Picturesque Rivers and Mountains in the Red Chamber

Chapter 302 4.98 The Xue family and his son are a little too unimproved
Volume Four

4.98 The Xue family and his son are a little too immature.
"Good sister, help me bring that plate over. It's not easy to eat Wuchang fish in the winter. I want to eat more!" Xue Baoqin stood up directly at the not too big dining table and stretched out her long chopsticks. After a long time, I couldn't reach the plate on the opposite side, so I had to beg Qingwen behind me to help change the dishes, "At worst, when you go to the island, my little sister will treat you to yellow croaker!"

"Sister!" Xue Biao was so embarrassed that she almost ducked under the table.

"Brothers, what are you worried about? The whole family should be busy. What's the problem with a plate of food?" Zhou Yang suppressed a smile and comforted her beautifully and sincerely, and then confirmed through the screen that Zhao Qiying helped carry the plate over, "Let's talk about the children. There is no harm in eating more when your body is growing, but it is not good for picky and anorexic children!"

What, why is Zhao Qiying on the table?
There is no way, Zhou Yang and the Xue family are considered "well-connected", and it is not a problem for the whole family to have a family dinner together, but when Xue Biao came, he brought his sister. He did not have a "reciprocal" family. It was supposed that his wife should host him, but he Since they are not getting married, the only choice is to ask Zhao Qiying, the concubine with the highest status around her, to come forward. Anyway, there is another table across the silk screen. Xue Biao also understands her special status, so some rules should be relaxed a little!
What, Qingwen?The status of a maid is too bad!
"Brother Zhou, when it comes to business, I have something unclear and I need to ask my brother for advice." After three rounds of wine and five dishes, it was naturally time to talk, "Business in this place in Huguang has never been important. At home, There aren't many arrangements here, but these days, one commodity is particularly in short supply, and that's refined iron.

Thanks to Brother Zhou’s suggestion at the beginning, now the island relies on several blast furnaces, and the refined iron produced can be regarded as the best in the world, no matter where it is shipped, it will not worry about selling it. The consumption is obviously too large, even so large that it’s scary, and there is almost no counter-offer from the buyer.”

"Wait!" Zhou Yang faintly sensed that something was wrong, "You mean, at present, the largest shipper of fine iron in Daye is Xuezihao?"

"Of course!" Xue Biao nodded in agreement without hesitation, "When it comes to the quality of iron products, which company in the world can compare with us?"

"Grass (a green plant)!" Zhou Yang cursed angrily on the spot!
"Brother, Xue Brand doesn't have many stores in Daye, how can it have such a large shipment volume?" Zhao Qiying didn't care about avoiding suspicion, and came out from behind the screen and asked seriously.

"This" Even Xue Biao, no matter how stupid he was, realized that something was wrong, "My younger brother also followed Brother Zhou's instructions and didn't care about the small profits from selling goods below. On weekdays, he mostly handed over bulk goods to local merchants. It can not only withdraw funds quickly, but also ensure that it will not be resisted by local forces through profit sharing."

"Do you know that most of the fine iron sold in the store is actually provided to Prince Yizhong?" Zhou Yang said with a wry smile.

"What?" Xue Biao was almost frightened. Even though he didn't know much about the upper echelons of the imperial court, he still knew that this prince belonged to the "not to be mentioned or touched" type!

"Brother Zhou, no wonder the young master Zhang Lan from the Wuchang magistrate's family came here once and never came again." Zhao Qiying was also helpless, "Originally, the elder brother's arrangement for this matter was actually perfunctory. Anyway, Daye The production of fine refined iron here is limited, no matter where he gets it from, it has nothing to do with us."

"Then, Xue Zihao's large-scale distribution of goods directly fed the prefect." Zhou Yang looked at the frightened Xue Biao angrily and said, "Presumably he has now thought that I am deliberately being pretentious in my face, and then Providing support in private - I remember that the person in charge of the company here is shopkeeper Liu Chengliu, right?

"I'm going to kill this bitch right now!" Xue Biao stood up so angry that he overturned the chair behind him.

"Okay, this business is over, just be more careful in the future." Zhou Yang thought for a moment, and finally waved his hand nonchalantly, gesturing for Xue Biao to sit down, "Anyway, this salt and iron business is not on the table. If you don’t deserve to die, this extra charge is just like that—what do you mean, shopkeeper Liu is here this time?”

Throughout the middle and late feudal era, the "salt and iron monopoly" was an iron law. If it had to be determined according to the law, then whether it was the owners of the mines in Daye or the major salt merchants in Yangzhou, one by one, they would all kill the nine tribes. No one is wronged; but this is "theoretical" and cannot be implemented in practice.

Modern people all know that the fastest and most profitable businesses are all recorded in the "X Law". This was the same in the feudal era. Such huge profits from salt and iron, not to mention various large and small forces, were the royal family. None of them are clean, at least the so-called "eight major salt merchants" have a backstage behind each one, and most of them are royal white gloves.

It is indeed a serious crime to sell fine iron privately under the name Xue, but as long as you are not caught and exposed, it doesn't really matter; there is indeed a lot of fine iron sold to Zhang Lan, or to put it bluntly, to the prince of Yizhong County. Breaking it apart and crumbling it, he said, that's all. As long as he doesn't continue it in the future, it won't take long for it to be diluted by subsequent events.

"My younger brother has been summoned before the banquet. He must be waiting in the front yard now." Xue Biao said quickly. He didn't expect that it was just a moment of negligence and he actually broke into such a big trap. "Brother, what do you want to do?" ask?"

"Let him come in!" As soon as Zhou Yang finished speaking, he saw a very rich middle-aged man crawling into the living room. He was not polite and let him kneel down and asked, "Shopkeeper Liu, so far you have handled Approximately how much refined iron was sold?"

"Sir, it's already over [-] jins." Liu Chengzhan knelt there tremblingly, big drops of sweat falling directly to the ground, "Sir, I really don't know that these fine irons are..." "Ten thousand jins? That's easy to say. ." Zhou Yang breathed a sigh of relief. It was only the consumption of five tons of wrought iron and three to four twelve-pound cannons. He waved his hand to signal Liu Cheng to get up, "Okay, be careful in the future. You must choose good customers when selling goods. I guessed it right, they came to you directly to make an offer, and you sold it directly?"

"Your Majesty, please tell me!" Liu Cheng's tone was finally calmer, "This person claims to be a disciple of the prefect, and he has your permission."

"Made, this idiot took advantage of you!" Zhou Yang said dirty words on the spot.

"Brother Zhou!" Zhao Qiying rolled her eyes at him, motioned Liu Cheng to go out, and then said to Zhou Yang, "This prince seems to have lived up to the suspicion of outsiders. He really has a big plan. However, he got it from Huguang How to transport the large amount of refined iron to the capital?"

"Never mind him!" Zhou Yang still didn't feel relieved, "Just let him continue to seek death!"

The current court of the Great Zhou Dynasty can be roughly divided into three parts. The Taishang Emperor, the Yonghe Emperor and the largest neutral faction, but no one mentioned the "Prince Yizhong". No matter how much trouble this prince caused in private, his essence The boss couldn't get it on the stage to say that even if he had an idea, he couldn't expect to be successful on his own.

Speaking of this prince, Zhou Yang thought of Qin Keqing, whom he had two romantic relationships with when he was in the capital. He had not interfered with her for some days. Although she was indeed intoxicating, as long as he gave a little thought to the prince behind him, he would look at it. It's not easy to find a man in the world who has the courage to reach out. The promise he made at the beginning was only to try his best to rescue her from Ningguo Mansion. The next thing can only be said in the future.

"Brother Zhou, we have opened up the route with Nanyang Hongmao merchants a few days ago. From now on, we no longer need to find anyone to transfer all kinds of goods at home." Seeing that the atmosphere was a little tense, Xue Biao quickly told the good news, " This alone can save us at least 20 taels, and that’s every year!”

"Brother Zhou, those red-haired people look so strange!" Seeing the atmosphere restored, Xue Baoqin said enthusiastically again, "I have seen one of theirs. Well, she claims to be a princess, and her hair is brown. Why? Are we going to call them red-haired people?”

"This." Zhou Yang couldn't explain clearly. He knew in modern times that there are actually very few people with red hair. Most people in Europe have black or brown hair, and the proportion of so-called "blond hair" is even smaller. " Westerners are divided into many small countries, and they even dare to establish a country by connecting several cities, and the races are even more different. This person you are talking about should be a princess of a small country."

"Really?" Xue Baoqin was at a loss, "I must go there and take a look when I have the chance. When our home-built ship can catch up with these Westerners, I will definitely go!"

"Sister!"

"Well, brothers have now seen large Western ships and even battleships. You must have also seen the cannons on their ships?" Zhou Yang has never relaxed about this type of research and development, so it would be best if he could take the opportunity to supervise Xue Xun and his son, " Do you still think that the island’s foundation can be preserved by relying on existing firearms?”

"This." Xue Biao obviously felt the crisis, but he didn't want to work on it, so he was stuck for a while.

Zhou Yang smiled and didn't ask any more questions. He could only make a few points, but he couldn't suppress Xue Xun and his son. The two sides were just cooperating, not subordinate; however, anyone who knew a little bit about the "Age of Discovery" knew that this The so-called "opening up of sea routes" for the Westerners has always been about trading without opportunities and plundering when opportunities arise. Let the second brother of the Xue family suffer some hardships, which will naturally force them to make progress.

That night, in the back house of Qianhu Yamen.

"Brother Zhou, the Xue family and his son are a little too unimproved." Zhao Qiying leaned beside Ai Lang and let him hug and rub her. Her rosy cheeks were obviously just moisturized. "In this regard, she can't even catch up with Sister Qin. She is just a girl. I still want to go to the Western Realm, but Xue Biao doesn’t even have the idea of ​​building a bigger warship.”

"It's normal. Guarding the salt field on the island, coupled with the huge profits from fine iron and sea trade, it is difficult for most people to be enterprising unless they see danger." Zhou Yang was also helpless at this point , he knows the future development trend, but he can't expect others to know it, "Just wait, we are not in a hurry."

"That's fine!" Zhao Qiying nodded and added, "By the way, a message has been sent from Jinling. Yan Ling will be back soon."

"Really?" Zhou Yang looked happy, and then saw the resentful expression on the girl in his arms, and couldn't help but feel embarrassed.
(End of this chapter)