To be able to produce 50,000 stone meters on the ground in Nanzhi is not something that ordinary businessmen can do. [No pop-up novel website] Shen Tingyang said that he would also come up with a solution - Wuhu on the Yangtze River is a large food distribution center, and a considerable amount of food may be raised there. Try to raise it within a month. Zhao Yingong returned to Qiwei's Shanghai branch and summoned Mao Sansheng to discuss the matter.
Since Mao Sansheng arrived in Shanghai, although Qiwei is mainly engaged in logistics business, he has handled more goods and accumulated a lot of experience.
"I'm afraid it's impossible to buy rice from the market recently," Mao Sansheng said. "We have business dealings with merchants in several rice markets. The price of the market has risen sharply recently, but they are reluctant to sell it: the price of the market is tens of dan, With the amount of one or two hundred shi, it is difficult to buy one or two thousand shi in one go.”
Qiweizhan is mainly engaged in warehousing and logistics, and has the most dealings with bulk cargo merchants like Mihang. Mao Sansheng's words are naturally reliable.
"I need to raise 50,000 kilograms of rice now, and I need it within a month."
Mao Sansheng took a breath: "Master, this is a bit difficult."
"If you put some thought into it, how much can you buy?"
"Every household is running around, and with the help of past favors, we can probably collect more than 10,000 dan. But the price is hard to say." Mao Sansheng said, maybe the final average price will be more than 30 taels of silver.
"So expensive!" Zhao Yingong was a little unwilling.
"If I could buy rice at this price, I would already think it was a great deal."
"Okay, you go and send someone to do it first. Buy as much as you can. All the rice you buy will be shipped to Shanghai."
Ten thousand stone meters is still far from the target. Although Zhao Yingong found it very difficult, he could only work up his energy to sit in Shanghai and coordinate the purchase of rice.
Although natural disasters continue in the Nanzhi area. However, it was one of the few places that could be called "stable" under the Ming Dynasty at that time. The social order was generally normal, so the food supply was still sufficient. Although the price of brown rice has increased and rice merchants are reluctant to sell it, you can still buy rice as long as you are willing to pay.
Originally, the price of rice at this time was constantly rising. The large-scale acquisitions by Shen Tingyang and Zhao Yingong caused the price of rice to continue to rise. Originally, the price of rice in Nanzhi, Anhui and other places was relatively low. It can still flow to Zhejiang, which is severely short of grain this year, to supplement the shortage. However, despite the increasing number of purchases, a large amount of grain and rice has begun to flow to Shanghai, which has more convenient transportation conditions.
The price of rice in the Hangjiahu region, which suffered from floods and droughts last year, originally benefited from the distribution of relief grains and peaceful sales by the Famine Relief Bureau. It dropped slightly at one point. At this time, rice prices began to rise. It quietly broke through the three qian per pound of rice, rising for fifteen consecutive days. By mid-June, the price of rice in Hangzhou had risen to 3 qian and 6 cents, close to the price of 4 qian, which is the price of a grain shortage.
Zhao Yingong, who was far away in Shanghai, was completely unaware of this change. Although social and economic information from various places was delivered to his desk every week, he was busy purchasing grain and coordinating business contracts with Liaohai Bank and had no time to pay attention to it.
Although Zhao Yingong and Shen Tingyang spent a lot of effort, they only bought more than 20,000 shi in half a month. Follow this schedule. I'm afraid I won't even be able to collect 50,000 dan by the latest departure time in July.
Zhao Yingong worried about this every day and kept thinking about whether to send a distress telegram to Lingao. Although in the current situation. It was still possible for Lingao to transport 20,000 shi of brown rice to him, but this would seriously affect his image.
Just at this dilemma, things took a turn for the better. Wu Zhixiang suddenly came to visit him.
After Wu Zhixiang came to Jiangnan, she successfully joined the Fushe by recruiting key members such as Zhang Dai in Hangzhou. With her active enthusiasm for social affairs, she quickly became a well-known Fushe member in Hangzhou Prefecture. Because he knew that it would be extremely difficult for him to get into the imperial examinations - even Fushe would not be willing to arrange for an unlearned and unskilled playboy like him to pass the examination. So he spent money to donate the title of an Imperial College student, and now he is waiting for the opportunity to be recommended by Fushe and get an official position through the relationship with Donglin boss.
Wu Zhixiang established a relationship with Zhao Yingong through Zhang Dai and others very early. Relying on his experience of interacting with Guo Daguan in Guangzhou, he was convinced that Zhao Yingong was also a "kun thief". It just doesn't expose this layer. Zhao Yingong knew his details and intended to win over him, and the two parties began to interact with each other tacitly.
The matter of Shen Tingyang's transportation of grain and wages to Liaodong has long been known within Fushe - this matter was indeed successful with the support of Fushe and Donglin. Therefore, it is no secret that China Merchants Group is also involved. From Fushe's point of view, although Zhao Yingong was not a member of Fushe and had a suspicious "Kun thief" background, he was a fellow traveler of Fushe in the process of abolishing the Cao Cao Reform. Because of his religious relationship, he had a close relationship with Xu Guangqi and others. This is also an important ally for Donglin Fushe Group, which urgently needs the support of cabinet bosses.
What Wu Zhixiang brought was exactly what Shen Tingyang and Zhao Yingong dreamed of: rice - plenty of rice. Not only is it more than enough to make up for the shortfall of 30,000 shi, but even if you ask for more, it won’t be a problem.
The rice is not in Jiangnan, but the distance is not far. The key is that it is not difficult to transport it to Shanghai. As long as the two parties negotiate the terms, the delivery can be made soon.
As for the price, it's not expensive. It costs only two taels of silver per stone to be shipped to Shanghai. Even if it's not shipped to Liaodong, you can still make money by selling it locally.
Although Zhao Yingong was happy, he also had great doubts: Pies would not fall from the sky. He really couldn't think of a place in the Ming Dynasty where cheap rice worth tens of thousands of shi could be easily produced.
If he hadn't known everything about Wu Zhixiang's background and his "performance" in Guangzhou, he might have directly regarded him as a swindler.
"Where is the rice?" Zhao Yingong asked.
"Qingjiangpu."
Zhao Yingong secretly felt ashamed that he had forgotten this place!
Qingjiangpu belongs to Shanyang County, Huai'an Prefecture. Although it is just a town, since Chen Xuan opened the port in the early Ming Dynasty and changed the water transport from sea to river, it has become a transportation hub for water and land transportation from north to south.
When Chen Xuan presided over the canal administration in the early Ming Dynasty, he instituted a grain "transportation" system, that is, in Huai'an, Xuzhou, Linqing and other important towns along the canal, separate transit granaries were built to receive grain sent by civilian ships from designated areas. Changyingcang is located in Qingjiangpu. It is here that 1.5 million shi of grain from Jiangxi, Huguang, and Zhejiang are transferred and stored. The annual grain storage is more than 1 million shi.
Since there is a large granary, there are inevitably countless large and small rats. Surrounding this large warehouse, there are countless people who work on the canal, including those who transport the canal, those who manage the warehouse, as well as those in charge of the household affairs department of the prime minister's warehouse, down to the kuding who carries grain and rice, the caoding on the ship... there are countless people of all kinds who eat the canal. Of the four million shi of grain shipped to the capital every year, the freight and losses on the road were as high as 8 million shi. Qingjiangpu is the largest place among the suction channels along the way. It is not surprising that a large amount of warehouse rice has been deposited here for sale.
Of course Wu Zhixiang is not a "big rat", but his father now works in the Ministry of Household Affairs. He had a share of the benefits of Changyingcang in Qingjiangpu.
The "benefits" hoarded in Qingjiangpu must be turned into money before they can be spent. Anyone from the household department, from the minister to the secretary, who can get benefits from Changyingcang all have this problem of cashing out.
In the past, this benefit was nothing, and someone would contact you. However, the amount of grain to be liquidated this time was huge, not only due to Wu Zhixiang's father's benefit, but also from the storage accumulated by many people in the Ministry of Household Affairs. Ordinary businessmen did not have this strength, so Wu Zhixiang thought of Mr. Zhao, who had a thief background. When he was in Guangzhou, he knew that the Kun thieves had a very strong demand for food, and basically they could only get in but not get out. It was impossible for Mr. Zhao not to be interested in this.
The two parties quickly reached an agreement: Wu Zhixiang should at least transport 30,000 shi of brown rice to Shanghai by mid-July, and no more should be allowed. China Merchants purchased the goods at a CIF price of two taels of silver per stone.
"Thirty thousand stone meters have been delivered as scheduled. Is there any problem?" Zhao Yingong was a little worried. In an era when transportation and communication were very backward, long-distance transportation of bulk goods was calculated on a monthly basis. It was not easy to transport so many meters from Qingjiangpu to Shanghai, even if it took a month.
"Mr. Zhao, you can rest assured. This is the time when the canals that have spent the winter in the north are returning south. There are a lot of empty cannons in Qingjiangpu. Those transporters are willing to return with cargo to earn more."
"Okay, then I'll just wait for the good news." Zhao Yingong nodded, "We have an agreement."
"It's a deal." Wu Zhixiang's face turned red with excitement. This was the first time he had made such a big deal! When he thought about what his father and brother would think of him, he couldn't help but feel happy. Over the years, he has always been a playboy. Although his family has no control over him and allows him to live in Guangzhou, he is still looked down upon by his family. I also feel inferior to others.
Zhao Yingong also told him that if there were any mistakes in transportation, he must be notified as soon as possible, and he would arrange for Wei Zhan to take over.
"No problem, I will definitely be able to handle this matter." Wu Zhixiang agreed wholeheartedly.
"Okay, then it all depends on you, brother." Although Zhao Yingong felt uneasy, his promise was cash on delivery. Even if something unexpected happened during the food transportation process of this dude, it would have nothing to do with him - in the end it was nothing more. It's because cheap food cannot be transported, so he makes less money. If the shipped rice is traded at a CIF price of six taels per stone, the income of 120,000 taels will be enough to pay Guan Ning's military pay and pay for the miscellaneous expenses along the way. The freight paid by the court was the net profit of China Merchants Bureau.
This young master Wu was very close to Guangzhou Station from the beginning. He was a young man who was deeply "poisoned by Australia's decadent culture." Moreover, his family was aboriginal in Guangxi, and he had always been listed as a partner that the Senate could use. Now I would like to take this opportunity to see how capable Master Wu is and whether he is qualified to be a future "collaborator" of the Senate. (To be continued...)
