boyutpedia Chapter 200: Creating Wealth
Chapter 200: Creating Wealth
Mr. Cai took the letter handed over by Li Baolin, unfolded it and took a look at it, then handed the letter to his two disciples.
After Ye Changyan and Liang Jingcheng read the letter, their expressions became solemn.
After sending his greetings to Mr. Cai in his letter, Xue Kuo mentioned that Liangzhou had not been peaceful recently. Many people, like Fang Tongkang (Fang Xiaotong's father) and Li Rongxu, had gone to Liangzhou because they heard that they could make a lot of money by doing business in Liangzhou.
Many of them sold everything in their homes that could be converted into cash and came to Liangzhou with all their assets.
After arriving in Liangzhou, these people got the news from some unknown channel, but almost without any prior agreement, they all ran to the border between Liangzhou and Mobei and bought a kind of stone called black iron stone from the border residents of Mobei.
This kind of stone makes a crisp metallic sound when struck. They also don't know from where they learned that this black iron stone contains black gold which is more precious than gold.
As for the specific origins of these black iron stones, Liangzhou Prefecture has not yet found the specific context, but all clues seem to point to Mobei.
These people who dreamed of getting rich spent almost all of their money on buying black iron stone, and they actually made money because every once in a while, people would come to the ghost market in Liangzhou City to buy large quantities of this stone.
These people can make a profit every time they resell the stones, so their greed becomes greater. However, as time goes by, the people who buy these stones in the ghost market no longer have the same regular purchase schedule as before.
Sometimes, people who buy stones will appear in the ghost market for two or three days in a row, sometimes they will only appear once every ten days or half a month, and at the longest time, they may not be seen for a whole month.
The situation in Liangzhou was already unstable and the people were tough. As the appearance times of buyers became more and more irregular, those who wanted to get rich and held a large amount of black iron stone were targeted.
Fang Tongkang would go to the ghost market almost every day and was targeted by someone. He used all his belongings to buy black iron stones from border residents, but they ended up being looted. The sudden poverty hit Fang Tongkang hard.
Fang Tongkang was penniless and had a hard time making ends meet. He was kicked out of the inn. In Liangzhou, snow was common in August, and it was even colder after October. Fang Tongkang was desperate and when he was found, he was curled up next to a pile of firewood in a tea stall, already dead.
In recent months, there have been many cases like Fang Tongkang who lost their lives silently.
But the temptation of making money made these people lose their minds. Not only did no one choose to leave, but more and more people poured into Liangzhou City.
After reading the letter, Ye Changyan couldn't help but sigh in his heart.
However, Ye Changyan had an intuition that there seemed to be a black hand hidden behind the black gold and black iron stone, controlling it in secret, making those who dreamed of getting rich fall deeper and deeper. He even felt that those who tried to rob it were all controlled by this black hand.
Ye Changyan calmed himself down before asking Li Rongxu.
"Master Xue mentioned the black iron stone in his letter. May I ask, Big Brother Li, do you know the specific source of this black iron stone?"
When Li Baolin heard Ye Changyan politely calling him Dalang, he waved to Ye Changyan repeatedly.
"Mr. Ye, you can just call my son Li Rongxu or Rongxu. He is definitely not worthy of your title of elder brother."
Ye Changyan smiled, said a few polite words to Li Baolin, and then followed his wish and called Rong Xu directly.
"When I first arrived in Liangzhou, there were already many people from various states doing business there."
Seeing that everyone's eyes were focused on him, Li Rongxu continued.
"At the beginning, I was completely in the dark and didn't understand anything. It was only after following others for a while that I roughly figured out the ins and outs of this."
"Liangzhou Prefecture is located on the border. If you go further out, you will enter the territory of Mobei. People who come from various prefectures to do business will leave the city at the beginning of each month and go west or north. If you are lucky, you will come across the market of Mobei border residents in three to five days. At the market, border residents usually sell a kind of stone that is pitch black in color and makes a sound like gold and iron when struck. This stone is black iron stone."
When everyone heard Li Rongxu say this, they all nodded silently.
"If they are unlucky, they may not be able to encounter the market of the Mobei border residents even after walking for ten days or half a month. By then, most of the food and water they brought will be used up, and they will have to rush back."
"Although the time and place of the border residents' market are very uncertain, everyone has summed up an experience, that is, during the half month from the full moon night to the new moon, almost no one has encountered the border residents' market. Therefore, everyone basically sets out at the beginning of the month, and at the latest after the full moon, they will rush to Liangzhou City."
It seems to be similar to what Xue Kuo said in the letter. These black iron stones are indeed from Mobei. Ye Changyan asked again.
"Do the people over there have a lot of these stones?"
"That's not the case. Every time there is a market, there are seven or eight border residents selling black iron stones, and as few as two or three. However, there are border residents selling this stone in almost every market. At the beginning, they all like us to exchange salt, iron and other things with them."
"Later, as the exchanges became more frequent, they seemed to prefer to receive gold and silver directly. In the beginning, one pound of salt could be exchanged for a piece of black iron stone weighing about one pound, but later, ten taels of silver might not even be enough to buy a piece of black iron stone weighing one pound."
"However, as the price of the black iron stone we exchanged from the border residents continued to rise, the price of the black iron stone in Liangzhou City rose sharply. Everyone made more money."
"Mr. Xue mentioned in his letter that these black iron stones were traded at the ghost market in Liangzhou City. What exactly happened?"
Hearing Ye Changyan's question, Li Rongxu seemed a little excited. He picked up the tea poured by Zhang, took two sips, and then spoke.
"Indeed, everyone knows that wealth should not be shown off, so everyone usually keeps these black iron stones carefully. When the ghost market opens, some people will buy a large number of these black iron stones. Everyone wears a mask and goes to the ghost market to sell the black iron stones in their hands."
"Every time the merchants who buy the black iron stone, they will offer different purchase prices according to the different qualities of the black iron stone in your hands. However, the prices offered are almost always 50% to 80% higher than the prices you buy from the border residents."
After hearing what Li Rongxu said, Ye Changyan and Liang Jingcheng looked at each other. This business of buying and selling stones is indeed profitable.
If you have 100 taels of capital, the return can increase by 50% to 80% in one trip. If you are lucky, you can even quadruple the capital after three trips.
No wonder so many people are flocking to it. After a few rounds of transactions, the wealth in their hands will increase exponentially. How many people can resist such a myth of wealth creation?