The years passed in the unpeaceful days, and the time passed quickly, and the residents of Nanxun Town seemed to have become accustomed to the rule of the Taiping army, and almost all of them moved back from the countryside. The family members of the silk store also came back a lot, but the original mansion was requisitioned by the Taiping army, and they had to temporarily live in the backyard of the silk store.

The local population of Nanxun Town is as much as 30,000, and the Taiping Army has more than 10,000 people in Nanxun. With a 25% increase in population, the demand for food and daily necessities has obviously increased a lot, which has also brought a fast track to Nanxun's commercial development. As a result, the town of Nanxun was more prosperous than it was before the Taiping occupation, with crowded streets and shops of all kinds.

Nanxun was an important export town for raw silk, and the Taiping regime needed both the tax revenue from exports, so the Taiping army not only encouraged silkworm farmers to vigorously develop silkworm raising, but also reduced some taxes for silkworm farmers.

Knowing that the silk industry in Nanxun is increasing unabated, silkworm farmers in nearby towns such as Shuanglin, Zhili, Wuli and other places have also gone to Nanxun to sell silk, and Nanxun has also become the largest silkworm cocoon and raw silk distribution center in the south of the Yangtze River.

From 1860 to 1862, the Taiping army successively captured Suzhou, Jiaxing, Hangzhou, Huzhou and other places, and all the most important silk producing areas in China fell into the hands of the Taiping army. During this period, silk exports almost doubled compared to 1853. It was recorded at the time that the Taiping army went to his house to "pull people", because the silkworm cocoon was in the mountain, and he did not dare to enter his home.

Not only that, the Taiping Army itself also opened the "Hengqing" official silk line in Nanxun, where the people want to open a new silk line, they must "keep the knot" with the "Hengqing" official silk line, and donate 16 yuan per bag of silk 80 catties, plus all zero fees of 8 yuan.

One day, Huang Wenjin consulted with Liu Yong.

Huang Wenjin said to Liu Yong: I am a soldier and I don't know anything about business. The raw silk purchased by my "Hengqing" silk line, in the future, we will transfer all 20% of the purchase price higher to you, and all the money and losses will be up to you.

Liu Yong said in embarrassment: The king doesn't know anything, now the war is in chaos, the business is not easy to do, and it is also a small business in Xiayuan, and he can afford to earn but cannot afford to lose. The king is so priced, our freight, labor costs, plus tariffs, road cards, every time I am afraid that the wife will lose money.

Huang Wenjin said solemnly: It's your business to make money and lose money, but you can rest assured that your tax king will give you exemptions and exemptions, and the national card will give you a pass. Then he said: When you come back, you can bring rice and daily necessities from Shanghai to make up the difference.

Liu Yong pretended to be embarrassed and reluctantly agreed. In fact, Liu Yong knows it in his own heart. This is his chance to make a fortune.

Liu Yong said goodbye to Huang Wenjin and came out and discussed with Song Hongsheng and Wang Baohe.

Song Hongsheng said: With such a large amount, I am afraid that I will not be able to call so many ships at one time, because many ships have been captured by the Taiping army, and even if there are ships, people dare not carry them. Besides, the cost of passing through the Jiapu checkpoint is also very strong, and I heard that a bag of silk costs 20 oceans.

Liu Yong said: Don't worry about passing through the Jiapu checkpoint, there are people escorted by the "Jun'an Bureau" and there are road strips.

Wang Baohe also said: I have a friend who is engaged in transportation in Huzhou, and there are several big ships, I heard that not long ago, his ship was also captured by the Taiping army sailors, I don't know if he is willing to carry this world.

Liu Yong, then, I'll go to Huang Wenjin's place, and if your friend's ship is there, I will also ask Huang Wenjin to issue a pass, saying that the ship is to transport materials for the Taiping Army, so that your friend's ship will also be saved.

Both Song Hongsheng and Wang Baohe thought this was a good idea.

Liu Yong came to Huang Wenjin's residence again.

Liu Yong said to Huang Wenjin: Now the raw silk in the warehouse has been hoarded and full, if it is not shipped out in time, it will become a pair of waste due to moisture and mold, and then all the efforts will be wasted. Now most of the ships have been requisitioned by your naval divisions.

Huang Wenjin said: This is easy to do, as long as you can find a ship, this king will open a pass, and say that it is to transport materials for this king, who would dare to slack off?

......

Wang Baohe took the pass and hurried to Huzhou.

Huzhou has been engaged in the transport of Cao for a living Boss Guo, at first in Huzhou also a little famous, since the Taiping army occupied Huzhou, business plummeted, no one came to hire ships, and he did not dare to go out, not good, people and money were empty, so a person at home to drink stuffy.

Seeing Wang Baohe coming in, Boss Guo got up to greet him. said: How long has it been since you saw your brother, are you doing well in this chaos?

Wang Baohe said: It's okay to work under Boss Liu. I came over today to see if my brother is still in business.

Boss Guo said helplessly: Don't talk about it. As you know, I originally had 5 100-ton boats, but the Taiping army came and was taken captive, but I can't hide that two of them were spared thanks to hiding in the reeds of Taihu Lake.

Wang Baohe continued: Now my owner Boss Liu has a large amount of raw silk to be shipped to Shanghai, and he is worried that there is no ship, I don't know if my brother is willing to carry it?

Boss Guo said in embarrassment: How can there be any reason to make money and not want to make money, but once the ship is captured by the Taiping Army, but steals chickens and rice, how can it be good?

Wang Baohe said with a smile: Brother, don't worry, we have a pass for the Taiping Army, and the ship is specially for the Taiping Army to transport supplies.

Boss Guo said: Oh, that's fine.

Wang Baohe said: Then set off immediately.

The two sides negotiated a good price. Boss Guo found a boatman and sailed out the boat hidden in the reeds of Taihu Lake.

Two hundred-ton ships went down the river.

The boat sailed to the old museum, and some Taiping soldiers were overjoyed when they saw two large boats coming, and fired their guns to dock.

Wang Baohe hurriedly took out the pass issued by Huang Wenjin himself, and the Taiping Army saw that it was a cargo ship specially transporting materials for the Taiping Army, and immediately let it go.

The boat is relatively large, and the river in Nanxun City cannot enter, so it can only be parked on the canal, so the silk has to be transferred by a small boat. Liu Yong specially built two small boats for allocation.

Liu Yong's approach discouraged many bosses in Nanxun Town. all lamented that ordinary people can't do it. But it allowed Liu Yong and several families of Nanxun to enter the fast lane of wealth gathering.

Two large ships of 100 tons were loaded with raw silk, escorted by several heavily armed Taiping troops on board, and headed east along the small canal.

Jiapu was the only way for ships to Shanghai, and the Taiping army set up checkpoints here to collect taxes, and the daily income could reach several thousand taels. And Liu Yong's silk boat passed through here, and everything was unimpeded.

Although the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions are rich in the world, they are densely populated and have little land, but they do not have a strong grain production capacity. Since the early and middle Qing Dynasty, the self-produced grain in Jiangsu and Zhejiang was not enough for their own use, and they had to import grain from other places, mainly the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River, to make up for the shortage. What's more, the Taiping War caused a large number of people in Jiangsu and Zhejiang to either migrate or die, resulting in barren countryside and difficult to obtain enough food. Moreover, the Hunan army, which occupied the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River, could no longer let grain flow into the jurisdiction of the Heavenly Kingdom. In this way, foreign trade became an indispensable and important way for the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom to obtain food. In his 1864 trade report, the British consul in Shanghai noted that "the great trade in rice reached its peak in 1864, when imports were valued at 4,100,000 taels, or about 1,300,000 pounds," and that "most of the imported foreign rice was sent to the silk-producing areas in exchange for silk," because "during the period of the rebel occupation, silk could hardly be bought with rice, and the rebels required a certain amount of rice for each coin they received."

Every time Liu Yong's cargo ship was full of raw silk, he went to Shanghai, and the ship was full of commodities, and the rice returned to Nanxun. How much money he made from it, he himself could not calculate.