Reborn in Dunhuang, I am farming and doing business in the desert

Shen Zhao added: "But this matter should not involve my elder brother, he is just a newly appointed battalion commander."

"Things are not as simple as you think." Shen Ang had a different opinion: "It is said that the commander-in-chief's status is not ordinary. If the emperor insists on a thorough investigation, your brother will inevitably be implicated."

Shen Zhao: "If we are really implicated, we can pay for it with money and property."

She was not worried about the consequences of this matter at all. As long as it was not a treason, she would make sure her brother was safe.

Shen Ang shook his head and said nothing more.

The ox cart stopped and started many times, and finally arrived at Dunhuang County after four days.

Before entering the city, Shen Zhao bought a large number of defective cloth, a lot of cheap and beautiful small ornaments, and various kinds of glass mirrors.

These things were piled on ox carts, placed in large bags and boxes.

Only after verifying the identity card and the cattle and horse registration at the city gate can one enter the city.

It was Shen Zhao’s first time to visit Dunhuang County, and he was immediately stunned by the prosperity of the city.

The streets were filled with all kinds of tents and houses, and people of all races were walking in front of the tents and houses.

They either carry loads on their shoulders or huge trays loaded with all kinds of food and goods, creating quite an exotic scene.

Zhang Shanyue exclaimed: "Why are there so many people from the Western Regions here?"

"They are all merchants who come here to do business." Most Western Hu merchants would trade goods in Dunhuang County, and only a small number of large caravans with connections and strength would travel thousands of miles to the capital.

Shen Zhao took out the city registration he had obtained a few days ago, jumped off the ox cart, and went straight to the city clerk's office to register.

At the same time, she took out a small bronze mirror and inserted it on her shoulder.

She sewed a small bag on her shoulder with a round hole in it, which was just enough to expose the mirror, making it convenient for her to live broadcast.

The market clerk looked at Shen Zhao suspiciously, then at Shen Ang and Shen Heng who were following behind her, asked them what goods they were selling, and then collected two rolls of cloth as entry fee.

Then he gave her a wooden talisman and said, "This is number 56. You can place it yourself. Remember not to place the goods beyond the boundary, so as not to cause disputes with others."

Shen Zhao thanked him and took the wooden talisman to find his own territory.

After asking several people in succession, I finally arrived at an open space.

That’s right, it’s an open space, an area of two meters by two meters, enough to park camels, horses, vehicles and tents.

However, this place is a bit remote and there are few people. There is a tattered tent on one side and a dirty garbage dump on the other.

"How can people live here?" Shen Heng was a little surprised: "We spent two pieces of cloth just to get a vacant lot?"

Shen Zhao was not surprised, because the Hu merchants in the capital were the same. They rarely rented houses, but set up tents on the spot.

"This is the case where the Hu merchants gather." Shen Ang, who is well-informed, explained, "Most of them live in tents. Only the areas where the Han people live have houses."

Few Hu merchants rented houses from Han people to do business, or the Han people who had houses did not like to live with Hu merchants.

Shen Ang had also been to Dunhuang County several times and had long known the habits of the Hu people.

"Let's buy a cowhide tent. We can sell it after we use it." Shen Zhao said to his father and brother.

It doesn’t matter if I can’t sell it. I can just store the tent in the shop.

Shen Ang agreed with his daughter's suggestion: "Okay."

The procedures for renting a house are too complicated. They are just staying temporarily and will go back after a few days, so there is no need to rent a house specifically.

So Shen Zhao asked the Western Region woman in the tent where to buy tents. The Western Region woman was in her thirties, with chestnut hair, dark eyes, a high nose, and was very thin. She wore a dirty felt robe and a striped shawl of unknown color on her shoulders.

When the woman heard that Shen Zhao wanted to buy a large cowhide tent, she immediately said that she could take her to find the seller.

Afterwards, Shen Zhao asked his second brother and mother to watch the ox cart here, while he and his father followed the Western woman to buy a tent.

Soon they found a Hu merchant who had an extra large tent and wanted to sell it to them in exchange for four rolls of cloth.

Shen Zhao was very satisfied with the price, but he also knew the nature of the Hu merchants, so he started bargaining and finally bought three and a half horses.

When the Hu merchant got three and a half rolls of brightly colored cloth, his eyes widened and he immediately said that he could buy some.

Shen Zhao was delighted to see his success and sold him ten horses for one thousand coins.

However, the Hu merchant gave him free coins, each weighing eight taels and worth three thousand coins.

"No! I don't want this kind of money." Shen Zhao immediately refused Hu Shang's three white coins.

There are many counterfeits of this thing, especially in the northwest border, where some people will secretly use tin as silver to mint third-grade platinum coins to deceive merchants, but they don't want them themselves.

Seeing that Shen Zhao didn't want to choose the money for free, Hu Shang said in embarrassment: "I only have this, and I also have a square horse coin, one is worth five hundred."

"I don't want that either." Shen Zhao said, "Or you can give me Anxi silver coins."

One silver coin is equivalent to between 1,500 and 2,000 coins of the Han Wuzhu. Due to the small number in circulation, the chance of counterfeiting is also small.

The Hu merchant had no choice but to search in his bag, and finally found five Parthian silver coins.

These silver coins had human heads on one side and words, flowers and birds on the other. They were basically circulated among foreign merchants, so they were rarely imitated by the public.

Shen Zhao took the silver coin, signed a contract with the city official, and settled the city tax with five-zhu coins.

At this time, my father and second brother had already set up the tent and the cart was pulled in.

As for the old cows and horses, they were tied in front of the tent.

The next step is to promote your own products.

Shen Zhao and his second brother took a piece of flowered cloth and various small accessories to sell in various shops, and of course they also visited the Hu merchants.

Within two days, she sold 200 rolls of floral cloth, several bags of glass bead ornaments, and a sack of small glass mirrors, with a total value of more than 400,000 coins.

Even the woman from the Western Regions next door bought a lot of small accessories such as beads and mirrors from her, and bought fifteen pieces of flowered cloth and gave her two gold coins.

The Western Region woman clasped her hands together and said to Shen Zhao: "Thank you for coming, otherwise my children and I would have become slaves."

Shen Zhao was puzzled: "Why do you say that?"

"You don't know, my husband went back to Anxi two years ago. He asked the three of us, mother and son, to stay here to look after the shop. Everything will be settled after he comes back."

The woman wiped her tears and said, "I only have two gold coins left. I dare not use them at all, but the city tax must be paid every month, and the three of us have to spend money on clothes, food and drink."

The taxes on Hu merchants in the Dunhuang County market were already high. After selling out their few goods, the woman tried to purchase goods from other merchants, but all the profits were taken by others and she made no money at all.

Now that she had finally bought cheap and exquisite goods from Shen Zhao, she felt that she could last another two years.

Shen Zhao pondered for a moment and said, "If you need goods in the future, you can go to the Shen family's department store in Yanzeli, Xiaogu County. It is near the pavilion in Yanzeli. My family has all kinds of sources of goods you need."

"Really?" The woman hugged Shen Zhao excitedly: "God bless you, I will definitely go again after these goods are sold out." (End of this chapter)