The boat slowly docked at the dock, and the man tied the rope to the wooden piling.
Shopkeeper Liao smiled like a Maitreya, with his eyes squeezed into a line. Before the people on the boat could get off the boat, he had already led others to stand on the shore, waiting respectfully.
The curtain moves.
Shen Yiyuan and Runniang walked out of the cabin. Shopkeeper Liao quickly stepped forward: "Uncle, Miss, you are here."
The spring breeze blows on my face, with a slight fragrance of flowers.
Runniang looked at Shopkeeper Liao and said with a smile: "Uncle Liao, why are you here in person? I didn't send a letter, so I don't need to pick it up."
Shopkeeper Liao is an old man of the He family. He has watched Runniang grow up and has a deep affection for her. Although Runniang has married Shen Yiyuan and their children are now teenagers, Shopkeeper Liao has never changed her title. She calls her "Miss" every time. More than thirty years ago.
Shen Yiyuanxu helped her and watched Run Niang get ashore before following up: "It's been such a busy time and you, as the shopkeeper, have come to pick her up in person. If you miss the mark, you will be punished with three bowls of old wine."
Shopkeeper Liao smiled gently and joked to Run Niang: "Miss, you see, my uncle is looking for an excuse to prevent Liao from drinking."
Runniang and Shen Yiyuan both laughed.
Shopkeeper Liao then turned sideways and said, "Everything in Hongjiang City has been arranged. Uncle, Miss, please."
Strips of stone and blue bricks are laid along the river.
Many houses are being built by the river, some of which have just been erected. There are craftsmen standing on high places, as if walking on the ground, shouting something. One person stacked four or five blue tiles in his hand and threw them upwards. The person above stretched out his hand, sank slightly, and caught it steadily.
The doors of some courtyards were open, and people inside were cleaning the courtyards and collecting the remaining wood and tiles. There are also some courtyard doors that are closed. Although they are locked, they have not yet been delisted and their names have not been removed.
After walking for more than a hundred steps along the river, Shen Yiyuan looked back at the direction of the dock and said with some sigh: "The Hongjiang River has a long history. The Warring States Period belonged to Chu, and the Qin Dynasty was the county of central Guizhou. After more than a thousand years, it has been like this The geographical location is so favorable, how can it be so difficult and there are not even many merchants?”
Shopkeeper Liao laughed and said: "If it weren't for my uncle's ambition and unique vision, Liao would not have dared to recruit thousands of migrant workers from seven miles and eight villages. Now it seems that there are some reasons for the slow development here."
Shen Yiyuan pointed to the stone table under the tree nearby, sat on the stone bench, and gestured: "Tell me carefully."
Runniang encouraged Shopkeeper Liao: "I also want to know."
Shopkeeper Liao pointed to the southeast: "Uncle, Miss, although the Hongjiang River has a long history and excellent geographical location, it also has shortcomings. To the southeast is Xuefeng Mountain, which is high in the southeast and northwest. There is a valley between the mountains. This Anjiang River is It is located next to a river. Although it has the convenience of a river, there are many cities next to rivers in the world, and not all of them can gather people to form a city."
"Although Hongjiang seems to be a natural location, it looks to Guangxi to the south, Yunnan and Guizhou to the west, and Sichuan and Sichuan to the northwest. Logically speaking, it is a good location, but if you think about it carefully, Guangxi is barren, and Yunnan and Guizhou either have difficult roads or dangerous mountains and rivers, and Sichuan and Sichuan are difficult to navigate. If you go, you'll usually go north, and even if you take this road, you won't stop at all. After all, there aren't many inns and not much prosperity."
Runniang generally understood that Hongjiang was in a good location, but looking around, everyone saw that everyone was poor. It was not easy for a wealthy friend to come over to help. After years of use, Hongjiang, Guangxi, Yunnan, Huguang, etc. The level of local development is about the same.
"There are mostly chieftains here, and some barbarians are uneducated, and occasionally do some robbery. When Zhang Fu led more than 200,000 people to Huguang, he was robbed by others, let alone ordinary businessmen, ordinary people would not dare to come Stay here for the night…”
Shopkeeper Liao shook his head repeatedly.
Shen Yiyuan immediately laughed when he heard this. What shopkeeper Liao said was true. There really were chieftains who robbed Zhang Fu's army. This is understandable. When people are so powerful, local yamen are not easy to deal with. It's hard for them to rob an army. It's just a sign of professionalism.
It's just that no one has robbed recently. The chieftain's head has dried up long ago, and the chieftains around him don't dare to move around now. Although Zhang Fu led people to the south, he will come back eventually. If he goes back, his hands will itch. Find a few dishonest people and kill them...
"How are you now?"
Runniang is very worried about her business.
Shopkeeper Liao smiled and took out an account book from his sleeve, placed it on the stone table, then pushed it to Shen Yiyuan, and then said to Runniang: "Young lady and uncle can take a look."
Runniang knew that this was the rule for shopkeeper Liao, after all, Shen Yiyuan was the head of the family.
Shen Yiyuan didn't look through it and handed it to Run Niang: "Just seeing shopkeeper Liao smiling so heartily, you know we did the right thing in this business."
Run Niang rolled her eyes at Shen Yiyuan and looked at the account book. Her relaxed expression gradually turned into surprise. She covered her mouth with one hand for fear of being rude. She looked up at Shopkeeper Liao with questioning eyes, meaning , is this all true?
Shopkeeper Liao understood and nodded heavily: "It's all true."
Runniang stretched out her hand to grab Shen Yiyuan's arm and shook it gently: "It's done. Did you see it? We're done."
Shen Yiyuan looked at the account book with a smile, and what caught his eye was a set of numbers:
There are 82 rental shops, with annual silver of 100 taels.
128 warehouses are leased, with annual silver of 150 taels.
There are 167 rental houses, with annual silver of 80 taels.
There are still 42 shops, 67 warehouses and 87 residential units yet to be leased.
Shopkeeper Liao laughed: "My uncle had the courage to spend so much money and buy the land deed at a high price. At the beginning, people could think that I was a liar, but if Meng Gu, the magistrate of Hongjiang, had not guaranteed the guarantee with the head of the central bank, this business would not have been possible I can’t do it either.”
Think about it, how do ordinary people know the value of a location? They have been suffering for several lifetimes. Suddenly someone came up and said, I bought your house for fifty taels. Not only that, I also gave you a similar room, but There was only one house six blocks away from the river. The person selling the house had a stipulated contract. It was a one-and-done deal and no further trouble was allowed.
Fifty taels is a sky-high price for the people of Hongjiang. They may not be able to save three to five taels of silver in a year, let alone another house. After the magistrate provided security and put out the real gold and silver, many people would The house was sold to the Shen family.
Shen Yiyuan knew that ten taels of silver would be enough to buy those shabby yards, but if that happened, people would definitely feel unbalanced if they knew how profitable this area was, how prosperous it would be, and how much a house was worth. It would be difficult to make trouble at that time. Simply give it all at once, make sure the contract is clear, and have the county magistrate, elders, etc. as witnesses, so you won't be afraid of problems in the future.
When businessmen pursue profits, they also need to keep their hearts in mind.
"The shops and warehouses here are mainly leased. Some warehouses and shops in poor locations can be sold for twenty years, but the shops and warehouses on the main street and along the river are not allowed to be sold."
Ranwen
Shen Yiyuan said seriously.
Shopkeeper Liao nodded seriously: "Don't worry, everything will be done according to my uncle's instructions."
Runniang stood up, looked at the flowing river, turned to Shen Yiyuan and said, "Then, where are our guests?"
Shen Yiyuan stretched out his finger and pointed at the surface: "It should be on its way now. Zhang Fu's army has already left Guangxi. No matter how slow Chang Baiye and the others are, they can't wait more than a month. Since they have already made a bid, that's it. It’s time to come.”
Runniang chuckled, with a hint of admiration in her eyes: "Chang Baiye took advantage of us to go to Nanyang, and actually sold the entire Annan, united with countless merchants, and took away the wealth accumulated in Annan for decades. It can be said that his methods are amazing. .”
Shopkeeper Liao echoed from the side: "After my uncle returned to Beijing, I thought that our family would also participate. But who would have thought that after being silent for more than ten days, my uncle actually asked me to bring my staff to Hongjiang."
Shen Yiyuan slapped the railing on the riverside: "I underestimated Chang Baiye before. He was able to take advantage of the disaster to enter Suzhou and other places, and let Shanxi Merchants Chamber of Commerce shops open everywhere. It can be seen that he is a powerful person who can open up Zhejiang in this way." Ximen has already surprised me. He actually came up with the genius idea of selling Annan and convinced the court. His power cannot be underestimated."
Runniang shook her head slightly: "Chang Baiye will definitely make a lot of money in this matter, but he is too popular. A businessman participated in state affairs without authorization, mobilized hundreds of merchants, and tens of thousands of clerks entered Annan. This This power is already terrifying. If he doesn’t know how to restrain himself, sooner or later the court will use him to beat down businessmen. Let’s not be so high-profile and just make money in a low-key manner.”
Shopkeeper Liao nodded repeatedly, yes, that's the truth.
The Shen family did not dare to be too arrogant. Both of their voyages to the West were carried out under the call of the imperial court. They followed the kings of Liao and Min, but no family was alone, nor did they appear to have mountains of wealth, like Chang Baiye who spent ten million taels. , enough to shock everyone’s jaws.
That's right, Chang Baiye couldn't come up with 10 million taels. The most his family could come up with was 1 million taels. But the problem was that when people told stories, he wouldn't tell the Shanxi Chamber of Commerce to unite 800 merchants and spend 10 million taels. Two taels emptied Annan's wealth, but it was rumored that Chang Baiye bought Annan's wealth with 10 million taels.
In word-of-mouth communication, people also like exaggerated and simple ones, and in the end it becomes:
Chang Baiye has a net worth of tens of millions taels.
I wonder if Chang Baiye will be so "happy" that he will be tossing and turning when he hears the news in the future.
Shen Yiyuan did not participate in Annan's affairs. Although there was still time when he returned to the capital, Shen Yiyuan gave up Annan's business after weighing the pros and cons.
But giving up Annan's business does not mean giving up making money.
After careful consideration, Shen Yiyuan searched for a map for a few days, and asked someone for a few days. Finally, he made up his mind to make a fortune outside of Annan's business. The way to make money was to rent warehouses and Shops and houses for sale are located in Hongjiang.
Before the Ming Dynasty, Hongjiang was not well-known, but in the fourth year of Jianwen, it will become a place that attracts the attention of businessmen, a place where countless businessmen gather.
Because of the merchants, this dull city will be revitalized and become an existence similar to Yangzhou City.
And this is Shen Yiyuan's business!
PS:
Wow, thank you v shameless v for tipping me again, I’m so touched. I wanted to post an update today, but I spent a lot of time looking for information and didn’t save it. I’ll give it a few days and I’ll post an update again. Thank you all for your support. Companionship and support...
