tried to befriend them.

“I am from the Yan Clan!”

“Ha, what a coincidence. Are you relatives to the Yan Clan from Yan Fortress?”

“Haha, of course not!” Yan Liqiang laughed — of course they weren’t relatives… They were family.

“Oh yes, the Shatu people in this border trading post are thinking of raising wool prices, so the merchants who shop regularly are working together to sort of form a chamber of commerce. We are going to bargain with these Shatu people. As long as they hike the price, we will boycott them together. Those who come to buy wool will gather at the Peaceful Teahouse in Yingwei County Town later in the afternoon to discuss the plan to tackle these Shatu people. If you have the time, come join us too. Just make sure you don’t buy any wool that cost over two maces of silver for a jin. If you do, you will inflate the wool price and incur public wrath. What I’m trying to say is even if you manage to buy the wool, you may not be able to bring it back. I hope you get what I mean!”

“Thank you for your words of warning, Brother. I will take a look around first and be sure to refuse any wool that cost more than two maces of silver for a jin!”

“Good.”

Yan Liqiang talked a bit more with Xu Zhengxing before they parted ways.

After Xu Zhengxing left, Yan Liqiang continued touring around the border trading post. Then he casually asked Qian Su, “Uncle Qian, what do you think?”

Qian Su glanced at the Shatu wool seller nearby, then nodded seriously. “Wool is lucrative right now. I think your plan will work. We can’t let these Shatu people make those profits!”

“Of course we won’t take it lying down!” Yan Liqiang nodded in agreement then smiled. Qian Su was now in charge of Qiyun Prefecture’s finances. Yan Liqiang had brought him to the border trading post to observe the local wool trade. Truth be told, the business’ popularity had exceeded his expectations.

But the good days for these Shatu people would be over soon. If the Shatu people were harvesting wool on the Gulang Plains, then Yan Liqiang would harvest their wool. How? He bet on the fact that ‘trade monopoly’ was an unprecedented term to the people of this world. As for Yan Liqiang, he knew too much of trade monopoly policies in his previous world. For the government alone, there had been various trade monopolies on things like salt, iron, tobacco, or alcohol…

And a trade monopoly on the Shatu people’s wool was on the way!

It just so happened that the Dark Ram Tribe was currently keeping the Shatu on the Gulang Plains occupied. What better time than now would it be to set a wool trade monopoly in place? This was not only for restraining the Shatu and supplementing the income of the Qiyun Protectorate Office, but also mainly to send a clear signal from Yan Liqiang to the Dark Ram Tribe —’I am not siding with Shatu, I hate these kids. Let’s screw them up together!’

After making a round at the Shatu area, Yan Liqiang went to the other side of the border trading post. The scene here was a polar opposite to the other side — the Han people were the sellers, while the buyers were the Shatu and residents on Mount Jade Dragon. The Han people were selling stuff like salt, tea leaves, wine, grains, brown sugar, fabric, jewelry, and other ware. They were what the buyers urgently needed. To the Shatu people, they pretty much couldn’t live on the plains without salt and tea leaves.

After the Shatu caravan unloaded their wool and other goods here, they’d make their purchases and bring them back to the Gulang Plains. To the Shatu living there, most of the things sold here were ‘luxuries’…

The Yan Clan owned a third of the salt, tea, and fabric stores at the border trading post. One of the store managers from the Yan Clan was about to come out and greet Yan Liqiang, but he was stopped in his tracks by the eye signal Yan Liqiang was giving him.

Yan Liqiang and his companions walked around the border trading post for a few hours. They only finished around noon. Just when they were about the leave from the southwest gate…

“What kind of bullsh*t flame oil is this?! It’s so smelly and black! If this is used for the oil lamps, the whole house will reek! You’re selling a pot of this for thirty copper coins? You must be crazy! I don’t think this is worth more than three copper coins! It’s probably only good as mosquito repellent in the pig barn…!”

“If you’re not buying then scram!”

“Feh, how dare a barbarian like you scold me…!”

“So what if I’m scolding you…? Are you going to scram…?”

“Yeowchh… I got hit by this barbarian…!”

Yan Liqiang’s curiosity was suddenly piqued when he heard a fight happening at a vendor stall nearby. He immediately stopped in his tracks and turned to his companions. “Wait… Let’s go there…”

While speaking, Yan Liqiang was already making his way toward the vendor stall with Qian Su and the rest following behind him…