Back at the inn, Zhao Dangshi thought about it carefully, and felt more and more that the enemy in the shadows was vicious. Earlier in Xiuning and Beiguan Night Markets, these people may have just wanted to assassinate themselves, but they could choose to start when they met with Zheng Zhilong in Yingjiang Building, which was clearly to take advantage of the situation and deliberately sow discord and make a bigger move. At that time, if even one of Zheng Zhilong and himself died of poison, Zhao Ying and the Zheng family would no longer have to talk about any cooperation.

The lights flickered, and a person knocked on the door of the room. Zhao Dangshi heard that it was Hua Qing coming, and hurriedly got up and welcomed her into the room.

"Haven't slept so late?" Zhao Dangshi asked with a smile.

"As soon as I close my eyes, I think about what happened during the day, and I can't sleep."

Zhao Dangshi was silent, and Hua Qing continued: "Along the way, the thieves have already done it three times, obviously to harm you. You're right, behind them, there must be the same direction. He added, "Let's start from Zaoyang and travel day and night on this land route to Wuchang, rarely staying, and the thieves may not have time to start, or they may still be chasing us...... And since Wuchang got on the boat, all the way to the river, it was even more difficult to move, so I waited until Xiuning to get the opportunity. ”

Zhao Dangshi nodded slowly and said, "I think so too." The shopkeeper of Yingjiang Tower said that the thief Beiyin, and it was probably the old enemy who came over from Chu Yu. While I am away from the camp, I want to do something wrong. ”

"Is it Huiying, Caoying or Xiying?" Hua Qingxiu's eyebrows frowned slightly, full of worry.

"I can't get used to Zhao Ying, there are many people who want to put me to death, and it's hard to say without evidence." The corner of Zhao Dangshi's mouth showed a wry smile, "I thought that I could take this opportunity to travel with you and embark on a good journey together, who wants to backfire, and there are dangers everywhere, I knew that this was the case, it is better for me to go alone." ”

Hua Qing left the stool, fell into Zhao Dangshi's arms and said: "Being able to live and die with Zhao Lang and share weal and woe is what Hua Qing wants." Although this period of time is thrilling, I cherish it even more with Zhao Lang. For example, when I entered Sichuan with you, others told me that I was suffering by myself, how could they understand that I was happy and comforted in my heart. ”

Zhao Dangshi said with feelings: "Huaqing, it's really good to have you." ”

The two hugged each other for a long time, and the room was quiet and silent, and there was a little ambiguity in the faint light. Hua Qing buried his head in his chest and muttered, his voice was like a gossamer, Zhao Dangshi only felt that her body was hot, like bonesless, and his heart couldn't help but move, and he said tentatively: "Ah Qing, you ......"

"Hmm......" Hua Qing responded, but did not speak, but the sound of breathing gradually became heavier.

Zhao Dangshi grabbed her with one hand, took the oil lamp with the other, blew out the light, and the room was instantly dark.

Su Gaozhao corrected his mistake when he knew it, and two days later hired a leaf boat on the West Lake to arrange for Zhao Dangshi and Zheng Zhilong to meet again. This time, there were no idle people on the boat, Zhao and Zheng sat opposite each other with their clothes on the stove, and drank a pot of sake together. Even the captain who was rocking at the head of the boat also made a cameo appearance by Su Gaozhao himself.

"Tomorrow is Chinese New Year's Eve, Zheng Gong can take time to enjoy the light, and Zhao is grateful."

"The situation of Yingjianglou came to an abrupt end for some reason, and it was Zheng's inconsiderateness. Zheng is the east, and he has to do it thoroughly. The withering on the boat can be regarded as a continuation of the endgame, and please don't dislike Zhao Gong. ”

Gong Zheng was polite. West Lake in the snow, the scenery is transcendent. A leaf boat, drinking each other's clothes, ingenuity, unique taste. ”

Zheng Zhilong said: "In the past, Zheng came to Hangzhou, and left as soon as he was done, and most of them returned to Anping for the New Year. Approaching the end of the year, boating on the lake, watching the snow scene and drinking wine is still the first time. He shouted twice "Hurry", and raised his sleeves to toast a glass of wine, "If you really say it, you have to credit Zhao Gong." ”

On that day, light snow fell, the lake and both sides of the fog were thick, and the sky and clouds were white. The breeze in the ears is whistling, swaying the oars, bringing the waves lightly, and there is no other sound, the lakes and mountains are lonely and far away, which makes people feel at ease.

The boat stopped near the center of the lake, Zhao Dangshi and Zheng Zhilong drank a few pots, but they were still unsatisfied, Su Gaozhao put down the oars and went to warm the wine. Zhao Dangshi felt that the time was ripe and took the initiative to raise the four requests in Yingjiang Tower. Then he took out the chips here in Zhao Ying one by one, which were also divided into four items.

"With my Zhao Ying agent supplying, Zheng Gong will have no trouble from now on." Zhao Dangshi said first.

The tooth people have a long history, and the Han is called the donkey, and the essence is that they are middlemen who negotiate and trade and take commissions from them. In the Tang Dynasty, there was a shop for business travel inventory to live, and the tooth people parasitized it, and collected taxes for the government, and the tooth and the shop began to meet. The tooth people who have the advantage of the land snake can concentrate and identify the required commercial goods from various scattered channels for merchants and shops with large trafficking volumes, saving the time and energy of large merchants. The Ming Dynasty inherited the previous system, and the government intervened, using the tooth people to collect taxes and monopolize trade. At the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the imperial court set up government-run collapsed houses and imperial shops in the two capitals, and the vassal kings and gentry from all over the country also followed suit, setting up shops to attract merchants, stop accumulating customers and goods, and hire people to collect commissions and business taxes.

Later, the imperial court ordered the banning of the tooth people, "the special office of the county and town stores in the world is not allowed to have official teeth and private teeth", "the neighborhood is allowed to go to Beijing to migrate to the outside world." If it is an official tooth, the whole family of the official will migrate", intending to replace the private tooth with the official tooth and form a monopoly. It's just that the people of the world are all over the towns and cities, and one person and one scale are enough to act, and they are often in collusion with the local officials and gentry, and it is by no means a single edict or a few imperial shops that can be completely banned. Therefore, during the Jiajing period, the city law was set to legalize the folk tooth people in the form of tooth shops, "all the cities and villages of all colors of the tooth shops and ship ports, and select the people who have arrived at the industry to fill the household, and the official to seal the letter book", "send the official inspection every month", and the folk tooth people can officially become the tooth shops with official posts and arranged tooth taxes. All kinds of non-governmental commodity transactions need to be bought and sold through the dental bank, and the dental bank cooperates with the shipyard and the warehouse to control the transshipment and warehousing links, "which is very profitable" and "rich in a city". Merchants who purchase from small merchants in various localities must "vote for their teeth" and ask the dental bank to collect them on their behalf, and the intermediate price is also determined by the dental bank, and even the big businessmen must make reservations and loans to small merchants, and they must also participate in the investment through the dental bank.

The Zheng family can call for wind and rain at sea and do whatever they want, but when they arrive in the mainland, they are like swimming fish ashore, and they can't make any splashes. The five merchants of Qishan are responsible for the procurement and distribution of raw silk, cotton, porcelain, tea, etc., which are particularly affected. Although the Cheng family's core business is currently the Cheng family's transshipment work in the middle of the trade route, there is undoubtedly greater potential in the mainland, which can distribute export commodities by itself.

Zheng Zhilong has been thinking about this matter for a long time, including sending Su Gaozhao to visit the inland provinces, also to inspect the market and the market of the tooth industry, but on the whole, the situation is not optimistic, and the Zheng family's power is far from being big enough to affect the market pattern of the mainland. After all, the officials and gentry and military leaders in the mainland also have to eat, and their teeth are gone, and a major source of their livelihood is equivalent to being cut off. However, with the tooth industry controlling the market, the Zheng family's procurement work in the mainland has always been greatly restricted, and it can neither spread the scene nor pull the price. "The annoyance of toothless people", this point raised by Zhao Dangshi hit Zheng Zhilong's heart headache.

"How is Zhao Gong going to act?"

Zhao Dangshi replied: "I Zhao Ying is in Huguang, and I will take care of all kinds of goods on my behalf, and I will never be stingy." and Henan, Sichuan and other places, can also provide assistance. ”

"Price?"

"It can be agreed in advance, and it can be amended periodically, and when both parties are satisfied, it shall prevail according to the contract of the chapter and table."

"Volume?"

"It's the same way."

Zheng Zhilong didn't ask any more questions, how Zhao Ying coordinated the market was Zhao Ying's business, and what the Zheng family wanted was always cheap and stable and sufficient. Since Zhao Dangshi swore to admit it, he believed him for the time being, and when the matter was officially settled, he would consider the past one by one, and there was time. In addition, Zhao Dangshi also mentioned Henan and Sichuan, these two places and Huguang are indeed the main sources of goods in the interior of Zhengjia, if the problems of the three provinces can be solved in one fell swoop, the development of Zhengjiashan five merchants will have a decisive role in promoting.

Zhao Dangshi continued: "For this reason, we can still build warehouses for Zheng Gong in Huguang and other places, as a place for the distribution of goods. ”

This also made Zheng Zhilong feel very sincere.

The Zheng family's five merchants are headquartered in Hangzhou, which is already the limit of what the Zheng family's forces can control. However, the purchase of export goods was mostly distributed in more inland provinces such as Shanxi, Henan, Sichuan, and Chu, and in order to transport the concentrated goods from the provinces to Hangzhou, the Zheng family had to set up branches in various places as transit stations for transportation. However, the establishment of these transit stations was all full of difficulties, and the Zheng family needed to send special personnel to negotiate with the local dominant officials, gentry, tooth shops, and even military leaders and bandits according to the different situations in various places, and encountered a variety of strange conditions and dilemmas, to name a few. Every year, the Zheng family spends more money and energy dealing with these forces than they can imagine.

If Zhao Ying comes forward and helps the Zheng family establish a perfect freight system through his influence in the mainland, then the Zheng family can save a lot of manpower and material resources, which is of great significance for cost saving. Zheng Zhilong had also investigated Zhao Ying's background before, and knew that Zhao Dangshi himself had certain connections and influence in northern Chu, and had been appreciated by the imperial court recently, and was in the limelight and had a bright future. Besides, not to mention anything else, being able to solve the warehousing and transportation problem in Huguang first is already a big help to the Zheng family.

The conditions provided by Zhao Dangshi are all in line with reality, and there is no lofty ambition and false talk. This is what Zheng Zhilong appreciates the most. The most important thing in doing business is integrity. Stealing and playing tricks can get a small profit for a while, but once you lose your trust, you will never have a big profit at all. A deal will not be strong if it is not based on tangible benefits. Zhao Dangshi's words made Zheng Zhilong feel down-to-earth, and he was willing to talk further with Zhao Dangshi.

"In addition to warehousing, there are still reserves available in our camp for Zheng Gong's dispatch." Zhao Dangshi continued.

This form has existed since ancient times, such as the flying money of the Tang Dynasty, the money of the Song Dynasty, and the handover of the Yuan banknotes, which can be collectively referred to as "silver bills". In essence, a silver ticket is a kind of accounting voucher, which has no value in itself and is in the form of a bill. At the beginning of the founding of the Ming Dynasty, there was also a similar "Ming treasure banknote", the result was no reserves, the year of issuance was seriously inflationary, and the face value has been very unstable in the next 100 years. However, when the transaction between private banks, silver accounts or large merchants is inconvenient, private silver tickets will also be used on a small scale and in a small scale, and they have never been cut off. In other words, as long as Zhao Ying and the Zheng family agree on the rules, then the people of the Zheng family will no longer need to carry real money and silver when they come to the mainland to trade in the future, and they only need to exchange the corresponding cash to Zhao Ying with the vouchers issued by the Zheng family. The branches are recorded in the Zheng family's official account, and they are regularly settled by Zhao Ying and the Zheng family.

The Zheng family has a big business, and it is easy to establish a few money banks in the mainland. However, the actual situation of the turbulent and turbulent situation in various parts of the Central Plains in recent years has made Zheng Zhilong daunted, and the plan to set up a money bank to store money in advance has been pending for a long time. When the Zheng family entered the mainland for bulk purchases, they had to carry a large amount of cash with them, and traveling thousands of miles with so much money was another risk in itself. At the beginning of the establishment of the Five Merchants of Shandong, Zheng Zhilong was troubled by this matter, if Zhao Ying could volunteer to take over the errand of providing reserves, because of the powerful armed forces visible to Zhao Ying, Zheng Zhilong's belief in the safety of reserves is beyond doubt.

Purchasing and eliminating tooth people, establishing warehousing to help transshipment, and providing reserves for support are the self-benefits that Zhao Ying can provide for the real predicament of the five merchants in Zhengjiashan. Of course, in the end, there is one more item, whether it is the mainland or the city, the annual benefit will be shared with the Zheng family, and the four values can be more or less matched with the four requirements that Zhao Dangshi asked the Zheng family to have.

When Zhao Dangshi spoke, not only Zheng Zhilong, but also Su Gaozhao listened very carefully. He is one of the leaders of the five merchants in Shan, how can he ignore this kind of matter related to his vital interests. I listened attentively, and I didn't realize that the warm wine was boiled twice until the lid burst out. I was in a hurry to clean up the mess.