Guo Song is no longer attending court in Xingqing Palace, but in Daming Palace, so he sets out a little earlier than usual. There is no morning court in the court, but there are morning meetings for special consultations to expand discussions on special issues, starting from the fourth grade
All the above-mentioned officials will participate, about four to five times a month. Generally, the topics will be notified two days in advance to give everyone time to prepare.
However, there is no morning consultation meeting today. Guo Song usually arrives at the Daming Palace at Chenshi, which is eight o'clock in the morning.
When Guo Song entered the official room, the tea boy Ah Qing had already served him a cup of fragrant tea.
The use of tea boys has always been a tradition in the officialdom. On the one hand, it is because it is difficult for officials to use young maids to serve tea, but officials do not like rich and wealthy men to prepare and serve tea, so it is logical to use well-behaved and clever tea boys.
The tea boy is not only responsible for serving tea, but also responsible for running errands, such as sending a message and calling someone, all of which are done by the tea boy.
"Aqing, do I have a guest?"
Guo Song's greeting card was actually up, which meant that someone was waiting to be summoned, but Guo Song couldn't remember who he was summoning this morning?
"Your Highness, this is proprietor Zhang Dad. He said he has a personal matter with you!"
Apart from his family, the only people who could come to Guo Song for private matters were Zhang Lei, Guo Ping, Ying Cai and three others, not even Li An.
He hadn't seen his senior brother for a long time. Guo Song smiled and said, "Please wait for a moment. I'll be there right away."
Guo Song took a sip of tea, flipped through the catalog of documents on the table, and then got up and went to the living room.
In the living room, Zhang Lei was also drinking tea. Of course he came here for overseas trade matters. Yesterday they signed a contract and got twenty large-scale ships. However, he was not sure, so he came here specifically to ask Guo Song today.
"Senior brother, I came here early. Is there anything urgent?"
"Hey! I have a difficult matter, and I would like to ask my junior brother for advice."
Guo Song sat down and said with a smile: "Brother, you might as well come and listen!"
"That's it. Yesterday, Lao Li and I bought a batch of sea-going ships, all worth 5,000 dan. There are twenty ships in total. In fact, we have been talking about this batch of ships for a long time. Yesterday, we saw the news that the imperial court had regained Lingnan. We hurriedly
Set the ship down."
"Is it the Liu family's ship?" Guo Song asked with a smile.
"Exactly, the garden house bought by the Liu family is next to Lao Li's house. Last month, when we were sitting together and chatting, Liu Shangdong said that he wanted to transfer a batch of sea-going ships. Lao Li and I were tempted, so we decided to buy it and form a
An ocean-going fleet."
"Senior brother, your business is now very big. You have all the wine in Chang'an in your hands. You still have so many shops, cabinet shops, and tea gardens. Now you want to go overseas. Can you handle it?"
"Junior brother, this has been a dream of mine for many years!"
"Stop it! Stop it!"
Guo Song quickly stopped him and said with a look of disdain: "Don't talk to me about this. You have too many dreams. It was your dream to marry your senior sister before. Now you want to divorce your senior sister and find another wife. It's also your dream. You
If you want to go to sea, you just want to go out and try new things. Don’t you think I don’t understand your thoughts?”
Zhang Lei's face turned red for the first time, and he said after a while: "Anyway, the ship has been bought, and it is inevitable to go to sea for trade. Please don't dampen my enthusiasm anymore."
"Okay! Now that you've decided, why are you looking for me?"
"I'm not... I don't have a clue?"
Zhang Lei blinked and said with an innocent look: "Lao Li has become a hands-off shopkeeper, and I have to make all the decisions. But I have no experience, so I just want to ask my teacher, where can I buy goods? What should I buy?"
Guo Song laughed loudly, pointed at Zhang Lei and said: "Senior brother! Stop pretending in front of me. You bought the Liu family's boat. How will you trade it? Will the Liu family not tell you? Are you looking for a market? You want me to buy you.
of overseas goods, and then let me give you some privileges. It will be more convenient for you in Guangzhou, right?"
Zhang Lei chuckled and said shamelessly: "Since you have guessed it, can you show me a clear path, senior brother?"
Guo Song smiled slightly and said: "I'm telling you to become famous! Why don't you let my eldest sister join in?"
Zhang Lei immediately slapped himself, "I'll tell Lao Li when I get back and give Sister Guo 30% of her share."
Guo Song then said calmly: "It's best to go to Nanyang to buy goods. Don't go too far. You must buy spices. They are widely used. They can be used to make rouge, powder, sachets, mix wine, make food, etc.
Incense requires good incense, and then precious wood. Don’t buy kapok. The price of this stuff is ten times that of cotton. Ordinary people won’t buy it. Rich people just use duck down and cashmere and won’t buy it either.
Don't buy any fruits if they are there, they are easy to rot. If possible, get me some rice seeds, preferably two or three crops a year."
"Junior brother, these bosses Liu have already said this. Can you say something nice? For example, the government wants all the spices and the government has bought all the timber. I like to hear these words."
Guo Song shook his head, "This can only mean that you are stupid. If the government buys your goods, how much profit do you have left?"
"Aren't I worried that the goods won't be sold?"
"You have been doing business for so many years. You have such strong capital, but you are still afraid that your goods cannot be sold? I remember that you have a five-acre shop in your hands? It is the land on Xi'anmenwai Street. You use it to
If you open a seafood store, are you afraid that no one will come to buy it?
Then you will open a branch in Guangzhou, Yangzhou, Taiyuan and Chengdu. You will not have to be exploited by the land dealers, and the price will be advantageous. Do you understand? If you want to buy spices from shops in Chang'an, they will go to you!"
"There's also taxes...can you?" Zhang Lei found it difficult to say.
In fact, this is the main purpose of Zhang Lei's visit to Guo Song. Chang'an resumed commercial tax last year. Although it is not much, which is about 5% of the value of the goods, if the value of the goods is large, especially sea goods, it is usually in
If it is more than 100,000 guan, the tax will be 5,000 guan at one time, and tens of thousands of guan in a year, so Zhang Lei wants to ask Guo Song to give him tax exemption.
Unexpectedly, Guo Song sneered and said: "You have made such a huge profit, and you still want to exploit my taxes? Let me tell you, overseas business taxes are not a penny less. If you dare to evade taxes, I will strip you and Li An of their titles!"
"
Zhang Lei stood up listlessly and said: "Okay! I'm getting ready to go to sea. See you in a few months!"
"Wait a minute!"
Guo Song stopped him and asked: "Are you going to sea?"
"I want to go out and have a look and gain some experience. Just like you said, if I go and try new things, my life will not be in vain. In addition, I plan to bring Xuanwu with me."
"Xuanwu is only fifteen years old, too young!"
Xuanwu is Yang Xuanwu, the posthumous son of Yang Yu, the fourth senior brother of Guo and Song Dynasties. Yang Yu's mother, Zhao Xuan'er, was matched by Xue Tao and remarried to Wang Yue, the commander of the inner guard. She gave birth to a son and a daughter to Wang Yue. Yang Xuanwu was given to Zhang Lei to raise.
Becoming Zhang Lei's adopted son, Zhang Lei asked famous teachers to teach him reading and martial arts since he was seven years old. Yang Xuanwu was only fifteen years old, and he grew tall and strong, with strong martial arts skills and good writing skills. He was a rare civil and martial artist.
The best of both worlds.
"It's okay. That kid just wants to go out and have a career. I can't let him go out alone, so I'll take him with me. Don't worry."
Guo Song did not object again. After all, Yang Xuanwu was Yang Yu's son. He inherited his father's character and liked to travel, but Guo Song would never let him follow his father's old path again.
"If you have anything to discuss with my eldest sister, she has a quick mind and will have better ideas on how to sell goods!" Guo Song was actually reminding Zhang Lei not to go back on what he promised.
........
Zhang Lei said goodbye and left. Guo Song returned to the room. While drinking tea, he was thinking about overseas trade. Overseas trade was very profitable. This was known to everyone, so the imperial court captured Lingnan, such as Zhang
Lei and Ang Lee, who have strong capital, immediately got involved.
Guo Song was also considering the government's participation in overseas trade. He had previously received news from Kang Bao that there were also 320 5,000-stone sea-going ships in Guangzhou, three of which were huge 20,000-stone sea-going ships, but they had been suspended for many years.
, needs a complete renovation and won't be put into use until next year.
There is no problem in spending money to repair ships, but Guo Song thinks that repairing 320 large-scale ships can be put into use next year. Guo Song thinks that the time is unrealistic. In addition, Kang Bao also mentioned navy warships and warships with a thousand stones or more.
There are more than 300 ships, which really makes Guo Song full of expectations.
Guo Song had always known that there were navy warships in Guangzhou, which was the main reason why he was eager to capture Lingnan. If the Guangzhou navy was used by a warlord like Yu Chihu, it would be much more difficult to capture Lingnan in the future. Moreover, the imperial court had water.
With the army, it will be much easier to destroy Yao Guangping in Quanzhou.
At this time, the guard reported at the door, "Pan Xiangguo and Du Xiangguo are here!"
"Invite them in!"
After a moment, Pan Liao and Du You walked in quickly. Guo Song smiled and said, "Please sit down, please!"
The two sat down, and Guo Song took a report from the Ministry of Personnel and said: "As for the Lingnan Economic Envoy, the Ministry of Personnel recommended seven candidates. Let's talk about Xue Changshou in detail."