Chapter 1720: Desire for profit
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 work and make money every year, there is a lack of supplies. It cannot feed such a large population.”
Fang Xuanling sighed: "It is the merchants who feed 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, merchants Although it does not involve production, the circulation of goods and the exchange of needed goods can create profits and wealth, which can be used to feed the country, which is still valuable. ”
Confucian merchants are everywhere, and this has been the case since ancient times.
However, even if he still refused to admit it, seeing the Huating Town prospering because of merchants, he had to change his past attitude towards merchants.
It is wrong to say that the wealth of the world is constant. Merchants can not only create wealth in the process of commodity circulation, but 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 the huge wealth of his own Fangjiawan Wharf, he was a little confused when faced with the wealth and prosperity of Huating Town.
The truth is the truth, but it does not mean that once 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 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 the six counties of Qiantang, Yuhang, Fuyang, Yanguan, Yuqian and Wukang. The state was first established 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 Phoenix Mountain, "sixteen miles and ninety paces every 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, the three Wu cities".
South of Qiantang City, on the bank of Xiang 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, revealing a gentle and elegant tranquility. The slightest raindrops fall into the lake. , the lake water is rippling in circles, but it adds a bit of playfulness and agility...
Going downstairs, the fragrance of tea lingers, it is 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...
"Alas..."
Sighing, the middle-aged scribe put down his tea cup, 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, so our servants naturally dare not disturb your leisure time, but 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 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.
He was expelled from the "Golden Bamboo Garden" by Xiao Yu, which made him lose face. However, in the spring of this year, Wang Xue'an passed away due to illness. Shi.
There is no such thing as "no contact until life and death" among the family members. There are entangled grievances and grievances between each family, and only interests are in their eyes. Moreover, in a complicated relationship, Wang Qi's grandmother and the wife of Xiao Mao, the elder of the Xiao clan, are sisters. According to their seniority, he has to call Xiao Mao "uncle", and Xiao Mao's children The blood relationship is not far away, and they are equivalent to 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 daughter. He simply doesn't know how high the sky is! My daughter, Xiaocuo, is going to marry into a prince's palace in the future. Now the family is even planning a marriage with Fang Jun. How can she marry 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. At a young age, he was already the Minister of Military Affairs. As expected, he would officially take office after the Eastern Expedition. He would be one of the Nine Qings, and one day he would definitely be one of the Prime Ministers!
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 do he need to be sneaky to avoid business taxes now? With the name of Fang Jun's father-in-law, no matter whether he is Su Dingfang or Pei Xingjian, how dare they dare 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 himself had some talents. The name of the Langya Wang family was worthless in his eyes. , but there were also many noble families who bought into it, so he was asked to be responsible for secretly contacting various families to raise money for smuggling.
Hearing Wang Qi's arrogance at this moment, Xiao Cuo was not happy and said calmly: "Be careful in your journey. You should be cautious and not careless."
"Here."
Wang Qi hurriedly listened with lowered eyebrows and eyes, not daring to argue even a word.
But in his mind, he thought about the allusions of "sleeping on firewood and tasting courage" and "hanging from a beam to stab the buttocks". Now that the Langya Wang family was weak, they naturally couldn't stand up in front of the Xiao family. But as long as I can marry your daughter home and rely on the energy of your Xiao family to revive the family, all the patience will be 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 servants dispatched from various families. They have all been trained in water warfare, although they are not comparable to The navy soldiers are so elite, but they are more than enough to deal with ordinary pirates. The 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 is in charge of maritime trade, and the taxes are too heavy. The profits are collected in vain. It's like ruthlessly gouging out a piece of flesh and blood in the hearts of these noble families. It hurts so much that it's difficult to breathe. The smuggling move came into being. born.
However, in the past, in order to avoid patrols and arrests by the Royal Navy, everyone had to break into pieces and only dared to send small fleets 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, and take the opportunity to stop it. Super large-scale smuggling activities, make a lot of money!
To this end, each family sent out all 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...(End of Chapter)