Su Chengguan and Dongfang Ping are good friends.

As a scholar of the Ming Law Branch, Su Chengguan is very prosperous in Dali Temple.

Of course, the main reason is that Su Chengguan's family is not short of money, and he is willing to invite colleagues to Ajinomote, Wuheju or Diandude to exchange feelings every once in a while, and the etiquette is very in place when there are red and white celebrations in each family.

After more than ten years of development, the Municipal Governor's Office has set up various municipal departments in Dengzhou, Yangzhou, Hangzhou, Suzhou, Mingzhou, Quanzhou, Guangzhou, Yazhou, Puluo, etc., and the demand for talents is becoming more and more vigorous.

Under Dongfang Ping's recommendation, Su Chengguan also came to the City Governor's Mansion from Dali Temple at the beginning of this year, and was arranged to serve as the City Governor of Dengzhou Prefecture in Dengzhou.

Don't look at Su Chengguan's transfer from an institution like Dali Temple to Dengzhou City, the level has not changed much, but the rights are completely different.

Of course, Su Chengguan also knew that it was good or bad, and his family was not bad for money, but he didn't take this opportunity to make money crazily.

It's just that the days are getting busy.

However, the only thing that made him a little depressed was that he originally thought that under such a busy situation, the weight that was originally as high as 170 catties should be able to drop a little, but as a result, most of the year passed, and the weight not only did not drop, but went straight to 200 catties.

He is about to become a joke in Dengzhou officialdom.

"Su Langzhong, the day before yesterday we received a notice that a large number of sea vessels would return from overseas in the near future, and we have transferred all the personnel who can be mobilized by the Municipal Shipping Department to Wendeng Wharf. He also asked the East China Sea Fishery to borrow more than a dozen bookkeepers, and asked the city sailor to coordinate a hundred guards, which should be able to meet the needs. ”

Chen Daming, the steward of Wendeng Wharf arranged by the Dengzhou City Shipping Division, saw Su Chengguan come to the wharf in person, and hurriedly reported his arrangements.

"Yes, Daming, your arrangement is very proper. This time, I heard that the sea ships were all coming back from Goguryeo, and they must have brought a lot of supplies, so we must complete the collection of the city tax as soon as possible, so as not to delay the sale of the loot. ”

Su Chengguan knew more information than Chen Daming, and knew that this batch of sea ships were all led by merchants who had gone on an expedition with His Royal Highness the King of Chu.

These people are all well-known figures in the Dengzhou business circle.

Behind many people are still the nobles of Chang'an City, and Su Chengguan doesn't want to cause people to run to Chang'an City for impeachment because he didn't do his job well.

Don't look at the fact that he has always paid little attention to the location of Dali Temple before, in fact, the Su family has been in business for generations, and now it is very much necessary for the family to have children who can engage in business, so as to add some protection to the inheritance of the family.

Su Chengguan, who has worked for several years, is no longer as capricious as he was at the beginning.

Especially with Dongfang Ping's friend standing on the side as a role model, he has more motivation to improve.

"Well, some merchants have sent the information back in advance through the flying pigeon book, and there are many horse-drawn carriages waiting nearby early in the morning every day at Wendeng Wharf for the past two days; The subordinates estimated that there should be a lot of goods coming back this time. ”

Chen Daming's face was also full of smiles.

What's the busier business at Wenden Pier? It means that the performance of Dengzhou Bosi is more prominent.

As a person who entered Dengzhou City by relying on a relationship? Chen Daming still hopes that his performance can look better, otherwise his cousin Chen Si'er and cousin Chen Wumei's faces will not look good.

Especially Chen Wumei? Now he is a two-time winner of the Datang Royal Science and Technology Award? Is she one of the female representatives of the Datang academic circle, in Chang'an City and even in Datang? are somewhat famous.

Dengzhou even erected a statue for her, which was placed at the gate of the Mutual Aid Primary School.

"When His Royal Highness the King of Chu set out on the expedition? But he said that he would not let the merchants who set off with the army suffer. Now the war in Goguryeo is going so well? Those merchants who followed the army together must have eaten a mouthful of fat. However, the war was not completely over before, and all the fleets did not dare to come back without permission? Dengzhou here I don't know the specific situation? Otherwise, there may be many merchants who want to organize a fleet and go to Pyongyang and Seoul. ”

Su Chengguan was born as a businessman and can understand the thoughts of businessmen.

To put it simply, businessmen are unprofitable and can't afford to be early.

If there is no benefit? Even if Li Shimin comes forward, it may not be able to make many businesses really work hard with 100% strength.

But? Once there is a huge profit, even if there is no mobilization at all? These businessmen are also desperate to move forward.

He has heard that in the past few years, the branch of the Tang Royal Money Village in Dengzhou City? But it's a lot more lively.

Many merchants are borrowing money from money banks? Ready to go ahead and buy a boat? Expand your strength.

"Langzhong, there seems to be movement on the lighthouse, it should be a ship about to enter the port."

Just as Su Chengguan and Chen Daming were talking, the personnel in charge of lookouts on the lighthouse were already waving flags and signaling the personnel below to start preparing.

After so many years of development, Wendeng Wharf has a relatively mature operation system.

Whether it is the personnel of the city shipping department, or the coolies on the dock, or the various merchants, they all know very well.

It's like a flag change on the lighthouse just now, which means that there are a large number of ships ready to enter the port.

Sure enough, half an hour later, a large number of ships began to appear in view.

With the convenience of the telescope, Su Chengguan soon discovered that these ships were what he was waiting for.

Wendeng Wharf is the most important wharf in the north of Datang, and it is bustling every day.

But a fleet as large as today's is still very rare.

It can even be said that in recent years, I have not seen such a large fleet return to port together.

The coolies on the dock were immediately excited.

However, they didn't have long to be happy when they saw a lot of people moving towards the docks.

Although there are guards to maintain order, the situation on the dock is still a bit chaotic.

"Envoy, you're here too!"

Soon, Su Chengguan found that Dengzhou Thorn Shi Chun was also beside him.

"I heard that His Majesty has returned to the dynasty from Liaodong City, and the soldiers under the command of His Royal Highness the King of Chu under the general manager of the Pyongyang Road march will also return to Dengzhou today.

Naturally, he couldn't say that he was because the family's caravan was about to return with a full load, so he specially came to the dock to greet him, which seemed too politically unconscious.

Su Chengguan is a person from His Royal Highness the King of Chu, and he doesn't want to lose face in front of Li Kuan.

"That's right! This time, His Royal Highness the King of Chu relied on tens of thousands of sailors to play with the Goguryeo army, which really boosted the morale of our Tang Dynasty. I heard that the sailors now have direct stations in Pyongyang and Seoul, and that the Donghae Fishery has also leased a piece of land there for a period of 999 years, and the Goguryeo people are not allowed to ask about anything inside the leased land. ”

Su Chengguan was not so black-bellied, thinking that Chun Yu was really here to greet the triumphant soldiers.

As a state assassin history, or a state like Dengzhou, it is still a bit encouraging to be able to appear at the scene of the triumph of the soldiers.

"His Royal Highness the King of Chu has never disappointed. If it weren't for His Royal Highness the King of Chu to lead the team this time, there would definitely not be so many merchants on the Dengzhou side who would dare to follow behind the army. I've heard that the wounded horses on the battlefield were all handled by the guys of the caravan. After the families of the nobles in Pyongyang City were raided, the family wealth was resold to merchants on the spot. The army does not have any burden at all, as long as it is happy to accept the reward of the court when it is triumphant! ”

Chun Yubo, the main person in charge of the caravan this time, naturally heard a lot of news from him in advance.

Otherwise, I wouldn't be so excited today.

"I heard that the delivery date of the sea boat orders of the East China Sea Fishing and Shipbuilding Workshop has been scheduled until the end of next year, and it is difficult to find wood suitable for making ships nearby, and many timber merchants from other places have begun to transport giant timber to Dengzhou."

"It's not just the shipbuilding workshops in the East China Sea Fishery that are doing a good business, but also several other shipbuilding workshops. As for wood, the East China Sea Fishing Industry has given timber merchants a new way of thinking about hiring seagoing vessels to transport them directly to the mouth of the Yalu River. The East China Sea Fisheries Association will build a wharf at the mouth of the Yalu River, which will be used mainly for various sizes. Like a giant tree with a few people hugging together, it is not so easy to find in Dengzhou, but it is everywhere in Liaodong. ”

"Really? If this is the case, then our shipbuilding industry in Dengzhou is expected to become a pillar industry second only to maritime trade, attracting more businesses to open shipbuilding workshops here. ”

Su Chengguan, as the Bolang of Dengzhou City, naturally hopes that Dengzhou's maritime trade can get better and better.

However, the premise of good maritime trade is actually to have enough ships to go to sea.

Correspondingly, the prosperity of the shipbuilding industry is actually a complementary thing.

"Yes, yesterday there was a big timber merchant from Chang'an, who also came to visit me with the name of the king of Chu Wangfu. He said that he was going to open a large timber processing workshop in Dengzhou, and he also ordered five huge transport vessels from the Donghai Fishery Shipbuilding Workshop. It is said that in order to support the transportation of timber, the shipbuilding workshops of the East China Sea fishery give priority to the production of transport ships for merchants, and these seagoing vessels suitable for timber transportation can transport more than a dozen giant logs back at a time. ”

"A dozen giant trees? How big a ship can hold so many giant trees? ”

Su Chengguan had a surprised expression on his face.

In later generations, a piece of wood with a diameter of more than one meter can definitely be regarded as a giant tree.

However, Su Chengguan knew very well that the giant wood in the mouth was at least two meters or even more than three meters in diameter.

Such a large piece of wood, not to mention how exaggerated the weight is, the volume alone is very huge.

How to ship?

"Yes, I don't know exactly how it was installed, because these kinds of sea boats are still being made. But I heard that not every one of these giant trees was mounted on the ship, but was joined together like a raft and dragged in front by a transport ship. ”

The shipbuilding workshop of the East China Sea Fishery started with flying clippers, and now it is firmly occupying the position of the largest shipbuilding workshop in Datang.

Today, it has shipbuilding workshops in Dengzhou, Quanzhou and Guangzhou, and the number of craftsmen and helpers under its umbrella has exceeded 10,000, which is considered a large workshop in Datang.

All kinds of new types of boats were generally popularized after the invention of the East China Sea Fishery Shipbuilding Workshop.

In order to encourage the development of Datang's shipbuilding industry, basically they will only apply for some very core patents from the Datang Royal Patent Office, and others will be copied casually.

"If the appearance of these transport ships can solve the problem of the source of wood for various shipbuilding workshops in Dengzhou, it will be a great blessing for us in Dengzhou."

"Yes, the people of Dengzhou couldn't even solve the problem of eating, but since the arrival of His Royal Highness the King of Chu, the situation has completely changed. Now it has become a big state in the Tang Dynasty, and even with my thorn history, it is also very face-saving. ”

As the two spoke, the fleet slowly approached the dock.

More than 100 seagoing vessels enter the harbor together, and the visual impact is very powerful.

Soon, everyone on the dock began to get busy!

……

"Two boxes of hundred-year-old ginseng, pay one percent as the city tax!"

"A box of high-quality pearls, pay one percent as the city tax!"

"Three hundred and twenty catties of gold ingots, three hundred and twenty gold coins for the payment of the city tax!"

The staff of the municipal tax, as well as the seconded bookkeeper, soon began to confirm the payment of the municipal tax on each vessel in groups.

Through the operation of the past few years, the city has also formed its own set of taxation system.

It's hard to get an accurate valuation of something like ginseng.

If it is calculated according to the price purchased by the merchant from overseas, not to mention that the merchant is easy to deceive, it will also lose a lot of tax revenue for the market.

However, if the tax is levied according to the market price of the Tang Dynasty, it is sometimes difficult to reach a complete agreement between the market officials and the merchants, and there will also be room for corruption.

Therefore, things like this kind of high value and difficult to measure price are directly taxed in kind according to the tax ratio.

Anyway, in the Tang Dynasty, taxes in kind were not uncommon.

Even to some extent, taxes in kind are the mainstream, and direct payment of money is very rare.

As for how to deal with these in-kind taxes, the city also has its own set of processes.

Anyway, it is nothing more than handing over and selling, and it will not rot in the warehouses of various cities.

Of course, if you don't use the tax in kind for something that is difficult to keep, you will not be taxed in kind, but you will pay the tax directly according to the discount announced in advance.

"Boss, this time we really sent it! Not to mention the fact that there were more than a dozen large mansions in Pyongyang City, Pingbai also purchased a large number of Goguryeo specialties at very low prices. Even many gold and silver objects are very cheap. Even if it is directly melted and sold as gold and silver ingots, there is still a lot of profit. ”

After Chun Yubo got off the boat, he went to see Chun Yuji as soon as possible.

Anyway, paying taxes and transporting materials don't need to be operated by him, a close confidant of the Assassin's Mansion.

"Well, I saw it! The city tax registered and paid by our caravan alone was as high as hundreds of thousands of silver coins, and when our caravan went out with the army, all the supplies and silver tickets it carried added up to this amount. ”

It's a good feeling to be embarrassed.

He had just seen the caravan there to register for the city tax.

Because of the large number of ships, the city ship sailor has changed from the initial confirmation of the whole ship of goods to the current active declaration, Xu officials on board the ship confirmation and warehouse spot check and other ways to ensure the full payment of the city ship tax.

Of course, this practice will inevitably lead individual merchants to carry private goods and even evade paying the market tax.

For example, if the ship is loaded with a high-value mink, it may be written as an ordinary wolf skin when registered.

Or there are still 20 boxes of ginseng on board, but they deliberately do not register.

For this case, the city tax is caught together and dealt with together.

The official is the person behind the Tang Dynasty, whether he is the prince of the Tang Dynasty, the prince of the country, or the assassin and the general, all of them will be disqualified from going to sea and pay a huge fine.

If it is serious, it will directly cancel the qualification of this merchant to go to sea.

Don't think that you can continue to go to sea tomorrow by changing a vest, don't even think about it.

In these years, the emphasis is on integrity, once you lose your trust, no one will do business with you in the future.

"Before I went to Goguryeo, I thought that these small frontier countries, far away from the Central Plains, had no wealth in the country. After I went, I realized that this understanding was completely wrong. ”

Chun Yubo thought of the things that were moved out of the warehouses of various nobles when Pyongyang City raided his house, which simply refreshed his three views.

Who said that the Tang Dynasty is rich in resources, and the Goguryeo people are poor and poor?

Did so much gold and silver fall from heaven?

"Goguryeo is also a country that has been established for hundreds of years, even if it is poor, after hundreds of years of accumulation, the foundation will not be bad. This time, it was completely in the hands of His Royal Highness the King of Chu. I heard that the three capitals of Goguryeo, Pyongyang City, Seoul and Domestic City, were all brought down by His Royal Highness the King of Chu, and all the seizures were in the hands of His Royal Highness the King of Chu, which is the real God of Wealth. ”

Chun Yu thought about it with a heart, and felt that Li Kuan must have made a lot of money this time.

The war to destroy the country.

It is still a big country with a long history like Goguryeo that will be destroyed, where can the capture be missed?

"Indeed, His Royal Highness the King of Chu's ability to turn stones into gold is unmatched by no one in the whole world. When I was in Pyongyang, I heard that half of the soldiers in Liaodong were placed in the Liaodong Production and Construction Corps, and the soldiers of the Corps, even the most ordinary soldiers, were rewarded with more than six slave women, as well as hundreds of acres of land. ”

Between Pyongyang, Liaodong and Seoul, there are flying pigeons passing back and forth every day.

In fact, the transmission of messages between each other is not slow at all.

Because of the rise of the flying pigeon, the status of the pigeon in the Tang Dynasty has risen a lot.

The pigeon breeders, who were originally unpopular and could no longer be cold, have risen in value, and many people have entered the ranks of civil servants.

"In the past few months, I have also been studying the map of the Northeast. His Royal Highness the King of Chu chose to set up the Liaodong Production and Construction Corps near Liaodong City, which is really a good idea. Ships through the Liao River, can directly connect Liaodong City and Dengzhou, whether it is the products of Liaodong or the things of the Tang Dynasty, you can easily travel between the two places. I heard that the land there is very fertile, and if you can grow a large amount of rice, you will definitely be able to use the rice in exchange for more Liaodong specialties and attract more people to go to Liaodong to farm. ”

It is difficult to be a stab in Dengzhou, and it will not simply understand those who farm as poor.

A family of hundreds of acres of land, if every acre of land can be really planted, then these farmers have already transformed into small landlords.

At the beginning, Chun Yu's family started from such a small landlord with hundreds of acres of paddy fields.

"Well, envoy, I think the Chun Yu family can increase the efforts to march into Liaodong. In the past, because of our slow response, we have lost the opportunity. But Liaodong is different, if you go to Liaodong by land, even if the cement road is all built, it will take no less time, and the key is that the goods transported will not be much.

However, we set out from Dengzhou and used large sea ships to transport goods to the mouth of the Liaohe River, well, I heard that the East China Sea Fishery is going to build a wharf at the mouth of the Liaohe River to transfer goods from Liaodong. At that time, the transportation time required will definitely be greatly reduced, and the transportation volume of ships will far exceed that of horse-drawn carriages, and the cost will be much lower. ”

Chun Yubo's future is completely tied to Chun Yu's family.

During this trip to Goguryeo, he didn't actually do much, but what he saw and heard had a very big impact on him.

On the ship back, he has been thinking about how to make Chun Yujia get the most out of this change.

Now that he has an idea, he immediately can't wait to share it with Chun Yunan.

"Well, taking Liaodong as the focus of development, there is nothing wrong with this direction. However, those who have this idea are probably not the only ones who are at home. I saw from "Datang Daily" that many businesses in Chang'an City have already taken action. In particular, many of the workshops under the Chu Wangfu began to build workshops in Liaodong City. ”

It was difficult to find that his movements were still slow.

If Chun Yubo hadn't suggested to him like this this year, he would probably still be hesitating.

After all, what you see in the newspaper is what you see in the newspaper, and there is still a difference between what you tell in person by the people around you.

For example, in the stock market of later generations, everyone on the Internet said how hot the stock market is, and you may not necessarily enter it.

But if you find that your colleagues and friends are all in the market, they are discussing every day how much this stock has risen today and how good the future of that stock is.

So, I guess there are few people who can resist not entering, right?

Especially those who have opened an account before, but have suffered a loss.

"Liaodong is so big, even if many people in Chang'an City are already excited, it is no problem for us to move now. The time and place are favorable, and the advantages of our Dengzhou are incomparable to many places. Just like the timber business, no matter what kind of giant wood it is, it is not worth much in Liaodong, but in Dengzhou, it is normal for a high-quality wood that can be used to build a ship to sell for dozens or even hundreds of dollars. ”

Chun Yubo couldn't wait to invite credit to Chun Yuyu today, so naturally he did some homework.

This time, the Dengju caravan to Goguryeo basically included the main merchants of Dengju, and it was easy to know any information.

Even some merchants have reached future cooperation intentions directly on the ship, and are ready to enter Liaodong together.

After all, there are many opportunities in Liaodong in the future, but Chun Yubo is not the only one who can see it.

Just those merchants who don't want to do anything, just blindly follow the actions of the various workshops in the Chu Palace, can make the commerce of Liaodong take a few new steps.

"You have a point! This time, you come back to rest for a month, and we will discuss what business we want to develop in Liaodong, and then we will work hard for you and go to Liaodong City in person! ”

Chun Yubo looked at the increasingly lively scene on the dock, and made a decision in his heart.

As long as he follows the steps of His Royal Highness the King of Chu, Chun Yujia, who has always been in a safe corner, is also possible to enter the power center of the Tang Dynasty.

The purpose that his family has not achieved for hundreds of years is likely to be accomplished in his own hands.

For people in this era, this kind of thing is definitely worth throwing their heads and spilling their blood.

Otherwise, how could there be a saying that there is a family and a country?