Chapter 61: Doing Business (1)

If there is one thing that can be most interesting other than looting, it is the officials and businessmen. The power is the right to the profit, just like in "Dream of Red Mansions", "Jia is not fake, and white jade is a horse for Tang Jin." Afang Palace, three hundred miles, can't live in a history of Jinling. The East China Sea lacked a white jade bed, and the Dragon King came to invite the King of Jinling. In a good year, there is a lot of snow, and pearls are like earth and gold. “

Its author, Cao Xueqin's great-grandfather, Cao Xi's wife, Sun, became the Kangxi Emperor's nanny. And Emperor Kangxi remembered the old feelings, so that Kangxi let Cao Xi serve as Jiangning weaving in the second year, a total of 21 years, and finally died in Jiangning weaving. After Cao Xi's death, Kangxi ordered his son Cao Yin to serve as a weaver in Suzhou, and later succeeded to Jiangning weaving, Lianghuai patrol salt imperial history and other positions. After Cao Yin's death, Kangxi ordered his son Cao Hao to succeed Jiangning Weaving. Cao Hao died three years after taking office. Kangxi also specially appointed Cao Yin's brother Cao Quan's son Cao Fu to succeed Cao Yin and succeed the weaving position, and the three generations of the Cao family and four people served as Jiangning weaving for more than 60 years.

Five of Kangxi's six southern tours were based on the Cao family's Jiangning Weaving Department, which shows the Cao family's prominent position and strong economic strength at that time.

Although it is now the Song Dynasty, the economy of the Song Dynasty is the strongest in the entire Chinese feudal society. The economic prosperity of the Song Dynasty was unprecedented, with significant developments in agriculture, printing, papermaking, silk weaving, and porcelain. The maritime and shipbuilding industries have made outstanding achievements, and overseas trade is developed, and it has trade with more than 50 countries in the South Pacific, the Middle East, Africa, Europe and other regions. The development of the south during the Southern Song Dynasty contributed to the development of the Jiangnan region as an economic and cultural center.

According to Shi Bin's knowledge, Meng Heng was appointed as the major master of the inspection school and the envoy of the Ningwu army in the sixth year of Chunyou (1246), while Jia Yidao was transferred to the deputy envoy of the Yangtze River system in the fifth year of Chunyou (1245), and Zhijiang Prefecture concurrently served as the pacification envoy of Jiangxi.

Now his father-in-law is the general of Huguang (Caifu), so Shi Bin decided to speed up the pace of the economy and no longer engage in the underground economy - smuggling, but to partner with Jia Yidao to engage in official business. So, he left Tanzhou and went to Ezhou to discuss official matters with Jia Rudao.

Although the idea is good, but after chatting with Jia Nidao, I learned that the government-run salt merchants, tea merchants, grain merchants, oil merchants, miners, silk merchants, etc. have basically divided the market, and their backstage is all powerful people of wealthy families, and Jia Nidao only occupies a small piece.

is the so-called "taking advantage of the excitement and returning home with failure", although I know that Jia Yidao is somewhat exaggerated, but I know that it is also roughly the same. Although Jia Rudao was already a feudal official at this time, he couldn't get carried away and made enemies on all sides. Cutting off people's wealth is like killing his parents, he can't and can't do this.

So even if Jia Ling wanted to go to Jia Yidao to make trouble, she was stopped by Shi Bin, only saying that her father was indeed powerless.

Although she was stopped by Shi Bin, how could Jia Ling be such an honest person? promised Shi Bin in person not to look for Jia Nidao again, and pretended to be greatly wronged to reassure Shi Bin; As soon as Shi Bin left the house, she went out of the boudoir to Jia Nidao's study to make noise.

Jia Yidao, who was helpless by Jia Ling's noisy and coquettish, finally agreed that Jia Ling would help Shi Bin in business. But the premise is: if you want to enter the market and share the cake, you have to spend a lot of money, and you can only help Shi Bin get a fake identity as a businessman. After all, he is still a commander, an official, and since ancient times, except for designated officials, the rest are not allowed to do business.

In my previous life, I had heard enough of "girls extroverts", but I found that they were actually "girls introverts". But now I really feel that the Song Dynasty is really a "girl extrovert", Jia Ling is really thinking about Shi Bin and helping him fight for power and profit without ambiguity. Although it is just a fake identity attached to it, it can always be a serious business, and there is no need to smuggle everything.

On the way back, Shi Bin's mind came up the most with the three words "Hu Xueyan". A little depressed when he returned to Tanzhou, he decided that no matter how much money he had, what kind of side ball he played, as long as he could enter the market with dignity and get a piece of the pie.

You know, such a profit is a daily profit, and the wealth will soar like a rocket. If you have money and food, you are not afraid of not having an army, and if you have an army, you are not afraid of having no territory and no strength.

Shi Bin likes to watch "Ruffian Hero" very much, and the main context of it revolves around the commission case in the military procurement plan. Although arms is a very strict item controlled by the state, it is also a very profitable and easy to get through in the legitimate industry, so he really wants to use the weapons workshop he is now building privately to sell equipment and make money. However, with his current strength, selling arms everywhere is too risky, and it is tantamount to looking for death, so he has to find a reliable partner to plan.

And if he wants to do those ordinary industries, he is not interested, so the profit is too small. So he held another meeting in the council chamber on this subject.

"Brothers, this is not so informal, this is at home, I want to discuss an issue with you today. Now that Meng Dutong is no longer able to support it, it is estimated that it will be soon. Xiangyang is in danger, and I don't know if Meng Gong can support it once he is not in the Song Dynasty, so we need to grow as soon as possible. What do you think? Shi Bin asked a little anxiously and helplessly.

"Commander, isn't this very simple, your father-in-law is the commander of Huguang, don't you choose to let him sell salt, iron, and grain conveniently? In this way, the money will naturally roll in. Zhao Gang said with a smile.

Shi Bin looked at the brother who had never turned his head, and nodded with a smile. Zhao Gang, who didn't understand the meaning, thought he was praising him, and hummed a little song happily.

"Did the commander feel that he was too aggrieved from the previous grain and grass supply crisis and didn't want to be controlled by others anymore?" Wang San asked.

Before Shi Bin could answer, Li Chao said, "Commander, are you worried that the Yuan soldiers will break through Xiangyang and we will not be able to resist?" ”

What the two of them said was exactly what Shi Bin was worried about, looked at the map hanging on the wall, nodded and replied with some anger: "Yes." Although Tanzhou and Yuezhou are already under my control, they are only on the defensive and cannot counterattack. The key is that we can't be self-sufficient in grain and grass, once the Yuan soldiers break through Xiangfan, if the Song Dynasty does not support our resistance, then won't all our hard work in the past few years be in vain? When the time comes, it will still be slaughtered by others? ”

No one is willing to give away what they have in their hands, especially what they have worked so hard for, so they all think so, and say that they will resolutely support Shi Bin's decision. Wang San also vaguely said that he would use the strategy of "building a high wall, accumulating grain, and slowly becoming king".

Shi Bin said, "Recently, I visited Master Jia, and he agreed to help us get through the relationship and do business, but for the time being, we can only do private business, and I will probably have to spend a lot of money to join, and it is almost impossible to become an official businessman." ”

"The commander doesn't have to be frustrated, in the opinion of the younger brother, it's actually nothing, the key to doing business is not whether the government is the people, but whether to find the right business opportunities." Liu Xiao said with a smile.

Zhao Gang said with a smile: "Brother Liu, you are not talking nonsense, who doesn't know that business opportunities are the most important!" Again...... ”

Seeing that Zhao Gang was still so reckless, he interrupted Liu Xiao's words very rudely, and Shi Bin immediately reprimanded: "Zhao Gang, why are you so rude? Wait for Liu Xiao to finish speaking, will you say no? ”

Such a training really woke up Zhao Gang, and he immediately stood aside to drink tea.

gave Liu Xiao a gesture, and he continued, "Commander, in today's troubled times, the junior brother thinks that those nothingness are not enough to operate, and what is really worth managing is of strategic significance." For example, salt, iron, grain and oil, coal, tea, mining, etc., or related industries. After a pause, he sighed and continued: "The problem is that the salt and iron official camp has been a rule since ancient times, and most of them will not support us with Lord Jia's attitude, so we don't have to think about it in the near future." ”

After hearing this, everyone thought that this was indeed the case, after all, in the end, they still had to rely on the mountain of Jia Nidao, and even Shi Bin should not violate his taboo. So everyone began to discuss what kind of industry to run and how to operate it in addition to salt and iron.

Li Chao believes that since Tanzhou and Yuezhou belong to the land of fish and rice, they should naturally be grain merchants. When enough grain is hoarded, the excess can be sold at a high price, and the most precious thing today is grain.

But Shi Bin thinks that the more food the better, and there should be no hoarding enough, so he euphemistically said: The larger the territory and the larger the population, there will never be enough food, so we can't consider selling grain.

After hearing this, Li Chao realized that he had made a mistake, that he was too small, otherwise he would not have the idea of selling grain. But seeing Shi Bin taking care of his face so much, and speaking so vaguely, also made him very grateful and admired.

Liu Xiao believes that the fish and shrimp in the water can be caught and dried and sold, as long as they are eaten by the soldiers and not overfished. Moreover, the population decreased greatly in the last years of the Southern Song Dynasty, and there was no possibility of overfishing.

This is really a good suggestion, the fish is very nutritious, and the preserved fish is easy to preserve and carry, and it is also a very good food.

Because of the abundance of coal and non-ferrous metal mines throughout Jinghu South Road, Wang San suggested that the areas already under control and in the areas that Jia Nidao could influence should be vigorously involved in development, exchanging coal for salt and iron, as well as other important strategic resources.

However, Li Chao believes that this method is not advisable, after all, it is necessary to invest a lot of effort to participate in the development. Mining is a matter of technology, and Shi Bin's subordinates have no professionals related to mining, not to mention that even if there are people, they are powerless.

Shi Bin originally wanted to agree with Wang San's suggestion to vigorously participate in the mining industry, but when he heard Li Chao's statement, it seemed more realistic, although it extinguished his passion for being a big mine owner, but his loyalty was contrary to his ears, and he really had to listen to Li Chao's advice.

But Li Chao is not a stunned young man, and he knows the possible consequences of these words, because even if Shi Bin has the capacity to tolerate people, he will inevitably be unhappy in his heart. So he immediately said: "Commander, although we can't participate in mining, we can participate in sales." ”

Involved in sales? The words are so, but the profit is too little.

"My lord forgot that we still have a water army?" Li Chao said with a smile.

What does the water army do in sales? After thinking about it, Shi Bin thought of the Yangtze River water transport. It seems that Li Chao means not only selling all kinds of fishery products himself, but also being a second-tier dealer in wholesale.

After Shi Bin asked, Li Chao said that this was what he meant. Therefore, the most feasible is Li Chao's suggestion. After sorting out the clue, Shi Bin asked Li Chao, a very wise subordinate manager, to do business, especially to purchase more salt and iron.

He even hinted that Li Chao would negotiate with the envoys, pacification envoys, and control envoys in various places if possible to see if they needed high-quality weapons. After all, everyone wants their subordinates to be the division of tigers and wolves, even if the Song Dynasty is strong and weak, it is not bad to be able to make their own army strong. Therefore, Shi Bin thinks that most of his firearms are still in the market, but he just has to be careful.