Forty-eight years of Qianlong

Chapter 96 Silk and Sugar
Historically, until the early nineteenth century, the island nation was an importer of raw silk, silk fabrics and white sugar.

Let's talk about raw silk and silk fabrics.

With the restrictions on the import of raw silk during the reign of the five-generation general Tokugawa Tsunayoshi, and the implementation of the "New Order of Zhengde" in the later period, the import of raw silk has declined year by year.

In Nishijin, Kyoto, there were gradually 32 merchants engaged in silk wholesale. In order to develop the local silk industry, these merchants not only granted loans to silk farmers, but also taught sericulture techniques, which greatly promoted the development of silkworms in the area of ​​Kyoto. The development of silkworm farming.

By the Xiangbao period (1716-1736), the raw silk production of the entire island country had reached 30 jin.

Moreover, the peace of the world for nearly 200 years has allowed the shogunate and daimyos to relax their armaments, and the demand for raw silk, which was originally used in large quantities for armor, bows and arrows, has also been greatly reduced.

Therefore, in the middle and late Edo period, the island country has changed from importing a large amount of raw silk to importing silk products.

In the early 20th century, the island country imported more than 2 silk and cotton fabrics from the Qing Dynasty every year.
Among the 20 fabrics, the silk products are close to 19, and the cotton fabrics are only a few thousand.

But this is the last glory. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, with the continuous decline of the copper trade, the annual trade volume of silk fabrics was only more than 4000.

After careful analysis, Zhao Xin felt that the period of "Tianming Famine" was an opportunity.Because of the shortage of grain in various places, all the vassals are encouraging the cultivation of grain. At this time, who is in the mood to vigorously develop the cultivation of mulberries and silkworms.

He plans to use the silk fabrics produced by large-scale industrialization in another time and space to completely defeat the silk weaving industry in Nishijin, Kyoto through low-cost dumping.You can do printing and dyeing honestly.

So how profitable is the silk fabric trade in this era?
It can be guessed from the fact that the merchants of the Qing Dynasty travelled and traveled at sea without risking difficulties, and the profits would not be small.According to historical records, the average profit of silk fabrics is between 120% and 200%. (Don't believe those who write "a hundredfold profit" at every turn, that's just a description.)
Let alone white sugar.

At the end of the 3.17th century, the CIF price of the best quality Chinese white sugar (Iban ice sugar) at Nagasaki Port was 5.7 taels of silver per jin; Finally, when the island merchants bought it and then sent it to Osaka for sale, the price at this time had risen to 6.5 taels per catty; as for the Kanto region, the price had reached between 7 taels and [-] taels per catty.

Zhao Xin has carefully calculated that during the Tianming period, one tael of gold is equal to sixty-day tael of silver.Two silver a day is 3.759 grams.

In this way, 225.54 grams of variegated silver can be exchanged for 1 tael of gold (the pure gold content is 8.52 grams).

How much white sugar did the merchants of the Qing Dynasty transport to the island country every year? More than 120 million catties!
If I get 50 catties of white sugar at a time... It's trivial, it's only 250 tons, and the total is more than 200 million; according to the price in the Nagasaki Club, it can be sold for 500 taels.

Then?Then fools go to smelt pure gold!

Use these small sentences to ask the Qing Dynasty merchants in Nagasaki to buy a complete set of Song edition books. You don't need too much, you can buy five sets.

How much is a modern set of Song edition books? In 2018, a set of five copies of "Ju Song Guang Yun" sold more than 8000 million copies.

This is just one year's profit from the white sugar trade.It would be a fool not to do this business!

When Zhao Xin said that he could provide a large amount of sugar and silk, Katsuyama Denzo's heartbeat increased violently, and his face flushed.If you use an instrument to measure it, it will definitely exceed 180, and it will explode.

At first glance, Zhao Xin said that he was going to be bad, but under his own temptation, the boss of Shengshan was afraid that he was going to have a heart attack.So he quickly helped the other party to find a place to sit down, and asked Ping Tai, who was beside him, to quickly bring a cup of hot tea.

Katsuyama Densan clutched his heart and leaned back on the chair, unable to speak for a long time.After he took a few breaths and drank another half cup of tea, the blush on his face slowly subsided.

But when he glanced at the cup in his hand inadvertently, his hand trembled again: "Master Zhao, you are too... I'm just a businessman, how can you serve me with such a high-quality glass cup? Woolen cloth?"

Katsuyama Densan stared blankly at the patterned glass in front of him, and said with a choked voice.

Katsuyama's panic is justified. Although the big businessmen of this era are rich, their social status and property ownership are completely unprotected.

The shogunate and the daimyo said that they would default on their debts, and businessmen had to borrow them; if the businessmen lived too extravagantly and damaged the social atmosphere, they would find excuses to raid their homes.

"Oh, you said it was a mess." Zhao Xin sighed helplessly.The famous "Edo Kiriko" and "Satsuma Kiriko" (hand-cut pattern glassware) will not appear until after the 30s.Proper luxury.

The engraved glass water cups he used for Katsuyama Densan were the cheap ones he bought from the merchants - imitation Italian crystal glasses, a set of six, 100 yuan, 100 yuan.

Zhao Xin was thinking about the profits of silk and sugar, but he didn't react at all.So he said to Katsuyama Densan: "Like it? Then I'll send it to you."

"Ouch, my heart~~" Katsuyama Densan clutched his chest and couldn't do it anymore.

Soon, like a smelling puppy, the owner of Murataya joined in wagging his tail.However, when this Murata Jiroemon heard the price of silk fabrics and white sugar given by Zhao Xin, his heart couldn't take it anymore.

At this time, Zhao Xin, in the eyes of the two, was a god of wealth covered in gold.

So after some secret discussions, finally Katsuyama Denzo and Murata Jiroemon ordered a total of 20 catties of white sugar and [-] pans of silk fabrics of various colors.

The two are ready to ship the goods to Osaka and Edo to see how the market reacts before proceeding to place orders.

After the secret discussion was completed, the boss of Murataya felt that Katsuyama Densan's expression was very strange, and this fellow was especially anxious to get on the ship and return to the port.He noticed that Katsuyama Densan's arms were bulging, and his hands were always on it, and he felt that there must be something good hidden.

How does this work!The boss of Murataya guessed that Katsuyama Chuansan and Tang Yi had other businesses, so this one immediately returned to Ishinomaki Port by boat, and secretly took half the boat's belongings and delivered them over at night.

Zhao Xin, who had just slept for a while, was woken up by Ping Tai, saying that the boss of Murata House asked for a meeting, and also handed over a gift list.

Zhao Xin finished reading the gift list, my dear, this time, gargling with shark fin and abalone every day is enough!
No matter what you are doing, what is this guy doing?
After Zhao Xin hurried to wash up, he saw the boss of Murataya, and after listening to his hesitantly expressing his intentions, he was dumbfounded.He didn't explain, and directly asked Ping Tai to fetch two carved glass cups.

"Hey~~" The boss of Murataya took a breath of air when he saw it.It's too expensive!No wonder Chuan San is sneaky.

Just as he was about to ask how much this thing was worth, Zhao Xin said to him, "I'll give it to you."

"Oh, my heart..." The boss of Murata House stopped talking nonsense, held up the cup happily, bowed to Zhao Xinshen, and then said goodbye.

The next morning, Toshiyuki Ishinomaki received an urgent letter from Aoba Castle.The letter ordered him to immediately order [-] stone of polished rice from Tang Yi, and the quality must be exactly the same as the sample brought this time!
"Yida's family is really rich!" Zhao Xin couldn't help admiring when he received the news.Nearly 3000 taels of gold, take it out as soon as you say it, without blinking.

It is said that Takao Shiobara, the most famous oiran in Yoshiwara, Edo, was favored by Date Tsunamune, the third generation head of the Date family, and he did not hesitate to spend 75 kilograms of gold nuggets to redeem him. (Later, the shogunate ordered Gangzong to return to his hometown and live in seclusion. Taifu Takao also followed Gangzong to settle in Sendai, and lived in a pampered state until he was 77 years old. This incident is recorded in "Mutsu Scrapbook". The head story is just a rumour.)
However, Zhao Xin didn't want to let the Date family go so easily. Since Katsuyama Chuansan disclosed to him the relationship between polished rice and dark rice, Zhao Xin immediately started the price and raised the price of 0.65 taels per stone of polished rice to one tael or two. gold.

One or two gold is also worth it, this business is too cost-effective.Sign the agreement now!

After learning the news, the elders of Aoba Castle did not care that Sendai Domain could not come forward, and hurriedly ordered Ishinomaki to send Shibata Kakuzo, who had participated in the negotiation last time, and the tax officer of the office to directly board the ship for an interview.

After bargaining between the two parties, the batch of 5000 shi of rice was finally sold for [-] taels.The condition for Zhao Xin to agree to reduce the price is that the Sendai Domain must pay the purchase price in one lump sum and cannot default.

So, after another quick horse pass, Aoba City agreed completely; only then did the two sides sign the grain purchase agreement.

Of course, the [-] stones of polished rice that Ishinomaki Port pursued privately still cost money, and they didn't drop a single copper plate.

Five days later, all 3000 newly arrived refugees had boarded the ship, and Zhao Xin immediately ordered the Thunder God to set sail.

But what he didn't know was that among the refugees on board this time, not only the spies from the Sendai domain were mixed in, but also the spies from the shogunate.

The people of Sendai Domain thought that their business with Tang Yi was going well without anyone noticing, but in fact, they had already been noticed by those who were interested in Edo.

For the current shogunate, Nakatanuma Yiji, food is a top priority.Although the shogunate didn't want to come up with food to rescue those big names, any troubles they made would be quickly sent to Tanuma Yiji's desk.

Sendai Domain was only eight or nine days away from Edo, so many things could not be hidden.Although the Sendai Domain had issued an order from top to bottom, the news that Matsushima Town was bombarded by foreign ships had already reached Tanuma Iji's ears.

So Tanuma Yiji asked the generals for instructions, and the shogunate's secret forces, the Koga and Iga groups, began to dispatch.These ninjas disguised themselves and entered the Sendai Domain to check for news.For example, here in Matsushima Town and Ishinomaki Port, several walking monks and doctors Yufang suddenly appeared a while ago.

These people checked at the port of Ishinomaki and found that people were transporting refugees to sea.In order to find out the specific situation, they disguised themselves as family members by bribing several refugee families in advance.

Because the physical fitness of these spies is not bad, their families were also selected first, and became one of the 3000 people on the Thor.

But what these ninjas didn't expect was that once they went, they would never come back.

(End of this chapter)