The Imperial Age with the Resurgence of Han Style

Chapter 166 Businessmen of Qin State

At the beginning of the Qin Dynasty, due to strict laws and frequent wars, the prostitution industry was not developed.

But during this period, the Qin Dynasty continued to expand to the outside world, and the country seemed to be becoming increasingly prosperous and rich in material life. After people were full and warm, they naturally began to advocate luxury and licentiousness, and the technology industry began to revive.

The banks of the Qinhuai River, which had been filled with the sound of melancholy in the pre-Ming Dynasty, became prosperous again after experiencing the depression caused by the Qing Dynasty.

As early as the Wanli period of the pre-Ming Dynasty, there were a large number of young women in Yangzhou who had received special training and were ready to marry wealthy businessmen as concubines. These women regarded thinness as beauty, and were all slim and graceful, so they were called " Yangzhou thin horse".

At that time, Yangzhou was the settlement of salt merchants from the Huaihe River and Huaihe River (Huainan and Huaibei). The salt merchants were the richest at that time, and their luxury life was comparable to that of the royal family. Their wealth also supported a large number of industries that depended on them to survive. " "Raising thin horses" is one of them, which fully caters to the abnormal psychological needs of salt merchants.

Nowadays, the name "Skinny Horse" has revived and spread along the Yangtze River and Qinhuai River to all parts of the Qin Dynasty.

The "skinny horses" on the gorgeous boats by the Qinhuai River are not just thin. Their movements, every frown and every smile must be charming and charming, and they must be able to seduce wealthy businessmen who are willing to spend thousands of dollars to win their smiles. Some are even "skinny". The behavior of "Ma" is more elegant and graceful than the boudoir girls in the homes of princes, nobles and dignitaries.

The value of these carefully trained "thin horses" may reach up to tens of thousands taels. Of course, these are the highest-grade "goods" and cannot be kept in the luxurious homes of the rich.

Although these "skinny horses" are thin and boneless, they are exquisite and smooth, and they can be touched with a white fragrance. These girls have been taught to play the piano and flute, recite poetry and paint, write and play Go, play dominoes, and backgammon since childhood. During this period, they are also taught various sophisticated makeup techniques, clothing matching, flower arrangement aesthetics, etc. Girls will also study hard in order to be favored by some wealthy families, buy themselves out, and continue to live a life of fine clothing and fine food.

Although the girls who are slightly inferior to others are slightly inferior in appearance and behavior, compared with women from ordinary families, they are still shy, gentle and elegant. Some of them are illiterate and only work on ordinary housewives' skills such as sewing, tailoring, and cooking. Their target customers are only ordinary businessmen.

These women are also pitiful. Needless to say, they have been tortured and trained by nannies and madams since childhood, and there is no dignity at all in the process of being bought and sold. They are like carefully polished goods that are bargained for. pick.

Following Yapo's shout of "Girl's welcome", the much-anticipated "Skinny Horse" walked out of the gauze curtain, and then bowed to the many wealthy businessmen and distinguished guests in the hall.

Then he said, "Girl, go up." She then walked up and stood on the steps of the gorgeous boat, looking shyly and coquettishly at the many buyers in the audience.

Then "the girl turns around", she turns around and stands, her charming appearance is revealed in front of everyone from different angles under the light of the lights.

He also said, "Girl, lend me your hand to take a look." He rolled up his sleeves, revealing delicate skin like balsam and white ointment.

He also said, "Girl, look at your husband." He glanced at me in a blink of an eye, and the water rippled and moved.

At this time, the impatient wealthy businessman couldn't hold himself back and asked loudly: "How old is the girl?"

"The little girl is already fifteen." Her reply sounded like an oriole, tactful and charming.

"Twelve hundred dollars!"

"Fifteen hundred dollars!"

"Two thousand dollars!"

"..."

Wealthy businessmen and distinguished guests began to bid competitively. Taking the "thin horse" sale as an example, the highest bidder won the prize, and could immediately take it home in a gorgeous boat or directly to enjoy some pleasant tenderness.

"Brother Qi, aren't you going to take action to capture this young beauty?" Niu Xianting saw Qi Zhenglun's eyes staring straight at the "thin horse" who was about to be sold on the stage. He was obviously so seduced that he lost his soul, so he couldn't help but laughed and joked. .

"Just watch, the final price of a girl of this caliber will definitely be raised to more than five thousand yuan!" Qi Zhenglun swallowed a mouthful of saliva, with a hint of heat in his eyes, "Five thousand yuan is enough for me to sell a boat The profit from the food is gone.”

Although Qi Zhenglun bears the royal surname and is still a descendant of King Cheng (Qi Dahai), after so many years, his relationship with the royal family has long been estranged, and he has become a distant branch, almost no different from ordinary people. Just relying on the kindness of ancestors and family connections, he did grain trade in the Annan Governor's territory and transported it to the Jiangnan area of ​​​​Qin State to earn freight and price differences. Therefore, five thousand yuan is really a large sum of money to him.

"Some small factories in China probably make less than 5,000 yuan a year." Liang Yifeng nodded and said, "By the way, these Qin businessmen are really damn rich!"

"Salt merchants have been a symbol of wealthy people in mainland China since ancient times."

"It's really ridiculous. In the Qin State, one can become a wealthy businessman by selling salt. You can buy such an expensive skinny horse without blinking an eye."

"What's so strange?" Niu Xianting said disdainfully: "The Lianghuai Salt Industry is monopolized by just a few people. With the huge population of Qin State, each person earns a penny. In one year, that's dozens of people." Millions of dollars in interest. Well, just like Indian trading companies and Bangladeshi trading companies, relying on monopoly trade, a local iron nail that costs a few cents can be sold for one or two cents in an Indian area with a similarly large population. Earn more than ten times the huge profits.”

During this period, the Qin court, like previous dynasties, listed the production and sales of salt as a monopoly. The country was divided into eleven salt management areas. The production, transportation and sales of salt were managed and operated by monopoly merchants authorized by the imperial court. They paid the salt tax earned from sales to the Daqin Household Department.

According to rough estimates, nearly 5%-7% of Daqin's treasury revenue comes from the salt industry, which surprised many Qi businessmen.

But then I thought about it. The price of salt among the people in Da Qin was as low as ten cents per catty, and as high as seventy or eighty cents per catty. I seemed to understand it again.

During this period, pork only cost more than 20 taels per catty, and one stone of rice was only 1 tael of silver (Qin officials used minted silver coins and loose silver taels). Comparing these prices, the price of salt was a very high price!

Not to mention the underdeveloped social background of Da Qin's era, even in later generations, the price of one pound of salt is equal to two pounds of pork, which is unacceptable.

Lianghuai, located in East China, is the largest salt industry area. The salt merchants in Yangzhou City are all prominent and worth millions, making them the richest merchant group in the Qin Dynasty.

Salt merchants in Yangzhou can only transport and sell, not produce and sell. They transport and sell nearly 600 million stones (about 35 tons) of salt a year, supplying almost a quarter of the country's population, and making a profit of 200 million to 300 million. Ten thousand taels of silver - of course, these earned silver still needed to manage officials, deal with local forces, and present it to the royal family, but the amount that ended up in the pockets of many salt merchants was still quite astonishing.

Therefore, it is not difficult for salt merchants to buy an expensive "thin horse".

"Why, after the exclusive trade rights of Indian trading companies and Bangladeshi trading companies were revoked, Brother Niu also wanted to get involved there?" Qi Zhenglun glanced around, watching those wealthy businessmen continue to raise their quotations in an extremely flamboyant manner, with a look on his face. A very confused look. "No." Niu Xianting shook his head and said: "I have been engaged in fur trade in Qin for more than ten years, and I already have ready-made channels and networks. Although the profit is not big, the income is stable and it is a long-term business. If it is rash If you go to India and you are not familiar with the place, you will be tricked by two local snakes, the Indian trading company and the Bangladeshi trading company."

"Brother Niu is right." Liang Yifeng said: "I heard that the General Administration of Taxation is planning to set up an agency in India. According to the tax policies of overseas territories, in addition to indirectly collecting taxes from the Indian indigenous people, it mainly collects various trade turnover taxes. And business tax. Well, all trading companies and production factories operating in India have to have their profits cut off by the government. They can no longer put all the money into their own pockets like before. . And within the territory of Qin, we can not only enjoy many preferential trade conditions, profit from both imports and exports, but also do not have to pay various commercial taxes to Qin except import tariffs. As long as the water flows, trade profits can still be guaranteed."

"We Qi merchants can now enjoy some preferential trade conditions, but this may not be the case in the future." Qi Zhenglun said: "According to the news coming from the Great Qin court, their cabinet and the Ministry of Household intend to levy commercial taxes on all foreign merchants. , and every transaction voucher and contract must be stamped with the official seal at a specific yamen, and business tax must be paid before it can proceed normally. Otherwise, once the tax clearance department of the imperial court discovers that private transactions are made without official permission, the goods will be confiscated. Additional fines will also be imposed, and the person may even be sent to jail.”

"Is the news true?" Liang Yifeng was shocked when he heard this.

"This news came from our Qi State Embassy in Nanjing, and it should be relatively reliable." Qi Zhenglun said: "Although the Qin State Court has not yet formally established and promulgated it, it has been discussed and approved by their cabinet, and this policy will probably be launched next year. . Think about it, the Qin State’s northwest and Mobei regions are at war with each other, and the supply lines are so far away, so the money and supplies have not been spent like water. A few months ago, several Galuns hidden in Us had another quarrel. They got up and forced all their snow-capped mountain monks to Qinghai. The Qin State sent two to three thousand people to Tibet to suppress the rebellion. This money was spent too much. And..."

Qi Zhenglun looked mysterious, moved closer to the two of them, and whispered: "And the Beiming, Dongdan, and Bohai countries have been making frequent moves in Liaodong and North Korea in the past two or three months. Mobilizing the army is probably to stir up trouble. I heard that the Qin State has mobilized more than 4,000 new troops from Hebei and marched into Shenyang and Jilin to prepare for it. With so many troubles breaking out one after another, the Qin State's treasury may be emptied. ! In this case, they have to rack their brains to develop more financial resources. It is also appropriate to take action on foreign businessmen like us."

"Bah, the Great Qin court has no money. If you just catch a few Lianghuai salt merchants, the money will come." Niu Xianting spat, with a look of surprise on his face, "Look at those salt merchants, they charge the price of a thin horse." It’s been raised to 5,000 yuan! Damn it, I don’t know how much gold and silver they have piled up in each of their homes!”

"Ah?" Qi Zhenglun turned his head and looked towards the stage. He saw that the old madam on the wedding boat was laughing so hard that her eyes were broken. She kept bowing to the enthusiastic buyers in the audience. It was obvious that the "skinny horse" she had trained for many years was selling. Offering a good price is extremely satisfying.

"What a pity!" Qi Zhenglun looked bitterly at the small cubicle on the right side of the hall where the price of 6,000 silver dollars was quoted. A man with a casual appearance glanced at the hall with stern eyes, as if he was deeply aware of the owner's strong financial resources. And proud.

He originally wanted to buy a "skinny horse" to enjoy, and take it back to Qi to show off to his colleagues, but the auction price exceeded his budget, so he had no choice but to give up.

Six thousand yuan is enough to buy ten top-quality white female slaves in Persia and Ottoman!

This "skinny horse" is really too expensive!

However, the silent performance and depressed expressions of these Qi businessmen made many Qin businessmen present secretly feel happy.

Don’t you, the people of Qi, pride themselves on being rich?

Over the years, the imperial court of Da Qin has borrowed tens of millions of taels of silver one after another, and purchased boatloads of tea, porcelain, silk, various medicinal materials, and tung oil from Da Qin every year. Looks like a nouveau riche who is short of money.

What's the matter, you spend thousands of dollars to buy a "skinny horse" and you can't come up with the money?

In the past few decades, the Qin people on the mainland have been full of contradictions and entanglements in their views on Qi.

It is true that when the Ming Dynasty collapsed and Qing barbarians ravaged China, the Qi State spared no effort to support the various anti-Qing forces, and even saved China from overthrowing several times, so that the Qing barbarians were never able to completely destroy the Han Dynasty and retained the Han Dynasty. A slight possibility of a comeback. Until the Second Northern Expedition of the Great Qin Dynasty, the State of Qi assisted the Qin army to march directly to Huanglong and capture Beijing in one fell swoop, thereby expelling the Qing captives from the Central Plains and restoring the Han family.

At that time, both the gentry and officials, as well as the common people of Li, expressed their gratitude to the Qi State, believing that the Qi State was of the same lineage of China, connected by flesh and blood, and had contributed to the reconstruction of the Qin Dynasty.

With the end of the large-scale domestic war, Qin's economy began to gradually recover and grow, especially in the Jiangnan, Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian and other regions that were the first to recover. Not only did agricultural production return to the pre-Ming period, but even industry and commerce began to rebound rapidly. The influx of countless Qi capital and goods greatly prospered the Jiangnan economy and strengthened economic and trade exchanges between the two countries.

However, as time went by, after Qi's industrial products grew to a certain extent in the mainland market, they fell into a long-term stagnation stage. In some periods and in certain regions, the sales of Qi's products did not increase but instead increased. fell, resulting in a huge trade deficit. Some frictions and disputes began to occur between the two parties.

It has to be admitted that Qi's large-scale machine industry is indeed more efficient than Qin's handicraft industry, but Qin's labor costs are so cheap that they lose their due meaning.

In the Qin State, especially in the Jiangnan area, almost every qualified farmer had a loom. Not only did the Qin State not need Qi State's woven fabrics, but it also continued to export its cotton fabrics to North Korea, Japan, Annan and other countries. , squeezing the market that Qi State had finally "captured".

For the vast number of farmers in Qin who accounted for the majority of the population at that time, the clothes they wore basically came from traditional handmade family workshops.

"On the streets of every village, there are old women in every house, sitting and spinning old-fashioned spinning wheels, just like pictures from ancient times."

Qi could only sell some industrial products that Qin could not produce on its own or had relatively low economic costs, disappointing many businessmen who wanted to make a pot of gold in the mainland.

However, while complaining and slandering, the clever people of Qi discovered that they could make a lot of profits by re-exporting tea, porcelain and silk to India, Persia, Ottoman, and even Europe. Taking advantage of its control over various sea routes, it quickly gained control of the trade monopoly on the above-mentioned commodities.

Thanks to their control of sales channels and maritime traffic to the outside world, Qi's merchants quickly gained the power to price goods. Both sides took advantage of it, making business extremely uncomfortable.

In recent years, whether it is tea, porcelain, silk and other traditional commodities, or tung oil, bristle, medicinal materials, minerals, handicrafts, etc., the total trade volume has increased eight to ten times compared with the early Qin period, but the trade amount But it only increased less than five times.

"Increase does not increase the price", which means that the more things Qin sells, the thinner the profits it earns, which makes Qin's businessmen extremely depressed.

Some well-informed Qin businessmen learned that when the Qi people resold those goods to Westerners, the prices did not decrease at all. Sometimes they even deliberately controlled the scale of output and artificially raised the selling price. In and out, earn huge profits.

This move was undoubtedly extremely resented by Qin merchants. You Qi people have clearly taken away the profits that should belong to us!

The people of Qi have controlled the South China Sea, the Strait of Malacca, and the entire Indian Ocean, and are even seeking to control the entire ocean and grasp the pulse of the world. However, Qin merchants can only sigh when they look back at their weak naval ships.

There is a bit of envy in jealousy, and besides envy, there will also be a trace of fear.

The Qi State, which was founded in a barbaric land, is no longer the same as before. The once aloof Celestial Kingdom has to stoop down and look down at, or even somewhat look up to, this "brother" of China who shares the same branch and is culturally connected.

But the ancient civilization that has lasted for thousands of years always has an unyielding momentum in its bones. As long as it can overwhelm the people of Qi in some aspects, why not spend some money.

They are just "skinny horses", so they should spend a lot of money to let these Qi people from the Hanzhou continent see the courage of our Daqin merchants.

Just when the Yangzhou salt merchant was about to step forward to pick up the gorgeous and unparalleled "skinny horse" amidst the compliments and congratulations of many merchants in the hall, he was stopped by the owner of the gorgeous boat who came in a hurry.

"The Empress Dowager has passed away, and it is forbidden to engage in any kind of entertainment, not to mention having fun." The owner of the boat said with an apologetic look: "Therefore, the girl here may not be able to enjoy it for the time being. Apologize, accuse. And Can you please please stay for a month?"

When the salt merchant heard this, he stood stunned on the spot.

What, the Queen Mother passed away? !

(End of this chapter)