Huo Xi came to Huai'an after a few years, and he had a special feeling in his heart.
When she was young, she transported grain to Huai'an, which established her idea of doing north-south barter business and started her business route.
Now that I am in Huai'an again, my heart is agitated when I look at the pier, which is more prosperous than before.
Now it is no longer necessary to confiscate fishing boats to transport grain. Emperor Yongkang set up guards all over the canal.
Every year when the grain is harvested, the grain will be transported by the army to the five granaries in turn. Ten people will drive a boat, and each boat will carry 300 shi. Now the transport army has reached tens of thousands, and there is no need to recruit fishermen's ships to transport food.
Looking at the current canal, it has been opened from north to south, and merchant ships from north and south are in an endless stream.
In addition, merchant ships from various places in the Central Plains gathered in Huai'an from the west through the Sui and Tang Canals and crossed the Huaihe River.
In the canal, people transporting grain, military supplies, timber, building materials, and products from various places, all kinds of merchant ships and passenger boats crowded both sides of the canal, stretching for dozens of miles.
Huo Xi ordered his two boats to dock at the pier, and took the two stewards and Tayue ashore.
Let the two managers, Su Zhe and Yuan Sheng, go to Guangfengshui to check the accounts at the shop on the wharf, and then follow behind.
Business Manager Niu didn't know Huo Xi's identity, but Huo Xi would attend every year-end accounting. He certainly recognized the three people who came from the headquarters.
He was very enthusiastic, and took the three of them to check the account, and then went into the warehouse to check the items of incoming and outgoing goods, as well as the inventory.
The sales revenue of the Huai’an shop has ranked first among all shops for several years, and it fell behind the Ningbo shop last year. With this achievement, shopkeeper Niu has made great contributions.
After checking the account, seeing that Huo Xi was going to the pier to see the goods, shopkeeper Niu followed him.
Passing by the Gong's shop, Huo Xi poked inside, asked the clerk, and said that the young master hadn't been here for a long time, and Li Neng was not in charge.
Shopkeeper Niu glanced at her, saw her mentioning the Gong family's young master and Li Neng, and said in a familiar tone: "Our shop has been taken care of by the Gong family for these years, and Xiaoxiao dare not come to the door."
Huo Xizi knows that his shop is taken care of by the Gong family, and he has sent a lot of goods to the Gong family in the past two years. "Do you send gifts to the palace family every year?"
"Yes. I never dare to fall behind every year."
Huo Xi nodded.
Guangfengshui's headquarters is in the capital, and shops in other places have to either embrace the local leaders or give dry stocks to powerful parties. Otherwise, it is actually quite difficult to do business well on other people's sites.
The transportation is inconvenient, and it is inconvenient to communicate. It takes ten days and a half months or even longer to send a message.
Seeing that Gong Ziyi and Li Neng were not there, the group went to the pier to see the goods.
There are many and miscellaneous materials shipped by all parties on the wharf, and merchants trading are crowded with the wharf.
All kinds of miscellaneous grains, black beans, millet, various fruits and vegetables from the Central Plains, red dates, pears and cherries, garlic and **** from Sichuan and Sichuan, medicinal materials from Yunnan and Guizhou, mushrooms, day lilies and other dry goods, rattan rope and hemp bamboo from the southwest, etc. Everything.
But the most are food, building materials and cloth.
Now Beiping is going to build a city, and all kinds of materials are transported northward through the canal.
All the way through hurdles, dams and gates, commercial taxes, customs duties, and various fees.
However, transportation of grain and building materials is exempt from tolls. Special period, special regulations, this is the same as modern highways, exempting tolls for green agricultural products, which has the same effect.
is a green channel to encourage merchants to send urgently needed supplies to the north.
So most of the merchants from all walks of life mainly transport grain and building materials, with various things in the middle.
A group of people were looking at the goods at the pier, and saw a businessman from Jiangzhou selling the Chengni inkstone he brought. Hearing that the man was selling and boasting, Huo Xi also rushed forward to have a look.
"Everyone knows that my inkstone began in the Han Dynasty and flourished in the Tang and Song Dynasties. It is one of the four famous inkstones. It is made of mud that has been deposited in the Yellow River for thousands of years, and is made by special techniques..."
The man said, holding an inkstone in each hand and hitting each other.
"Look, the quality is strong and wear-resistant, the ink storage will not dry up, the accumulated ink will not rot, it will not freeze in the cold, it can be studied with breath, it will not hurt the brush, and it will not damage the hair. It is a rare good thing in the world..."
Huo Xi burst out laughing.
Somehow, it sounded in my ears: "Come and see, take a look, it only costs ninety-nine, and it costs ninety-nine. If you can't buy it, you will suffer a loss, if you buy it, you won't be fooled..."
The corner of her mouth was raised, and she winked at the shopkeeper Niu.
Shopkeeper Niu squeezed forward and took an inkstone for her to see.
She doesn't know much about these elegant things. But I feel that the carver is generous and the shape is unique. There are some scholars who try it on the side. After trying it, they will pay for it. It must be good.
Su Zhe and Yuan Sheng, the two stewards, are naturally proficient in writing and ink to become stewards. He stepped forward to distinguish and smell, and nodded to Huo Xi. Huo Xi asked the two of them to buy a lot.
Let shopkeeper Niu send it back to the capital with the ship next time.
There are many literati in the south of the Yangtze River, so they should be able to sell for a high price.
Walking and looking at the pier, I met another cloth merchant from the southwest.
After bargaining, he exchanged all the cloth in his hand with a hundred stones of pepper. There are linen cloth, homemade cloth, cotton cloth, and two thousand bolts of Shu brocade. Both sides are happy.
"The shopkeeper Niu sent two thousand pieces of Shu brocade and several boxes of Chengni inkstone to the capital. I will bring the linen cloth and cotton cloth to Peiping."
"Yes. Do you want to sell another 100 shi of pepper in Huai'an?"
Huo Xi thought for a while, then shook his head, "I'll take it to the north."
After spending a day in Huai'an, I bought a lot of Huai'an local products and continued northward.
I saw a shop in Xuzhou, didn't stay much, and continued to Jining.
Jining connects Xuzhou Huaian in the south, Dezhou in Linqing in the north, and directly connects to Gyeonggi. Ships must lower their sails and stop when they arrive in Jining, and they can only pass through when the lock is lifted and the water is released.
At most, thousands of ships of various types stay at most every day, and it has become the largest terminal and material distribution center in Jiangbei.
Every day, the sails and masts in the river are like forests, the boats seem to be practicing, and the sound of boatmen paddling their oars to hit the water and shouting chant resounds through the sky.
Do not lose to Huaian.
There are palace shops in Xuzhou and Jining wharfs. The newly opened shop in Guangfengshui relies on the care of the palace family. Since it opened smoothly, it has made a lot of profits.
Huo Xi went to see the shop with the two stewards, and didn't plan to stay longer, and was about to continue going north, but Xiangcao said that there would be heavy rain during Shenshi, and there might be wind on the river.
The two stewards had never seen Vanilla's abilities, so they looked up at the sunny sky, and looked at Vanilla with suspicion.
"Could it be that you, a girl, see that Jining is bustling and bustling, so you can't walk?"
Vanilla snorted at the two of them, "It's okay if you don't believe me. As long as the girl believes in me." After speaking, she looked at Huo Xi.
Huo Xi smiled, raised his head and looked up at the sky, thinking that there were cloth and food on the boat, if there was wind and rain, it might be bad.
Cloth is prone to mildew, and grain is prone to germination when it is damp.
"Then let's stay in Jining overnight, and leave tomorrow at 10 o'clock." Huo Xi made a decision.