The Chen family is the head of the weaving industry in Suzhou, and everyone here is not a fledgling chick, seeing that the main family is building momentum for this Murong Abbot, they also echo in unison, this Lord Murong is obviously also encroaching on officialdom for many years, and it will be to guide the situation, and the main family appreciates the face, and he is also happy to enjoy it.

In a chorus of echoes, Fan Ming's mind understood a little, the people of Ying Tianfu Salt and Iron and Du Zhisi would never come to Suzhou for no reason, thinking of the hoarding of salt goods during this period of time, as well as the fickleness of prices in various places, I dare not say that the government is also involved, at least there are people in the government involved, maybe this so-called Murong Abbot is also one of them.

"Even if I don't say it, I think you all know what I'm calling you here for!" Chen Jinghong paused slightly, "Recently, the weather has been unfavorable, and I have encountered pirates, not to mention that the cloth and silk trade has been damaged, and even my weaving business can't go on, so it's time to think of a way." ”

"yes!" As soon as Chen Jinghong's voice fell, a chorus immediately sounded, and they were worried about a lot of white hair during this time, "Master Chen, if you don't think of a way, maybe our Suzhou weaving will collapse." ”

Seeing that everyone should be peaceful, a satisfied smile appeared on Chen Jinghong's face, "So this time, I specially invited Lord Murong from Ying Tianfu to discuss the plan, and today is the time to change the bad luck of the past year." ”

Seeing this scene in front of him, Fan Ming thought to himself in his heart, it seems that these cloth merchants have already been in contact, and with the status of the Chen family, they are indeed the best leaders of the cloth merchants on Jingxi East Road. Joining forces with cloth merchants to bargain with the oil-flowing shipping merchants was a common but extremely effective commercial method in later generations.

Thinking of this, Fan Ming turned his head to look at Le Ping, and saw him come over with a wry smile, yes! If he is ironclad here, the more successful this business is, the more difficult it will be to plug in, it seems that he is overestimating his charm, and the idea of using Chu Qiu's special position to lure the Suzhou Shang Gang is about to be ruined.

At this moment, he completely left the matter of the old man of the Mo family behind, and what he was thinking about was how to catch a big fish out of this muddy water.

However, as the shopkeepers coughed lightly and began to speak, the information that Fan Ming heard from their mouths gradually became clear, and the first thing that could be determined was that the losses of the merchants (mainly shipping merchants) in various places were far greater than the vague information recorded in people's mouths.

Since the beginning of this year's spring, no, in fact, since the end of last year, the pirate gang headed by Qin Feng, who is "jumping in the waves" on Jingdong East Road (that is, in Shandong), has become extremely active.

What especially makes these maritime merchants resentful is that these pirates have changed the rules and morality of grabbing goods and not grabbing ships in the past, and after grabbing the goods, even those ocean-going giant ships have been burned, and the goods can be done again when they are gone, after all, these rich maritime merchants in the world have accumulated a thick foundation for many years, and they can resist for a while, but if the ship burns, it will be fatal, after all, these ocean-going giant ships that are often six or seven zhang deep are not those short-distance transport ships, and they can be built well.

So it is with the merchants. The Song merchants were not happy, although Qin Feng set up a strict family rule and never robbed the Song ships, and the pirates of the surrounding Xiaofan countries were afraid of the power of the Celestial Empire and did not dare to attack the Song ships, but they really couldn't withstand the storms and chaotic currents on the sea, so that the Song merchants also suffered a lot of losses.

These two reasons add up. It makes the original sails stand in a forest, the Suzhou shipping that is gathered by the sea ships has added a bit of gloomy atmosphere, so that there are now cloth merchants gather in Suzhou scene, listen to the introduction of Fang Youshan, not only cloth merchants, or even the famous big timber merchants in the Quartet and the shipbuilding craftsmen in the southeast half of the wall are like rushing to Suzhou to gather, and now the Huai River estuary Hu Tuzhou on the large and small docks in the sound of jingling day and night.

When Chen Jinghong said this. The cloth merchants present are all in high spirits. But what puzzled Fan Ming was that as a major cloth merchant on Jingxi East Road, there was a mountain in the place, but there was not much joy on his face.

Fan Ming touched Leping with his arm, and then gestured to Fang Youshan out of the corner of his eye, and after a while, Leping came back with a puzzled look, obviously he didn't understand what was going on.

If Chen Jinghong's performance is abnormal, then the regulations he subsequently proposed made Fan Ming even more inexplicable, the meaning of the head of the weaving and cloth merchants was to bring the cloth merchants of Jingxi East Road together, and then write to the Tianfu branch to take over the cloth and silk transactions of all weaving houses in Suzhou.

As soon as he said this, everyone was really shocked, why did these cloth merchants come to Suzhou, they didn't come to listen to the news like Fan Ming and them. In addition to listening to the market, the main thing to inquire about is the attitude of the above.

In short, it is like the State Taxation Bureau of later generations, directly under the central control, and at first it was only in charge of commercial taxation, and then developed to register the goods carried by ocean-going merchant ships, collect customs duties, and ban the goods that the Great Song Dynasty was not allowed to export, and the income from commercial taxes did not enter the Tianfu but directly entered the Bianjing Danei.

This is why Chen Jinghong specially went to Yingtianfu to invite people from Duzhi and Yantiesi to participate in this banquet, and this so-called Lord Murong is also very particular, according to the Great Song Dynasty, this is not an official establishment, and it is difficult to say whether what he said can represent the meaning of the government.

But the salt and iron division, the degree of the division of the full force is unquestionable, the salt and iron division is salt, iron, ore and other forbidden things, the degree branch has to be cloth, its special nature determines its influence is very huge.

This is also the reason why these cloth merchants are so concerned about the attitude of the yamen government. As long as it intervenes, it is not necessary to say that these cloth merchants, even these weaving lines are not much better. At that time, no one will be able to take advantage of anything. This is also the reason why Chen Jinghong wanted to gather a joint letter to ask the yamen to preside over the cloth and silk trading place.

To say that the richest group of people in the Great Song Dynasty is undoubtedly these maritime merchants and river merchants who do ocean trade, and what they send out and bring back is not goods, but money, Huang Chengcheng's copper coins!