Pei Xingjian was high-spirited, with a hint of arrogance, and continued: "The land in Huating Town is barren, mostly saline-alkali tidal flats, making it difficult to grow food. It is said that it should be extremely poor. Even though there are salt fields along the coast where people can make money every year, the lack of materials is absolutely
It cannot feed such a large population.”
Fang Xuanling sighed: "It is the merchants who support these people. We have always belittled the merchants, thinking that they are not involved in production, but only suck the marrow of the people, which is very low-level. But now it seems that is not the case. The merchants
Although it does not involve production, its circulation of goods and exchange of needed goods can create profits and wealth, which can be used to feed back to the country, so it is still valuable."
Confucian merchants are everywhere, and this has been the case since ancient times.
However, even if he still refuses to admit it, seeing the Huating Town prospering because of merchants, he has to change his past attitude towards merchants.
It is wrong to say that the wealth of the world is constant. Not only can merchants create wealth in the process of commodity circulation, but they also seem to create more wealth than farming...
In this era, this is very subversive to people's thinking.
Even though Fang Xuanling was used to seeing the huge wealth of her family's Fangjiawan Wharf, she was a little confused when faced with the prosperity of Huating Town.
The truth is the truth, but it does not mean that if you understand the truth, you can readily accept it...
*****
??As early as the 25th year of the Qin Dynasty, Qin destroyed Chu and established Qiantang County at the mouth of the Qiantang River. When the Tang Dynasty was established, the name of the country was taboo, so "Tang" was changed to "Tang".
In the ninth year of Emperor Kaihuang's reign, Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty abolished the county and turned it into a state, and the name "Hangzhou" appeared for the first time. It governed six counties: Qiantang, Yuhang, Fuyang, Yanguan, Yuqian, and Wukang. The state was initially in Yuhang, and moved to Qiantang the following year.
.In the eleventh year of the founding of the Emperor, a city was built on the foot of Fenghuang Mountain, with "ninety paces every sixteen miles on a Wednesday". This was the earliest Hangzhou city...
This place is close to the throat of the Qianjiang River. It has been a land of fish and rice since ancient times. It is prosperous and prosperous and can be called "the most beautiful place in the southeast and the three Wu cities".
South of Qiantang City, on the bank of Xianghu Lake.
A small building stands in the breeze and rain. The surrounding trees are still green. The nearby lake is as calm as a girl getting dressed, exuding a gentle and elegant tranquility. The slightest raindrops fall into the lake.
, the lake water ripples in circles, but it adds a bit of playfulness and agility...
Going downstairs, the aroma of tea lingers, it's quiet and elegant.
Four people sit opposite each other.
A middle-aged scribe drank tea leisurely, listening to the soft sound of raindrops hitting the banana leaves outside the window. He felt particularly poetic and picturesque, but the two tall and thick men in front of him really made the scenery look bad. If there were a beautiful maid cooking tea with bare hands,
Red sleeves add fragrance, that is a beautiful thing in life.
I'm in a bad mood, and even the handsome young man with his penis doesn't look so pleasing to the eye...
"well……"
Sighing, the middle-aged scribe put down his teacup, raised his eyelids, looked at the guests in front of him, and said helplessly: "The lingering autumn rain, the beautiful scenery, do you have to talk about these vulgar things that ruin the scenery?"
This man has a handsome appearance and extraordinary bearing, but his two thin lips make him look too mean and cold. Even when he smiles, he looks cold and indifferent, which makes people very uncomfortable.
Opposite him, a stout man with a beard on his face said: "Young Master is a nobleman. Naturally, our servants dare not disturb your leisure time. But right now, all the valuable goods of each family have been gathered in Qiantang, waiting to be loaded onto ships and put out to sea.
We have no choice but to come and ask the young master for a charter."
The middle-aged scribe frowned and said, "Just load the ship yourself. Everything will be done according to the previous rules. Why do we need any regulations?"
The man said: "We usually just make small fuss, we naturally know how to handle things, but yesterday when Fang Xuanling arrived at Huating Town, we wanted to load the ship and go to sea with such a big fanfare, just in case..."
"What's wrong?" The handsome young man sitting below the middle-aged scribe said disdainfully: "So what about Fang Xuanling? He is just an old man who retired from office, and he is not the auxiliary minister who ruled the world in the past. There is nothing to be afraid of.
."
This young man is none other than Wang Qi, a descendant of the Langya Wang family and Wang Xue'an's son.
When Xiao Yu was expelled from the "Golden Bamboo Garden", he was completely disgraced. But in the spring of this year, Wang Xue'an passed away due to illness, and Wang Shangfang could not live in seclusion. The Langya Wang family fell into ruin and gradually became a second-rate family, and had to rely on Xiao who was in the ascendant.
Shi.
There is no such thing as "no contact until death" among the family members. There are entangled grievances and grievances between each family, and only interests are in their eyes. And speaking of it, there are many twists and turns in the relationship. Wang Qi's grandmother and
The wife of Xiao Mao, the elder of the Xiao clan, is a sister. According to their seniority, he has to call Xiao Mao "aunt". He and Xiao Mao's children are not far apart in blood, and they are cousins...
The middle-aged scribe is Xiao Cuo, Xiao Mao's son.
Just looking at this cheap nephew in front of him, Xiao Cuo really couldn't like him.
Relying on the fact that his mother is familiar with his wife, he often goes in and out of his mansion, and he also covets his own daughter. He simply doesn’t know how high the sky is! My daughter, Xiao Cuo, will marry into the palace of a prince in the future, and now the family is even running a house.
Jun's marriage, how can I be married to someone who lives in such a poor household like you?
Who is Fang Jun?
He was one of the most famous people in the dynasty. He was already the Minister of Military Affairs at a young age. As expected, he would officially take office after the Eastern Expedition. He was one of the Nine Qings, and would definitely be one of the Prime Ministers in the future!
What's more, the Royal Navy is all under Fang Jun's control. If he marries Fang Jun, he will become his father-in-law and sell some goods overseas. Why is there a need to sneak around to avoid business taxes now? He is going against Fang Jun's father-in-law.
Regardless of whether he is Su Dingfang or Pei Xingjian, who dares to embarrass himself by borrowing their courage?
Look at you Langya Wang family again, what else is left besides a tattered shelf?
It's just that the candidates for marriage have not been announced to the outside world. Naturally, Wang Qi doesn't know about it. He is still dreaming about spring and autumn. He really wants to eat swan meat...
However, this boy made his wife like him very much. Xiao Cuo was very afraid of his wife who was quite a bit of a heroine. In addition, Wang Qi also had some talents. The name of Langya Wang family was certainly worthless in his eyes.
, but there were quite a few noble families who bought into it, so he was given the responsibility of secretly contacting various families to raise money for smuggling.
Hearing Wang Qi's arrogant words at this moment, Xiao Cuo felt unhappy and said calmly: "Be careful in your journey. A young man should be cautious and not be careless."
"Here."
Wang Qi hurriedly listened with lowered eyebrows and eyes, not daring to argue even a word.
But I was thinking about the allusions of "sleeping on fuel and tasting gall" and "hanging on the beam to stab the butt". Now that the Langya Wang family is weak, it is natural that I can't be strong in front of the Xiao family. But as long as I can marry your daughter home, I can rely on the energy of your Xiao family to revive
Menlin, all the patience is worth it.
Xiao Cuo's expression softened and he asked, "Are all the slaves and private soldiers arranged properly?"
Hearing this, the man who had never spoken said: "Young master, everything has been properly arranged. There are a total of 800 private soldiers in the family, plus slaves dispatched from various families. They have all been trained in water warfare, although they are not comparable to
The navy's soldiers are so elite, but they are more than enough to deal with ordinary pirates, and pirates with three to five hundred men will definitely be unable to come and go."
The benefits of sea trade are so great that even a wealthy family like the Lanling Xiao family is jealous of it.
It's just that Huating Town was in charge of maritime trade, and the taxes were too heavy. The profits were collected in vain. It was like ruthlessly gouging out a piece of flesh and blood in the hearts of these noble families. It was so painful that it was difficult to breathe. Therefore, smuggling came into being.
born.
However, in the past, in order to avoid the patrols and arrests of the Royal Navy, everyone had to break into pieces and only dared to send small fleets out to sea for smuggling. The scale was limited and the profits were naturally small.
Since Fang Jun was about to lead the Royal Navy to sea, the news was rushed from Guanzhong 800 miles to Jiangnan. The major families headed by the Xiao family were gearing up, planning to take advantage of the navy to go to sea and march north to attack Goguryeo.
Super large-scale smuggling activities, make a lot of money!
To this end, each family sent out their private soldiers and slaves to follow the fleet after brief training to resist possible pirates.
All the large groups of pirates on the South China Sea were wiped out by the Royal Navy. The remaining small groups of pirates found it difficult to take advantage in front of the heavily armed private soldiers and slaves of the major families. This is why the major families dared to put aside
The reason for navy smuggling...
I can make huge profits by organizing my own fleet, so why should I rely on the navy to conduct formal trade and then pay taxes on the profits?
They have been accustomed to enjoying privileges throughout the ages. Their ancestors have been exempted from taxes and taxes for generations. Now asking them to pay taxes and taxes is simply more uncomfortable than having their flesh cut off...