Overlord!

Chapter 215 Profit of 15 yuan
The whole Jiangnan attaches great importance to sending a caravan to Youzhou.

Because the caravans were basically sent by wealthy families from various counties, and according to the current style of these wealthy families, each family was recruiting heroes and sailors, and boatmen who were proficient in shipping became the target of competition for a while.

In fact, this kind of atmosphere exists entirely because today's aristocratic families are not yet adaptable to the Maritime Silk Road model.

When the Maritime Silk Road matures, there will be tens of thousands of ships doing business at sea all year round.

Compared with this bustling scene, these two hundred ships can only be regarded as sparks.

Even Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty's seven naval patrols were larger than this.As early as more than 300 years ago, General Yang Pu led a naval force of 5 to attack North Korea.

However, attention also has its benefits. The fleet hired various experienced merchants and sailors to formulate detailed procedures for going to sea and returning home.

It is determined to set sail in mid-February next year and return in the autumn and winter of next year. Even if the return voyage in winter may encounter strong winds, we have considered where to take shelter while sailing close to the coast.

The plan was more thorough than Sun Ce expected.These senior sailors and merchants even knew the monsoon.But this is not surprising. The Han navy always sends troops during the monsoon season, and it is obvious that it has already figured out the rules of the wind direction.

Even Zhou Cheng participated in this mutual market.

Zhou Cheng was born in the Zhou family of Lujiang, which was a large family of public ministers. Two generations of people had served as three public officials in succession. There were hundreds of children in her family, and there were many talents.After Sun Ce conquered Huainan, the Zhou family's descendants became officials in Jiangdong one after another.Many of them worked directly in the Wuxian Textile Department managed by Zhou Cheng.

For example, the young talent Zhou Lin was selected by Zhou Cheng to participate in the mutual market on behalf of the Zhou family this time.

Zhou Lin is slightly older than Zhou Cheng, but one generation younger than Zhou Cheng, somewhat similar to Cao Wei Xun Yu and Xun You.Xun You is younger than Xun Yu, but 6 years older than Xun Yu.

However, this kind of thing is not a big deal in a large clan with close kinship, and it happens often.

Zhou Lin's father, Zhou Hui, was a contemporary of Zhou Yu and Zhou Cheng, but he died during Dong Zhuo's rebellion.He was also an outstanding person. He served as the Luoyang Order very early. Later, like Cao Cao, he was dissatisfied with the darkness and corruption of the court, so he resigned and returned.Cao Cao's northern Luoyang captain was most likely still a subordinate of Zhou Hui.

Because Zhou Hui was the same generation as Zhou Yu, his style of conduct was very similar. He was also talented and a good guest. He was famous in Jianghuai and often came and went with more than a hundred cars.

There are often more than a hundred rides from the bus!You can know his magnanimity and heroism.

Even now, there are no heroes or wealthy people in Jiangdong who are accompanied by hundreds of cars when they go out.

Unfortunately, after the death of Emperor Ling, Zhou Hui heard that the capital was uneasy, so Zhou Hui and his brothers went to Luoyang to meet his father Zhou Zhong. Dong Zhuo heard about it and was disgusted by it, so he sent troops to kidnap and kill his brother. Such a hero, who would not be able to show off his talents in the future, died under Dong Zhuo. hand.

On the other hand, Zhou Lin and Zhou Yu are similar in age and have great potential.

Therefore, Zhou Cheng specially selected him, recruited heroes and guests, and went to Youzhou on Zhou's behalf to give him a chance to show off his talents.

Zhou Cheng controlled the Wu County Weaving Department, and Sun Ce was also very concerned about the wealth she could mobilize, so when Zhou Cheng was making preparations, Sun Ce came to check it out in person.

Zhou Cheng was originally tall and elegant, and now she has been in a high position for a long time. She is graceful and luxurious. She is dressed in a vermilion brocade dress, with a cool temperament and quite a phoenix.

Sun Ce looked at the maids rushing in and out of the courtyard with brocades and jewelry for a while, then walked to Zhou Cheng and said with a smile: "You are so talented and have taken care of everything in an orderly manner. You will be able to serve as the three ministers and nine ministers in the future."

In terms of talent, learning and temperament, Zhou Cheng is no weaker than any other man, even comparable to Zhou Yu.If she hadn't been born as a girl, she would definitely be able to enter and exit the general phase in the future.

After hearing what Sun Ce said, Zhou Cheng responded with a courteous attitude: "How can I, a woman, dare to compete with the heroes under Sun Lang's command? I'm just trying my best."

Sun Ce smiled, then looked at the busy crowd around him and asked, "How is the fundraising going?"

Zhou Cheng replied: "The harvest is gratifying. In the past three months, the Weaving Department sold tens of thousands of pieces of brocade, and the treasury was completely empty. There were millions of pieces of silk, satin, and silk fabrics. We made more than 15 yuan."

Min is a thousand coins strung with a rope.

In the Western Han Dynasty, there has always been an order, that is, a property tax, which stipulates that businessmen and wealthy households must declare their property to the court every year, and every two cents will be calculated as twenty cents, which means that wealthy households must pay 120 cents as property tax for every two thousand cents of property. .

Anyone who conceals something or makes an untrue self-report is encouraged to report it. If the revelation is true, all the property of the defendant will be confiscated and he will be fined as a border guard for one year. The informer will be rewarded with half of the confiscated property.

This petition system, coupled with the tomb system of the Western Han Dynasty, moved powerful families to Guanzhong, which greatly restricted the power of local powerful people.

Of course, the cost was that hundreds of thousands of merchants went bankrupt, and the booming industrial and commercial power collapsed.

Sun Ce also has to levy property tax.The people have always been worried about inequality rather than scarcity. Sooner or later, Sun Ce will impose household taxes on powerful families. However, it is still in the development period. Sun Ce needs them to forge ahead and stabilize the route.

Just like now, these industrial outputs have been wiped out by the wealthy families, and a large amount of wealth is bound to be harvested from Youzhou.

Tens of thousands of pieces of brocade, this is the wealth that has been accumulated over the years since the establishment of the Wuxian County Weaving Department.

Zhou Cheng said: "Looking at the current situation, it seems that the ambitions of these powerful families are not limited to Youzhou. With so much silk and satin, even if they are sold to Qing and Hebei, they will still be rich."

Sun Ce naturally had no objection to the powerful people expanding their trading scope.

If we expect the government to sell these millions of pieces of cloth, we don't know how long it will take to deliver them.

Sun Ce replied: "Qingzhou has benefited from industry and commerce since ancient times. Jizhou is richer than any other state and is adjacent to Youzhou. The caravans can trade together, which is indeed conducive to the construction of trade routes."

Zhou Cheng shook his head and said: "I'm afraid it's not as smooth as Sun Lang expected. Today's trade, the most important thing is not to buy goods from both sides. It is to deal with the tax collectors and get through the princes. The laws and customs of Jizhou and Qingzhou are different from those of Jiangdong. Whether there will be trade or not is still unclear."

Sun Ce still knew this.

In this day and age, trading is completely different from that of later generations.

The most important link is not fair transactions between buyers and sellers.It's all down to the smallest detail.

Providing a fair and free trading environment, things that future generations will take for granted and take for granted, are simply impossible now.

To complete a transaction, you must first be able to enter the city and take care of the local heroes. Then it is the real focus. The businessman's main energy is spent on dealing with various institutions and dealing with the complexity. laws, patents, and tax collectors.

For example, some princes have patents on salt and iron, some princes prohibit alcohol and beef, some princes have to pay one liter of millet for every item they sell, and they must carry enough corn for trade, and some princes do not allow barter, and must use On-site measurement of fabrics, etc!

If a place is not taken care of properly, the tax collector will beat and scold him, confiscate all his wealth, and impose a fine!If he fails to pay the fine, he will be put into corvee service and will do hard labor for several years.

Therefore, the most important thing about whether a caravan can do business is not the merchants, but the relationship between the princes on both sides and whether they are willing to facilitate passage.

Why are the merchants and wealthy people in Jiangdong willing to travel thousands of miles after hearing about the opening of mutual trade in Youzhou? It is because they are convinced that after arriving in Youzhou, they will be accommodating to the local princes, and the mutual trade will be greatly facilitated, and they will not be harassed by officials. Deliberately making things difficult.

This is enough to ensure that they will definitely earn a lot of wealth during this trip.But Sun Ce said with a smile: "I think it is not necessary for merchants to go to the Qinghai and Hebei areas. Cloth is comparable to currency in the Central Plains. Perhaps this is the opportunity for our Jiangdong silk to become famous all over the world."

If it's other goods, it's hard to say whether these merchants can open up trade routes.

After all, in today's situation, opening up business routes refers more to opening up the local relationship network, so that subsequent products can continue to be sold, rather than being popular for a while as later generations thought.

But silk is different. As a cloth, it has the properties of hard currency just like food.The Silk Road may have another explanation, that is, a trade route using silk and cloth as currency.

If this Silk Road is really built, then Jiangdong can rely on the textile industry to continuously harvest wealth from Hebei.

Even now, the government received 15 yuan from the sale of the silk produced in Jiangdong!This is 5000 million yuan.

Enough to buy 500 million shi of grain to feed an army of [-] for nearly two years.

Sun Ce asked excitedly: "Besides silk, what else have you raised?"

Zhou Cheng replied: "Zhou Lin plans to bring another [-] stones of rock salt, [-] stones of spices and tens of thousands of pieces of porcelain."

Sun Ce calculated that more than 20 ships would be needed just to load these things, which was an average scale.

So Sun Ce smiled happily and said, "If all these items can be sold successfully, I'm afraid the war horses brought back will be far more than a thousand."

Whether it is salt, spices or porcelain, they are all valuable things.

It is bound to be loved by the powerful and wealthy people in Youzhou. This transaction may lay a very good foundation for stable trade in the future.

And as long as Youzhou has a stable supply of war horses, even if only a few hundred are traded each time, the scale of Jiangdong's cavalry will steadily increase.

Finally, when fighting in the Central Plains, it was not a problem to dispatch tens of thousands of cavalry.

With this size of cavalry, the Jiangnan and Northern Expeditions no longer have to worry about the lack of cavalry.

Maybe the decisive battle between Jiangdong and Cao Cao may be the decisive battle between the cavalry and cavalry.

Sun Ce was thinking about Cao Cao when Jiang Qin suddenly hurried to Sun Ce and reported: "General, there is a letter from the chief historian. Cao Cao's envoy has arrived in Huainan and requested to enter Jiangdong."

Say Cao Cao, Cao Cao is here?
Sun Zhi was slightly surprised that it was such a coincidence.

What is Cao Cao's envoy here for?
Sun Ce immediately replied: "You are allowed to come to Jiankang. I will meet you personally."

This is a transcendent figure from the late Han Dynasty!He is Sun Ce's biggest rival in his quest for supremacy in the world.

It can be said that no matter how much you value him, you can never overestimate him!
Moreover, the two sides are currently bordering each other, facing each other from north to south only across the Huaihe River.

If it hadn't been for the severe drought in Huainan, which caused thousands of miles of red land, separating the two sides from heart to heart, the tension would have been high.

But even so, Sun Ce deployed three governors, Zhou Yu, Lu Meng, and Lu Su, as well as his most trusted minister Zhang Hong along the Huaihe River.

Jiangdong's civil and military heroes all came out to guard against Cao Cao.

Both sides are extremely afraid of each other.

Sun Ce really couldn't figure out why Cao Cao sent people here?
With his ruthlessness, it can't be just for business.

To be honest, Sun Ce still hopes to open trade routes with Cao Cao.

Although this can enhance Cao Cao's strength, it will obviously benefit Jiangdong even more.

Sun Ce's attention was immediately drawn to this aspect, and he said to Zhou Cheng: "I will entrust you with all the matters related to the Youzhou caravan. Don't be stingy with gold and silver, as long as you can open up the trade route. Others are just It’s just to keep money alone.”

Zhou Cheng nodded solemnly, then spoke quickly and asked, "Sun Lang is going to attend to government affairs?"

Sun Ce asked curiously: "You have other matters."

Zhou Cheng immediately replied: "Madam has been worrying about the wedding ceremony and Zhongmou's marriage. Sun Lang suppressed it at first and there has been no reply. Now that it is almost the end of the year, Zhongmou is about to travel far away. Sun Lang should give her timely advice. An answer. Otherwise, mother will also feel uneasy."

Sun Ce nodded, suddenly thoughtful, and replied with a smile: "Yes. The matter should be resolved in the next few days."

Zhou Cheng then breathed a sigh of relief and turned to deal with the matters of the caravan and the Weaving Department.

The Weaving Department earned Sun Ce a fortune of 15 yuan in one day, which was enough to cover the official tax of a large county.

Sun Ce felt that it was really necessary to expand the scale. Jiangdong had always had more women than men.Many women had no way of making a living, so there were prosperous brothels and boats on the Qinhuai River in the south of Jiankang City.

This industry is indeed hugely profitable, and Sun Ce is unable to change the fate of hundreds of thousands of women as maids and concubines.

But he still has some pursuits. Organizing women to set up textiles and harvesting wealth from outside the territory will last longer than internal strife within the Xia.

Sun Ce then said to Jiang Qin: "Go and inform the chief minister that [-]% of the wealth gained by the Weaving Department will be left for the Weaving Department to expand its scale and recruit more than [-] female workers."

Jiang Qin immediately agreed.

Sun Ce then asked Shi Yi, who was working next to him: "Is there any news from Huaibei recently? What are the movements of Cao Cao and Liu Bei?"

Sun Ce always felt that it was unusual for Cao Cao to send an envoy here this time.

He, Cao Cao, is not an easy person to deal with. Now he has conquered Yanzhou and Yuzhou, the most important areas in the Central Plains.Runan, Nanyang and other previously most prosperous counties have been included in the territory.

As long as he takes a little rest and recuperation, he can strengthen his power and expand outward.

Since Yuan Shu was defeated by Jiangdong and Henan was controlled by the emperor, Zhang Xiu failed to make waves. Cao Cao's expansion in the Central Plains was smooth sailing and was not hindered by all parties.

From his fielding last year to his recuperation this year, he has accumulated food and grass for two years, and has been preparing for war for two years without suffering a major defeat.

Next, he will definitely expand. One of the four princes Liu Biao, Sun Ce, Liu Bei, and Yuan Shao will be the direction of his attack.

(End of this chapter)