When Huo Xi returned to Huai'an several years later, she had a different feeling in her heart.
When she was young, she transported grain to Huai'an, which solidified her idea of doing barter business between the north and the south, and started her business route.
Now when I return to Huai'an, I feel excited when I look at the dock, which is even more prosperous than before.
Nowadays, there is no need to requisition fishing boats to transport grain. Emperor Yongkang set up guard stations throughout the canal. One is to store fields so that the soldiers can be self-sufficient, and the other is to transport grain.
Every year when the grain harvest comes, grain will be delivered by transporting troops to the five major granaries in sections. Ten people will drive a boat, and each boat will carry 300 dan. Today, the transporting troops have reached hundreds of thousands, and there is no need to recruit fishermen.
Ships transport food.
Looking at the canal now, it has been opened from the north to the south, and there is an endless flow of merchant ships from the north and the south.
In addition, merchant ships from all over the Central Plains gathered in Huai'an from the Sui-Tang Canal in the west and crossed the Huai River to Huai'an.
In the canal, people transporting grain, military supplies, timber, building materials, and products from various places, as well as merchant ships and passenger boats, crowded both sides of the canal and stretched for dozens of miles.
Huo Xi ordered his two boats to dock at the dock, and took the two stewards and Tuyue ashore.
Let the two stewards, Su Zhe and Yuan Sheng, go into Guangfeng Shui's shop at the dock to check the accounts, and follow behind.
Shopkeeper Niu didn't know Huo Xi's identity, but Huo Xi would attend the year-end accounting every year, so he recognized the three people from the headquarters.
He was very enthusiastic and took three people to check the accounts, and then went into the warehouse to check the incoming and outgoing goods items and inventory.
The Huai'an store has ranked first among all stores in terms of revenue for several years, falling behind the Ningbo store last year. Shopkeeper Niu deserves the most credit for this achievement.
After checking the accounts, I saw Huo Xi going to the dock to inspect the goods, so shopkeeper Niu followed him.
Passing by Gong's shop, Huo Xi poked inside and asked the waiter. He said that the young master had not been here for a long time and that Li Neng, the manager, was not here either.
Shopkeeper Niu glanced at her and saw her mentioning the Gong family's young master and Li Neng, and said with a familiar tone: "Thanks to the Gong family's care of our shop these years, Xiao Xiao didn't even dare to come to our store."
Huo Xi knew that her shop was cared for by the Gong family, and she had sent a lot of goods to the Gong family in the past two years. "Do you send gifts to the Gong family every year?"
"Yes. I never dare to miss every festival."
Huo Xi nodded.
Guangfeng Water is headquartered in the capital. Shops in other places have to either cling to the local leader or give shares to a powerful party. Otherwise, it is actually quite difficult to do business well on someone else's territory.
Transportation and communication are inconvenient here. It takes ten days and a half or even more to send a message or write a letter. If something happens, if you want to wait for the headquarters in Beijing to solve it, the day lily will be cold.
Seeing that Gong Ziyi and Li Neng were not there, the group went to the dock to look at the goods.
There are many and miscellaneous materials shipped from all parties on the dock, and the merchants crowding the dock.
Various cereals, black beans, millet, various fruits and vegetables transported from the Central Plains, red dates, pears and cherries, garlic and ginger from Sichuan and Sichuan, medicinal materials, fungi, daylily and other dry goods from Yunnan and Guizhou, rattan ropes, Ma bamboo from the Southwest, etc.
Everything is available.
But the most abundant items are food, building materials and cloth.
Now that Peiping is building a city, all materials are being transported north through the canal.
There are hurdles, dams and gates along the way, business taxes, customs duties, and various fees.
However, the transportation of food and building materials is exempt from tolls. Special periods and special regulations are similar to the exemption of tolls for green agricultural products when crossing expressways in modern times.
It is a green channel opened to encourage merchants to transport urgently needed supplies to the north.
Therefore, most merchants mainly transport grain and building materials, with various goods in between.
Most of the two ships Huo Xi brought were filled with grain and cloth. Not to mention the crafty merchants, who could easily make some money?
A group of people were looking at the goods at the dock and saw a businessman from Jiangzhou selling the pure mud inkstones he had brought. Hearing the man selling and boasting about himself, Huo Xi also squeezed forward to take a look.
"As you all know, my inkstone began in the Han Dynasty and flourished in the Tang and Song Dynasties. It is one of the four famous inkstones. It is made from the mud that has accumulated in the Yellow River for thousands of years and is made through a special process..."
As the man spoke, he held an inkstone in each hand and struck each other.
"Look, it is strong and wear-resistant, the ink will not dry up when stored, it will not rot when it accumulates, it will not freeze in the cold, it can be ground when you breathe, it will not damage the pen, and it will not damage the hair. It is a rare thing in the world..."
Huo Xi burst into laughter.
I don't know why I heard in my ears: "Come and take a look, take a look, as long as it's ninety-nine, it's ninety-nine. If you can't buy it, you'll suffer, if you can't buy it, you can't be fooled..."
She raised the corner of her mouth and winked at Shopkeeper Niu.
Shopkeeper Niu then pushed forward and brought an inkstone over to show her.
She didn't know much about these elegant objects. But she felt that the carvings were ancient and generous, and the shapes were unique. There were some scholars nearby who were trying them on. After trying them, they all paid for them. They must be good.
Su Zhe and Yuan Sheng, the two stewards, were able to become stewards, so they were naturally well-versed in writing. They stepped forward to read and hear, and nodded to Huo Xi. Huo Xi asked them to buy a lot.
Let Shopkeeper Niu send it back to the capital on the ship next time.
There are many literati in Jiangnan, so it should be able to fetch a high price.
While walking and looking at the pier, I met another cloth merchant from the southwest.
After bargaining, he exchanged a hundred stone pepper for all the cloths in his hand. There were linen cloth, homespun cloth, cotton cloth, and two thousand pieces of Sichuan brocade. Both parties were very happy.
"Shopkeeper Niu is sending two thousand pieces of Sichuan brocade and several boxes of pure mud inkstones to the capital. I will take the linen, homespun, and cotton to Peking."
"Yes. Then do you want to sell the other one hundred stone peppers in Huai'an?"
Huo Xi thought for a moment and shook her head, "I'll take you north."
After spending one day in Huai'an, I bought a lot of local products from Huai'an and continued my journey north.
I saw a shop in Xuzhou and continued on to Jining without stopping much.
Jining is connected to Xuzhou and Huaian in the Nantang, Linqing Dezhou in the north, and directly connected to Gyeonggi. Ships arriving in Jining must lower their sails and stop, and wait for the locks to be raised and water released before they can pass.
At most every day, thousands of ships of various types stop at the port, making it the largest dock and material distribution center in Jiangbei.
Every day, the river is filled with sails and rafts like a forest, and boats are being drilled. The boatmen paddle their oars against the water and shout their trumpets. The canal is filled with hundreds of things and merchants gather, making it very lively.
Not inferior to Huai'an.
There are Gongjia shops in Xuzhou and Jining docks. The newly opened shop in Guangfengshui is thanks to the Gongjia's care. Shunshundang has made a lot of profits since its opening there.
Huo Xi followed the two stewards to see the shop, and did not intend to stay any longer. Just as she was about to continue going north, Xiangcao said that there would be heavy rain in Shenshi, and there might be wind on the river.
The two stewards had never seen Vanilla's ability, so they looked up at the sunny sky, looking at Vanilla with suspicion in their eyes.
"Is it possible that you, a girl like you, can't walk when you see the bustle and bustle of Jining?"
Vanilla snorted at them, "It's okay if you don't believe me. As long as the girl believes in me, I'll do it." After saying that, she looked at Huo Xi.
Huo Xi smiled and looked up at the sky, thinking that since there were cloth and food on the boat, it would be bad if there was a storm.
Cloth is prone to mildew, and grain is prone to sprouting when damp.
"Then we will stay in Jining for one night and set off at 9 o'clock tomorrow." Huo Xi decided.