Chapter 743: The Way to Win (II)

After the banquet. Shen Mo called three feet to give a few words, and then invited Pan Shigong and a few old people of the She nationality to go to the study for tea.

Shen Mo went to the back to change clothes, and the guards also retreated with fragrant tea. Taking advantage of this opportunity, several sect elders hurriedly asked Pan Shi Gongdao: "Shi Gong, what did he call us to come over?" ”

"Just listen to it......" I don't know what medicine is sold in the silent gourd, and Pan Shigong doesn't plan to waste his tongue with them.

"Whatever he says, it's the most important thing to send the food down." Sect elders, you said one by one: "Panshi Gong, as soon as Lord Jingluo comes later, you can tell him, and we will go back when we get the food." ”

Pan Shigong nodded, signaling everyone to silence, and sure enough, after a while, he heard footsteps, and then the silent chief of the guard said: "Everyone, please wait in the study now, the adults will be there later." ”

As he spoke, the door opened, and five well-dressed, shrewd and capable middle-aged men entered. Sanchi said to Pan Shigong and the others: "This is also today's guest." The few people who came in later smiled kindly at Pan Shi Gong, and Pan Shi Gong only nodded and did not say anything.

Three-foot arranges for guests to sit down. The two sides happened to have a chair on one side, and the east and west sat clearly.

Tea was served for the new guests, and they retreated again, leaving two groups of guests staring at each other, and those who came later, they wanted to talk, but they had no choice but to provoke the conversation several times, but they didn't get a response, so they had to stop awkwardly, and the scene was quite embarrassing.

In fact, Pan Shigong was also quietly looking at the other party, just looking at the big black jade wrench on one of his fingers, he knew that these were all rich people. Looking at his shrewd and capable temperament, he should not be a scholar, but a businessman, so he asked: "Friends are doing business?" ”

A few people looked at each other and said, "You have good eyesight, we are indeed traders." ”

"What do you buy?" Pan Shigong's heart moved, and he continued to interrogate.

"Printing and dyeing." One of them, the handsome and slightly younger man, the man with the wrench, replied on behalf of his companions: "We are all dry-dyed. ”

"Printing and dyeing?" Panshi Gong was a little disappointed, what does this have to do with Gannan.

Several businessmen were not the leaders of the trip, and they did not dare to talk nonsense, and when they saw that the other party had no interest in talking, they stopped speaking.

The two sides sat in silence for a while, and a silent laugh sounded from behind the screen: "Let everyone wait for a long time." ”

The two groups of people hurriedly got up to greet each other, only to see Shen Mo changing into a navy blue cotton robe printed with dark flowers, which looked more and more elegant. Outstanding. He didn't come out alone, but joined hands with an old man who was a little rich and gray-haired, and the two appeared in front of everyone with an intimate expression.

Silently and kindly, he invited everyone to sit down, and the old man sat down first on the left, just opposite Pan Shigong, who was obviously the head of the merchants.

Shen Mo also sat down in the first place, and said to Panshi with a smile: "Shi Gong, this is President Ruan of the Huizhou Business Association, Mr. Changgong." ”

"Chief." Panshi Gong sang and said: "Panshi is polite." ”

The old man smiled and saluted: "You must be the famous Panshi Gong, right?" "Although he is a businessman, he is graceful and generous, it is difficult not to make people feel close, even Pan Shigong also smiled and said: "What is the reputation of the people in the mountains, but you are old, the head of one of the three major merchant gangs, that is the famous one." ”

"It's just to do something for my fellow villagers." President Ruan smiled modestly and said to Shen Mo, "Thanks to your lordship for arranging this opportunity, you can meet Panshi Gong and the patriarchs. "The spectator will never snub His Holiness.

"Now that everyone knows each other," Shen Mo nodded with a smile, "Then let's get straight to the point." He said to President Ruan: "Chief, this time you have come thousands of miles, it must be worth the trip." The big question that has been bothering you. I've finally found a solution. ”

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This Mr. Changgong's name is Ruan Bi, and he is actually a character who has to be said. He was born in She County, Huizhou, during the Hongzhi period, a small landlord family, studied and studied medicine, and later asked his father for a sum of money, saying that he wanted to 'Jia Yu Quartet', after setbacks and failures, he finally found his goal in Wuhu.

Because he found that Wuhu is a place to achieve a career. First of all, the geographical location here is very superior, there is smooth waterway transportation, and is in Nanjing, Suzhou, Hangzhou, Hefei and other important economic centers in the center point, is an extremely important water and land transportation hub, not only the traffic is developed, but also the business is well-informed, fully has the development of the Yangtze River giant port, Anhui backbone of the broad prospects.

What's more, he found his career here - Hoof. What is a 'hoof'? According to legend, it was a small tulle paper made by Zhao Feiyan's sister >, and it was used as a synonym for dyed paper after the Tang and Song dynasties.

At that time, Wuhu was already an important town of pulp and dyeing industry in the Ming Dynasty, but no one had yet operated the dyeing paper industry...... Mainly because this kind of thing is not a necessity of life, but a thing to improve the quality of life, so after the prosperity of the Tang and Song dynasties, it disappeared. After the establishment of the dynasty, several emperors advocated frugality, and the country was also in the recovery stage, so for a long time, there was no market for 'Heho' until the Jiajing period.

But Ruan Bi is keenly aware of the changes in the social atmosphere, and he knows it firsthand. The fashion of society has changed a lot, and it has gradually turned to advocating extravagance. This fashion is reflected in all aspects of clothing, food, housing and transportation, and the various rules and regulations set by Emperor Taizu at the beginning of the country have been constantly broken through and transgressed...... For example, in terms of clothing, the corrugated brown hat, which was originally only worn by scholars, has long become a popular attire for ordinary people in the market; Youling and prostitutes are all over the body, full of pearls; The eunuchs in the court were all dressed in python robes. These people were placed at the beginning of the country, and they all had to click, but now, even the imperial history is accustomed to it, and even the emperor doesn't care if he sees it.

Ruan Bi is keenly aware that people's requirements for quality of life will become higher and higher, and many things that no one cared about decades ago already have excellent market prospects. So he sold his property and opened a dyed paper factory to start making hooves.

After the hoof is dyed, how to sell it is another problem. But he had already seen the place where the first shot was fired - Nanjing! In the land of gold powder in the Six Dynasties, there are countless famous people and scholars, and it is of course the best market for Heho. And more importantly. The whole country is popular to look at Nanjing, what is rising here, and soon all major cities will follow suit, and then pass on to the next level. As long as the market in Nanjing is conquered, the market of the whole country will be under control.

As expected, the profit was huge, and it made a name for itself, and the orders for purchase from all over the country came like snowflakes, greatly exceeding the production capacity of Ruan Bi's family, although he was trying to expand, it was still far from enough to meet the market demand.

At this time, other printing and dyeing factories saw this. All of them have also turned to the production of Hehoof, and not only Wuhu ground, the rest of the provinces where there is a pulp dyeing industry, all of them have risen up profitably, follow the trend of production, and the output has skyrocketed, the competition is very cruel, and gradually the profit is very small, or even unprofitable.

But Ruan Bi's business is still thriving, because in addition to the first-mover advantage, he also has a unique technology called 'Wannian Red'. It was a kind of cinnabar paper, so bright that it would never fade, and no one else could imitate it. Wannian red has become a famous brand in the hoof, widely sought after, famous all over the world, and exported to overseas.

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Just when everyone's eyes were red, Ruan Bi put forward an astonishing suggestion - to set up a hoof bureau, which was jointly operated by the dyeing owners in Wuhu and sold together. In this way, you can save on shipping costs and make more profits. In order to win everyone's trust, he even offered the formula of 'Wannian Red', and the owner of the dyeing workshop in Wuhu suddenly opened his mouth and immediately set up a general bureau, and sure enough, his business increased greatly.

So, everyone elected Ruan Bi as the sacrificial wine of the General Bureau, giving him great power. He did not disappoint everyone, and soon made Wuhu's Hehu a highly sought-after boutique, and set up branches in various 'business centers' across the country. Make Wuhu become the production and wholesale center of the country's 'Heho', and become the leader of the dyeing industry recognized by the whole country, and even the local government must escort it.

After more than ten years of prosperous development, Ruan Bi gradually felt the bottleneck of the industry, because after all, the use of Heho is limited, which leads to the saturation of the market, it is difficult to expand again, and it is necessary to find more promising growth points. Then. A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity was placed in front of him and his guild - the opening of Suzhou port, foreign trade surged, of course, the sales of Hehu also rose, but this was not his concern, what he saw was that cotton cloth will become the main force of foreign trade, and for a long time, the output will increase sharply.

Although Wuhu does not have the innate conditions for the production of cotton cloth, as mentioned earlier, the cotton in the field wants to become the world-famous Songjiang cotton cloth, it needs to go through many processes, which can not be saved, as long as you can participate in any of them, you can share the profits brought by the rapid development of the industry.

As the city with the best printing and dyeing technology in the country, Wuhu is obviously qualified to participate in this feast! Because in addition to weaving, the quality of cotton cloth also depends on the sizing and dyeing. Only after pulping and coloring can the disadvantages of rough surface and single tone of cotton cloth be solved. After pulping and dyeing, the cotton cloth is flat and clean, and the color is bright, which can greatly increase the value of the cloth.

So Ruan Bi came to Suzhou and showed them the sample cloth they dyed, which was indeed much higher than the level of local self-dyeing - the same piece of cloth, after they calendered and dyed it, was more colorful and smooth, while the self-dyed cloth in Suzhou was much rougher and darker.

More importantly, the pulp dyeing process is contracted to Wuhu, even if the round-trip travel fee is counted, it is better than doing it yourself, saving three costs. The Susong merchants were greatly moved, but they did not dare to act on their own, and the cotton spinning guild wrote to the silent request for instructions from Beijing, and soon received a reply saying: "The division of labor and cooperation is the prerequisite for technological progress, and only by specializing in technology can we strive for excellence, and the pulping and dyeing process can be transferred to Wuhu, but the original workers must be properly resettled." ’

After receiving the instructions, the Suzhou Cotton Spinning Business Association negotiated with the Wuhu Pulp and Dyeing Bureau. Because Ruan Bi had great sincerity, it went very smoothly, and he could get a large number of skilled workers, and he couldn't ask for it. So the two sides signed a contract, and one-third of the workshops under the Susong Cotton Spinning Association were handed over to the Wuhu Pulp and Dyeing Association to contract pulp dyeing.

As a result, the one-third of the outsourced pulp and dyeing workshops tasted the sweetness, not only the cost was reduced a lot, but also because the product quality was greatly improved, it was sold all over the country for a while, and the supply exceeded demand. The remaining two-thirds of the weaving workshops were squeezed and could not sit still, and if the products continued to be unsalable, they would be closed.

Although he knew that handing over all the pulp and dyeing to the Hui merchants might make him passive, the Susong Cotton Spinning Business Association visited the whole country and could not find a second place with a similar level. Later, I didn't hesitate to learn this technique, but the more I learned, the more discouraged I became, because there are countless unique processes in each process, from material selection to coloring. This is the accumulation of Wuhu printing and dyeing industry for hundreds of years, especially the production of 'Hehoof' in recent years, so that they have groped deeper and deeper in the dyeing industry, and it has reached a height that outsiders cannot reach.

In the end, Su Song Cotton Spinning could only give up and find another way, and delivered all the cloth to Wuhu for pulp and dyeing, and through convenient transportation, the cargo ship full of cloth arrived at night and evening, neither delaying time nor costing much transportation costs.

After several years of cooperation, Wuhu's cotton pulp and dyeing industry has surpassed the original dyeing and paper industry and become the local pillar industry, and the city of Wuhu has also been full of vitality, and has won the reputation of 'weaving Shangsongjiang, pulp dyeing Shangwuhu', and has become the economic sub-center of Jiangbei.

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Ruan Bi's status naturally rose, and he not only became a big figure on the ground in Wuhu, but was also elected as the president of the Huishang Business Association. After his career developed, Ruan Bi became more and more willing to give, and he was righteous and squandered money. Especially in the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, his contribution was particularly prominent.

The first is to lead the crowd to resist the Japanese. In the thirty-fourth year of Jiajing, a group of Japanese invaders entered Huizhou from Zhejiang, and then approached Wuhu from Huizhou to the north. There was no city in Wuhu, the defenders were helpless, and the officers and soldiers rushed to flee. At the age of fifty-four, Nguyen Bi stood up and, with his high prestige, advocated the formation of the Gang of Thousands of Indigenous Troopers, and swore to the heavens to resist the Japanese invaders. Seeing that the merchants of Wuhu who did not have a city were so united, the fierce Japanese had to take a detour and did not dare to harass Wuhu.

The second is to donate roads. After the Japanese invaders fled from Wuhu, Liu Xian was ordered to lead the army to pursue, but because at that time Wuhu to Nanling dozens of miles, it was a difficult and muddy road, so that Liu Xian's troops suffered a lot, and when they rushed to Nanling, it was the end of the crossbow, and they suffered defeat. After that, the government wanted to build the road but had no money, Ruan Bi stepped forward again, donated a lot of money, and advocated Wuhu 'Zhujia' to help. Soon, a paved avenue of brick and stone connected Wuhu and Nanling.

The third is to advocate the construction of city walls. After the retreat of the Japanese invaders, the strong demand of the officials and people of Wuhu to restore the city walls was finally approved by the imperial court. But where did the cost of building the city come from? The government found Ruan Bi and asked him to 'support the righteous and advocate the public', and Ruan Bi agreed without hesitation to personally donate one million taels of silver. Under his advocacy, Wuhu businessmen have donated a lot of money to make the project progress smoothly, until last year, Wuhu city wall has been completed as scheduled, the city is complete and firm, and the officials of the Ministry of Industry who were accepted are known as the "crown of a hundred cities"!

In order to commend Ruan Bi's merits, the imperial court first gave him the rank of Jiayi Doctor of the third grade, but named the Wuhu West Gate Tower 'Bi Fumen' to show recognition. Since then, Ruan Bi's fame has shocked the world and become a well-known 'Yijia' in the country.

However, over the years, the old man has not often come out to walk around, and the business association has also delegated power, but he still maintains a high degree of attention to the dynamic pulse of the industry. If you want to color the cloth, a large number of dyes are indispensable, the most important and main of which is indigo, because it is the main dye of all kinds of blue, green and black cloth; Indigo can be treated to become indigo, and almost all colors are indispensable for this dye.

Therefore, as the amount of dyed cloth continues to rise, the demand for indigo has also surged, but the supply of indigo is difficult to ensure the demand, and the shortage has led to a sharp increase in its price, which has seriously affected the profit margins of the industry.

And Ruan Bi also inquired that the Suzhou Research Institute has made a set of waterwheel spinning machine, which is said to be able to increase the spinning speed by ten times, although this will not bring about a year-on-year increase in cloth production capacity, but Wuhu's pulp and dyeing industry should also take precautions, first solve its own bottleneck, and would rather wait for others to improve, not let others wait, this is the principle that Ruan Bi has always pursued.

As a result, Hui merchants began to search for indigo origins across the country. Speaking of this is not a rare thing, the ancient book said: 'all five kinds of blue, can be indigo', which means that indigo, woad, wood blue, horse blue, amaranth, and other five kinds of plants, can extract indigo, but amaranth is a thing in ancient books, no one can find it, indigo, woad is produced in the north, the congenital yield is low, plus these years, the north has been drought year after year, and the yield is negligible.

The rest of Mu Lan and Ma Lan are all produced in Fujian, which is now the main source of raw materials, and it is the Fujian merchants who sit on the ground and raise the price that forced the Hui merchants to look for new sources of goods. As a result, it seemed to be an ordinary and ordinary thing, but it really stumped Ruan Bi and them.

This time, Shen Mo ordered someone to inform them that he had helped them solve the problem, and he originally only wanted to let the current Pulp and Dyeing Bureau sacrifice wine Wei Ming come to meet. But he didn't want this old man to come all the way, and while he was overjoyed, he also felt his deep expectations for this trip.

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Working hard to save up the manuscript......

Chapter 743: The Way to Win (II)

Chapter 743 The Way to Win (Below, to the website