But Tang Mu saw full of suspicion in Hai Shuzu's eyes, and he couldn't help but sigh in his heart, did his own big shopkeeper cheat too many people before, so that this guy didn't believe a word.

"Ahem, you don't have to think about it too much, if you are willing to help, the trading company will bear all the capital of buying raw silk, and it won't cost you a copper plate." Tang Mu had no choice but to say the bottom line, the original charter given to him by Li Zhaoji was that if he could let Hai Shuzu advance money, let him advance some money, after all, the precious metals currently in circulation in the trading company are limited, and all kinds of things cost money.

But obviously, with the current situation of Haishu's ancestral family, he couldn't make money if he wanted to, so Tang Mu's loose mouth didn't cause much loss to the trading company.

"Since you came to see me, you really said something that could be heard." Hai Shuzu moved his body for a while, but he really wanted to hear the intentions of the Oriental Trading Company, and he didn't need to advance his own funds, which was equivalent to taking Li Zhaoji's money to do business, and naturally he made some money.

Tang Mu asked with a smile: "So, Master Hai has a way." ”

"How much raw silk do you need for your trading company, and when?" Hai Shuzu asked.

Tang Mu said: "At least five hundred quintals, if there are more, the more the merrier." As for when to ask for it, it is natural to do it as quickly as possible. ”

Hai Shuzu frowned: "Do you know how to trade raw silk?" This November, where does raw silk come from, the climax of raw silk trading is in February and May, spring silk is the best, the price is the highest, and the summer silk is large, and it is easy to buy and sell. In November, I want silk, thirty or fifty quintals, and I can go to the weaving mills to ask, you want five hundred quintals at once, even in Jiangnan, and I can't help you get it. ”

"Won't that wait until February?" Tang Mu's face changed slightly.

According to Li Zhaoji's plan, if there is raw silk in the trade organized by the merchant organizations to Manila, they can be directly exchanged for silver, but in April of the new year, the trade to Nagasaki, Japan, will not be delayed in terms of time.

Hai Shuzu shook his head, feeling that Tang Mu didn't understand the raw silk trade at all, Tang Mu asked again: "In Guangdong, the weavers are mostly controlled by the gentry and landlords, and the relationship between the trading company and them is not very good, so it is possible to buy silk?" ”

Hai Shuzu patted the table in front of him and said, "If you get a bowl of good tea for the old man, these two problems can be solved." ”

Tang Mu immediately asked people to boil water to boil tea, drinking tea, Hai Shuzu said: "Your big shopkeeper is right, the silk is in the hands of the gentry, they monopolize the export of raw silk, and the local dyeing and weaving workshops are also theirs."

Although it can't be said that the needle can't be inserted, but you want a large amount, if it is a public sale, just with the things that your big shopkeeper did in Nanyuan, someone will stand up and stir up the situation. ”

Tang Mu didn't answer, he didn't have the habit of saying behind his back that the big shopkeeper was not.

In his opinion, the original big shopkeeper cooperated with Shen Youlong in Nanyuan in order to win his trust, without Shen Youlong's trust, how could there be the current fleet of the trading company, without the fleet, how could there be a base of freshwater. In the world, there are gains and losses, and there are only those who only take advantage and do not suffer losses.

After adding some tea to Hai Shuzu, Hai Shuzu said: "Tang boy, do you know silk tickets? ”

"Rip the ticket?" Tang Mu was directly happy: "Master Hai, I asked you to discuss the sale, not kidnapping, not to talk about tearing up tickets." If I tear you up, the big shopkeeper won't skin me. ”

Hai Shuzu's face darkened: "I'm talking about silk tickets, raw silk tickets, also called silk deeds." ”

Tang Mu shook his head, he grew up in a thousand households, and he had never dealt with Shengsi, so he didn't know anything about it.

Hai Shuzu said: "Get a pen and paper." ”

Tang Mu took out a pen and paper from his body, it was a goose feather, a small book sewn with a rope, and a bamboo tube with ink in it.

As Li Zhaoji's entourage, these things must be carried with him at all times, and Tang Mu himself is also learning with him, and he has not made much progress in writing, but he also knows the commonly used words.

Hai Shuzu used a quill pen and experimented with it before writing a large string of words on a piece of paper.

Tang Mu watched from the side, and the more he looked at it, the more he felt that it was an IOU, which was basically borrowing a certain amount of grain, rice or silver, and returning it in the next few months, but Tang Mu took a closer look and found that the interest set by Haishu Zuding was very small, almost equivalent to nothing.

"Is this a silk ticket?" Tang Mu was puzzled, because he didn't even see the word raw silk on it.

Hai Shuzu smiled and said: "Yes, this is the silk ticket, you are rare and strange." I have seven or eight rolls at home, so I can make up two loads of raw silk. ”

"I don't understand." Tang Mu shook his head, his face full of puzzlement.

Hai Shuzu drank tea and explained to Tang Mu.

In the early Ming Dynasty, raw silk was completely monopolized by organic households or silk households, and with the development of commodity economy, especially foreign trade, a large number of yeoman farmers also participated in it, because raising silkworm reeling silk is better than planting rice, so tenant farmers also participated.

But the problem is that high returns inevitably face high risks, and at the same time, silkworm reeling is a high-investment project compared with rice planting.

Many silk households have completely given up planting other crops and are fully engaged, which makes their ability to resist risks much lower.

One of the most difficult is the production of spring silk, you know, all silk households are facing a problem, that is, silk reeling is easy to raise silkworms, silkworms need a large number of mulberry leaves to feed, especially in some stages of its growth, the demand has skyrocketed, their own mulberry leaves are simply not enough, you need to buy from other people.

However, spring is precisely the most difficult time for a family, the accumulated grain and rice are consumed in winter, and the new rice is not on the market, there is no income, but it is a high investment, which will naturally produce a lack of funds.

As a result, borrowing has become an important way to maintain production, and the large gentry are also willing to lend to silk households, so that they can monopolize the production of raw silk and make huge profits.

Silk silkworm farmers often do not just borrow money, or not all silver, grain, rice, cloth and even mulberry leaves are also among them, and the return is not silver, but the raw silk produced.

In this way, borrowing becomes an advance deposit, and it also avoids the trouble of taking advantage of the busy raw silk trade, and the fluctuating exchange rate of silver and copper coins.

Hai Shuzu picked up his handwritten fake silk ticket and said: "I saw that there was no boy, and the name and address of the borrower were only written on the silk ticket, but the borrower was not written, do you know why?" ”

Tang Muzheng wanted to ask this, it was indeed strange that the name of the creditor was not written on the IOU.

Hai Shuzu said with a smile: "That's because the silk ticket can be bought and sold, those big silk collectors, when they encounter a lack of money, they often sell this silk ticket, maybe you don't know, this silk ticket, even if it goes to the government, it is also recognized, that day Nanyuan fundraising, that time someone put the silk ticket into it." ”

Tang Mu understood, no wonder Hai Shuzu was so confident, to put it bluntly, to buy raw silk, you don't necessarily have to wait until the spring and summer when raw silk is on the market, you can pre-buy silk tickets in winter.

"If your shopkeeper really wants to buy it, I can run it on my behalf, which is better than him coming in person. What's more, among the raw silk, the price of spring silk is the best, and your big shopkeeper buys raw silk to sell to Nagasaki and Manila, and the higher the quality of raw silk, the higher the selling price. Hai Shuzu said quite proudly, feeling that he could handle Li Zhaoji again.

Two days later, Tang Mu returned to Macau and met Li Zhaoji smoothly.

"You just asked about the silk ticket, and you came back like this?" Li Zhaoji listened to Tang Mu's report and interrupted him.

Tang Mu shook his head: "Where is it so simple, big shopkeeper, I will inquire about the price of silk tickets in Guangzhou City, for fear that the old guy from Hai Shuzu will deceive me." ”

"The result?" Li Zhaoji is very concerned about the matter of raw silk, after all, this is the fist product of the East-West trade, if he can't catch it, he will make a lot less profit.

Tang Mu said: "Although it is not as exaggerated as Hai Shuzu said, the price of silk tickets is quite high, and there are relatively few shots. It stands to reason that the spring raw silk was purchased in February, and the silk tickets were bought in January, so now there are fewer of them.

But if you wait until the New Year to buy it, is it too late? ”

Li Zhaoji nodded: "You have thought about it thoroughly, if you can think of a way to reduce the price of silk tickets, we will make more money." ”

"All the way back, I've been thinking about this question, but it's so stupid that I don't have an answer." Tang Mu said.

Li Zhaoji smiled, but he had an extra plan in his heart, and asked about Chen Ping, who has now been promoted to guerrilla in the governor's standard camp, and can be regarded as a prosperous official. I often think about Lee Siu Kee, and the rest are stable and have nothing else to do.

"Well, you go to Guangzhou, you have a lot of things to do, let's go and rest first, and from tomorrow I will handle the immigration affairs with Sizhi." Li Zhaoji said to Tang Mu's instructions.

Tang Mu was a little worried, and asked: "But how can the big shopkeeper explain the raw silk ordered by the Dutch?" ”

Li Zhaoji smiled: "I have my own decision." ”

Fortress.

"Just Bu Jialao, there are more than 70 people going to Tamsui, this Li Zhaoji, but it's really interesting." Schrobao listened to Ferreira's report and said with emotion.

Ferreira said: "There is no way, we can't afford to keep these people, but I hope that Lee Siu Kee can get rid of all the beggars on the street, so that my work will not be so heavy." ”

"Yes, that guy is not building a city, but a kingdom, and he needs any kind of profession, even if it's a beggar, he needs it." Shi Luobao pinched the corner of his forehead.

Ferreira thought for a moment and hesitated, but still said his words: "Your Excellency the Governor, this is a great harm to Macau. ”

Ferreira was a little embarrassed to say this, first, he knew that Macau was getting worse and worse, and many people had no livelihood, so it was understandable to go to Tamsui to find a way to live. But as a thief in Macau, Ferreira still has to think about the council to some extent.

Shi Luobao smiled: "Ferreira, what do you think I should do, like a fool in the council, to teach Li Zhaoji a lesson?" You know, it's a good thing I didn't tell them that Li Zhaoji himself was here, and some idiots are still trying to catch this guy. ”

Ferreira shook his head slightly, noncommittal, and Shibei should be impressed for three days. At the beginning, he and Shi Luobao also thought about arresting people and seizing the ship, but now they don't have that kind of thought.

Li Zhaoji has a fleet under his command, if he is not careful, and he launches a pirate war, Macao's already withered trade will instantly become a stagnant water, not to mention, Shi Luobao also wants to borrow the ship of the Oriental Trading Company to send gifts to Lisbon.

"And how did you answer?" Ferreira asked.

Shi Luobao stretched out his hands: "I don't need to answer, you and I have seen that Li Zhaoji, he is a smart person, since he dares to come, he is prepared, he has an explanation for me, and the same will be true for the group of guys in the council, but he seems to be waiting for a suitable time." ”

At this time, the adjutant walked in and said, "Your Excellency the Governor, Li Zhaoji is here." Unlike the last time he came quietly, this time he came openly, even outside the Fortress, to greet the priest he met. ”

"Looks like the time has come." Schroebel said with a smile at Ferreira.

Ferreira nodded: "Then let's see what kind of explanation this shopkeeper Li can give, I hope he can satisfy us all and do something that will benefit both parties." ”

"I still have faith in him, Ferreira, he's not a reckless man." Shi Luobao is extremely sure of Li Zhaoji's ability.