Seventh year of Yonglu, March.

Hida's snow and ice are showing a tendency to dissipate and melt.

Kamioka Castle, in the castle tower.

Shioya Qiuzhen raised the teacup, took a sip in his mouth, and then looked at the city lord of the Takeda family from the Ming Kingdom in front of him, and suddenly felt a little curious.

Shioya Qiuzhen is thirty-four years old this year, slightly fat, with a little fine skin and tender meat, a feeling of pampering, and wearing a pair of small glasses on her face, which looks quite like a modern annihilator.

In fact, Shioya Akisada is a businessman, and he is also a local wealthy family in Hida, and he also has the official position of Chikuzen Mamoru who bought it from the imperial court.

As you can see from his name, Shioya Akisada is the salt house he runs and controls the logistics and transshipment of salt from the entire Hida in the mountain country.

Because he holds the salt in his hands, the power of the economic lifeline of Hida Country, so the head of the sister Xiaolu family and the Jiangma family are like guests to him.

Therefore, whether in terms of identity or strength, Shioya Qiuzhen felt that he was on an equal footing with Li Xiao, the city lord of the Takeda family.

And the name of Li Xiao, a warrior of the Ming Kingdom of the Takeda family, has now spread far and wide in Hida, and Shioya Akizhen, as a businessman who traveled from south to north, has naturally heard of it.

Thinking of this, Shioya Qiuzhen glanced at Li Xiao a few more times, although this was slightly rude, but he didn't care.

In fact, when he was invited to Kamioka City this time, wasn't it the other party who asked for him? If the attitude is a little humble, if the city lord makes excessive demands, it will not be easy for him to refuse.

"Master Li Xiao, it is really amazing to be able to build such a new city in just two months, and I deeply admire it. Fifty pieces were offered in the next special to express the meaning of congratulations. Shioya Qiuzhen's chubby face smiled, making people feel a little amiable.

Li Xiao was also secretly thinking about the other party, this obese businessman, although he had a lovely smile and looked like an honest and harmless person, but he was a figure with a very powerful wrist.

In history, the elder sister of the sister's family, Xiaolu Lianglai, had borrowed money from Shioya Qiuzhen several times, and now there are documents to keep, and he is a businessman with good financial resources.

After the death of Takeda Shingen, the strategic focus of the Takeda family shifted from the side of Hida to the west, and Uesugi Kenshin took advantage of this to carry out the Echichu Hida strategy, Shioya Akisada turned into a person, and instead became the head (agent) of Uesugi Kenshin's power in Hida Country, Eima Frasei, sister Koji Yoshiyori, and Uchijima Rishi were all subject to him.

After Uesugi Kennobu's death, he keenly caught that the atmosphere was not right, and immediately turned to Oda Nobunaga. After the change of Honnoji, this person became a subordinate of the lone wolf Sasa Naruma in the Hokuriku and has maintained his position of influence in Hida Country.

From Sister Koji Yoshiyori to Uesugi Kenshin, and then from Oda Nobunaga to Sasa Narumasa, he was constantly changing his family to protect and obtain his own interests, but from the perspective of business, Shioya Akisada's move was just a profit-seeking act of a businessman, and there was nothing wrong with it.

After understanding this person, Li Xiao knew that this person was different from Jiangma Huisheng and other samurai daimyo, and if he used strong coercion methods, it would be counterproductive.

A common denominator for businessmen is that they want to achieve a win-win situation.

Li Xiao nodded and said: "You're polite, you can see that Your Excellency is here with good intentions, since this is the case, I will say bluntly, the new city has just been built, and the money spent is very large, and the military food is insufficient, these aspects still need to be handled by Your Excellency." ”

Shioya Qiuzhen asked, "May I ask how much military rations does the lord of the castle want, and how much is he willing to pay to buy it?" ”

Li Xiao said with a smile: "It's not a secret, this letter to Lord Xuan gave me the army funds, and the construction of this city has already been spent, so I really can't get a penny." ”

Shioya Qiuzhen did not show surprise, and said: "Lord of the city, I am very sorry, merchants also have the rules of business behavior, if there is no money to trade, I believe that no one will be willing to do this loss-making business." ”

Li Xiaoyan said: "I didn't mean to be embarrassed, in fact, I still came to discuss with Your Excellency, I know Your Excellency, in addition to operating the salt house, controlling the transportation of the salt industry from Vietaka to Hida, and also operating two replacement houses in Viethorne, right?" ”

The two houses are similar to today's banking and financial industry, carrying out the exchange of circulating currencies such as gold and silver, Ding Yin, Xiaoyu Yin, Yongle Tongbao, bad money, etc., and the business of loan sales, in addition to the business of carving gold, that is, making gold and silver into large judgments and small judgments, weighing currencies such as Ding Yin, similar to European gold coins, silver coins and horseshoe silver of the Ming Dynasty, which is commonly known as silver ingots and silver ingots.

Facing Li Xiao's rhetorical question, Yanwu Qiuzhen frowned slightly, nodded, and said, "Lord of the city, you know everything very well about what is going on. However, it is not a strong big business, but it is barely maintained. Yanwu Qiuzhen thought that Li Xiao was also looking for him to borrow money and buy military rations like his sister Xiaolu Lianglai.

However, he is also happy to do such a thing, and as a businessman, he must make good alliances with the local forces in exchange for enough benefits. Therefore, Shioya Qiuzhen spoke of himself a little more coldly, so as not to make the other lion open his mouth, and then bargain with each other.

"Not only that, but I also know that the silver mines in the Shengang Silver Mountain of the Jiangma Family were all exchanged for copper coins, military rations, and salt by Your Excellency, right?"

Shioya Qiuzhen showed a look of surprise on her face, the meaning of this is very clear, you actually know about the Shengang Silver Mountain.

Li Xiaoyan said: "You don't need to be surprised, right now, the Jiangma family's Shengang Silver Mountain has been mortgaged by the Jiangma family's superintendent Jiangma Huisheng, and it is in my hands." Well, or it can be said that the control of Kamioka Silver Mountain is in my hands. ”

Shioya Qiuzhen showed a look of sudden realization, and said: "Lord Jiangma, he actually mortgaged all the Shengang Silver Mountain to Your Excellency, obviously he paid a lot of price for the position of family governor this time. ”

Li Xiao laughed and said, "Your Excellency, do you know the situation in the Hida Country now?" ”

Shioya Qiuzhen was stunned for a moment, then thought about it and said, "Your Excellency is referring to the fact that the Takeda family is going to march into Hida on a large scale?" ”

This will be Li Xiao's turn to be surprised, although the matter of the Takeda Army's march into Hida is not a top-secret news, but as a businessman on the other side, he can actually learn about it, which shows that he is well-informed.

Shioya Qiuzhen moved his slightly chubby body and explained with a smile: "As a businessman, of course, there is a need to know the intelligence of various places, which is not surprising. ”

Li Xiao nodded and said: "Since Your Excellency knows about this, then I won't hide it, right now the Jiangma family has subdued my Takeda family, and the remaining sister Xiaolu family and the Uchijima family of the Hida country." The sister Xiaolu family is the most powerful daimyo in Hida's country, and the Uchijima family also has a natural danger such as Cloud City. ”

"Lord Xinxuan has made up his mind to sweep away Hida with the momentum of destroying the withering and decaying. However, the land of Hida is small and barren, and the military rations produced are not enough to support the consumption of the conquest army, so the lord of Shingen ordered me to build a city here in case of food stockpiling. ”

Shioya Qiuzhen saw that Li Xiao told the truth, and felt that the other party was an honest person, so he asked solemnly: "Then dare to ask how many troops the Takeda family will send to conquer the Hida country?" Since ancient times, the difficulty of conquering Hida Province was not due to the difficulty of warfare, but to the difficulty of mountain roads, so it was inconvenient to transport grain. Although the Takeda family had the support of Kamioka Castle and the Eima family, there were too many troops to be dispatched, and the local military rations were not enough to support them, and there were fewer large armies, but they could not conquer the place. ”

Li Xiao nodded and said: "That's right, Lord Xinxuan is the one who has been appointed as the military commissariat and supervises the grain and grass. I have already received the military order, and now I cannot delay it for a moment, otherwise I will inevitably be punished if the military order is delayed. So please also Chikuzen-sama, be sure to help me this time. ”

Shioriya Qiuzhen looked embarrassed, and said bluntly: "Lord Li Xiao, I am very willing to help Your Excellency, but Your Excellency does not have military funds to buy food, which is really a bit embarrassing for you. ”

Li Xiaoyan said: "Naturally, I won't trouble Lord Zhuzen, the military funds of Lord Xinxuan, although they have not yet been allocated in place, but I have Shengang Yinshan in hand." ”

After speaking, Li Xiao took out a silver tire and delivered it to Yanya Qiuzhen, and said, "How about I use this thing to buy from Your Excellency?" ”

In fact, Takeda Shingen asked Li Xiao to purchase the money for military rations this time, and he was not ready to use it, but used the silver tire mined from the Shengang Silver Mountain this time as currency.

You must know that since Li Xiao appointed Dazang Chang'an as the Shengang Silver Mountain Commissioner, Dazang Chang'an has been in full swing to carry out his Shengang Silver Mountain mining plan.

First of all, Chang'an recruited 300 people from all over Hida to carry out mining, and used the ash blowing method for alchemy, and for a time the mining volume of Shengang Silver Mountain increased greatly.

Shioya Qiuzhen took the silver tire from Li Xiao's hand, this silver tire was not pure white, and there were a lot of black impurities distributed on it.

Shioya Qiuzhen lifted the glasses on the bridge of her nose, squinted her eyes for a while, and said in surprise: "This is ash blowing silver, and the purity is extremely high, where did Your Excellency get it?" Oh, I see, is Your Excellency using the ash blowing method to refine gold in the Shengang Silver Mountain? ”

Li Xiao nodded and said, "Exactly." ”

Ash blowing silver is the silver tire refined by the ash blowing method of alchemy, the purity is between 80% and 98%, which is quite high in terms of the purity of the general silver at that time, and even exceeds the so-called Ding silver and small jade silver in the self-made pole seal silver made by the lord Daimyo.

The purity of the ash-blown silver produced by the Kamioka Mine was close to 90% under the refining of Chang'an, and the purity of the Keicho silver produced by Edo Ginza, which was said to be the purest, was only 80% compared to the three-way trading system of gold and silver coins implemented during the Tokugawa shogunate.

Therefore, the gray blown silver can be directly used as a weighing currency, and it is very convenient, and all merchants are happy to accept the hard currency.

Yanya Qiuzhen was also worried that Li Xiao would also be like the previous Jiangma family, taking out a silver tire with low purity and poor workmanship to exchange with him, but now Li Xiao can actually make ash blown silver with such a high purity and can be directly circulated in the market, and suddenly his eyes are golden, yes, it is the gold of money.

This kind of ash blowing silver, for Shioya Qiuzhen, how much, how much.

Yanya Qiuzhen looked at Li Xiao again, this person is really unusual.

Shioriya Qiuzhen opened his mouth and said: "It is an honor to be able to do things for Lord Li Xiao, please ask Your Excellency how much grain and grass you need, how much money, I will do it for you." ”

Shioya Akizhen's attitude immediately made a 180-degree turn.

Li Xiao shook his hand and said with a smile: "Lord Yanwu, this is too much, there is a saying in China that this time is the time, now the situation has changed, now it is not the Jiangma family that is in charge, but my Takeda family is in charge, I heard Jiangma Huisheng before, when the Jiangma family traded with you with silver tires, your Excellency bought it with bad money, right?" ”

Bad money, is a kind of copper money, different from madeinmingguo's superior goods Yongle Tongbao, bad money is said to be the name of the self-made copper money, all kinds of styles have, said that the money technology was not good at that time, so the basic workmanship is poor, the quality is low, compared with Yongle Tongbao is a world underground.

In the past, Yanya Qiuzhen used bad money to buy the inferior silver tires of the Jiangma family, all of which were pit dads to pit dads, and defective products to defective products, and Shioriya Qiuzhen, as a merchant of the two substitute houses, naturally had to charge a handling fee between the exchange of silver and copper.

But right now, there is high-quality gray blowing silver, and it would be a bit unwise if Li Xiao was willing to buy it with bad money.

Shioriya Qiuzhen's small eyes behind her glasses sparkled, and she nodded and said, "Okay, I'll use Yongle Tongbao to exchange with Your Excellency." ”

Next, the two sides discussed how to exchange between Gray Blowing Silver and Yongle Tongbao.

Li Xiao decided that the ratio specified in the 14th year of the Tokugawa shogunate Keicho (1609) in history was that 1 tael of gold = 50 meshes of silver = 1 kan of Yongle Tongbao = 4 kan of bad money.

In the Edo period, when there was no war, money was usually exchanged for 3-4 koku, but in the war-torn war, there was no one to cultivate the fields, so the price of grain rose sharply.

And Li Xiao bought grain from Yanya Qiuzhen, but he had to take into account that it was the beginning of spring at that time, and it was in the period of the highest grain and grass, and the Hida Country was far away from the mountains and roads, and the transportation was inconvenient, so the freight cost increased greatly.

So in the end, it was decided to exchange it for the same one stone.

One stone is one hundred and fifty kilograms, which is two months' military rations for five soldiers, and that is for the Takeda Army's 3,500 troops this time.

The grain and grass needed to maintain two months must be 700 stones, of course, if there is unnecessary consumption on the way out of the army, as well as spare expenses, Li Xiao must prepare 1,000 stone of military rations.

Originally, with Li Xiao's current territory of 5,000 stones, he collected 3,000 stone of grain according to the standard of three dukes and two people, but last year's income was swallowed up by the former head of the Heshang family, and this year's income must wait for the autumn harvest, so Li Xiao's surplus grain from last year's income can only maintain his own 200 standing reserves.

Only then did he not have to go to Yanwu Qiuzhen to buy grain.

However, for Li Xiao, with the Shengang Mine, his territorial economic model can be transformed.

There is no need to be like ordinary daimyos, their territory is an agricultural economic model, with agriculture as the main tax revenue, and such daimyos sell military rations in exchange for copper coins as their main income.

And after having Yinshan, the grain and grass harvested in Li Xiao's territory can be eaten for his own use, and there is no need to sell it, and then the ash blowing silver produced by Yinshan can be exchanged for Yongle Tongbao as monetary income.

This is also a helpless thing, Li Xiao in order to keep the secret of Shengang Yinshan, not for outsiders, especially the family, in case of leakage, Takeda Shinxuan, who regards wealth as his life, will definitely take Shengang Yinshan back to his family as a direct leader.

In this way, Li Xiao can only be the sad fate of being a wage earner forever.

Therefore, Li Xiao can't take out the ash blowing silver and pay taxes to buy it, otherwise people will be suspected of the source of the ash blowing silver, which will make people suspicious.

Li Xiao used the same method as the Jiang Ma family, by secretly selling the silver tire to Yanya Qiuzhen in exchange for copper coins, and through such a hidden channel, he sold all the ash blowing silver on hand.

And Shioya Qiuzhen can make a lot of profits every year through this secret channel for exclusive monopoly.

Therefore, Shioya Qiuzhen will also swear to keep this secret for the Jiang Ma family or Li Xiao.

In fact, at the beginning, Takeda Shinxuan gave Li Xiao 1,200 guan of army funds to buy military rations, and after deducting 1,000 guan, Li Xiao also had a surplus of 200 guan. However, of course, Li Xiao left this Yongle Tongbao and exchanged the ash blowing silver and the salt house Qiuzhen.

Then the Yongle Tongbao in Li Xiao's hand can be used as a salary to his subordinates, and a part of the tax of the territory can be paid to his own family.

(To be continued)