Number of romantic figures

Chapter 1501 Xin Zijuan is full of voices (2)

"You two, Mr. Weng, are too polite." Feng Ziying replied lightly, "In the past two years, the princes from the south of the Yangtze River have less time to come to the north. I went from the Imperial Academy to Yongping Mansion, and then from Yongping Mansion to Shuntian Mansion. In Jingshi City, there are many Jiangnan guild halls such as Dongting Guild Hall, Longyou Guild Hall, and Huizhou Guild Hall, but we seldom see our Jiangnan merchants performing in Gyeonggi. Are you ignoring the internal needs of our Da Zhou?”

Weng Qiming and Weng Qiyang's heart sank slightly. Although Feng Ziying seemed to be just casually joking, it might not represent the views of some bigwigs in the DPRK.

This performance in Gyeonggi is of course not to say that the merchants in Jiangnan did not do business in Gyeonggi or that their business was not good, but that the merchants in Jiangnan did not speak out for the court in the discord between the gentry in Jiangnan and the court, and did not raise their opinions in the so-called public opinion in Jiangnan. Different views and opinions.

Obviously, the imperial court is also very dissatisfied with this, maybe it is to use the mouth of Xiao Feng Xiuzhuan to beat Jiangnan merchants?
The public opinion in the south of the Yangtze River seems to be a sign of deepening discord with the imperial court. The imperial court is facing many difficulties, so it specifically opened the sea ban, and also granted the right to develop Dongfan to the merchants in the south of the Yangtze River. In the view of the Weng brothers, this is actually a sign of goodwill. However, the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River had a lot of demands on the south of the Yangtze River because of the financial difficulties of the imperial court, especially because of their great grievances in raising taxes, so they always seemed a little aggressive.

For example, in the establishment of Huaiyang Town, in the request for special tax reduction and exemption, in the number of scholars in the south of the Yangtze River, and in the six ministries of Nanjing to ask the imperial court to grant greater authority, there are more serious issues It is difficult for the imperial court to accept such high demands.

Because of this, for more than a year, the relationship between the imperial court and the Nanjing Six Ministries representing the Jiangnan gentry has continued to be tense. Although the imperial court later made some concessions, such as meeting some requirements of the Jiangnan gentry in the selection of the chief officials of the Nanjing Six Ministries, it still It is difficult to satisfy the public opinion of the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River.

The merchants in the south of the Yangtze River who were sandwiched between the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River and the imperial court were a little bit hard.

For wealthy businessmen like the Weng brothers, they actually didn't want to see the relationship between the imperial court and Jiangnan was too bad. There was still a difference between these merchants and those gentry based on the land.

Although the two have always shown signs of blurring or infiltrating each other, the gentry still based on the continuous expansion of land, and exerted influence on the local government through renting, renting tenants and farmers, and clan control, coupled with their own gentry status. , and some of them also engage in industry and commerce, but not fundamentally, but incidentally.

However, these merchants who are mainly engaged in industry and commerce are different. It can be said that spinning mills, silk farms, tea factories, pottery workshops, shipbuilding workshops, pharmaceutical workshops or fleets, warehouses, and trading houses are the foundation of their survival. Whether it is their business in the North, or outside the border wall, or in Nanyang, Japan, and North Korea, they all need a strong government to protect them. From this perspective, they are extremely reluctant to use Jiangnan as their foundation. However, the relationship between the land and the imperial court has become stalemate, which will directly affect their business in Beidi, Huguang and even overseas.

Those gentry who take the land as their foundation can ignore this, but they can’t. If they lose the Beidi and Huguang markets, and lose the asylum of overseas courts such as Korea, Japan and Nanyang, their foundation will collapse. This is absolutely impossible. Accepted, this is also the main reason why Dongting merchants, mainly the Weng brothers, must come to the capital.

The Weng brothers saw very clearly that the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River clamored to build Huaiyang Town, but they realized that without the protection of the army, 2000 Japanese pirates could land in the south of the Yangtze River unscrupulously and even drive straight in. No matter how high the public opinion in Jiangnan is in the face of the imperial army. so what?
But what about a Huaiyang town?Could it be possible to resist the imperial court and rule by rowing the river?This is a big joke.

Officials from the Nanjing Six Departments representing the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River could only wave their flags and cheer for a while.

"Your Excellency, our Dongting Chamber of Commerce has always regarded the North as our foundation. Our shops along the canal, especially in Shandong and Beizhili, have increased a lot, and the iron materials, ironware and cement in Yongping Prefecture are now flowing. It is also thanks to us that we continue to ship to Jinling, Yangzhou, Songjiang and Ningbo.”

Weng Qiyang glanced at his brother, and quickly picked up the conversation.

"Oh?" Feng Ziying glanced at Weng Qiyang. He didn't expect Wang Shaoquan and Zhuang Limin to cooperate so closely with these Dongting merchants, but he knew that Yongping Mansion's iron, iron and cement were being shipped from Yuguan to South China Sea continuously. transport.

Because iron and iron are in short supply, and the quality of iron and iron in Yongping Prefecture is higher than that produced in other places, and the price is not much higher than that in other places, so it is very popular, and cement is even more popular. Needless to say, once it was launched, the supply would be in short supply, even the Northland itself would be in great demand.

The reason for temporarily suppressing the needs of the Northland itself is also Feng Ziying's suggestion to them, first to seize the market, establish a brand image, first develop the market, and then talk about other things to meet the needs of the local market.

Due to the huge demand for cement, Wang Shaoquan and the others started to build a large cement factory in Tianjin Wei in March, which can continuously transport cement to Shandong and along the Nanzhi canal through the canal, and at the same time can go out from Dagu to Hainan through the Weihe River. Yun Jiangnan.

This suggestion was also put forward by Feng Ziying. Tianjin is located in the key pass of the capital city and is also the hub of canals and shipping. The importance of geographical location will become increasingly prominent as the steel and building materials industries in the North Zhili area begin to flourish. It is urgent to build Tianjin as soon as possible. As the governor of Shuntian Prefecture, although Tianjin Wei is under the jurisdiction of Ji Town, the Weicheng City is located at the intersection of Shuntian Prefecture and Hejian Prefecture. Once it develops, it will definitely bring great benefits to the capital.

"Mr. Weng, there is a lot of iron and cement transported from the north to the south?"

"Reporting to my lord, I dare not hide it. Before June, due to the output of Yongping Mansion and the throughput capacity of Yuguan Port, the southward transportation of iron and cement was still limited, but after June, the Tianjin Acropolis The cement workshop was completed and put into operation, and the Yuguan port was mainly changed to export iron materials and ironware, and the cement was mainly transported southward from Tianjinwei, which was divided into canal and river transport and Dagu sea transport, with a large volume of transportation. The demand for cement in Shandong, Xuzhou, Huai'an, and Yangzhou is huge, and the output of cement in Tianjin Wei can't meet it at all. The cement shipped from Dagu is often sold out in Denglai, and it has to be shipped to Suzhou, Songjiang, and Ningbo. Basically, it’s very difficult, not to mention Huguang, even if the price rises a lot, it’s still the same price but no market,..."

Speaking of this incident, the Weng brothers were also filled with emotion.

In the past, goods from the south to the north were often filled with warehouses, but it was often difficult for the cargo ships going south from the north to have enough goods. Generally, they could only be iron materials, dried dates, and chestnuts, which are local specialties, and the bulk goods were relatively small. Iron materials and ironware are also in great demand in the North, so the quantity transported to the South cannot be guaranteed.

However, the production capacity of iron materials and ironware in the north, mainly in Yongping Prefecture and Shuntian Prefecture, has greatly increased, and the emergence of cement, a new product, has suddenly increased the bulk of goods transported to the south. Moreover, iron materials, ironware and cement are heavy goods. It forms a very perfect match with the grain and cloth of Beiyun.

Therefore, since the beginning of this year, not only the number and volume of cargo ships on the canal have increased significantly, but also the number of ships transported by sea from Ningbo, Songjiang, and Jinling to Yongping, Shuntian, and Denglai has also increased sharply. Denglai is vigorously building berths, which stimulates businessmen to increase their investment in shipping.

The Dongting merchants headed by the Weng brothers were the first to discover this business opportunity, so they quickly cooperated with Shanxi merchants. Feng Ziying encouraged the transportation of grain from the south to the north. Hebei transportation, or go directly to the sea and go north by sea, and then transport lime and iron to the south.

Because of Feng Ziying's request, the merchants from Shanshan and Shanxi joined hands with Dongting merchants to directly adopt barter trade. Iron materials and cement were exchanged for rice and wheat. Of course, they were still priced in silver. It is also almost infinitely large, so the number of fleets on this route has also tripled.

This is why Feng Ziying is willing to look up to Dongting merchants and Anfu merchants, but is not satisfied with those merchants in Yangzhou and Huizhou. The Dongting merchants and Anfu merchants know that while making money, they can also actively serve the country's plans. You Yangzhou merchants Except for one stuck in the salt, what else did Huizhou merchants do besides hoarding grain?
The merchants in Shanshan and Shanxi have the same original sin. From the pre-Ming Dynasty to the present Dazhou, they have been colluding with the Mongols and the Jurchens, but now under their own guidance and "coercion and temptation", they have gradually shifted from trading merchants to industrial merchants. Steel, coal, cement, shipbuilding and other industries have all started to get involved, and they have invested a lot. It can be said that in this time and space, the eight notorious Shanxi merchants in the previous time and space have already begun to transform, started to engage in business, and have the possibility of colluding with Jianzhou Jurchen It cannot be said that there is no such thing, but the mainstream has already been held back by itself, and if a very small number of them are still persistent, then they really have no choice but to seek their own death.

"Master Weng, this is a good thing. As far as I know, Tianjin Wei's cement workshop is still being expanded, and its size will double or even triple next year. By then, the markets along the canal and along the coast will All can be greatly improved, but this needs to be established under a stable social environment without major disturbances, don’t you think so?” Feng Ziying watched the group of Dongting businessmen headed by Weng Qiming and Weng Qiyang.

　A little bit of recovery, and strive to make up for more.

　
(End of this chapter)