Chapter 129 A Bundle of Rubies

When the time comes to participate in the land auction, it won't just be the merchants of Danyang. The New City launch event is also going to Yicheng and Ningyuan. Not to mention anything else, there are quite a few people in Yunzhou who are determined to have a place in Gondor City. Golan, who was bringing another group of people with a lot of wool textiles to Danyang at this time, was one of them.

The locals in Yunzhou have more advantages than outsiders. On the one hand, Yunzhou is their hometown, so they naturally pay more attention to their own affairs. Compared with the future new capital, they are more looking forward to this magnificent Gondor. On the other hand, many news about the new city cannot be hidden from the locals. Everyone will definitely be more prepared, especially in terms of funds, than the aristocratic families, wealthy families, and merchants from other places. When the auction comes, there will be no installment payments; you pay as soon as you bid. In fact, the locals in Yunzhou have a lot of opinions about holding the Gondor land auction in Danyang. If Tan Weixin hadn't told them about her thoughts and the situation, some people might have taken the lead in appealing.

And in Yunzhou, the person who pays the most attention to protecting the interests of the locals, cheering and reporting news for them everywhere, is Golan. Originally, he was just a tribal leader, but since Yunzhou belonged to Dongping and he became the director of the Bureau of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry, he has made more and more friends because of his easy-going and generous personality, and now he has become a representative of the local forces in Yunzhou. He doesn't have any objections to Ye Tao dividing the benefits of Gondor's future development with people from other places. The funds needed to build Gondor are so large that it can almost build Danyang twice, and it is indeed difficult for Yunzhou to raise it locally. However, he did gather a large number of local Yunzhou families and merchants, raising a considerable amount of funds, preparing to put a considerable part of the five hundred or so plots of land into the hands of the locals, plus the land left in the hands of the Jinglue Manor, to ensure that Gondor is still a city of Yunzhou people. And without anyone's suggestion, Golan actually came up with something similar to a private equity fund. It's just that this private equity fund doesn't have stocks and risk markets to invest in, but invests in the real estate industry. The share division of this private equity fund is actually very standardized, and the operation looks quite good.

It is worth mentioning that, under Golan's unremitting harassment, the Dai family, who had always wanted to keep a low profile, also occupied a considerable amount in this huge private equity fund this time. The Dai family wanted to gradually dilute their inherent impression of controlling Yunzhou, and had been constantly withdrawing from various fields, but what they didn't expect was that the Dai family seemed to find it difficult to do so. Dai Yun is now the director of the Yunzhou Jinglue Manor Command, and is the actual commander of all the troops in Yunzhou. In the process of implementing the Fifty Battalion plan, the number of Yunzhou troops is indeed decreasing, but the combat effectiveness of the Yunzhou army has increased by more than one level. And in these fifty battalions, more than one-third of the battalion commanders are from the Dai family or people related to the Dai family. Although the Dai family wanted to keep a low profile, they just couldn't do it. Golan, while showing off his good horse that travels a thousand *li* a day, raised funds from the Dai family for this private equity fund, running from the Thunder Cliff, the current Agricultural and Animal Husbandry Bureau's office center, to Tianling Fort almost every three days, following Dai Shiheng, Dai Shining, and others wherever they went. In the end, the Dai family simply gritted their teeth and invested all the funds they had raised from withdrawing from various fields in the recent period, except for a part used to renovate Tianling Fort, into this fund. It seems that since they can't keep a low profile, they might as well go all out.

However, in the operation of the first batch of wool textiles, Golan, who had no experience in this area, was almost tricked.

"Jinglue Ye, this merchant's job is really not easy to do." On the night of the launch event, Golan brought a lot of things to Zhengyuan to find Ye Tao. The chef at Zhengyuan is really not very good, but Zhengyuan always has good wine. Grey Goose Liquor goes without saying, and those amber-colored liquids that seem to shine with golden light, which only appear occasionally when Ye Tao is around, are even more attractive. And in front of Ye Tao, the Yunzhou Jinglue Shi, who is much younger than his own son, Golan doesn't have the attitude of an elder facing a young person, nor does he have the restraint of facing a superior. Naturally, a person like Golan would still be uninhibited in his words and laughter even when facing the Dongping State Lord Tan Xiaopei, so there is really no such thing as being restrained in front of a superior.

"Old Chieftain, what trouble have you encountered again?" Ye Tao asked with a smile. These friends in Yunzhou are much more straightforward and easier to get along with than those ministers in the court. Although he had heard about the Old Chieftain's recent situation, Ye Tao felt that it would be very interesting to hear him talk about it.

"Isn't it just about discussing the price of those wool textiles with the merchants? Thanks to you, my lord, the samples arrived in Danyang last month. The merchants are all interested, but as we talked, I felt something was wrong. Later, I came back and talked to those friends, and then I realized that I had been tricked by those people. According to them, not only would I not make any money, I would even have to pay some freight. Seeing this result calculated, I was shocked. I originally thought that this trip could allow the people on Benlang Plains to earn more money, but I didn't expect there to be so many tricks in doing business. In the future, I'd better leave it to those bastards in the Bureau of Commerce. I'll just accept it if they fleece me," Golan said dissatisfied.

Ye Tao laughed loudly and said, "Don't let the people from the Bureau of Commerce hear you say that, otherwise they'll make trouble for you later." Ye Tao poured a glass of wine for Golan and said, "Uncle Golan, didn't we agree before? After the wool textiles come out, they will be handed over to the Bureau of Commerce for unified processing. Why did you suddenly change your mind? The jurisdiction of several bureaus in Yunzhou does overlap, but it's not good to change things that have been agreed upon so easily, right? Moreover, the Bureau of Commerce also has a share in the money for building the weaving factory. Why didn't anyone come out to say anything when you did these things yourself?"

Golan thought about it after being guided by Ye Tao, and suddenly felt something was wrong. The bureaus in Yunzhou have argued countless times over the issue of coordinating limited production resources and human resources. Every time the Bureau of Commerce, the Bureau of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry, and the Bureau of Manufacturing hold meetings, there are many classic scenes. They are clearly colleagues who cooperate with each other relatively well, but they will definitely come up with all kinds of tricks during meetings. Golan thought about it, and immediately felt that the fact that the Bureau of Commerce didn't make trouble for him beforehand might be a way of showing goodwill and reproach at the same time, and there might really be some deep meaning in it.

"Hehe, wasn't I just thinking of trying to get more for my clansmen? Everyone originally lived a hard life on Benlang Plains. Although they could get some relief from Yunzhou, Yunzhou is surrounded by enemies on three sides after all, and it's not rich itself. Everyone has fought too hard. Since the last great victory over the Northern tribal coalition and Yunzhou merged into Dongping, the clansmen's lives have indeed been much better. There is salt and tea, and fewer people have gotten sick this year. However, after fighting for so many years, the population has declined, and almost every household lacks everything. I always want everyone to live a better life. And now, we don't care about fighting anymore. What we hold in our hands is iron and steel, and what we wear on our bodies is also armor, not like before when we were naked and filled the gaps with our flesh and blood. Benlang Plains, Yunzhou is our home. …" As he spoke, Golan became a little emotional.

In these days, the improvement in the lives and the increase in combat power of the Yunzhou tribes are obvious. Although elite soldiers from various tribes were drawn to form a professional army of more than 30,000 Jingyun cavalry, Yunzhou did not deliberately weaken the original combat power of the tribes. Instead, it used a large number of eliminated military equipment to rearm the tribal cavalry, and also sent many old military officers who had to retire due to age and health problems to teach the Yunzhou tribes how to use military equipment, operate ballistae and other large items, and help the tribes establish a safer and more reliable communication system and mobilization mechanism. All of this is consistent with the policy of Yunzhou as a whole to rectify the reserve mechanism with veteran farms and ranches. Considering that the Yunzhou tribes still have to face the strong combat power of the Northern tribal cavalry, and the Yunzhou tribes originally operate according to different tribes, those support and benefits applicable to veteran ranches are not lacking for them at all. And a large number of tribal children serving in the army and the Yunzhou Jinglue Manor have also greatly improved the status of the tribal people. Even under Golan's special attention, the education of tribal children has also begun to shift from the original elite education that focused on cultivating tribal heirs and leaders to infiltrating ordinary tribal children. Although some tribes that are not so close to Golan have some doubts about now being able to gather some children to attend classes, the Yunzhou tribes, which are now united by collective education and collective military service, and the interests that will be integrated together in the future due to the wool textile industry, will probably soon make the Yunzhou tribes indistinguishable from each other, and no longer distinguish who is from which tribe.

"Uncle Golan, come, let me show you this." Ye Tao handed a document to Golan.

Golan glanced at it and said in surprise, "This is this year's income from selling horses?"

Ye Tao raised his eyebrows and said, "Yes, after the Bureau of Commerce graded the horses for sale, they played some tricks again and continued to sell them by horse teeth. The price of small horses, especially excellent small horses, is exaggerated. They also sell good old horses, and after labeling them as breeding horses, the price immediately doubled several times. Although breeding horses are mainly sold to Chunnan, they don't have large horse farms, but they can't stand the fact that every family wants to raise their own horses. They don't want to be controlled by others and want to be able to produce their own horses and have their own elite cavalry in the future. But the people who sold the horses said everything, telling them how to raise horses, telling them how to mate them, how to let the small horses grow up, how to treat the horses' injuries... and then they sold a large batch of feed, tools, and medicines. But they didn't explain in detail the relationship between the soil and water and the horses. Anyway... we will never understand their tricks in our lifetime. These are just the funds that can be accrued to the tribe this year, and then it depends on how Uncle Golan prepares to allocate them later. If you want to purchase anything in large quantities, it is best to go to the Bureau of Commerce in advance. Their relationship with the merchants is relatively close, and the discounts for large purchases are better."

Golan smiled and said, "These guys, this time I've lost face, made a fool of myself, and even owe them favors. When I meet Shi Wei later, I'll have to soften my tone. The people your wife taught are really amazing, amazing at doing business, and amazing at dealing with people."

Ye Tao smiled noncommittally and said, "Everyone has their own expertise. You don't understand these tricks, and I don't understand them either."

Golan smiled, and the embarrassment that had flashed across his face disappeared immediately. He nodded and said, "Jinglue Ye, there is one more thing. Just before I set off for Danyang, a group of people found me. They weren't from the small tribes of Yunzhou, nor from the Northern tribes, but they looked a bit like a tribe from Northern Liao. They looked very poor and directly blocked my way. We almost fought, but it turned out they were asking me to buy tea, salt, and grain. It's okay to sell it to them. I'm also listening to you. Since last year, we've been selling a small amount of these things to the Northern tribes, and it has indeed made some tribes less determined to follow the Kuerka tribe. However, the sudden appearance of this tribe makes me a little worried. Looking at how poor they are, I was worried that they wouldn't have any money. I didn't expect them to bring out some really good stuff. Top-quality silver fox fur, medicinal herbs, ginseng... These are nothing. Look at these."

As Golan said, he took out a small deerskin pouch from his arms and poured the contents onto the table. Guan Huan, who was standing aside and leisurely drinking tea, also widened his eyes all of a sudden. Really... so many, so big gems.

The pouch was full of plump, crystal-clear sapphires, a total of twenty, each the size of a goose egg.

"They didn't seem to be able to carry gold and silver in large quantities, and they were also tentatively trading with us. These gems were originally separated one by one, sewn into clothes, and hidden in saddles. When they took them out, I was also taken aback. I was originally going to give them to you as a gift when you marry the little princess. Now, I'll take them out and offer them as treasures first, and I'll find something else for you later," Golan said straightforwardly, even teasing him a bit when he mentioned the little princess.

"Northern Liao?" Ye Tao frowned and asked, "Uncle Golan, what did you do? Maybe... maybe this is an important chess piece in the future strategy of Northern Liao."

"Do you need to say? I naturally thought of this. I sent them a batch of goods. Because it seemed dangerous to pass through the jurisdiction of the Northern Liao Western Route Army, mainly tea and salt, I didn't dare to bring much grain. But I also sent a few reliable guys to follow them to see if there could be any future cooperation."

Ye Tao smiled and said, "Uncle, are you getting more and more shrewd?"

——————————————————

I'm going to report to the writer's class tomorrow. I'll have classes during the day, and I'll only be able to write when I come back at night, so the updates may be later in the next few days, but I guarantee that I won't stop updating.

I'm going to be stimulated by code-writing monsters like Third Young Master and Dancing again... Sigh, depressed.