Chapter 460: The Wonderful Journey to Kaifeng City (1)
Chapter 460 A wonderful journey to Kaifeng City (1)
Author: Uncle Long Legs
Chapter 460 A wonderful journey to Kaifeng City (1)
As the saying goes, time flies like an arrow, and the sun and moon fly like a shuttle.
In the blink of an eye, the time has arrived on April 17, the first year of Maode; more than a month has passed since the initial division of labor between Hu Biao and the others.
After passing this time, it is more scientific and there is a reasonable division of labor.
Or to put it another way, after Hu Biao went all out and exploited netizens even more crazily, everyone's work efficiency became higher after I don't know how many greasy men's heads were bald.
As time goes by, the situation here in Kaifeng City is still a bit difficult, but it is getting better day by day...
Location: On the Cai River, one of the Grand Canals leading to Kaifeng City.
Du Baojun, who was in the cabin at the time, suddenly heard the boss of the boat shouting at the top of his voice:
"Shopkeeper Du, in two more hours, we can reach Kaifeng City; it will still be early and it will not be completely dark by then."
After hearing such news, he immediately breathed a sigh of relief.
Du Baojun, a man in his thirties, looks gentle and elegant, more like a scholar than a businessman.
In fact, it is not wrong to say that he is a scholar.
He himself comes from the Huzhou area in the south of the Yangtze River, and is a direct descendant of the Du family. He has been studying in the family's private school since he was a child, and his mentors were all famous local gentlemen.
Unfortunately, his personal reading talent is limited, and compared to other brothers in the family, it is far less than that.
After seeing that there was no way out through studying, he took over many of the Du family's businesses and became the money bag of the entire Du family.
Regarding this point, it is not new at all in the Song Dynasty where commerce was extremely developed.
All in all, Du Baojun has not come to Kaifeng City for more than two years.
The reason is very simple. In more than a year, the Jin people attacked the city of Kaifeng twice. At first, the chaos was too dangerous.
After the second Jin left, hundreds of years of wealth in Kaifeng City were plundered.
These businessmen, to put it bluntly, are people who can't afford to lose money. Some people do beheading business, but absolutely no one does business at a loss.
Du Baojun drank wine and listened to music at home every day, leaning against the red and green trees. It was no better than coming to the dilapidated Kaifeng City and facing those poor ghosts.
The problem is that this situation took an astonishing change almost a month ago.
On that day, the Wu family, which privately controlled the largest salt sales in Huzhou, entertained a group of powerful wealthy families in Huzhou to have a banquet at the largest local "Qingping Building".
After the banquet was over, the head of the Wu family brought out a rare item, which amazed everyone on the spot.
There are all kinds of crystal clear cups, which are simply ingenious treasures; there is also a mirror that is the size of a palm, but can make people see every detail.
There is also a kind of soap called soap. After washing the hair and skin, it is not only clean and refreshing, but also leaves a lingering floral fragrance.
Immediately, the sensitivity of a businessman.
Du Baojun almost immediately realized the huge commercial value of the above items.
Mirrors and soaps are just dispensable things for men. They will only buy them at any price for treasures such as cups and cups.
But for all the female relatives, it is simply a natural temptation.
It is normal for men to spend a lot of money on women, so all of the above are definitely an excellent business.
The situation is indeed the same. I spent 600 yuan that day to buy a palm-sized mirror from the Wu family.
After I went back to see my wife off, my mother's family had an uncle who was appointed as the general magistrate of Huzhou. She was a very aggressive woman at home.
That night, she was very kind and gentle, not to mention deliberately flattering, and she also agreed to take him as a concubine in a certain outer room.
In this way, Du Baojun became more determined to get this business into his own hands.
Then he used some money and tricks, and finally found out the secret:
It turned out that after the Wu family heard about the new salt introduction method promulgated by the new court of Empress Maode in Kaifeng City, they immediately organized 200,000 kilograms of old grain and transported it to Kaifeng City through water transportation.
Initially, I just planned to exchange some salt and then come back from Kaifeng City immediately.
Unexpectedly, after seeing all the above-mentioned ingenious utensils in the newly established Commerce Department of the imperial court, the third son of the Wu family who led the team immediately used all the money and food he had with him to replace them with these new utensils.
Sure enough, after I came back, I sold all of them in just two or three days. The profit I made from one trip was even an astonishing 100 times.
At least fifty or sixty times more, that's definitely possible.
Driven by such a huge profit, it was natural that Du Baojun made this trip to Kaifeng City.
Even though this time he came here and did not prepare a large amount of Chen rice like the Wu family, he was still full of confidence in this group.
Because as the leader of the Du family's Huzhou cloth industry, he brought 200,000 pieces of linen and 3,000 pieces of fine silk and satin on this trip.
A person's life is nothing more than food, clothing, housing and transportation.
It is true that the city of Kaifeng is in dire straits and is short of food, but as long as the people of Kaifeng want to wear clothes, his batch of fabrics is also very useful...
I heard the boat boss outside saying that he still had two hours to reach Kaifeng City.
Du Baojun immediately couldn't sit still in the cabin, and immediately he breathed a sigh of relief and walked out of the cabin.
The main reason was that Du Baojun, who had been to Kaifeng City five or six times before, encountered such a busy situation in the canal for the first time.
I saw that in such a large canal, watercraft of all sizes were woven together.
It carries grain, wine, lacquer, leather, minerals, cloth, livestock and other goods, all of which are destined for Kaifeng City.
I guess there are smart people everywhere, who have also seen the huge wealth that Kaifeng City now contains, and are now taking action one after another.
Originally, this was nothing. The Song Dynasty was so big, and the Du family could only live in Huzhou.
But after there were more boats, the sailing speed was much slower than before. It took at least three to five days longer than before to get here.
Fortunately, it was finally almost here, and Du Baojun's anxious mood gradually relaxed.
Even standing on the bow of the boat, letting the river breeze blow against me, I was also in the mood to look at the scenery on both sides of the Cai River.
It was also under such a situation that he suddenly saw a large number of men and women working in the fields not far from the left bank.
Not to mention a large mound, there is also a huge stone tablet made of white marble on the mound.
The golden light reflected under the sunlight made the huge stone monument look extremely dazzling.
Immediately, Du Baojun couldn't help but ask: "Boss Shen, where is that place? If I remember correctly, it shouldn't have existed a few years ago, right?"
Under such a question, the captain of the ship, a man in his forties who always had a playful smile on his face when talking, suddenly became serious.
After standing up straight, he first looked at that place from a distance and respectfully bowed his hands.
Later, it was explained:
"Dare you let Shopkeeper Du know that the last time the Jin man was among the invaders, Her Majesty Queen Maode, Privy Envoy Hu and other ministers were surrounded on Cubing Mountain.
Although the Jin soldiers suffered tens of thousands of casualties, they were still unable to attack by force.
However, after a long battle, soldiers, food, medicine, etc. were all about to be used up. Fortunately, the volunteers in Kaifeng City braved the rain of golden arrows, stone cannons, etc., and forcibly swam to support Chubing Mountain. Guarded.
However, under the blockade of the Jin people, the number of volunteers who successfully supported the climb to Chubing Mountain was often not even one out of ten.
After the Jin people retreated, the soldiers and civilians in Kaifeng City had extra time to collect the corpses downstream.
According to the statistics of the leader, Ma Xianggong, a total of 11,027 volunteers came out of the city to support, but in the end only 213 people made it down the mountain alive.
In addition to the other corpses that sank to the bottom of the river and were eaten by river fish, a total of 8,356 corpses were collected.
Together with some of the clothes and hair of those volunteers who had not even their bodies in the capital, these volunteers were all buried in that mound.
On it stood a piece of white marble removed from the imperial garden, which was made into a stele.
In addition to the 10,814 names engraved on the stone tablet, there is also a line of large characters personally carried by Privy Councilor Hu Yitong: The righteous people of Kaifeng will live forever.
That is to say, today is not the first or fifteenth day of the Lunar New Year, nor is it a New Year's Day.
Otherwise, Shopkeeper Du, you can see that countless people in the city spontaneously come here to offer incense, which is probably a little more prosperous than the incense in Daxiangguo Temple."
After listening to the above statement, Du Baojun was speechless for a while.
Having been there so many times, he was certainly not unfamiliar with what the people in Kaifeng City were like.
What can I say? Even the traffickers and lackeys have the arrogance of being at the feet of the emperor and the common people in the capital of the Song Dynasty with eyes on the top of their heads.
Because the commerce here is extremely developed, it also has a strong market spirit.
However, there is no such heroic spirit.
"After the Jin invaded twice, the people in Kaifeng City have probably undergone astonishing changes."
Finally, with the same thought in mind, Du Baojun bowed respectfully to the place where tens of thousands of volunteers lived, his heart filled with unspeakable respect.
It is true that he is a profit-seeking businessman, but he has never forgotten that he is also a Song Dynasty person.
It's just that even if he has made some preparations at this moment, Kaifeng City today is already very different from what he remembered.
But compared with the actual huge changes in Kaifeng City, there are still some shortcomings...
****
Just as the ship boss expected, nearly two hours later, the fleet led by Du Baojun arrived at a dock outside Kaifeng City.
The time at this moment is already around two o'clock in the afternoon.
There is still more than an hour at most, and it is getting dark. It seems that there is no way to trade today, and we can only do it tomorrow morning.
However, Du Baojun had been living on the boat for many days, and he was already tired of living there, so he wanted to go to the city to find a tiled house to have a good time.
Unexpectedly, Du Baojun disembarked from the ship with a servant serving as a bodyguard, and several people dressed as junior officials had already hurried over.
One of the leaders started shouting loudly from a distance:
"Where are you from, what kind of goods are you carrying, and how much is the quantity? Come to us here quickly to register and pay the appropriate commercial tax."
After hearing such a statement, Du Baojun did not dare to be careless at all.
The Du family is somewhat famous in Huzhou and even on Liangzhe Road, but it is nothing here in Kaifeng City; these petty officials are not even officials, but they must not be offended casually.
After hurriedly greeting him, he said with a smile:
"My lords, please be polite. Our Du family company came from Huzhou on the Liangzhe Road. We have a fleet of 150,000 pieces of fine linen and 2,000 pieces of silk."
While talking, the guy took out a small money bag from his pocket without leaving any trace.
There was a total of ten pieces of silver worth in it, and he handed it over to the leading clerk secretly, and later whispered:
"You officials have worked hard, use this money to drink tea, and you will be rewarded later."
The reason why Du Baojun did this is actually very simple. He just hopes that after sorting out these people, he can pay less business tax to Dutijisi.
In the past, these petty officials were also happy like this, and such operations were just commonplace things.
However, this method that has been tried and tested in the past has hit a snag today.
With a straight face, the leading official pushed away the money bag in his hand and said, "What do you want to do? As an official of the imperial court, how can I accept your bribe when I have my own official salary from the imperial court?"
.
I think you should arrive in Kaifeng City at the beginning of this year, so let’s forget it this time.
If this happens again next time, I will take you back and give you a slap in the face."
Hearing the above words, Du Baojun's heart suddenly skipped a beat. How can there be a dog in this world that doesn't eat food and a cat that doesn't steal food?
It's just that these petty officials have a big appetite and don't like even ten thousand dollars.
Feeling anxious in his heart, he was already prepared for a massive hemorrhage.
What he didn't expect was that after a thorough inspection, these clerks didn't bother him at all. They complied with the tax ratio stipulated by the Song Dynasty, issued a note and prepared to leave.
But before leaving, the leading clerk said:
"I'll have someone pay the above business taxes early tomorrow. Also, remember, don't do it again next time.
According to the latest regulations of the imperial court, grain, liquor, cloth, large livestock, ore, etc. are now exclusively owned by the imperial court and can only be sold to the imperial court. The prices are absolutely very fair.
You are also very lucky. The Commerce Department happens to have a new product launch conference tomorrow, and there are many new products for sale.
I'll give you a note here. You can go to the Commerce Department tomorrow to participate, whether you want to exchange cloth for money or various products."
After hearing such a sentence, Du Baojun was no longer surprised at the thought of "dogs don't eat fish, cats don't steal fish".
While thanking me repeatedly, I had only one thought in my mind:
This time I came to Kaifeng City at the right time. Those old products were originally very profitable. If there were new and better products that I could bring back, that would be okay...
Because I am thinking about the weird-sounding new product recommendation meeting tomorrow at the Commerce Department.
Du Baojun even thought about Washe for a long time along the way, so he didn't even bother to hang out there at night.
Seeing that the sky was about to get dark, I immediately prepared to go into the city and find an inn to have a good rest before feeling energetic tomorrow.
By the way! It's best to find out what kind of Commerce Department this is and where it is.
What kind of person is in charge of this and what he likes about it.
No matter how heavy the price is, as long as the Du family gets the exclusive right to sell a certain product in Huzhou in the future, it will definitely be worth a thousand dollars.
Needless to say, Du Baojun is really a qualified businessman.
There was no problem with his vision or decision-making; the problem was that his plan to recharge his batteries and take a good rest tonight unexpectedly failed to come true.
First of all, after entering the city gate, he immediately discovered the difference in the city.
Not only is the city extremely clean, there is not a single clutter to be seen on the huge street.
A businessman who came into the city with him looked like an outsider at first sight, but he was caught by an old woman wearing red sleeves just after spitting out a mouthful of phlegm.
Not only was he fined a penny, he was also grabbed and reprimanded, saying that he should pay attention to hygiene and not spit or urinate anywhere, so as to avoid getting sick.
More importantly, Du Baojun could see that everyone in Kaifeng City, whether they were soldiers, civilians or officials.
Each one of them was walking in a hurry, even their feet were walking faster, and their faces were full of indescribable energy, and they looked very high-spirited.
It was not at all as numb as he imagined.
Secondly, while he was looking for a good inn, a child of only seven or eight years old ran up to him and said:
"Master, do you want the latest version of the Song Dynasty Times? I used to have it here, it's very complete."
After hearing this sentence, Du Baojun immediately became energetic.
It was only on his way here, and one night when he went ashore to have fun, that he learned about the 'Da Song Times', a new gadget in Kaifeng City.
The rest of the content above was just that, but one of the novels called "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" fascinated him.
The problem is that the content published in each newspaper is limited, and the content you can buy is not the latest.
Thanks to Du Baojun's careful collection, I have only seen the eighth chapter of "Wang Situ's Clever Trick, and Master Dong's Trouble in Feng Yi Pavilion" here.
Every time I think about the subsequent plot, I feel heart-wrenchingly uncomfortable.
Hearing the latest Song Dynasty Times, he immediately said: "Give me a copy of everything after the fourth chapter of The Romance of the Three Kingdoms."
In this way, a total of 450 Wen was spent.
Du Baojun bought the serialized version up to the seventeenth chapter, "Yuan Jiujiu mobilized seven armies, Cao Mengde joined three generals", a total of nine new newspapers.
Each portion only costs 50 cents, which is not expensive at all for him.
What I didn't expect was that the child still didn't leave after doing a lot of business. He glanced around secretly and said mysteriously:
"Master, do you also want the two novels "Jin Ping Mei" and "Rupu Tuan"?
It is also written by Huansheng, the master who wrote "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms". Not only is the plot extremely colorful, but there are also many illustrations painted by famous artists.
Although I don’t have it here, I can have it delivered to you for only ten coins."
Ten guan of money in Huzhou can last a poor family for a year.
But after hearing such a sentence, Du Baojun, who was as if he had been given a shot of chicken blood, didn't care whether he had money or not, and pointed to an inn not far away and said firmly:
"My surname is Du. I'm staying there tonight. You should have someone deliver it to you as soon as possible. I want both books..."
