Late Ming sea owl

Chapter 278 Cao Huachun and Zhang Mingzhen

After listening to Shen Tingyang's words, Lin Hai felt a little headache.

At that time, the upstream of the Jiangnan silk industry was mainly controlled by silk brokers. Raw silk was produced by individual farmers as a family sideline, then purchased by local silk brokers and distributed to downstream merchants.

The silk brokers were involved in both black and white business in the local area, and had loan relationships with farmers who raised silkworms and reeled silk as a hobby. They also controlled the circulation of raw materials such as mulberry leaves, so the brokers' position as purchasing agents was unbreakable.

Behind these silk brokerage shops were prominent families. For example, the Wu family of Zhoushan and the Xie family of Simen controlled hundreds of silk brokerage shops, many of which were even opened by their own descendants.

In the ten prefectures of Jiangnan, it is currently difficult for Huiyou Company to extend to the upstream of the silk industry. At the same time, Lin Hai does not want to spend a lot of manpower to purchase from silk shops in various places. As a result, the only remaining option is to do bulk transactions with aristocratic families.

If the supply provided by the Xie family is insufficient, they can only purchase more goods from Fujian. Many silk shops in Fujian are controlled by the gentry behind the Xu family.

However, Fujian's raw silk has no advantage in terms of quality or cost, and the transportation cost to Japan is even higher, so it's a loss no matter how you calculate it.

In addition to this, there is another way, which is to strangle the silk trade in Macau.

Haojing's raw silk supply mainly comes from Jiangnan, among which the Xie family has a considerable share. In this way, the company can buy more goods from the Xie family and have stronger bargaining power.

Furthermore, Portuguese merchants in Macau are considered competitors of the company in both Japan and Luzon, and cutting off the Macau silk trade can also strengthen the company's position in the market.

But Lin Hai needed to win over the Portuguese as an ally against the Netherlands, and he did not want to have any unpleasantness with Manila or the Xie family of Simen. So this idea only flashed through his mind, and he quickly rejected it, at least for the time being.

In the end, Lin Hai only ordered 10,000 pieces of cotton cloth from Shen Tingyang, and then set off to Loudong to visit Zhang Pu.

The main commodity of Shen's Beiyang Line was cotton cloth, which had a place in the Jiangnan cotton cloth industry. Now that Zheng Zhilong had been defeated, the company was about to enter Southeast Asia, and the first thing to expand the supply channel was cotton cloth, which could be used as hard currency.

Currently, the cotton cloth market in Southeast Asia is almost entirely dominated by Indian products. Lin Hai decided to test the waters with Songjiang cotton cloth to see if he could compete with Indian cotton cloth.

After leaving the Shen family in Chongming, Lin Hai arrived in Taicang Prefecture where Zhang Pu lived on the seventh day of the first lunar month, which was two days before the ninth day of the first lunar month written on the visiting card.

Lin Hai then met with Ruan Mei and Liu Mazi first, and the two of them waited here after the Chinese New Year as requested.

"Boss, I am glad to see you again." Ruan Mei wore a silver flower in her hair and held a red bone and gold-painted folding fan in her hand in the middle of winter. She came up to him and showed her courtesy.

After not seeing him for a year, this kid's manners and dress became more stylish than before. It might be because he stayed in Nanjing for some time and was fully nurtured by the Qinhuai culture.

"Don't try to be nice to me..." Lin Hai replied with a smile, "Tell me the truth. Are you hoping that you will never see me again so that you can swallow the money I gave you?"

In order to make friends with Cao Huachun, Lin Hai had paid a large amount of public relations fees. Upon hearing this, Ruan Mei immediately complained: "The general manager's words have wronged me. My father and I have all received great kindness from the general manager. I have never thought of this even in my dreams."

Lin Hai continued to joke, "You are a smart guy. You didn't run away with the money."

"The commander-in-chief is very smart. He said Wei Yan would fall as soon as he said so. I am just a mortal. Even if I have a dirty heart and rotten lungs, I would not dare to be ungrateful..." "Alright, alright, it's just a joke." Lin Hai patted Ruan Mei's shoulder. "You and Xiaobao did a good job on this mission. I heard from Liu Mazi that Xiaobao has now become a sworn brother with Cao Gonggong?"

Ruan Mei was not very literate, and for the sake of confidentiality, Lin Hai asked Liu Jingting to convey the message verbally during his two contacts with Nanjing. There was no correspondence, so the details were not well understood.

"What the General Manager said is correct. This mission is really thanks to Brother Zheng. He, Mr. Cao, and a man named Zhang Mingzhen have become brothers..."

"Wait, are you talking about Zhang Mingzhen?" Lin Hai was surprised when he heard that. Zhang Mingzhen was a famous general who fought against the Qing Dynasty in the Southern Ming Dynasty. It was also said that he was treated as a guest of honor by the eunuch Cao Huachun during the Chongzhen period. So the person that Ruan Mei was talking about must be the famous national hero.

What Lin Hai didn't know was that in another time and space, his subordinate Ruan Jin was originally going to be promoted to a general by Zhang Mingzhen from among the bandits, and Ruan Mei in front of him would be sent by Zhang Mingzhen to Japan to beg for help from the shogunate...

"Why? The president recognizes this person?"

"No, go on..."

Ruan Mei then went on to say that Lin Hai finally understood that he and Zheng Xiaobao had used some money to get acquainted with Cao Huachun, but the two sides were only casual acquaintances, and Cao Huachun was also cautious about accepting benefits from others.

Later, Zheng Xiaobao became familiar with Cao Huachun's good friend Zhang Mingzhen, and finally established a deep personal relationship with this old man Cao. In the end, the three of them simply became brothers with different surnames.

Zhang Mingzhen was originally a poor soldier of the Nanjing Jinyiwei. He was a man of both civil and military talents, a dashing and chivalrous man, and he loved gambling. Zheng Xiaobao happened to be a man of this kind, and he had also been to school when he was young and was somewhat literate, so the two became good friends.

Cao Huachun was also a well-educated eunuch. Zheng Xiaobao, as a half-scholar, had more in common with him. Plus, money was a magical power, so he indeed achieved better results than Ruan Mei.

Lin Hai originally sent Zheng Xiaobao to Nanjing with the main purpose of monitoring Ruan Mei. Unexpectedly, it turned out to be a good idea and had a miraculous effect.

"I see. Then how did you find Zhang Pu?"

"Well, ahem... Actually, I learned this from Miaozhen..."

Ruan Mei told the story slowly and it turned out that August of the seventh year of the Tianqi reign was the time for the provincial examination held every three years, and students from Nanzhili like Zhang Pu were all taking the examination in Nanjing.

It happened that Wang Wei also came to Nanjing at that time, and through a friend's introduction, he met Zhang Pu, Zhang Cai, Chen Zilong and other candidates. In this way, Ruan Mei accidentally heard the name of Zhang Pu from the little Taoist nun Miaozhen, and thus found out Zhang Pu's residence.

In fact, Zhang Pu was already well-known among the scholars in Suzhou at the end of the Tianqi period, but Ruan Mei and Liu Jingting were not scholars, so it was really a futile act for Lin Hai to send them to look for someone.

"You are a lucky guy. You can even pick up a girl and get things done..." Lin Hai certainly would not forget the promise he made to Ruan Mei. He continued, "After I meet Zhang Pu and Cao Huachun, I will go to West Lake to propose marriage for you."

"Thank you for your kindness, General! You don't have to go to West Lake. Taoist Cao Yi and Miao Zhen are still in Nanjing!"

Ruan Mei couldn't help but be delighted when she heard this, and then continued, "Boss, there is one more thing. The Fourth Master Wen of the Zhoushan Wu Clan wants to meet you, Boss. Now he is here, Boss, do you want to meet him?"

(End of this chapter)