Tiantang Splendid

Chapter 1723
Pei Xingjian was high-spirited and proud, and continued: "The land in Huating Town is barren, mostly saline-alkali tidal flats, and it is difficult to grow food. It is said that it is extremely poor. Even if there are salt farms along the coast, you can work and earn money every year, but the lack of supplies, absolutely. It can't feed that many people."

Fang Xuanling sighed: "It is the merchants who feed these people. We have always belittled the merchants, thinking that they are not productive, but a disaster that sucks the essence of the people. It is very low. But now it seems that this is not the case. The merchants Although it is not used for production, but its circulation of goods and exchange of what is needed can create profit and wealth from it, which can be used to feed back the country, so it is still valuable.”

Confucianism is everywhere in merchants, and it has been the same since ancient times.

But no matter how unwilling to admit it, seeing the prosperous Huating town in front of him because of merchants, he had to change his attitude towards merchants in the past.

It is wrong to say that the wealth of the world is constant. Merchants can not only create wealth in the process of breeding and circulation of goods, but also seem to have more land than farming...

In this era, this is very subverting people's thinking.

Even Fang Xuanling, who was used to seeing the huge wealth of his family's Fangjiawan Wharf, was a little at a loss when faced with the prosperity and prosperity of Huating Town.

The truth is the truth, it doesn't mean that if you understand the truth, you can accept it...

*****
As early as the 25th year of Qin Wangzheng, Qin destroyed Chu, which was convenient for Qiantang County to be located at the mouth of the Qiantang River. When the Tang Dynasty was established, the "Tang" was changed to "Tang" because of the taboo of the country name.

In the ninth year of Kaihuang, Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty abolished the county as a prefecture, and the name "Hangzhou" appeared for the first time. It governed six counties of Qiantang, Yuhang, Fuyang, Yanguan, Yuqian and Wukang.At the beginning of the state administration, it was in Yuhang, and moved to Qiantang the following year.In the 11th year of Kaihuang, the city was built on the mountainside of Fenghuang Mountain, "36 miles and [-] steps in a week", this is the earliest Hangzhou city...

Tightly strangling the throat of the Qianjiang River, this place has been a land of fish and rice since ancient times, prosperous and prosperous, and can be called "the southeast is prosperous, and the city of the three Wus".

In the south of Qiantang City, on the bank of Xianghu Lake.

A small building stands in the breeze and slanting rain, the surrounding trees are still green and dripping, and the nearby lake is as calm as a girl who is getting ready to marry, revealing a gentle and elegant tranquility, and the slightest raindrops fall into the lake , the lake is rippling with circles of ripples, but it adds a bit of playfulness...

Downstairs, the fragrance of tea curls up, quiet and elegant.

Four people sit opposite each other.

A middle-aged literati drinking tea leisurely, listening to the soft sound of raindrops hitting the banana leaves outside the window, feels poetic and picturesque, but the two big and thick men in front of him are really a sight. If there are beautiful and pretty maids cooking tea, Red sleeves add fragrance, that is a beautiful thing in life.

I'm in a bad mood, and even the handsome young man with the first place doesn't look so pleasing to the eye...

"Ugh……"

Sighing, the middle-aged scribe put down his teacup, raised his eyelids, looked at the guests in front of him, and said helplessly: "The autumn rain is lingering, and the beautiful scenery is beautiful, do you all have to talk about these vulgar things that spoil the scenery?"

This person has a handsome appearance and an extraordinary bearing, but the two thin lips make the whole person look too mean and cold, even when he smiles, he is cold and indifferent, which makes people very uncomfortable.

On the opposite side of him was a stout man with a beard on his face, and said: "Young Master is a nobleman, and our servants naturally dare not disturb your leisure time, but right now all the value of goods from various families have gathered in Qiantang, and they are waiting to be shipped to sea. We have no choice but to come here and ask the young master to get a charter."

The middle-aged scholar frowned and said, "Just go and load the ship. Everything will be done according to the old rules. Why do we need any regulations?"

The man said: "Usually it's just a small fight, we naturally know how to do things, but yesterday Fang Xuanling arrived in Huating Town, we are going to go to sea with such a big fanfare, just in case..."

"What's the matter?" The handsome young man sitting under the head of the middle-aged scribe said disdainfully: "So what about Fang Xuanling? He is just an old man who is retiring from his official position, and he is not the minister who ruled the world in the past. There is nothing to be afraid of." .”

This young man is none other than Langya Wang's descendant, Wang Xue'an's son Wang Qi.

At the beginning, Xiao Yu was expelled from the "Golden Bamboo Garden", which made him lose face, but this year, Wang Xuean passed away due to illness, and Wang Shangshang lived in seclusion. Shi.

There is no such thing as "unrelated to old age and death" among aristocratic families, each family is entangled with grievances and grievances, and only interests are in their eyes.And speaking of it, Wang Qi's grandmother and Xiao Mao's wife are sisters, according to seniority, he has to call Xiao Mao "uncle grandpa", and Xiao Mao's children are sisters. The blood relationship is not too far away, and they are cousins ​​to each other...

The middle-aged scribe was Xiao Mao's son Xiao Cuo.

Just looking at this cheap nephew in front of him, Xiao Cuo really couldn't like it.

Relying on the fact that his mother is familiar with his wife, he often goes in and out of his mansion, and even covets his daughter.My Xiao Cuo's daughter is going to marry into the prince's mansion in the future, and now the family is even in the process of marrying Fang Jun, how can she marry a shabby household like you?
Who is Fang Jun?

That is the first-class celebrity in the dynasty, and he is already the Minister of the Ministry of Military Affairs at a young age. Not surprisingly, he will officially take office after the Eastern Expedition.

What's more, the royal navy is under Fang Jun's control. If he marries Fang Jun, he will become his father-in-law and sell some goods overseas. Why do we need to sneak around now to avoid commercial taxes?In the name of Fang Jun's father-in-law, whether he is Su Dingfang or Pei Xingjian, how dare they embarrass himself with the courage of the two of them?

Look at your Langya Wang clan again, what is left now except for a tattered shelf?
It's just that Wang Qi didn't know that the candidates for marriage hadn't spread to the outside world, and he was still sitting on the Spring and Autumn Dream, what a toad wants to eat swan meat...

But this kid coaxed his wife to like him very much, Xiao Cuo was very afraid of his wife who was quite a heroine, and Wang Qi himself had some talents, the name of Langya Wang was certainly worthless in his eyes , but there are not a few gentry families who buy it, which is why he is responsible for secretly contacting various families to raise goods and smuggle them.

Hearing Wang Qizhi's wild words at this moment, Xiao Cuo was not happy, and said calmly: "Be careful, you can travel for ten thousand years. If you are young, you should be cautious and not careless."

"Here."

Wang Qi hurriedly listened with downcast eyes, not daring to refute with a single word.

But in his heart he was thinking of the allusions of "Lying on fire to taste courage" and "Hanging a beam to stab a butt". Now that Langya Wang's power is weak, naturally he can't stand up in front of Xiao's.But as long as I can marry your daughter back home, and then rely on your Xiao family's energy to revive the family, all the patience is worth it.

Only then did Xiao Cuo look relieved, and asked, "Are all the slaves and private soldiers properly arranged?"

Hearing this, the man who had never spoken up until now said: "My son's words are all settled properly. There are a total of [-] private soldiers in the family, plus the servants dispatched from various families. They have all practiced water warfare. The sailors are so elite, but they are more than enough to deal with ordinary pirates, waiting for three or five hundred pirates, he must come and go."

The benefits of Haimao are so great that even a wealthy family like the Lanling Xiao family is envious of it.

It's just that Huating Town dominates the sea trade, and the taxes are really too heavy. Those profits are collected for nothing, it's like gouging out a piece of flesh and blood from the hearts of these noble families, the pain is so painful that it is difficult to breathe, and the smuggling act came into being pregnancy.

But in the past, in order to avoid the patrols and arrests of the Royal Navy, everyone had to break up into pieces, and only dared to send small fleets to sea for smuggling. The scale was limited, and the profits were naturally small.

Ever since Fang Jun was about to lead the Royal Navy to the sea, the news was rushed from eight hundred miles in Guanzhong to Jiangnan. All the families headed by the Xiao family were gearing up, planning to take advantage of the opportunity to stop the attack on Goguryeo while the navy was going north to attack Goguryeo. Super large-scale smuggling activities, earning a lot of money!
For this reason, each family sent out private soldiers and servants to follow the fleet after simple drills to resist possible pirates.

All the large groups of pirates on the South China Sea were wiped out by the Royal Navy, and the remaining small groups of pirates, in front of the heavily armed private soldiers and servants of the major families, had a hard time taking advantage of them. The reason why the navy smuggled...

I can make huge profits by organizing the fleet myself, why should I rely on the navy for formal trade and then pay taxes on the profits?
I am used to enjoying the privileges throughout the ages. My ancestors have been exempt from taxes and taxes for generations. Now asking them to pay taxes and taxes is more uncomfortable than cutting their flesh...

(End of this chapter)