The guard did not answer and handed Muchuan's sign to the middle-aged man.
"Mu Shangshu, what is he doing here?
Let’s go and have a look.”
The middle-aged man said, throwing the tools in his hand to the guard, and dusted himself off. He felt that his clothes were okay, so he didn't bother to change, so he went directly to the flower hall.
In the flower hall, Muchuan and Prince Fangcheng had already had tea.
"Lord Mu, I apologize for missing my welcome from afar!"
The middle-aged man laughed loudly.
Muchuan and the others heard the sound and looked over, and saw a man in coarse cloth walking towards them.
Muchuan stood up and held his hands towards the other party.
"If you come here without permission, you will be disturbed."
Fang Cheng also stood up quickly, smiled at the other party and held his hands.
The middle-aged man responded one by one. When he saw the sitting prince, the middle-aged man was stunned.
"Is this the county prince?
Disrespect, disrespect!"
The middle-aged man smiled apologetically at the county prince and held his hands in front of him.
"Easy to say."
The prince responded with a smile and cupped his hands towards him.
"I wonder who this noble young master is?"
The middle-aged man bowed his hands towards Fang Cheng.
"I'm Yukikata!"
Fang Cheng said with a smile.
"Mr. Fang, welcome! Please have a seat, please have a seat!"
The middle-aged man invited Muchuan and Fang Cheng to sit down, then turned around and asked them to serve some good tea in his study.
"I wonder if the three of you need help today?"
The middle-aged man looked at Muchuan.
"Master Lin, it's like this. I went to the wood market a few days ago and saw a kind of Indian and Pakistani mahogany. I heard that it was purchased from you. I wonder if Master Lin has this problem?"
Muchuan asked, looking at the middle-aged man.
A slight difference flashed in the middle-aged man's eyes, and suddenly he understood something again.
"It is indeed true, but Lin is really surprised that Mr. Mu knows this name."
"Not many people in Chang'an City know the name of this kind of wood, including the few stores I sell it to.
It seems that Mr. Mu has had a lot of experience going abroad before, and he has also traveled to such far away places."
The head of the Lin family said with admiration.
He went there once himself, and the difficulties and obstacles during the journey were unimaginable. He didn't even know how he came back.
After he came back from there, he became particularly cherishing his life, and paid special attention to cultivating his moral character, so that he could live a better and longer life as much as possible.
Master Mu has gone to many more places and farther than he has gone. The difficulties during this period, even if he calculated the hardships he experienced ten times or a hundred times, they would not necessarily be comparable.
"I only learned about it accidentally, but there is a problem that I still don't understand."
"Coming from India and Pakistan, it is better to take the water route than to take the land route. But if we take the water route, there should be no ships that can travel long distances in India and Pakistan.
I wonder how Master Lin transported the wood?"
Muchuan asked.
"It turns out that Lord Mu is here for this matter.
The waterway was indeed impassable. Lin once went to India and Pakistan, surveyed the timber, and opened a trade route from India and Pakistan to Datang.
Therefore, Lin’s wood comes by land.”
The head of the Lin family did not hide anything at all and spoke very comprehensively.
"This is strange. As far as I know, the Lin family purchased a lot of wood at one time. The wood is heavy. If it were shipped, the transportation cost would be enough to raise the price, which is comparable to local redwood.
Why should the Lin family head abandon the near for the distant?"
Muchuan didn't believe it.
"Lord Mu, you don't know something. When you come from India and Pakistan, whenever you are in India and Pakistan, you have to rely on human transportation.
Lord Mu should also know about the local situation. It has to be said that it is comparable to hell on earth. As long as there is some money, there will be a bunch of people rushing to do it."
Speaking of this, the head of the Lin family was obviously a little embarrassed. After all, when he said this, everyone would think that he was not treating people well for the sake of business.
"Head of the Lin family, you don't have to be like this. You pay and they work. It's natural and natural. If you don't ask them to work, it will be the greatest torture to them."
Especially when they can obviously make money, but they are morally kidnapped by people saying "they cannot use coolies", so that they continue to live in poverty.
After all, Muchuan came from a later generation. What he said, from the perspective of the Tang Dynasty, seemed to be "unkind for the sake of wealth", but from the perspective of later generations, it was the simplest exchange of financial resources and labor under capital.
As to whether this exchange is reciprocal or not, it is difficult to define.
For example, it is difficult to use the ten taels of silver a month given to an official to pay for the labor of a laundry worker.
Because the labor advantage of the latter is not obvious, capital is eligible for significant price cuts.
In front of a bunch of poor people, the head of the Lin family obviously enjoys a capital advantage, as long as he is not harsh on labor.
Muchuan's words did not make any sense to the prince and Fang Cheng.
The two of them were once on the capital side, although the county prince is now an official.
The capital side will be more biased towards the capital side.
What's more, they are already immune to any words and deeds of Muchuan. In their eyes, Muchuan has been automatically distinguished from other officials.
But the Lin family leader was different. It was the first time he heard such a voice, and he heard it from an official who was supposed to hate merchants!
"Yes, is that so?
Master Mu, don’t you think Mr. Lin is unkind because of his wealth?”
The head of the Lin family, who was very cheerful just now, actually felt a little unnatural at this moment.
"Does the head of the Lin family treat them harshly?
Are they often beaten and scolded so that they cannot work?
Or withhold wages?"
Muchuan asked.
"No! Although I, Lin, give me a small amount of money, I will never do such a thing!"
When the head of the Lin family heard Muchuan's words, he would rather expose his shortcomings than take the blame.
"That's right. The settlement wages are low because of the local environment.
To be honest, the head of the Lin family said that as long as you pay as much wages as in Chang'an City, your wood may not be able to be transported out of India and Pakistan.
Because you have destroyed the local labor value market, other capital, that is, other wealthy people, can no longer hire labor with the original wages."
"When the time comes, the strong dragon cannot defeat the local snake, and the Lin family leader will definitely suffer."
The head of the Lin family was immersed in Muchuan's words and could not come back to his senses for a long time. In other words, there was no need for him to dare not mention it to others every time?
Is this actually normal?
The head of the Lin family suddenly felt that his back was straightened.
Fang Cheng heard a lot of truths. Although he couldn't follow Muchuan's thinking, he probably understood that giving less money does not necessarily mean that the businessman has a bad heart. It may also be forced by the situation.
Only the county king raised his eyebrows and glanced at Muchuan when he heard "A strong dragon cannot defeat a local snake". Unfortunately, Muchuan did not realize what he said was a treasonous thing.
However, after some discussion, Muchuan was convinced that the head of the Lin family was indeed telling the truth and that he was indeed traveling by land.
Muchuan confirmed this, a little disappointed, but more happy.
As long as no country could build an ocean-going ship, the Tang Dynasty still had hope of sailing to America and had the qualifications to dominate the world.
