"Grandfather, my grandson wishes you well."
"Get up, come quickly, come to your grandfather and let him take a good look at it. Ah! We haven't seen you for two years. My grandson has lost weight and is more energetic!"
When he saw it was Fan Yubin, Fan Yongdou was extremely happy, and his old wrinkled face turned into a flower with a smile.
The eldest son, Fan Sanba, had five sons, the eldest son Yuxin, the second son Yufu, the third son Yubin, the fourth son Yuqin, and the fifth son Yuqi. Fan Yongdou's favorite was the third grandson Yubin.
Fan Yubin has been smart since he was a child. No matter what he learns, he can master it. Not only can he do business, but he can also read books well. Fan Yongdou feels that the person who will prosper the old Fan family in the future must be this third grandson. His vision is very vicious, and decades later
, Fan Yubin took charge of the Fan family and developed the old Fan family to its peak, becoming the world's number one businessman. Not only did he control the financial lifeline of the Qing court, he even extended his tentacles to Guangzhou and started business with foreigners.
"Grandpa, my grandson brought you some Yangzhou pastries, Jiangdu square cakes, Yangzhou square cakes, Jade Shaomai, Ruyi cakes, and your favorite Thousand Layer Oil Cake," Fan Yubin presented the treasure.
"Oil cake, this thing is delicious." Fan Yongdou picked up a piece and put it in his mouth. It was soft, soft, sweet and tender. Bin Sun'er was interested. A few years ago, a merchant from Yangzhou came to the house as a guest and gave him a gift.
I ordered some oil cakes, and he was full of praises after eating them. Unexpectedly, Bin's grandson remembered him in his heart. This grandson's pain is not in vain, he is filial!
In fact, although the oil cake is delicious, it is just an ordinary folk food. It is a diamond-shaped piece, hibiscus color, and translucent. The cake is divided into sixty-four layers, with alternating layers of sugar and oil. The surface of the cake is covered with red and green silk. It is pleasing to the eye and is known as
Thousand-layer oil cake.
"Grandpa, my grandson also specially found a thousand-year-old mountain ginseng to replenish your body."
Although the Lao Fan family has a monopoly on the ginseng trade in Wusuli, Suifen and other places in the northeast, it is not easy to find thousand-year-old wild ginseng.
"My grandson Bin has taken the trouble, but my grandfather was born with a low life and cannot enjoy such precious things. This time my grandson can escape from danger all thanks to the help of Prince Zheng. Send someone to deliver it to Prince Zheng's Mansion. Grandpa, drink some radish soup."
That’s good, radish is good for nourishing qi and health.”
Fan Yongdou has been diligent and thrifty all his life. Although he is already very rich, he is reluctant to eat or wear clothes. He usually drinks radish soup and occasionally stews a chicken with some ginseng whiskers and ginseng residue, which is a great supplement.
Fan Yubin couldn't resist his grandfather, so he had to give up.
Fan Yongdou is getting older and wants to train a successor, but his son Fan Sanba is more than capable of maintaining his roots but not enough of a pioneer. The hope for the future of the Fan family lies in this third grandson, Yu Bin.
He wanted to test his grandson, "Does my grandson know the secret of the long-lasting prosperity of our merchant family?"
"Be careful with your budget and be diligent and thrifty?" Shaking his head.
"Be honest and trustworthy, bear hardships and stand hard work?" Shake your head.
"Small profits but quick turnover, long accumulation and little gain?" Shaking his head.
Fan Yongdou shook his head after being told more than a dozen times. Fan Yubin refused, and the young man in his twenties actually acted coquettishly, "Grandpa, what on earth is that? You tell me."
"Okay, okay, grandpa told you, you must keep it in mind." Fan Yongdou couldn't stand his little grandson's coquettishness, so he told everything about his business experience.
"You remember, we businessmen, no matter how lowly they are, are just dogs raised by the nobles, so the profits must be divided into 30 and 70. If you make ten taels of silver, you have to give 7 taels to the nobles, and you can only keep it for yourself.
Only in this way can you be prosperous for a long time. On the contrary, if you keep seven taels for yourself and only give three taels to the nobles, then great disaster will happen!"
After hearing this, Fan Yubin took a deep breath. His grandfather's words sounded vulgar, but they were wise sayings, explaining the difficulties and hardships of doing business.
"Grandpa, don't worry, my grandson will definitely keep it in mind!"
He really kept it in mind and did so. Historically, when Emperor Kangxi personally conquered Junggar, he asked himself to transport grain for the Qing army at one-third of the official price, saving the Qing court more than six million taels. This business
, the old Fan family not only did not make any money, but instead gave away two million taels of silver. But giving money showed loyalty, which was very effective. Emperor Kangxi Longyan Dayue not only handed over the trade rights of the tribes in the northwest to the Fan family, but also allowed the Fan family to
He undertook the business of trafficking foreign copper coins from Japan and became the number one merchant in the world.
Unfortunately, during the Qianlong period, the descendants of Jiexiu Fan's family forgot Mr. Fan's teachings. They kept seven cents of the money they earned and only gave three cents to the nobles. This aroused Emperor Qianlong's dissatisfaction and ordered his family to be confiscated.
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"Well, when Bin Sun'er returns to Yangzhou, how do you plan to deal with those Anhui people?"
"Grandfather, the smuggling of salt in Guangdong is rampant now. The imperial court has lost Huguang and Jiangxi. The filial piety to the government is very high, and the salt business is not easy to do. My grandson estimates that those Hui merchants don't have much silver in their hands. After returning to Yangzhou,
We plan to lower the price. Even if we don’t make money, we will defeat those Anhui guys. After we crush them, the Lianghuai Salt Market will be ours."
"Well, the strength of our Shanxi merchants far exceeds that of Hui merchants. If Bin Sun'er wants to fight a price war, that's fine. But we must remember that Shanxi and Shaanxi are not separated. If we want to fight a price war, we must win over those Shaanxi businessmen to fight together." Fan Yongdou
Tips.
"Thank you, grandfather, for your teaching. My grandson will remember it."
??
Thousands of lights illuminate the blue clouds in the night market,
There are many red-sleeved customers in high-rise buildings.
Today is not like usual,
I can still hear the sound of singing and singing.
This poem describes the prosperity of Yangzhou. Due to its geographical location, despite the ten days of destruction in Yangzhou, with the development of the salt industry, the city quickly recovered its vitality.
Yangzhou Prefecture belonged to Jiangnan Chengxuan Government Envoy Department. After the Qing Dynasty entered the customs, Nanjing was abolished as the capital in the second year of Shunzhi (1645), and Nanjing was renamed Jiangnan Chengxuan Government Envoy Department (in the early years of Kangxi, it was changed to Chengxuan Government Envoy Department
Jiangnan Province is an extraordinary province, accounting for one-third of the country's tax revenue. This is mainly due to Yangzhou's salt tax.
The output of Huai salt accounts for half of the country. Yizhen County, Yangzhou Prefecture, is the distribution center of Huai salt. The prefecture governs Jiangdu County, and there are gardens built by salt merchants everywhere. "Yangzhou gardens are the best in the world", and the salt merchants have contributed a lot.
Yangzhou is a city of salt, and it is also a city of salt merchants.
The salt merchants liked drinking tea and listening to books, so teahouses and bookstores sprang up; the salt merchants liked drinking and listening to plays, so there were wine shops and theaters everywhere; the salt merchants liked bathing, and they built many public halls, including the world-famous
Back rubs and pedicures. "Water is packed in the skin in the morning (drinking tea), and water is packed in the skin in the evening (bathing)". The life of Yangzhou people is so comfortable.
The wealth of Yangzhou salt merchants is famous throughout the world.
What is the law of wealth? "A person with a net worth of one million taels is called a small businessman." If you have one million taels of silver, you can only be considered a small businessman among salt merchants. What is the concept of one million taels of silver? According to the price of rice during the Wanli period
Converted, one tael of silver is equivalent to 660 yuan in current RMB. One million taels of silver is equivalent to 660 million in future generations. Good guy, you have more than 600 million, and you can only be considered a small businessman among salt merchants.
Regarding the wealth of salt merchants, "Yangzhou Painted Boat Record" records: A certain salt merchant was so "big" that he actually built a chamber pot five or six feet high. He had to climb up and down every night when he got up. It was extremely hard, but he still
Still enjoying it; a certain salt merchant invented the way of eating "travel vegetables", and had to prepare dozens or hundreds of dishes for each meal??
They became rich because they had a monopoly on the price of salt. In the Ming Dynasty, a pound of salt cost only five cents, plus the salt tax of twenty-two cents. The cost of twenty-seven cents, but the retail price was as high as three hundred cents, a full ten cents.
times the huge profits.
During this time and space, Zhu Hengjia vigorously increased the production of sea salt, represented by Guangdong salt, and changed the "exclusive trade to the shore" to "one case general sale", which allowed the price of salt in the Ming-controlled area to drop to a hundred cents per catty. Due to the impact of smuggling,
The price of salt in areas controlled by the Qing court also dropped to 150 wen per catty.
Zhu Hengjia asked Cao Dengbang, the right minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, to take charge of the salt administration. This man was very capable. He greatly increased the number of salt farms in Guangdong, Guangxi, and Annan, and also collected well salt and pond salt from various places, greatly increasing salt production. He could save 20 million kilograms of salt every year.
, sold to the Qing-occupied areas. It not only hit the Lianghuai salt merchants who supported the Qing Dynasty, but also increased the Ming Dynasty's treasury income.
Of course, the price of salt cannot drop too much. There is a war now, and salt tax is an important source of revenue. Historically, it was not until the Qianlong period that the price of salt dropped to 20 to 30 yuan per catty through increasing production and reforming the salt law.
Wen. The cost of five wen per catty of salt can actually be reduced further. The reforms during the Qianlong period reduced the cost of salt to more than one wen per catty, and the price of salt dropped to the lowest two and a half wen. Later, because the price was too low, salt was damaged.
Due to commercial interests, the reform failed, and the price of salt returned to two or thirty cents per catty.
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Zhangyuan in Yangzhou Prefecture is very grandly decorated. In fact, it is more like a courtyard than a garden, with a mixture of northern and southern architectural styles.
As soon as you enter the door, you will see a few simple stone steps. Next to the steps are stone sculptures of lions rolling hydrangeas. The two stone lions at the gate are lifelike. The walls are very high and thick. There are six large gardens, plus more than 20 small gardens, and three large and small houses.
There are more than 100 rooms. Different from other gardens in Yangzhou, there are brick or wood carvings everywhere such as "luck in wealth", "unicorn sends son", "heavenly official bless" and so on. They are full of luxury and sophistication, but lack of southern
Common flowers, bamboo, springs, and stones.
This is the garden of Zhang Xun, the general merchant of Shaanxi merchants in Yangzhou. Zhang Xun, whose courtesy name is Zhengong and whose name is Hushan, is from Jingyang County, Shaanxi Province. He is thirty-four years old this year. His ancestors have been salt merchants for generations.
There are many types of salt merchants, including nest merchants, transport merchants, market merchants, general merchants, etc. Among them, the general merchant is the most powerful, also known as the general merchant.
The general merchant is between officials and merchants, and is the coordinator between the salt merchants and the government. On the one hand, he represents the government and manages other salt merchants; on the other hand, he also represents the interests of the salt merchants. If a salt merchant defaults on taxes and silver, the general merchant will
The merchant must lead other salt merchants to jointly make compensation. With the chief merchant, the government's tax revenue is guaranteed. If the government needs the salt merchants to pay extra money, it should notify the chief merchant first and let the chief merchant apportion it downwards.
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Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Hui merchant gangs each have their own general merchants in Yangzhou. The chief merchant of Shanxi merchants is Fan Yubin, and the chief merchant of Hui merchants is Jiang Guomao.
Today is the thirty-fourth birthday of Shaanxi merchant Zhang Xun. He wants to have a double happiness, throw a birthday banquet and buy a "thin horse" as a concubine.
Since the Ming Dynasty, a large number of young women have appeared in Yangzhou who have been specially trained and prepared to marry wealthy businessmen as concubines. These women regard thinness as beauty, and are all slender and thin, and are called "Yangzhou thin horses".
The prosperity of salt merchants has supported a large number of industries that rely on them to survive, and "raising thin horses" is one of them.
Yapo spent a few taels of silver to buy girls from poor families, and divided them into different grades for training. After they were grown, they were sold, and the lucky ones were sold to rich families; then they were sold to small and medium-sized businessmen; they were sold again to ordinary families; the worst ones were sent to Fireworks Willow Alley
In order to sell them at a good price, Yapo controlled the food intake of the girls, causing them to be extremely thin, and some even needed help when walking. "Xu Jin Ping Mei" records that a first-class "thin horse" can be sold for more than 1,500 taels.
Silver, singing and dancing, thick fat and pink; deep in the night, no one remembers how many "skinny horses". "Yangzhou Skinny Horse" is actually the history of blood and tears of women from poor families in feudal society.
Zhang Xun was celebrating his birthday, and a group of Shaanxi township party members from Yangzhou came to support him. Liu Xinxuan from Sanyuan, who studied politics, the three Wang brothers, Sun Baoren, Zhang Gaolou, Wang Yu, Yujie from Jingyang, Liu Zhongmu from Gaoling, Hua
Wang Zizheng from Yin, Zhang Shike from Lintong, etc.
Although these people are all salt merchants, they are not only in the salt business, but also involved in various industries such as grain, medicinal materials, cloth, pawns, tea, and wood.
"Master, Fan Yubin from the Fan family is here."
"Oh", Zhang Xun was stunned for a moment, then said with a smile on his face: "Please!"
This chapter has been completed!