No war in the Northern Song Dynasty

Chapter 63: Store and House Trading Law

The next day, Zhang Daocheng came to Zhang Yaozuo's house with gifts and surrounded by a group of servants.

Zhang Yaozuo brought Su Ze to greet them personally at the gate of the mansion.

There is no way. The Zhang family is too small. Although Zhang Daocheng is just a businessman, he is already one of the few talents that the Zhang family can use.

Zhang Yaozuo certainly knew that if he wanted to succeed, he not only needed the help of Zhang Xiuyuan in the palace, but also the help of relatives like Zhang Daocheng.

Zhang Daocheng got off the carriage and walked quickly to Zhang Yaozuo. The two exchanged greetings, and Su Ze saluted Zhang Daocheng again.

Zhang Daocheng stroked his beard and accepted Su Ze's greetings with a smile. Zhang Yaozuo led everyone home. Su Ze suddenly caught a glimpse of a familiar figure among Zhang Daocheng's servants.

This, this is too unrestrained, right?
Zhang Chulan smiled sweetly at Su Ze, then straightened the servant's hat and quickly caught up with Zhang Daocheng.

Su Ze also smiled. That's right. Before the rise of Taoism and Neo-Confucianism, this was the style of scholars. Didn't the previous and current emperors both marry divorced women?
Zhang Daocheng's family is not a big family with strict rules, but they have only risen in recent years. It is normal for Zhang Daocheng to love his daughter.

When they arrived at the reception hall, Zhang Chulan stood steadily behind Zhang Daocheng. They exchanged greetings for a while, and then Zhang Yaozuo invited Zhang Daocheng to his study to appreciate ancient books.

This means they want to discuss important matters. The reception room is just a ceremonial place, and the study is the most important office place for ancient literati. Inviting Zhang Daocheng to the study to discuss matters shows that Zhang Yaozuo and Zhang Daocheng have a close relationship.

Just as Su Ze stood up to leave, Zhang Chulan grabbed him from behind.

"Surprise?"

Zhang Chulan squinted her eyes, and a breath of youthful vitality came to her face.

Su Ze nodded quickly, and Zhang Chulan smiled even more happily.

"It's all my fault, Dad, for not letting me come to see you."

Su Ze thought to himself that girls are really extroverts. They are already blaming their father before they even get married. Su Ze quickly said:

"Mr. Zhang is also concerned about our reputation. After the wedding, you will have to choose a date to return to your parents' home."

Speaking of marriage, Zhang Chulan blushed.

Only then did she realize that their identities were different.

From childhood sweethearts to engaged couple, Zhang Chulan felt extremely embarrassed and could not even say what she wanted to say to Su Ze.

The atmosphere was awkward for a while before Zhang Chulan said:

"By the way, I have something to give you."

A servant came forward carrying a wooden cage. Zhang Chulan opened the cage and saw that this exquisite wooden box with a window pane was covered with fur. Zhang Chulan dragged out a white pig from the cage.

No, Su Ze looked closely and saw that this was his raccoon Yanzhixue.
How come you've become so fat after not seeing you for over a month?
Su Ze was speechless. After he was involved in the case, he had no time to take care of Yan Zhixue. Later, he went back to the yard to look for it but couldn't find it. He thought it had run away to another house.

But he didn't expect to be taken back by Zhang Chulan and fed like a pig and cat.

Zhang Chulan said:
"After you got into trouble, I went to your house to look for you, and this raccoon followed me. I took it home and helped you raise it."

Then Zhang Chulan said disdainfully:

"This stupid raccoon can't even catch mice. All he does every day is eat, and that's it."

Su Ze was speechless. Wasn’t it you who fed him?
This cunning cat slave obviously knew that if he followed Su Ze, he would only get dried fish, but if he followed Zhang Chulan, he would get good food and drink. So he refused to be carried away by Su Ze, twisting his fat body back and forth.

Su Ze said speechlessly:

"You should keep him first, Lan Niang."

Zhang Chulan also liked this raccoon very much. After hearing this, she immediately hugged it in her arms and said with a smile:

"Then we'll talk about it after we get married."

Speaking of marriage, Zhang Chulan blushed again. At this time, Zhang Yaozuo's personal servant came to urge Su Ze, and Su Ze said goodbye to his fiancée.

Arriving in Zhang Yaozuo's study, Zhang Daocheng looked at his future son-in-law with satisfaction. Zhang Yaozuo said:
"Your future father-in-law is helping you. Brother Daocheng said that when the exam comes, he can give you some money to make up for the shortfalls in the store and house. So for the time being, all you have to do is manage the store and house well and avoid any trouble."

Su Ze looked at Zhang Daocheng. As expected, his future father-in-law was rich and was willing to spend money to help him improve his political achievements.

In this case, my plan is easy.

Su Ze saluted the two and continued:

"Uncle, Mr. Zhang, I have an idea."

idea?

Zhang Yaozuo knew that Su Ze was very smart and had been out frequently these days, inspecting the store and household affairs on the spot.

But the store and house affairs are a huge mess. Does Su Ze really have any way to revive it?

Su Ze said:

"My nephew's idea is to set up a market under the store and house management department to specifically help the workshops within the store and house management department purchase raw materials and goods."

"And the income from the market exchange can be used to maintain the property of the store and the house."

"This will benefit the people who rent from the shop and house service, and the shop and house service will also have new income, which can be used to renovate the dilapidated houses and improve the living conditions of the shop and house service."

Zhang Yaozuo narrowed his eyes and asked, "The Market Exchange? A government guild?"

Su Ze looked at Zhang Yaozuo. It seemed that his promotion to his current position was not entirely due to his connections. Zhang Xiuyuan hired him because she saw his abilities.

Su Ze nodded and said:

"That's right. The Municipal Exchange can collect the needs of the shops and workshops within the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, help them purchase materials in a centralized manner, and then deliver them to every household."

"Then the exchange can help contact buyers, and when there are orders, it will be distributed to the corresponding workshops to provide them with orders."

"in addition."

Su Ze looked at Zhang Daocheng and said:
"Also, small workshops run by ordinary people sometimes can't take on large orders due to financial constraints. The exchange can also provide loans."

Su Ze finished expressing his thoughts and then began to list the data.

"There are over 20,000 shops and houses, 8,000 of which are workshops. The remaining 5,000 households also make small items on a daily basis. The workshops are all-encompassing and can almost meet all the needs of Bianjing City."

"The exchange buys all the raw materials and sells them at a fair price, taking only a five-cent commission."

"The same applies to transactions connected with the City Exchange. The City Exchange takes a 5% commission, and also charges a low interest rate for loans."

Zhang Yaozuo frowned and said:
"Only charging 5 cents, can this be profitable?"

Su Ze smiled and said:

"Uncle, do you know that the shops within this store and house business handle at least five million strings of cash a year? A five percent commission is more than enough to keep the store and house business running, and there's even a surplus."

Zhang Yaozuo took a breath. He didn't expect that the scale of the business under the store and house management would be so large.

Zhang Daocheng frowned and said:

"There's such a large amount of money going on, but my Zhang family doesn't have that much money."

Su Ze narrowed his eyes and said:

"This is where Mr. Su wants to ask Mr. Zhang for help. This will inevitably infringe on the interests of the big merchants. Mr. Zhang can persuade some big merchants to pool their money and come to the store to collect interest."

(End of this chapter)