Chapter 215 Business War
Hugetu heard some resentment in Xu Mengyuan's words, but he didn't know how to respond.

I can't stop the transaction between the herdsmen and Wang An.

After all, people accept the use of meat, or to be more precise, accept the use of fat in transactions.

unless……

Hugetu suddenly had an idea and said to Xu Mengyuan: "Boss Xu, you may not know that this group of merchants coming here today is a little strange..."

Then, Hugetu told Wang An about accepting the transaction of oil and fat.

Xu Mengyuan was extremely surprised when he heard this. This kind of game had never been heard of on the grassland, not even in famous places.

Although animal fats are not only edible but also have certain uses in handicrafts, the demand is actually not that large, and the Ming Dynasty can be self-sufficient.

No matter how hard I try, I can't figure out the purpose of traveling thousands of miles to exchange these scarce materials for oil.

"How could such a strange thing happen?" Xu Mengyuan couldn't help but mutter to himself.

Hugetu clapped his hands and sighed, "That's right. When I learned about this, I suspected that this caravan had some evil intentions and wanted to deceive us simple herdsmen."

"But look, someone actually succeeded in redeeming it!"

It took Wang An's caravan two or three hours to reach the Hugetu tribe, and as soon as they arrived, they announced the list of exchanged supplies.

At this time, we happened to meet the first batch of herdsmen who came to exchange the oil with doubts after boiling it.

In Wang An's caravan, an old man who looked like a shopkeeper was seen standing next to the caravan with a few assistants, personally inspecting the oil that was still steaming.

After confirmation, it was recorded directly in the account book in cash, but no silver was given. Instead, the materials in the caravan were sold at the same price of silver for deduction.

The herdsmen on the grassland were very short of silver and copper coins, and there was no gold at all.

Therefore, on the grassland, most of the passing caravans traded goods through barter.

The advantage is that it solves the problem of herders not having cash, but the disadvantage is that in the barter trading method, there is always a price difference between the two items being exchanged, and it is often impossible to make the value of the two items consistent during the transaction.

The merchants of the Ming Dynasty obviously would not suffer this loss.

Therefore, herdsmen often paid one or two taels of silver in exchange, but only received eight or even seven cents of goods.

Even though the herders and tribal leaders knew they had suffered a loss, they had no choice but to swallow the loss in order to make these Ming merchants feel that it was profitable and to allow them to trade with their tribes next time.

However, the transaction method adopted by Wang An can be understood as Wang An first paying to purchase the oil and fat from the herdsmen, and then clearly marking the prices of the goods in the caravan and allowing the herdsmen to purchase them freely, thereby maximizing the value of the exchange.

This approach can be said to be very kind, and it immediately surprised the herders who were making transactions for the first time.

However, Wang An was also a little cautious. He did not give the silver directly to the herdsmen, but recorded it in an account book one by one.

Although Wang An claimed that if the money in the account was not used up, it could be used again when the next caravan passed by, or it could be exchanged for cash, but for this merchant in a foreign country, who knew if there would be another trading opportunity?

Therefore, the herdsmen had to spend all the money they earned from selling their supplies.

Even if they purchased enough supplies, they would still overspend in order to avoid wasting the remaining money.

This is just like the old-for-new exchange in later generations. You exchange old items for new ones. Even if the estimated value of your old items exceeds the value of the new items, you can only use the excess value to exchange for other unnecessary items, and you cannot withdraw cash.

This was just a very common little routine in later generations, but it made these herdsmen sincerely grateful and they began to inquire about Wang An's origins and how often they walked around the grassland.

Judging from the situation, he has the potential to become a regular customer of Wang An.

"Damn, they actually exchange salt and iron for oil and fat?" Xu Mengyuan became angry and embarrassed when he saw a herdsman, who brought his family and happily carried away large and small bags of salt, iron, tea, cloth and other items.

If everyone plays the same game as Wang An, then how can these border trade merchants, who have taken great risks and paid huge costs to get their goods lost on the grassland, make any money?

The people in ancient times, including the herdsmen on the grasslands, were not as simple and honest as everyone imagined. They just had not seen enough of the dangers and tricks of the world.

People must always believe that the ancients were just ancient, not stupid.

Now that we can use relatively worthless oil and fat to obtain precious survival supplies of the past, who would be willing to exchange precious furs and cattle and sheep for them?
Even if they are willing, they will inevitably be affected by this, causing the exchange price to rise sharply, which will hit the interests of smugglers.

Xu Mengyuan keenly sensed the crisis involved and was immediately shocked and angry.

He didn't know what Wang An wanted to do with the oil, but he understood clearly that the other party's actions would inevitably become a troublemaker in the border business and drive down the prices of salt, iron and tea!
Xu Mengyuan felt it necessary to stop the other party. He originally did not want to have a direct conflict of interest with Wang An, but Wang An's actions could not leave him indifferent.

So Xu Mengyuan said to Hugetu: "Hugetu Tabunang, for the sake of our past friendship, please take care of my business."

After Xu Mengyuan finished speaking, he turned to the men beside him and said, "Immediately bring the gift I brought to Hugutu Tabunang, and by the way, tell the men to set up a trade fair in the Hugutu tribe!"

The so-called mutual trade was originally the official term.

But later, in order to cover up their crimes, these smugglers gradually began to say so. In fact, they were just setting up stalls in the tribe to sell the supplies they brought, which was equivalent to a small market.

Ming was stunned when he heard this. In the past, whenever his caravan came to the grassland, all the small tribes would compete to please them. They were afraid that they would encounter natural disasters or wars in the future, so they would not continue to move forward.

Therefore, as long as these smugglers did not encounter robbers or a powerful nomadic tribe like Ligdan Khan, they would basically be treated like VIPs. Not to mention bringing gifts to the tribal chiefs, it would be considered good if they did not ask the tribal chiefs to send their wives to sleep with them.

Of course, although these small tribes are small, they have certain armed forces, so it is not too difficult for them to rob these caravans.

But if you rob one, no other merchants will come to the tribe to trade in the future.

It might even cause no caravans within a hundred miles to dare pass through here, causing other small tribes to lose the opportunity to trade.

(End of this chapter)