The Great Qin Empire---Qin Li

After saying goodbye to Heifu's house, Ba Zhong couldn't help but sigh.

"I never thought that even with the huge profit of millions, it still failed."

Just now, Ba Zhong suggested that Heifu share the method of making brown sugar with Bashi, grow sugarcane in Shuzhong, squeeze sugar and sell it everywhere, and split the profits in half.

This is a temptation that ordinary people can never refuse. The king of a thousand chariots, the marquis of ten thousand families, and the lord of a hundred rooms are still poor. People's desire for money is never enough.

But Heifu thought for a moment, poured two glasses of water himself, one was bland boiled water, and the other was sweet honey water, and sent them to Ba Zhong's desk.

"I wonder if Brother Ba has discovered that honey in water is indeed sweet and delicious, but if you drink too much, you will get tired of it."

"Plain water is not like that. Although it is bland, you can drink it every day and never get bored until you die."

"Therefore, the ancients said that the friendship between gentlemen is as light as water, while the friendship between villains is as sweet as honey; gentlemen are close to each other with indifference, while villains are willing to break off relations. If friends are simply united by interests, they will abandon each other when they encounter poverty and disaster. Friends who are friends by nature can tolerate each other when they encounter poverty and disaster."

"Three years ago, Brother Ba and I were on the same boat, ate the same salt in the earthen jar, were trapped in the lonely city of Yidao, and ventured to the Zhongli Mountain of Wuluo. We went through hardships together. Therefore, Heifu hopes that there will be more sincerity and less conflicts of interest between you and me! It is better for the friendship between gentlemen to be as light as water!"

Hei Fu's attitude was resolute, and Ba Zhong was a little disappointed. He thought that Hei Fu was stingy and unwilling to share. He suddenly felt a sense of shame, but unexpectedly, Hei Fu said:

"But then again, the world is so big and there are so many people. How can one person take all the benefits?"

"Since your mother wants the method of making brown sugar, how can I keep it to myself? I will write a letter back now and ask the Anlu Sugar Pressing Workshop to send a craftsman to Ba County to pass this method to Ba Shi."

"Ba Shi can plant sugarcane in a suitable place in Shuzhong, boil sugar and sell it. The profits do not need to be shared with me. It can all be regarded as my birthday gift to your mother!"

The turn came too quickly, and Ba Zhong did not expect it. He was stunned.

He has been doing business for ten years, but he knows that the world is bustling for profit, and the world is bustling for profit. People are running for their own interests.

But there is no one like Heifu who pushed away the fat meat at his mouth and threatened to share the business secrets without reservation!

Is it true as he said that money is external to the body and only friendship is important?

He only made a single request.

"The sugar of Bashu cannot leave Bashu and the three counties of Dongting!"

Thinking back to what happened just now, Ba Zhong sighed and shook his head.

"Heifu, Heifu, I never thought that you would be so generous and so cautious!"

Although it seems that their family got what they wanted without paying any price, only Ba Zhong himself knows the bitterness of it.

He drank the sweet sugar water, but his mouth was extremely bitter because he did not get what he really wanted.

Although the Ba family seemed to be honorable, in fact, under the background of the emperor's emphasis on agriculture and suppression of commerce, they were still despised merchants and barbarians discriminated against by the people of Guanzhong. It was one thing to be the boss of Ba County, but in Xianyang, one had to be humble.

In addition to the urgent matter, Ba urgently needed to make friends with the emperor's close ministers so that they could speak for their family in times of crisis.

But Heifu rejected the huge profit, which made Ba owe him a big favor.

"Whatever."

Ba Zhong could only helplessly say to himself: "Anyway, no matter how hard I struggle, that matter cannot be changed. Since I can't make a small friend, I can only try my best to maintain this 'light as water' friendship!"

...

"Zuo Shuzhang, why do you teach the Ba people the method of making sugar for nothing!"

Yan had woken up a long time ago, but Heifu asked him not to show up, so he just stayed indoors and listened to the general idea. As soon as Ba Zhong left, Yan came out. Thinking of the profit that Heifu rejected, this suddenly rich Anlu small trader stamped his feet in pain.

"According to him, the profit earned every year is no less than one million, which is much more profitable than Zuo Shuchang's sending people to Nanchang to plant sugarcane and open a workshop!"

Heifu was stroking his chin and thinking about the problem, and asked him: "Cousin, let me ask you, how much money can Ba Shi make from cinnabar, well salt, and Baitong in a year?"

Yan was stunned, and after thinking for a while, he said: "People often speculate that the profit is no less than tens of millions every year."

"Yes, if that's the case, the profit of brown sugar is just a drop in the bucket, how can Ba Guafu Qing look at it?"

Yan was puzzled: "Didn't Zuo Shuchang say that brown sugar may be comparable to salt, iron, grain, etc. in the future and become a bulk trade?"

"That's a long time in the future. Even if the widow of Ba Qing and her son have a long-term vision and want to occupy a corner of the brown sugar market in advance, they can slowly contact me. Why are they so impatient? Ba Zhong's proposal is not to sell brown sugar at all, but to bribe me in various ways!"

Ba Zhong seems to be hiding something, and his behavior is anxious. Since Yan got into trouble with the lawsuit, he has been trying to help and make Hei Fu owe him a favor. It seems that he has other intentions.

Hei Fu would rather not have the patent money than get involved in something he can't control.

Yan still can't figure it out: "Didn't Zuo Shuchang negotiate with Wu Shiyan to sell him 2,000 kilograms of brown sugar next year? What's the difference between Wu and Ba?"

Of course it's different. Wu is in Guanzhong, and every move is under the control of the government. Hei Fu wholesales brown sugar to them and sells it abroad in exchange for livestock, which is equivalent to making a contribution to the country.

Bashi was different. He still made money for his family and was not under the jurisdiction of the court. His power was growing. According to Heifu's understanding of the emperor, he would not tolerate such a wealthy businessman who was as rich as a country to stay in the border county for a long time. Bashi's good days might soon come to an end.

"Besides, can one person take all the benefits of the world? Don't be too greedy. You have to consider the long-term when doing business."

Heifu didn't feel that he was at a disadvantage: "Things that seem to be profitable may cost me tomorrow. And I seem to be at a disadvantage, but after a few years or ten years, I will make a profit!"

Planting sugarcane for one year and making brown sugar for another year. When Bashi finishes these and really starts to make a profit, Heifu may even make white sugar and rock sugar. By then, the sugarcane and brown sugar produced in Shu County will not only not constitute competition, but will become a continuous source of materials for Heifu to optimize products, and can cultivate the habit of eating sugar in Bashu people. Why not do it?

Thinking of this, Heifu yawned. The matter ended here. He asked Yan to return to Nanshi quickly and asked Sangmu to close the door...

What they didn't know was that from the afternoon when Wu Shiyan brought Mai and Shi Ershi to visit, to Ba Zhong leaving here with regret, and then to Yan rushing to Nanshi, during the whole process, someone had been secretly spying on Heifu's door!

...

The next morning, in Zhangtai Palace, the emperor who got up early to work quietly listened to the report of Ba Zhong, the son of Ba Guafu Qing, by the "walker" under the Dianke, and said only three words lightly.

"I know it."

Next, the emperor asked Zhao Gao, the commander of the Central Chariot House, who was waiting outside and listening to the emperor's attitude, to come in and draft the edict on his behalf.

"During the reign of King Xiao, Shang Jun had the law of "Attracting People", and during the reign of King Zhao, Fan Ju had the art of "Attacking People". These are all ways to immigrate people to Qin and strengthen Guanzhong."

"Today, the world has been unified, but Guanzhong and Bashu are short of people. The Shanglin Garden is a hundred miles wide, but the fields are less than twelve acres, and the number of fields is less than 100,000. In Bashu, the materials, goods and treasures of the swamps, famous mountains and rivers cannot be fully utilized."

"And the counties in Shandong have narrow land and a large population. The rich are connected to the fields, and the poor have no place to stand. Merchants rely on fraud and engage in trivial businesses. This is because the land is not enough to support its people!"

"Now I want to reduce the surplus and supplement the deficiency, so that the 120,000 wealthy households in Shandong will be moved to Xianyang, Guanzhong and Bashu! In this way, the people of Shandong will get farmland, and they can also fill Guanzhong and Bashu. The roots will be strong and the branches will be weak. The hierarchy will be clear, and everything will be in its place!"

This was the great migration that the emperor had been planning for a long time. As the imperial edict said, moving the wealthy families of the six kingdoms to the capital and keeping them under surveillance with the Qin people would not only reduce the resistance of the six kingdoms, but also develop the sparsely populated Bashu. It was a great way to strengthen the trunk and weaken the branches!

120,000 wealthy families were selected, and 600,000 survivors of the six kingdoms would leave their homes and come to a strange land after the emperor's edict was issued. They would lose the wealth and social relations of the past ten or dozens of generations and start all over again...

But it was not only the people of the six kingdoms who were forcibly relocated.

Zhao Gao noticed that the name of the Ba family of Ba County appeared on the long list.

"The widow Qing of Ba County and her son moved to Xianyang to live!"

Although the emperor praised the widow Qing and named her a chaste woman, and the widow Qing also reciprocated by contributing a lot of money to help the emperor complete the unification, it did not prevent him from taking action against this family.

The emperor no longer needed to rely on the Ba family to stabilize Bazhong. In his opinion, Ba County without the widow Qing was more convenient for the court to rule than Ba County with the widow Qing!

"What a pity!"

After drafting the edict and walking out of the emperor's bedroom, Zhao Gao put his hands behind his back and looked at Zhonglang Huling Heifu, who was standing straight outside the palace and knew nothing about the matter, and said secretly:

"You are only one step away from disobeying the emperor!"