"Shopkeeper Shen?" Huo Xi and Yang Fu were a little surprised to see Shen Qianzhong in the shop. He really didn't think about this person. He only mentioned it yesterday and saw it today.
"Boss, I'm late back."
"It's okay. Just come back. Thank you for your hard work. Is everything going well?" Huo Xi looked him up and down and saw that except for being a little tired, everything else was fine. He felt relieved.
Shen Qiandian nodded: "It was pretty smooth when we got to Peiping. It's just that the emperor ordered people to dredge the North-South Canal, build locks, repair dams, and widen the river. The boat was moving slowly all the way. We were waiting to cross the ridge and dam. It took a lot of time and paid countless amounts of money. Fortunately, the goods we transported were all durable. Many merchant ships sold the goods halfway and never arrived in Peiping."
The canal has been dredged all the way? It seems that the emperor is very determined. He wants to use the canal to transport a large amount of food and materials to the north.
This is a good thing for businesses. If the North-South Canal is dredged and the river channel is widened, the transportation of supplies to the north will be smoother.
Shen Qianzhong handed Huo Xi a box: "Here are the house deeds, land deeds, and body deeds of several servants."
Huo Xi took it and looked through it.
Shen Qianzhong took 10,000 taels of silver and went north, buying two large shops with warehouses on the main street of Beiping City. He also bought three villages, totaling 1,050 acres, and also bought a five-story courtyard in the city. .And three servants.
There are also some deeds signed by the tenants and a deed signed by the shopkeeper.
"Ten thousand taels of silver is enough?" The land and real estate in Shuntian Mansion are quite cheap.
"The farmland in Zhuangzi costs only seven taels of silver per acre. The shops are much cheaper than those in the capital. The three shipments received a total payment of 5,600 taels. I took the initiative and invested another two thousand taels in it. I collected some from the north along the way. The remaining goods, about 1,300 taels, have been recorded in the account."
Huo Xi felt at ease. If the business suffered losses in the future, these real estate properties could be cashed in and returned to the Mu family's young master.
He said thank you to Shen Qianzhong: "Have both shops opened?"
"It's open. Although Beiping City is not as good as the capital, as a place of Longxing, its popularity is pretty good. I have recruited all the shopkeepers and accountants, and I will take the initiative to open the shop. I will put the unsold goods in the shop. , let them sell slowly."
"You arranged it well."
Once the shop is opened, it will come to life. There is no need to sit idle. Even if the cost cannot be recovered for a while, it is enough to just build a reputation. Slowly collecting some goods from the north and sending them back to the south can earn back the wages of the shopkeepers.
Unexpectedly, the house was quite cheap. The five-door courtyard only cost less than a thousand taels. Huo Xi thought that if she had money, she would buy more properties in the north.
"I think the land there is cheaper than here, so I also bought a small village of about 100 acres. It can be regarded as buying a house for Luoer in advance. In the future, if he has the ability, it would be best if he can take the imperial examination and become an official. He can't just follow his boss. If he is a clerk and has a piece of land, he will not be hungry."
"Shopkeeper Shen is quite good at planning."
Yang Fu smiled and said, "I see that Shen Luo's academic performance is often praised by his teachers. I'm afraid he can really take the imperial examination and become an official."
Shen Qianzhong smiled: "There are many talented people in the capital, and he is still among the best in his academy. I don't have high hopes. If he can do it, it will be fine. If he doesn't, as long as he works hard, he will not be hungry."
"Shen Zhang is right. If you want to be the number one scholar, how easy is it to take the imperial examination? Thousands of troops crossing the single-plank bridge don't necessarily have to crowd in. How can a person's life be anything but a living?"
Huo Xi agreed very much with Shen Qianzhong's attitude. It was not like some scholars' families in Qionghua Lane, who took the exams every year, and the whole family, or even the whole family, took the exams with them.
It's really a bit too persistent.
Shen Qianzhong agreed very much, and they chatted for a while and then talked about business matters.
"Boss, I stayed in Huai'an for a few days. I saw that the shops in Huai'an were taken care of by the Gong family, and the business was a bit more prosperous than before. Do you think we should expand our store in Huai'an, or build another shop in the city?"
"My boss, you don't know that Huai'an Pier is crowded with ships going north and south every day, carrying all kinds of goods. I also shipped a ship of goods in Huai'an, and took in a ship of linen and bamboo materials from the south to be transported to the north. , I didn’t expect it to sell very well. Huai’an is really prosperous.”
Huai'an is a transit station. The Salt Transportation Department and Water Transportation Department are both located in Huai'an. How could Huo Xi not know the importance of Huai'an business?
It's just that there are hidden dragons and crouching tigers in Huai'an. Even if Guangfeng Shui has been doing business in Huai'an for several years, it is just a familiar face. Compared with other companies, it still has little say in the matter, and it is not Guangfeng Shui's turn to pick up goods that are in short supply. .
It would be better to be like now, without showing off the mountains and water. Even if Guangfeng Water is protected by the Gong family, it has no foundation.
"Don't open the shop. Instead, we can recruit more clerks and arrange for them to guard the dock every day, buying and selling goods, and inquiring about information. If there is a lot of money in the account, we can buy another warehouse."
If you don't attract people's attention, you won't be suppressed by big companies. Just don't show off your reputation.
Shen Qianzhong felt a little pity, but still nodded in agreement.
He then listened to Huo Xi's instructions: "Take the candied pears, dates, furs and other items brought back this time and send them to the two shops in different categories. You have to tell the shopkeepers and waiters to pay attention to which ones sell best. You have to make a record. Write to the guy in Peiping to receive the goods."
"Don't worry, boss, I will make arrangements." Shen Qianye nodded in agreement.
Then he said: "By the way, boss, I met some merchants from the northwest in Huai'an who brought a lot of sulfur and pyrotechnics. Last time I heard my boss say that the foreign merchants from Japan seemed to like our sulfur and pyrotechnics. I didn't grab the sulfur from the flame sale, but I bought all the opponent's pyro and salt. There were nearly half a boat."
Sulfur, flame salt?
Last time in Songjiang, Huo Xi got to know a lot of foreign merchants through Nok, and he had a rough idea of what some foreign merchants were looking for. He knew that the Japanese liked books, sugar, medicinal materials, silk and other items from our dynasty.
Although our government has imposed a maritime ban, not all goods are allowed to be sold privately. For example, military supplies, copper and iron, and some silks with low output can only be used as rewards for officials and as gifts to neighboring countries. Private transactions are not allowed.
If people are smuggled in people and military supplies, they will be hanged. If they are smuggled in contraband, they will be punished with a hundred sticks or exiled to the army. In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, it was also forbidden to smuggle pepper, ironwood and other urgently needed supplies for the Ming Dynasty. They could only be sold by the imperial court.
For example, in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, sulfur and flame salt were clearly prohibited as contraband and were strictly prohibited from flowing into Japan and other places. However, many businessmen secretly smuggled it to Japan, earning a hundred times the profit and becoming extremely rich.
Huo Xi pondered for a moment: "Sulfur, flame, and salt are important military supplies. Even if there is no explicit regulation of these two items as contraband, we can't sell them out. No matter how huge the profit is, we can't sell them to foreign merchants."
And if there are any new regulations in place at the time of sale, I am afraid that I will be punished.