choke element

In April of the ninth year of Jiading, an empty three-masted sea-going ship set off from Ganpu, the outer port east of Lin'an.

According to the outside world, this ship is going to Korea, and the head of the ship has carefully arranged the itinerary, and has prepared the needle spectrum to be submitted to the local shipyard in advance.

Because the direction at sea is identified by the stars or the compass, the sea route is called the needle road, and the special book for recording and planning the route is called the needle spectrum.

According to the plan of Zhenpu, the ship will first go to Qingyuan Mansion to load goods, then go east to Dinghai, then go north along Huangshuiyang, turn into Heishuiyang at the mouth of the Huaihe River and go straight eastward, and wait until the border of Koryo. Shandao, turned to the north, passed Wuyu and other islands, and arrived at Lichengjiang Bilan Pavilion in Dagang, Koryo.

There is no problem with the route, and no problem with the goods shipped.The cargo documents and guarantee documents issued by the dental bank half a year ago are properly kept with the ship.Counting the time, a corresponding amount of spices has been prepared in the warehouse at Qingyuan Mansion, including agarwood from Champa, and honey fragrance from Haimabal and Julan in the far southwest; A small amount of tea is also shipped with the ship.

It was obvious that everything was normal, and it was specially transcribed on the official documents, saying that this ship belonged to a newly opened shipping company, called "Shanghai Tour".The veteran officials in the shipping yard have already heard about the name of this shipping company. It is said that it was organized by many Fujian giants, and it also has influence in the northern state of Jin.

The reason why the giant merchants from Fujian came forward is because a considerable part of the Song Dynasty's trade with Korea and Japan was in the hands of Fujian, especially Quanzhou merchants.

On the one hand, Quanzhou was originally the commercial center of the South China Sea. On the other hand, in order to facilitate the management of exchanges with northern countries during the Shaoxi period, the imperial court specially issued an order: "Everyone who comes to China from Jia Gaoli to Japan or from other countries, only Qing Yuan has to accept it and send it away."

The ensuing situation was that a large number of Quanzhou businessmen flocked to carry out trade with Qingyuan Mansion as the center.

This does not stem from the business talent of Fujian people, but because Qingyuan Mansion is far away from Quanzhou, it is difficult to check in time for many dark businesses and even gray identities.

In fact, most of these Fujian tycoons were in name only, and many high-ranking households in Lin'an were just doing their own business with the help of the official certificates obtained by the Fujian maritime merchant family from the imperial court in the early years.

These giant businessmen are now united in one place to form a "Shanghai Tour", which obviously aims to use greater investment and earn more money.A large chamber of commerce of this scale cannot be restricted by the shipyard in Kanzhou City.

In the past few days, the powerful people at both ends of the market and the navy have already received orders from various sources from above. They have all received money, and they have also given the wind to the people below. This is the first ship in front of them. , Then I am afraid that there will be a tenth ship, one ship.No matter how much it is, it is in line with the law of the court, and everyone knows how to let it go!

At present, the officials of the city ship yard signed the documents sent to the city ship department of Qingyuan Prefecture in printed form, and kept a copy.

Seeing that the sail had been lifted, the old official said goodbye politely, and was about to jump off the boat hanging beside the side of the boat to leave, a young man quickly came out of the cabin, took his hand to say goodbye warmly, and clearly tucked a piece of paper under his sleeve.

This old official's status in the Shibochang is not high, but he is a subordinate of the Shibochang's Qianbo case, and he is considered the lowest level among the subordinate officials with establishments.Originally, for this kind of routine inspection, Gou Ya and Kong Mu should arrive together. If these two are lazy, the Ya Si should always accompany them.But most of these people have to pass the word from their superiors, so they simply don't show up.

The old official thought that this time his family had to be a clean and honest person, and he couldn't act like he used to be dirty, but the young man had strong hands under his sleeves, and his attitude was very firm, and he whispered: " Don't worry, master, this is a common practice, and it will happen every time in the future!"

The old official had no choice but to accept it. When the ship was far away, he took it out of his sleeve and saw that it was still the largest denomination of Sanguan.Looking up and seeing the young man leaning against the side of the boat, the old official hastily cupped his hands.

It wasn't until the boat that the old official was on was too far into the wind and waves that no one could be seen before the young man returned to the cabin.

Xuan Zeng, who had just been transferred from the position of meritorious examiner Wailang to the secretary and junior supervisor, watched his every move through the window, and couldn't help laughing at this moment: "I thought, you would also use that kind of deception to bully men at sea. The dandy of a domineering girl."

Jia Sidao raised his hands and shouted repeatedly: "Uncle Shi, why am I bullying men and women?"

He sat down comfortably on the soft couch at the other end of the cabin, and continued: "It's just that when it's time to spend money and enjoyment, you have to try to have a good time, how to be comfortable; when it's time to make money and do things, you must be down-to-earth, Some steps cannot be ignored at all.”

Xuan Zong nodded: "Well said! As expected of Jia Jichuan's child, your father and son's thoughts on this matter are really carved out of the same mold... After all, they are father and son, connected by blood!"

Jia Sidao chuckled, with a resentful expression on his face, and suddenly stopped talking.

Xuan Zong didn't say any more, but a look of satisfaction flashed in his eyes.

It turned out that Jia Sidao followed the path of Shi Kuanzhi and Xuan Zang, and joined Shi Miyuan's sect. At first, together with Yang You, he was in charge of preparing for the Huaibei New Army.Not long after, his father Jia She came to Lin'an from his hometown in Tiantai, and ran around in order to recover. Not long after, he also joined Shi Xiang's family.

Ordinarily, it is a lie to say that the father and son are both working for Shi Xianggong, but the relationship between the father and son is a bit weird.They tried their best to hide it outside, and occasionally put on a particularly loving and filial attitude, but the indifference in their bones could not be hidden from those who cared.

Li Zhixiao, the director of the Right Prime Minister's Office, investigated this specifically, and found out that Jia She was a desperate man for money, but Jia Sidao was a rich spendthrift.

He arrived in Lin'an three months earlier than Jia She. During these three months, he ate, drank, prostituted and gambled.This incident made his father, who came after him, so angry that he became dizzy. Since then, he suffered from nasal bleeding from time to time, and sought treatment from many famous doctors, but none of them got better.

Because of this heart knot, even though both father and son work for Shi Xiang, they are separated from each other and rarely see each other.

This reassured Shi Xiang himself, Xuan Zang and others.

After all, Jia She will soon be appointed as the general judge of Zhenzhou, and then he will be promoted to Huaidong, representing the minister of history and in charge of Jiangbei's finance and civil affairs.At this time, Jia Sidao took over the duties of the new army again, and the power in the hands of the father and son was a little bit greater.Only when father and son disagree is good, so there is less work on the balance of power.

And Jia Sidao was very smart, and felt that he was afraid of being jealous, so he resigned from the military soon after and started busy with the business of the Shanghai trip.

The trip to Dinghai was proposed by Jia She, and it was also negotiated between Jia She and Dinghai in the north, but after the subsequent specific matters fell into Jia Sidao's hands, the progress was faster than when his father was there.

This young man is just like his own father, both of whom are good at making money in business.In the name of Shi Xianggong, he traveled all over Huaidong, Huaixi, Jiangnan and Zhejiang in a short time, helping Xuan Zang and others to integrate the scattered merchant ships and business names under his own name, and then transferred It was incorporated into the framework of the half-built commercial firm of the Dinghai Navy in the north.

Now that the Shanghai line is in operation, the ship departing from Lin'an is not going directly to Korea at all, but will arrive at Tianjin Mansion on Dajin Zhongdu Road from Lin'an in the Song Dynasty, and then transfer to Licheng Port in Korea and return to Dajin Song.This kind of triangular trade was discovered in the second half of last year, and it was originally exclusive to the subordinate fleet of the Daikin National Navy.

Now that there is the title of "Shanghai Tour", Da Song's fleet can also participate in it.

After all, Shi Xiang's status is too high, and the people around him may not report everything truthfully.He has some understanding of the profits of maritime trade and the benefits obtained by the Dajin Guoding Navy at sea, but it is far from a comprehensive understanding, so he treats this as a small piece of fat and rewards his subordinates Xuan Zang and Xue Ji Wait for cronies.

But as the start-up of the firm was approaching, Jia Sidao specially prepared a whole set of account books for this purpose.This account book let Xuan Zang and others know how much benefit the bureaucrats of the Song Dynasty would gain if they opened up border trade channels a little bit!
Where is this little piece of fat?It was clearly a whole fat cow, a whole big pig!
If it is done properly, there can be hundreds of thousands or millions of drills every year.In comparison, what are the copper coins minted in Huainan?This week Guo Ning is not a poor ghost, he is clearly a god of wealth!
With so many benefits, if Shi Xiang's subordinates don't take them, will they easily give them up to others?I and other officials of the Song Dynasty have known a truth from the beginning of the founding of the country: good officials only get too much money!
Originally focusing on Shi Kuanzhi's side, Xuan Zeng, who focused on the Huainan new army, immediately changed course and began to pay attention to the operation of the Shanghai trip.

Not long after, Xue Ji jumped in and joined in, followed by Li Zhixiao, Liang Chengda, Zhao Rushu and others. Anyone who was allowed to participate in this matter by Minister Shi did not refuse.

And while they were busy escorting the firm, they tacitly concealed many details from Shi Xianggong, and even kicked away Jia She who was in charge of the matter at the beginning, and put the burden on Jia Sidao. .

Last month, because the southwest trade wind was approaching, a large number of merchant ships going north had to set off. Shi Xiang suddenly thought of the commercial cooperation between the two companies, and planned to appoint a special envoy to go to the north in private to meet Zhou Guogong Guo Ning. face.

The envoys sent by Zhou Guogong to the Song Dynasty have only recently been able to conduct semi-public activities, usually staying in Qingyuan Mansion.This person is a Dengzhou merchant named Zhou Keshan, without the official status of a big gold.

If Shi Xianggong wants to send someone back for a return visit, he should also find a businessman.But everyone in the prime minister's confidantes said that this matter is not trivial and cannot be entrusted to others. I have received the prime minister's kindness and I am willing to go through fire and water to repay it.

Several people argued for a long time, but in the end Xuan Zang got the job.