In November, Songjiang Mansion is already cold, and the fallen feather fir trees all over the mountains on Phoenix Mountain are in full bloom.

Shanghai County was originally a small seaside county under the rule of Songjiang Prefecture, but with the establishment of Shanghai Bosi Yamen here and the construction of Shanghai Port, it became the most important port city in the Jiangnan region.

In the winter sun, white seagulls soar over the pier.

There are tall ships returning to the sea, and there are ships full of cargo heading to the sea, but many more ships stop here and prepare to merge along the Yangtze River into the Jiangnan waterway transportation network.

Since the Spring Festival is less than two months away, although there are still merchant ships who choose to sail for trade, it is likely to be delayed to sail for the Spring Festival now, so the number of merchant ships sailing is significantly reduced.

As a result, the bustling Shanghai wharves continue to welcome merchant ships returning from overseas, and these merchant ships are anchored here to be inspected by the Shanghai Shipping Company, where they need to obtain customs clearance documents and pay customs duties.

In order to prevent ships from passing through the port of Shanghai, the imperial court also set up a guard post on Chongming Island, whose main duty was to inspect smuggling merchant ships.

The Shanghai Shipping Division adopts a dual tax model, which requires tariffs on merchant ships going to sea, and tariffs on merchant ships returning to the sea.

Generally speaking, it is unlikely that merchant ships returning from going to sea will return empty, and they will bring back a large number of souvenirs from Japan, Korea, and other regions.

"Check the wool, it's all Japanese seafood, hurry up and register and release it to Lao Tzu!" A dark-skinned middle-aged man scolded very arrogantly in the face of the official in charge of the inspection.

"Second Master Shen, this is not in accordance with the rules, right? Since the ship is full of Japanese sea goods, let the official go up and take a look, and there won't be much delay! Zhang Yanmu knew that the other party's background was deep, and appealed in embarrassment.

According to the latest decree of the Ming Dynasty this year, these goods shipped back from overseas will also be subject to customs duties, but food can be exempted from customs duties.

It is said that this is the imperial court's preferential business policy, but it has given some people a loophole.

Now this Shen Erye insists that the ship is full of seafood, which means that it will be treated as duty-free, which is obviously suspected of evading tariffs.

Shen Erye bathed in the winter sun, stretched out his thumb and pointed to his face and said: "What rules are not in order, we are Jiangnan business is the rule!" ”

Where there are interests, there are rivers and lakes.

The appearance of Jiangnan firm was unexpected by Zhu Youji, but it was reasonable.

Avoid taxes and save land transportation.

Although the cost of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal accounts for eighty percent of the rice, the cost of land transportation is actually higher, and it can avoid the tax at many checkpoints.

In addition to the cost, there is actually the factor of rogues.

If it weren't for Wang Hua and Wang Shouren who annihilated the gangsters in southern Gansu, I am afraid that the water and land passage between Guangdong and Jiangxi is still unsafe, and there is a great possibility of loss of goods.

It is so, even if the Ming Dynasty did not open the sea, in fact, shipping has always been the first choice of many Ming merchants.

The private trading port in the Jiangnan region arose in the early Ming Dynasty, when Shen Wansan, the world's richest man, was rumored to have accumulated a shocking fortune by taking advantage of the convenience of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal to sell silk, ceramics and grain from Jiangsu and Zhejiang to overseas.

The Jiangnan region not only has a well-developed land and water transportation network, but also the porcelain industry, printing industry, textile industry, tin foil industry, publishing industry, etc., are all at the top of the world.

In particular, there is a large gap between the rich and the poor in the Jiangnan region, and in the case of Huizhou, for example, many people are forced to engage in business to earn a living because the areas outside of She County are mostly mountainous.

Geographically, Jiangnan is closer to Japan and naturally has the advantage of trading with Japan.

In fact, there is a very important factor here, the main currency in Japan is the Ming copper coin, plus they have gold and silver precious metals, which attracts Chinese merchants to go to Japan to pan for gold.

Even without the opening of the sea by Hongji, Jiangnan merchants had always had trade contacts with Japan.

With the full rise of the Ming Dynasty's overseas trade, there are more and more people involved, who used to be sneaky and alone, but now a large chamber of commerce has been formed.

The Qin family has always had trade contacts with Japan, and they also took the initiative to take the lead in establishing a large chamber of commerce and forming the largest interest organization in Jiangnan, Jiangnan Firm.

Although this organization is not as close as that of the later group, it has already carried the same banner together, and it has also dotted the relationship with all parties at the same time.

What's more, the tariff is a heavy tax, and the imperial court now sets the tariff at ten taxes and two, which is no different from robbery.

It was after the matchmaking of the Qin family that various interest groups formed the Jiangnan firm, and it was easy to publicize the small Shanghai Boti Division.

"This official knows that you are the ship of the Jiang Shang, so he will definitely not dare to embarrass you. It's just that the process of our Shanghai shipping company is to check, just get on the ship and take a look, please make it convenient! Zhang Yimu knew the truth of short-handedness, but he still insisted on putting forward the conditions.

Second Master Shen's face immediately darkened, but he didn't expect this unpopular petty official to be so unpopular: "You're new here, right?" In that case, call you Lu Tiju over! ”

"Shen Liujin, why is the anger so big today?" Xiao Liben, the deputy director of the Shanghai Shipping Division, noticed the dispute here from a distance, and also walked over and waved the official shelf.

Second Master Shen knew that people were looking down on his identity, but he pointed behind him and said, "Your people don't open their eyes, but they have to get on the boat to disturb Xu Gongzi's Yaxing!" ”

On the deck, a boy was lazily lying on a fox chair, seriously playing with an incomparably sharp Japanese sword in his hand.

While Japanese goods such as seafood and sulfur can make a lot of money from it, he has found that the biggest profit is actually this Japanese sword.

Who would have thought that the undeveloped land that they have always looked down on, those simple-minded Dongying people, would have such superb knife casting technology?

Although Japanese swords are not necessarily stronger than Ming swordsmiths, other people's knives are of high quality and low price, especially this Japanese samurai sword is simply better than Daming's saber.

Now the introduction of a batch of Japanese knives, this gang is making a lot of money, and today's Jiangnan business is simply making money every day.

"Young Master Xu? This is a newcomer who is ignorant, please Xu Gongzi Haihan! Xiao Liben suddenly made a stir, and then urged Zhang Yimu to seal and let him go.

"Master, how about the slave family play the piano for you to relieve your boredom?" A beautiful woman accompanied the son surnamed Xu, looking very attentive and authentic.

Xu Gongzi enjoyed this leisurely life of earning a large amount of silver taels by traveling on a sea boat, and was drinking the wine in his hand, so he gently raised his hand and motioned for his concubine to come and play a song.

Zhang Yan looked at the merchant ships in the distance, and finally couldn't help asking: "Lord Xiao, I don't know who this Xu Gongzi is?" ”

Xu ...... Just think big! Xiao Liben pretended to remind mysteriously.

Zhang Yimu was about to use his lifelong imagination, but he was very confused and said: "Our Xu Ge Lao is indeed surnamed Xu, but isn't he from Jiangxi?" ”

"Who said that the current pavilion elders, the current pavilion elders are all paper paste. That one surnamed Xu, he is not only a pavilion elder, but also Yuan Fu! Xiao Liben corrected angrily, and then announced the answer.

Zhang Yanmu couldn't help but gasp, the origin of the dare lover family is so big, and it is likely to be regarded as a small pavilion elder, this land south of the Yangtze River is really a hidden dragon and a crouching tiger.

"In the future, if you encounter the ship of the Jiangnan Firm, don't look for trouble if you don't have to find trouble, otherwise this official will not be able to protect you!" Xiao Liben stretched out his hand and patted the young official's eyes, and said in the tone of a passerby.

Zhang Yimu has slowly figured out the doorway, but he said with some scruples: "Lord Xiao, the lower officials have checked this year's tax books, and it will be a lot lower than last year, I'm afraid it will be difficult to pay to the imperial court, right?" ”

Although they opened the door to Jiangnan Firm, there were too many ships in Jiangnan Firm, which directly affected the tax revenue of the Shanghai Shipping Division.

Once the court investigates and finds out that they are corrupt, then they may be in ruins.

"You're still too young, what's wrong with that? There are many storms this year, and there are fewer merchant ships sailing, so the tax revenue of our city shipping company will inevitably decrease! Xiao Li had already thought of a reason, and he seemed to be straightforward.

Zhang Yanmu was not persuaded by this reason, and said with scruples: "It's just ......"

"Nothing just! Our city is in accordance with the rules of the errands, seafood tariff-free is the emperor's will, not to mention that the people above us will speak for us, you put your heart back in your stomach, absolutely nothing will happen! Xiao Liben interrupted Zhang Yanmu's words, but he gave reassurance.

Originally, he didn't dare to make it too obvious, but the imperial court didn't know what kind of considerations it had, and even exempted all food goods from overseas from tariffs.

Now the imperial court can still get a lot of tariffs, and the merchant ships that go to sea can make a lot of money with Japanese swords and other goods, and they can get benefits from it, which can be described as a situation where all three parties win.

Seeing that the other party was so confident, Zhang Yimu thought that there was probably a big man covering it, and he was immediately relieved, and he also thought about how to spend the silver taels.

As the New Year is approaching, Jiangnan presents a peaceful scene.

In particular, they have made a lot of money from maritime trade this year, and there will be more and more trade in the future, but they are looking forward to the arrival of the Spring Festival.

Far beyond the East China Sea, Japan at this time was a pristine island, and many areas were unexplored.

Japan has the reputation of being the land of a thousand islands, but most of them are small islands, such as the island occupied by Wang Zhi, the king of the Song Dynasty, which is actually two small islands to the west of Kyushu.

Since Hokkaido is still in the hands of the indigenous people, there are now only three large islands in Japan: Honshu, Kyushu, and Shikoku.

Honshu is the largest island, while Kyushu and Shikoku are both inferior islands, and the three islands are closely connected because they can face each other across the sea.

Although it is already winter, the cold air from the north blows a biting cold wind, but the merchant ships flying the Ming flag continue to come from the east, and the first stop is Kyushu Island.

On Kyushu Island, Mt. Aso, located in the center of the island, rises with thick white smoke.

This is an island located in the west, because it is the closest to China, so it is mainly the Japanese people here who go to China, and it is a place that Daming maritime merchants like to patronize.

The face of this island is similar to that of Qiongzhou Island in the Ming Dynasty, except that the Emperor of Japan divided the kingdom of Chikuzen, Chikugo, Hizen, Higo, Bunzen, Bungo, Hinata, Osumi and Satsuma.

Each country has a guardian, and the Kyushu Governing Authority is the Kyushu Exploration Topic.

It's just that, like the rest of Japan, the emperor and the shogun have actually existed in name only, and today's Kyushu exploration cannot cover Kyushu Island, not to mention that the relationship between countries is incompatible, even if there is also a situation of division and rule within the country.

Kyushu Island is a raised island with a large mountain and hilly area, and although there are places where you can engage in agriculture, many of the residents are engaged in fishing.

After Hou Haotian and his entourage left Daming City, they came straight here.

In the distance, a boy in a Ming costume held a painting fan, and there was a beautiful maid serving next to him, sitting at the newly built dock with a smile.

"I haven't seen you for many days, but Brother Zheng is still the same!" Hou Haotian and the others got off the boat and greeted them very happily.

The son's surname in front of him is Zheng, and he is naturally the Zheng family for hundreds of years, although he acts very low-key, but some resources are not comparable to ordinary people.

The reason why Jiangnan Firm was able to be established was that although all of them made great efforts, it was mainly operated silently by the Zheng family behind the scenes, and even the Zheng family took the initiative to sacrifice a lot of interests.

Even if Hou Haotian's father is the left servant of the Nanjing household department, he doesn't dare to stand up in the face of this kind of person who can get involved with Wei Guogong through marriage.

The corners of Zheng Jie's mouth rose slightly, and he said very proudly: "Did you have a smooth trip?" ”

Wang Yanao and Cheng Xin exchanged a look proudly, and then smiled and said, "Naturally! ”

"Bring it down!" The corners of Hou Haotian's mouth rose, and he clapped his palms and said.

saw a group of crew members moving goods from the deck, and it turned out to be a rare shuttle loom in Jiangnan.

"Their attention was on the farm implements, but they didn't know that the ship had been modified, and I hid the shuttle looms in the cabin!" Hou Haotian thought of the confrontation with Xu Shiying, and the corners of his mouth rose proudly.

Zheng Jie saw the shuttle loom that appeared in front of him, and couldn't help nodding with satisfaction: "It's worthy of Hou Gongzi, I really got this batch of shuttle looms!" ”

"Zheng Gongzi, my business is done, I don't know what happened to you?" Hou Haotian was very proud of his achievements, but asked provocatively.

Zheng Jie smiled slightly, then motioned for them to bring the shuttle loom, and then led the group towards the mountain city in front.

The heritage of their Zheng family is not only in China, even in Japan, which is far away from China, they also have connections and have a deep relationship with the Kyushu guardian Otomo family.

Entering the mountain city, several Japanese samurai guarding the door showed great respect for Zheng Jie and took the initiative to walk in front to open the way for Zheng Jie.

The group came to a workshop, and just as the shuttle loom arrived, a group of women dressed in Ming costumes appeared, and even began to skillfully operate the loom.

Zheng Jie turned to look at Hou Haotian, but asked with a slight smile: "Hou Gongzi, these are the best weavers in our Songzhou Mansion, I don't know if you can be satisfied?" ”

"Huh...... In this case, then our Jiangnan Textile Factory was officially established! Hou Haotian was very happy to see that Zheng Jie's smuggling boat was also going well.

Ever since he made his first pot of gold in the maritime trade with Zheng Jie, he has been obsessed with this business.

Although with his status and status, it was easy to smuggle through the Shanghai Shipping Division, but he always had to face the East China Sea Governor's Palace.

Hou Haotian knew that smuggling was not a long-term solution, and the labor force in Jiangnan was too expensive, so he chose to become a Jiangnan textile factory here, so that he could avoid the Donghai Governor's Mansion and sell directly here, and he could bypass the control of cotton cloth.

Now he provides the most advanced shuttle loom, and Zheng Jie is responsible for bringing a group of skilled female weavers, and the cooperation between the two sides can be described as a win-win situation.

The current head of the Otomo family, Otomo Yoshiyou, learned that the three noble sons of the Ming Dynasty were coming, and he also took the initiative to set up a banquet to entertain them, and even arranged for several beautiful Japanese Kabuki to perform.

Hou Haotian and the others knew that the other party was the head snake of this Kyushu Island, and they also gave the generous gifts they brought, and they wanted to form such a good relationship.

Otomo Yoshiyou didn't like jade, but he still pretended to be excited to accept it, and then inquired seriously: "I heard that now you are not allowed to use silver in the Ming Dynasty?" ”

Originally, this kind of thing had nothing to do with him, but now there is more and more trade with Daming, but he does have a little silver in his hand, so he wants to know the real situation.

Once the Ming Dynasty really no longer allowed the circulation of silver, then he would have to give up the silver in the future and try to get more gold instead.

"Don't hide it from your lordship, since our Ming Emperor ascended the throne, he has killed a lot of meritorious ministers, and he has also tried to introduce a lot of new policies! If the house we live in is bigger and the clothes are better worn, he will have to pay taxes! Hou Haotian thought of what Hongzhi had done over the years, but he kept a smile and said wildly.

Otomo Yoshiyoshi gasped, but blurted out like a straight intestine: "Isn't this a tyrant?" ”

"Dissatisfied with the Guardian Lord, the people under us are all known as tyrants! Not long ago, he fell in love with the bride that his younger brother was about to welcome, and the family refused to enter the palace as a concubine because of an appointment, and he was strained by the nine clans! "Cheng Xin and Zhu Youzhu have a grudge against killing their brother, but they pretended to be bitter and smeared.

Zheng Jie and Cheng Xin naturally knew the careful thinking of the two companions, but thinking of what Hongzhi had done over the years, it was naturally impossible to whitewash Hongzhi.

The image of a cruel tyrant suddenly appeared in Otomo Yoshiyou's mind, and his eyes were full of sympathy: "This ...... This is really the misfortune of the people of the Ming Dynasty! ”

"Our emperor now wants to ban the imitation of Taizu and prohibit gold and silver trading, but the people below are complaining, but this silver ban is perverse, and it will definitely not last long!" Hou Haotian went back to the topic just now, and seemed very determined.

This is not that he deliberately sang about Hongji's ban on silver, but he also thought so in his heart.

Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Ming Dynasty has wanted to prohibit private gold and silver transactions, and it has launched the Ming Treasure Banknote, but it has proved that not only the Ming Treasure Banknote can not be trusted, but also the copper money can not be trusted.

After so many years, what prevailed in the Ming Dynasty was the silver transaction.

This time, Emperor Hongzhi wanted to repeat the old trick and even asked the people of the whole country to adopt the new silver dollars issued, which was simply an attempt to loot the wealth they had accumulated for several generations.

The silver mines on the Japanese side have just improved a little, and the result is that the Ming merchants are not allowed to settle silver transactions with Japan, which is simply a big joke.

"In this way, as long as you get a silver mine, then it is equivalent to having a mountain of gold!" Otomo Yoshiyo said with a look of understanding.

"Lord Guardian, as long as you own the silver mine, our Jiangnan firm can guarantee that you can have as many goods as you want, and as many women as you want!" Zheng Jie saw Otomo Yoshiyou's reaction, and even threw out the bait.

Originally, he didn't look down on this part of Japan, after all, although there were a lot of copper coins here, their purchasing power was still too low. It's just that after learning that there is a big silver mine in Iwami Province in Japan, their Qin family's mind is also active.

This is also why their Qin family is willing to share Japanese trade with other Jiangnan families through Jiangnan firms, although the amount of maritime trade is very gratifying, but silver mines are the real wealth.

Once their Qin family and the Otomo family successfully exploit a silver mine, then their Qin family will not only directly get a steady stream of silver, but also control the power of Japanese trade through the relationship of the Otomo family.

As for the abolition of the silver standard by the Ming Emperor, it is just that Japan has a large number of silver mines, so he deliberately compiled those so-called dreams to deceive the people of the world.

In fact, he not only set up a Jiangnan textile workshop this time, but also brought a lot of miners, with the aim of finding a large silver mine on Kyushu Island.

Otomo Yoshiyou's right hand drank the wine in his hand, and his eyes also flashed greedily and said, "Hehe...... I'm sure I'll get a silver mine, and I'll want all of your Ming goods and women!" (End of chapter)