Guo Zengfu has been staying in Fucheng for the past few days, and he has been sending his subordinates constantly, firstly, to keep an eye on Wantong's movements, and secondly, to collude with various families.

Although he didn't take out much inventory to toss this time, because of this, other families were greatly affected, and in the long run, Deyuntang's prestige in the cloth industry was inevitably damaged. Fortunately, the larger ones are the small, small and medium-sized weaving mills attached to the cloth line, and even smaller ones only raise a few looms.

But now the price difference is earned, those looms are empty, this year plus the price of cotton, the loss may not be a loss, but the future business is really not able to do it again. And with such a thing coming out, next year I won't even be able to take my turn to cry this price difference, and I have nowhere to cry, so I complain more and more in private.

At first, the development of things was as Guo Xingshou expected, under the unified price reduction of the cloth shop, more flower sellers and even cotton farmers who really needed to sell the goods began to go to Wantong's side, among which the dark line he buried in the market also played a big role in fueling the fire.

Anyway, the news about Wantong's tight money can't be faked, and when Yang Yuanxi's people successfully mixed into Hailan Hall and even Wantong, all kinds of clues revealed after Wantong were even more traceable. Wan Tong still has silver, but it is definitely not much, and even Hu Barong's paralyzed face rarely sees a trace of anxiety lingering.

The Hailan Hall only collects some ducks every day, and the workers recruited only cook the ducks, remove the duck feathers to dry and pack, and the duck meat is sacrificed to the laborers, or sent to the porridge shed to buy the hearts of the cotton farmers and weavers who eat the relief. He also couldn't understand what the surname Hu wanted so many duck feathers to do. He knows that goose feathers are used to make fladding, but there are not many, goose feathers and duck feathers are not very good even after processing, and the rich people use more fur and the like, even if they use flocculents, they are mostly silk cotton and cow hair. The poor are mostly straw feathers, and the price and effect are also much better than goose feathers and duck feathers, and duck feathers are not a good commodity.

But he quickly put down this section, but he was probably thinking in his heart that if Wan Tong would completely collapse, the time was getting closer and closer, and he didn't know if Yang Yuanxi's people had already done it.

Thinking of this, he immediately summoned a few cronies to order, "Go and tell Yang Yuanxi, let his pickles work in the next few days, and the dark lines that have been buried in advance will also be moved together, so that Wantong will be completely chaotic inside and out." ”

He thought that it would be best if he could light a fire in the warehouse, but even in front of these cronies, he would not say it easily, Yang Yuanxi naturally knew how to handle it.

He called another person, "The weaver foreman also needs to be urged, if they still want to make a living in this business, they should understand that if Wan Tong continues to operate, this weaving factory will be their business in the future." None of the Australian cloth is woven in our Songjiang, let them build up the momentum first, Wunijing doesn't have a first cotton temple, so they will pull everyone there to burn incense and swear, saying that they want to find Wantong to beg for food, so that the surname Hu is more panicked. ”

When the cronie heard this, he hurried up and left.

Guo Zengfu was continuing to think in his heart, and saw that Steward Ding hurried in, and seeing that there were still others, he hurried to the front and said to Guo Zengfu, Guo Zengfu only listened to a few words, and his eyes opened in a round way, and he was angry, "Is this serious?" ”

"It's true, the villain's cronies saw with their own eyes at the dock outside the Baodai Gate, the ship arrived yesterday morning, the people of Wantong were busy all morning, and all the dead iron boxes were unloaded, and none of the laborers in the port were useless, all of them were their own people, and at noon there were several large boxes placed outside the cabinet room of Wantong, which were full of silver ingots with white flowers."

"I can't imagine that they really have the courage to transport so much cash from outside, or by water. It's also my negligence, so it's really hard to guard, but it's not small. Guo Zengfu had already sat up and said hatefully: "By the way, have your people asked, is this ship from Guangdong or coming down from the north?" ”

Shopkeeper Ding hurriedly said: "Qi is here, it's not, my subordinates took a lot of trouble to ask about the origin of the ship, and it turned out to be from Ryukyu." ”

"Ryukyu? How is this possible? ”

"At first, I didn't believe it, but the proprietor you see ......" said he took out two copper coins from his sleeve, which were thinner and smaller than Daming's, Guo Zengfu picked it up and saw four small characters on it - Zhongshan Tongbao.

"This is what was not spilled out of the box when the silver was transported." Ding Guan said.

The Ryukyu Kingdom calls itself Zhongshan, and this kind of copper coin has occasionally been seen in the past maritime trade, so naturally there will be no mistake, and if Wan Tong deliberately conceals the identity of the coming ship, it will not cost many weeks, and there is also the survey of the locks along the way, it seems that this ship is indeed from the Ryukyus. But Guangzhou, as the head office, does not issue silver, and the Tianjin branch, which is doing business with Huangdian in the north, is not in a hurry, but the money is sent from Ryukyu thousands of miles, and I am afraid that it is the Australians behind Wantong who have made a move.

However, Songjiang is so far away from the Ryukyus, whether it is time or distance, how did the Australians know that this side can still send silver so quickly, and the faint revelation behind this makes Guo Zengfu feel a trace of fear in his heart.

And in this way, the original method of wanting to rely on the problem of silver root to completely block the passage of ten thousand people will not work, thinking that before he had let each family share the money for hiring people to make trouble, now just explaining this matter gave him a headache.

"Boss, what do you think we should do next?"

The steward's words pulled him back, but fortunately, Guo Xingshou had seen some scenes on weekdays, and he recovered immediately.

He thought for a while and said: "Now that the import can't be stuck, I have to spend my mind on the export, the dock side has to keep an eye on me at any time, if there are not enough people, you can send the guys on the cabinet at will, as long as the goods of Wantong are loaded, come to me quickly, and let Chuansha make more effort." ”

"Is this ......" Steward Ding hesitated and said: "From the villain's point of view, now that the situation is like this, I am afraid that it will not work to count on Lady Shan's maiden brother, and there must be a more effective big help." ”

"Tell me what you think?"

"Naturally, Leader Zhang's side still needs to use it, but now that Wantong has silver, the price has been raised by three points, and there will be a lot of acquisitions over there in the next few days. And since they have sent silver from the Ryukyus thousands of miles away, they must also be determined to get this cotton, and they have already been startled by the grass and snakes in the previous time, I am afraid that if the cotton ships that pass through this time want to go to the sea again, they will be somewhat guarded. ”

"You're right." Guo Zengfu nodded slightly and motioned to continue.

"I vaguely heard that the Haikou Wang Zhong and Wang Jin brothers have recently had a batch of goods to be sold in Songjiang, which happened to be an opportunity."

"Is it the one that Jia Xianggong has been having a headache all the time?" Guo Zengfu had obviously heard of these two evil stars.

"Exactly, the Wang family gang is now gathering outside the Suzhou Ocean, giving the seal to the seal, holding people for ransom, quite a big momentum, and perennial travel to Fujian, Zhejiang and the Japanese islands, I heard that there are thirty or fifty large and small sea ships, to say the least, there are nearly a thousand, if they are willing to make a move, it is naturally easy to say, even if Wan Tong releases three or five big ships at a time, he will not miss one."

"Then I will leave the matter to you, and if their dirty goods are not too troublesome, you will be the master and bid to accept them, and make a good fate, and mention the matter of all things to them."

"The villain saves." Steward Ding said goodbye and left, but he was thinking about how to get more benefits from it.

…………

"Master He?"

When Guo Zengfu was talking about the weaver leader, He Kun, a weaver in his early thirties, had been stopped by Liu Fengchun in an alley, and he had just received new instructions from the men in Deyuntang.

He Kun was originally a mechanic, and he was easy to make friends on weekdays, plus he was literate and eloquent, and he was quite famous among those who worked in temporary work.

That day, the city was goodbye, and soon Liu Fengchun found out the bottom of this person, although he became the head of the weavers by virtue of his fame and prestige, and in case of disputes, each family paid for him to bear the head, but when it came to the public heart, there was not much merit. This He Kun is a gambler, and the money raised by everyone to let him do things is often swallowed up by him, and it is okay if things are done, if things are not done, they will gradually fall out with the people below.

But lately he seems to have made a small fortune, not only in the casinos and private houses, but also in a large number of poor weavers, whose daily use is now that he is suppliing, and it is said that it is because Australia has lost its livelihood and wants to find thousands of passages to make trouble. And it was precisely because he had a few more silver that he wandered around the city to be blocked.

"Are you ......" He Kun's gaze wandered around Liu Fengchun, and he quickly remembered, "Liu Mazi? The new storyteller? ”

"Master He has good eyesight, but today I don't talk about books, but help a proprietor pass a word, and ask Master He to talk about it in front of the restaurant."

"I'm a weaver, I'm afraid Guidong recognized the wrong person." He Kun's words were full of vigilance, and his eyes moved around.

Soon a thought came to mind, and the closest opponent was probably only Wan Tong's family.

He is a person who often fights in the market, and he has personally participated in dealing with Wantong, so he naturally knows a lot about the current affairs between the cloth and Shanghai County. Although it seems that the cloth is powerful, the ten thousand passages are not easy to deal with, and for a poor man like him, they are generally unprovoked.

This is also the reason why he has not acted for a long time although he has received the silver from Guo Xingshou, otherwise he really wants to come out and make the other side hold a grudge, maybe Wantong can't take the cloth shop, but it is very easy to clean him up as a weaver leader.

He reacted quickly, and moved back while refusing, "I have received this intention, I still have some things, and I will come back another day to ask for advice......"

Before he finished speaking, he turned around to leave, but he collided with a strong man in his arms.

Before he could dodge, He Kun's wrist was tightly clasped, and he just wanted to struggle, but he couldn't help but scream in pain.

Cai Jiuyi was full of smiles, but her eyes were very cold, "Idong is very busy, Master He still doesn't shirk it......"

Soon, He Kun was half-escorted to the private room of a restaurant at the end of the alley, which was the property of a friend of Mo Houguang, very secluded, and he had already said hello and cleared out all the idle people.

Entering the room, there is no wine and food arrangement, only a few chairs, the first chair is sitting on a person, a Dongpo scarf, the face on the lower panel is paralyzed, it is Hu Barong, the proprietor of Wantong who he has seen several times before, and there are two people sitting on his left and right, but they have not seen it, but even if they only look at the sitting posture, the size is quite considerable, and it seems that it is a family care home and the like.

Seeing this posture, He Kun's momentum was a little shorter, for fear that the other party would rectify himself.

He is also an old man, knowing that things are not good, he quickly knelt down and kowtowed.

"The villain has seen proprietor Hu."

[References]

1, "Daming Huidian"

2, "Records of Emperor Mingshen Zongxian"

3, "History of the Late Ming Dynasty" Fan Shuzhi

4, "Wanli Ye Ed" Shen Defu

5. "The Record of Crimes: The Biography of the Economic Ministers"

6, "History of the Ming Dynasty • The Biography of Xu Guangqi"

7, "The Biography of Erchen"

8. "Compendium of Materia Medica" Li Shizhen

9, "Weiya Anthology" Huo Tao

10, "Wan Department Miscellaneous Notes" Shen Bang

11. "Instructions for the Ministry of Industry and Warehouse"

12, "Wanli Accounting Record" Wang Guoguang, Zhang Xueyan

13. "Regulations on Food and Grain for Officers and Soldiers in Beijing"

14. Peng Xinwei, "A History of Chinese Currency".

15, "Shuyuan Miscellaneous" Lu Rong

16, "Miscellaneous Notes" Li Le

17, "History of the Ming Dynasty, Volume 240, Biography 128"

18, "Jinling Trivia" Zhou Hui

19. "Estimation of Cotton and Cotton Cloth Production in Shanghai in the Ming and Qing Dynasties" Hou Yangfang