Whether they are Longyou merchants, Hui merchants, Jiangyou merchants and Dongting merchants, they all have their own guild halls in the capital city.
This kind of guild hall is usually set up publicly in the most prosperous and popular areas of the capital city, with prominent and splendid signs to show the strength of the merchants represented by the guild hall.
For example, the Dongting Guild Hall was built on West Chang'an Street at the junction of Dashi Yongfang and Xiaoshi Yongfang, while the Jiangyou Guild Hall was established on East Chang'an Street beside the Yuhe North Bridge in Nanxunfang. Similarly, the Huizhou Guild Hall was established on Chongwen On Menli Street, the Shanshan Guild Hall is located on Huangqiang West Street. These streets are the busiest, liveliest and most conspicuous streets in the capital city, and are directly adjacent to either the government offices or where dignitaries gather. Residential luxury area.
When Weng Qiyang came out of the Dongting Guild Hall, he went straight onto the carriage.
The old servant who had been following him quietly got into the car.
"Weng Fu, how is the situation?" Weng Qiyang half-closed his eyes, leaned back on the carriage board, and asked in a deep voice.
"According to the master's instructions, Lao Nu and Weng Li have walked around in the past two days, looked around, and made inquiries. The situation in the capital has indeed changed a lot from the last time they came. The most obvious thing is The number of refugees has increased significantly, and the streets seem a bit chaotic..."
The old servant responded respectfully: "But there are a lot of public figures on the street, and people from the Five Cities Military and Horse Division and the patrol camp can be seen, so although it is a bit chaotic, the order is still passable..."
"It's pretty good if it's passable. I heard that more than 100,000 people from Shanxi, Baoding, and Zhending came to Beijing. I was a little worried about whether something would happen if I went to Beijing, but now it seems that the situation is not as bad as I imagined. "Yeah." Weng Qiyang's tone was very erratic, uncertain, "What else?"
"Following your instructions, we checked the market situation. The prices of corn and wheat have more than doubled compared to August last year. The price of japonica rice has increased slightly less, but it is similar. Compared with the current price in Jinling, it is also It’s nearly 60% higher, but..."
The old servant hesitated for a moment, but Weng Qiyang opened his eyes and asked, "But what?"
"It feels like prices have reached a peak. I learned about it. In fact, food prices seemed to have peaked a month and a half ago. They dropped a bit in late December, but then rose again, but then fell again. Go, just ups and downs like this..."
"The old slave has inquired that there are some grain dealers in Beijing who want to raise the price, but they have never been able to do so. There has been a steady flow of grain from Yongping Mansion. Every time the price wants to rise, there will be dozens of carts. The grain truck entered the city, and I heard that there was also a lot of grain stored in Dingzigu. Someone specially bribed the people guarding the grain in Dinggu to go in and check. They were all full, at least 200,000 dan. It was said that they were waiting for They wanted to buy it at a good price, which made the grain merchants in Beijing feel very anxious..."
The words of the old servant made Weng Qiyang slightly moved. Two hundred thousand shi of grain was weighed down in Dinggu. It was estimated that the same was true in Yuguan and Yuepo Port. In addition, with the continuous shipping, the imperial court was confused about what was real and what was real. The grain merchants in Beijing were confused. If you know the details, the price of food in the capital city will not rise. As long as people don't sell everything, they can suppress you to the point where you can't raise the price.
"What's the situation like for the refugees?" Weng Qiyang asked again.
"It's a mess, everywhere, but it seems to be divided into many areas, and there are people watching. It doesn't look like the government, but they are very true to their words. These refugees are quite afraid, and I don't know why these people were let go by the government. They entered the city, and it seems that they were given a lot of shovels, shovels and other tools..." The old servant continued: "I didn't dare to ask further."
"It seems that the situation in the court is not as bad as we originally feared. At least the refugees are under control and cannot cause trouble."
Weng Qiyang knew very well that it was not easy to control hundreds of thousands of refugees. Now it seems that the court did not take action personally, but used other people to handle this matter. This is not easy.
As for tools such as shovels and shovels, I'm afraid we should still take the road of providing work for relief. Having said that, with so many refugees, if we don't use this method, what other way can we solve it? And this capital city is covered in ashes on sunny days and mud on rainy days, so it really needs some renovation.
"Except for grain prices, have other materials increased?" Weng Qiyang closed his eyes and remained silent for a while before asking again.
"Other things, if they are related to food and clothing, have all increased to a certain extent. For example, the price of oil has doubled, and the price of mutton has tripled. The price of pork has increased less. However, iron materials have not increased as much. It’s so obvious, it’s probably increased by about 30% compared to last year, and cement prices have increased by 70%…”
Weng Qiyang silently calculated that if we take the sea route, compared with water transportation, the cost will increase, but it will not exceed 40%. Even if we use experienced hands, it will be about 30%. Moreover, as the route becomes more familiar, the port and terminal facilities will become more and more familiar. Perfection, and the larger the ships used, continue to decline.
If we compare the current prices between the north and the south, there are still considerable profits to be made by transporting bulk materials such as iron and cement from the north to the south, while the profits from transporting grain and cloth from the south to the north are even more attractive.
The carriage walked along West Chang'an Street until it reached Shibei Alley, then turned south and finally arrived at a quiet house at the intersection of Songshu Alley.
Entering the compound, several carriages were already parked beside the stables. Weng Qiyang knew that representatives of Longyou merchants, Jiangyou merchants and Yangzhou salt merchants should have arrived.
The fact that Feng Ziying sent people to Jiangnan and Jiangbei to issue notices was not hidden from these people. Although competition among business gangs was inevitable, everyone still had to abide by the basic rules, and the cooperation and struggle with the imperial court never stopped. Therefore, it is everyone's bottom line to communicate with each other and avoid being misunderstood by the court.
This round of sales in the capital city, the real person in charge will not participate, and the people sent are basically characters who have never appeared outside. From the surface, you can't tell them at all. origin, but this does not mean that Jiangnan businessmen do not care.
On the contrary, they paid more attention to it, because they needed to observe and analyze the current situation in the court based on what they saw and heard from this trip, combined with the intelligence information provided to them by their spokespersons in the court.
It would be an exaggeration to say that it is related to everyone's wealth and life. After all, they have bet on both sides. However, if the bet is wrong, then a huge opportunity will be missed, and you may even be trapped in darkness for a long time, but that is real.
There were many figures in the middle courtyard, but none of them came out. Weng Qiyang ignored them and went straight into the inner courtyard.
As expected, there were already several people in the inner courtyard.
Tong Haishan from the Longyou Merchant Gang, Du Sanbao from the Jiangyou Merchant Gang, and He Tingfa, the representative of the He family of the Hui merchants. The Shanshan merchants did not come, and they did not invite each other. They had stood firm early on. On the court's side.
"Is Mr. Weng here?" He Tingfa is a fat man with a fair face and a rich face. An ordinary silver wrench in his fat and gentle hand can show a bit of nobility. When he saw Weng Qiyang come in, he greeted him with a smile.
In fact, he was not very familiar with Weng Qiyang. Dongting merchants did not have much contact with salt merchants, and they did not think highly of salt merchants. On the contrary, Liao Youfa and Du Sanbao were very familiar with Weng Qiyang.
"He Gong is here early." Weng Qiyang cupped his hands, "Brother Tong and Brother Du are also early."
"It's not good if it's not early. Don't forget to leave early. There are even more people who leave early." He Tingfa muttered and shook his head, "I arrived five days ago, but there are others who are earlier than me. Boss Su is even better than me." I came early, but today I seem to be late.”
"Brother Sine has been delayed for a while, so it's probably time to arrive." It was Tong Haishan who answered.
The boss they call Su Xingxian is a leading representative among Ningbo businessmen. He is not only a large shipowner and businessman, but also the owner of the largest shipyard in Ningbo. He also cooperates with Anfu businessmen in Dongpan to cut down huge trees and transport them to Ningbo for shipping.
Just as he was talking, footsteps sounded outside the door, and a thin black man came in, wearing a green shirt and walking with vigorous steps. When he came in, he held his hands and said: "I'm late, Mr. Weng, Brother Tong, Brother Du, Mr. He,... …”
This person is Su Xingxian, a wealthy businessman in Ningbo.
Weng Qiyang nodded slightly, and several others also greeted him.
After the servant brought the tea in, he disappeared without a trace, leaving only a few people in the flower hall.
This is a villa of Du Sanbao. It is very secret. Places like the guild hall are really not suitable for business.
"Since He Gong has been in the capital for a while, he must have gained something?" Du Sanbao asked about this topic first.
He Tingfa's complexion was soft, and his fair and wealthy face became brighter and brighter, "Well, I saw tens of thousands of refugees arriving in Beijing, but the imperial court seemed to have a strategy to divert them outside the city. The old, weak, women and children were left outside the city. It was time to provide relief and relief. They were divided into several groups and introduced into the city one after another. I heard that the streets and ditches in the capital city were to be overhauled..."
"Price has risen a lot, but it is not chaotic and has not risen to an outrageous level..."
"It is said that the Qiuwei Competition will still be held normally this year. This is what I learned from an acquaintance in the Ministry of Rites. Including Nanzhi, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, and Fujian, everything is the same as in the past..."
"I heard that the Shanxi Army has passed Ningjinbo and is on the line between Xinhe and Zaoqiang. The Jizhen Army has also begun to gather in Hejian Mansion..."
"The two supervisors heard that they had some disagreements with the cabinet. The day before yesterday, His Royal Highness Prince Lu was reportedly reprimanded by Mr. Qi Ge in person..."
"King Zhonghui wants to adjust the personnel in the Beijing camp, but I heard that there is a lot of resistance..."
A group of businessmen began to exchange the news they had learned.
For businessmen, there are many channels to evaluate the situation, including commodity prices, the situation between North Korea and China, the military, and public security. They all observe and consider governance. From Feng Ziying's perspective, this is actually more scientific.
