Zhao Tai and Jia Sidao entered Huiyuan. Looking at the scenery inside, they couldn't help but admire, "This garden is nice."
Jia Sidao nodded and said with great satisfaction: "This is the garden owned by Zhu Wei, a businessman from Huizhou. It is said to be worth fifty thousand guan. He has many gardens, so he lent it to me to live in for a few days."
Zhao Tai stroked his short beard. The status of merchants in the Song Dynasty was higher than that of previous dynasties, but it was only higher.
A businessman controls a large amount of property and has a low status. In the eyes of the powerful and the gentry, he is just a fat sheep.
In this case, in order to protect their assets and personal safety, they can only seek shelter among the powerful and gentry, make friends with the powerful, and find political backers.
In this way, they are attached to a certain backer, and it will be difficult for other people who are interested in their assets to take action.
Zhao Tai didn't know this Zhu Wei, so he started burning Jia Sidao's cold stove so early, which shows that this person is very discerning.
This person is either like him and sees the value of Jia Sidao, or he really has a lot of money and is willing to make friends with anyone.
Zhao Tai became interested, "What kind of business does Mr. Zhu do?"
Jia Sidao replied: "Most of the Huizhou merchants in Yangzhou are engaged in salt trading. The same goes for their family. His great-grandfather Zhu Que was known as "Zhu Bancheng" for a long time, and his family was extremely wealthy. Although they lived in Fangla During the civil war, the business was somewhat affected, but Zhu Wei was a good man and got the family business back on track."
Zhao Taizheng wanted to cooperate with a salt merchant to sell his goods. After hearing Jia Sidao's words, he was very interested in this blessing.
At this time, the two of them walked through the corridor and came to an elegantly furnished room and sat down. After the servants served tea, Zhao Tai asked: "Is this member Zhu in Yangzhou? I want to meet him." "
Jia Sidao shook his head, "That's really unfortunate. He just left Yangzhou the day before yesterday."
Zhao Tai also felt a little pity. If he was not there, he would have to find someone else.
Jia Sidao asked: "By the way, Brother Zhao invited me to come to Yangzhou. What's the good thing?"
Zhao Tai recovered his thoughts and waved his hand to his subordinates standing aside, "Bring the things here."
The two teenagers, aged between 16 and 18, brought Songhe wine and soap and placed them on the small table between them.
These two young men, one named Zhao Hu and the other Zhao Gui, were both hungry people outside Suining City. They were adopted as adopted sons by Zhao Tai, and their surname was Zhao.
Although Zhao Tai is only in his early twenties, he has already collected more than ten names, and there may be more in the future, perhaps as many as hundreds.
These adopted sons all have one characteristic: they are not very young, and most of their family members starve to death.
They have no family. Zhao Tai adopts them as adopted sons and becomes their family.
This was Zhao Tai's helpless move. Without the support of his family and township party, he could only use this method to cultivate a group of trustworthy people.
When the things were placed on the table, Jia Sidao's nose immediately moved, "What smells so good? This is wine!"
Zhao Tai opened the seal, used a tool to take out a small cup, handed it to Jia Sidao, "Try it?"
Jia Sidao took it and felt the aroma of the wine overflowing. He sniffed it and was about to drink it all in one gulp. Zhao Tai quickly stopped him and said, "This wine is strong, just take a sip."
Jia Sidao was proficient in eating, drinking, prostitution and gambling. He was young and had two bowls of rice wine every day with his meals. He had no rivals in his hometown. When he arrived in Lin'an, he drank a bunch of dandies until he recognized his eldest brother.
He listened to Zhao Tai's words, but didn't take it seriously, "Brother Zhao, are you looking down on me?"
After finishing speaking, he drank it in one gulp. He suddenly felt as if he had swallowed a fire, burning from his throat directly to his stomach, and his whole face turned red.
Zhao Tai wanted to stop him but was too late. Young people are like this. They don't listen to persuasion, but they still fight bravely.
Zhao Tai picked up a piece of pastry and said, "Hurry up and take a bite."
Jia Sidao took it and ate a few mouthfuls quickly before he regained his composure and marveled, "How could there be such a strong drink?"
Zhao Tai picked up the soap again, "Look at this again!"
Jia Sidao took it again and smelled it. It was very fragrant, all yellow, and there were patterns engraved on it. He asked doubtfully: "Is this food?"
Zhao Tai smiled and shook his head, "This is an improved soap called 'soap', which is used to clean clothes."
Zhao Tai called ordinary soap soap, and spiced soap, called it "soap", in order to sell it at a higher price.
Jia Sidao frowned slightly, "Brother Zhao invited me to come to Yangzhou, why don't you just show me these two things?"
Zhao Tai got straight to the point, "I hope Brother Jia can dedicate these two things to the noble concubine and the official family, and take some of them to give to the relatives of the emperor, the princes and nobles. If they use it, if they all agree, From now on, I will be in charge of production, Brother Jia will be in charge of sales, and we will make money together, wouldn’t it be wonderful?”
The King of Wu was a good swordsman, and the people suffered many scars; the King of Chu was a thin waist, and many people died of starvation in the palace."
If the superiors do something good, the subordinates will be the first to imitate it.
If the nobles of the Southern Song Dynasty accepted soap, then the palace's preference would be the best advertisement, and the soap produced by Zhao Tai would have no worries about sales.
Compared with Jia Sidao's shock when he first heard "The Peony Pavilion", Songhe Wine and Soap was undoubtedly inferior.
Zhao Tai saw that he was not satisfied, so he waved his hand again, "I'll give Brother Jia something else."
Zhao Gui then took out another small bottle. After Zhao Tai took it, he opened the cork on the porcelain bottle and gave it to Jia Sidao to smell. Jia Sidao's eyes lit up.
"This is perfume! It can be sprinkled on the body to make people overflowing with fragrance. The effect is better than a sachet." Zhao Tai smiled and said without waiting for him to ask, "Brother Jia dedicated it to the imperial concubine. The imperial concubine will definitely be very happy."
Jia Sidao couldn't hide the joy on his face. He took it and sniffed it again, "It's the fragrance of gardenia."
Since distilled liquor has been produced, making simple perfume is not a problem for Zhao Tai.
The method he used was very simple and crude. He broke the collected petals into pieces and put them into a small pot, boiled them with high-quality wine for half an hour, and then filtered them to get a simple perfume.
Zhao Tai can understand so much because he has always had nothing to do in the past. He originally thought that most of the content in it was nonsense. Unexpectedly, the author was quite conscientious and many of the homespun methods turned out to be true.
Zhao Tai nodded: "This is just the simplest version. I will release a perfume with a stronger fragrance in the future."
Jia Sidao became happy. There were three thousand beauties in the palace, and the officials had many choices. His sister, Concubine Jia, had to think of ways to keep her favored by the officials every day.
If he dedicated this perfume to his sister, then his sister would definitely be happy.
Jia Sidao was smiling all over his face. Suddenly he seemed to think of something and immediately put away his smile. "Brother Zhao, I also have a request. You cannot produce and sell your perfume. You can only give me a few bottles every year."
For Zhao Tai, perfume is definitely a hugely profitable industry and will be sought after by the powerful.
Fortunately, Zhao Tai still had a lot of ideas, so it didn’t matter if he gave up, so Zhao Tai smiled and said: "Brother Jia, don’t worry, I guarantee that the perfume I produce will only be delivered to the royal concubine."
Jia Sidao secretly praised Zhao Tai for being sensible, so he smiled happily and said, "Leave the matter of wine and soap to me."
While talking, Jia Sidao suddenly felt that his head was a little heavy, and his whole body had entered a wonderful state of being tipsy without even realizing it.
This made Jia Sidao a little surprised. He picked up the Songhe wine on the side, smelled it, and said in disbelief: "I just drank a small glass, and I am actually a little drunk. This wine is good wine, give me another sip!"
Bookstore
