In April of the ninth year of Jiading, an empty three-masted sea-going ship will set off from Ganpu, an outer port east of Lin'an.
According to external reports, this ship was going to Korea. The captain on the ship arranged the itinerary very carefully and prepared the needle list for submission to the local shipping market in advance.
Because the direction at sea is determined either by the stars or the compass, the sea route is called the needle route, and the special book that records and plans the route is called the needle map.
According to Zhenpu's plan, this ship will first go to Qingyuan Prefecture to load goods, then go east to Dinghai, then go north along the Huangshui Ocean, turn into the Heishui Ocean at the mouth of the Huaihe River, and go straight east until it reaches the border of Korea. Mountain Island, turn north, pass through Wuyu and other islands, and arrive at Lichengang Bilan Pavilion in Dagang, Korea.
There was no problem with the route, and there was no problem with the shipment. The cargo documents and guarantee documents issued by the bank six months ago were properly kept with the ship. Calculating the time, a corresponding amount of spices have been prepared in the warehouse at Qingyuan Mansion, including agarwood incense produced in Champa City, and honey incense produced in Haimabal and Julan in the far southwest; A small amount of tea was also shipped with the ship.
It was obvious that everything was normal, and the official document specifically stated that the ship belonged to a newly opened shipping company called "Shanghai Line". Senior officials in the shipping market have already heard about the name of this shipping company. It is said that it was organized by many giant Fujian businessmen and was also influential in the northern Jin Kingdom.
The reason why giant merchants from Fujian came forward was because a considerable part of the Song Dynasty's trade with Korea and Japan was in the hands of merchants from Fujian, especially Quanzhou.
On the one hand, Quanzhou was originally the center of South China Sea trade. On the other hand, during the Shaoxi period, in order to facilitate the management of exchanges with the northern countries, the imperial court issued a special order: "Anyone from China, including Jia Gaoli, Japan, and all Tibetans who come to China, will only celebrate Yuan De accepts and sends him."
What immediately occurred was that a large number of Quanzhou merchants flocked in to carry out trade with Qingyuan Mansion as the center.
This is not due to the business talent of Fujian people, but because Qingyuan Mansion is far away from Quanzhou, many hidden businesses and even gray identity backgrounds are difficult to check in time.
In fact, most of these giant Fujian merchants were in name only, and many high-profile households in Lin'an were doing their own business with the help of official certificates obtained from the imperial court by Fujian maritime merchant families in their early years.
These giant businessmen are now gathering together to form a "Shanghai trip", which is obviously to make more money with greater investment. A large chamber of commerce of this size cannot be restricted by Ganzhou Shipyard.
In recent days, powerful people in the market and navy have received orders from various sources from above. They have all received money, and they have also given advice to the people below. This is the first ship in front of them. , and then I am afraid that there will be no tenth or one hundredth ship. No matter how much it is, it is in compliance with the laws of the imperial court. You just have to recognize it and let it go!
At that time, the officials of the market signed the documents sent to the Shipping Department of Qingyuan Prefecture with printed documents and kept the copies.
Seeing that the sail had been raised, the old man said goodbye politely, and when he was about to jump out of the boat hanging next to the ship's side, a young man quickly came out of the cabin, holding his hand and saying goodbye warmly, with a note clearly tucked under his sleeve.
This old official's status in the market is not high. He is a subordinate of Qian Bogu in the market. Among the subordinate officials in the establishment, he is considered to be the lowest level. Originally, Gou Ya and Kong Mu should be present for this routine inspection. If these two were lazy, Ya Si should always accompany them. But most of these people have to be informed by their superiors, so they simply don’t come forward.
The old official thought that he had to be an honest person this time, and not show off his usual behavior, but the young man had strong hands under his sleeves and a very resolute attitude, and he whispered: " Don’t worry, sir, this is a common practice and will happen every time in the future!”
The old official had no choice but to accept it. When the ship was far away, he took it out from his sleeve and saw that it was still the largest denomination of Sanguan. He couldn't help but admire that this Shanghainese man knew the rules. Looking up, he saw that the young man was still leaning on the side of the boat and looking out. The old man quickly raised his hand.
It wasn't until the boat the old man was riding was far away from the wind and waves that no one could be seen, that the young man returned to the cabin.
Xuan Zhen, who had just been promoted from the post of wailang, a merit examiner, to a junior secretary, was watching his every move through the window. At this time, he couldn't help but laugh and said, "I thought you would use that same thing to bully men at sea." The style of a domineering playboy."
Jia Sidao raised his hands and shouted repeatedly: "Uncle Shi, why did I bully men and dominate women?"
He sat down comfortably on the soft couch at the other end of the cabin and continued: "It's just that when it's time to spend money for fun, you have to have fun and be as comfortable as you want; when it's time to make money and do things, you must be down-to-earth. There are certain steps that cannot be ignored at all.”
Xuan Zhen nodded: "Well said! He is indeed Jia Jichuan's child. The thoughts of your father and son on this are as if they were carved from the same mold... After all, they are father and son, connected by blood!"
Jia Sidao chuckled, looking a little bitter, and suddenly stopped talking.
Xuan Zhen said no more, but a look of satisfaction flashed in his eyes.
It turned out that Jia Sidao followed the path of Shi Kuanzhi and Xuan Zhen, and after joining Shi Miyuan's sect, he was initially responsible for preparing the Huaibei New Army together with Yang You. Not long after, his father Jia She came to Lin'an from his hometown in Tiantai and ran around in search of recovery. Not long after, he also joined the sect of Prime Minister Shi.
It is said that the father and son both work for Shi Xianggong, which is a lie, but the relationship between the father and son is a bit weird. They try their best to hide it from outside, and occasionally put on a particularly fatherly and filial attitude, but the indifference deep down cannot be hidden from anyone who cares.
Li Zhixiao, the director of the Right Prime Minister's Office, made a special investigation for this purpose and found out that Jia She was a man who was desperate to make money, but Jia Sidao was a dandy who spent money like water.
He arrived in Lin'an three months before Jia She, and within three months he went to eat, drink, whore, and gamble, and visited the gold-selling caves inside and outside Lin'an, and spent all the tens of thousands of money that his father had painstakingly accumulated. This incident made his biological father, who arrived later, so angry that he fainted. From then on, he suffered from nasal bleeding from time to time. He went to many famous doctors for treatment, but nothing improved.
Because of this knot, even though both father and son worked for Shi Xiang, they were alienated from each other and rarely saw each other.
This made Shi Xiang himself, Xuan Zhen and others feel particularly relieved.
After all, Jia She was about to serve as the general magistrate of Zhenzhou, and then use this as his rank to be promoted to the punishment for Huaidong, representing the prime minister of history and taking charge of the finance and civil affairs of Jiangbei. At this time, Jia Sidao took over the task of the New Army, and the power in the hands of father and son became a little greater. It's better to have a disagreement between father and son, but there is less time to balance power.
Jia Sidao was very smart and felt that he might be jealous of others, so he soon resigned from the military service and began to work on his business in Shanghai.
The matter of Dinghaixing was proposed by Jia She, and it was Jia She who came forward to negotiate with Ding Haijun in the north. However, after the subsequent specific matters fell into the hands of Jia Sidao, the progress was faster than when his father was around.
This young man is just like his biological father, both are good at making money in business. Under the name of Shi Xianggong, he traveled all over Huaidong, Huaixi, Jiangnan and Zhejiang in a short period of time, helping Xuanzhen and others consolidate the scattered merchant ships and business names under their own names, and then integrated them into It was merged into the framework of the half-built commercial bank in Ding Haijun in the north.
Now that the Shanghai trip has begun operations, this ship departing from Lin'an is not going directly to Goryeo. Instead, it will go from Lin'an in the Song Dynasty to Tianjin Prefecture on Zhongdu Road in Dajin, then transfer to Licheng Port in Goryeo and return to Dajin. Song Dynasty. This triangular trade was discovered in the second half of last year and was originally exclusive to the fleet affiliated with the Daijin Guoding Navy.
Now that there is the name "Shanghai Tour", the Song Dynasty's fleet can also participate in it.
After all, Shi Xiang's status is too high, and people around him may not report everything truthfully. He had some understanding of the profits from maritime trade and the benefits gained by the Dajin Guoding Navy at sea, but he was far from a comprehensive understanding, so he regarded this as a small piece of fat and rewarded it to his subordinates Xuan Zhen and Xue Ji. Waiting for cronies.
But as the launch of the commercial bank approached, Jia Sidao prepared a whole set of account books for this purpose. This account book allowed Xuan Zhen and others to know how much benefit they would gain if the Song Dynasty bureaucrats opened up border trade channels a little!
Where is the little piece of fat here? It was clearly a whole fat cow and a whole big pig!
If done properly, hundreds of thousands or millions of coins can be produced every year. Compared with that, what are the few copper coins cast in Huainan? This Zhou Guo Ning is not a poor man, he is clearly a god of wealth!
With so many benefits, if Shi Xiang’s disciples don’t take them, how can they easily give them to others? We, the officials of the Imperial and Song dynasties, have known a truth since the founding of the People's Republic of China: a good official is nothing more than too much money!
Xuan Zhen, who originally focused on Shi Kuanzhi and focused on the Huainan New Army, immediately changed his tune and began to focus on the operations of the Shanghai trip.
Not long after, Xue Ji also jumped in to participate, followed by Li Zhixiao, Liang Chengda, Zhao Rushu and others. Anyone who received permission from the Prime Minister to participate in this matter did not refuse.
While they were busy protecting the business, they also tacitly concealed many details from Xianggong Shi. They even kicked away Jia She, who was initially responsible for the matter, and placed the burden one after another on Jia Sidao. .
Last month, because the southwest trade wind was approaching, a large number of merchant ships heading north were about to set off. Xiang Shi suddenly thought of commercial cooperation between the two families, and planned to appoint a special envoy to go north privately to meet with Guo Ning, Duke of Zhou. A face.
The envoys previously sent to the Song Dynasty by Zhou Guogong have only recently been able to carry out semi-public activities, usually staying in Qingyuan Mansion. This person is a Dengzhou merchant named Zhou Keshan, who does not have the official status of Dajin.
If Mr. Shi wanted to send someone to pay a return visit, he should probably find a businessman. But everyone among the Prime Minister's close followers knows that this matter is not a trivial matter and cannot be left to others. We have received such kindness from the Prime Minister and are willing to go through fire and water to repay it.
Several people argued for a long time, but in the end Xuan Zhen got the job.
