Start with the humble bridegroom

Chapter 341 Blank Paper and Sugar

Spring is just around the corner, and a round of fiery red sun sets in the west.The scenery that can only be seen in autumn appears strangely in spring.

A young man wrapped in cold fur stood alone in the wilderness outside the post station and looked at the strange celestial phenomenon.

The quarrel in the post station has lasted for several days, and the eleven imperial merchants did not discuss the reason at all.

Tang Bo, who was the first to come outside Zhaoyang County, was faintly excluded and suspected by other imperial merchants.

Among them, the three families who were afraid of Zheng Ruhu even ridiculed Tang Bo and complained all day long.

Even standing in the wilderness, South Korea could faintly hear the quarrels coming from the post station.

"Three buckets of rice but fifty guan?! Do you really think Zheng people are fools? Now that the city gate is closed, they ignore me. If the dispute between the two countries resumes, whose crime is it?"

"Guangyan is also for everyone's benefit. After all, the apportionment of 400 million yuan is divided, and each family has to pay 20 yuan in name. Isn't this killing people?"

"Patriarch Tang, don't be joking. I wait for Wu Guohuang to cater to this kind of apportionment, and I will always draw it once every ten years. Every time the money is paid out, the court will use one-tenth of the money to offset the filial piety. That is The Zheng people also know that the 400 million is actually only 40, and each family will have to pay 40 to [-] guan this time. But this is directly more than [-] times the price quoted by the Zheng people, and the temper of the Zheng people is afraid that this matter will be troublesome. .”

There are not many people speaking for Tang Bo in the station, and this is still a few family friends.Even these companies don't know why Tang Bo quoted such an outrageous price to Zheng Ren?
Footsteps sounded behind Tang Bo, and a voice came.

"Guang Yan can't stand those idiots?"

Hearing the sound, Tang Bo turned around and gave a salute to the visitor, and chuckled lightly: "This is Tang's plan for your lord, and these are all in his expectation. Bo was just surprised that Zheng Guo sent this so-called Zhang Xinzhi's literary talent is the highest in the world."

"That letter or literary talent despises Yunei, but how can this economy and foresight be Guangyan's opponent?"

The person who spoke was an official sent by the state of Wu to hand over the money. His surname was Shi and his name was Qiao.

Tang Bo and Shi Qiao had been friends for a long time, and he also knew that Shi Qiao had always been optimistic about his talent. If Shi Qiao hadn't been in charge of this matter, he would not have taken the initiative to come up with this plan for Shi Qiao.

"Maybe Zhang Xinzhi is not good at breeding goods, but Master Zheng has always been good at employing people, and there may be other secrets in it. Sir, don't take it lightly!"

Shi Qiao nodded, seeing that Tang Bo didn't give up because of criticism, and didn't take careless because of being hostile, his heart overflowed with love for his talents again.

But Tang Bo's current status is that he is a half-servant of Master Wu. The year before last, he was still a high-spirited provincial governor.But who would have thought that the Great Zheng Nanzheng took Zhaoyang and other places, and none of the heads of the Tang family were in the war zone.

In order to inherit and maintain the declining Tang family, Tang Bo had to give up the imperial examinations and devote himself to merchants.Every time he thinks of this, Shi Qiao feels uneasy.

In his opinion, given time, with Tang Bo's insight and talent, he must be the prime minister.

The two dismissed the servants behind them, and one after the other came to a place farther away from the station.

"The letter has arrived!" Shi Qiao whispered to Tang Bo.

Tang Bo nodded: "It came rather quickly. I originally thought he would come on the last day to show off Zheng's prestige. My lord, but the news from the Fang family? After knowing the price we quoted, can there be any chance?" How angry are you?"

Shi Qiao walked a few steps, with some doubts in his tone.

"It's not the news from Fang's family, but the guard Xue Xiong sent someone out of the city. That letter invites us to enter the city and discuss the purchase price."

"Oh? That's really strange!" Tang Bo paused for a moment, and laughed, "This person is three years younger than Bo, so he has such a good self-cultivation?"

"Guang Yan thinks how to deal with it?"

Accompanying Shi Qiao, Tang Bo walked another hundred steps in the wilderness before opening his mouth.

"My lord and Bo's plan is to delay the handover. The ideal situation is to delay this year's summer harvest. Could it be that Zhang Xinzhi has seen through our intentions? I want to complete the handover as soon as possible. Get rid of that baggage."

"No." Shi Qiao thought for a while, then shook his head, "If he really agrees to the delivery at this purchase price, Zheng Guochaotang will no longer have a foothold for someone Zhang. I just want to put this matter to rest." It will be difficult to delay the first half of the year.”

Tang Bo advised him: "My lord, don't bother. The ancients said that everything is human-made. If you want to find a way, just drag it. The news came from the east a while ago that there was no rain in the Tuojiang River in winter. The Tuojiang River has almost bottomed out and was taken by the Zheng people." The Tuojiang County and the four counties that I went to will definitely have no harvest this summer. The two countries have now made an agreement that Tuojiang County and the four counties will be returned to their own countries. It can be seen that the officials of Zheng State who manage Tuojiang now will certainly not devote themselves to spring plowing. It is that we are the fastest to deliver, and the spring plowing must have passed when Tuojiang County is taken back. Once the summer harvest is cut off, more than [-] people in Tuojiang and Tuoyang counties will become refugees. Where can they go? They can only go south to Jinling. .”

"The scourge of domestic thieves has not yet completely disappeared, and the Chen family who has betrayed the master is hiding in the dark. If there are more than 10,000+ refugees, one spark can burn half of the country." Tang Bo helped Shi Qiao strengthen his belief, "Everyone from Zheng There is still a slight attempt to plot the world. As long as Tuojiang County is still in their hands, they will have to provide relief to buy people's hearts. It is the best situation for us to delay the handover until the summer harvest. No matter how bad it is, we must delay the spring famine time."

Shi Qiao took Tang Bo's words seriously.

The two chatted for a while, but they soon talked about poems and articles, and they were still talking about the famous "written" by Zhang Xinzhi.

"When will the spring flowers and autumn moon come?" Tang Bo sighed softly, "I don't know how elegant this letter is, and what kind of charm does this Spring Flowers and Autumn Moon have, the Su County Lord, dare to answer this word?"

"Let's not talk about County Lord Su, why don't we see Zhang Xinzhi himself tomorrow?" Shi Qiao laughed loudly, "I hope that Guangyan won't make this exiled fairy in the poem blush with anger!"

Tang Bo saw that Shi Qiao was joking, but he didn't answer.Shi Qiao faintly looked down on Dazheng's No. [-] scholar, but Tang Bo didn't. It has always been his motto to be lenient to the enemy.

"According to the new covenant, how many kinds of goods Dazheng has purchased from us, can he also sell us the same share and category of goods! If the letter is greedy at that time, you might as well write down this one Kung Fu, drag the time longer."

Early the next morning, Wu Ren's convoy finally entered from the south gate of Zhaoyang County.

But the guard Xue Xiong and fellow acquaintance Zhang Zhe did not appear on the scene, which made Shi Qiao and the eleven Wu Kingdom merchants stunned.It's okay for Xue Xiong to be ignorant of etiquette, but would Zhang Xinzhi, the number one scholar of Zheng Zheng, be so ignorant of etiquette?

Shi Qiao immediately followed Tang Bo's suggestion and led the crowd straight to the Zhaoyang government office.

"I want everyone to know that Mr. Tongzhi's residence is in Xiushan, not in the county! My lord has said that I will meet you after the Lantern Festival. It's not too late to discuss with you."

The clerk at the gate of the government office answered politely, Shi Qiao and Tang Bo exchanged glances, Zheng wanted to delay?Just what he wanted.

Although when leaving the Zhaoyang government office, all the major merchants complained to Tang Bo somewhat, but because of the power of the Shi family, no one dared to really get mad.

"What do you think of Guangyan?" In the carriage, Shi Qiao asked Tang Bo with a smile.

"Avoiding and not seeing, isn't it what we expected?" Tang Bo replied while thinking, "He is from the fifth rank, and the adults are also from the fifth rank. According to the rules of the Zheng people, when seeing our Wu officials, they must be demoted one level. Correspondence. It is necessary for an official of the sixth grade of Zheng Guozheng to receive an adult, but most of Zhaoyang County are low-ranking officials. If they really welcome us today, it seems that the Zheng people are impatient. But, Zhang Xinzhi To actually see us after the [-]th day of the first lunar month, Bo was a little surprised."

"Isn't it just right that all wishes come true?"

Faced with Shi Qiao's ridicule, Tang Bo seemed extremely cautious.

While thinking about it, a servant suddenly knocked on the carriage, and then said a few words to Shi Qiao who stuck his head out, Shi Qiao's expression changed slightly immediately.

"My lord, what happened?"

"What a Zhang Xinzhi, Shi really underestimated him," Shi Qiao said with a cautious look on his face, "In Zhaoyang County, the Fang family we supported attacked and killed the magistrate of Xiushan a few days ago. This Zhang At the beginning of his tenure, Xinzhi was directly promoted to the Yamen in Xiushan, and in front of the mourning hall of the county magistrate of Xiushan, he used the mansion to make a fuss to correct Fang Chaoli, and used Fang's status as the third imperial merchant as an excuse to raid Fang's house in one fell swoop. Now Fang The house is completely over."

Hearing Zhang Xinzhi's strength, Tang Bo breathed a sigh of relief.

"Bo only saw that Zhang Xinzhi was stationed in Xiushan, not in the county, so he knew that he might not be a good match! Since he is a capable person, Bo feels relieved. This will be delayed until the fifteenth day. It’s definitely his strategy, we must be prepared to prevent this person from pretending to be a pig and eating a tiger.”

"Of course," Shi Qiao praised Tang Bo's state of mind, "Guang Yan is really in a good mood. Since this Zhang Xinzhi is not stupid and incompetent, he must know the reason for our delay. From this, we can know that Zhang Xinzhi is We can’t afford it, and we just have to drag it!”

Tang Bo liked the feeling of discussing countermeasures with Shi Qiao very much. Their suggestions always complement each other and are very suitable.

"It's easy for the two of us to talk, but I'm afraid that the other ten families won't blame you. I'm afraid that the people of Zheng will use troops against me, Great Wu again, and the court will ask the crime."

Tang Bo didn't care at all, his words were full of confidence.

"There has been snow in the north of the river, but there has been no rain in the south of the river. Along the river, the counties and counties of our country may encounter a disaster year. Zheng Guo has been fighting in the north. Even if soldiers come from the south, there is not so much food to relieve the occupied counties. The people of the county. I predict that the people of Zheng will at most intimidate one or two words, and even mobilize troops and horses to threaten them, but they will definitely not go south to their own country."

"Although the people in several counties in the south of the Yangtze River are innocent, for the sake of long-term planning, Shi has no choice but to be a cruel person. A few days ago, I have secretly told His Majesty to move all the granaries of the counties in the south of the Yangtze River to the south. If there is a famine, It’s only allowed once every five days.”

There was a tremor in Shi Qiao's words, and Tang Bo felt ashamed for a moment. If it wasn't for his suggestion, with Shi Qiao's temperament, he would never have made such a heartless move.

Zhang Zhe didn't go to pick up Wu Guoren, not because he didn't want to lose his country's status, but because he was going to give Wu Guohuang merchants a surprise.

The price of three buckets of rice and fifty guan had already made Zhang Zhe see that some of the Wu people wanted to procrastinate.After listening to several county magistrates say that there will be no rain this winter, Zhang Zhe roughly guessed Wu people's plan.

The Wu people wanted to let the Tuojiang area, which was in a disaster year, fall into the hands of Zheng Guo, and then take over the four counties in that county after the disaster eased.

Zhang Zhe knows very well that the least obstacle in the handover process with the Wu people is the payment of the 400 million "shopping coupons", and the biggest obstacle will be the link of using the "shopping coupons" to buy and sell goods from Wu Guohuang merchants .

Coincidentally, after Cao Lingwen inspected Fang's family, Zhang Zhe saw something that caught his eye in the Fang family's asset list submitted.

A sugar workshop and a paper workshop, these two workshops are accompanied by more than [-] craftsmen.

Before Zhang Zhe came, he also did his homework on Nan Wu.

Knowing that the world's sugar industry is all in Nanwu!

The Zhao family of the southern Wu royal family was the leader of the Southern Sugar Industry Guild 270 years ago, and made a fortune by making sugar and selling sugar.In particular, on a large island in the south of Wu State, there grows a strange white dwarf maple tree called the white embroidered maple.This kind of maple tree can produce a kind of white sugar every year, which is called white sugar or snow sugar by the world.

The price of ordinary black sugar and brown sugar is about one catty, but the price of snow candy has always been priceless. It turned out to be as high as more than 20 times!
Sugar is a strategic material both in ancient times and in modern times.Sugar can be eaten directly. It is sometimes difficult for soldiers to eat hot meals during combat, and high-intensity combat will also exhaust soldiers' physical strength and endurance. If sugar can be directly added, the consumption can be greatly reduced.

There are rumors that even modern residents who purchase more than ten catties of sugar at a time must register.

This kind of snow yee has been in the hands of Mrs. Zhao since it came out, and it is extremely precious and expensive.The Southern Wu royal family now owns tens of thousands of acres of snowy maple forest, and the value of snowy maple produced every year reaches millions.

In other words, the snowy industry controlled by the Southern Wu royal family is the equivalent reserve of Southern Wu official tickets!
Dazheng does not produce sugar. In order to obtain this strategic material, it has been encouraging the private sector to open sugar workshops, and the preferential policies have been given to the extreme.

The Fang family's sugar workshop is actually a cover. There is a thousand catties of brown sugar stored in the warehouse, all of which are smuggled from Southern Wu by the Fang family, in order to obtain the benefits of selling sugar in the country without paying taxes.Even the servants and craftsmen in the workshop are all from Zhaoyang, and none of them are really good at making sugar.

After Zhang Zhe saw this tasteless workshop, he was secretly delighted, and immediately bought the workshop in the name of the Gu family.

Another papermaking workshop was also a failed investment project of the Fang family.

There are hundreds of craftsmen in this paper-making workshop, but the color of the paper they can produce is so bad that the warehouse is full of paper that is almost blackish and overall yellow in color.Every craftsman has whip wounds on his body, which are whipped every day by the steward in charge of the paper mill.

If Zhang Zhe hadn't copied Fang's house, these craftsmen would be sold to the south to mine in the spring.

The reason why Zhang Xinzhi didn't take care of those imperial merchants in Wu was precisely because his mind was full of food-grade activated charcoal and paper bleach.

On a certain baba, the cheapest edible-grade decolorizing activated carbon costs only 1200 yuan a ton, while the cheapest paper bleach costs 1500 yuan a ton.Zhang Zhe each placed an order for three tons that day.

Zhang Zhe set his sights on the white paper and white sugar!

In this time and space, even the whitest paper is slightly milky yellow.Concubine Tu Guifei from Southern Wu once gave some to Wan'er, but Wan'er only ate it once and then threw it away. The white sugar in her own kitchen is Xue Jingjing's good stuff.

Although there are rumors on the Internet that muddy water can also remove the color of brown sugar, Zhang Zhe still chose the safest activated carbon.This thing, no one else can get it.

The bleaching agent used per ton of pulp and the activated carbon used per ton of sugar water are about ten to twenty catties.Zhang Zhe asked the craftsmen to start preparing the paper pulp. He planned to use snow-white paper to "break" the psychological defense of the Southern Wu imperial merchants.

He wants to make all Wu Guohuang merchants spit out the value of the 400 million yuan without paying any money!
(End of this chapter)