Great Imperial Merchant

The two of them went to the shop to arrange things first, and then they went to Qingzhi Garden together in a carriage.

Qingzhi Garden is the most famous scenic spot in Quzhou. It is adjacent to Mingchun River and Chongling Mountain.

However, Qingzhi Garden in winter also has a different scene.

When the two of them arrived, they saw red and white plum blossoms blooming all over the garden. The cobblestone path was winding and twisting, and the pond in the garden where the water from the spring river came was drawn in. The lotus on the pond was like ink, but there was a kind of withered beauty.

There are not many shops here in Qingzhiyuan, most of them are arty, such as Gu's Chaxiangju, which has the best business among them.

A three-story high-rise of the Qu family stands quietly by the pool, and the fence made of bamboo can be seen from a distance. There are some cold-resistant flowers and plants in the garden, and a glimpse of light green can be glimpsed through the gaps in the fence.

The carriage stopped at the gate of Qingzhi Garden, Cheng Weizhe got out of the carriage first, then turned around and helped Yang Zhongyuan down again.

There was a tall steward in his thirties standing guard at the door. Seeing the two of them get out of the car, he hurried forward and asked, "You two are well, but are you the boss of Fumanlou?"

Cheng Weizhe looked at him with raised eyebrows, but still nodded and answered, "It's us, I wonder if you are?"

The tall steward quickly waved his hands: "Oh, I'm the steward of Chaxiangju, but I can't be honored by the two of you. The regular tea and wine meetings are usually held by our side, and it's the first time for you to participate. If the hospitality is not good , please bear with me, both of you."

Being able to be the manager of Chaxiangju at a young age must not be a simple person. Cheng Weizhe smiled at him, and Yang Zhongyuan took over the words: "Chaxiangju is one of the best tea merchants in Daliang. When it comes to being in charge, you must be very outstanding, why can't you be honored by us."

The steward's smile became brighter, and he bent down to ask the two of them to go in: "Boss Yang, you are such a wonderful person, you are too small, please come inside."

A group of three people were about to go inside, but Xia Junran's voice came from behind: "Xiao Cheng, Zhong Yuan, you came early."

The two turned around and saw Xia Junran pulling Shang Ze down from another carriage.

"Brother Xia, Brother Shang, good day." Yang Zhongyuan said hello and waited for them to walk inside together.

"For newcomers, we naturally have to come here early, we can't ask the seniors to wait inside." Cheng Weizhe said.

Xia Junran shook his head: "It's okay, the two businesses of tea and wine are relatively peaceful in Quzhou. Everyone relies on their ability to make a living, and there are not so many twists and turns. Another thing, if there are really people with evil intentions, we I will definitely not invite you for regular meetings."

This is true, Gu Hanting and Xia Junran are quite principled people, they don't even bother to talk about the scene, and they won't let those people into their small circle.

While talking, the four of them directly entered the lobby of Chaxiangju.

The layout of Chaxiangju is quite elegant, and you feel comfortable when you first enter. Most of the tables and chairs inside are made of bamboo, and there is a wall full of books on the left side. A few sets of chess were placed, and beside the low table, there was a taller round platform with a guqin on it, presumably there was a qin player playing music here.

Cheng Weizhe and Yang Zhongyuan came here for the first time at Chaxiangju, but once they came in, they felt like their hearts calmed down, and it was a good place.

"Miao, it's really quiet here." Yang Zhongyuan sighed.

Since it was still early, there were only tea boys cleaning in the lobby at this moment, and a group of people followed the steward to the second floor, and when they turned around, they saw several tea houses.

The second floor is mostly private rooms, and the one at the end of the corridor is the largest and can accommodate a dozen or so people, so tea and wine meetings are mostly held here.

The steward saw that the two of them knew Xia Junran, so he didn't come forward to introduce him. Instead, he said: "A few distinguished guests are invited, and the younger one has gone downstairs to say hello first."

Xia Junran waved him away, and then walked inside with the two newcomers.

As soon as the four of them reached the door and were about to knock on it, the bamboo door was lightly opened from the inside. Gu Hanting was standing inside the door, smiling at them gently: "Guys, please come inside."

Xia Junran has known him since he was a child. Although he is a generation younger, his relationship has always been good. He opened his mouth and called him: "Uncle Gu is in good health recently, and you are the first to come."

Gu Hanting took half a step back, welcomed several people into the room, and pointed out the seats for Yang Zhongyuan first.

Because it is only a tea house, there are no round tables in the house, but casual seats instead.There is a log tea table in the center of the hall, and the round stools around it look very simple.There are many tables and chairs on both sides of the side, which is a good place to discuss matters.

Yang Zhongyuan also felt a little tired from walking all the way, first thanked Gu Hanting, and then sat down on the chair: "Boss Gu, good day, this is our first time here, if there are any irregularities, please point it out. "

Gu Hanting let the servant put the silver needle on it, and said with a smile: "You two children, Brother Han and I are best friends, so you can just call me Uncle Gu, what's wrong with you?"

Silver needle is a very mild tea, which can be drunk by pregnant women. Gu Hanting's gesture is quite considerate. Yang Zhongyuan and Cheng Weizhe looked at each other, knowing that he really treats him as a junior, so they called out in unison: "Uncle Gu."

This call made Gu Hanting feel a little emotional, he couldn't help but said: "Back then...forget about it, your recent green and purple bamboo shoots are quite good. I drink it with the same taste as before, but it has something different. Inside, Xiao Cheng, is this your technique?"

Upon hearing this, Cheng Weizhe quickly stood up and replied, "Uncle Gu is worthy of being everyone, you have tasted all of this."

After hearing this, Gu Hanting just shook his head, and it took him a long time to say: "I may not be able to taste other people's tea, but I have been drinking tea from Brother Han's family since I was a child, so I am very familiar with it."

That's true, although they were not there last time, Han Shiqian also told them both when they went back. Gu Hanting has known him for decades, and they know each other very well, especially the tea made by the other party's house. When it comes to Fuxiang, you can feel one, two, three, four, let alone drink it yourself.

Seeing his emotion, Cheng Weizhe hurriedly said: "Of course my skills are not as good as my master's, so Uncle Gu laughed."

Hearing what he said, Gu Hanting shook his head again: "No, everyone's tea has its own characteristics, and yours is yours. Although you have inherited the most unique flavors of the Han family, there are still your thoughts in it. Inside. Xiao Cheng, Uncle Gu will have to work harder in the future, you young people are so outstanding, I'm afraid that the business of the Gu family will not be easy in the future."

They were talking about tea here, while Xia Junran told Yang Zhongyuan who was attending this regular meeting.

It was nothing more than the other three wine merchants and four tea merchants in Quzhou, plus Fumanlou, there were a total of ten merchants present.But these ten families accounted for almost half of Quzhou.

Although the Xia family is a well-deserved imperial merchant, it is impossible for the palace to only drink their wines, and the other three families have more or less provided imperial wine, but they are not as good as the Xia family who have always been the number one, but they are also steady and steady. A resounding character.

As for the other four tea merchants, except for one that only makes the best first-class tea, most of the others are those that the common people eat.The price is not expensive, but it can be sold in large quantities. Although it can't compare to Gujia, which makes all kinds of tea, it is also a time-honored brand.

Hearing Xia Junran's simple introduction, Yang Zhongyuan felt that he had to work harder.He knew that being able to enter the Quzhou Chamber of Commerce was due to their own strength, and Xia Junran and Gu Hanting's face also played a large role.Comparing the two, they should work harder to realize the word Qushang.

A few people chatted briefly like this, and after a while, several other bosses came one after another. Cheng Weizhe and Yang Zhongyuan met with Gu Hanting one by one, gave gifts, and then sat down with them and waited. Discuss business.

Gu Hanting is the one with the highest seniority and the richest family background among the few of them. As it should be, he presides over ordinary meetings, and this time is no exception.

He first introduced the two new bosses of Fumanlou, and then said: "This year's Quzhou tea harvest is still relatively good, not bad compared with last year, and the rice harvest is also bumper, so tea and wine are not good. There is a shortage of raw materials. However, a few days ago, people from the Cao Gang came to say that the grain harvest in the north is abundant, and the tea trees are also very lush.

After finishing speaking, Gu Hanting paused, glanced at everyone's faces, and continued: "I just don't know, who wants to eat it?"

As soon as he finished speaking, there were whispers in the room.

Quzhou has a bumper harvest, and each of their stores has those stocks. This year, it is slightly more than in previous years, but it is also limited. Although they are a little bit hard, they can still make the shop turn around normally. Just send more finished goods to other places, but It will be a bit difficult to eat more.

Sure enough, a young owner in his twenties still said after thinking about it: "Boss Gu, my family shipped more this year than last year, and I really can't eat any more. I'm just afraid of the Cao Gang..."

He only said half of what he said, and didn't say the rest.

This place in Quzhou prospered because of a Mingchun River, because the Mingchun River went north to Wanxi, and it was only one step away from the imperial capital.If you take the waterway, use the fastest cargo ship to carry it up day and night, then the goods from Quzhou can reach the imperial capital within five days.But if you go by land, it will take fourteen days.

This gap of nearly ten days has contributed to the prosperity of Quzhou today.Even many fruits and vegetables unique to Quzhou can be transported to Dijing by water.Even Danluo and Zhongshui, which are farther away, can be reached within eight days.

To transport goods, it is inseparable from the Cao Gang who is in charge of Fuchuan.The Cao Gang is a very special existence in Daliang. They are not merchants, knight-errants, or officials.

Almost all merchants in Quzhou go north to the Cao Gang, and the relationship with the Cao Gang has always been very harmonious. Every three months, the general manager of the Cao Gang in Quzhou will be invited to attend the meeting, and they will discuss everything with him .

The Cao Gang also gave Qu Shang a lot of face. When the goods were in a hurry, even if they changed ships and left quickly, they would definitely deliver them.Once there is any problem during the shipment, the Cao Gang will visit the door in person, explain the cause and effect of the matter clearly, and then list all things such as compensation to the owner of the goods, and never ask the owner of the goods to lose both money and goods.

In this case, the Qu merchants also gave Cao Gang a lot of face.

For example, this time, they obviously couldn't eat more goods, but they still thought that they were afraid that the Cao Gang would have trouble handling it.

After all, if you give the Caobang face, the Caobang will give you face.

On the turbulent Mingchun River, only the Cao Gang is doing freight business, and behind the Cao Gang, there is a waterway yamen in Daliang, which is linked one by one, and one level presses the other. They can't afford to offend the Cao Gang. , and the Cao Gang can't do anything wrong.

Just like now, the harvest in the north is abundant, and tea and rice are abundant. Once the local output is rich, it will cause the price of rice, grain and tea to drop, and the farmers' hard work for a year will be in vain.In order to ensure the livelihood of the farmers, the Daliang government naturally has to transport the excess rice grain to other areas. Because of its vast territory, it is not bad every year. Here is a bumper harvest and there is drought, where there is abundance and where there is barrenness. The entire cargo can be exchanged.

At this time, the Cao Gang will take the initiative to eat the excess rice, grain and tea, so as to relieve the pressure on the government.When the canal connecting the north and the south is dug, the business will be better and things will be better.

All of you here are smart people, so they naturally know these things. Since the Cao Gang has eaten it, they will inform the merchants of the counties along the way. From Wanxi to Quzhou, this road is all the way. These rice grains have nothing to do with tea. It can be sold out directly, and there is no need to continue selling along the Shaluo River from Muze Lake.

After all, the farther the goods travel, the more costs and risks.Especially the tea leaves, which are all young leaves, will die after being left for a long time. Quzhou is already the farthest.

Seeing that everyone was silent, Gu Hanting couldn't help but sigh: "In previous years we could eat a small portion, but this year we also have a bumper harvest, and I know the market conditions of each family. If you eat more, it will be too much. Okay, everyone Don’t force yourself, if this matter doesn’t work, I will discuss it with the leader tomorrow, and I must be able to eat some, otherwise I will embarrass the Cao Gang.”

Hearing what he said, Yang Zhongyuan tugged Cheng Weizhe's sleeve secretly, but didn't speak.

Cheng Weizhe knew him well, so he naturally knew what he was thinking.They are really short of tea now, and when they are drowsy, someone will give them pillows, why not do it?

The two looked at each other, Cheng Weizhe thought about it, and then said: "Boss Gu, to be honest, our house is short of tea right now, I wonder if you are free later, can you introduce us to the manager of the Cao Gang? If This batch of tea leaves is good, we will order it."

Gu Hanting fixed his eyes on his face, and saw that he really didn't seem to be trying to be nice to them, so he smiled and said: "Okay, after a while, I'll take you to meet the people from the Cao Gang."

After he finished speaking, he stopped the whole topic, but Xia Junran who was next to him whispered next to Yang Zhongyuan: "You two are really lucky, you are convinced."

is not that right?Seeing that Fumanlou's journey was smooth and smooth, although there were occasional twists and turns, they did not stop them from moving forward.If they can stand at the top one day, they will surely create a new legend in Quzhou.

The regular meeting didn't last too long, and when all the recent big and small matters in Quzhou were discussed one by one, the meeting was broken up and everyone left.

Cheng Weizhe and Yang Zhongyuan stayed naturally, and finally sent Xia Junran and Shang Ze away, and then followed Gu Hanting to another tea room next to him: "Uncle Gu, if we order a lot, can we buy them all?"

Gu Hanting glanced at Yang Zhongyuan who was asking the question in surprise, and said, "Xiao Yang, you have a lot of ambition."

Yang Zhongyuan smiled shyly, and only said: "My family doesn't have a big tea garden, so this is a helpless move."

Instead, Gu Hanting said: "Going back more than ten years, I am the same age as you, and I don't have such courage. The younger generation is fearful, the younger generation is fearful."

Cheng Weizhe hurriedly said: "Uncle Gu praised us, we were really in a hurry this time, it just happened to happen, if we don't hurry up and settle down, we don't know when we will have to wait next time."

Gu Hanting smiled and didn't speak any more, but knocked on the bamboo door of the tea house: "Boss Zhou, I brought two newcomers to meet you."

It was very quiet inside, without even the sound of footsteps, but the bamboo door opened in the next moment, as if they knew they were already waiting outside the door.

Inside stood a strong man in Tsing Yi in his forties. He had a beard and was tall and strong. He looked like a very powerful martial artist.

The man looked very rough, but when he opened his mouth, he was very meticulous and polite: "It's the first time you meet, my surname is Zhou, please come inside quickly."

His voice was not very loud, but it was mellow and powerful. It was the first time Cheng Weizhe and Yang Zhongyuan had contact with such a person, and they felt a little more curious.

After all, Danluo is still some distance away from Wanxi, and Cheng Weizhe has never worked in the Chengjia rice shop, so naturally he has never had contact with the Cao Gang.And Yang Zhongyuan has been in the palace for more than ten years, so he doesn't even know him.

Several people came into the house, Gu Hanting first introduced them, and then said: "The two little brothers are my old friends, Brother Zhou must take care of them, I still have something to do at home, so let's go first."

The three of them sent him to the door, Gu Hanting took two steps outside, then backed up and said, "It just so happens that you are all having tea at my house, and today I invited you. Next time I have time, Xiao Cheng and Xiao Yang will invite me again." Let's go to Fumanlou and have a good meal."

With his words, his face was multiplied by ten times, and Cheng Weizhe was blocked before he could utter the words of rejection, so he could only laugh and say: "Uncle Gu will go anytime, we will definitely treat him well."

After he left, the three of them returned to the teahouse, and Cheng Weizhe naturally boiled the tea: "Boss Zhou, we are not talkative people, I would like to ask how much tea is in the hands of the Cao Gang, and what is its quality?"

Zhou listened to it without ambiguity, and said directly: "I am dissatisfied with the two of you. This year, the Northland has a bumper harvest. We have more rice than tea, but Boss Gu also said just now that you are making tea, and the rice is used for rice. It’s not too much, it’s also good that the tea can share some of it for us.”

Cheng Weizhe nodded. He actually thought that the rice at home could be sold in another way. Anyway, Fumanlou can still afford a hundred catties of rice. Even if they eat it for themselves, they may not be able to finish it.

The key is that this favor should be sold well and well.

Seeing that the faces of the two of them were calm, Zhou turned his head and couldn't help laughing: "You are also young. Although it is the first time to cooperate with you, the person introduced by Boss Gu is quite trustworthy in our Cao Gang. Tea has red green and glory. , both of these two kinds have only passed the first pass, so it’s no big deal to bring them over. I can guarantee that Dan and Green are the best in autumn, and Ronghua must be the top leaf, which is cheaper over there, plus I will give you Dan Luo the regular price for the shipping fee of our Cao Gang, and I will give you a fraction in the end depending on how much you want.

The regular price given to Dan Luo means that the Caobang took seven or eight days to transport it to Quzhou without confiscating a single copper coin, which is quite appropriate.In normal times, it is estimated that the price will increase by [-]% to [-]%.Don't pay for this part of the price increase, they are equivalent to buying the first processed tea with the regular price of Danluo tender leaves.

Cheng Weizhe and Yang Zhongyuan looked at each other, and they both saw excitement in each other's eyes.

Even if the tea leaves are more bad, they still make money.What's more, they just launched the first wave of green and purple bamboo shoots. If the new tea is served until March next year, not only will the interruption be too long, but it will also easily make the people forget the good tea taste of Fumanlou.

It's not as good as this, they gambled on the reputation of the Cao Gang, and also gave the Cao Gang a small face.I made a good impression there, and it will be much more convenient for them to transport tea to other places in the future.

Now that it's settled, let's stop talking nonsense, Yang Zhongyuan said: "Boss Zhou, tell me, how much is left of the ones that have been transported to Quzhou now?"

Zhou Baotou saw that they were still indifferent, so he admired them in his heart, and answered: "Danlu weighs 83 catties, and ten catties of it can be used as Baiting. The rest of Ronghua is about 62 catties, all of which are top leaves. , not bad."

Caobang has sold more than half of the tea leaves during this journey. No matter how good the harvest is in Quzhou, there will only be more rice. The tea depends on the tea trees, even if they grow very well, it is quite limited.

Bai Ting's mature tea costs one tael of silver, which is almost the same price as Lianzi bamboo shoots, but the young leaves are not so expensive.Ten catties only cost about 50 taels, while Dan Green is cheaper. The finished tea only sells for five or six cents a catty, and the young leaves only cost 250% of that. Calculated in this way, this batch of Dan Green costs about 600 taels.And the price of Ronghua is about the same as that of Baiting, so in the end, it will cost about [-] taels anyway.

Because they haven't seen the quality of the tea yet, let's not count how many bad leaves there are, only these are enough for them to sell in January and February of the next year, so that they can just catch up with the new tea in March.

Regardless of whether these batches are sold well or not, and whether they make money or not, they must always have tea products to make.

The two of them made a calculation like this, and they all thought it was pretty good, so Yang Zhongyuan said decisively: "Zhou Botou, we want this batch of tea. And rice, please make a list later, our Fumanlou is also a restaurant, and so is rice. I want it, but as many tea leaves as I can count.”

When Zhou Baotou heard that they wanted both tea and rice grains, he immediately smiled: "The two young bosses are young and promising, so decisive. Thank you Zhou, let's make it like this today, and tomorrow I will bring my brothers We will personally deliver the tea leaves to the two of you and send them to the tea house, how about we discuss them in detail then?"

When he talked about it in detail, he definitely didn't just talk about this batch of things, and also talked about other subsequent transactions in detail. The important thing is that both parties have passed the clear road.

No matter what Fumanlou can do in the end, even if it can solve the urgent needs of the Cao Gang this time, it will also make them remember a good word in their hearts.

For business, that is the case.