Daming Yuanfu

Chapter 232 Sole Agent (Part [-])
After informing Qi Jiguang about the auction method, the meeting between Gao Wushi and Qi Jiguang came to an end. After hearing the news, Kaiping Zhongtun Wei Commander Xue Cheng held a banquet for the two in the commander's office.

As mentioned above, Kaiping is located at the junction of Luanzhou in Yongping Prefecture and Fengrun in Shuntian Prefecture, more than [-] miles east of the capital.She leans against the remnants of the Yanshan Mountains in the north, borders on the vast tidal flats of Bohai Bay in the south, looks at the winding Great Wall in the east, and overlooks the Shun and Yongplains in the west.Throughout history, it has defended Guzhu, protected Youyan, strangled the Great Wall, and garrisoned Luanzhou. It has been a battleground for military strategists. Its strategic position is very important, and the surrounding prefectures and counties are no match for it.

Although Kaiping is only a small city because of the stationed guards, it is an important place for transportation after all, so it extends in all directions, merchants gather, vehicles and horses converge, and wealth is abundant.It has a longer history than Daddy, Overseas Chinese Town, and Zhenzi Town. It is recognized as the first of the four ancient towns in Luanzhou. The Jingdong area is known as "the unsatisfactory Kaiping City".

Throughout the history of Kaiping, the evolution is intricate and the jurisdiction is changeable: it was Jizhou in Tang, Yu and Xia, and it was Guzhu in Shang Dynasty.Later, it belonged to Yan, Liaoxi, Beiping, Shicheng, and Khitan successively, and it was an important place to garrison troops in all dynasties.In the Qin Dynasty, it belonged to Youbeiping County. In the Han Dynasty, Shicheng County was established here as the county seat, and it was later renamed Haiyang County.After the Jin Dynasty, it belonged to Liaoxi County.During the Five Dynasties period, Shi Jingtang, Emperor Gaozu of the Later Jin Dynasty, ceded land to Khitan (later Liao Kingdom), which belonged to Pingzhou.There are mountains and rivers on the back here, and in the middle is a small plain formed by the alluvial Luan River system of Yimapingchuan. It has successively governed Yifeng County, Macheng County and Shicheng County.

Historically, Kaiping spans Shicheng and Yifeng counties.Until the first year of Yongle in the Ming Dynasty, Kaiping Zhongtunwei first moved from Daning Shaling to Zhending, and then moved northward to Shicheng Waste County in the third year of Yongle. Therefore, due to heavy troops stationed, the old governance of Shicheng Waste County So it became an important military town, and because the garrison was Kaiping Zhongtunwei, this place was called Kaiping Town. (Wufeng’s Note: Yesterday, a reader left a message and mistakenly thought that Kaiping was Kaiping County, Guangdong. I was really dumbfounded, so here I will introduce the location and history of Kaiping again.)
Kaiping Zhongtunwei set up two command envoys, two commander Tongzhi, five Qianshi, five principal thousand households, 11 deputy thousand households, 32 hundred households, one Wei Zhenfu, 14 officials, and five military soldiers. Thousands of 670 people, it is an important military fortress within the Great Wall.

After Kaiping became an important border town in the north, Ming Chengzu Zhu Di attached great importance to the defense here, and sent important officials to garrison Kaiping many times: "In the first year of Yongle, Jiaxu, Gaoyang Wang Gaoxu prepared the frontier Kaiping"; Laid troops in Kaiping; "In February 11th, Uncle Yingcheng strictly prepared Kaiping"; "September 12th, Guiwei, Cheng'an Hou Guoliang, Xing'an Bo Xu Heng jointly prepared Yu Kaiping"; Heng guards Kaiping exclusively and defends Beijing"; "In July 18th, he ordered the world to order that Marquis Zheng Heng of Wu'an brought Xue Lu to prepare Kaiping."

Among these military leaders guarding Kaiping were Wang, Youhou, and Youbo. Their titles were so high that they were very rare in the history of guarding at the county and town level at that time. The importance of status.

The current Kaiping Zhongtunwei does not have two commanders, but only Xue Cheng.It is a coincidence that this Commander Xue Cheng Xue is the first-in-law compatriot and younger brother of Xue Gan who is currently in charge of Marquis Yin of Yangwu, and also the uncle of Xue Yu who participated in Gao Wushijian Xin Zhai's spring outing last time. .

At the banquet, Xue Cheng was especially affectionate to Gao Yushi, and even in front of Qi Jiguang, his immediate boss, he insisted on inviting Gao Yushi to take the seat, which made Gao Yushi quite embarrassed. Qi Jiguang was the first to give up.

Originally, Qi Jiguang was not a vain person, and he has always respected literati. Let him a little surprised.After all, although Gao Yushi came from an extraordinary background, and now he has become a close minister of the prince, Gao Gong is only Gao Yushi's third uncle after all, not his biological father. It's overdone.

When it was time to toast at the banquet, Xue Cheng mentioned, "I heard that the soap made by Gao Shidu was a touch of gold. Now the capital has only been on sale for a few days, and the five shops are full of traffic and overcrowded every day. It can be said that it is improving every day." "Doujin", Qi Jiguang suddenly realized.

I got in touch with the news sent to Jizhou from Yebu, saying that on the day of Xinzhai’s spring outing, several nobles of the capital gathered at Cheng Guogong’s mansion, but within a few days, five shops of Jingshi’s “Jinghua Soap” opened at the same time, and the first day of limited sales The soap was directly bought out by several nobles... Qi Jiguang realized that there must be something related here.

Then Xue Cheng's words became even more explicit: "Gao Shidu, look, our Kaiping is small, but to the east is Yongping-Shanhaiguan, which is the main road to Liaodong. It can be used as a place to change hands..."

Qi Jiguang was naturally a rare talented general when he talked about military affairs, but he was not good at business. After hearing this, he couldn't help but think to himself: How expensive is that soap? How much does it sell for in a small town like Kaiping?As for changing hands... what's the use of changing hands?
But Gao Wushi didn't seem to look down on Xue Cheng at all, and looked at him with a smile, and asked, "Commander Xue, we Ming people don't talk dark words, do you want the agency right of Xiangzao in Liaodong?"

"Power of attorney?" Xue Cheng was stunned instead: "Dare to ask Gao Shidu, what is power of proxy?"

Gao Wushi smiled and said: "The so-called agency right simply means that if a Liaodong businessman wants to operate soap, our Jinghua Soap Factory will not ship it to him. If he wants to get the goods, he can only get them from you."

Xue Cheng was taken aback: "Is there such a good thing?"

"How?" Gao Wushi seemed to be a devil tempting people to sacrifice their souls, and said in an unfathomable tone: "As long as Commander Xue can agree to Gao's conditions, he can win the exclusive agency right to supply Liaodong soap. Merchants who want soap can only get it from you."

Xue Cheng's throat twitched again and again, thinking: Is it possible that I'm about to get rich?That Guoshi soap sells for one or two taels of silver. If I take over the entire Liaodong agent, I'm afraid I'll be richer than Yangwuhou's mansion if I change hands every year!

"No... I don't know... what are the...conditions for Gao Shidu?" After all, it is money that touches people's hearts. Commander Xue, who lives in the small town of Kaiping, is so excited that he almost stutters when faced with such a good thing.

　I wish all readers and friends a happy Lantern Festival^_^Thanks to the book friends with ID "fengjiyue" for the reward.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)