Fight the Giants

  Chapter 238 Going Abroad

   A few days later, Huo Xi received a large package of things from Songjiang from the nanny.

  Opening it, it was all clothes made for her and Nian'er.

  Bringing it back to the boat, Nian'er happily gestured with the clothes, but Yang touched the delicate stitches on the clothes and shed tears.

   "Your nanny is all about your siblings now. How can we repay her? She still refuses to bring her in to live together."

  Huo Xi caressed the clothes in his hand: "Wait for two years, then bring her back together."

  Huo Erhuai sighed: "It's not easy for your nanny. Songjiang is not far away. As soon as we have time, the whole family will visit her."

  Nian'er nodded again and again: "I'll go see her when I take a shower and bring her a lot of things."

Huo Xi took the letter from Mama Mama and discussed with Shen Qianzhong: "Nurse said that she has ordered some cloth and food for us. Why don't shopkeeper Shen go north from Songjiang? I bought cloth and food in Songjiang and went with the ship From where?"

   Shen Qian nodded: "Okay. It just so happened that the five large ships we ordered with the shipyard in the past two days should be delivered, and I happened to take three ships away."

"good."

   Two days later, five brand-new large ships were rowed to the capital by sailors and boatmen hired by Guangfengshui.

  Huo Xi and Yang Fu took their buddies to load the goods on the ship.

  This time, apart from buying land and shops in the north, Shen Qianzhong also plans to visit the market in the north, so he may spend a lot of time wandering around.

  Huo Xi prepared a lot of things for him.

In addition to the wood, rattan, palm bamboo, bamboo skin and bamboo chips, hemp skin, hemp silk, hemp rope, lime, raw lacquer, tung oil and other building materials collected from various places in the south of the Yangtze River and foreigners, the most important thing is all kinds of cloth. and food.

  Jiangnan is a large grain-producing area, and the grain is abundant and cheap. They received a boatload of rice, glutinous rice, mung beans, soybeans, black beans and other grains very smoothly.

   Glutinous rice can only be bought for one stone now for one, two, four, five dollars. Among all kinds of beans, black beans are the cheapest, and you can buy them for only three dollars a stone.

  Mung beans are twice as expensive. Soybeans are next, and you can buy them in the countryside for three cents and a half cents a stone.

  Among the grains in a boat, rice accounts for the majority, followed by black beans.

  As soon as the ship was loaded, I heard that the **** Guan He was on a mission to the West with a large fleet of nearly 30,000 people in Liujiagang on June 15th.

  The whole capital, streets and alleys, big and small shops, and shops are discussing this matter.

   "Boss, I'd better leave earlier, so I can come back to see the business of Haimao." Shen Qianzhong was a little anxious, and now the companies are about to move.

  Huo Xi nodded in agreement, and sent him off at the pier with Yang Fu the next day.

  Yang Fu watched the three half-full boats sail away from the pier, feeling a little worried.

   "Xi'er, our manpower is still too small. Shopkeeper Shen only takes these people, I'm afraid he won't be able to support him. In case something happens to us along the way... everything else is fine, but I'm afraid we will encounter pirates robbing the goods."

  Huo Xi was silent. When doing business, all kinds of things will happen. How can it be smooth sailing.

But he still reassured: "I made earthen cannons for them. As long as they are more vigilant at night, it will not be a big problem. To Huai'an, there should be nothing wrong. I am afraid that something will happen on the way to the north. The north is now It's not peaceful either."

  Yang Fu became more and more worried after hearing this: "If we are brothers and sisters, bring more men on board, and those local cannon knives will also be able to shock one or two."

   "Don't worry. I told shopkeeper Shen and asked him to adapt. The goods of the three ships don't have to be shipped to the north for sale. If he meets a big merchant along the way, he will sell it too."

   "As for the manpower, we have no shortage of boatmen and sailors, and they are all ready to be called. And all of them are good hands. It is the people who are in charge, and they are a bit stretched now."

  Yang Fu nodded: "Yes. It's just that there is a shortage of people in charge. Otherwise, you can ask Master Mu to see if he has any capable people in his hands."

  Huo Xi was stunned for a while, then shook his head after a long while: "Forget it. Let's use our people. I'll think about the manpower."

   In the days that followed, Shen Qianzhong was not around, Huo Xi and Yang Fu almost turned over and kicked the back of the head.

   The two of them would occasionally go to the human teeth office to see if there was a suitable person, but there was no shortage of men who could do rough work, and it was not so easy to find someone who could be literate and able to be in charge of the accountant.

  After looking for half a month, I didn't meet the right person.

  In the past half month, Huo Erhuai and the Yang family have successively bought six hectares of land in Huzhou, Jiaxing, Pingjiang and other places. Three hectares of good fertile land are used to grow grain, and three hectares of medium-sized land are used to grow mulberry and silkworms.

  Yang Fu followed him and signed a contract with the tenant Sanghu, requiring the tenant Sanghu who rented his own land to replace the rent with grain and silkworm cocoons.

  And the part they get is not allowed to be sold to other grain merchants and cloth merchants, and needs to be sold to the Huo family first.

  Although they are restricted from selling freely, the rent of Huo's family is 50% lower than that of other landlords, and everyone is very happy.

   So far, Huo Xi has six hectares of land and three hectares of land in his hands.

   One step closer to the goal of being a landowner of one hundred hectares.

  The annual output of six hectares of land, based on the yield of four shi per mu, can be used to collect rent of almost 1,000 shi. If two seasons of grain are planted, it can be doubled.

  Even if you don’t grow crops for two seasons, and only count other miscellaneous crops in the field, it’s not difficult to collect 2,000 shi a year for rent.

  How many dans of raw silk can be obtained in the three hectares of mulberry fields is still unknown.

   Wait until the business route to the north is smoothed out. With the grain collected by the family and the grain from the dealer, as long as 10,000 shi of grain is transported to the north every year, the profit from selling the grain can be as small as several thousand taels of silver.

   And it's solid business.

  Holding the title deed, Huo Xi felt a small sense of satisfaction in his heart.

  After the **** Guan He led nearly 30,000 people to the Western Seas, the imperial court successively set up the Department of Ship Lifting in Zhejiang, Fujian, and Guangdong to be responsible for the management of overseas trade.

  With the lifting of the ban on sea trade routes, various docks are becoming more and more prosperous.

  Walking on the street, you can hear everyone discussing maritime trade. Today, the maritime trade of the Wei Dynasty is mainly "tributary trade" and "civilian trade".

   "Tribute trade" refers to the trade that the imperial court allowed foreign envoys to bring merchants and goods to the dynasty on the premise of paying tribute.

  In the tribute trade laws of the Wei Dynasty, the time, route and number of people from all countries to come to China for tribute trade were strictly limited, and they were sent to Kanhe in advance for verification of trade qualifications.

   This kind of "survey and cooperation" is a kind of paper voucher and document issued by the imperial court.

   With this thing, foreign envoys can enter the Wei Dynasty for tribute trade.

  This tribute trade is the same as when the Huo family's boat was requisitioned to transport grain. I requisition your ship's grain, I don't care what goods you carry on board, and I don't charge you taxes. You earn your own money.

   Tributary trade, to put it bluntly, means that if you want to do business in the Wei Dynasty, you should pay tribute to me first. I don't charge you taxes on the goods you bring, but the court has to pick them first. Of course, I will give you the money and not take it in vain.

  The rest of the goods, the imperial court picks up the leftovers, and foreigners can conduct private trade.

   As for private trade, there are no strict regulations.

  As long as you legally obtain the guide, you can do business at sea. The "Law of David" stipulates that if people have no way to lead, they will be punished as a private passerby if they travel hundreds of miles away.

  The crime of spending private time in Guanjin is a crime that hinders the security of national governance. If it is light, it will hit the board, and if it is serious, it will lock you up for a year or three years. But as long as you get legal guidance, you can come and go as you like.

  So this "tributary trade" and "civilian trade" are a bit like import trade and export trade.

  The import trade of the Wei Dynasty does not charge taxes, but you have to give me benefits before I let you in. And I have to pick the things you bring first, and you can sell the leftovers to the people.

   And export trade, you are free.

  Since Emperor Yongkang wanted to build Beiping City, he also knew that it would cost a lot. Now that the sea ban is being opened, the purpose is to obtain economic benefits through overseas trade, sit on treasures, and help the court to pay for various expenses.

  So for non-governmental merchants to actively participate in maritime trade, it is naturally happy to see the results.

  (end of this chapter)