Concubine's three acres of pastoral garden

Chapter 146 Commercial Documents (2)
Xu Zongde compared the speed with which Cao Mingquan handled the affairs for him. He reckoned that it might take a month to get this official document. He might as well go back to Huikang to organize a caravan as soon as he waits here. It saved a lot of time. As for the official document, Xu Cheng was asked to stay here and wait. If there are any small matters in the middle, he can deal with it.

In this way, after greeting Zhao Qing, he left Xu Cheng in the capital, and went back to Huikang mansion first.

The business in Huikang Mansion was not as "smooth" as his business rights. Before he could take a breather after he got home, the chief manager asked him to report a lot of troubles, and the source of these troubles was still unknown It was Chen Xianglai who he thought had been completely resolved.

The first one is that there is no one in Hengyuan Farm. This time when Hengyuan Farm was taken back, Xu Zongde transferred back the original chief manager of Hengyuan Farm, but because he opened another farm, only a few people, big and small, could come back. As a steward, I thought that if I took over the long-term tenant farmers here, I could farm normally, but I didn't expect that the farm was run by Xianglai for two years, and all the people there were bought away. The day laborers and even the tenant farmers who rented the land dragged their families with them, leaving thirteen Zhuangzi people with empty houses, and tens of thousands of acres of rural areas disappeared, as desolate as a frontier desert.

At that time Xu Zongde had already left, and the manager of the farm could not find anyone to ask for instructions. After discussing with the senior manager, he took the only 1 taels of cash on the Xu family's account, and hired part-time workers everywhere in Songning County to grab spring plowing.

Even so, until the end of spring sowing, less than half of the tens of thousands of acres of dry land have been planted, let alone paddy fields. There are no seedlings in early spring, and what can be planted in the official spring plowing, so they I can only look at the more than a thousand acres of fields that have been changed from drought to water by Xianglai, empty there.

Xu Zongde was so annoyed when he heard this, he cut off the food for the long-term workers when he gave Xianglai Farm, thinking that it was cruel enough, but he didn't expect Xianglai to be more cruel, and he took them away directly. Yuan Tianzhuang will pay the compensation.

After talking about his own farm, the chief manager talked about Xianglai's farm.

After Xianglai took the people from Hengyuan Farm, he reclaimed wasteland by the riverside. In just one spring, thousands of hectares of paddy fields were opened up. By the time Xu Zongde returned from the capital, the rice seedlings had already been planted in the fields. .

After talking about Tian, ​​he then talked about the shop. All the shops that bought Xianglai, the shopkeepers did not work hard, but if the managers reprimanded them, they would leave immediately, causing these shops to close every now and then.

What's more terrible is that after last year's price war, the common people are used to buying cheap goods, and they have saved enough. If it is not necessary, no one will enter Xu's and Tianxiang after the price increase, so the business is also bleak. to poor.

The more Xu Zongde listened to the fire, the more he heard it, but he could only suppress it, telling himself that it was a trivial matter. As soon as his caravan entered Korea, the money would come rushing in like water. dispensable.

In this way, he put these things aside for the time being, and began to make intensive preparations for the caravan.

It’s just that building a caravan doesn’t cost money. Now that his family’s wealth has been wiped out, it’s easy to build a caravan. The family has cars, horses, and all kinds of goods, but it’s hard to find people. Doing business in other countries is different from running a shop in front of your home. The manpower required is extremely high. Not only do you need to be able to leave home and travel far away, but you also need to be able to be a bodyguard when you get on a horse, and you can get a price when you get off a horse. You must also know a little about Korea language, otherwise you will be a useless mute if you go.

Such manpower is very rare in Huikang Mansion. Even if there are, they live well in the local area. If they don’t pay enough money, they won’t do this kind of hard work, and these people’s wages have to be paid in advance. You can rest assured that the money is left to your family, otherwise if something happens, your life will be gone, and your wages will have nowhere to go.

Xu Zongde had no choice but to secretly sell a few shops to find enough people and make an appointment.

He prepared quickly, but all the carriages, horses, people, and goods were ready to stop there and wait. After waiting for more than a month, the document was not returned. Xu Zongde sent a letter to Xu Cheng in a hurry, asking him to go to the Korean embassy to ask.

Xu Cheng didn't stay in the capital, he asked for news overtly and secretly, not to mention, there were indeed rumors among the merchants in the capital that Goryeo was going to sell the business rights, but it was passed around and few people applied for it. , I don't know if it's because they are afraid of the giant businessman Lianjia who is attached to the prince's relatives, or these people are not strong enough.

Xu Zongde sent someone to remind him, Xu Cheng went to ask Zhao Qing, and Zhao Qing replied that they had sent the document to the court of the Northern Liao Dynasty, and now they are waiting for the document to come back, and it is estimated that there will be news in a few days.

After Xu Cheng heard this, he was convinced, and asked someone to come back to deliver a letter to Xu Zongde.

It would take seven or eight days for Wangdu to go back and forth to Huikang on a fast horse. When the news came back, it was already early May.

Xu Zongde believed it to be true. In order to be able to move forward, he simply let the caravan set off first and walked slowly towards the border of Koryo. As soon as he got the official business document, he immediately set off to chase it. After catching up with the caravan, he entered Koryo together. That would save a lot of time.

But I didn't expect that after waiting for another month, the slow-moving caravan had already reached the border, and the trade documents over there were still not in hand.

Xu Cheng was in a hurry without him urging him now. He went to the embassy to inquire every now and then, and immediately asked someone to bring back the original words to Xu Zongde after inquiring.

After procrastinating and procrastinating until the end of May, Xu Zongde waited in Huikang until he was smoking. The term of his first loan was half a year, and it has been more than three months since he got the money in February. It takes more than two months to pay back 50 taels of silver, but my caravan has not even passed the country. Now that I have run out of money, what can I do to pay back 50 taels?
In a hurry, he left the business in Huikang Mansion that had not been straightened out, and ran to the capital again.

After arriving in the capital, he went directly to the Korean embassy without meeting Xu Cheng, only to find that Xu Cheng was sitting outside the embassy.

After asking, I found out that Xu Cheng came every day these days, but it was very difficult to see Zhao Qing and the Korean envoy. He blocked Zhao Qing at the door three days ago, but Zhao Qing said that the document was stuck in Beiliao. There was nothing they could do about it, and then they sent him away without even entering the embassy gate.

After Xu Zongde heard it, he felt that Xu Cheng's status might be low, and Zhao Qing didn't bother to see him. Now that he was the client, he had to give a clear explanation anyway, so he asked the guards of the embassy to deliver a letter, saying that he wanted to see Zhao Qing Or is using one of the two.

But when the guard came out, he told him that the two adults were not there, and he wanted to see them and come back tomorrow.

Xu Zongde was worried that the two envoys did not see him on purpose. After thinking for a while, he took out 100 taels of silver bills, handed them to Xu Cheng, and said, "Go and give the silver bills to the guards, and let him wait for the envoy or deputy envoy at the embassy." It's time to report to us."

(End of this chapter)