Traveling through troubled times to escape famine and cultivate crops as a grain merchant

Zhou Guo, who became the King of Yan, was also very busy, and was even busier than before.

The new dynasty had just been established, and she planned to take advantage of this opportunity to quickly spread Feizhuang all over the country, at least to have one in every place.

Although a lot of them have been rolled out before, if we really want to open Feizhuang all over the world, the financial and human resources required will be immeasurable.

Besides, she not only owns Feizhuang, but also an escort agency and a shop.

Among them, the shop is the fastest to cash out, followed by Feizhuang, and finally the escort agency.

Basically, a fertilizer shop can sell at least 30% of the fertilizer in the first year, but a security company needs to work in a new place for at least two years before it will have a steady stream of orders and will be able to entrust big orders to you with confidence. Therefore, it is basically the industry with the slowest return on investment among so many industries.

But with enough stamina, as long as they do a good job, the Zhou family can be among the world's richest people even if they only rely on this escort company.

It just requires more money upfront.

In fact, money is an easy problem to solve, it’s manpower, which is the biggest expense.

She could only go to the emperor and said, "Father, I don't have enough manpower."

Xu Xiushan looked at the memorial she presented and raised an eyebrow. "Are you moving too fast?"

Zhou Guo said, "I just want to take advantage of this time when everything is in ruins and build up all the Feizhuang businesses there. This way, the people can have enough food to eat faster. Father, isn't peace and stability what you want most?"

Xu Xiushan said, "I'm worried that you're taking too big a step and might end up falling. This is no small matter, you have to be careful. Whether it's a family or a country, lack of financial resources is the beginning of desolation."

Zhou Guo said, "I know. I've calculated everything. I don't plan to build a big fat farm. I'll build one in each prefecture. I don't have enough money right now, so I'll build one to spread my reputation. Later, when I have more money, I can expand based on these fat farms. Then, selling fat in the fat farms will be much easier."

Xu Xiushan closed the memorial and said, "You always have your own opinions. I don't care about you. Your father will give you whatever you want, but I don't have any money."

The latter sentence was added hastily, as he himself was very poor.

Zhou Guo said: "I didn't ask you for money, I wanted people, but you don't have any?"

……

She finally came out of the palace with satisfaction. As for the Xu family army, five thousand people would be enough, but her father gave her eight thousand!

The remaining people were recruited from local areas, and these Xu family soldiers became the managers of various places.

Xu Sibei ran into her on the road and saw how happy she was. He asked curiously, "What reward did you get?"

Zhou Guo smiled, "My father gave me a few people."

"Is this worth your happiness?" Xu Sibei asked, and then said, "Wait for me. When I come out of the palace, we'll go to your restaurant to eat hotpot."

Zhou Guo said: "Okay, then I'll go to the restaurant and wait for you."

It was early winter, the perfect time for hotpot. As soon as she entered, she took a quick look and found that the lobbies on the first and second floors were packed with people and were bustling with activity.

A meal of hot pot is not cheap. The lowest one will cost one or two taels, and the most expensive one can eat more than ten or twenty taels.

She thought that if she asked someone to send yellow sheep from the north and sell them by the piece, she would make a lot of money. People in the capital were still too rich, so she had to earn money and open a security company.

Xu Sibei rushed out of the palace and entered their exclusive box. Seeing Zhou Guo, he smiled and said, "Don't say that, your restaurant's business is not worse than before, it's even better."

Zhou Guo said, "Because I have something that others don't have, chili peppers."

Of course, not everyone likes spicy hot pot, but she not only has spicy hot pot, but also clear soup hot pot. Plus, the ingredients are top-notch and the threshold is high, so the rich people flock to it, and she makes money from them without hesitation.

The two of them ate from a copper pot and hot pot yellow mutton, which she had specially asked the escort agency to bring back from the north. Of course, it was not much, but it was enough for them to eat, and it was not sold to outsiders.

Xu Sibei tutted his tongue after taking a bite. "You said you got sick of eating this when you were at the border, but now that we're in the capital, there's nothing else to eat, and this tastes really good!"

Zhou Guo said, "Eat as much as you want. I plan to wait until there are more yellow sheep on the pasture in a few years and start selling them to customers at the restaurant. Then you can eat as much as you want."

Xu Sibei was surprised. "Do you have that many? I heard there were only a few hundred. Is that enough for takeout?"

Zhou Guo said: "Limited quantity, limited every day, first come first served, once they are sold out they are gone."

Xu Sibei thought about it and felt that this was a really good idea. "Okay, if there's nothing to eat, it's best to hook everyone."

In addition to this restaurant, there are also dim sum shops, braised duck shops, and mountain product shops in the capital. She does not plan to open the largest grain shop in the capital.

The shop had only been open for a few months, but business was gradually getting better and better, especially the dim sum shop. The powerful and wealthy families in Beijing would order dim sum whenever someone had a birthday.

There are also various banquets and poetry gatherings, and one shop is simply unable to handle them all. Just last month, she opened three more shops, but it is still not enough.

Rich families always ordered too many cakes, and each shop usually took a whole day to prepare for a banquet.

She planned to open a few more shops. The first few would specialize in accepting orders for various banquets, and the later ones would be retail shops so that other people in the capital could also eat pastries.

Business in the capital is much easier than in the north. There is no problem selling anything, and there are several mountain product shops.

Zhou Guo finished eating and said to Xu Sibei, "Brother, I have to leave again. This time I won't be back until the New Year."

Now the Zhou family members are all in the capital, and she won’t come back for the New Year. Neither the palace nor the Zhou family will allow it.

Xu Sibei nodded. "Be careful on your way. I won't see you off. I'm also very busy."

The next day, Zhou Guo said goodbye to his family and left the capital with his men.

She would go to those undeveloped lands by herself, and strive to open Feizhuang all over the world within two years, and bring the escort agency along with it.

With Dashu and Xiaoshu still by her side, she said to them, "You two stay by my side and learn well. In a few years, you can be like Erpang and take charge of various places."

Dashu nodded. He was willing now. His master had become the King of Yan, and he would have enough servants to serve him. He wanted to go outside and help his master with his worries.

Xiaoshu also agreed. The master had maids and secret guards around him, and they would be more useful if they went outside.

Zhou Guo said, "My business has grown quite a bit, and Erpang and the others are too busy to handle it. You two will have to play a big role."

Dashu said, "Master, don't worry. We have been with you for so many years. Even if we haven't learned 80% of what you have, we estimate that we have learned 30%, which is enough."

Zhou Guo nodded and wondered what other manpower he could use.

As the Feizhuang Escort Agency flourished, the money in her hands was spent like water, especially Feizhuang. This business cost a lot of money in the early stage, and it would take until autumn to have a harvest.

What is harvested is still grain, and you have to wait until all the grain is sold before you can get your money back.

But grain is not like other things. It has a high selling price and a slow return on investment. There are so many grain shops in the world, and the annual profits added up can barely break even.

But breaking even is good enough. There will come a day when Feizhuang has enough shops open, and that day will be the time to make money.

Zhou Guo spent two years on this, and he was basically away from home during these two years. The total time he spent in the capital city each year did not exceed two months. Although he was so busy, he also gained something.

Feizhuang has basically achieved the goal of one escort agency per prefecture, and the escort agencies followed Feizhuang. Now the common people may not know about other escort agencies, but they all know about Haoguo Escort Agency.

Every autumn during the harvest season, they would see the escort agency coming to the countryside to collect grain. The grain would be transported away in carts, and the money they owed for fertilizer would be paid off.

At this time, she still didn't have any extra money, even though she had been working for so many years.

On Xu Xiushan's birthday, she gave him wild tea that she had picked from the top of a high mountain and roasted by herself. It wasn't much, just two kilograms, but it tasted better than many tribute teas.

It didn't cost a penny, but it was much more popular than the antiques, calligraphy and paintings, pearls and corals given by Xu Xiaobei and Xu Sibei.