Lin Gao Qiming

Chapter 1379

To be able to produce [-] shimi on the ground in Nanzhi is not something that ordinary businessmen can do.Shen Tingyang said that he would also think of a way - Wuhu on the Yangtze River is a large grain distribution center, and it may be possible to raise a considerable amount of grain there.Try to raise funds in place within one month.Zhao Yingong returned to Qiwei's Shanghai branch and called Mao Sansheng to discuss the matter.

Since Mao Sansheng arrived in Shanghai, although Qiwei is mainly engaged in the logistics business, he has handled more goods and accumulated a lot of knowledge.

"Recently, I'm afraid it's impossible to buy rice in the big market." Mao Sansheng said, "We have business dealings with merchants in several rice markets. Recently, the price in the big market has risen sharply, and we are reluctant to sell it: the big market is released. For the amount of one or two hundred shi, it is difficult to buy one or two thousand shi in one sitting."

Qiweizhan is mainly engaged in warehousing and logistics, and has the most dealings with bulk cargo merchants like Mihang. Mao Sansheng's words are naturally reliable.

"I want to raise [-] shimi now, and I need it within a month."

Mao Sansheng gasped: "Master, this is a bit difficult."

"Go on and buy with some thought, how much can you buy?"

"All the households went there, and based on the favor and face of the past, they could probably scrape together more than 1 shi. It's just that the price is hard to say." Mao Sansheng said that the final average price might be more than three taels of silver.

"It's so expensive!" Zhao Yingong was a little unwilling.

"If you can buy rice at this price, the villain already thinks it's a high incense."

"Okay, you go and send someone to do it first, and buy as much as you can. All the rice you buy will be shipped to Shanghai."

[-] shimi is still far away from the goal. Although Zhao Yingong finds it difficult, he can only force himself to sit in Shanghai and arrange the purchase of rice.

Although natural disasters continued in the Nanzhi area, it was one of the few places under the Ming Dynasty that could still be called "stable". The social order was generally normal, so the food supply was still sufficient.Although the market for brown rice has risen and rice merchants are reluctant to sell it, rice can still be bought as long as they are willing to pay.

Originally, the price of rice was constantly rising at this time. The large-scale purchases of Shen Tingyang and Zhao Yingong made the price of rice continue to rise. Originally, the price of rice in Nanzhi, Anhui and other places was relatively low, and it could still flow to the serious food shortage this year. However, despite the continuous increase in the number of purchases, a large amount of grain and rice began to flock to Shanghai, where transportation conditions are more convenient.

The price of rice in the Hangjiahu area, which suffered from floods and droughts last year, dropped slightly due to the distribution of relief grain by the Famine Relief Bureau and the peaceful sale of rice.At this time, the price of rice started to rise, and it quietly broke through the price of three cents for a bucket of rice. It rose for fifteen consecutive days. By the middle of June, the price of rice in Hangzhou had risen to three cents and six cents, which was close to the price of four cents, which is a food shortage. .

Zhao Yingong, who was far away in Shanghai, was unaware of this change.Although social and financial information from all over the country is sent to his desk every week, he is busy purchasing grain and coordinating commercial contracts with Liaohaihang, so he doesn't care about it at all.

Although Zhao Yingong and Shen Tingyang put in a lot of effort, they only bought more than [-] shi in half a month.According to this progress, the latest departure time in July may not be able to make up [-] shi.

Zhao Yingong was worried about this every day, always considering whether to send a distress telegram to Lingao.Although under the current situation, it is still possible for Lingao to transport [-] shi of brown rice to him, but this seriously affects his image.

Just at this difficult time, things took a turn for the better.Wu Zhixiang suddenly came to visit him.

After Wu Zhixiang came to Jiangnan, she successfully joined the Fushe by relying on several key members of the Fushe, such as Zhang Dai in Hangzhou. With her enthusiasm for social affairs, she soon became a relatively well-known member of the Fushe in Hangzhou Prefecture.Because he knew that it would be extremely difficult for him to pass the imperial examination—even Fushe would not arrange for an uneducated dude like him to pass the imperial examination.So he spent money to donate the fame of a Guozijian student, and now he is waiting for the opportunity to be recommended by Fushe, and get an official position through the relationship of the Donglin boss.

Wu Zhixiang got in touch with Zhao Yingong through Zhang Dai and others very early on.Relying on his experience in interacting with Daguan Guo in Guangzhou, he was convinced that Zhao Yingong was also a "kun thief".It just doesn't expose this layer.Zhao Yingong knew his details, and also intended to win over him, and the two sides began to interact with each other tacitly.

Shen Tingyang's transportation of Liaodong's food and payment has long been known within Fushe-this matter was indeed successful with the support of Fushe and Donglin.Therefore, it is no secret that China Merchants is also involved.From Fushe's point of view, although Zhao Yingong is not a member of Fushe and has a suspicious "kun thieves" background, he is a fellow traveler of Fushe during the Abolition of Cao Cao Reform, because the relationship between Fengjiao and Xu Guangqi and others is not shallow. This is also an important ally for the Donglin Fushe Group, which desperately needs the support of the cabinet chiefs.

What Wu Zhixiang brought was exactly what Shen Tingyang and Zhao Yingong dreamed of: rice—plenty of rice.Not only is it more than enough to make up for the shortfall of [-] shi, even if you ask for more, it will not be a problem
The rice is not in the south of the Yangtze River, but the distance is not far away. The key point is that it is not difficult to transport it to Shanghai. As long as the two parties negotiate the terms, the delivery can be made soon.

As for the price, it's not too expensive. It's only two taels of silver per stone when it's shipped to Shanghai—even if it's not shipped to Liaodong, it can make money if it's sold on the spot.

Although Zhao Yingong was happy in his heart, he also had a lot of doubts in his heart: there will be no pies in the sky, he really can't think of where in the world of Ming Dynasty he can easily get tens of thousands of shi of cheap rice.

If he hadn't known Wu Zhixiang's background and his "performance" in Guangzhou, he would have regarded him as a bluff.

"Where is the rice?" Zhao Yingong asked.

"Qingjiangpu."

Zhao Yingong secretly felt ashamed, he actually forgot about this place!

Qingjiangpu belongs to Shanyang County, Huai'an Prefecture. Although it is only a town, it has become a transportation hub for north-south water and land transportation since Chen Xuan opened the port in the early Ming Dynasty and changed water transportation from the sea to the river.

When Chen Xuan was in charge of the grain administration in the early Ming Dynasty, he created the "subsidiary transport" system of grain grain, that is, in Huai'an, Xuzhou, Linqing and other important towns along the canal, they built transit grain warehouses respectively, and each received grain grain delivered by private ships from designated areas.Changyingcang is located in Qingjiangpu, where 150 million shi of grain from Jiangxi, Huguang, and Zhejiang are transshipped and stored, and the annual grain storage is more than one million shi.

Since there is a large granary, there are countless large and small rats.Surrounding this large warehouse, there are people who transport and manage the warehouse, the head of the household department for the prime minister's warehouse affairs, the Kuding who carries the grain and rice, and the Cao Ding on the ship... There are countless people of all kinds who eat water.For the 400 million shi grain grains transported to the capital every year, the freight and loss on the road turned out to be as high as 800 million shi.Qingjiangpu is the largest of the blood-suction channels along the way.It is not surprising that a large amount of warehouse rice has been deposited here for sale.

Of course Wu Zhixiang is not a "Shuoshu", but his father is now working in the household department.He has a share of the benefits of Qingjiang Pu Changyingcang.

The "benefits" hoarded in Qingjiangpu have to be turned into silver before they can be spent.From Shangshu to Secretary in the household department, as long as they can get benefits in Changyingcang, they all have this problem of cashing out.

In the past, this benefit was nothing, and someone specially contacted him.However, the amount of food to be cashed out this time is large, not only for the benefit of Wu Zhixiang's father, but also for the savings accumulated by many people in the household department.Ordinary businessmen don't have this strength, so Wu Zhixiang thought of Mr. Zhao, who had a background of thieves.When he was in Guangzhou, he knew that the thieves had a very strong demand for food, basically they could only get in and out, so it was impossible for Mr. Zhao not to be interested in this.

The two sides quickly reached an agreement: Wu Zhixiang should ship [-] shi of brown rice to Shanghai at least by mid-July, and no more.China Merchants purchased it at the CIF price of two taels of silver per stone.

"It was shipped to [-] shimi on schedule, is there any problem?" Zhao Yingong was a little worried.In an era when transportation and communication were very backward, the long-distance transportation of bulk goods was calculated on a monthly basis. It was not easy to transport so much rice from Qingjiangpu to Shanghai even if it took a month.

"Master Zhao can rest assured that this will be the time when the tank boats that spent the winter in the north are returning to the south. Qingjiangpu has empty tank boats, and those transporters are willing to bring goods back to earn a few more."

"Okay, then I'll just wait for the good news." Zhao Yingong nodded, "We've made a deal."

"It's a deal." Wu Zhixiang blushed with excitement, this was the first time he had made such a big deal!When he thought about how his father and brother would think of him, he couldn't help feeling elated.Over the years, he has always been a dude. Although his family has no control over him and allows him to hang around in Guangzhou, he is looked down upon by his family after all.I also feel inferior.

Zhao Yingong also told him that if there is any mistake in the transportation, he must be notified as soon as possible, and he will arrange a prestige to relay.

"No problem, I will definitely be able to handle this matter." Wu Zhixiang firmly agreed.

"Okay, then it's all up to you, brother." Although Zhao Yingong felt uneasy, his promise was to pay on delivery. It's because cheap food can't be shipped, and he makes less money.If the shipped rice is traded at the CIF price of six taels per shi, the profit of 12 taels is enough to deliver Guan Ning's military salary and pay all the miscellaneous expenses along the way.The freight paid by the imperial court is the net profit of China Merchants.

This Young Master Wu, who was very close to Guangzhou Station at the beginning, belongs to the young people who are deeply "poisoned by the decadent Australian culture". Moreover, his family is an aboriginal in Guangxi, and has always been listed as a cooperation partner that the Senate can use.Now is a good time to take this opportunity to see how capable Young Master Wu is, and whether he is qualified to be a future "collaborator" of the Senate.

(End of this chapter)