Hu Barong transferred his residence from his home to the warehouse at the port, where he had not slept for many days, and the black around his eyes was much thicker.

On that day, the second ship of cotton goods to go to sea had just bypassed Nansha (note: the southeast of Chongming Island in later generations) and left the estuary, and was robbed outside the Suzhou Ocean.

The third ship, which was originally going to follow the ocean, had to suspend its loading and stopped in the harbor, and the clouds were gloomy for a while, and even the people who went out to collect the velvet did not go out these days.

In the safe house in the backyard of Hu Mansion today, Hu Barong, Hu Hai, and Hu Feng's 'master and servant' are all there.

"Stationmaster, is there any news from the chief?" There were no outsiders around, and the two of them also put away their usual disguises.

"First look for someone to secretly investigate, most of the robbery of the cargo ship this time was done by Buxing, but who did it still has to be investigated."

Hu Hai and Hu Feng were overjoyed when they heard this, "What? Is the chief going to do something? ”

Others don't know that these two have seen the thunderous methods of the Senate in Nanyang, so they naturally have a little more expectation, since the cargo ship was hijacked, they have not been happy these days.

Hu Barong shook his head, "I received news yesterday that the Fubo army has just captured Ryukyu, and there are still many things to be taken care of. ”

"What? The Fubo army captured the Ryukyus? Hu Feng was excited.

"Yes, but now the news on the sea is still blocked, and it can't be transmitted to Daming for the time being, so don't say anything about it on weekdays."

"Save."

Hu Hai said again: "Then we are so inactive?" Those people in the outer courtyard are not very stable now. ”

Hu Barong reminded him, "You can't move yourself, Brother Hai, you can collect it first, and gather all the silver on the cabinet in one place." ”

"Don't you have accounts, stationmaster, why do you ask me?"

"I'm talking about cash."

Hu Hai patted his head at this time, and said clearly, "Although it has not been cleaned up yet, it should be 20,000 taels that can still be scraped together, and these cash silver are now guarded by Hu Feng's people and the dart master of the general number, and it must be safe." ”

"I naturally believe in safety, but now you have to spend the silver, and you have to arrange some economy to spread the news, and the silver collected from cotton will be raised to two taels per load...... No, two-two-two. ”

"This ......"

"Don't worry, I'm just putting Wantong in the open, I don't dare to say it in other places, this Shanghai County is safe for a while, as long as it can be supported until the end of the year, there must always be a way."

"...... at the end of the year" Hu Hai muttered, he wanted to use the chief's means, by the end of the year, the Ryukyu side would always be able to free up his hands, how to ensure the safety of cargo ships on the ocean is not something he can figure out, Shanghai Station is only responsible for the goods, and the transportation is still handed over to the chief to do safely.

"Yes, but before that, Brother Feng, you have to keep the people in your hands who can be used, especially the dart master sent by the head office, I can't say that I will be able to use it in a while."

The brothers told each other to go their separate ways, leaving Hu Barong alone in the room, and it took him a long time before he came back to his senses and continued to send telegrams.

After a few days, the effect of raising prices and harvesting cotton seems to have appeared, and several small and medium-sized cloth merchants in Songjiang Mansion even secretly released some of the cotton stocks in their hands, and at the same time, there are suddenly a lot of fresh faces in the market.

After another two or three days, more local cotton farmers went to Wantong to sell cotton.

It turned out that at the beginning, after Wan Tong collected cotton at a high price, it did attract some large households from other counties and the county to release their cotton stocks, including members of the cloth shops in Songjiang and Suzhou, he thought that this was those cloth shops wanted to take the opportunity to arbitrage, after all, the price given by Wan Tong was much higher than the previous market.

But soon things began to change, and after the completion of several large transactions, the city began to change from the original cotton merchants to the cotton merchants, to the last few days to many cotton farmers and vendors from other places who originally supplied these cloth shops. There are not many cotton goods in their hands, but the number of them is numerous, the supply of cotton goods is not small, and the trade is becoming more and more complicated, but the silver of ten thousand people is a little overwhelmed. After Hu Barong was shocked, he wanted to ask for some loans from various families, but at this time, even the old man of the Gu family suddenly 'got sick' and couldn't take care of things, as if he sensed that the wind was wrong and deliberately alienated.

In desperation, Hu Barong had to slow down the cotton harvesting, but because there was already a long queue outside Wantong, he did not dare to stop suddenly, only brought back the economy that had been sent to the counties before, and kept sending reports to the Senate urging the silver and sending people to pick up the goods, but it was already decided to move to the warehouse to live, and he was afraid that someone would be unfavorable to the goods, after all, they were all flammable things, and it was inevitable that he would not be more worried about the hijacking of the ship.

Now the cloth merchants in other counties do not know whether there is an organization, all choose the day to stop harvesting cotton, and I don't know who is secretly talking, many cotton merchants from other provinces have come to Songjiang and have transported their own cotton to Wantong in Shanghai. It was also Hu Barong's previous overoptimism and open purchase, if he could not continue to buy because the silver was broken, the follow-up cotton farmers and traders would have the risk of becoming the target of public criticism.

And to the guys other than Hu Hai and Hu Feng, he just kept saying to them, 'Firm and steady, there is a way', except for those nursing guards from the southern head office, the local guys in the entire trading house showed obvious instability.

Today's rare weather is still good, Hu Barong still came out early to walk around, yesterday to the Gu family and the Pan family and other big families in Shanghai County and cast a post, but it is still like a stone sinking into the sea. He also understands that although for the sake of Xu Guangqi's face, the big cotton merchants in Shanghai will not be embarrassed by themselves, but now that they are about to stir up a popular uprising, they can't care about all their faces to protect themselves, after all, the Gu family has not done any cloth business in these families, and although the Pan family is doing it, they have begun to talk to Guo Zengfu openly and secretly, and it is unreliable.

Seeing that it was still early, Hu Barong simply called Hu Hai and the two Guangdong dart masters and asked them to follow them to Fucheng.

The roads in the south of the Yangtze River are well repaired, and the carriages and horses are also convenient, so he hurried and hurried to Fucheng in the afternoon, he wanted to see Guo Zengfu.

In fact, in the past few days, he has already seen a mirror in his heart, and the news from all parties has pointed to Guo Xingshou behind the mastermind, if it weren't for his ruthless and calm temperament to make a wish in private, and instigated around, who can leave their own weaving factory alone, and take out the raw cotton?

are all old in this industry, in the face of the actual threat of Australian cloth, how can a little price increase in Wantong make them look at it, this is most likely Guo Zengfu's plan to draw salaries from the bottom of the kettle. And there is a joint in this, that is, he knows that Wan Tong's ship can't leave the port, only by knowing this one, can he dare to take the risk of provoking a civil uprising to plan this matter, otherwise the cotton will be shipped out, even if it really causes chaos and completely crushes Wan Tong, then this year's Songjiang loom should not want to open a full number. Every time he thinks about this, Hu Barong's heart is cold, and the identity of the pirate who robbed the cargo ship is about to come out.

And Guo Zengfu has not gone out these days, he is waiting to see the jokes of Wan Tong, pleading with each family to release the cotton in the warehouse, and let the cotton farmers also participate in it, it is indeed vicious, those cotton farmers are no tile on the top of the cone of the people, in previous years to plant cotton by each family to buy, in fact, it is to first from the cotton merchant cloth shop to take a loan to plant, now although the cotton harvest has been completed, but in the coming year you have to point to the master of these cloth shops, people tell you to go to the door of Wan Tong to make up the number how dare you not go? I can't say that I have to prepare my own food every day.

Hu Barong came today, in fact, he can't tell the reason, maybe he just wants to show weakness and delay, or the chief said that there is a way, and there is a way. He didn't expect the Great Song Dynasty's fleet to attack Shanghai directly, the leaders of the Senate had never been impulsive, and this was the case in Nanyang, even in the face of the barbarian attack, he finally adopted the means of Huai Rou, even Hu Barong seemed to feel a little redundant.

In fact, he knew that the patriarchs were not monolithic, and there were many leaders who had a lot of complaints about such a policy, and even had some radical ideas, but it was naturally not good for him to say anything about this matter as he was.

But in the end, this meeting failed to materialize, and as soon as he walked outside the Fucheng Phiyun Gate, a voice was called.

"Brother Hu, I didn't expect to bump into you here."

"Brother Mo Xian?"

Hu Barong was suspicious for a moment, and recognized the person, this person's name is Mo Houguang, he was originally a private school teacher, and now he makes a living as a storyteller in Huating County, when he first came to Songjiang, he had visited the people according to the instructions of the Senate, mostly through storytellers from all over the country, and Mo Houguang had some friendship at that time, but it was almost a year ago in a flash.

Mo Houguang said with a smile: "I heard that your family's business has been very good recently, why did Brother Hu fall into Huating to hide and relax?" ”

Hu Barong shook his head helplessly, "Brother Fool's little business has also reached the ears of Brother Xian?" ”

"What? Is it a business struggle? Mo Houguang looked at Hu Barong, his eyes flickered, there were a lot of things about Wan Tong, and this is still outside the east gate of Fucheng, which is a place where there are many weavers, he naturally heard about such a big thing, it seems that this Hu Dongzhu is indeed in trouble, otherwise he would not have run to Huating.

Hu Barong waved his hand, "It's okay not to mention it, what?" Brother Xian, is this going into the city to tell stories? ”

"Today, this Brother Liu Xian invited me to sit in on the occasion, how about it, Brother Hu also went with me to have a show? Just the right to solve the problem. ”

Mo Houguang asked a pockmarked young man on the side of him, who looked to be about thirty years old, but he was polite.

Hu Barong suddenly thought that although Mo Houguang in front of him had no fame, he was a person with a clear mind, and the things in the market were often said in the first place, and there was a lot of news, and it had nothing to do with the cloth shop, so why not ask this person first and then do it? simply stopped thinking about seeing Guo Zengfu, so he followed him to the storytelling tea shop.

Today, the scholar surnamed Liu said the paragraph of "Wu Song Fighting Tiger Jingyanggang" in "Water Margin", which was quite exciting, until the sun was about to sink in the west, and the audience dispersed unsatisfied.

After the end, Hu Barong found a secluded restaurant outside the city.

When he entered the room, he put down the wine and food, Hu Barong retreated from Xiao Er, and the two dart masters held the door, and there were only four people left in the house.

After adding wine and dishes, Hu Barong said: "Today is also a coincidence, I met a virtuous brother, and it must be fate." ”

"Brother Hu doesn't have to go around the bend, if there is anything you want to serve, as long as it's not a hurtful thing, but it doesn't matter."

"I can't tell you the truth, the foolish brother has indeed encountered some tricky things, and he wants to inquire about some news from the virtuous brother...... "After that, he told him about the recent cotton harvest and the unpleasantness of the meeting with the proprietors of the previous cloth.

After listening to Hu Barong's rough words, Mo Houguang was speechless for a while, and said: "Brother Hu might as well tell me bluntly, it is rumored that your cotton harvest is to be transported to the Australians to weave, I don't know if it's true?" ”

Hu Barong knew that Mo Houguang was kind, so after thinking about it, he nodded and admitted, and then pinched off the things he had saved for the leaders in Nanyang and talked to Mo Houguang.

"According to Brother Hu, this Australian is a man of affection, I don't think it's wrong for you to do things for them, and it is also beneficial to harvest cotton at a high price for cotton farmers, but there are some reasons why you, an outsider, can be shaken for a while."

"It seems that the virtuous brother must have opinions, and I hope to give advice."

"Don't dare to be, in fact, this is also common in my Ming Dynasty, Brother Hu must know that before the fifteenth year of Wanli, the two mansions of Su and Song, the official fields were crowned in the world, but since then, most of the official fields in the south of the Yangtze River have been invaded by big families from all over the country. Nowadays, the so-called cotton farmers are hard, talking about those tenants, since the next planting will be exploited by the big households, many of them are a number of local cloth merchants, it is because of them that they are firmly caught, there is no need to instigate, each family issued a word, who dares not to find your Wan Tong bad luck, are controlled by the cloth industry. ”

"Hu naturally saves this reason, but he always doesn't want to cause trouble in business."

"Even if you buy people's hearts and cloth shops, can't Hu Dongzhu buy them?" At this time, Liu Fengchun, who had been listening to the two of them talking next to him, suddenly interjected.

"Jingting (Liu Fengchun) ......" Mo Houguang felt that Liu Fengchun was a little abrupt.

Hu Barong didn't care, "It's okay, what is Brother Liu Xian's opinion?" ”

"I just think that Hu Dongzhu will use all the silver to collect cotton, and he will inevitably fall behind."

Hu Barong felt a pang in his heart when he heard this, and asked Liu Fengchun to continue.

"I just listened to what Hu Dongzhu said, in fact, the cotton harvested now is almost enough for most of the Australians' needs, why don't you stop first?"

"Suspend cotton harvesting?"

"Exactly, isn't the proprietor short of silver, but it is better to use the silver collected to help the cotton farmers and weavers, and your name will have a good reputation first."

Hearing this, Hu Barong's eyes lit up.

"Brother Liu Xian, tell me how to do it?"

"Didn't Mr. Mo just say, the fields in Susong and Song have been mostly encroached upon by large households, but the tenant farmers are not afraid of the landlords, only afraid of the cloth shop, they plant cotton every year, the next plant depends on the cloth shop for loans, and the harvest depends on the cloth shop, and the livelihood of the whole family depends on him, but in the final analysis, it is nothing more than the word "living road", Hu Dongzhu only works this, and it can be resolved naturally." Liu Fengchun tapped the edge of the table with his knuckles and talked eloquently, "Now that the autumn harvest is just after the autumn harvest, it is a good grain price, and there is a ready-made trick to win people's hearts, which is called - sound east and west." ”

[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