"In my opinion," Zhang Han interjected at the right time: "When you bring silver to buy goods, you are afraid that the silver will be robbed and stolen, and when you bring the goods back, you are afraid of being blackmailed. ”

"This little brother deserves to be from a business family, what he said is too right."

"Last time I went to Kaifeng from Xinpingbao, I brought more than 300 pieces of leather goods, and when I arrived in Kaifeng, there were less than 200 left. Steal and rob, be blackmailed, take it out and make a tax card for the old man's ......" A middle-aged businessman shook his head with anger and said: "In short, our business is not easy!" ”

"Who called us more princes in Shanxi and Henan?"

"Shanxi is okay, but Henan is really a lot."

Merchants here, there are really a lot of people who go to Henan and Shandong, the specialties of the north are actually more expensive to Huguang in the south of the Yangtze River, but it is not easy for ordinary foot merchants to travel thousands of miles back and forth, the merchants of Shandong are more to Liaodong and Jingshi, less to Shanxi, more are Henan merchants, and Shanxi and Henan have many princes and county kings, the tax card of the government is not much, but these palaces and the gentry around the country have more private tax cards, plus the tooth tax collected by these merchants in the tooth shop, all kinds of miscellaneous expenses, errands, shops, Zhang Han listened to it casually, and knew how difficult it was for merchants in the Ming Dynasty to make money.

There are also official roads in disrepair, roads are difficult to travel, floods, displaced people, bandits and Lahu, those good villagers extort passing merchants and are not merciless, if it were not for the bilateral trade between the Ming Dynasty and Mongolia, the Ming Dynasty belongs to the advantageous side, and the profits are huge, I am afraid that these merchants may not be profitable.

At that time, the business road, the best is the ocean trade, Jiangnan, Fujian and Guangdong have made a lot of money, especially in the south of the Yangtze River, the profits are particularly rich, and then there is from the south to the north, from the Caoyun waterway all the way to sell the southern goods to the north, which also has the trade route from Huguang to Jiangnan and Henan, which is also very prosperous.

As for the commerce in the north, the rise of the Jin merchants relied on the monopoly of salt tea and grain trafficking, and now it is the horse market.

In the casual conversation of everyone, Zhang Han gradually felt more and more clearly about the business pulse of this era, many things that could not be seen in Xinpingbao could only be obtained in such a journey, and some things in his mind gradually became clearer and clearer.

"More time," Zhang Han said with a smile: "The silver can be taken back to the ground, and when you buy the goods, someone will help you ship it home, and pick up the goods at home, so that the business will be easy to do." ”

The middle-aged businessman who sold leather goods just now laughed and said: "Little brother is really good at laughing, if you do this business method, wouldn't it be the same as watching the business at home?" ”

"It's still different." Zhang Han said with a smile: "In the end, if you want to go to the ground to see the goods, everyone has different visions, different goods, different news, and different benefits." ”

"However, if you want to do what you said, little brother, it is absolutely impossible."

Zhang Han smiled and said nothing, but someone else answered: "The matter of silver exchange is already being done by some people, but the scale is not large, and it is feasible in a few places, and it is only believed between acquaintances that the silver will be exchanged for a bill of exchange, and when it arrives at the place, it will be exchanged for silver." ”

"I wouldn't dare do that."

"yes, that sounds too mysterious."

All the merchants shook their heads, Zhang Han was not surprised by this situation, in fact, there was "flying money" in the Tang Dynasty, when the war in the world was fierce, there was little gold and silver, and most of them used copper coins, and it was too risky to bring tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of strings of money to trade, and it was too troublesome.

It's a pity that this system disappeared in the Ming Dynasty, and a small number of bills of exchange appeared at the end of the Ming Dynasty, but it takes more than a hundred years for this industry to mature from the emergence to maturity, and the European forces came in soon after the passage, and the banking industry of the people is more mature, the service is better, and the capital is stronger.

Speaking of which, the development of the banking industry in Europe is that there are Jews and powerful business guilds, and capital speaks for itself.

After chatting about the change, everyone returned to the room to rest, and after Zhang Han and the others had a good night's sleep, they also got up and continued to hurry.

Tianchengwei went to Yanghewei, entered Yanghewei, then went to Datong Town, and then went straight to the southwest, when the wind and dust arrived in Puzhou, it was already on the road for six days.

The train journey of several hours in later generations was extraordinarily long and arduous at this time.

Along the way, also encountered scoundrels blocking the road, but did not see the bandits, after all, it was all the way from the avenue, did not take any small roads and mountain roads, but there were also quite a few thrills, when crossing Taiyuan, Liang Hong suffered from the wind cold, almost fell ill, everyone stopped for a long time, cooked a big pot of ginger soup in a small shop on the side of the road, everyone drank sweat, Liang Hong's face changed from yellow to ruddy, and then continued on the road after resting.

In this era, if you are not accustomed to the water and soil on the way, or you have typhoid fever, you generally have to rest for at least a few days before you can continue to move forward, otherwise you are likely to die on the way.

Liang Hong is fortunately in good health, and thinking that Zhang Han and Liang Xing and others are taking care of him, plus the matter is urgent, it is not good to delay for too long, after all, he still got on the horse and hurried, fortunately, there were no more accidents on the way, and everyone finally arrived in Puzhou safely.

The Puzhou Zhang family is the first family in the local area, and Zhang Siwei is the highest height of the Puzhou Zhang family, but the Puzhou Zhang family is not only Zhang Siwei, this family has been inherited for hundreds of years, but Zhang Siwei is the most prominent.

"The Zhang family's mansion is in Luoma Lane, and there are several alleys that are his family's mansions, when you get there, which one are you looking for, inquire clearly and then come to the door."

The family that has been inherited for hundreds of years, after the branches and leaves, the clan flourished, Zhang Han and others got guidance, and only after arriving at the place did they know how prominent the Zhang family was.

Even though the Zhang family has not produced any great characters in the past twenty or thirty years, the background is not comparable to ordinary gentry families, let alone pure merchant families.

The entire Luoma Lane is all inhabited by the Zhang family, each courtyard is extraordinary, and there are several alleys in the whole street, except for a few people, almost all of them are inhabited by the Zhang family of Puzhou.

On the street, there are no shops and unsightly buildings, but there is an ancestral hall in the middle of the street, which is the ancestral hall of the Zhang family in Puzhou.

More conspicuous, of course, is the torii that rises from the corner of the street.

Such as the archway of Jinshi and the first do not need to mention, many, there are any Fuzhou main hall and other archways, the most conspicuous, of course, is the university card, the prince and the teacher, the young master of the pillar country and other archways, this is the achievement of Zhangjia Fengpan Gong Zhang Siwei, so far, the whole Shanxi of those big families, there are very few which can win the Puzhou Zhangjia in the matter of fighting the archway.

To his great-grandfather, Zhang Han did not have much respect, Zhang Juzheng was a successful reformer and politician, when Zhang Juzheng was alive, Zhang Siwei had many welcomes, as soon as Zhang Juzheng died, he and Shen Shixing together in order to cater to Wanli, fighting a dead man, this is just poor political integrity, from the actual effect, the Zhongxing atmosphere of the Ming Dynasty was destroyed by the hands of Shen Shixing and Zhang Siwei, which is categorically correct.

Thinking about it, Puzhou Zhang and Zhang Siwei are Zhang Han's biggest reliance at this time, he got off the horse early, and walked under the archway respectfully, no matter what his heart was, his face was full of respect.

Zhang Han and his entourage also attracted people's attention.

In addition to the Zhang clan living on this street, most of them are also gentry families, and most of the people walking on the street know each other well, and a few outsiders on horseback came at once, which is very eye-catching.

"It turned out to be the branch of Xun Feng Pangong, his branch lives in the main hall, which is the largest mansion in the middle, and his branch is only a single pass, so it's best not to find it."

When Zhang Han inquired about it, his heart was also in shock.

After many years, the Zhang family of Xinpingbao has been separated from Puzhou for a long time, and the Zhang family here seems to have forgotten that Xinpingbao still has a descendant of Fengpangong?

"I am also a descendant of Feng Pangong."

The man who spoke was about forty years old, thin and short, wearing a pure yang scarf, wearing a cyan robe-style jacket, listening to Zhang Han's words, his two small eyes blinked, thought about it, suddenly clapped his hands, and said with a smile: "I know, you came from Xinpingbao, didn't you?" ”

Zhang Han also admired the other party, and the people of these years were obsessed with the genealogy of the clan, and the situation of each branch in such a big clan could be remembered so clearly.

"Yes, it is ...... under it"

"Don't weigh it down, is your father Zhang Cheng? He came once when he was a teenager, and I was also young at the time, and I saw him once, and we played together, and it has been so many years......"

The thin man sighed, looked at Zhang Han, and said, "My name is Zhang Xuezeng, and I am your uncle in terms of pedigree, you can call me the third uncle." ”

Zhang Han hurriedly bowed down: "The younger generation has seen the third uncle." ”

Pick this "third uncle" to speak, Zhang Han has also observed, this person's clothing is biased towards the gentry first-class, when walking around the street, many people bow to him, this person also answers one by one, his status is not low, and he is modest, Zhang Han picked him to ask, this question and answer, the effect is not bad.

Zhang Xuezeng looked at Zhang Han and asked, "How is your father?" ”

"My father has been dead for several years......"

"Well, sure enough." Zhang Xuezeng stumbled and said: "Your father was to report the funeral back then, and he also had the intention of returning to the sect, but unfortunately this thing was not done, and he ...... back then. Forget it, you don't need to mention much about the events of the year, you have to make it clear to me, what is the matter with coming back this time? ”

These three uncles are really warm-hearted, and Zhang Han will not hide it, and he will tell him what happened in 1510-

Book friends of the Duke of London, I am not exaggerating about the matter of buying shops, there is a lot of information, and the records of people at that time are even more shocking. I have the words of Emperor Longwu in the book, Longwu's life experience is complicated, unlike Chongzhen who grew up in the deep palace, it is easy to be coaxed, he has a deep understanding of the shop, but unfortunately he is already the afterglow of the sunset.