Traveling through ancient times, I led my family to prosperity

The group finally arrived at Xingyuan Prefecture. It was getting late, so they found an inn to stay in.

Originally, Xiaolan imagined that Xingyuan Prefecture should be similar to Liaodong Prefecture, but after arriving there, Xiaolan was greatly disappointed.

"This place is probably two or three times bigger than our Liaodong Prefecture, so why is it so dilapidated?" Xiao Lan asked the waiter.

"The border area has been blockaded by the Jin Dynasty again. It's already good like this now. Sir, you can go to the center of the city tomorrow. It should be much more prosperous than here. We are on the edge of the city, and it is definitely not as prosperous as there." said the waiter.

Xingyuan Prefecture was indeed much more prosperous than the border areas. After Xiaolan and He Mingyu had sold all their goods, He Mingyu and Xiaolan went their separate ways. He Mingyu planned to go see the foals, while Xiaolan planned to buy sheep, leather and forage seeds.

That day, Xiaolan and Hu Yidao walked to a village. The layout of the village here was completely different from that of Liaodong Prefecture. It had snowed last night, and the village looked particularly desolate against the backdrop of the white snow. There were few people walking outside in the village, which made it even more deserted.

"Uncle Hu, look at these houses collapsed by the heavy snow. It's obvious that the people of the Great Jin Dynasty live a much more miserable life than our Great Qi Dynasty." Xiao Lan said.

"Yes, compared with them, we are happy." Hu Yidao said with emotion.

The reason why Liaodong Prefecture was able to recover in such a short time, although it has not yet returned to its previous level, is much better than the Hu people of Dajin. Xiao Lan secretly sighed, fortunately it was Shen Liu who was the soldier of Liaodong Prefecture. If it were someone else, he probably wouldn't have such a big courage to make a prefecture city full of vitality. It must be said that Shen Liu is quite competent as an official.

The two walked into the village, and a herdsman wearing a patched cotton coat was sweeping the snow. Yes, not all herdsmen can wear fur coats. A large number of herdsmen will store the furs and sell them for money when someone comes to collect the furs.

"Father-in-law, I'm busy." Xiao Lan walked forward to greet him with a smile, and Hu Yidao naturally followed.

"It's just enough to survive." The herdsman raised his head, glanced at the two people, and said while sweeping the snow on the ground, "Anyway, grass roots and tree bark can satisfy hunger."

Xiao Lan's smile froze, and she murmured, "Grass roots? Tree bark? Are you already eating grass roots and tree bark?"

"Doesn't every household raise sheep?" Hu Yidao asked with his eyes wide open.

"We went to war with Daqi and lost, so the Khan sent a lot of tribute to Daqi." The old man smiled bitterly and sighed, and continued, "Where did this money come from? It was taken from us ordinary people."

"Every household in our village raises sheep, but who can afford to eat them? Everyone wants to wait until spring to see if these sheep can be sold. Alas, don't count on it now. The mountains are blocked by heavy snow, and merchants can't come. Even if we want to sell these sheep in our village, we can't."

"Every household is trying to get by now, unless there are children at home. If they can't make it any longer, several families will work together to slaughter a sheep, and then it will be the next family's turn after the first sheep is eaten. By calculating how much they eat, they can always make it until spring."

Xiao Lan felt uncomfortable after hearing this. After all, she was a time traveler from the modern era. In her mind, the Hu people were just a nomadic minority. For her, she did not have a life-and-death hatred towards the Hu people.

Xiaolan and Hu Yidao both survived famine. Of course, Xiaolan also had experience fighting against the Hu soldiers, but this did not stop her from sympathizing with the current miserable lives of the Hu people.

Seeing that Xiaolan and Hu Yidao were silent, the father-in-law smiled and changed the subject, "Girl, you look very unfamiliar. Are you here to buy sheep?"

Xingyuan Prefecture was also a place where Han and Hu people lived together, so the father-in-law was not surprised by Xiaolan and Hu Yidao's Han appearance. Of course, this was nothing new to him.

Xiao Lan nodded.

Seeing that business was coming to the door, the father-in-law didn't care about sweeping the snow. He put the broom aside and said to Xiao Lan attentively, "I wonder how much you want to buy?"

"I only want those that are big and fat enough. If they don't meet my requirements, I don't want any of them." Xiao Lan said.

Although she sympathized with the miserable lives of the Hu people, Xiao Lan was still clear-headed and knew that sympathy should not be used carelessly. After all, she was from the Daqi Dynasty.

If you are rich, you should help the world; if you are poor, you should take care of yourself. Xiao Lan thinks that she has not yet reached the level of helping the world, and all she can do now is to take care of herself.

When the father-in-law heard that Xiaolan had such a big appetite, he happily responded and ran to inform other villagers.

The first people to come over with sheep were her father-in-law's relatives and friends. Xiao Lan thought that it was almost the end of the year, so she didn't bargain with them and just offered a flat price of three taels and five cents of silver for a sheep.

The price of the sheep this time was five cents higher than in Quanshui Town. Xiao Lan whispered to Hu Yidao, "Their lives are too hard. I feel uneasy about making money from them. Let's settle with them according to three taels and five cents. Let's make a good relationship with them."

Hu Yidao nodded. When he was out, he would follow Xiaolan's instructions and would never hold Xiaolan back. But he still expressed his thoughts. "It took us more than half a month to get from Liaodong Prefecture to Xing'an Prefecture. We slept outside for most of the time. I won't mention the risks on the road, I'm sure you know. Look at the weather now, is it suitable for a long journey? Although the profits from doing business here are high, the risks are also high. Not many people are willing to endure this hardship and have the courage to come to Xingyuan Prefecture to do this business."

Xiao Lan was silent for a while, then patted Hu Yidao on the shoulder. There was no expression on her face, but her mind was working rapidly. A sheep here could earn three taels and five cents of silver, and when she got to Liaodong Prefecture, she could sell it for at least fifteen taels of silver. Excluding the expenses on the road, as long as the number of live sheep this time was large and she could drive them to Liaodong Prefecture smoothly, she would definitely make a fortune.

Seeing Xiao Lan remained silent, Hu Yidao started thinking, "Miss, do you want to do long-term business with them?"

Xiao Lan nodded and said to Hu Yidao, "Uncle Hu, I want to build a ranch. I'll go look for a place in the spring... But I haven't figured out how to do it yet..."

Hu Yidao smiled and said, "Do whatever you want. I will follow you no matter what you do."

Hu Yidao thought for a while and felt that Xiaolan might be concerned about him. After all, his family lived in the capital. If he followed Xiaolan to do business or look after the ranch, he would definitely be away from home for a long time, so he added, "Miss Xiaolan, as long as I follow you, your aunt will support you, so don't worry too much."

Of course, Xiao Lan didn't want any sheep. She wanted a healthy, fat sheep. In the afternoon, Xiao Lan called Dajiang to help, while Xiaohe continued to look after their luggage in the inn.

Xiaolan started a new round of acquisitions.

When other villagers heard the news, they came running over breathlessly. They were disappointed to see Xiao Lan, a half-grown child, organizing the collection of sheep. How many sheep could a half-grown child, especially a girl, buy? They came too late, and it was probably not their turn.

When they arrived at Xingyuan Prefecture, Xiaolan, Hu Yidao, and the two brothers Dajiang and Xiaohe did not disguise themselves, but dressed as traveling merchants. Of course, Xiaolan did not dress up as a man. Because the North does not restrict women very much, women can go out to do business just like men. It must be said that the customs of the people in the North are more open than those in the Great Qi Dynasty.

Although the people of the North treated men and women equally, they were still a little disappointed to see that Xiao Lan was still a half-grown child. No matter how capable a child was, how much ability and courage could he have?

Xiao Lan had actually guessed what the herdsmen were thinking from their expressions. She didn't explain much and said directly, "My dear uncles, aunts, and uncles, I'll make it short because I'm short on time. We're collecting sheep here, but not all of them. We have to select the live sheep ourselves. As long as we select them, no matter how big or small, we'll give them three taels and five cents of silver."

When everyone heard Xiao Lan say this, someone asked, "Miss, how many sheep do you plan to collect?"

"Let's take a look first, we can't be sure yet." Xiao Lan said. Xiao Lan knew the quantity she wanted to buy, not only because her money was limited, but also because revealing the bottom line was a taboo for merchants.

A herdsman, hoping for a lucky break, asked Xiaolan to go with him to his home to look after the sheep. Xiaolan arranged for Dajiang and Hu Yidao to go, and other herdsmen followed them to watch the fun.

Hu Yidao and Dajiang saw that his sheep were well fed, so they took all of them. There were 15 sheep in total, and the total price was 52 taels and 5 cents of silver. Hu Yidao settled the bill with him on the spot.

The herdsman was holding the silver and hadn't come to his senses yet, but the villagers who came to watch the excitement were boiling with excitement. They surrounded Hu Yidao and Dajiang and pulled them to their own sheepfolds to look at the sheep.

"Don't push or pull hard. Our boss said that as long as the quality of the sheep is good and can meet her requirements, we must. Please don't be so excited." Hu Yidao quickly conveyed Xiao Lan's meaning.

The villagers were very excited. Although Hu Yidao said so, they were afraid that their sheep would be left behind. After all, if they were sold in front, the money would be sufficient. No one knew how much money their boss got, after all, their boss was a little girl.

Hu Yidao looked at the crowd and dragged them along, and said helplessly, "Where is the head of your village?"

An old man with a white beard squeezed in and said, "I'm here, I'm here." He pushed through the crowd and stood in front of Hu Yidao, panting. He said enthusiastically, "Sir, please don't mind. This is the first time someone from our village has come to collect sheep. It's inevitable that we are a little excited."

Hu Yidao frowned and said to the village chief, "Please rest assured that as long as their sheep meet our standards, we will definitely accept them. Stop squeezing and forcing them."

The village chief smiled and said repeatedly, "Yes... yes..." Then he shouted, and the scene became quiet in an instant, "Okay, this gentleman said that every household will definitely receive it. You guys go back and pack up and wait at home. I will take them to visit every household."

Although the village chief said so, the group of people were still reluctant to leave. Dajiang pulled Hu Yidao's sleeve and whispered, "Uncle Hu, we still have to prepare some food for the sheep..."

"You should have fodder for sheep at home. If I buy any sheep from you, you should prepare enough for half a month."

This was not difficult for the herders, because before the cold winter came, every household had prepared fodder for the sheep for the winter. Now that the sheep had been sold, the fodder had no other use except for burning firewood. Not to mention asking them to prepare only half a month's worth of food, even if they were asked to hand over all the fodder, they would be willing to do so as long as their sheep could be sold.

The herdsman, who had just received the silver, happily put several bundles of hay on Hu Yidao's carriage as soon as Hu Yidao finished speaking.

Hu Yidao and Dajiang visited every household and finally collected 360 sheep, 100 sheepskins, and 50 wolfskins, spending a total of 460 taels of silver.

Xiao Lan was doing business in full swing, but He Ming was not well received. In the evening, when the two met, Xiao Lan took a sack from him, opened it, rubbed the yellowish seeds inside with her hands, and asked in surprise, "Is this the forage grass seed?"

He Mingyu nodded and said, "It's enough for you to plant 180 acres. Take it."

"......uh......" He Ming was so generous this time that he didn't even mention money. Xiao Lan was quite uncomfortable with it.

Xiao Lan asked hesitantly, "Have you asked how to plant the grass seeds? Can we just sow them like this?"

Xiao Lan also asked the villagers from the village where she bought the sheep about this thing, but when everyone heard that she wanted to buy grass seeds, they all looked at her as if she was crazy. After all, grass grows as long as there is wind, so why would she need to spend money to buy it?

The herdsmen naturally don't have grass seeds. Xiao Lan was worried that the rabbits' food supply might be gone next year. But when she came back in the evening, He Mingyu actually gave her such a big surprise, which really made her flattered.

Seeing that He Mingyu didn't answer, Xiao Lan said something again, and it was unclear whether she was answering for He Mingyu or talking to herself, "Grass is everywhere anyway. Even if it is trampled, it will grow well, so it should grow well if you just scatter it." At this point, Xiao Lan finally felt like asking He Mingyu about his harvest, "How was your day?"