Jinling Midtown, Daxiang Street.
Huanhuan glanced at Li Sheng who was fanning himself, his heartbeat quickened and his cheeks turned red.
Li Sheng closed his fan suddenly and reached out to protect Huanhuan from being hit by the man carrying the goods.
"Come and see all the Venetian products."
An awkward sound came to Li Sheng's ears. He followed the sound and saw a few small stalls not far away. He had a high nose and a white face. He had no long hair or a hat, and half of his clothes were open. A chest with dark chest hair exposed.
"Is this the Hongyi? He looks so ugly."
Huanhuan pulled Li Sheng's clothes and whispered.
Li Sheng laughed and said to Huanhuan: "The people are ugly, but they took the risk of feeding the fish and took two years to get here, but it was not easy. Let's go and see what's there. goods."
Huanhuan was a little reluctant, but Li Sheng was very curious.
When Bailey finally saw someone arriving at the stall, he wiped his sweat and said in a broken pronunciation: "Dear sir, beautiful lady, we are merchants from faraway Venice. Here are our goods. As long as you like it, You can use very little money to exchange for precious gifts.”
Huanhuan had never been praised so directly, and she felt a little shy after hearing what Burei said.
Li Sheng glanced at Huanhuan and said with some straightness: "I heard that when they see a woman, they will call them 'beautiful' and 'noble'. Seriously..."
Huanhuan reached out and pinched Li Sheng. When Li Sheng grinned, he snorted and lowered his head to examine the goods on the stall.
When Bailey saw this scene, he couldn't help but be secretly surprised. It turned out that women in the Ming Dynasty could bully men, but men could only endure it and did not dare to resist. This should be noted down.
"This is?"
Huanhuan picked up a glass mirror and looked at herself in the mirror.
Burley quickly introduced: "This is a rare treasure from Venice. You can clearly see your own face. I heard that the Ming Dynasty people used bronze mirrors, which cannot clearly reflect your face. I would like to use this kind of mirror..."
"Rubbish."
Li Sheng took a look and shook his head slightly.
Bailey was stunned. Although he didn't understand many Ming words, he still understood the word "garbage" and couldn't help but feel a little angry: "Sir, you can't insult my goods. I want you to apologize!"
Li Sheng chuckled: "This is the only thing, do you still need me to insult you? Your Venice is really bad."
Burley's face was very ugly, and he gritted his teeth and said, "You don't know the greatness of Venice at all. You not only insulted my goods, but also insulted my country. I want you to apologize, otherwise I will fight you!"
Huanhuan looked at Li Sheng nervously.
Li Sheng took the mirror from Huanhuan's hand, waved it at the angry Bo Lei, and said, "Your mirror skills are really bad. Look carefully. The mirror is only as big as a palm, but there are five obvious things in it." There are air bubbles and a few uneven spots, so you dare to call this a rare treasure?"
Bailey was speechless.
Li Sheng put down the mirror, picked up a wine glass, flicked his fingers, looked at it carefully and said, "This wine glass is not a silver cup, is it? There is too much tin in it? And your wool, well, I can't smell it. The smell is too strong. People in the Ming Dynasty don’t like this smell, not to mention that woolen sweaters have already been sold in the Ming Dynasty..."
Bailey looked at the goods that had been reduced to nothing, gritted his teeth and took out a bottle of wine: "How about this fine wine?"
Li Sheng picked it up, looked at it, and asked, "Is this wine?"
"That's right!"
Burley replied very coldly.
Li Sheng nodded slightly and chanted: "Glow-in-the-dark cup of grape wine. If you want to drink, play the pipa immediately. As early as the Tang Dynasty, wine became a palace item. However, during the Yuan Dynasty, Shanxi had already produced wine in large quantities. If in the morning You have been here for ten years, and there is no chance that it can still be sold, but now all the drunkards in the Ming Dynasty like strong wine, and no one cares about this kind of wine..."
"ah?"
Bailey did not expect that the goods he had worked so hard to bring would actually
Nothing is worth anything in Daming?
Li Sheng picked up a blue gem, looked at the sun, and asked the stunned Burei, "How much is this thing?"
Bailey took one look and said quickly: "This is my most precious cargo, and it requires one thousand gold coins."
Li Sheng waved his hand and pointed at the sapphire: "Look at this sapphire. The color inside is not pure, and it is mixed with a wisp of black. This is unlucky in the Ming Dynasty. In my opinion, You can’t even sell a hundred strings.”
"One hundred strings?"
Burei's face turned pale. People here used treasure banknotes for transactions. Fortunately, they could use the treasure banknotes to exchange for gold and silver. The value of one hundred guan was basically the same as one hundred gold coins.
He had risked everything and risked his life to come to the Ming Dynasty. When he returned to Venice, could it be said that he had only earned a hundred gold coins?
This will be laughed at by all businessmen.
"no no……"
Bailey spoke quickly.
Li Sheng interrupted Bo Lei and continued to lower the price: "And this sapphire is cold. If it were a ruby, it could still be sold for a good price. What a pity. How about this? Can you sell it to me for fifty gold coins?"
"ah?"
The shrewd Bo Lei found that he was no match for Li Sheng. After pulling and pulling, seeing the buyer leaving, Bo Lei reluctantly agreed: "You can take the eighty strings."
Huanhuan pulled Li Sheng: "We need to save some money, but we don't dare to buy these useless things."
Li Sheng insisted on buying the sapphire, and reminded Burley to issue a bill, buy two in full, and no one was responsible.
This kind of bill is a new invention of the Ministry of Household Affairs. To be precise, it was the idea thought up by Zhu Yunxi. Zhu Yunxi believed that businessmen were very powerful in tax evasion and tax avoidance. If they only relied on checking account books and investigating officials to collect taxes, it would completely lead to a large number of transactions. It was impossible to collect taxes, so this bill book was developed.
After the Ministry of Household Affairs tried out the Mochou Lake Business Circle, they thought the method was feasible and asked Zhu Yunwen to get permission to distribute it all over the world.
The imperial court stipulated that all transactions must be based on the tax roll recommended by the Ministry of Revenue and the Department of Household Affairs. A transaction must be recorded in three entries. Any transaction without filling in the tax roll will be regarded as tax evasion, tax evasion, tax avoidance, etc., and the merchant will be punished by confiscation of 30% to three times the annual revenue of the businessman.
This move has brought convenience to the standardization of commercial taxes and blocked the private space of many businessmen.
Li Sheng took away his own bill and the other two bills, one to be retained by the household department for tax payment, and the other as a self-retained voucher.
Burei put away the money and continued shouting.
However, Li Sheng changed hands and gave the sapphire to Huanhuan. He changed his tone when bargaining and boasted the sapphire to the sky. At the end, he added: "I heard that the King of Liao has three high-quality sapphires, which are precious. The merchant offered five thousand Neither of them are for sale. Although this sapphire is not of the highest quality, it is still considered to be of the best quality. It is worth at least one or two thousand taels. I give it to you as a token of our engagement."
Huanhuan's hands trembled a little when she looked at such an expensive gift.
Li Sheng sighed and said, "I heard some officials from the Ministry of War discussing that when Adam and others arrived in Beijing, the court paid great attention to them. Even the Minister of War hosted a banquet in honor of Adam, William and others."
"This is our hospitality."
Huanhuan squinted her eyes, full of happiness.
Li Sheng shook his head slightly, leaned into Huanhuan's ear and said, "It's more like trying to find out the details and strength of Western countries. You have to know that the banquet is hosted by the Ministry of War, not the Ministry of Rites."
Huanhuan was a little surprised, Ministry of War, this Westerner is here, what does it have to do with the Ministry of War? Could it be that the imperial court is going to war again?
Forget it, let the Ministry of War worry about these matters.
Adam has been very busy recently, busy visiting official houses and selling Venetian silverware, copperware, leather products, glass, wool, etc. But these goods did not win the welcome of the people of Ming Dynasty. Only the accompanying spices would be sold out without promotion. The other goods were almost unsaleable.
Look at the Ming Dynasty's well-made mirrors, the glass in Venice can be smashed. Look at the silverware of the Ming Dynasty. The silver and tin wine glasses of Venice can be smashed. Look at the woolen garments of the Ming Dynasty. The wool products you carry can be smashed.
It was burned, but fortunately there were still people who wanted the leather products, so I managed to sell them for 70-80%.
Adam did not expect that in just over two years, many changes had taken place in the Ming Dynasty. Some goods were very popular two years ago, but now they have begun to enter the homes of ordinary people...
Unfortunately, if you can't sell the goods, how can you buy silk, ceramics, tea and all kinds of exquisite goods to return home? I can only beg those officials and officials to come and buy the goods in their hands because the Venetian merchants are risking their lives.
Zhu Yunwen, who was in Wuying Palace, didn't care about the whereabouts of Adam and others. They were just a group of people doing business, nothing more. But their existence can open up the horizons of Ming people and make the world gradually become clearer and more complete.
The closed environment, long transportation lines, and fixed small-scale peasant economy have resulted in many Ming people never leaving their birthplace. They don’t even know what the world is like twenty miles away, let alone tens of thousands of miles away. Westerners outside.
Zhu Yunwen let them in, allowed them to enter the capital, and gave them the right to sell goods. He just wanted everyone to realize that the world was very big, and it was not just a simple world like the Ming Dynasty and its vassal states.
To see the world with open eyes, the premise is to know that there is a new world outside. Being complacent, arrogant, and closed-minded are all the results of looking at the feet with drooping eyes.
If the Ming Dynasty wants to become a powerful dynasty and maintain this power, it must open its eyes and look out from the Ming Dynasty, see the sea, see Nanyang, see Central Asia, see Africa, see Europe, Even seeing America.
Only by having the world in his eyes can Ming Dynasty not close himself off.
Zhu Yunwen used the fleets of Adam and William to let the Ming people understand and know the existence of the West at a close distance.
Looking through the memorial, Zhu Yunwen couldn't help but sigh. The situation in the Northeast had tended to be stable, and Yang Wen had achieved a great victory against the savage Jurchen. But the problem is that the surrendered Jurchen tribe was very dissatisfied with what Yang Wen did, especially the near-massacre, which aroused public outrage.
