91: Chapter 91 Sixteen Thousand Taels

It was true that the Pei Family stood at the peak of Wuyang, but it was precisely because of the Pei Family's growth that they were able to come into contact with higher-level aristocratic families.

Compared to some powerful third-rate families, the Pei Family was still far behind.

Not to mention the even more powerful second-rate families.

In the eyes of the Chen Family, the Pei Family was simply nothing.

Pei Qingyun saw Pei Tianrong's reaction. Lately, Pei Tianrong had become a bit arrogant, faintly developing the illusion of a frog at the bottom of a well.

He believed that a timely wake-up call was necessary.

This was also the reason why he spoke up.

However, when Pei Tianrong learned that his Old Ancestor had closed the deal at a price of thirty-five wen per catty, he felt a surge of pride, and the oppression in his heart was swept away.

So what if they were direct descendants of a second-rate Family?

Weren't they still forced to bow before his Old Ancestor?

Afterward, Pei Tianrong picked up an abacus and began calculating the proceeds from this grain sale. At thirty-five wen per catty, eighty thousand dan of grain amounted to two hundred and eighty thousand taels of silver.

Of course, this was only the revenue from selling the grain, not the net profit. But the Pei Family had one major advantage over other grain merchants: most of their grain had been seized from the Li Family.

This immediately cut more than half of the costs.

Unlike other grain merchants, for whom the cost of purchasing grain took up the bulk of their expenses. If taxes, transportation costs, management costs, and bribes were included, even if those merchants could sell at thirty-five wen per catty, their net profit wouldn't exceed ten wen per catty.

In contrast, the Pei Family's various cost expenditures were much lower than those of average grain merchants.

In the Great Jing Dynasty, although aristocratic families were not exempt from taxes, the starting tax rate was significantly lower than that for commoners and ordinary businesses.

Some powerful families could even use unconventional means to achieve indirect tax exemption.

The Pei Family was a third-rate Family, and their tax rate was set at thirty percent. After deducting various costs, the net profit could reach twenty wen per catty, which converted to one hundred and sixty thousand taels of silver.

Thinking of this, Pei Tianrong became somewhat excited.

Back when the Pei Family was one of the three major families of Wuyang County, their total annual net profit from all their various industries combined was only around one hundred thousand taels.

The Li Family focused on exotic beast meat and grain as their main industries, so their earning capacity was slightly stronger than the Pei Family's.

But he never imagined that selling grain could be so profitable. This single transaction's revenue exceeded the Pei Family's entire annual income from before.

Wait, that's not right!

If selling grain were truly this profitable...

Even if the Li Family lacked a channel for the divine power transformation potion, they wouldn't have been unable to cultivate a second Five-Viscera Martial Artist for so long.

In a daze, Pei Tianrong snapped back to reality.

The Li Family did earn a bit more than the Pei Family, but it couldn't have been this exaggerated.

The reason the Pei Family could make such a huge profit, besides the higher selling price, was largely due to the lack of expenditures for the Li Family's clansmen.

The cost of supporting a third-rate Family definitely took up the lion's share of that Family's total revenue.

This batch of grain was more like a windfall.

A horse doesn't get fat without night grass.

This made Pei Tianrong sigh with emotion about the life of bandits on the mountains.

How could legitimate business ever be as fast as robbery?

It's just that robbery requires caution; one could die at any moment.

With such a large sum of revenue, Pei Tianrong was in a great mood. Now that the trade route was open, the Pei Family was exactly at a point where they needed money. With one hundred and sixty thousand taels in hand, the world was his.

But before that, the Pei Family had to solve one problem: transportation.

Eighty thousand dan of grain was not a small amount.

If transported by carriage, it would require nearly several hundred carriages.

While several hundred carriages were a lot, it wasn't a huge problem for the Pei Family to procure them.

The only trouble was that several hundred carriages were too large a target. It was impossible to transport such a massive amount of grain all at once without attracting attention.

Within the borders of Wuyang County, as long as they showed their Pei Family identity, the bandits on the mountains wouldn't dare rob them. Especially in these past two months, the Pei Family's prestige had climbed to its peak.

If any band of bandits actually had such an idea, the Pei Family wouldn't even need to lift a finger; their own people would likely tie them up and bring them to the Pei Family to plead for forgiveness.

But once they left Wuyang County, the Pei Family didn't have much deterrent power.

To put it bluntly, once forces from other counties learned that the Pei Family was escorting such a large amount of grain all at once...

Even without bandits from other counties acting, the aristocratic families of those counties would disguise themselves as bandits to raid the Pei Family's grain wagons.

Thinking of this, Pei Tianrong felt a bit of a headache.

Before long, Pei Tianrong arrived at the Li Family's original granary. After taking down the Li Family, except for some light and valuable items which the Pei Family had moved back to their own treasury...

Items like grain, which took up a lot of space and were troublesome to transport, had basically been left untouched, with personnel only assigned to count and manage them.

After confirming that the quantity of grain was correct, Pei Tianrong began to think of a way to transport it.

It was then that he noticed the staff responsible for managing the granary.

Some of these people were from the Pei Family, while others had been hired by the Li Family in the past.

Since these people had no marital ties with the Li Family and were in purely employment relationships, the Pei Family had not dismissed them.

Pei Tianrong pointed at one of them and said, "Come here, I have something to ask you."

The man said in disbelief, "Patriarch, are you calling for me?"

Pei Tianrong nodded and gave a soft hum of affirmation. "Don't be nervous. I asked you over mainly to inquire about the transportation of grain. Answer truthfully. If it's useful, I will reward you handsomely."

The man quickly promised, "Please ask, Patriarch. This lowly one will tell you everything I know."

Pei Tianrong said solemnly, "Do you know how the Li Family used to transport tens of thousands of dan of grain to the County City all at once in the past?"

The man explained, "This lowly one has never accompanied the grain transport teams. I only know that when the previous Patriarch Li arranged for grain transport, it was always done in batches. Usually no more than twenty thousand dan at a time. Besides that, when the Patriarch transported grain, he often used escort agencies to guard it."

Pei Tianrong replied and then fell into deep thought, "Go back to your work."

"escort agency guarding..."

In fact, before coming to the granary, Pei Tianrong had considered using an escort agency.

Firstly, escort agencies were professionals in this field and knew better how to avoid risks. Secondly, handing the grain over to an escort agency was equivalent to transferring the risk.

Once the grain was robbed, the escort agency would have to pay compensation.

But this led to a problem.

The scale of an escort agency was only so large. If the value of the grain exceeded the agency's net worth, and something happened, the agency would be insolvent even after mortgaging all its property, and the Pei Family would suffer a huge loss.

Therefore, even with the largest escort agency in Wuyang County, the Pei Family could at most hand over ten thousand dan at a time for transport.

Although using an escort agency would increase costs, it wasn't unacceptable for the Pei Family.

The key point was that in Wuyang County, there were only two or three agencies capable of escorting goods to the County City.