"Sir, Madam said the food has been prepared."
Fang Wanghai's old personal butler reminded him at the door of the study.
Only then did Fang Wanghai realize that he had been talking to his son-in-law for such a long time.
He quickly stood up and said, "Let's go now!"
Fang Wanghai and Su Ze went to the backyard and saw Mrs. Li talking to her daughter at the table.
Mrs. Li looked at her son-in-law. Fang Ruolan's ears turned red again. Su Ze knew that the mother and daughter probably said something personal.
Mrs. Li became more and more pleased with Su Ze as her son-in-law. She just heard from her daughter that she was doted on by Su Ze during this period after she got married.
"What? Ru Lin just came to Nanjing, you want him to go to Jiangbei?"
Mrs. Li suddenly screamed, she glared at Fang Wanghai and said:
"If you are an official, you can send orders to my brother every day. But when your daughter and son-in-law just come to Nanjing, you will send orders to your son-in-law?"
Mrs. Li roared like a lion from the east of the river, and Fang Wanghai's face turned pale, but she couldn't get it again.
He also felt that he was wrong. Since the Japanese pirates invaded Jiangbei last year, there has been some turmoil in Jiangbei now. Su Ze helped him check the situation of the salt merchants, so naturally he could not bring his daughter there.
When the daughter and son-in-law are newly married, they ask the son-in-law to do things. This father-in-law is really unreasonable.
But Fang Wanghai had no choice. The imperial court was forcing him hard, and the salt lettuce issued by him had to be sold within the next six months. Now Fang Wanghai could only count on his son-in-law.
Su Ze quickly said: "Mother-in-law, my son-in-law is also here for state affairs. Besides, Jiangbei is not far from Nanjing, and they can return in about half a month."
After hearing what Su Ze said, Mrs. Li's face became better.
She looked at Su Ze and said, "You men only care about state affairs. Forget it. Since you want to go out, I will take Lan'er back to my hometown to stay for a few days. How about that?"
Su Ze naturally smiled and said, "Of course I have to listen to my mother-in-law."
When Fang Ruolan heard that Su Ze was going to Jiangbei as soon as he arrived in Nanjing, her eyes looked a little lonely, but she was very happy to be able to return to her parents' home for a few days.
This is what married daughters are like. When they are at home, they want to go out, but after they get married, they want to go back to their parents' home.
At this moment, Fang Ruolan suddenly felt nauseated. She covered her lips with her hands and made a gagging sound.
"Lan'er, what's wrong?"
Mrs. Li asked quickly when she saw her daughter's face was pale.
Su Ze walked over and grabbed Fang Ruolan's arm. He put his hand on Fang Ruolan's pulse, and after a while he said with a strange expression:
"Father-in-law, mother-in-law, why don't you invite the doctor to come to the house and take a look?"
Fang Wanghai also stood up excitedly: "Go and call the doctor quickly! What happened to Lan'er?"
Su Ze's expression was also a little excited and he said: "It seems to be a happy pulse, my son-in-law is a little unclear."
Hearing that it was a happy pulse, everyone present showed excited expressions. After a while, a doctor walked into the backyard. After the old man took Fang Ruolan's pulse, he immediately bowed to everyone and said:
"Congratulations! This little lady is very happy!"
Mrs. Li's mouth was full of smiles, and she quickly said to the maid: "Hurry up and reward!"
Fang Ruolan's face was also full of a smile of disbelief, but thinking about these days, Fang Ruolan felt that it was reasonable.
Her daughter's pregnancy was naturally a great joy. Mrs. Li simply asked Fang Ruolan to stay in the house, and sent people to buy supplements to support the fetus. The whole house was very busy.
Mrs. Li told Su Ze to go back quickly, and then let Su Ze go north.
Su Ze has also been surrounded by great joy these days. Fang Ruolan is pregnant, which makes him feel that he is finally tied to this world, and that he finally has a blood inheritance in this world.
This subtle feeling gave Su Ze a goal to strive for.
There is a happy event in the house, and the father-in-law and son-in-law in the house are even more energetic.
The Ministry of Household Affairs in Nanjing was responsible for the salt administration throughout the country. Fang Wanghai first sent people north to Shandong to mobilize the salt reserves in Shandong to Dengzhou.
At Su Ze's reminder, Fang Wanghai sent his close confidants to take care of the matter, and tried to control the rumors as much as possible.
Fang Wanghai also asked people to dig out the account books of the salt currency balances of previous generations from the warehouse of the Nanjing Ministry of Household Affairs. Fang Wanghai also organized people to check these account books and count the total number of salt currency that had not been exchanged after being distributed.
As soon as the news of Fang Wanghai's inspection of Yanyin's account books was released, it immediately aroused the attention of everyone in Southern Zhili.
Although the Nanjing Household Department is not as powerful as the Capital Household Department, matters related to the salt industry are also related to the wealth of many people.
So various forces were inquiring about Fang Wanghai's intentions. This was Su Ze's suggestion of "building the plank road openly and secretly visiting Chen Cang."
Here, Fang Wanghai is vigorously investigating Yan Yin, while Su Ze is preparing to go to Jiangbei secretly.
He did not go to Jiangbei alone, but first went to the Shanghai Anti-Smuggling Corps and found Xu Shixing, who was supervising the group training affairs.
"Brother Rulin!"
Ever since Su Ze returned to his hometown to get married, the anti-smuggling matter in Shanghai fell on Xu Shixing.
Lin Deyang has already reported to Su Ze what happened these days. Xu Shixing is indeed a capable person.
Unlike the elder who liked to quarrel with others in history, Xu Shixing was brave enough to do things when he was young and was not afraid of powerful people.
In these days, he led the anti-smuggling group to intercept several smuggling merchant ships belonging to the Xu family in Huating, and firmly controlled the Yangtze River waterway.
Nowadays, the big households in Jiangnan can only go to Huguan and pay taxes before they can send their goods out for sale.
Xu Shixing's father was the prefect of Suzhou and had served as an official in many places in southern Zhili. Su Ze did not greet him and directly told him about Yan Yin.
After listening, Xu Shixing lowered his head and said:
"The congestion of salt imports has always been a big problem for our government. In recent years, I heard that ordinary salt merchants have stopped buying imports."
"Nowadays, there are only a few salt businesses in Jianghuai."
Hearing what Xu Shixing said, Su Ze knew that he had found the right person, and they hurriedly asked:
"How many companies are still in the salt business today?"
Xu Shixing thought for a while and said: "The Huaiyang salt merchants have completely quit like the northern border merchants. Today, there are still a few big families in Huai'an, Taizhou, and Yangzhou still doing the salt business."
"Among the salt merchants in Huai'an, those who are still selling salt are mainly from Huizhou."
"Huizhou people?"
Su Ze asked doubtfully.
Xu Shixing nodded and said, "Huizhou people are best at doing business. Brother Xu is from Huizhou. He should know better than me."
Su Ze quickly wrote it down, and Xu Shixing continued: "Huizhou merchants have gathered in Huai'an for business for a hundred years, but they still lead the Huizhou merchant house and regularly return to Huizhou to worship their ancestors. Nowadays, Huizhou merchants in Huai'an are basically concentrated In the Hexia area of Huai'an, they are also called Hexia Hui merchants."
Su Ze quickly wrote it down. It seemed that these businessmen were still very influential in Huai'an.
Since the Ming Dynasty, Huizhou merchants have been active in the commercial arena. Because Huizhou people are good at teamwork, Huizhou merchants were able to survive several turmoils in the Ming and Qing Dynasties.
It seems that domestic business is in decline, but Huizhou salt merchants still rely on group registration to keep warm and can still engage in salt business.
Xu Shixing added: "In addition, there are two other forces that are also engaged in salt trading in South Zhili."
"One is the Xu family of Huating. In addition to the cotton business in Songjiang Prefecture, the Xu family is also engaged in the salt merchant business in Yangzhou."
"The Xu family still does this?"
Xu Shixing nodded and said: "It only started in recent years, but the Xu family has become very big as soon as it came in. Now almost half of the salt in Yangzhou is obtained by the Xu family. Small salt merchants can only get salt from the Xu family at a high price." To survive.”
Su Ze was a little surprised, but felt it was reasonable.
Although the cotton business is profitable, Mr. Xu Ge was able to "Half Huating" in such a short period of time. It is definitely not possible to rely solely on the steady cotton business.
So what else can make money faster than the salt business?
Xu Shixing said: "In fact, the Xu family does not sell salt to the people at all. They only get salt from the salt field and sell it to small salt merchants for them to sell."
Su Ze asked: "Isn't this against the court's salt law?"
According to the requirements of the Kaizhong Law, merchants who obtain salt extracts can only sell within the prescribed range. This behavior of the Xu family clearly violates the provisions of the Kaizhong Law.
Xu Shixing said with a smile: "It would be great if all these small salt merchants work under the name of the Xu family. Besides, the Xu family can even get the salt, so what does this little thing mean?"
Su Ze thought about it and felt that it was indeed the case. It seemed that Xu Ge's family was really good at making money.
"The last ones who can get salt are the nobles in Nanjing."
"Among them, the Li family of the Marquis of Linhuai did the largest business, especially since the Li family had soldiers and used soldiers to surround the salt farm and force the salt farm to hand over the salt."
"Is this okay?"
Xu Shixing shook his head and said: "The Li family has salt in their hands. Who in Nanzhili dares to take care of such a thing as forcing salt?"
Well, as Su Ze guessed, those who can play the power game in the salt industry are the children of powerful officials, nobles and wealthy businessmen.
Ordinary small businessmen can only rely on them and eat leftovers from their mouths.
After having a general understanding in his mind, Su Ze went to Suzhou City and invited Xu Guo to accompany him. Under the escort of elite soldiers from the Anti-Smuggling Corps, the three of them took a boat from Shanghai to the Yangtze River and arrived in Yangzhou, the important town of water transportation and salt industry, in three days.
In February in Yangzhou, the chill has not gone away, but the willow trees by the canal have also sprouted new buds.
The last time Su Ze came to Yangzhou, Yangzhou was almost poisoned by Japanese pirates. The granary outside the city was burned, and the city was in a state of desolation.
At that time, Su Ze only took a detour in Yangzhou and did not enter Yangzhou city. But this time when he came to Yangzhou, the whole city had regained its vitality.
Walking in the Dongguan Street Market, looking at the boats on the canal, and looking at the shops on both sides of Qingshi Ancient Street, Su Ze seemed to have returned to the commercial street he visited before crossing over.
Xu Shixing also praised and said: "I heard that Dongguan Street has been so prosperous since the Tang Dynasty. At that time, Yangzhou was still the hub of maritime shipping in the south of the Yangtze River, and goods from all over the world could be purchased on Dongguan Street."
Xu Guo also said: "Du Mu has a poem that says: 'The spring breeze is ten miles away from Yangzhou Road, but it is better to roll up the bead curtains.' Isn't he talking about Dongguan Street?"
Everyone nodded. Su Ze looked at this long street and once again felt the strong vitality of this city.
The entire Dongguan Street relies on the east city wall of Yangzhou. The Grand Canal passes through the street, and across the street is the dock for loading and unloading goods.
Today's Dongguan Street is not only a market for ordinary people to visit, but also the commercial hub of the entire Grand Canal. A large number of goods are transferred here, and merchants buying and purchasing goods can be seen everywhere.
This time Su Ze was pretending to be a businessman preparing to sell salt. As expected, Xu Guo's family had some connections among salt merchants. With Xu Guo's help, he got a letter of thanks from Yangzhou's Lu family salt merchant. This was a businessman in Yangzhou. Huizhou businessman doing business.
Xu Guo said to Su Ze: "The Lu family is on the side of Dongguan Street. Let's find someone to ask for directions."
After a while, Fang Aizhu found a smart boy and took them into the ancient alleys of Dongguan Street.
After going around and around for a long time, the group of people came to a low-key house.
"This is Lu Daguan's Shouzhi Garden."
The boy took the reward and happily said goodbye to everyone.
Xu Guo took the greeting card, and a disciple of the Lu family took the greeting card. After a while, he saw a young master coming out of the house.
"Mr. Xu, my father is out on business. Please tell me to entertain you well. I'm Lu Dou, welcome you all!"
This Lu Dou should have received an explanation from his father. He knew that Xu Guo was the governor of Huizhou Prefecture, and his attitude was very polite.
Xu Guo introduced Su Ze and Xu Shixing, both of whom were his classmates in the Nanjing Imperial College, and Lu Dou became even more enthusiastic.
Those who can enter the Imperial Academy must be Juren. Lu Dou also has studied, but he is really not good at studying. To this day, he has not even been admitted as a scholar.
However, after salt merchants make money, they often also have some spiritual needs. Huizhou merchants are also known as Confucian merchants, so they have always loved literary activities.
For example, the Yangzhou Lu family often organizes cultural activities in their house, and they also sponsor some literati, so they have a high reputation in the entire Yangzhou city.
Lu Dou invited the three of them into the room and said, "It's a coincidence that the three of you are here today. A cultural gathering is being organized in the mansion. I wonder if you are interested?"
Unlike Zhejiang scholars who like to organize various lectures, Jiangnan scholars are more tactful.
From Jiangnan to Jiangbei, there were also large-scale academy lectures, but more of them were smaller-scale literary gatherings.
The so-called literary meeting is actually similar to a "salon", which is to invite some scholars to gather under a certain theme. It is probably similar to the poetry club run by Fang Ruolan back then.
Hearing that the Lu family was having a cultural gathering, Xu Shixing and Xu Guo both looked at Su Ze with expressions of interest on their faces.
(End of chapter)
