"His eyes are like those of a jackal......"

This was the first impression of seeing Lü Buwei at the beginning of Ming Yue, and when this Puyang merchant with embroidered clothes paced up from the hall to meet him, Mingyue noticed his eyes for the first time. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

It was a pair of hungry and eager eyes, and at the tip of his slightly tall and thin figure, against the backdrop of the cheekbones that protruded slightly, he looked like an opportunist who was very good at seizing the moment.

"Villain Lü Buwei ......"

Lu Buwei was also observing Chang Anjun, and then when the eyes of the two met, he showed weakness and retracted his gaze, and saluted in the hall: "I've seen Chang Anjun!" ”

This is the "duty" that a businessman should have, and his words are sincere, but Mingyue knows that the man in front of him who is about thirty years old is by no means as simple as a businessman.

In the near future, his business will go beyond ordinary goods and rise to the level of a strange commodity and an investment in the lord of a country. This speculation not only earned Lü Buwei the status of "Prime Minister of Qin", but also voted for Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of the ages......

But that's a later story, today's Lü Buwei, although he has a lot of money, is still a relatively successful businessman.

Thinking like this, Mingyue put away her pondering of this person, smiled, and eagerly helped him up: "Don't be polite, sir, I've heard about it for a long time!" ”

Indeed, in the more than a month since she returned to Handan, Mingyue had heard people talk about this businessman who was well-known among Zhao Wei several times.

Mingyue knew that in the Spring and Autumn Period of the Western Zhou Dynasty, the status of merchants was very low, equivalent to servants serving the government, but with the formation of a situation of competing for power among the countries, cities gradually rose, and merchants also ushered in an unprecedented good situation. Those individual small traders who are still at the bottom of the society are left alone, but some wealthy merchants who have sprung up like mushrooms after a rain are no less wealthy than feudal monarchs, and can even compete with the princes of small countries.

For example, the earliest Zigong, Tao Zhugong, Fan Li, and Yidun all have a wealth of daughters. Then there was the later Bai Gui, who reached the pinnacle and served as the minister of King Wei Hui, governing the Yellow River and digging a chasm......

But in general, the Warring States period is still an era of the powerful, and the rich are not necessarily noble, but the noble must be rich. In the eyes of the old aristocracy, whose ancestral home can be traced back thousands of years, no matter how rich these big businessmen are, they are still just explosive households, and the upper class of society respects these speculative and hoarding businessmen on the surface, but in fact generally adopts an attitude of discrimination and exclusion.

However, in the aristocratic circles of Handan, an exception was made to Lü Buwei, who came from Puyang, and they opened the door to Lü Buwei for him to roam freely here.

As far as Mingyue knew, the reason why Lü Buwei received this special treatment was because he had superior conditions that few other businessmen had:

First of all, it is his superficial identity as a "patriotic official businessman".

Weiguo was no longer a big country in the East when Zhou Gong was divided in the early years, but a small state of Yuer, sandwiched between Zhao, Wei, and Qi. Relying on the power of Wei several times, the Zhao State was not destroyed by the tiger's eye. Now the monarch of the Wei country, he doesn't even dare to call "Wei Hou", he calls himself Wei Jun, and considers himself a mere feudal monarch of Wei State, and Wei at this time can not be regarded as an independent prince.

However, Wei Jun's embarrassed status gave the local merchants the opportunity to prosper, after all, the weaker the monarch's power, the greater the freedom of the merchants.

The Weidi businessman is like a carp crossing the river, but the young Lü Buwei jumped out of it and became one of the best. It is said that his ancestor was the son of Jiang Qi, who ran to Puyang when the Tian family was in Qi, and by his father's generation, the family road had already fallen, as a businessman whose influence was limited to Puyang, although he could be well-off, but there was nothing extraordinary. It wasn't until ten years ago that Lü Buwei began to take over the family business, which made the Lü family transform.

Although Lü Buwei is young, he has good ability: he studied in the Jixia School Palace for a period of time in his early years, although he did not study to understand, had no professional skills, knew a little about everything, but was not proficient in anything, but boasted, it can be regarded as a miscellaneous family after learning "both Confucianism and ink, the joint name method, and the way of a hundred schools of thought". With this resume, Lü Buwei was invincious in his dealings with scholars.

Secondly, this person has a chic manner, elegant conversation, is able and flexible in talking about business, is not humble to the Venerable, is not arrogant to the slaves, and can socialize and circulate. And he is not stingy, bribes everywhere, and friends everywhere.

After getting richer and richer, Lü Buwei's heart became bigger and bigger, he first tried every means to get his family the status of an official and businessman of the country, exempted many passes from taxes, and at the same time put the business outside the country, and was good at dancing in Zhao, Han and other countries. Thousands of acres of lacquer forests on both sides of the Weiguo Pushui River are his foundation, and the jewelry gold and jade industry in Yangzhai, South Korea is a profiteering industry, and recently it has set foot in Handan's sound and color industry. In this way, Lü Buwei actually became a well-known wealthy merchant among other countries, and he could even be compared with Taoqiu Tao Zhu Gong and Handan iron smelting tycoon Guo Zong.

There is a proverb at the moment that says: "The son of a daughter does not die in the city." "This is not empty words, the people of the world are bustling; Come for profit, go for profit. Even if there are thousands of emperors in military chariots, princes of ten thousand fiefdoms, and doctors of hundred-room fiefdoms, they are still insatiable and worried about their poverty.

As a result, Lü Buwei's financial resources of "being richer than a daughter" have become their coveted targets. With these superior conditions, Lü Buwei soon integrated into the upper circles of Handan and Yangzhai, received attention and welcome from all sides, and his reputation rose day by day, becoming a figure not to be underestimated in Handan City......

As a son who likes pleasure, the famous Pingyuan Jun inevitably invites Lu Buwei every time he holds a banquet. Pingyang Jun has always been old-fashioned and unapproachable, but because the workshop mastered by the great engineer Yin was closely related to Lü Buwei's lacquer and silk trade, and it was indispensable to meet this merchant, Lü Buwei, like Guo Zong, a big iron merchant in Handan, became one of the few people who could enter and leave Pingyang Jun's mansion from time to time. The rest, such as the eunuch Ling Miaoxian, and Zhao Mu, the favorite minister of King Zhao, all had a friendship with this Lu Buwei and put on a gesture of favor for him.

In short, this Lu Buwei's tentacles can be said to be all over Handan, although he is a businessman who has no real power and has to bow and curry favor with everyone he meets, he can talk to everyone and have a little to do with it. If a powerful person wants to pinch him, it is like pressing an ant to death, it is really not easy.

Such a character came to visit, and there was no reason for Mingyue not to see him.

However, Lu Buwei came to visit Mingyue today, not because of any conspiracy, nor because the two had any special friendship before, but purely because of business.

Speaking of Mingyue, Mingyue is a little helpless, Mingyue, the "Bang Right Worker Yin" in charge of the "color worker" is the dyeing workshop lacquer dyeing industry, Weiguo is just a major supplier of silk and linen, tree paint and dyes, because of the relationship between the position, Mingyue has to deal with businessmen from Weiguo.

Mingyue was also taken aback when she heard that it was Lü Buwei who wanted to negotiate with him about buying lacquer, but after thinking about it, Lü Buwei, the most famous and profitable investment in the life of a speculator, had not yet begun......

History is not yet predestined, so this may be a good opportunity to test this person......

So today, he didn't meet Lü Buwei alone, there was another person in the hall besides them.

"This is Mr. Xu, a farmer."

Mingyue smiled and gestured with a smile, introducing Lü Buwei to the middle-aged man who was kneeling on the second seat, this person had rough hands and feet, and his face was wrinkled, and he looked simple and unpretentious, which was in stark contrast to Lü Buwei, who was dressed in embroidery and tried his best to show his wealth and nobility on the outside.

But it is Mingyue's farmer Xu You, who has a friend in Linzi.

It turned out that Mingyue wrote a letter to ask the Mo family to come to Handan to "discuss academics", and it happened that this Xu You was also there, and the farmer and the Mo family had a good relationship, so they came together, and he still remembered the promise that Chang Anjun once said: If there is a fief in the country, the farmer must take root in Zhao State!

Xu You came here to inspect Zhao at the order of the farmer leader "Ye Lao", after all, their farmer has been going around between Qi and Chu in the past few decades, and they are relatively unfamiliar with the land of Zhaodi, so it is necessary to check the soil and products here.

As the spokesperson of the peasants, the peasant family has never had a good impression of the merchants, and they are more worried about the atmosphere of the people of Zhao who like industry and commerce and hate hard work, so as soon as Lü Buweifu sat down, Xu You said a little unkindly:

"I've heard that there are vulgar extravagances and chasing the end, not ploughing an inch of land and eating ointment, not doing a piece of embroidery and embroidery, businessmen, and the son treats Mr. like a guest, and Mr. is so peaceful that there is no trace of shame?"

Later, he said to Chang'an Jun: "Son, Lao Tzu once said, to the extreme, neighboring countries look at each other, the voice of chickens and dogs is heard, the people are willing to eat, beautiful clothes, peaceful customs, happy business, until old age and death do not get along." My peasant family believes that if we want to sort out the political customs of the Zhao State, the top priority is to learn from the Qin State and ban the merchants, especially these merchants who hoard and resell among the countries and extract profits from the farmers! ”

Mingyue hadn't yet expressed his position, but Lu Buwei had already reacted from this ambush, and he laughed: "Mr. Xu is so repulsive about businessmen that he has such a big prejudice? ”

He held up his gorgeous clothes, which were enough for ten families to eat and wear for a year, and said with a smile: "This gorgeous costume and embroidery is not what I like to wear, but it is worn for the nobles in Handan." Because the people of the world are all people who tend to be inflammatory, when they see me in Chinese clothes and embroidery, they think that I have money, and even if there is a temporary shortage of money, they will definitely be able to make up for it, so they are willing to trade with me; If I had followed the example of my husband, because I had not woven and dyed this garment, I would be ashamed of myself, and I would have walked through the market in coarse cloth and shady clothes, and the people of Handan would have thought that they would be poor, and they would have been a little more jealous when they traded with me...... Therefore, Shang Jia's clothes and embroidery are not worn for themselves, but for others to see! ”

"As for Lao Tzu's sentence, it is fashionable and okay for three generations, and now, if you have to live in this way, it is undoubtedly blocking the ears and eyes of the people, and vainly trying to put them back in the urn will not work!"

Xu You was not convinced: "What basis do you have?" ”

Lu Buwei was not in a hurry: "It is true that Mr. Xu is right, if the farmers don't come out, the world will have no food, but please remember this sentence!" ”

Lu Buwei stroked his mustache and said lightly: "If you can't do it, the three treasures will be amazing!" If there are no merchants to circulate and turn, then the three treasures of grain, utensils, and wealth will be cut off. Agricultural business, these are the four indispensable professions in the world, each performing its own duties, there is no distinction between high and low, but Mr. is a big fallacy to give respect to agriculture and light business...... I dare to say that without the merchants in the middle of the trade, if the world is not chaotic, I will twist my head off and give it to Mr. as a bow and kick! ”