In April of the ninth year of Jiading, an empty three-masted seagoing ship will set off from Ganpu, an outer port east of Lin'an.
According to external reports, this ship was going to Korea. The captain on the ship arranged the itinerary very carefully and prepared a schedule to submit to the local shipping market in advance.
Because the direction at sea is determined either by the stars or the compass, the sea route is called the needle route, and the special book that records and plans the route is called the needle map.
According to Zhenpu's plan, the ship on this trip will first go to Qingyuan Prefecture to load goods, then go east to Dinghai, then go north along the Huangshui Ocean, turn into the Black Water Ocean at the mouth of the Huaihe River, and go straight east until it reaches the border of Koryo Kingdom.
Mountain Island, then turn northward, pass by Wuyu and other islands, and arrive at Lichengang Bilan Pavilion in Dagang, Korea.
There is no problem with the route, and there is no problem with the goods being shipped. The cargo documents and guarantee documents issued by Ya Bank half a year ago are properly kept with the ship. Calculating the time, the corresponding quantity has been prepared in the warehouse in Qingyuan Mansion.
The spices include the agarwood produced in Champa City and the honey produced in the far southwest seas of Balma and Julan. There is also a small amount of tea shipped with the ship.
It was obvious that everything was normal, and the official document specifically stated that the ship belonged to a newly opened shipping company, called "Shanghai Shipping." As for the name of this shipping company, a senior official in the shipping market
Members have heard about it. It is said that it was organized by many Fujian giant businessmen, and it was also influential in the northern Jin Kingdom.
The reason why giant merchants from Fujian came forward was because a considerable part of the Song Dynasty's trade with Korea and Japan was in the hands of merchants from Fujian, especially Quanzhou.
On the one hand, Quanzhou was originally the center of South China Sea trade. On the other hand, during the Shaoxi period, in order to facilitate the management of exchanges with the northern countries, the imperial court issued a special order: "Anyone from China, Gaoli, Japan, and all Tibetan people who come to China will only be in Qing Dynasty."
Yuan De accepted and sent him."
The situation that immediately arose was that a large number of Quanzhou merchants swarmed in and started trading with Qingyuan Prefecture as the center.
This is not due to the business talent of the Fujian people, but because Qingyuan Mansion is far away from Quanzhou, many hidden businesses and even gray identity backgrounds are difficult to check in time.
In fact, most of these giant Fujian merchants were in name only, and many high-profile households in Lin'an were doing their own business with the help of official certificates obtained from the imperial court by Fujian maritime merchant families in their early years.
These giant businessmen have now gathered together to form a "Shanghai Tour". It is obvious that they will use greater investment to make more money. A large chamber of commerce of this size cannot be restricted by the Ganzhou Shipyard.
In recent days, powerful figures in the shipping market and the navy have received orders from various sources from above. They have all received money, and they have also given advice to the people below. This is the first ship in front of them.
, and then I’m afraid there won’t be a tenth or a hundredth ship. No matter how many there are, they are in compliance with the laws of the imperial court. Just let them know each other and let them go!
At that time, the officials of the market signed the document and sent it to the Qingyuan Prefecture Shipping Department in printed form, and kept the copy.
Seeing that the sail had been raised, the old man said goodbye politely, and when he was about to jump out of the small boat hanging next to the ship's side, a young man quickly came out of the cabin, holding his hand and saying goodbye warmly, with a note clearly tucked under his sleeve.
This old official's status in the market is not high. He is a subordinate of Qian Bogu in the market. Among the subordinate officials in the system, he is considered to be the lowest level. Originally, this kind of routine inspection should be included in the list.
The police officer and Kong Mu arrived together. If these two were lazy, the police officer should always accompany them. But most of these people had to send messages from their superiors, so they simply didn't show up.
The old official thought that he had to be an honest person this time, and not show off his usual behavior, but the young man had strong hands under his sleeves and a very resolute attitude, and he said in a low voice: "
Don’t worry, sir, this is a common practice and 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 from his sleeve and saw that it was still the largest denomination of Sanguan. He couldn't help but admire that this Shanghai traveler knew the rules. He looked up and saw that the young man was still leaning against the boat.
Looking over the side of the boat, the old official quickly bowed his hands.
It wasn't until the boat the old man was riding was far away from the wind and waves that no one could be seen, that the young man returned to the cabin.
Xuan Zhen, who had just been promoted from the post of wailang, a merit examiner, to a secretary and junior supervisor, watched his every move through the window. At this time, he couldn't help laughing and said: "I thought you would use that kind of sex to bully men at sea."
The style of a domineering playboy."
Jia Sidao raised his hands and shouted repeatedly: "Uncle Shi, why did I bully men and dominate 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 for fun, you have to have fun and be as comfortable as you want; when it's time to make money and do things, you have to be down-to-earth.
There are certain steps that cannot be ignored at all.”
Xuan Zhen nodded: "Well said! He is indeed Jia Jichuan's child. The thoughts of your father and son on this are as if they were carved from the same mold... After all, they are father and son, connected by blood!"
Jia Sidao chuckled, looking a little bitter, and suddenly stopped talking.
Xuan Zhen said no more, but a look of satisfaction flashed in his eyes.
It turned out that Jia Sidao followed the path of Shi Kuanzhi and Xuanzhen and joined Shi Miyuan. At first, he and Yang You were responsible for preparing the Huaibei New Army. Soon after, his father Jia She came to Lin'an from his hometown in Tiantai and traveled around.
In order to recover, it didn't take long for him to join the sect of Prime Minister Shi.
It is said that the father and son both work for Shi Xianggong, which can be called a lie, but the relationship between the father and son is a bit weird. They try their best to hide it on the outside, and occasionally put on a particularly fatherly and filial attitude, but deep down they are cold and indifferent
, but it cannot be hidden from those who are interested.
Li Zhixiao, the director of the Right Prime Minister's Office, made a special investigation for this purpose and found out that Jia She was a man who was desperate to make money, but Jia Sidao was a dandy who spent money like water.
He arrived in Lin'an three months earlier than Jia She. Within three months, he went to Lin'an for food, drink, prostitution, and gambling. He visited all the gold-selling caves inside and outside Lin'an City, and spent all the tens of thousands of money that his father had painstakingly accumulated. This incident made him his successor.
When my father arrived, he was so angry that he fainted. From then on, he suffered from nasal bleeding from time to time. He went to many famous doctors for treatment, but nothing improved.
Because of this knot, even though both father and son worked for Shi Xiang, they were alienated from each other and rarely saw each other.
This made Shi Xiang himself, Xuan Zhen and others feel particularly relieved.
After all, Jia She was about to serve as the general magistrate of Zhenzhou, and then use this as his rank to be promoted to Huaidong, representing the prime minister of history and taking charge of the finance and civil affairs of Jiangbei. At this time, Jia Sidao took over the duties of the New Army, and his father and son
The power in the hands of the two of them is a bit greater. It is better to have a disagreement between father and son, so there is less time to balance the power.
As Jia Sidao was very smart, he felt that he might be jealous of others, so he soon resigned from the military service and started busy with his business in Shanghai.
The matter of Dinghaixing was proposed by Jia She, and it was Jia She who went out to negotiate with Ding Haijun in the north. However, after the subsequent specific matters fell into the hands of Jia Sidao, the progress was faster than when his father was around.
This young man was just like his biological father. They were both good at making money in business. Under the name of Shi Xianggong, he traveled all over Huaidong, Huaixi, Jiangnan and Zhejiang in a short time, helping
Xuan Zhen and others consolidated the scattered merchant ships and business houses under their own names, and then merged them into the half-built trading house framework of Ding Haijun in the north.
Now that the Shanghai trip has begun operations, this ship departing from Lin'an is not going directly to Goryeo. Instead, it will go from Lin'an in the Song Dynasty to Tianjin Prefecture on Zhongdu Road in Dajin, then transfer to Licheng Port in Goryeo and return to Dajin.
Song Dynasty. This triangular trade was discovered in the second half of last year. It was originally exclusive to the subordinate fleets of the Dajin Guoding Navy.
Now that there is the name "Shanghai Tour", the fleet of the Song Dynasty can also participate in it.
After all, Shi Xiang's status is too high, and people around him may not report everything truthfully. He has some understanding of the profits from maritime trade and the benefits gained by the Daijin Guoding Navy at sea, but he is far from a comprehensive understanding, so he
He regarded this as a small piece of fat and rewarded it to his subordinates Xuan Zhen, Xue Ji and other cronies.
But as the launch of the commercial bank approached, Jia Sidao prepared a whole set of account books for this purpose. This account book allowed Xuan Zhen and others to know how much benefit they would gain if the bureaucrats of the Song Dynasty opened up the border trade channels a little!
Where are the small pieces of fat here? They are clearly a whole fat cow and a whole big pig!
If done properly, hundreds of thousands or millions of copper coins can be produced every year. Compared with this, what are the few copper coins cast in Huainan? This Zhou Guogong Guo Ning is not a poor man, he is clearly a god of wealth!
With so many benefits, if Prime Minister Shi's subordinates don't take them, how can they easily give them to others? We and other officials in the Song Dynasty have known a truth since the beginning of the founding of the country: a good official can only get too much money!
Xuan Zhen, who originally focused on Shi Kuanzhi and focused on the Huainan New Army, immediately changed his tune and began to focus on the operation of the Shanghai trip.
Not long after, Xue Ji also jumped in to participate, followed by Li Zhixiao, Liang Chengda, Zhao Rushu and others. Anyone who received permission from the Prime Minister to participate in this matter did not refuse.
While they were busy protecting the business, they also hid many details from Xianggong Shi in a tacit understanding. They even kicked away Jia She, who was originally responsible for this matter, and placed the burden one after another on Jia Sidao.
.
Last month, because the southwest trade wind was coming, a large number of merchant ships heading north were about to set off. Xiang Shi suddenly thought of the commercial cooperation between the two families, and was going to appoint a special envoy to go to the north privately to meet with Guo Ning, Duke of Zhou.
A face.
The envoy previously sent by Duke Zhou to the Song Dynasty has only recently been able to carry out semi-open activities and usually stays in Qingyuan Mansion. This person is a Dengzhou merchant named Zhou Keshan and does not have an official status in Dajin.
If Mr. Shi wants to send someone to pay a return visit, he should probably find a businessman. But everyone in the Prime Minister's circle knows that this matter is too important to be left to others. We have received such kindness from the Prime Minister and are willing to go through fire and water to repay it.
Several people argued for a long time, but in the end Xuan Zhen got the job.