Lu Ming

Chapter 678 Returning to the North ([-])

After two days of solid rest in his own firm, the young and healthy Wu Fazheng recovered from the fatigue of the long-distance sea voyage.

The benefits brought about by the development of science and technology are often subtle and silent.In the past, "land people" like Wu Fazheng dared to take an old-fashioned sandboat from Shanghai to Tianjin rashly, and they fell apart before they could land on the shore. How could they recover in two days?

It is precisely because of today's "large-tonnage" ships, as well as advanced ship types and navigation technology, that the shaking of the cruise ship has reached an acceptable level for ordinary people.

Young Master Wu, who was walking in the side courtyard early in the morning, did not know the huge technological content behind this HNA trip.He now has only a hazy view of this new type of logistics: the sea route is acceptable, and he can consign one or two.

"Second Young Master!"

Just as Wu Fa was stretching his arms and legs to do morning exercises, shopkeeper Wu walked in from outside the courtyard gate.

Shopkeeper Wu's real name is Wu Yinquan.He is short and stout, wearing a six-in-one hat and a thick gray cotton robe.

It is no different from the shopkeeper in the public perception: Wu Yinquan has a kind face, with a professional smile on his chubby face anytime and anywhere.

"Uncle Jiu, here we come."

The Wu family is a rich family in Weizhou, Shanxi.According to the traditional Chinese feudal family structure, the Wu family also divided several houses under one general account.

Wu Fa, a young scholar, is the best of the younger generation, and he belongs to the big house and the second row.And shopkeeper Wu, who is forty years old, is a generation taller than Wu Fazheng, belongs to the fifth house, and works as nine, so acquaintances call him Wu Jiu.

For Shanxi, which is mountainous, lacks water, has difficult transportation, and has been barren since ancient times, it is an important social activity in the province to connect with the outside world and communicate with various trade activities in the inland.

The Wu family is no exception.As early as a hundred years ago, the idle children of the Wu clan who had no land to grow organized caravans and walked out of the border with their heads in their hands to buy cattle, horses and furs on the prairie.

Today, Yixinlong Company, headquartered in Zhangjiakou, has been operating for a hundred years and is already a well-known large-scale commercial chain organization inside and outside the mouth. Its branches are located in major cities in Hebei, Shanxi and other places.

In other words, the Yixinlong branch here in Tianjin was originally just an ordinary distribution point for shipments, and it is not outstanding in the business territory of the Wu family.

However, things are impermanent.A few years ago, all kinds of southern industrial products began to land from the sea, which made Tianjin's importance roll upwards.

Therefore, Wu Jiu, who was originally the No. [-] shopkeeper in Zhangjiakou, who was in the prime of life, was transferred to Tianjin.

Yixinlong Tianjin Branch is located on Sishui Street next to Haihe River.Earlier, the scale of the semicolon was not large, but since Wu Jiu came to Tianjin, the first thing he did was to expand the fixed asset list.

Through Wu Jiu's continuous investment, Yixinlong Branch has gradually turned a quarter of Surabaya Street into its own site, and renovated it. This is not counting the mule and horse shop near the small teaching field in the south of the city.

After meeting and exchanging greetings, Wu Jiu waited in the courtyard for the second young master to enter the room and change his clothes, and then led him to the business store to "see".

This is what should be in the title.After all, Wu Fazheng's status in the clan is unusual, and he has a bit of an "imperial envoy".It's hard to come to Tianjin once, and I must check the daily work of the firm.

The real reason is simple: Wu Fa is the second son of the eldest son, and his father is the head of the Wu clan in this world.

Wu Fazheng's eldest brother has been weak and sick since he was born, so in the eyes of the tribe, Wu Fazheng has a high probability of taking over as the patriarch in the future.This is also the reason why Shopkeeper Wu waits carefully. There are many young people in the clan, but those who can make Uncle Jiu greet them like this can be counted on one hand.

Next, under the guidance of the shopkeeper, Wu Fazheng checked the daily operation of the store.

Yixinlong's trading method is not complicated: it transports the Manmont products purchased by its own caravan outside the export to Tianjin for sale, and then purchases local "special products" in Tianjin and ships them for export.

In this closed trade loop, since the contacts are all wholesalers, on the bright side, there are not many customers in the store.

However, fewer customers does not mean that the business is deserted.

When Wu Fazheng passed through an alley and then through a wide courtyard door covered with pedals, what he saw was a busy scene: laborers with towels around their necks and rattan boxes on their shoulders; The accountant with tortoiseshell glasses, writing ink and singing numbers; and a large number of guys who are handling the goods behind the account.

"This No. [-] Hospital is the South Warehouse. Most of the goods we want to send out of the country are stored here."

Hearing Uncle Jiu's introduction, Wu Fazheng nodded, and came to Tiao'an with his hands behind his back.

On the opposite side of the case, a young and strong man with thick eyebrows and a simple and honest face was concentrating on handling the goods in his hand.

The goods that reflect the dazzling light, Huo Ran is an 8-pound thermos bottle liner that is common in later generations.

The arm-length thermos liner has a clear blue spray-printed square trademark on the tail: Shanghai Insulation Container Factory.

The next moment, the clerk picked up a small chapter dipped in ink pad and lightly rolled and printed Yi Xinlong's personal note next to the trademark.

Next, the buddy picked up the liner and began to stuff the wool into the mouth of the pot.

Bundles of machine-made colored wool threads tied with cardboard strips clearly marked the place of origin: Shanghai No. [-] Cotton Spinning Factory.

The sharp-eyed young master Wu couldn't help showing a little smile when he saw the small words of No. [-] Cotton Spinning Factory: He thought of the spectacular scene of two thousand girls pouring out of the factory.

After stuffing the liner with wool, the man with thick eyebrows picked up a soft cloth to wrap the liner, and then carefully tied the spout with cotton thread, avoiding the vacuum seal at the end of the liner during the whole process.

Seeing this, Wu Fazheng turned his head and looked at Shopkeeper Wu with approval.

The next process is packing.

The special rectangular cork box is just one size larger than the bottle, and more than half of the box has been filled with pure white reed wadding.After the buddy put the bottle in, he first shook it up and down to test the elasticity. After feeling that the degree of shaking was enough to adapt to the driving of the cart, the buddy covered the bottle with more reed wadding.

After all these processes are completed, it's time to package.

After lightly sealing the lid shut with a claw hammer and machine-made nails, the man did the final touches: wax and seal.

"Yes, Not Bad."

After observing the packaging of the bottle, the second young master nodded in satisfaction, and asked the serious guy in front of him, "How old is it, and what's your name?"

It wasn't until this moment that the guy with thick eyebrows was freed from his state of concentration.Stretching out his sleeve to wipe the sweat from his forehead, the young man grinned honestly, and replied in Shanxi dialect shyly: "Master Hui, his name is Huogui, he's 22."

Shopkeeper Wu saw that the young master was quite satisfied, so he also explained a bit playfully: "It's from Lingqiu. It just so happens that this kid fled to Tianjin, and he picked it up from the market at the cabinet."

Weizhou, Shanxi, where the Wu family is located, was under the jurisdiction of Guangchang County, Guangling County, and Lingqiu Counties in the Ming Dynasty.The Wu family's family is in Guangling, and Lingqiu is a township party, so there is no difference in accent.

Hearing the shopkeeper's explanation, Young Master Wu suddenly understood.The township party is an important link in this era, if the guy in front of him hadn't been for the township party, no matter how hard he worked, he would not have been taken in by Yi Xinlong to work.

"Work hard. Work hard, you can see it on the cabinet, and you won't lose money."

Although Wu Fazheng has the hope of taking the path of becoming a Taoist through the imperial examination, he is also very likely to be in charge of the family business in the future.So he had been exposed to the business content of the family early on, and he was actually quite familiar with management and procurement: "Uncle Jiu, give me a reward."

"Silly boy, hurry up and thank the boss!"

Hearing that there is a lot of money in the red envelopes, he reacted foolishly, and then thanked the boss awkwardly.

Young Master Wu laughed, and then, accompanied by Uncle Jiu, he continued to inspect the rest of the thermos bottles that were being packed.

This time, Yixinlong purchased [-] thermos bottles locally in Tianjin.Among them, there are only three pairs of Double Happiness with complete iron packaging, and the rest are bottle bladders, which can only be repackaged as before.

There is no way, although the Double Happiness Pair of Bottles has become a must-have dowry for wealthy families in Shanxi two years ago, just like the three major items of sewing machines and bicycles in later generations.

However, this kind of iron shell packaging is very easy to break the bottle liner during long-distance cart transportation, and it is also easy to deform when carried separately, and the cost is too high.Therefore, most of the current caravans only carry bottle bladders. When they reach the land, there are naturally traditional craftsmen who weave earthen shells with rattan and other materials.

After discussing the transportation of thermos bottles with Uncle Jiu, on the other side of the yard, Young Master Wu saw another batch of goods being repackaged: leather goods.

The Wu family started their business by relying on the leather goods business outside the mouth, so this aspect is the top priority, and there is no sloppy in the slightest.

With a solemn expression, he picked up a pair of leather boots on the case, and Wu Fazheng looked at them carefully.

The leather boots that caught the eye, light yellow outer skin, half-waisted Martin boots shape, the brand name that is very appetizing for gentlemen: Hermès is printed on the insole.

Except that the soles are made of multi-layer cowhide, the rest of the boots in Master Wu's hands, including the shoe strings, the metal rings at the eyelets, and even the pigskin lining inside, are no different from the hiking boots of later generations. .

He reached into the shoe and pressed it around, and then lifted the insole to look. Wu Fazheng took off the soft shoes on his feet, stretched his feet, put on the boots and walked a few steps.

In the end, Young Master Wu who took off his boots stroked the surface of the boots, felt the strange fur-like texture, and asked puzzledly: "The inside is not the same as the second-hand one, but the surface has changed?"

"Hehe, the young master doesn't know. These are sanded boots newly produced by Tianjin Leather Shoe Factory. There is a name called sanded boots."

"Oh, that's a bit apt, it's a cover-up, haha, what a clever idea."

Wu Fazheng quickly figured out the benefits of the brushed style - merchants and herdsmen who walk in the desert all year round are actually more suitable for this so-called brushed style.

Compared with the black and brown leather shoes that everyone has become accustomed to in the past few years, those smooth leather surfaces need to be oiled and maintained frequently, and it is difficult to ensure the brightness when going outdoors, but it is not as good as this.

"Okay, okay, how many of these new models have we bought?"

The goods of the Wu family will eventually be sold out of the mouth, so most of the ones lying on the table at the moment are half-waisted or even high-waisted suede boots.

Young Master Wu inspected the leather shoes, belts, bags and other leather products purchased from the market in Tianjin, and then left the No. [-] Yard after watching the assistants affix private seals on the surface and packaging of the goods one by one.

Next, in Courtyard No. A and No. [-], the gate with the four white words "Strictly No Fireworks" was pushed open, and Master Wu checked another important commodity that was going to be transported out of the mouth this time: wine.

The 55-degree standard whiskey (actually Erguotou) filled in a green tinplate box has already become a real hard-selling commodity outside the desert and even in the nine border towns of the Ming Dynasty.

This kind of "whiskey box" with uniform packaging and convenient transportation, as long as it is exported, can be exchanged in the herdsmen for all the things that businessmen want to exchange, including stallions that can be used as war horses and young and fertile women.

This time, the Wu family also spent a lot of money and time in advance to pre-order this batch of hard goods from the "Northern Wine Group".

Looking at the green wine boxes piled up in the warehouse, Wu Fazheng nodded in satisfaction.The next moment, he casually picked up a box, opened the lid, dipped his finger in the wine and took a sip: "That's right, it's whiskey puree!"

On the side, shopkeeper Wu held his slightly round belly, smiled half-sighed and half-appreciatively, and said, "Second young master, this batch of wine really took a lot of effort, old nine, I begged my grandpa to tell my grandma, and I just sent it to the winery. That screwer shareholder kowtows!"

"Oh, it's also because we were far away back then and the news wasn't smooth."

Having said this, Wu Fazheng's face turned regretful: "However, if the shopkeeper of the Tianjin branch had a little bit of courage, how could he allow such a large fortune to pass by!"

Wu Fazheng's regret was nothing more than a regret after all.

To this day, with the expansion of the time-traveling forces, the interests of the local aborigines in Tianjin have long been determined.Now there are a lot of local snakes waiting in line to pass through your fortune. It is no longer the situation where General Cao just went ashore to search for allies.

After checking the drinks, the inspection of several important trade items of the North Returning Caravan has been completed.There are still some daily groceries that are not ready, and it will take time to purchase, but there is no rush.

On the second day, Wu Fazheng followed Uncle Jiu to the Wu family's second property in Tianjin: a big car shop.

Yixinlong started out with caravans, so opening a large car shop in a key transportation hub became a necessary move.

When Wu Fazheng came to the big car shop, it happened that his own caravan also rushed to Tianjin from Zhangjiakou.The team was small in size, besides a batch of mules and horses, there was also a batch of leather goods.

Now, everything is going according to plan: the new caravan and some mules and horses will be repaired in the big cart shop. After the goods are ready, a large caravan will be formed on the spot and the goods will be returned to Shanxi.

Watching the livestock in the stable scrambling to lick a hanging square brick of salt, Wu Fazheng couldn't help but repeat his old habit, deducing the relationship between Cao's large-scale illicit salt trafficking and the collapse of the Ming court.

The next moment, Young Master Wu, who stopped his own thoughts, turned his head and asked, "When will the rest of the goods be ready?"

"About ten to twenty days."

Wu Jiu pinched his fingers and made the calculations, and replied affirmatively: "According to the past market conditions, in this period of time, another fleet will arrive at the port. At that time, the source of goods will be easy to find."

(End of this chapter)