The weak scholar in the end of ancient times

Chapter 112 Caravan
When the younger generation of the Zhao family acquired land and built houses in Jingxingfang, the Shen brothers were furious. They wanted to question Wen Gu, but to no avail. Madam Shen first sent someone to warn them.

So, a few days later, a group of young people from the Zhao family in Chaohui Lane and a group of young people from the Shen family in Xianghui Lane got into another fight, and each claimed victory.

They both harbored a strong sense of rivalry, and would often exchange barbs when they met.

The Shen family: My Wanfuyuan Phase I will definitely be built first. What good will it do you if you buy the land? Will you make any money? You'll all be left behind and eating shit!

The Zhao family: We're going to buy land, we're going to occupy a whole piece! I don't care if I make money or not, I just love seeing you guys "dislike me but can't do anything about it"!

Subsequently, the Shen brothers sent two more supervisors to Jingxingfang, ostensibly to oversee the construction site, but in reality to monitor the Zhao family's activities.

Meanwhile, the Zhao family was secretly considering their options, and they decided to send people to the site as well! Construction couldn't start immediately, and there was no need to send a supervisor, but the formalities still had to be followed, and they couldn't afford to lose in this regard!
Soon, an adult's workstation was added to Zhao Han's small art office. Every day, young members of the Zhao family would take turns coming in to make their presence known and help their younger siblings with some crafts; they couldn't just sit there doing nothing.

Wen Gu ignored the fight between the two foolish young men from the Zhao and Shen families.

The catalog was finally printed before the caravan arrived.

On a page in the book unrelated to the main story, there's an illustration. Zhao Han included his own personal touches in the drawing: an image of the main character from the story of the Spirit Fire Exorcising Evil, depicting him wearing the uniform of the Patrol Guard!

In the eyes of Zhao Han and the other children, the three major military institutions in Xinzhou—the Patrol Guard, the Hunting Army, and the City Defense Army—were the Patrol Guard the coolest. Therefore, when drawing, they went through all sorts of imposing military uniforms and armor in their minds and finally chose to refer to the Patrol Guard.

Regardless, this privately made item passed Young Master Zhao's review and was eventually printed.

The edition supplied to aristocratic families was a deluxe edition with color pages, and it was expensive. Of course, this expensiveness only applied to ordinary people; wealthy families, after trying out the copies, would buy five or ten copies at a time, and most of them would entrust merchants to take them to other states.

However, the versions that are sent out are likely the abridged versions—the ones with the illustrations containing personal touches cut out.

Another few days passed.

With no snowfall recently and a slight rise in temperature, caravans have finally started moving again.

Foreign merchant caravans are required to undergo quarantine for at least one day at a designated location outside Xinzhou City.

Wen Gu received the news as soon as the caravan arrived.

The first to arrive was the Sheng family's caravan.

"The current generation in power in the Sheng family mainly consists of two people, Sheng Feng and Sheng Ren. It is said that both of them are shrewd, capable, and decisive. Now they have allied themselves with the Dong family."

By reviewing the information about the Sheng family, Cheng Zhi and He Xiaodi also learned more about it.

He Xiaodi, who was copying documents, stopped writing and said, "A bumper harvest? Could they be grain merchants?"

"Have you heard of Shenghe Grain Shop?" Wen Gu asked.

He Xiaodi shook his head.

Cheng Zhi quickly found the answer in his memory: "We have them where I live! There used to be a Shenghe Grain Shop in the city where the academy was located, and there was one in my hometown town too!"

His hometown, a small town, was right next to a river, where many cargo ships would come and go, sometimes stopping there. Transporting grain was certainly convenient.

Cheng Zhi recalled the stories that used to circulate in the town and said, "I heard that the owner of Shenghe Grain Shop was originally a farmer, but in just a few decades he became a big grain merchant! He was extremely lucky!"

Upon hearing this, He Xiaodi showed admiration and envy.

In terms of social status, scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants are generally considered to be of lower status, but it depends on who you compare them to!

Cheng Zhi and He Xiaodi, their education was supported by their families working themselves to the bone, far less than that of wealthy families. Wen Gu just smiled and said, "Just listen to the rumors and don't take them too seriously."

When did Shenghe Grain Shop appear?

It was a time when the imperial court's policies loosened, allowing people from merchant families to take the imperial examinations and become officials!
Before that, the Sheng family was not well-known, but their ancestors were not ordinary farmers; they were large landowners!

The Sheng family's prosperity has lasted far more than a century!
When merchants were ineligible to take the imperial examinations, the Sheng family were considered "farmers."

Exploiting loopholes in the household registration system to bypass the "identity segregation" of business people, connect with scholars, and gain more power may have already been done!
Once the imperial court changed its policy towards merchants from "complete prohibition" to "limited opening," and the sons of merchants were able to take the imperial examinations, Shenghe Grain Shops in various places could openly appear and quickly dominate the market.

The reputation was also well-managed, and inspirational stories of "ordinary farmers becoming great merchants through their own hard work and good fortune, and their descendants passing the imperial examinations and entering officialdom" were spread among the people.

All this information about the Sheng family was told to Wen Gu by his aunt, Madam Shen.

The Shen family were also merchants and quite wealthy.

but!

The descendants of the Shen family could only look on with envy at the academic abilities of other families!

Even with the relaxation of policies, no one responded.

Is it that you don't want to?!
Even in my wildest dreams!

I simply don't have that kind of talent!
Let alone the imperial examinations, even business acumen is not something the next generation inherits much of.

The late Mr. Shen, who was Wen Gu's maternal grandfather, made several preparations back then. Since the path of officialdom was not feasible, he would take the path of marriage!

They specifically chose marriage partners for their children from promising scholarly families, such as the Wen family, and also from promising but declining aristocratic families, such as the Zhao family of the North.

Our Shen family descendants may not have a talent for studying, but we are rich!
It has to be said that it was precisely because Old Master Shen paved the way back then that the Shen family received such a windfall today!
Recalling the information about the Sheng family, Wen Gu asked Cheng and He, "Are there any capable farmers or agricultural officials in our Xinzhou?"

After searching, Cheng Zhi replied, "I don't know about skilled farmers, but there are definitely agricultural officials! Xinzhou is doing things like pacifying displaced people, managing water conservancy, and reclaiming wasteland. These all require officials who understand agriculture."

He nodded in agreement.

These kinds of things need to be done by professionals. When it comes to food, which is essential for survival, we certainly can't rely solely on stockpiles; Uncle Zhao still takes farming very seriously.

However, how well those dispatched agricultural officials performed their duties, how much they held back, and whether they were perfunctory—that's another matter entirely.

Anyway, as far as Wen Gu knows, the harvests of several ordinary villages in the vicinity that have dealings with Jingxingfang were not very good in the past year.

However, some farmland connected to powerful and influential people reportedly yielded decent harvests.

Given the state of the world, it's impossible to arrest those agricultural officials and have them teach ordinary villagers how to farm, right?
Wen Gu doesn't have that much power right now, not to mention that these agricultural officials are associated with many powerful and influential families.

he thought.

"The Sheng family's caravan...it seems they have quite a lot of people coming this time..."

Wen Gu called He Da and Tao San over and assigned them some tasks.

“Jingxingfang is a new place, and caravans from other places are definitely not familiar with us. We can give them a warm welcome and help each other get to know each other better…”

(End of this chapter)