Make Every Copper Count

For the next three days, Zhou Ye wandered all over the commandery city. Aside from buying quite a few household necessities for his new home, his main purpose was to familiarize himself with the place.

That included the shops and markets in both the outer and inner city, the area around his home, and the bits of street gossip circulating among the common folk...

As for the inner city? He would not consider it for now. His status was still too low; entering the inner city would make him stand out. That did not suit his style of lying low.

Of course, he also looked into the martial arts schools in the city. He did not go knocking on doors to ask directly, merely making a few discreet inquiries from the sidelines.

That day, Zhou Ye entered a blacksmith shop in the outer city. He was planning to upgrade his equipment.

Interestingly, the shopkeeper of that blacksmith shop was surnamed Sun, and he too was an outer member of a gang. He simply belonged to another major gang in the commandery city—the Black Iron Gang.

After learning more over the past few days, Zhou Ye found that the commandery city actually had three major gangs—the Woodcutter Gang, the Waterway Gang, and the Black Iron Gang.

The Woodcutter Gang was a collective of mountain folk. The Waterway Gang was made up of people involved in waterways and docks. Not only did it monopolize waterborne transportation, its members often smuggled private goods as well.

The most lucrative of all was smuggling private salt. The Waterway Gang had nearly monopolized the entire private salt market.

So when Zhou Ye had sold "salted fish" before, he had actually harmed the Waterway Gang's interests. They were obstacles on his road to wealth.

The Black Iron Gang controlled mines and their related industries. It was mainly a collective of miners and blacksmiths.

That said, nearly all mines belonged to the government or powerful clans. Without the Black Iron Gang banding together for warmth, those miners would surely live from day to day with no certainty of tomorrow. After being squeezed dry by the mine owners, they would not even know how they died.

Besides the three major gangs, the commandery city had more than a hundred gangs of all sizes.

The situation was incredibly complicated. Some clung to particular officials, some to the powerful and wealthy, some to major gangs, while others grew wild and free on their own...

Perhaps one gang would suddenly rise to prominence, or perhaps another would suddenly be wiped out. No one could make sense of the details within.

For example, the place where Zhou Ye lived was controlled by a small gang called the Flower Snake Gang. This small gang had only a little over a hundred members, yet it ran rampant through several nearby streets.

Leaving aside the demons and monsters dancing wildly throughout the commandery city, this blacksmith shop had a complete range of goods. Zhou Ye quickly picked out a bundle of arrows and five iron throwing spears. Now that he had these iron implements, he could retire all his wooden throwing spears and bamboo arrows.

Iron weapons were certainly far more powerful than wood or bamboo. Aside from being used in his usual training, he would no longer use the old ones in battle.

After choosing his items, Zhou Ye took out the fish-scale shield and asked Smith Sun, "Shopkeeper Sun, take a look at this for me. Can you fit an iron bracer onto the back of the shield? Then I can slip it over my left arm..."

After hearing Zhou Ye's specific requirements, Smith Sun asked about some details. Though he was somewhat puzzled by the material of the fish-scale shield, he still followed the rules of the trade: do not pry into what you should not ask about.

"No problem. I just need to attach a base for an iron bracer. Together with the other things you want, it'll be seven taels. Come pick it up in five days?"

"Fine!"

According to what he had heard outside, this Smith Sun was quite skilled. More importantly, he was trustworthy and especially tight-lipped. If someone wanted weapons forged in secret... well! Secretly forged weapons in the commandery city's blacksmith shops had long since become an open secret.

Once again, he spent every last coin. A day later, Zhou Ye left the commandery city and returned to Little Homestead in the mountains.

Since his Agility had reached +7, and his Basic Movement had likewise reached the minor mastery stage, he could reach the mountains within a day while traveling light. But when carrying heavy loads, it took him two days to leave the mountains.

By now, Zhou Ye had gained a basic understanding of prices in the commandery city.

Ordinary rice and flour cost seven copper coins per jin; better-quality rice and flour cost ten coins per jin; pork cost thirty coins per jin; fish and poultry were slightly cheaper, while beef and mutton were slightly more expensive, reaching over forty coins per jin.

Firewood cost eighty-five coins per hundred jin, while charcoal cost between three hundred and fifty and four hundred coins per hundred jin, depending on its quality. Those were the Woodcutter Gang's purchase prices. If buying it instead, it would certainly cost more.

Salt cost around two hundred coins per jin. That was the price of private salt; official salt was even more expensive. Salted meat cost around one hundred coins per jin. Not only did the meat shrink during curing, but the cost of the salt also had to be included...

Zhou Ye was surprised to discover that when he had sold "salted fish" before, the salt had actually cost far more than the fish?

In addition, the prices of furs and herbs fluctuated greatly, so one had to follow the market rate.

By that calculation, did the nearly eight thousand jin of salt here amount to sixteen hundred taels of silver? What an enormous fortune. The only pity was that he absolutely could not sell it in the commandery city.

Then there were animal furs and medicinal herbs. However, obtaining those things was too dependent on chance, making a steady supply impossible.

The only thing he could supply reliably was bamboo rat pelts?

But Zhou Ye had just gone to inspect the bamboo grove. The bamboo rats that had only recently survived the winter were still rather thin, and they had entered breeding season. It was best to hunt them in summer or autumn. That made it seasonal.

There were also all kinds of meat, fish, and poultry. Those were not worth much by comparison.

On the other hand, they could be made into all kinds of cured goods, gradually using up the salt. After all, one jin of meat required two liang of salt.

From that perspective, hunting and fishing became much more useful.

Finally, there was all that charcoal. Including the charcoal over at Old Camp, there should be more than two thousand jin left... right?

After thinking it over again and again, Zhou Ye decided he had to make every copper count. Wealth, companions, methods, and land—wealth came first!

He checked the farmland and found that the wheat shoots had already sprung from the soil. He removed the weeds and fertilized the field once more.

Since he had decided to move to the commandery city, he would not need to farm in the future. But relocation would be a long process, so he still had to harvest this season's wheat.

Next, he remodeled the brick kiln into a charcoal kiln.

Making charcoal was much more convenient. In only two days, Zhou Ye fired a kiln of charcoal, producing more than four thousand jin.

Over the following days, Zhou Ye made several trips back and forth to Old Camp, carrying all the charcoal there back to this place.

Since he had already joined the Woodcutter Gang and gained the identity of a woodcutter, he needed to maintain the disguise by delivering some firewood and charcoal every so often.

When he saw that the time was about right, Zhou Ye set off for the commandery city once more.

Because his Strength had reached +2 and his other basic attributes had also been comprehensively upgraded, he could carry around two hundred and fifty jin of goods with a shoulder pole.

He took one hundred jin of salted fish and all the surplus tools, leaving only one set behind. If anything was damaged later, he could simply bring replacements over from the commandery city.

He also brought two salted geese, a strip of salted meat, and assorted grains. Those were for his own meals.

When he reached the mountain pass, he would chop some firewood as well. As a woodcutter, having to spend money on firewood in the future would be downright laughable, wouldn't it?