Volume 1 Nightfall Border City Chapter 39 Meeting

  The sky turned dark and the main hall of the inn lit up with dim lights, Ning Sheng was directing the busy servants of the merchant group.

  The inn had few guests, so Ning Sheng rented out half of the hall and arranged the fox skins, wolf skins, and deer skins by category and grade to wait for the shopkeepers and apprentices from various shops to come and sell them the next day. This was the first time the caravan had entered the city, and Ning Sheng had never purchased goods on such a large scale before, so he could only temporarily keep things simple, with plans to purchase a commercial building in the Kill Hu Kou area next.

  It's already quite deserted on the streets outside. Winters in the northern border are like this, once the sun sets, the cold wind and frost make it rare for people to want to linger outside, even in the bustling capital.

  Ning Sheng was still busy, and most of these partners had no business experience and couldn't even tell the grade of goods, so everything had to be done by him personally.

  The creaky gate of the inn was pushed open, and two men came in from outside. The one in front carried a lantern with a faint light, swaying back and forth. The waiter hastily got up from his stool to greet them.

  After seeing clearly the person coming from behind, Xiao Er hastily bowed and greeted: "Mr. Liu Dong!"

  The one carrying a lantern in front is Liu Rui, and the one following behind is none other than Liu Quan, the young master of De Xianggui.

  Liu Quan nodded slightly and turned his face towards the busy merchant group in the inn, saying: "Brother Ning, aren't you done yet so late at night?"

  Ning Sheng had already seen through the visitor, put down his work and walked over to pay respects: "Mr. Liu Dongjia, I was going to visit you tomorrow, but today's matter is a great kindness that cannot be thanked."

  Liu Quan waved his hand and said, "It's just a small effort!"

  "There are many people here and it's quite noisy, I wonder if I could invite you to my humble abode for a gathering?"

  Ning Sheng was slightly surprised and asked: "Tonight?"

  Liu Quan nodded and said: "If it's convenient for you, sir!"

  Ning Sheng raised his eyes and looked outside the door, the street was dark and bottomless, the cold wind was howling, and he refused to go out.

  Liu Quan saw Ning Sheng's concern and smiled: "My humble abode is not far away, just turn a corner and it's there. There are soldiers patrolling inside the city gate, so there won't be any trouble."

  The words had already been said to this extent, Ning Sheng thought that he was able to enter the pass today all thanks to the help of the person in front of him, who had also come especially to invite him, and nodded in agreement.

  Calling two guards to accompany him, Ning Sheng followed behind Liu Quan and walked out of the inn. The streets were empty, a gust of wind blew by, and the large red lanterns swayed, Liu Rui hurriedly pressed them down with his hands. The five of them turned around two street corners, and De Xiang Kui was right in front of them. Two red lacquered large gates were wide open, as if welcoming a noble guest.

  "Please!" Liu Quan stretched out his hand to gesture.

  Now he was overjoyed that he had returned to the store immediately after the Spring Festival, waiting for this mysterious business team at the closure of various stores in Kill Hawk. Liu Quan knew that visiting at midnight was a bit rude, but he couldn't wait, and after sending the business team back to the inn during the day, he was restless.

  Half a year later, another merchant team entered the Kill Hu Kou. No matter who was behind it, it means that this commercial road is open again. If the owners of various business houses knew about this news, they would probably want to fly back to Kill Hu Kou immediately. De Xiang Kui can only be considered a second-rate business house in Kill Hu Kou, and his only advantage is that he took one step earlier than others.

  "Are the Chahar people reopening the Huihe city? Are the Tumote people forming their own merchant teams? Or is it the hand of horse thieves?" Liu Quan's mind was full of questions, and the answer lay in front of him on Ning Sheng.

  Ning Sheng stepped up onto the threshold, and after everyone had entered, the shop assistant hastily closed the door, while the wind outside howled.

  The two walked into the house side by side. Liu Quan took off his outer fur coat, and inside the house a hot stove was burning, warm as spring.

  "Tea is served!"

  Two attendants quickly brought over two celadon teacups, and Ning Sheng carefully took them.

  From the moment they met, Liu Quan had been secretly observing Ning Sheng. This person didn't seem like someone who could take charge of things, he was cautious and meticulous in his interactions with others, and at first glance, it was clear that he wasn't someone who had experienced big scenes before.

  "If it weren't for Master Dong today, I'm afraid I really wouldn't have been able to return to the Great Ming!" Ning Sheng was still in awe.

  Liu Quan didn't think so, the owners of those shops, whoever encountered this matter would not miss it, how could they bear to give up their capital. "I know that outside the Hu mouth, thieves are rampant, and the merchant group can return to the Great Ming, it must be a thousand hardships!" He asked sideways, wanting to probe into the details of the merchant group.

  Ning Sheng calmed down and remembered the instructions given by Di Zhe before they set out, saying: "The horse thieves wouldn't dare to target our merchant group."

  "Oh, why?" Liu Quan's two ears perked up.

  Ning Sheng chuckled a few times and said: "The host only needs to know this! This is just the first batch of merchant teams, hoping to cooperate with the host in the future."

  Liu Quan's stomach was completely hung up, but later no matter how he asked, Ning Sheng carefully guarded Zhai Zhe's orders and kept his mouth shut, not daring to say a word.

  As the night grew deeper, Liu Quan saw that asking further would not yield any results, and fearing that lingering too long would cause Ning Sheng to become annoyed, said: "In that case, I'll send Brother Ning back first, we can discuss cooperation matters again tomorrow!"

  Ning Sheng stood up and revealed, "In a few days, our Dong family will come to kill Hu Kou. At that time, Liu Dong can talk to him face-to-face. Our Dong family's intention is to cooperate with whichever merchant household can provide grain."

  This is what Di Zhe let Ning Sheng tell all the major business owners of Hu Kou, now only Liu Quan found him, and Ning Sheng pushed it away as a personal matter.

  "Thank you for reminding me, Brother Ning! If your esteemed guest arrives, please introduce us!"

  Then the two went out, Liu Rui followed Liu Quan and sent Ning Sheng back to the inn.

  "Grain and fodder!" Liu Quan muttered to himself on his way back, but if it were six months ago, transporting grain and fodder out of the pass would be easy as a turn of the hand. Now, however, no merchant dared to take this risk. Kill Hu Kou belongs to Datong Town, not like Xuanfu adjacent to Beijing's strict inspection, but also belongs to Xuan Da Military Town. The new governor-general Zhang Zongheng was originally the governor of Datong, and is very familiar with the military forts along the border. It would be impossible to transport grain and fodder out of the pass without spending a large sum of money in a short period of time.

  The next morning, Ning Sheng sent out invitations to various business households, transforming the main hall of the guest house into a temporary small market, selling all kinds of fur and leather goods.

  It's been half a year since the merchant caravan entered, and the price of fur on the grassland has skyrocketed, far exceeding Ning Sheng's estimated value. Although various factions joined forces to suppress prices, the transaction amount still left Ning Sheng speechless.

  One afternoon, more than half of the fur salesmen visiting the inn had left.

  At noon, Liu Quan brought a short and stout man to the inn, Ning Sheng stole a leisurely moment from his busy schedule to greet him.

  Liu Quanzhao beckoned with his hand and pointed to the short, stout man behind him: "This is Wang Zhanggui from my business, we've taken care of all the remaining goods at De Xiang Quan!"

  The whole scene was in an uproar, with someone protesting: "Liu Shaodong, what makes you say it's all included? These are all scarce goods."

  Liu Quan smiled and said, "You're selling scarce goods at that price? Such easy money, of course I'll take the whole package!" He had intended to sell personal favors to Ning Sheng, but didn't want to raise the price too much and cause conflict with other merchants, so he came over in the afternoon to make this deal.

  Wang Zhanggui followed Liu Quan's instructions to participate in the bidding, and one family broke the rules. Each family was afraid that good goods would be bought by others, so the price of fur rose steadily.

  By the time of You, all fur sales were sold out. The goods that Ning Sheng had originally estimated to be worth more than 30,000 taels of silver were sold for nearly 50,000 taels of silver, and they also received nearly 20,000 taels of silver in hand.

  Large-scale transactions between merchants in Kuhuriketu were not entirely cash-based. Many merchant caravans entering and leaving the Great Ming Empire completed their goods exchange here, as long as the accountants agreed on the valuation. When Ning Sheng's caravan returned, they also brought tea and salt needed by the Tumet people, which were borrowed from the herders by Princess Ulan.

  Deep into the night, Ning Sheng held the silver box in his own room and didn't sleep all night. He would get up from time to time to take a look at the silver ingots, and then caress the silver bills. In this life, or perhaps even including his past life, Ning Sheng had never seen so much money.

  "What if I were to take this silver and run away?" Ning Sheng was startled by his own sudden thought. The merchant group had more than a dozen guards, could it be that these people were all spies for the horse thieves?

  Lying in bed, the scenes of struggling to survive in the mountains for half a year flashed before his eyes. Ning Sheng suddenly slapped himself and cursed: "Am I still human?" If it weren't for those people, he would have frozen to death long ago.