A few days later, Huo Xi received a large package of things from the wet nurse from Songjiang.
When she opened it, she saw that they were all clothes made for her and Nian'er.
After taking it back to the boat, Nian'er happily gestured with the clothes, but Yang touched the fine stitches on the clothes and shed tears.
"Your nanny is now obsessed with you siblings. How can we repay her? She still refuses to bring her to live together."
Huo Xi caressed the clothes in her hands: "Wait two years and then take her together."
Huo Erhuai sighed: "It's not easy for your nanny. Songjiang is not far away. As soon as we have time, the whole family will go visit her."
Nian'er nodded repeatedly: "I'll go see her after I take a rest and bring her lots of things."
Huo Xi took the letter written by Ma Ma and discussed with Shen Qianzhong: "Nanny said she had ordered some cloth and food for us. How about Shopkeeper Shen go north from Songjiang? We bought cloth and food in Songjiang and went with the ship. From where?"
Shen Qiandong nodded: "Okay. It just so happens that the five large ships we ordered from the shipyard are due for delivery in the past two days. I will take three ships with me."
"good."
Two days later, five brand-new large ships were rowed to the capital by sailors and boatmen hired by Guangfeng Shui.
Huo Xi and Yang Fu took their men to load the goods on the ship.
This time, Shen Qianzhong not only went to the north to buy land and shops, but also planned to visit the market in the north. He might spend a long time there.
Huo Xi prepared a lot of things for him.
In addition to building materials such as wood, rattan, palm bamboo, bamboo skin, bamboo chips, hemp bark, hemp silk, hemp rope, lime, raw lacquer, and tung oil collected from foreigners from all over the Yangtze River, the most important ones are all kinds of cloth. and food.
Jiangnan is a major grain-producing area, with abundant grain at low prices. They successfully received a boatload of rice, glutinous rice, mung beans, soybeans, black beans and other grains.
Glutinous rice now costs one, two, four, and five yuan per stone. Among all kinds of beans, black beans are the cheapest and can be purchased for only three yuan per stone.
Mung beans are twice as expensive, followed by soybeans, which cost only three cents and five cents per stone in the countryside.
Among the grain in a ship, rice accounts for the majority, followed by black beans.
As soon as the shipment was completed, I heard that the eunuch Guan He was in Liujiagang on June 15th with a large fleet of nearly 30,000 people on an envoy to the West.
The entire capital, streets and alleys, big and small businesses, and shops are all talking about this matter.
"Boss, I'd better leave early so that I can come back and take a look at the sea trade business." Shen Qianzhong was a little anxious. Now the various businesses are ready to move.
Huo Xi nodded in agreement, and she and Yang Fu saw him off at the dock the next day.
Yang Fu watched the three half-full boats leaving the dock, feeling a little worried.
"Xi'er, we still have too few people. Shopkeeper Shen only brings these people, because he's afraid that he won't be able to support us. What if something happens again along the way... Everything else is fine, but he's afraid of being robbed by water thieves."
Huo Xi was silent. When doing business, you will encounter all kinds of things. How can everything be smooth sailing?
But he still said comfortingly: "The boats are equipped with cannons that I made for them. As long as they are more alert at night, it won't be a big problem. There should be nothing wrong with this section of Huai'an. I'm just afraid of something happening on the way to the north. The north is now It’s not peaceful either.”
Yang Fu became more and more worried after hearing this: "If we brothers and sisters bring more men on board, plus those cannons and knives provided, we can also intimidate them."
"Don't worry. I told Shopkeeper Shen to adapt to the situation. The goods in the three ships do not have to be transported to the north for sale. If he encounters big merchants along the way, he will sell them."
"As for manpower, we have no shortage of boatmen and sailors now. We can recruit them as soon as possible, and all of them are good hands. Even the people in charge are a little stretched right now."
Yang Fu nodded: "Yes. It's just that there is a shortage of people in charge. Otherwise, you can ask Master Mu to see if he has anyone who can do it."
Huo Xi was stunned for a while, then shook his head: "Forget it. Let's just use our people. I'll think of a solution for the manpower issue."
In the following days, when Shen Qianzhong was away, Huo Xi and Yang Fu almost fell over and hit the back of the head with their feet.
The two of them would occasionally go to the human teeth office to see if there was any suitable person, but there was no shortage of people who could do rough work as assistants and were literate, so it was not easy to find people who could serve as accountants.
After searching for half a month, I still haven't found the right person.
In the past half month, Huo Erhuai and Yang have successively bought six hectares of land in Huzhou, Jiaxing, Pingjiang and other places. Three hectares of good land are used to grow grain, and three hectares of medium land are used to grow mulberry and raise silkworms. .
Yang Fu followed him and signed a contract with the tenant farmers, asking those farmers who rented their own fields to provide grain and cocoon raw silk in lieu of rent.
Moreover, the part they obtained was not allowed to be sold to other grain merchants and cloth merchants, and had to be sold to the Huo family first.
Although they are restricted from selling freely, the Huo family's rent is half a percent lower than other landlords, and everyone is quite happy with it.
At this point, Huo Xi had six hectares of fields and three hectares of land.
One step closer to the goal of becoming a big landowner.
The annual output of six hectares of land, based on the yield of four shi per mu, can earn a rent of about 1,000 shi. If two crops of grain are grown, this can be doubled.
Even if we don't grow two crops of grain and only count other miscellaneous grains in the field, it is not difficult to collect two thousand dan in rent a year.
It is still unknown how many loads of raw silk can be obtained from three hectares of mulberry fields.
Once the trade routes to the north are smoothed out, and the grain harvested by one's own family plus the grain sold by traders, one only needs to transport 10,000 shi of grain to the north a year, and a profit of several thousand taels of silver can be made from selling the grain.
And it's a solid business.
Huo Xi took the land deed and felt a small sense of satisfaction in her heart.
After the eunuch Guan He led nearly 30,000 people to the Western Ocean, the imperial court successively set up shipping promotion departments in Zhejiang, Fujian, and Guangdong to be responsible for managing overseas trade.
With the opening of maritime trade routes, docks everywhere have become increasingly prosperous.
Walking on the street, you can hear everyone discussing maritime trade. Today, the maritime trade of the Wei Dynasty is mainly "tribute trade" and "private trade".
"Tribute trade" is the trade in which the imperial court allows foreign envoys to carry commercial goods with their ships, carriages and horses on the premise of paying tribute.
In the tribute trade laws of the Wei Dynasty, strict restrictions were placed on the time, routes and number of people from various countries who could come to China for tribute trade, and were issued in advance to prepare for inspection of trade qualifications.
This "collaboration" is a paper voucher and document issued by the imperial court.
With this thing, foreign envoys could enter the Wei Dynasty to conduct tribute trade.
This tribute trade is just like that year when the Huo family's ships were requisitioned to transport grain. I requisition your ship to transport grain. I don't care what kind of goods are carried on your ship, and I won't tax you. You make your own money.
Tribute trade, to put it bluntly, means that if you want to do business with the Wei Dynasty, you must pay tribute to me first. I will not charge you taxes on the goods you bring, but the court must pick them first. Of course, I will give you the payment for the goods, and it will not be in vain.
The remaining goods were picked up by the imperial court, and foreigners could carry out private trade.
As for private trade, there are no strict regulations.
As long as you legally obtain a road lead, you can conduct maritime business. The "Davidic Law" stipulates that if people go hundreds of miles away without a road lead, they will be punished as privately traveling to Guanjin.
The crime of traveling to Guanjin privately is a crime that interferes with the security of national governance. At the least, you will be slapped with a blackboard, and at the most serious, you will be detained for one to three years. But as long as you obtain legal guidance, you can come and go as you please.
So "tribute trade" and "private trade" are a bit like import trade and export trade.
There is no tax on the import trade of the Wei Dynasty, but you have to give me benefits before I let you in. And I have to pick out the things you bring first, and you can sell the leftovers to the private sector.
As for export trade, you can do whatever you want.
Since Emperor Yongkang wanted to build the city of Beiping, he also knew that it would cost a lot. The purpose of establishing the maritime ban now was to obtain economic benefits through overseas trade, to seize treasures, and to help support the court's various expenses.
Therefore, it is natural for private businessmen to actively participate in maritime trade.