After Zhao Wuxian and his entourage followed Cao Bo to Taoyi, his minions and soldiers naturally could only stay in Waiguo and camp, and the master of ceremonies of Cao Guo's pedestrian department was responsible for receiving them, providing corn, vegetables and other necessary items.

And he took Zhang Mengtan, Feng Rin, Cheng Xuan, Xing Ao and others into Taoyi together, and went to the pavilion to meet Zigong.

After the group greeted, they walked to see the world-famous pottery market.

When the largest trading city in East Asia appeared in front of him in this era, even the well-informed Zhao Wuxian was a little overwhelmed.

The road in the city is straight, paved with bluestone slabs, here is no longer divided into the front and back of the market, no longer the separation of the market, the market is all over every street, the department stores are mixed, bustling. The wealthy businessman dressed in Song embroidery and Lu Yi led the soap-clothed attendants to swagger through the market, and the sound of bargaining was noisy, and the liveliness far exceeded that of Jiang City and Shangqiu North City.

Xuanyi's city official "Chu Shi" took the city officials to inspect the period and collect 5% of the trade tax.

Wuxian found that some places are still "Baigong Residence", that is, the front shop and the back workshop, where the free Baigong produces handmade products such as pottery and wine, and sells them in the front store. He paced over one by one to check the price, and saw that most of the goods were well made.

Zigong, who has been here for two months, introduced to them: "Since ancient times, the river, Huai, He, and Ji have been called the 'four desecrations', and Taoyi is in the center of the river transportation network formed by the four defilements, and the land routes also extend in all directions. Here south to Song, Wu, north to Yan, Jin, east to Qi, Lu, Sishang princes, west to Zheng, Zhou. The people of the time admired, Tao, in the world, the princes are connected, and the goods are traded. ”

Cheng Jian and Xing Ao, who had not been out of the house much, were a little dizzy, and sighed: "See you today." Sure enough. ”

Zhang Mengtan looked left and right and said: "The market, the goods are accurate, and the market." You can know how to control the chaos, and you can know how much. After coming to Tao City today. I knew that the foundation of the Cao State lies in this, and I also understood why although Cao Bo was not good in the past dynasties, the Cao State was able to live forever. ”

The market is the standard of supply and demand of goods, and the market can deduce the chaos of a country, and Cao State is a state that relies on the superior geographical location of Taoyi and relies on commerce. In order to attract merchants to trade their goods here, tariffs were set very low. The city tax is not too high, even so, it can also be used to make money for Cao Boyue.

"The city of Taoyi is divided into three times in the morning, noon and evening: the morning market, the morning and the time market, mainly for merchants and traders from various countries; The day market, the day and the city, the Cao Guo office and the local secretary of the family are mainly procured; The sunset market and the sunset market are mainly based on the mutual exchange of peddlers and women in Waiguo. Now it is the morning market, and you can see the goods of merchants from all over the world. ”

Spring and Autumn Period. The commodity economy has begun to develop, and trade has begun to break down national borders. The Duke of Qi Huan was the first hegemon, and when Jin and Chu fought for hegemony and peace talks. All of them regard the non-blockade of trade routes as one of their covenants, and the Taoyi brings together the unique products of each country.

Zhao Wuxian looked around and saw fish salt and silk hemp from Qi State; Northern Yan, Xianyu's cattle, sheep and horses, and northern dogs; Song Lu's grains, silk cloth, satin, lacquerware; Jin's leather, wen, and pond salt; Copper tin of the state of Wu; The wolfberry, leather, bird feathers, ivory, danqing, and even gold mined from the Han River of Rushui in the Chu State.

The medium of trade is also gold as the upper currency, followed by copper coins and cloth of different shapes, and grain as the lower currency.

Looking at this lively scene, Zhao Wuxian couldn't help but feel excited: "If Zhao Ci can enter here and open a store to sell it." You will definitely be able to make a profit dozens of times! ”

That also means that he can raise more soldiers.

Because he was detained by Cao Bo for nearly two months. Zigong's face was slightly pale, and he waved his wide sleeves. He confessed: "The gentleman asked me to come here two months ago, but I was placed under house arrest by Uncle Cao in the pavilion, and I have achieved nothing so far, so I am ashamed. ”

Originally, Zigong was appointed by Zhao Wuxian as the deputy envoy to the Song State, and embarked on the road of a diplomat with great longing, but who knew that during the period, there was a sudden drastic change: Le Qi was assassinated, and the mission failed.

After the First World War, Zhao Wuxian was exiled from the country on the charge of manslaughtering Fan's grandson, and his duties were revoked, and Zigong and Feng Rin, as Wuxian's "henchmen", were naturally deprived of their identities.

Feng Rin was extremely disappointed, and once wanted to secretly run back to China, but Zigong persuaded him to continue to follow Wuxian.

"You don't see that after the Duke of Jin Wen returned to the country, the people who accompanied him were rewarded, and the ambition of the Zhao gentleman was great, and it was very good for people to spend it. Although he was banished, he has become famous among the princes, and he can gain a foothold wherever he goes, so you might as well serve him for a few more years with peace of mind. ”

Zigong said this, but he also had some regrets in his heart, but he had a three-year cooperation oath with Wuxi, and Zigong appointed himself as a soldier, thinking that "people have no faith, and they don't know what they can do." In addition, he was moved by the heartfelt friendship of the shirtless, and decided to stay and help him tide over the difficulties.

Confucius, who was far away in the Lu Kingdom, also agreed with this approach, and Confucius once summoned Zigong to return to China, thinking that his stay at that time would have little effect on the Zhao family. But when Zhao Wuxian was at a low point, Confucius supported Zigong to stay.

He said in the letter: "Yes, the Duke of Zhou once said that Lu Hou Bo said, so there is no big reason for the old, so he will not abandon it." You have an oath with the gentleman of the Zhao family, and you have said that he treats you like a friend, so you must not break your trust. ”

Therefore, Zigong strictly followed the teachings of Confucius, and was very attentive to the mission that Zhao Wuxian handed over to him to create a piece of the world in Taoyi.

Zhao Wuxian said: "Zigong is implicated by me, don't blame yourself." Now that Uncle Cao has been very friendly to me, he must be able to establish a wine shop, and then he can get on the right track by trafficking Zhao porcelain from the lower palace. ”

Zigong shook his head and said, "No, the situation in this Taoyi is more complicated than the gentleman imagined. ”

He pointed to some scattered shops in the market and said, "I'm afraid it won't work to buy a manor and open a wheat flour mill like in the Song Kingdom." ”

Zhao Wuxian and the others had just noticed that those stores were selling powdered food, and the taste was almost the same as that of Xinjiang and Shangqiu. This pottery is worthy of being a commercial city, a place where merchants from all over the world come and go, so the speed of information and skills spread is staggering.

"Since you can't do powder food, what about Zhao Ci?"

"Whether it is Zhao Ci or a wine shop, if you want to start a sale, you must get the approval of the city official Chu Shi, and Chu Shi must report to Cao Guosi Cheng for approval. Did the gentleman find out that once Uncle Cao talked about the goods. As far as Gu left and right are concerned, he is extremely perfunctory. ”

Zhao Wuxian frowned and thought: "That's true, from the time we met in the suburbs. I wanted to talk to him about it, but Uncle Cao didn't give me a chance to speak until the hunt was over. Zigong said that there is another hidden secret, what is it? ”

Zigong pointed to the boats that were dragged by the slender man and went upriver from the east of Jishui, as well as more than 100 carts from the western suburbs of Taoyi, and gave the answer:

"Qi Shang and Zheng Jia are the two major merchant forces in Taoyi, and they are sparing no effort to prevent me from visiting the market and finding shops, and they are also asking Chu Shi and Sicheng. Even Cao Bo offered a bribe and asked Cao Guo to imprison the gentleman's businessmen to trade here! ”

Under Zigong's explanation, Zhao Wuxian can be regarded as understanding the complex relationship of interests.

The state of Qi has always been merchant-oriented, and a professional merchant class has long appeared, and is listed as one of the four people, Guan Yiwu worked as a merchant when he was young. Under the economic reform of Guan Zhong's "Kingdom of Sea Kings", a township where merchants gathered was set up, and the sons of merchants were always merchants, and they were responsible for selling and transporting for generations.

Qi produces fish and salt, and the pickled sea fish are transported by ships along the Jishui and large rivers to the upstream neighboring countries. It is the main means of supplementing the meat of many people in the city. Salt is even more important, people can't do without it for a day, and the sea salt of Qi is transported to the Central Plains countries. Cao, Wei, Song, and Zheng all relied on Qi Yan's snort.

This economic advantage is projected into politics, so they are easily co-opted and threatened by the Qi State, and even if they do not participate in the Qi Alliance, they can only communicate with good words. Only the Jin and Luneng, which produce their own rock salt or have salt ponds, have always been fighting against the Qi State.

Nowadays, the commerce of Qi is mainly controlled by the Gao Tang Chen clan. Chen's merchants sold goods at home to curry favor with the Chinese, but hoarded and sold them abroad for huge profits, and they hoarded sea salt, and when there was less salt on the market in the Central Plains, the price would inevitably increase. Qi Shang relied on this method to become a giant in Taoyi City. All of them have a lot of money.

For some reason, Zhao Wuxian is now being targeted by the Chen family. Qi Shang reported back that he had a great reputation in Shangqiu. After the news that he had sent people to trade in Taoyi, the Chen clan immediately sent Shang Jia to bribe the monarchs and ministers of Cao State. The demand for the imprisonment of Zhao Wuxian's party's activities in Taoyi and the imprisonment of Zigong are also related to this.

"Chen?"

Wuxian's face was slightly gloomy when he heard this, and there was evidence that one of the masterminds who assassinated Le Qi was the Chen family and his son!

"Chen Qi's father and son are determined to be my enemies...... What about Zheng Shang, isn't it because of Jin Zheng's bad relationship? ”

Zigong once again slowly explained Zheng Shang's situation.

Zheng Guo was the country that attached the most importance to commerce in the Spring and Autumn Period, and as early as two weeks, the monarch Zheng Huan Gong directly came forward and made a covenant with the merchants, "I don't know about the treasure and bribes of the city".

Successive generations of Zheng Bohe ruled to protect commercial development, and when countries still adhered to the "industrial and commercial food official" system, they began to implement relatively relaxed commercial policies, in fact, the cooperative relationship between Zhao Wuxian and Zigong was also emulated by them.

Therefore, while maintaining a certain degree of autonomy, Zheng Shang actively engaged in transshipment trade, and to a certain extent, controlled the transportation and sales among the princes.

If Qi Shang's hoarding was to make a profit by using the difference in prices at different times, then Zheng Shang's long-distance trafficking was mainly to make money by using the difference in prices in different spaces. Zheng Shang "bears the burden, serves the cattle and horses, and takes the four squares", although it is not far away, and the hard work is abnormal, but they "expect how much, count the high and low, and use everything they have to change what they have", and the profit is as high as five times.

Zigong pointed to the Zheng Guo chariots that were rushing in and said: "There are two largest Zheng merchants, one is the Xian clan that is sold in a long distance, and the other is the Yu clan that attacks pearls, jade and other luxury goods. ”

The Xian clan is the descendant of Xiangao, although Xiangao himself chose to avoid when Zheng Bo rewarded him with a fiefdom and ran to Dongyi, but some of his clansmen stayed.

The Xian clan grew stronger and stronger under the support of Zheng Bo, and they were strong and closely related to the rulers of Zheng, Jin, Chu, and Qi, and their commercial activities spread all over the world, and half of the goods in Taoyi were transported by these Zheng merchants.

The Yu clan has a close relationship with the dignitaries of various countries, monopolizes precious things such as pearls and jade, and mainly serves the nobles of various countries, so Zhao Ci has some conflicts with it after going abroad. In addition, the sensitive and intelligent Zheng Shang saw from the affairs of Jiangshi and Shangqiu that Zhao Wuxian's merchant Jia Zigong was very vigilant, so he followed the example of Qi Shang and asked Cao Bo to imprison their business activities.

"I see." Zhao Wuxian couldn't help but smile bitterly, it was not easy for Mu Xiu to hide behind the forest, the ancients were not fools, especially these shrewd businessmen, and they would use power and money transactions to stifle new competitors.

However, Zhao Wuxian is not a fish belly to be slaughtered, he still has Zigong, a future diplomat with unparalleled eloquence, and a future giant who calls for wind and rain in the shopping mall!

After more than a year of hard work in Jiangshi and Shangqiu, Zigong's vision and means of cargo cultivation have been significantly improved.

Zhang Mengtan asked for Wuxian: "Since Zigong already knows who the enemy is, what is the best way to solve this game?" ”

As soon as Zigong came to Cao State, he was jointly attacked by Qi Shang and Zheng Shang, and lived a hard life of house arrest for a month. The clay figure is also a bit urine, he has a fire in his heart, but he is not idle during his imprisonment, but constantly deduces the possibilities and pros and cons of the Taoyi trade, and the means of dealing with the enemy.

He Shi Ran saluted Zhao Wuxian and Zhang Mengtan: "Please take the gentleman to meet Cao Bo, I naturally have a clever plan to persuade him to release his imprisonment and disintegrate Qi and Zheng Shangjia's containment of us!" (To be continued)

ps: Thank you for the reward from the book friend Zhixu Ji Shou Jingdu! Congratulations to him for becoming the helmsman of this book.

Thanks to the book friend Feilong Big Brother, Nine Heavens Yanyu, Pegasus Meteor Cannon, T xxxx, Book Friend 130910143831854, up and down, up and down, up and down, Xunlang, Second Reincarnation, Book Friend 150629190906050, Xiaoqi Civilization Miracle.

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