Tea Merchants of the Song Dynasty

Chapter 113: Selling the Tea Garden

It turned out that Xu An had long planned to switch to business and had been putting it into practice over the years.

After all, after so many years of practice, it has been proven that the Huangshan Maofeng tea they grow is not a smooth road.

But it takes years for tea trees to grow and be harvested, and it takes so much time and effort to plant them. If you don't try for two more years, you will always feel dissatisfied.

This unwillingness made him unable to support his family, so he had to find another way out and go into business.

Originally his business was going well, and it just so happened that this year Jiang Si Niang rented the tea garden and bought fresh leaves in advance.

With sufficient capital, he increased his investment in the business, and naturally made more money. It was even more than the income from selling tea in recent years, which was considered a small fortune.

It was for this reason that Xu An wanted to sell the tea garden completely so that he could concentrate on business in the future.

Jiang Yin raised his hand and congratulated: "Boss Xu, your business is booming."

As expected, the Huizhou merchants are worthy of their reputation; these people are born to be businessmen.

Whether it's growing tea or doing business, it doesn't matter what you do as long as you can make money.

"No, no." Xu An said politely, "I'm just doing some reselling business. If I have the opportunity to expand my business to the Bashu area in the future, I hope you two can take care of me."

It is always good to make friends with people. He is currently only doing business in a few nearby states. When his business grows bigger, he will definitely go further.

Who knows, we might even be able to expand our business to foreign countries along the Ancient Tea-Horse Road.

"Okay, okay." Jiang Yin said with a smile, "But buying a tea garden is a serious matter, so we need to give us some time to think about it."

She pretended to be embarrassed and explained: "Boss Xu also knows that we are not locals, and whether we stay in Huizhou for a long time is another matter.

If I were to buy a tea garden here, I would have to put in more effort and money, so I couldn’t make a decision right away.”

They have already shown great interest in Huangshan Maofeng tea. If they were to express their desire to buy tea gardens and tea trees impatiently, they would be afraid of being led by the nose.

"Of course." Xu An said with a smile, "This is a serious matter, so Master Jiang will consider it. If there is a result, just let me know at any time."

He hadn't thought that it would be possible to succeed immediately, but at least it was a good sign that the other party didn't reject him directly.

Jiang Yin nodded in agreement, and then calmly said, "I wonder if Mr. Xu knows anything about the tea monopoly system. Shu has already started to implement the tea monopoly system. All Mengshan tea is monopolized by the government and used in the tea-horse trade."

She smiled bitterly and continued, "If not for this, we wouldn't have come so far to buy tea. In addition, on my way to Huangshan a few days ago, I vaguely heard that the court had sent an inspector to Huizhou..."

She didn't finish the rest of her words. She just raised her hand, took a sip of tea, and looked at Xu An.

I originally thought that Xu An was just an ordinary tea farmer and was not very sensitive to these things from the imperial court.

But now it seems that he is clearly an old fox, and he probably sees many things better than them.

As expected, Xu An paused for a moment, then covered his mouth with his hand and lowered his voice, saying, "There are some signs of trouble, and it is possible that Huizhou will soon implement the tea monopoly system.

The war situation at the border is tense, and the war horses we need are in short supply. Now that we can trade tea for horses, the more the better."

He paused and continued, "However, Master Jiang, there is no need to worry. Even if it is promoted, it will be used on other Huizhou teas, that is, those Huizhou teas that were originally used in the tea-horse trade. As for Maofeng tea, it will not be included in this list."

To be realistic, even he himself is not very willing to carry Maofeng tea when he does business.

After all, it tastes like coarse tea and is not valuable, so it can only be sold as loose tea.

There is no need to go through so much trouble to move the tea to other places if you can't make any money. There is tea available elsewhere.

When he expands his business to foreign countries, he will be able to bring more tea. However, that will take several years.

Jiang Yin raised his eyebrows and said, "It seems that this matter is probably a done deal."

She sighed in her heart. The government was leaving no way for tea merchants like them to survive!

To put it nicely, it is a tea monopoly, which is bought with money. To put it bluntly, it is robbery.

The imperial court was already extremely poor due to frequent wars, so how could it spend more money on them?

That little bit of money is barely enough to cover costs, let alone profits.

"Don't worry." Xu An shook his head and said, "If there is no other way, Master Jiang can find another way to make a living like we do in Huizhou."

He now suddenly realized that he was more talented in business than growing tea. No matter what, he did not plan to grow tea anymore.

Jiang Yin did not explain further, but just bowed and said, "Okay, if there is no other way, I will come and ask Boss Xu for advice."

Her situation is different from Xu Anke's. Jiang family occupies two tea mountains on Mengshan Mountain and is the main source of Mengshan tea. She can plant tea if she doesn't want to.

It is no exaggeration to say that if she said she didn't want to plant it, the government would immediately take away Mengshan.

However, there is no need to tell Xu An about this.

The three chatted for a while, then Xu An stood up and said goodbye, going back to his business.

Jiang Yin and Jiang Si Niang sat quietly for a while, bought some different kinds of tea, and returned to their rented house.

Jiang Yin was very interested in Huizhou tea. He took out the tea set, selected a kind of tea, and began to grind it on the stone table in the yard.

Seeing this, Jiang Si Niang also chose another kind of tea, sat opposite her and started grinding it.

After a long while, Jiang Si Niang tied up the hair that was blown by the wind and asked, "What do you think about Boss Xu's matter, A Yin? Should we buy the tea garden directly, or buy the land on the mountain as originally planned?"

Originally, they wanted to wait until they bought the land before asking Xu An if he was willing to sell some tea trees to them. If he was not willing, they could buy from other people.

Now, Xu An wants to sell the entire tea garden to them directly.

But if the tea trees are not transplanted to the mountains, we may still not be able to produce good tea.

If you buy a tea garden and then transplant the trees, the land will be left vacant after the tea trees are transplanted, which is not cost-effective.

Jiang Yin continued to move his hands, and after a pause, he said, "Let me think about this. If I really decide to buy an industry in Huizhou, I can buy it and then move the tea trees away.

As for the vacant land, we use it to grow food. Although the yield is not high, it is still self-sufficient. "

What she is struggling with now is not whether to buy a tea garden or trees, but whether it is worth staying in Huizhou, and whether Huangshan Maofeng can attract her to continue exploring.

If the taste cannot be improved, it can only be used as loose tea. Then it is better not to buy this tea garden.

At worst, she would send people to various places to purchase good tea in the future.

Jiang Si Niang sighed and said, "It's a bit difficult to improve the taste. For now, we can only take it one step at a time and try to prolong the time.

By the way, after frying the Maofeng version of Mengshan tea today, there are not many fresh leaves left. Starting tomorrow, we can try other ways of frying tea."