choke element

Chapter 747

Qingyuan Mansion, Lanshan Island.

Zhu Fangzhou came from Tianjin, the central capital, and the light boat went straight into the port.This young gang leader used this fast boat to carry local goods from the north to the south in previous years, such as fur and celadon.But this trip to the south, his ship did not carry any cargo that would slow it down, only enough fresh water, and after leaving the sea, it directly merged into the current going south, and then moved forward like a fish.

Zhu Fangzhou still felt that he was not enough, so he hoisted eight sails to catch the wind all the way.In fact, the southeast wind was tight in summer, and no matter how much thought was put on the sail, the speed of the boat would not be much faster, but after the whole journey, he actually snatched an extra day for him.

When the ship entered the port, Zhu Fangzhou rolled over with one hand on the side of the ship and stepped on the ground first.

He turned around and shouted: "Five days off, let everyone eat and drink well. I will pay for the wine, so I have to overdose and cause trouble!"

The sailors who had not yet had time to disembark heard the leader's order and all praised happily.

Zhu Fangzhou only waved his hands, touched the tightly wrapped letter box around his waist, and ran wildly.

A person like him who goes to sea with a fast boat is certainly not a big merchant.However, if this urgent letter is delivered, you can get a share designated to purchase special goods.The share is not much, but for Zhu Fangzhou, it is enough to make a fortune every day; after a year or so, he can just buy a new big boat.

Such a good thing was mainly due to the cooperation between Zhu Fangzhou and Zhou Keshan, a famous sea merchant in Qingyuan Mansion.

In the first two months, a group of high-ranking officials and dignitaries in the imperial court formed a partnership and privately reached an agreement with the northern Jinren to set up a Shanghai branch dedicated to north-south trade.At that time, it was Jia She and his son who had gone to Huaidong, and Zhou Keshan was the other person who was running to prepare for the establishment of the firm.

This gentleman was originally an unknown person from the sea, just like Zhu Fangzhou.But in the past two years, his financial resources and influence have suddenly expanded, and he has donated an official. Even in the Shibo Department, he is still a high-ranking official.

Behind Keshan this week, it is generally considered to be the Zhang family, a well-known local family.But Zhang Kai, an outstanding person of Zhang's generation, is just a general official in his own family. It seems that his interest is still in his official career. How can he have influence at sea?Zhang's is probably not the key.

Zhu Fangzhou reckoned that the real reason for this was probably related to the Jin Kingdom in the north.Perhaps Zhou Keshan was also the representative of a certain nobleman in the north, otherwise he would not have been using various methods to hide the truth from the court and transport a large amount of grain to the north in the past half a year.

Most of the grain smuggled to the north originally came from Zhejiang and Zhejiang provinces, but because of Zhou Keshan's efforts, some Lingnan rice has gradually been transported north this year.Lingnan has always produced rice, and it's just a matter of money per year.There is no need to specially prepare the goods. Before the big boat sets off to the north, if there are empty cabins, it will be filled, and transported to the north will bring ten times the benefits. Why not do it?

So in the last two months, some giant merchants have even begun to transport rice from Champa to Tianjin, the central capital.

Counting the time of travel, the cost is too much.But since someone did this, it proves that the nobles in the north paid a special high price for this, which can make people earn a lot of money.

Zhu Fangzhou also wanted to make a lot of money.

So he ran very fast, not only to let the officials Zhou in Li'aofang see his hospitality with their own eyes, but also let the whole Li'aofang see that I, Mr. Zhu, work for Zhou Daguan!I have news from the north to the great men above!
Not long after he rushed into the restaurant on the high side of Li'aofang, he walked out again with his chest upright, even the thick salt stains couldn't hide his flushed and smug smile.

There are always some loafers hanging around outside the restaurant, most of them are entrusted by a sea merchant to check on Zhou Keshan's movements.But at this moment, many sea merchants in silk clothes also came, because they didn't dare to enter the restaurant to disturb them, so they sat in the famous tea house called "Yi Cave Ghost" on the opposite side of the street.

Seeing Zhu Fangzhou coming out, several people waved to him at the same time: "Young man of the Zhu family, come! Come!"

Zhu Fangzhou suddenly saw the faces of several big merchants, and shrank his head subconsciously. After a while, he plucked up the courage to go over and made a bow.

"You brought the news from Tianjin Mansion in the central capital, didn't you?"

"Exactly!"

Suddenly someone yelled at the side: "This is the fourth dial. Master Xuan can really inquire in the north! He can send messages back so continuously, which shows that Zhou Daguan has also contributed a lot!"

"But Master Xuan didn't find out that Guo Ning did it, did he? Isn't Mr. Zhou busy in vain?"

"Nonsense, Duke Zhou's army is dispatched from Shandong, and Mr. Xuan is in Zhongdu, how can he know? The three letters he sent earlier all said nothing happened. It is clear that the battle situation in Xuzhou has not yet reached Zhongdu!"

"Shandong dispatched an army, how can there be no rumors in Zhongdu? Then he is useless!"

"Shut up, let's get down to business!" A burly man stopped everyone with a yell, and turned around to ask politely, "Xiaolang Zhu, what did Master Xuan say in his letter this time?"

"The central capital dispatched a large army to the south! It is said that there are a total of [-] troops, divided into two wings, to take Hebei and the famous name first, and to crush Kaifeng in one fell swoop!"

There was almost a bang in the teahouse, and everyone jumped up.

From the height of the restaurant, Zhou Keshan looked down and saw many merchants running away in a hurry. Some people accidentally mixed garlic with their feet, and their faces and hands were covered with mud. delay.

"How about it?"

Zhou Keshan looked back and said: "The fighting in the north will not only increase the demand for food for the sea merchants, but also increase the prices of iron materials, bamboo materials, glue paint, and medicinal materials. Everyone can make a lot of money. , and the number of war horses trafficked to the south may be more. In their eyes, this is a great thing!"

He is sitting at the top floor of the restaurant, where there are colorful wines and dishes on the table, and a table is worth three or five pennies.But there were only two people sitting at the table.

One is Zhang Liangpeng, who was originally promoted in eastern Zhejiang, and recently joined the coastal production department, and the other is Jia Sidao.

"When Haijia comes back, he is rich and not rich. It is extremely sad to sacrifice his life for his goods. It seems that the prime minister of chickens and forests has only won gold and not poetry!"

Hearing Zhou Keshan's words, Zhang Liangpeng snorted coldly and read two lines of poetry.

Zhou Keshan laughed loudly: "Poetry is good poetry, and it is right. But merchants are like this, let alone maritime merchants? Cough cough... I am still an old saying, blocking is unstoppable, and blocking is worse than sparse."

Before the Southern Dynasty blocked the grain trade, Zhou Keshan's influence in Qingyuan Mansion was limited, and he was almost helpless. Merchants had nothing to do against the orders of court officials.

But in just a few months, the maritime trade was not only strongly supported by the court of the Central Capital of the Jin Kingdom, but recently, nobles from the Southern Dynasty also intervened in it.Those nobles cobbled together a business firm to make money, and used various methods to escort it.As a result, the backs of the sea merchants have obviously hardened, and they have become more and more unscrupulous these days!
Zhang Liangpeng had nothing to do with them, but Zhou Keshan became a reliable person who was willing to take care of the court and share the worries of the officials.

At this time, Jia Sidao, who was sitting on the other side of the banquet, read the letter several times, got up and said, "You two, I will not accompany you. Since the situation in the north has changed, I will rush back to Xingzai and report to Shi Xianggong !"

Jia Sidao was in Qingyuan Mansion recently, but he was a celebrity walking there.

He accompanied Xuanzang to the north, and arranged latent messengers in Haizhou and other places. He also invited Zhou Keshan to come forward and bought reliable maritime merchants in Tianjin, the central capital, so Xuanzang was able to send news from the north every now and then.This is much better than the situation when the envoy was hired to go north and there was no news for several months.Therefore, there have always been rumors on the other side that Shi Xiang planned to give Jia Sidao a background so that he could be promoted in the future.

A few days ago, a military report said that Guo Ning, the ruling minister of the central capital, gathered a large army in Shandong at some time, and bought the rest of the Ding Navy, so he took advantage of the emptiness of Nanjing Road and killed Kaifeng in one go.

This situation may be beneficial to the Song Dynasty's battle situation in Huainan and other places, but Xuan Zang didn't find out at all in Zhongdu, so it was a dereliction of duty, so some people estimated that Xuan Zang would be reprimanded after returning to Zhongdu, and then Jia Sidao The Yemen Court of Qingyuan Mansion was left in the cold.

However, news came from Xuanzang that the navy will send out another army, which is very important.If it is sent to Xingxing in time, it will definitely be beneficial to the historical phase to plan strategies.

Of course, Jia Sidao, who is in charge of receiving news, is also optimistic about the market.

At this moment he got up to say goodbye, Zhang Liangpeng hurriedly sent a few steps.

Jia Sidao boarded the carriage and walked away, Zhang Liangpeng squinted his eyes for a long time.

He turned back to the top of the restaurant, and suddenly asked: "Jia Sidao and you both know the people from the north, right?"

In these words, there is a vague accusation, and it seems that there is a threat?Zhou Keshan only smiled relaxedly, and said, "Ahem, Uncle Shi, come and see."

He took Zhang Liangpeng's hand, stood beside the window lattice, and pointed to the five carriages in the alley behind the restaurant.

"Here is five thousand guan coins. In addition, there are gold beads equivalent to five thousand guan. The copper coin was left by Jia Sidao just now. It was specially designated by the Privy Council under Shi Xianggong's family. It is a gift to give to Shibo. ; The five thousand guan gold beads were brought by a ship under my name two days ago, and they were given to Shibo by Li Langzhong, a subordinate of Zhou Guogong's subordinates at the central capital's imperial court."

Zhang Liangpeng gasped, pointing at the carriage, his fingers trembling: "This, this..."

"Uncle Shi, the Central Capital has mobilized hundreds of thousands of soldiers to go south to make the navy's elite, and Kaifeng will never be able to stop it. Soon after, there will still be only one Daikin, and the single Daikin occupying the domain country, and then control such a powerful army... It is not difficult for them to get something from our Great Song Dynasty."

Zhou Keshan lowered his voice: "Instead of letting the north and the south start fighting again and relying on swords and guns to talk, it is better for the two families to be harmonious and do some business. Things at sea should be handled according to the rules of the sea. Lost, right?"

Zhang Liangpeng suddenly retreated to his seat, unable to speak for a while.

The imperial court of the Song Dynasty wanted to drive the Kingdom of Jin through trade, thereby reversing its passivity towards the Kingdom of Jin for a hundred years.However, looking at the appearance of the merchants in the Song Dynasty, watching these people scrambling to do business with the Kingdom of Jin, and inputting all the necessary actions to the Kingdom of Jin, Zhang Liangpeng only felt that a monster was bred in the vast sea, and this monster was absolutely amazing. It is beyond the control of Song Dynasty, but it is more like a tool of the Kingdom of Jin.However, the Zhongdu court's mobilization of troops won far more than half of the territory of the Jin Kingdom, and its subsequent influence will definitely penetrate deep into the Song Dynasty, causing greater and more drastic changes.

(End of this chapter)