The next day, Xu Ling came to the kiln entrance outside the city with sixteen taels of money.
This is a village, but there are many livestock carriages and businessmen coming and going outside the village. Therefore, two brothers set up a porcelain kiln in the village. The mud transported from Qinghe Town is processed here and sent to the kiln. , fired at high temperatures. It is said that the fire here has not been cut off for several years.
Even on both sides of the road outside the village, broken porcelain fragments were thrown everywhere.
Xu Ling pulled the cart into Dingping Village. The village has white walls and green tiles, and trees line both sides of the road. The road is paved with bluestone slabs. It is extremely wide and allows cars and horses to pass by unimpeded.
This is a large village. There are private schools in the village, and the faint sound of children reading aloud can be heard.
Compared with other villages, Dingping Village is simply eye-catching.
He observed for a long time and followed some businessmen who also came to buy porcelain to a courtyard. There were piles of porcelain placed in the yard, all for anyone to choose from, and the prices were very reasonable.
Cups, bowls, bottles, plates, pots, pots, different types and shapes, it’s dazzling to look at.
Of course, different types of porcelain have different prices, such as single color and multi-color, glaze color and no color, and the price is also different.
Xu Ling only had sixteen taels of silver in hand, so he chose to buy three hundred white porcelain cups, which cost one tael of silver; and three hundred porcelain bowls, which cost one tael and a half of silver. After filling the cart, Xu Ling Finish your first purchase.
He came again the next day and used the remaining money to buy bisque vases, colorful glazed plates, and seventy jars of various sizes.
After spending all the money he earned from selling vegetables on the boat, Xu Ling stopped with satisfaction.
On the third day, carrying only his baggage, he boarded a ship bound for Quanzhou.
The journey from Lingbao Town to Quanzhou is nearly a thousand miles. If we go by land, it will take at least half a month. What's more, Quanzhou is surrounded by mountains and forests, and there are many bandits and wild animals, making it even more difficult to pass.
But if you take a boat and take the waterway, you can reach it in two or three days at the earliest when the wind is favorable, and it can be reached in six or seven days if the wind is against you.
But taking a boat is not without risks.
The river is wide, and sometimes you encounter heavy storms, sometimes you encounter water bandits on the river, and there are also malicious business wars from your peers. In short, when businessmen want to go far for business, they encounter risks that Xu Ling, a modern man, cannot handle. imaginable.
The name of the Wei family was on the top of this large ship. The cargo in the cabin below was shipped to Quanzhou, and there were many small businessmen or travelers like Xu Ling living on it.
There are two types of merchants. One is traveling merchants. Xu Ling travels all over the country, taking goods from one place to another to sell. He follows the path of buying low and selling high. Although there are difficulties and obstacles along the way, he makes a lot of profits. many.
The other type is sitting merchants, like the shopkeeper of Deyuelou Wang, who does not need to travel around and stick to a fixed stall to operate business. Although the profit margin is not as large as that of a businessman, it is safer and has lower risks.
Whether they are merchants or businessmen, there are big and small differences. Some merchants are like the Wei family. The descendants of the family still study and leave the family business to the shopkeeper. They sit firmly in Diaoyutai and do not violate the court regulations that govern politics and do not engage in business. , you can also make money.
Xu Ling learned all these things from chatting with the merchants on the boat.
Xu Ling originally thought that this boat was filled with businessmen from nearby Lingbao Town, but he never thought that there would be businessmen from the north coming here to do business.
Xu Ling had to admire these people.
When others saw that he had no cargo and only carried a baggage, they asked him what he did.
Xu Ling didn't tell the truth. He lied that he was a scholar and came to Lingbao Town to join his relatives.
But he was obviously wearing cloth clothes, and although his hands were not as good as those of a farmer doing rough work, they were definitely not like those holding a pen.
The most taboo thing to do when away from home is casual conversation. These sophisticated little businessmen knew very well that Xu Ling was lying, but they didn't ask in detail.
After four or five days of this, Xu Ling would hang out on the deck of the big ship in his free time, watching the boatmen furl the sails and lowering the ropes, and listen to his fellow travelers chatting about various aspects of life. Occasionally, he would get together with others to brag and fart when he met someone who struck up a conversation. .
We will arrive in Quanzhou in half a day. Xu is the name of the Wei family, so we haven't encountered any risks along the way, and there are more and more ships of various sizes nearby.
"Look! I see the pier!"
A small businessman named Niu Decai who chatted well with Xu Ling happily pointed to the pier in the distance as thin as a black dot and shouted to Xu Ling and a few others.
Everyone quickly gathered around and watched as the black spots turned into black ants and black beetles. They were indeed approaching Quanzhou.
Niu Debao said happily: "After I sell this batch of goods, I must go to Qicai Building to see the style of the young lady inside!"
Colorful Building, the name sounds a bit unserious.
As expected, the other men also laughed and said: "With the little money you have, you still want to go to Qicai Building. I think you might as well try your luck in some dark alley to see if there is a young lady who has just left the court. Anyway, It’s a clean one!”
"Does a big city like Quanzhou also have dark alleys?" Xu Ling asked curiously when he heard the familiar vocabulary.
The men had nothing to do except brag about their experiences and talk about women.
In the past few days, they had been chatting with Xu Ling, but Xu Ling always refused to participate. Seeing that he was interested in dark alleys, Niu Decai put his arms around Xu Ling's shoulders and said, "Brother Xu, don't go to that place alone. , otherwise you will regret it if you encounter a beauty bureau or find you a few days after doing something and tell her that her daughter is pregnant!"
This kind of flesh-and-blood business in dark alleys usually involves husbands selling their wives and parents selling their daughters. Because it is opened at the back door of the home, it is called secret prostitution.
Since she is a prostitute, there are naturally many monsters and monsters.
They, traveling businessmen, have been tricked so many times. Some remember food but not fights, and some have a long memory. But there is nothing we can do about it. The famous brothels are expensive and the secret alleys are cheap. Occasionally, if you are lucky, you can meet someone. A young lady who just left the court.
Xu Ling shook his head and pushed Niu Decai's hand away, "I'm not interested in this kind of place."
The others looked at each other and thought he was too serious.
During the conversation, the dock became more and more visible, and everyone spread out to collect their goods.
Xu Ling had nothing to clean up, so he stood on the deck and looked out. I saw a long dragon-like pier along the shore, bridges painted with smoke and willows, and behind it were hundreds of thousands of homes, with towers and pavilions scattered at random, and elms and poplars fluttering. Looking further into the distance, the image of the mountain was like ink melted with water, faintly , like a beautiful landscape painting.
As you get closer, you can hear the sounds of selling and soliciting customers.
The ship gradually slowed down, docked at the dock, and lowered the deck and cables. Under the cabin, the boatmen were busy carrying goods from the cargo hold. There were already porters on the dock waiting to work, carrying a whole family of children chewing on their shoulders.
Xu Ling glanced at these various people and merged into the crowd along with the merchants and passengers disembarking from the ship.
