Zhu Fangzhou came from Tianjin, the central capital, and sailed straight into the port. In previous years, the young leader used this fast boat to carry native goods from the north south, such as furs, celadon, etc. But this time he went south, his sea ship
It did not carry any cargo that would slow down the speed, but only carried enough drinking water. After leaving the sea, it merged directly into the southward ocean current and moved forward as fast as a swimming fish.
Zhu Fanzhou still felt that he was not enough, so he raised eight sails to fight for wind. In fact, the southeast wind was strong in summer, and no matter how much thought he put on the sails, the boat's speed would not be much faster. However, during the whole journey, he actually grabbed extra sails.
one day.
When the ship entered the port, Zhu Fanzhou pressed the side of the ship with one hand and turned over, stepping onto the ground first.
He turned around and shouted: "Take a five-day break and let everyone eat and drink well. I'll pay for the wine, so don't overdo it and cause trouble!"
The sailors who had not yet had time to get off the boat heard the leader's instructions and all praised him happily.
Zhu Fanzhou just waved his hand, touched the tightly wrapped letter box at his waist, and ran away.
A person like him who goes to sea with a fast ship is certainly not a large-scale merchant. However, if this urgent letter is delivered, he will get a share of the designated purchase of special goods. The share is not much, but for Zhu
As far as spinning boats are concerned, it is enough to make a fortune every day; in a year and a half, he can buy a new big boat.
Such a good thing was mainly due to the cooperation between Zhu Fanzhou and Zhou Keshan, a famous merchant in Qingyuan Prefecture.
In the past two months, a group of high-ranking officials and nobles in the imperial court formed a partnership and privately reached an agreement with the Northern Jin people to set up a Shanghai bank specifically for north-south trade. At that time, those who were busy preparing for the establishment of this trading house were in the official position of the Song Dynasty.
Above are Jia She and his son who are now in Huaidong. The other person is Zhou Keshan.
This gentleman was originally an unknown person from the sea, just like Zhu Fangzhou. But in the past two years, his financial resources and influence have expanded dramatically, and he has also donated his official position. Even in the Shipping Department, he is regarded as a high-ranking official.
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Behind this week's guest mountain is usually considered to be the famous local Zhang family. But Zhang Kai, an outstanding figure of the Zhang family, is just a general official. It seems that his interest is still in the official career, so he has no influence at sea.
?I’m afraid Zhang is not the key.
The real reason for this, Zhu Fanzhou estimated, is probably related to the Northern Jin Kingdom. Perhaps Zhou Keshan is also the representative of a noble person in the north, otherwise he would not have been through various means in the past six months.
The method was concealed from the court and a large amount of grain was transported to the north.
Most of the grain smuggled to the north originally came from Zhejiang and Zhejiang, but because of Zhoukeshan's efforts, this year gradually some Lingnan rice was transported northward. Lingnan has always produced rice, and it is just a matter of money per liter of rice all year round. There is no need to prepare goods specially, and the big boat sets off.
Before heading north, if there are any empty cabins, they will be filled up and transported to the north, and the benefits will be ten times greater. Why not?
So in the past two months, some giant merchants have even begun to transport rice from Champa to Tianjin, the central capital.
Including the time spent traveling, the cost is too much. But since someone does this, it proves that the noble people in the north paid a particularly high price for this, which can make people make a lot of money.
Zhu Fanzhou also wanted to make a lot of money.
So he ran very fast, not only to let the official Zhou in Li Aofang see his attentive attitude with his own eyes, but also to let the entire Li Aofang people see that I, Mr. Zhu, was doing things for the official Zhou! I gave it to the superior.
The big shot brings news from the north!
Not long after he rushed into the restaurant high up in Li'aofang, he walked out with his chest puffed out and his belly puffed out. Even the thick salt stains couldn't hide the red and proud smile on his face.
There are always some idle people hanging around outside the restaurant. Most of them were entrusted by some maritime merchant to check out Zhou Keshan's movements. But at this moment, many maritime merchants in silk ribbons also came.
Since they didn't dare to disturb the restaurant, they sat across the street at a famous teahouse called "Yigugui".
Seeing Zhu Fanzhou coming out, several people waved to him at the same time: "Young man from the Zhu family, come here! Come here!"
Zhu Fanzhou suddenly saw the faces of several large merchants, and subconsciously shrank his head. He was stunned for a while before he mustered up the courage to go over and bowed.
"You brought news from Zhongdu Tianjin, right?"
"Exactly!"
Someone suddenly started shouting: "This is the fourth group. Mr. Xuan is really good at asking questions in the north! He can send messages back so continuously, which shows that Zhou Daguan also contributed a lot!"
"But Mr. Xuan didn't find out that Guo Ning took action? Isn't Zhou Daguan busy in vain?"
"Nonsense, Zhou Guogong's army is dispatched from Shandong. How can I know that Mr. Xuan is in Zhongdu? The three letters he sent before said that nothing happened. It is obvious that the battle situation in Xuzhou has not been reported to Zhongdu!"
"If Shandong dispatches a large army, how can there be no news in Zhongdu? Then he is still useless!"
"Shut up, everyone, let's get down to business!" A strong man shouted to stop everyone, and turned around and asked politely: "Young man from the Zhu family, what did Master Xuan say in his letter this time?"
"Zhongdu dispatched a large army to go south! It is said that the total army is 50,000, and the troops are divided into two wings. They will take Hebei first, and they will conquer Kaifeng in one fell swoop!"
There was almost a roar in the teahouse, and everyone jumped up.
From a high place in the restaurant, Zhou Keshan looked down and saw many merchants running away in a hurry. Someone accidentally mixed garlic under his feet and fell so hard that his face and hands were all muddy. But he got up and continued running regardless, without any hesitation.
delay.
"How about it?"
Zhou Keshan looked back and said: "The army in the north is fighting. For the maritime merchants, not only the demand for food has increased greatly, but the prices of iron materials, bamboo materials, glue paint, and medicinal materials will also rise. Everyone can make a lot of money."
, and the number of war horses trafficked to the south may be even greater. In their eyes, this is a good thing!"
The seat he was in was a private seat on the top floor of the restaurant. There was a bouquet of wine and food on the table, and the table was worth three or five pieces of silver. But there were only two people sitting at the table.
One is Zhang Liangpeng, who was originally promoted from East Zhejiang and recently joined the Coastal Construction Department, and the other is Jia Sidao.
"Haijia returned rich but not rich, and it is extremely sad to sacrifice his life for goods. It seems that recently, the chicken forest prime minister only has gold but not poetry!"
After hearing Zhou Keshan's words, Zhang Liangpeng snorted coldly and read two lines of poetry.
Zhou Keshan laughed loudly: "The poem is a good poem, and it is right. But merchants are like this, let alone maritime merchants? Ahem... I still have an old saying, it is impossible to block it, and it is better to open it up than to block it."
Previously, when the Southern Dynasty blocked the grain trade, Zhou Keshan's influence in Qingyuan Mansion was limited and he was almost helpless. The merchants had nothing to do in response to the orders of imperial officials.
But in just a few months, the maritime trade was not only strongly supported by the Jin Kingdom's Zhongdu imperial court, but also recently by nobles from the Southern Dynasty. These nobles cobbled together a trading company to make money, and used various methods to protect it.
As a result, the backbone of the maritime merchants has obviously become stronger, and they have become more and more unscrupulous in recent times!
Zhang Liangpeng had nothing to do with them, but Zhou Keshan became a reliable person who was willing to think about the court and share the worries of the officials.
At this time, Jia Sidao, who was sitting on the other side of the banquet, read the letter several times, stood up and said: "You two, I will not accompany you any longer. Since the situation in the North has changed, I will rush back to Xianggong to report to Mr. Shi."
!”
Jia Sidao was in Qingyuan Mansion recently, but he was a popular person there.
He accompanied Xuan Zhen on his journey north, and arranged latent messengers in Haizhou and other places. He also asked Zhou Keshan to come forward and bribed reliable maritime merchants in Tianjin, the central capital, so that Xuan Zhen could send news from the north at regular intervals.
This is much better than the situation when the envoy went north and there was no news for several months. Therefore, there are always rumors in the industry that Shi Xiang intends to give Jia Sidao a background for future promotion.
A few days ago, there was a military report saying that Guo Ning, the ruling official in Zhongdu, had gathered troops in Shandong at some unknown time and bribed the remaining troops of Ding Haijun. He held the Nanjing Road empty and attacked Kaifeng in one fell swoop.
This situation may be beneficial to the Song Dynasty's war situation in Huainan and other places, but Xuanzhen did not notice it at all in Zhongdu, which would be dereliction of duty. So some people speculated that Xuanzhen would be reprimanded after returning to Zhongdu, and then Jia Sidao
The Yemeni court in Qingyuan Mansion was left in the cold.
However, Xuan Zhen received news from Ding Hai that he would send a large army again, which was very crucial. If sent to Xing in time, it would definitely be beneficial to the Prime Minister's planning.
Of course, Jia Sidao, who is responsible for receiving the news, is also optimistic about the market.
At this moment, he stood up to say goodbye, and Zhang Liangpeng quickly took a few steps away.
Jia Sidao got on the carriage and walked away. Zhang Liangpeng still squinted for a long time.
He turned back to the top of the restaurant and suddenly asked: "Both Jia Sidao and you recognize the people from the north, right?"
There was a vague accusation in these words, and there seemed to be a threat? Zhou Keshan just smiled relaxedly and said: "Ahem, Shibo, come and see."
He held Zhang Liangpeng's hand, stood next to Chuang Ling, and pointed at five carriages in the alley behind the restaurant.
"Here are five thousand guan of coins. In addition, there are gold beads equivalent to 5,000 guan. The copper coins were left by Jia Sidao just now. They were specially named by the Privy Council under Shi Xianggong's family to give Shibo your courtesy.
"The five thousand gold beads were brought by a ship under my name two days ago. They were given to Shibo by Li Langzhong, a minister of Duke Zhou of Zhongdu."
Zhang Liangpeng gasped and pointed at the carriage, his fingers trembling: "This, this..."
"Shibo, Zhongdu has now mobilized hundreds of thousands of troops to go south to determine the elite of the navy. Kaifeng will never be able to stop it. Soon after, there will still be only one Dajin, and the only Dajin that dominates the territory
If our country controls such a powerful army... it is actually not difficult for them to get something from our Song Dynasty."
Zhou Keshan lowered his voice: "Instead of letting the north and south fight again and talk with swords and guns, it is better for the two families to be harmonious and do some business. Things at sea should be handled according to the rules of the sea. Each court takes what it needs, and no one wants to
You suffer a loss, right?"
Zhang Liangpeng suddenly retreated to his seat and was speechless for a long time.
The court of the Song Dynasty wanted to rely on trade to drive the Kingdom of Jin, thereby reversing the past century of passivity towards the Kingdom of Jin. However, look at the appearance of the merchants of the Song Dynasty, and look at these people rushing to do business with the Kingdom of Jin, and to pay tribute to the Kingdom of Jin.
After inputting all the required actions, Zhang Liangpeng only felt that a monster was born in the vast sea, and this monster was by no means controllable by the Song Dynasty, but more like a tool of the Jin Kingdom. The Zhongdu imperial court mobilized troops this time
, what was obtained was far more than half of the territory of the Jin Kingdom, and its subsequent influence would definitely penetrate deep into the Song Dynasty, causing greater and more drastic changes.
