Chapter 403: The Three Treasures of Liaoyang! (Thanks to the book friend happy01666 for the reward!)
The next morning, Ye Mingsheng got up early, jogged in the back garden, performed a set of Bajiquan to exercise his body, and then had breakfast with his family at noon. After doing all this, Ye Mingsheng went to his study.

What surprised Ye Mingsheng was that Gu Sansi had been waiting outside the door for a long time. It seemed that he was eager to report the situation to Ye Mingsheng...

After the greeting, the two men walked into the study. Ye Mingsheng asked the maid to serve them a cup of fragrant tea, then had someone close the study door and nodded to signal Gu Sansi that he could start.

"Your Excellency, after several rounds of negotiations with Hu Jian, Hu Jian is basically willing to pay 50,000 taels of silver to purchase the firearms technology of our army's Po Lu musket. As a condition, our army needs to send craftsmen to Youyan as technical guidance. As for the subsequent firearms technology of the Weiyuan musket, Youyan needs to see how effective it is before deciding whether to continue purchasing!"

Ye Mingsheng's expression did not change when he heard this. The firearm technology of the Po Lu gun was sold for 50,000 taels of silver. Although it was a little beyond Ye Mingsheng's expectations, it was not too much. In addition, he had to leave money for Gu Sansi to lobby Youyan, so there was not much silver that could be used to improve the financial situation in Liaoyang...

Seeing that Ye Mingsheng didn't look very happy, Gu Sansi also felt a little pressure and immediately continued:

"Sir, after these days of contact with Hu Jian, the Coordination Office has successfully planted a spy next to him, and I have also found out the real purpose of Hu Jian's coming to Liaoyang!"

"Hu Jian, this lucky ruffian, volunteered to go to Liaoyang with Zhao Fuqu. The purpose of obtaining firearms technology for Zhao Fuqu is secondary. His real purpose is to obtain precious resources such as ginseng, deer antlers, and mink fur from Liaoyang so that he can sell them back to Youyan and earn a high price!"

Hearing this, Ye Mingsheng immediately became interested and said:
"Tell me about it in detail!"

"Yes, sir! One year ago, when Song Wenhui was in power, the price of high-quality ginseng shipped from Liaoyang to Youyan was 19 taels of silver per pound, hairy ginseng was 10 taels of silver per pound, and low-quality ginseng was 7 taels of silver per pound. As for aged ginseng, the price was sky-high, at least 100 taels of silver. Other deer antlers and sable furs were also very valuable."

"Now, after nearly a year of war, the trade routes have been blocked, and the supply of Liaoyang ginseng has decreased by nearly 70%. In addition, illegal medicine dealers are maliciously hoarding and driving up the market price."

"So the price of ginseng in the market has been rising. Now the top-quality ginseng in Youyan market costs at least fifty taels of silver per catty. As for other raw ginseng, the price has at least doubled. Even so, there is still no demand for it in the market."

“And this is just Youyan. The price of ginseng becomes even higher as you go south. Ginseng is worth gold now…”

"Now, as long as we transport ginseng from Liaoyang to Youyan, we can make a lot of money. There is no shortage of sellers!" Gu Sansi introduced:

Listening to Gu Sansi's introduction, Ye Mingsheng began to think. In this feudal era when medicine was not well developed and there were not so many special medicines, people were very crazy about ginseng, a precious medicinal material. Everyone believed that this thing could save a life at a critical moment, so no one would think it was too much! "No matter when, the richer and more powerful people are, the more afraid of death they are. In fear of death, they will be very happy to spend a lot of money on precious medicinal materials such as ginseng. This is why the price of ginseng has been rising all the way.

However, due to the unique geographical location and the limitations of technological development, ginseng is very difficult to cultivate artificially in this era, so the only known ginseng production area is Liaoyang.

Even if the Korean ginseng produced in Silla, Goryeo, and Gongdu is inferior, if it wants to be transported to Da Zhou, the main consumer country, it has to pass through Liaoyang whether by water or by land. So this means that Ye Mingsheng can completely monopolize the ginseng business and make it a pillar industry in Liaoyang...
After thinking for a while, Ye Mingsheng asked Gu Sansi:
“How much ginseng can Liaoyang produce in a year?”

Gu Sansi shook his head and said:
"Sir, the Liao ginseng business is currently mainly run by the Cui family, the Yun family, and the Gongsun family. In fact, it is not just the Liao ginseng, but also precious items such as sable fur and deer antlers, which are also jointly monopolized by the three families.
"Only they themselves know the exact output and profits, but I also asked some of the owners of medicine shops, and they all said that by selling ginseng, the three of them can earn at least 100,000 taels of silver every year. As for deer antlers and sable fur, they can earn 80,000 to 100,000 taels of silver a year. And the taxes they pay to the government for these things are only 5,000 taels of silver a year at most!"

Hearing "one hundred thousand taels of silver" and that it was a conservative estimate, Ye Mingsheng's eyes narrowed involuntarily. He secretly made up his mind to seize these profitable businesses, have the government participate in their regulation, and gain profits from them to fill the fiscal deficit of Liaoyang.

Although he had decided to take over these businesses, Ye Mingsheng did not act blindly, but ordered:
"Think carefully. I will ask Wang Xuecheng to cooperate with you. Collect more information about the industry's goods as soon as possible and give me a more detailed report as soon as possible!"

"Yes!" Gu Sansi nodded, and then continued to test:

"Hu Jian wants to open up a trade route this time and get a batch of ginseng, deer antlers, and mink fur from us. For this, he is willing to pay a price 10% higher than the market price..."

Upon hearing this, Ye Mingsheng made the decision:
"I'll leave this matter to you, Sansi. Go find him something to fool him first. It will take some time for us to receive this business!"

Hearing Ye Mingsheng's words, Gu Sansi nodded. This was exactly what Ye Mingsheng said, what he wanted. With Ye Mingsheng backing him up, he could charge forward without any scruples and work hard.

Everything that should be reported to Ye Mingsheng had been reported. Just when Gu Sansi was about to say goodbye to Ye Mingsheng, Ye Mingsheng handed him a few pieces of paper and said:
"Think twice, take a look at these things!"

Gu Sansi heard this without any doubt, he took the papers with both hands and observed the contents. At first he didn't think it was something important, but after he finished reading a few paragraphs, his expression instantly became interesting...
(End of this chapter)