The cannon fodder just wants to survive until the end

The next day, after Ming Huaixi woke up and had breakfast, he heard a servant outside asking to see him. It turned out that the caravan was basically on track.

The caravan would start with the simplest route, which is to start from the capital with a batch of goods and head northwest. Now the Jin Dynasty has trade contracts with surrounding countries. Before going to a place, they would sell some things and then buy some things that are in short supply in the next place. Although this method is troublesome, it is indeed a safe method.

The Jin Dynasty produced silk products, which were very popular in other countries. Some countries in the northwest were rich in spices, and some were rich in a kind of stone called Ninghuo Stone. The surface of this stone was shiny and bright, and it would emit a faint soft light at night.

However, this kind of stone has a time limit. After five years, it will no longer glow and will become more beautiful than ordinary pebbles. Despite this, the ladies in the capital still like jewelry made of this stone very much.

This kind of stone is usually buried deep underground, wrapped in large stone shells. In fact, only a small piece inside can be used, and it needs to be packed in closed boxes for transportation. This is not a very profitable business for merchants.

That small country was very far away from the Great Jin Dynasty, and ordinary caravans could not go there. Even if a large caravan went there, they would only bring a few of these stones each time. Too many of them would be too time-consuming and wasteful of manpower and resources, and if there were too many of these things, they would become worthless.

This time, Ming Huaixi's caravan was heading northwest and passed by that small country. In addition to the silver earned from the sale of silk fabrics, there was also 50,000 taels of silver notes given by Ming Huaixi before leaving. All of them were used to buy some things that were produced in abundance in the small country but were in short supply in the Jin Dynasty.

Excluding the cost and other factors, the caravan could make four or five times the profit by selling the things it brought back.

However, due to the long distance and harsh environment, one may encounter all kinds of unimaginable dangers along the way, and may even encounter bandits, so the journey is extremely dangerous.

At most, they can make a round trip in half a year. After returning, the caravan members also need to rest, find a way to sell the things they brought, and inquire with other caravans that have just returned whether other countries are stable. If they encounter war in other countries, it is better to bypass them or return. So although this way of making money is high, it is not a stable way to make money.

Unless your caravan is big enough and the people in it are capable enough, this method can only make quick money.

After the caravan set out, Ming Huaixi chose a larger shop in the capital and specialized in selling the hard-to-sell items brought by the caravan.

This is difficult to sell because the profit is too low to sell it to other merchants, it is not cost-effective, it is better to sell it individually.

The letter from the caravan said that they were ready to return. The items on the list given by Ming Huaixi had already been purchased, and there was still some money left. The head of the caravan said that he had bought some rare and peculiar things that were rarely seen in Beijing.

This was also a privilege given to him by Ming Huaixi. Before setting off, Ming Huaixi made a list of the specialties of the small countries they passed by this time. After purchasing according to the list, if there was any money left, he could decide on his own to purchase some rare and strange things in Beijing.

This was also one of Ming Huaixi's strategies. If that kind of thing suddenly became popular in the Great Jin Dynasty, that would be an opportunity. If it didn't become popular, there was no need to worry. Ming Huaixi specially set aside a corner in the shop to store those things.

Of course, the person in charge bought things that were easy to store, which was also Ming Huaixi's request.

Every person in the caravan can earn fifty taels of silver for each trade trip. If someone unfortunately dies on the way, Ming Huaixi will make arrangements for his family and compensate them with five hundred taels of silver.

If people in the caravan have extra money, they can buy some things in other countries and ship them back with the caravan. As long as it is not too excessive, Ming Huaixi will turn a blind eye.

The people in the caravan had all been on the battlefield before, and after retiring for various reasons, they were taken care of by the General's Mansion, so they still had some sense.

When Ming Huaixi saw the letter, he sighed in his heart, thinking that more than two months had passed so quickly and time really couldn't stand the test of time.

Four months have passed since Ming Huaixi arrived here. With Ming Huaixi's huge investment, there are now one or two shops in various parts of the Jin Dynasty. When the caravan comes back and processes this batch of goods, he will have another large sum of money to develop his business.

Thinking of this, Ming Huaixi felt a little relieved from the sense of urgency in his heart.

In addition to the mainland caravan, Ming Huaixi also wanted to form a maritime caravan. Although the Jin Dynasty did not strongly promote sea transportation, it allowed some merchants to go to sea, but the size of the fleet going out to sea was strictly controlled.

However, there are also some powerful people in the capital who have organized people to go out to sea. No matter where they go, there are some privileges for the powerful people.

It may be difficult for civilian merchants to go out to sea, but for Ming Huaixi, these are not big problems. The General's Mansion is considered the new nobles in the capital, and the Weiyuan Marquis' Mansion is also an old and powerful one in the capital.

Ming Huaixi didn't intend to use the power of Weiyuan Marquis Mansion. Not to mention that Weiyuan Marquis Mansion was already on the decline. Even if Weiyuan Marquis Mansion knew about her affairs, they probably wouldn't help her and might even try to persuade her, a woman, not to make trouble.

Now Ming Huaixi arranges people to open shops and do business in accordance with the General's Mansion. The Weiyuan Marquis Mansion doesn't even know that it is doing business.

Ming Huaixi had already made plans. When the caravan returned, he would use part of the money earned from this trip and send people to the south to organize a fleet. The development of land caravans alone would be too slow.

As expected, the old lady of Marquis Weiyuan asked her trusted aunt to invite her to her house, saying that they had not seen her for a long time and missed her very much.

Ming Huaixi thought that it had been almost a month since she last saw the old lady, and it was indeed time for her to go visit her. No matter what happened in the future, the old lady of Weiyuan Marquis still treated her well now.

Thinking of this, Ming Huaixi brought his servants and returned to Weiyuan Marquis' Mansion with his trusted aunt.

"Greetings, mother and sister-in-law." When he arrived in front of the old lady, Ming Huaixi saw that the wife of Marquis Weiyuan was also there, so he greeted them one by one.

The old lady looked at Ming Huaixi with a loving face and said, "Hurry up, Xiaoxi hasn't come to see me in the house for a long time. I missed you so I had to ask someone to invite you over."

"It's Huaixi's fault. Huaixi should come to see mother every two days. Now that mother misses me, I still want her to ask someone to invite me. I am really unfilial."

The old lady still had some feelings for Ming Huaixi. After hearing what the old lady said, Ming Huaixi also went along with it.

"Yes, yes, mother misses my younger brother and sister-in-law. She has been talking about them these days."

The wife of Marquis Weiyuan is a typical mistress of a wealthy family. No one will feel ignored when staying with her.