"Uncle Rong Xinwu, seeing words is like meeting. On the twenty-second day of February, the domestic servant named Hu Yigun went to Laizhou, and knew that Jiahui was dying, that is, he resigned and returned to Yaxi; On the way, I received bad news and was overwhelmed with grief. After passing through Yizhou, in the midst of civil turmoil, the rest of the people were accidentally coerced by the displaced people, and after several days of tossing and turning, they almost died in the Yihe River. Yu Xing was rescued by the local fishermen, thinking about all kinds of experiences, there are a lot of strange things, and Yu Zhi's experience may not be entirely due to the civil unrest, and he is afraid that he will be trapped by the family servants. The domestic servant came from Yaxi, and there was no old grudge, but he was instigated by others, so it is speculated that there may be a disaster of depression in the family. ”

"Jiahui has passed away, Gao Tang is healthy, but Yuan Niang is young, which worries me. Yu should have returned home immediately, but the civil turmoil in Yizhou had all kinds of clues and was unusual. The mother-in-law and uncle love Jiahui, and beg to take Yuan Niang to She County, temporarily for care, and Yu is grateful. ”

"It is inconvenient for Yu Jin to show up, if there is any news, it can be sent to Yizhou to transfer the yamen, and it is not well-known. The short is more than a month, the long is a few months, and the rest of the matter will go to She County to explain to his uncle. ”

"The matter of the little girl Yuanniang, goodbye to my uncle again."

"Bow to your mother-in-law."

Meng Jin finished reading the letter, and everyone had different expressions.

Mrs. Bai and Xu are both Amitabha, and it's best if people are fine. Zhai's, Bai Xiuning, Bai Xiuqing and others comforted Meng Qingyun, also thankfully.

Naturally, men's concerns are different.

Bai Rongcheng said: "The civil unrest in Yizhou is indeed strange, and there is no clear explanation for why it happened. Now that the civil unrest has been calmed down, the three sons of the Lu Wangfu went to the meeting single-handedly, persuaded the mob to surrender, and made great contributions to the imperial court. Now the officials in Yizhou are probably already cleaning up the situation and sharing their responsibilities. What's the point of my brother-in-law secretly investigating this matter at this time? ”

Bai Rongxin said: "Since it is a secret, naturally you can't talk to us." My brother-in-law is from the government, and unlike us and other grass people, this matter is not easy to pursue. ”

Everyone nodded naturally, even if they wanted to pursue it, they couldn't do it.

It was Meng Qingyun who had some thoughts in his heart. She was already a little suspicious about the pacification of the civil unrest in the Lu Palace. Now looking at the meaning of his father's letter, the civil unrest in Yizhou is really a little strange. I just don't know if his so-called "secret" is from Shangguan? Or is it the center? Even from the Emperor?

Old Madam Bai said: "It's okay after all, and they also left us a contact information, which is the best, nothing else matters." The son-in-law is a person who walks around in the officialdom and acts steadily and steadily. Just looking at the clues that he deduced that there was a disaster of Xiao Wall in Yaximeng's house, it is enough to know that he is thoughtful. Now that he said that he wanted to stay in Yizhou to do secret things, he must also have his rules. ”

"Yes, yes, yes." Everyone agreed.

Old Madam Bai finally said to Meng Qingyun: "Yuan Niang doesn't have to worry, just live here with peace of mind, and wait for news from your father." ”

Meng Qingyun answered yes first, and then said: "I want to write a letter of peace to my father, and I will ask my uncle to help send it for me later." ”

Bai Rong said: "There is no need. ”

Old Madam Bai patted the armrest lightly and said loudly: "Okay, this is good news, it is worth celebrating, it just so happens that the family is also reunited, and a family banquet will be held in the evening." ”

The last sentence was said to Xu, Xu responded, she is the housewife, so she will naturally arrange it.

After Mrs. Bai made a summary, she said to Bai Rongcheng: "This matter is over, it's time to talk about you." ”

Everyone remembered that Bai Rongcheng also said that there was something important to announce.

Bai Rongcheng laughed and said, "I'm also good news here." A few days ago, I got the news that the official family intends to reorganize the market trade of the two city shipping companies in Mingzhou and Guangzhou, take back the public certificate for going to sea in the hands of the big cannibals, and let the local merchants buy and bid for it. ”

Except for the three girls, Meng Qingyun, Bai Xiuning and Bai Xiuqing, everyone's expressions suddenly became wonderful.

"Really?!" Bai Rongxin was excited and suspicious.

Bai Rongcheng saw that the girls didn't quite understand the stakes here, so he deliberately popularized science: "The total price of the city's commercial goods going to sea every year is not less than 4 million, accounting for 23/10 of the annual income, but it is really in the hands of domestic merchants, but I am afraid that it is less than 10%. In the population of Guangzhou and Mingzhou, half of Thailand are Persian maritime merchants, especially in the past two years, the Great Food Merchants have squeezed out the share of Persian merchants, and almost occupied eight or nine out of ten of the sea trade. ”

Although the water transport was prosperous in this dynasty, due to the lack of accumulation, Dashi and Persia have always had a tradition of maritime trade, and their shipbuilding technology, sea navigation experience, and customer accumulation are stronger than their own merchants.

"However, it is precisely because the big food merchants have taken advantage of the monopoly that they continue to lower the supply prices of their own merchants, and use various means such as false declarations and concealment to avoid tax withdrawal, and even shoddy overseas goods; It is not uncommon for foreign businessmen in Mingzhou and Guangzhou to raise private soldiers, commit adultery, and bully and dominate the market. In fact, the officials and the imperial court have been patient for a long time, but because their own merchants cannot afford the ocean trade, they can only indulge these big food merchants first. ”

Privately, however, the imperial court had long intended to support its own merchants, and secretly recorded and learned from the experience of foreign merchants in the manufacture of seagoing ships, voyage routes, and maritime trade tips, and vigorously encouraged foreign merchants to hire their own sailors. Last winter, the Guangzhou shipyard built three large ships to go to sea, and the performance and quality have surpassed that of Dashi and Persian sea ships, and the official family personally named them 'Shenzhou'. Now we not only have ships, but also master various sea routes, and have trained many experienced sailors with the help of foreign businessmen, it can be said that everything is ready, and we can finally open the knife to the big cannibal! ”

Hearing these words, everyone present was amazed.

Especially Meng Qingyun, he didn't expect that the maritime trade in this era had developed so prosperously.

Bai Rongcheng said: "A few days ago, the imperial court had issued a clear order to withdraw the official certificates of a total of 36 big food merchants in Guangzhou and Mingzhou, and they were not allowed to bring goods to the sea again. Now tentatively scheduled for the 10th to 12th day of the first month of May, these 36 public certificates will be openly bought by domestic merchants in Bianjing, and from then on, the profits from going to sea trade, not to say ten, at least eight or nine out of ten, will be in the hands of domestic merchants! ”

Everyone applauded, and there was an air of raising eyebrows.

Old Madam Bai asked, "According to what you mean, are you going to win this big business opportunity?" But we don't have ships or sailors in our house. ”

Bai Rongcheng said: "Yes, our Bai family used to be a supplier of big cannibals, and most of the profits were made by big cannibals, so we just got some small profits." Now there is this great opportunity in front of me, I have a general consideration along the way, although our family does not have sea ships and sailors, but Mingzhou, Guangzhou is more, many of them have business dealings with our family, we can find an alliance, form a trading company, our family is responsible for supply, the other party is responsible for the ship manpower, remove the big cannibal this middleman, the benefits of going to sea into my hands, when the time comes according to the agreed proportion of a distribution, everyone is profitable. With the capital of our Hui merchants and Chao merchants, we can get at least seven or eight tenths of the 36 public certificates. The huge profits of maritime trade between the two cities of Ming and Guangzhou, the Bai family can account for half of the country! ”