Chapter 754: God Father

In mid-April, Suzhou and Hangzhou are the season when flowers fly and orioles dance all over the city. The water flows, smoke grows by the lake. Most of the crowds are free and easy, holding white fans or stroking their long sleeves, drinking tea by the lake to make friends. This place is different from Quanzhou. There is a busy atmosphere all over Quanzhou. Even people walking on the streets are half a beat faster than ordinary people, but here there is endless leisure and elegance.

The Hangzhou Wharf is quite busy. The Suhang Haizheng Yamen, which is leaning against the Hangzhou Wharf, is now not only Suhang or Quanzhou, although the Haizheng Yamen only manages the sea administration, its power has long surpassed the prefect's ruling office, and it is only under the King of Pingxi, so no one dares to provoke it. The Suhang and Hangzhou not only go to sea to supervise the navy and merchant ships, but also on the shore, some government affairs cannot be controlled by the Haizheng Yamen.

In the early morning, the big merchants in Suzhou and Hangzhou had been waiting for a long time. I heard that the canal ship that King Pingxi was taking today was going to Hangzhou. Local officials were preparing for it, and various chambers of commerce were also preparing for it. King Pingxi is now the protector of the sea trade. With him, the sea trade can only flourish. If he leaves him, who knows what the sea trade will become?

Therefore, today's Hangzhou Wharf is surprisingly quiet. All the porters who load and unload goods are on holiday for one day. The cargo warehouses along the way are closed. The boats docked nearby give up a waterway and pier, and everyone is told that Hou Ping Xiwang will come.

Zeng Sui'an was wearing a fifth-grade vermilion official uniform, with large outer ribbons and a scarlet ribbon covering his knees. He looked much more mature, with his lips slightly pursed, standing on the pier, looking at the river from a distance.

There were many officials from all walks behind Zeng Sui'an. In addition to the prefect and the county magistrates in various places, even the officials from the Lusi yamen came. But they were not convenient for them to stay on the pier and wait in the rear. This arrangement was actually good intentions. The third envoy of Jiangnan Road was of high power and was all third and fourth rank officials. But then again, the official structure that had been fixed in the Song Dynasty was now broken by the Naval Government. What they could manage was the Naval Government. If the Naval Government could manage, they might not be able to manage. A fifth-rank maritime governor, when he saw the imprisonment envoy and the appeasement envoy, it would be impossible for anyone to curry favor with him.

Therefore, Jiangnan Road and Fujian Road are no longer controlled by the Three Envoys. To be more precise, the Three Envoys and One Supervisors should be evenly matched.

Now Zeng Sui'an is the governor who is greeting the trestle. If the three envoys go together, no matter how they stand, it is also difficult to stand at the right time. In order to avoid these troubles, everyone would simply let Zeng Sui'an go to the front station, and the rest of the people will follow. Anyway, the King of Pingxi is not someone who everyone is eager to see. From the heart, if it weren't for the fact that King of Pingxi and Yang Zhen recently joined forces to create a Beijing inspector, the Beijing inspector might have arrived in Hangzhou, and he would not have directly dealt with local officials and directly understand the people's situation. The Third envoys were afraid of something, so they might not be willing to come and have anything to do with the King of Pingxi.

The boats shuttled through the river, and finally, a huge canal boat came slowly along the water, fell sails, got off the anchor, and steadily docked on the pier. The sailors on the boat set up a sampan, and the officials of all sizes and gentry greeted at the dock, and the merchants and gentry burst into a light cry.

Then several lieutenants came down first, then Chen Ao took the boat with Zhao Ziheng. Behind were teams of lieutenants, and it seemed that they could not see the end.

Zhao Ziheng got off the boat, her feet were still a little sore and soft. Fortunately, Chen Ao helped her and finally stood firm. Zhao Ziheng sighed softly and said, "I will never take a boat again, let's ride a horse?"

Chen Ao helped her walk towards the end of the pier and smiled, "It's even more uncomfortable to sit on a horse. If you ride on a day and a night, you will be sure to shout again. "

Zhao Ziheng said angrily: "I won't shout."

Chen Ao pursed his lips and looked at the dark people at the dock from afar, saying, "Forget it, let's not talk about this for now. We finally want to meet people. Don't be too mean, and always let outsiders know that we are respectful to each other and harmoniously."

Zhao Ziheng blushed and said, "Otherwise you go see them, I'm behind."

Chen Ao said, "How can this work? I agreed that the King of Pingxi and the New Princess toured Quanzhou with the new princess. How could I see the King of Pingxi and disappear? Those who don't know thought that the new princess was shy and had no shame to meet people!"

Zhao Ziheng said: "I was shy."

Chen Ao said with confidence: "It is precisely because of shy that people need to know that you are not shy, otherwise wouldn't you be seen through all of a sudden? Hey, Ziheng actually knows what shyness means?"

Zhao Ziheng showed her daughter's house smoke and looked at her charmingly, and shouted in a low voice: "Don't talk nonsense."

Chen Ao closed his mouth and, while speaking, he arrived at the dock. Zeng Sui'an snatched over and yelled at Chen Ao deeply, saying, "Your Highness has been waiting for Your Highness for a long time." After that, he looked at Zhao Ziheng lightly and said, "I have met Princess Pingxi."

Chen Ao smiled and put his shoulder on his shoulder, saying, "There aren't so many politeness. I'm just here and I've created such a big formation. I'm so scared that I don't dare to come in the future."

Officials and merchants have rushed forward and said, "Hello, Your Highness, the princess is well."

Chen Ao pressed his hands towards them, said a few words to them, and then took Zhao Ziheng into the car that had been prepared.

The car was very stable, and mud roads began to become popular in Suzhou and Hangzhou. First, the roadbed was paved with gravel, and then the mud similar to cement was paved to smooth it. The road was smooth and the carriage was not bumpy when walking on it, so the transportation capacity was greatly increased. In addition, the carriage has also improved a lot now, so when sitting inside, Zhao Ziheng relaxed and leaned on Shen Ao's shoulder and said, "I'm so tired, I really want to take a good rest." After that, he yawned like a cat, and he collapsed into Chen Ao's arms.

Chen Ao said: "You must be a little conscientious in life. You slept day and night on the boat. It's not enough now. But I haven't slept peacefully to serve you, the little ancestor, for a long time."

Zhao Ziheng blinked and smiled sweetly, "Who told you to be my husband?"

Chen Ao was speechless for a moment. When the carriage arrived at the Haizheng Yamen, Chen Ao asked the maid who was accompanying him to take Zhao Ziheng to rest first, while he was scattering the guests and was hospitalized in this Haizheng Yamen.

There were quite a lot of guests. First, local officials came to see the ceremony, and what they said had no substantial content, it was just a greeting on the scene.

Then came several big merchants, one of whom was Duan Chu, who was a rare man, which made Chen Ao feel a little bit like that. Duan Chu's business was not a fleet, but operated two large silk shops. It is said that more than 9,000 female workers were recruited, and millions of kilograms of cocoon silk were purchased every year.

The reason why Duan Chu was so helpless was that he didn't have much business. It was just that in the past few years, silk was in short supply. Not only did many people in Suzhou and Hangzhou and Quanzhou improve their families, but they had demand for silk. Even when they went to Japan, caravans from various countries in Southeast Asia also vigorously purchased these goods. Duan Chu dug his first pot of gold and his business was getting better and better. Naturally, he continued to use the surplus money to expand the scale of the silk shop. Now the scale is getting bigger and bigger, and there is more and more silk produced. No one had ever thought that because of this, the problem arises.

The reason why silk is expensive is simply because it is rare. There are not a thousand or hundreds of such silk shops on the market now. The competition is getting more and more intense. Since the previous year, it has produced 100,000 pieces of silk, but this year's silk production has reached 3 million. With such a large output, it turns out that the market is saturated.

Duan Chu was so anxious that he borrowed a lot of money from the bank in order to expand the scale of the silk shop. In addition, the raw silk purchased has not paid the remaining amount yet. If this continues, once the backlog of goods cannot be sold, Duan Chu will have to go bankrupt.

In fact, there are many examples like Duan Chu. In the past, most of the businessmen were very stable and had as much money as they could do. However, since the renewal of the Hai Trade Industry, the steady means will only lag behind others. It is precisely because of the increasing number of business businesses that rely on borrowing to expand the scale. Therefore, those conservative businessmen were impatient, and the business of the money shop was booming for a while.

Now the entire Suzhou and Hangzhou and Quanzhou are precisely because of the rapid accumulation of capital that the problem begins to appear. If the delay continues, the goods cannot be sold out and production will be stopped. Countless people will go bankrupt, but what should we do if tens of millions of workers?

Duan Chu said a lot and almost cried, saying, "The villain was also worried about eating lard. Last year, in order to expand the silk shop, he borrowed more than 700,000 yuan, purchased a lot of silk machines, and recruited a lot of workers. In addition, he bought raw silk, so he had no money left, but who would have thought that he would reach this point."

Shen Ao said: "As far as I know, Nanyang has a large population, and ordinary people cannot afford the silk made by your silk shop. Why not make weaving cloth and sell it to the South China Sea? In this way, on the one hand, silk can be provided to their upper classes, and on the other hand, cloth can be sold to their ordinary people. Although the profit is a little thinner, it will not be so."

Shen Ao expressed his ideas. After all, their workers and equipment were ready-made. Letting some people produce cloth can alleviate the pressure on silk Chencang.

Duan Chu smiled bitterly and said, "Where is this easy? It's not impossible to make cloth, but the big cannibals are now specializing in grabbing this business. Their cloth and blankets are cheap in Nanyang. Where can we compete for it in the Song Dynasty?"

Another big cannibal... Shen Ao thought for a while and said, "What else do you sell besides cloth and blankets?"

Duan Chu said: "There are quite a lot of people selling, and many of them are in conflict with my Song Dynasty. However, most of their manufacturing skills are inferior, so the prices are also very cheap. My Song Dynasty goods are much better than theirs, but the price is naturally a little more expensive."

Shen Aohe nodded and said, "So, the big cannibal has stolen a lot of our business in the Song Dynasty?"

Duan Chu said: "That's exactly what it is."

Chen Ao's face turned gloomy. He thought that the entire Nanyang was saturated, but it turned out that it was just saturated with high-end goods. There were still many low-level markets occupied. These Nanyang vassal states have now become dumping places for the cannibalism, making people take advantage of loopholes.

Chen Ao pondered for a moment, and had made a decision, saying, "I will deal with this matter naturally. Don't worry, you might as well let the friend take the goods from the Silk House to the Wanguo Exhibition. You may not be able to find some buyers. This time, the princes and merchants of the Nanyang Mountains have arrived, and there are tens of thousands of people. As long as you are willing to sell it hard, you are not afraid of no business."

Duan Chu said: "Your Highness, the villain thinks so too. This trip, the villain plans to go in person to see if those merchants are interested in the villain's silk. However, this Wanguo Exhibition can only relieve the thirst for a moment. Even if you survive this year, it may not be able to relieve it next year..."

Chen Ao knew that he wanted to make a decision. The first thing these merchants thought of when they encountered something was that they were Pingxi King. Chen Ao felt a little like a godfather at this time. He said in a deep voice: "Don't panic, let's make it clear to the colleagues in Suzhou and Hangzhou, and there is no need to worry. Within this year, I will definitely relieve you of the current dilemma."

After hearing this, Duan Chu believed Chen Ao's words without doubt, and said overjoyed: "In this way, I'll ask your highness for everything." After that, he said goodbye to several merchants.

Chen Ao met until late at night, and most of the merchants came to make trouble. At midnight, Chen Ao called Zeng Sui'an and said with great worries: "I thought that there were only a small difficulty in Suzhou and Hangzhou, Quanzhou. At least this year, it would not be difficult. Who knew that it was so difficult that it could only find a way to solve the current troubles. What do you think about Brother Zeng?"

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Chapter completed!