In the years of ancient traders

"Master."

"The owner is here."

"Hello, my boss."

Song Shu walked through the paper-making workshop, and the green-cutting workers stopped their knives to peel bamboo skins and said hello to him.A white worker in the same workshop threw the peeled white bamboo tube to the big stone pier. Seeing that the bamboo tube was broken into several pieces, he turned his head to say hello to him in a good mood.

There are more than 20 workers in the paper workshop, most of them are from other villages, and many of them come from other townships and counties, and their homes are far away.

They all came here to look for work after hearing the words of hawkers from Xianghe Village who went to various places. Most of their hometowns have no way to make money, so they cherish this job very much and work very hard.

Most of the paper sold outside is hemp paper, made of hemp and ramie, and some are Caihou paper made of rags and fishing nets.Both hemp and ramie need to be planted carefully to obtain them. They are also good clothing materials, which are very precious, and the paper they are made from is also expensive.To put it bluntly, Caihou paper is made of rags, but although rags are cheap, they are not available every day, and the output is extremely unstable.

Song Shu made bamboo paper and mulberry paper.

The bamboo used for bamboo paper comes from the mountains behind Xianghe Village, where there are large patches of Moso bamboo, which grows fast, and when one stump is cut off, another stubble will immediately grow again, and the supply is endless.In addition, the mulberry bark comes from wood collected cheaply from Sangyuan Village. The wood has become the tables and chairs of the hot pot restaurant, and the bark is made into paper.

The raw materials are cheap and the output is large. The price of Song Shu's paper is very high, but there are too few literate people in the local area, so the demand is not large.

After being busy in the hot pot restaurant when it first opened, and getting the sweet potatoes and hops done, Song Shu began to consider the sale of bamboo paper.

After Yan Zhuo's class in the evening, Pang Liulang saw Song Shu coming from a distance and greeted him proactively.

Song Shu was followed by Shi Sanlang, and he was also familiar with him.

"Song Silang, where are you going?"

"I'm not going anywhere, I was looking for you." Song Shu said.

Pang Liulang was flattered: "What is Song Silang looking for from me?"

"It's nothing serious, I just wanted to ask you, are you interested in doing business in Hengzhou City?" Song Shu said.

Hengzhou is the head of the Yicheng Seven States, the main station of the Yicheng Army, and the seat of the Jiedu Envoy.

Jiedushi Yin Rong has [-] infantry and [-] horses under his command, the most Jiedushi in the world.After he was granted the title of Jiedushi, he revised the laws and regulations in the territory, cultivated his health, repaired his military armor, and recruited talents. Many people said that he had the heart to replace him.

Whether there is or not, it is an indisputable fact that Hengzhou City is several times more prosperous than before under Yin Rong's rule.

Pang Liulang was born in an ordinary village. Although he has a flexible mind, has done a lot of business, and traveled to many places, he never thought of doing business in Hengzhou.He was stunned for a while: "Song Silang, are you joking?"

"Of course." Song Shu had been thinking about this for a few days.

His paper is not widely sold in Datu County, but it may not be possible to take it to Hengzhou City.More than [-]% of the big families and scholars from the seven prefectures of Yicheng gather there. If it is not easy to sell there, then there will be no place to sell paper in Yicheng.

This matter needs to be handled by a reliable person.Shi Sanlang once went to Datu County and its surroundings to build fire walls and kangs, and he had wandered with Guo Boss for a long time. He had some knowledge and no worries, so he was a good candidate.However, one person is not enough. After thinking about it, Song Shu should find another helper who is more proficient in business. After looking around, he fell in love with Pang Liulang.

Pang Liulang is the only one among so many hawkers who is willing to take time to attend classes every day. It can be seen that his ambition is different from that of ordinary hawkers, and he has a flexible mind, which can be seen in the silk being traded.

The only question is whether he is willing to go through this or not.

"Of course! Of course I am willing! Can I really do it? Song Silang, you can't lie to me!" After being stunned at the beginning, Pang Liulang was already a little incoherent.

Hengzhou City, does anyone who does business in Yicheng not want to go?

There is no need for guides in Yicheng territory. In principle, everyone can go, but such a long road, any accidents may happen on the road, Pang Liulang definitely dare not go on the road alone.If it's with Shi Sanlang, it's okay.

Song Shu prepared two mules and a cart for the two of them. The paper didn't take up much space, and a lot of paper could fit in one cart.

It took a whole day to walk from Xianghe Village to Datu County and then to Hengzhou City. Pang Liulang and Shi Sanlang set off at dawn the next day.

Sending them off, Song Shu went back, but saw that Song Anan, who had been elusive recently, was also going home, so he stopped him.

"Where have you been a few days ago?" Song Shu asked, he pulled Yuan Sanlang and others to plant hops, Song Anan didn't even show half of his face.He went to the paper shop, the silk quilt shop, and the steamed bun and soybean oil shop to look for someone, but Song Anan was nowhere to be seen.

If he hadn't known to come back to sleep at night, Song Shu would have thought he had gone home again.

"No." Song Anan stopped, expressionless.

"Nothing? I haven't seen anyone for a few days, and I go to bed at night when I get back to the house. Tell me honestly, what did you do?" Song Shulan stood at the door of the main house, preventing Song Anan from entering. Song Anan turned around and went to the kitchen again.

I don't know if it has become more flexible after planting for a few days, but Song Shu actually rushed ahead of Song Anan and blocked the door of the kitchen again.

"In the past, even if a bug entered the house, you couldn't hide it from you. Yesterday, there were fewer millet seeds and wheat seeds in the house. Do you know?" Song Shu asked.Because of Song Anan's presence, Song Shu is not afraid of putting valuables at home. The former Liu Dalang was an example, but early this morning he found that the grain storage tank behind had been tampered with. When he opened it, it was indeed missing. .

Not much, about the amount of two cloth bags.But it was enough to see that something was wrong with Song Anan.

Those grains were nothing to Song Shu, but Song Anan was so abnormal that he was very worried.Anyway, he is the younger brother in name, and he is in puberty, and he doesn't like to talk. If he has some psychological problems and hasn't been counseled in time, it's not good to be bored and sick.

"Practice." Song Anan didn't dare to entangle any more, turned around and kicked his feet, used lightness kung fu in broad daylight for the first time, swished twice, jumped up to the roof and disappeared.

"That was Anan just now?" Someone happened to pass by and thought he was dazzled.

Song Shu was noncommittal, there must be something wrong with this kid.

At noon the next day, Pang Liulang and Shi Sanlang finally entered Hengzhou City.

They were selling paper for the first time, and they didn't know how to set the price. Pang Liulang went to Hengzhou's most famous Yi'an Paper Shop for a while, and was ridiculed secretly by Xiao Erming, and finally figured out the price of the paper.

"The same paper that is three feet long and two feet wide sells thirty yuan there." Pang Liulang said, "The little boy's eyes are almost growing to the top of his head, as if this paper workshop belongs to his family." Shi Sanlang saw He didn't feel at ease when there was too much warmth and coldness in the world. He knew that Pang Liulang was just talking about it.

"Brother Shi, let's go there at that street corner." Sure enough, Pang Liulang forgot when he turned his head, and concentrated on finding a place to set up a stall.

Sure enough, Pang Liulang had a good eye, and he found a lively and good location at a glance.

"Toujia, how do you sell this paper?" After a while, several young scholars gathered together.They are not from everyone's background, so far in official career, the cost of this paper is huge, if you can save it, you can save it. It is rare to meet a small vendor selling paper today, so they immediately went up to ask.

"Guest officer, a large sheet of 24 papers." Pang Liulang said.

Several scholars exchanged glances, this is much cheaper than Yi'an Zhifang.But they are well versed in the way of bargaining, and they don't show it on the surface, but they are disgusted: "Your paper is not smooth, you can only barely write, how about a big sheet of twelve characters?"

"Guest officer, you are just joking. My paper is smooth and tough, much better than Yi'an Zhifang Yeye. They can sell thirty coins, why can I only sell twelve coins?" Pang Liulang Pat the ashes that are not on the paper.

Several young scholars wanted to bargain, but Pang Liulang was wronged. For a moment, he felt that his actions were too shameless, as if he wanted to take advantage of others, and he was speechless.

Pang Liulang didn't just let others hang out like this, making people feel guilty for a while, and then said: "Guest officer, don't worry, although my place is a small stall, the food is good. You can see that there is a red stamp on it. How about In this way, you are the first business we open today, and I will give you a loss price of 22 Wen. I bought this paper at a high price, and I only earn travel expenses."

With such ups and downs, several scholars are thin-skinned, and it is not easy to bargain. The price of 22 Wen is already extremely low, so I immediately took out the money and bought half a dozen for each person.

"Little brother, how do you sell this paper?" Just as the scholars left, a well-dressed middle-aged man came up and asked.Behind him was a servant who looked like a rich man, wearing a low-key cotton and linen robe.

"A piece of 24 papers, master, how much do you want, I will wrap it up for you." Pang Liulang said enthusiastically, with a different expression from when he faced the scholar just now.Shi Sanlang is an honest man, watching from the sidelines, amazed.

"Housekeeper, most of the paper in this small stall is made of broken fishing nets. If you buy it back, you will be disgusted by the young master." The servant reminded in a low voice.

Pang Liulang pointed his ears, and immediately said: "Look, master, our paper is smooth and tough, so it's easy to write on." He picked up a piece of paper and displayed it in the sun.

The man known as the butler took it: "Sure enough, it is smooth and tough." He has seen many good things in the Xie Mansion for many years, so he naturally knows that this paper is by no means as ugly as the boy said.

Their Xie Mansion has always been a big customer of Yi'an Paper Workshop, and they have to spend a lot on paper every month.Recently, the master told him to cut down his expenses, so he took his servant out for a stroll, to know the price of goods in Hengzhou City himself, and find a way to cut down on expenditure.

If you change the paper in the house to this kind, you can save a lot.

It's just that this small stall will be gone tomorrow, but it's not a long-term solution.Housekeeper Xie found the red stamp on the lower right corner of the paper. This small stall is the same as Yi'an Zhifang, and it is stamped with a red stamp according to the rules, indicating where the paper came from.

"Datu County, Song's Paper Workshop."

The Song family, Housekeeper Xie thought about it for a while, but he didn't think of any big family with Song as the surname.

The method of papermaking has always been monopolized in the hands of wealthy families, and those small households do not need such a luxury as paper, just like the Yi'an Paper Workshop in Hengzhou City, behind it is the Qingzhou Zhonghua Army Jiedu envoy Li Youhe. Li's family, the paper business in Yicheng Seven States, including the two adjacent Jiedushi territories, is probably his family's.

"Housekeeper, Miss seems to be in Datu County recently." The boy said, he heard this morning from the cleaning maid in Miss's yard.The young lady of their family has lived in that remote county for nearly half a month, and she has no intention of coming back at all, which makes the master and wife very angry, but she is the grandfather's favorite of the Minister of Rites, and she knows that her precious granddaughter is playing outside, so she sent her to A lot of money and silk playthings, for fear that she will be wronged.

After such a reminder, Butler Xie remembered the so-called Song family.

"May I ask your Excellency, is the Song family the paper workshop of Song Silang?"

"Exactly, since the guest officer knows my boss, he must also know that all his things are good. You can buy this paper with confidence, it will never be worse than that hemp paper." Pang Liulang patted his chest and said.

Housekeeper Xie had indeed heard a little about Song Shu's affairs. A few days ago, he sent a lot of farming frames, and several villages on the outskirts of Hengzhou also received them. They also bought a few frames in the village of Xie Mansion, which are very useful.

There are rumors that the son of the Yan family in Cangzhou was also there, and some people even uttered wild rumors that they saw the youngest son of the Jiedushi there.

Yin Min, the youngest son of Yin Jiedushi, has been away for several years. Every year, one or two hundred people claim to see him in a certain place, but they just want to get close to Jiedushi's mansion. After being teased a few times , Yin Jiedushi has long ignored these rumors.

Regardless of Yin Min and Yan Zhuo, the daughters of the Xie Mansion are indeed lingering in the Song family's restaurant.

Speaking of the Songji hot pot restaurant that made their house uneasy, Housekeeper Xie didn't show any kindness, but the paper from Song's Paper Workshop is really affordable, and I heard that Song Shu is a kind and steady person. It seems that there is nothing wrong with Song's paper shop buying paper.

"Guest officer, you can see that Yi'an Paper Shop sells 24 Wen for a large sheet, and I only have [-] here, and a piece of paper can save [-] Wen. Two sheets are [-] Wen, and ten sheets are [-] Wen. You You can understand poetry and books at a glance, you have to use thirty or fifty sheets every month, you buy my paper, you can easily save three or four hundred Wen, do you think it is worthwhile?" Pang Liu Lang yelled, and he could express a sense of excitement when he spoke alone. He was so calculated and settled, which attracted many people to watch.

Among the onlookers, there were people who read books at home, or some merchants who needed to keep accounts. When they heard that the paper was cheaper than Yi'an Zhifang, and it looked smooth and tough, they all paid for it.

This half dozen, that one dozen, add up, and the stacks of papers that were neatly piled up on the car soon had gaps.

Butler Xie was also a sensible person. He listened to Pang Liulang finish the calculation with a smile, lowered the price slightly, and bought a thousand copies in one go.There are dozens of people in Xie's family. The host family needs to read and write, and they are housekeepers and accountants who also need to keep accounts. There is only a lot of space for paper.

Later, people from other residences also found out about this, and when they heard that Housekeeper Xie had already done it, they didn't worry about the paper and sent people to buy a lot of it.

But in a day's work, the paper on Pang Liulang and Shi Sanlang's car has been reduced by half. Now there are two sacks where the paper was piled up. Inside are copper coins strung with straw ropes, which are nearly a hundred coins. many.

Pang Liulang reached in and dialed, and the copper coins collided with each other, making a crisp sound.

It's really beautiful.

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