"Yangzhou salt merchants are known as eight families and twelve households, eight families have been heirlooms with salt for more than 100 years, since the beginning of the Ming Dynasty has been engaged in this line, and the twelve households are slowly prosperous after the establishment of the dynasty, eight Zhongshan and Shaanxi merchants accounted for six, two Hui merchants, and only three of the twelve Zhongshan and Shaanxi merchants, and the remaining nine are Hui merchants."

Wang Wenyan patiently introduced Feng Ziying to the top group of merchants in the Great Zhou Dynasty, the salt merchants.

It's not that they have a lot of power, it's that they have enough money to ignore anything else.

"From the point of view of the text, if this official intends to persuade these businessmen to buy Kaihai bonds, or persuade them to invest in Tonghai Yinzhuang, how sure is it? How much money can be raised? ”

Feng Ziying didn't go around in circles, she collected so much information, could she really be here to have fun? That must be the end of the day.

It's just that whether the most satisfactory effect can be achieved in terms of quantity depends on the ability of each family.

Wang Wenyan laughed, "The adults have set up the yamen frame here, and the salt merchants are all shrewd people who see the wind and steer the rudder, how can they not understand the meaning of the adults?" It's just that they are the most astute and cunning people in business, so they naturally have to weigh the weight of adults, and use various ways to test or calculate conditions. ”

Feng Ziying's face was full of interest, and she wiped her beard that didn't exist on her chin, "In this way, everyone is tacit, it's nothing more than bargaining?" ”

"Pretty much." Wang Wenyan also made this judgment, "But it depends on who the adult opens the gap from, and the effect may be very different." ”

Feng Ziying was thoughtful.

The salt merchants are certainly not monolithic, which can be seen from the so-called situation where the eight households and twelve families are divided into two eras and two places, and Wang Wenyan's opinions are naturally broken down individually, and then contrasted, forcing them to enter according to Feng Ziying's intentions.

But he wasn't going to do that.

Although they belong to different groups, they have the same temperament in their bones.

The source of profit for salt merchants is monopoly, and at this point, it can be said that this group did not make much contribution to the Great Zhou, not to mention the vassal elegance of building gardens, developing theatrical culture, and raising thin horses.

If you directly intervene at the beginning, you can achieve some results, but it will definitely be difficult to achieve the best results, because the threshold determines the upper limit, and they will subconsciously draw a line for themselves.

Looking at the posts piled on the table, Feng Ziying casually picked up a few copies and looked at them.

These posts still receive more than a dozen copies almost every day, even though they know that they are not available, but these people are still tireless.

Even Lin Ruhai's side would convey some undeniable messages from time to time, so that Lin Ruhai was saying that he originally felt that he had rented this small courtyard to borrow the scenery of the salt envoy Si Yamen from Lianghuai, but now it seems to be a little reversed.

"Your Excellency has an idea?" Wang Wenyan naturally knew that Feng Ziying would not easily follow the way he recommended him.

If everything was according to his own ideas, it would be impossible for this person to go to such a high position at such a young age.

Just like Dongfan reclamation and salt affairs, in Wang Wenyan's view, this is simply a stroke of genius, no one would have imagined that the seemingly inadvertent chicken ribs can be so useful, but this is based on people's understanding of the situation in Dongfan.

Therefore, Wang Wenyan was also surprised that the other party knew that the coastline near Penghu was extremely suitable for salt, and even the secret of the higher salt content in the seawater, these situations were not something that ordinary people could do.

"Well, there are some ideas, good dishes must always be tasted slowly at the end, they all know that my goal in Jiangnan is them, so let them suffer first." Feng Ziying picked up the teacup, lifted the lid, lifted it, and took a sip, "There is always a time when they come in handy." ”

Wang Wenyan understood, and also smiled, "Are you planning to burn the fire enough?" ”

Glancing at Wang Wenyan, this person has a clever mind and clever motives, no wonder he can act as a think tank of the Donglin Party in his previous life, but under his command, he should have a better stage for performance.

"Burn enough fire first, and the food will cook naturally." Feng Ziying responded, and seemed to rhyme a little.

"Where do you plan to start first?" Wang Wenyan found that with this new proprietor, he could feel and learn new things almost every day, and the other party's sophistication and maturity made people suspect that his age and experience were completely incommensurate, which may only be explained by Tianzhong Genius.

"Drill the Tiandongting emblems all over the place, let's start with the Dongting merchants, it is said that they are the most able to observe the wind and distinguish the situation, I want to see what they think of my trip to the south of the Yangtze River, and what they think of the court's strategy of opening the sea." Feng Ziying casually raised a letter in her hand, "My other father-in-law's letter is also here, I should always give some face." ”

Feng Ziying also found it quite interesting, her two fathers-in-law were from Suzhou.

The Shen family is a famous family in Suzhou, a scholarly family, and the Lin family is also a wealthy family in Suzhou, but they are from a liehou, well, to be precise, it can be regarded as martial arts, but it is declining very quickly, and there is no shadow of martial arts at all in Lin Ruhai's generation, all relying on Lin Ruhai's own reading skills.

If it weren't for marrying the daughter of the Jia family, Lin Ruhai really had nothing to do with Wu Xun.

Dongting merchants are the leading representatives of Suzhou merchants, their business categories are almost all-encompassing, although each has its own focus, but almost throughout the entire Jiangnan, Huguang and even the north, although this group is not as famous as Shanxi merchants and Hui merchants, but in fact it is a new force appeared.

"Agree with us?" Xu Chengdong finally breathed a sigh of relief, "That's good, it's not in vain that we followed us from Jingshi to Jiangnan, what about the Weng family?" ”

"Duke Weng is still in Beijing, but the news that came back is that although the official lord saw Duke Weng, he didn't say anything, only said that the court was difficult, and hoped that the gentry and merchants would be difficult for the court, and as for all the affairs involved in the strategy of opening the sea, it should be prevaricated and perfunctory, and he refused to talk ,......about it in detail."

The person who came back from the message said cautiously.

Xu Chengdong was silent.

When he went south, he went to Dongchang Mansion to visit Shen Xuan, and it took a lot of thought, this Lord Shen Zhifu also had the intention to go further in his career, and he didn't have much contact before, so he just got a promise from the other party that he would write a letter to Feng Ziying, but that's all.

It seems that the progress of the Jingshi side is not going well.

Guan Yingzhen is from Huguang, and it is even more difficult to deal with, and Weng Qiyang has not been able to achieve much results.

And looking at this posture, this Feng Ziying went south to Yangzhou with special authority and full power to make a decision, and his teacher trusted him tightly.

Drilling the sky in Dongting not only refers to the fact that Dongting merchants go to many places, or operate a wide range of businesses, but also means that Dongting merchants have a more accurate and thorough grasp and understanding of the current situation.

Doing business in the Great Zhou, needless to say, if you want to become a climate, if you don't have the slightest judgment and grasp of the changes in the current situation of the DPRK and politics, it will not last long, and this is true for individuals, and even more so for groups.

At first glance, it seems that the opening of the sea has little substantive connection with the current livelihood of Dongting merchants, and it is more about maritime trade or overseas reclamation, although it has some relationship with the current business of Dongting merchants, but it is not deep.

However, they all feel some differences with their keen perception in this regard, the big action of the imperial court in this is unprecedented, and the touch on the entire Great Zhou Dynasty is even greater, it can be said that the Great Zhou Dynasty will usher in a wave of great changes because of the strategy of opening the sea.

They all have a feeling that if they can't keep up with this rhythm, maybe the Dongting merchants will be short-lived, or even reduced to second- and third-rate merchants.

Seeing that Xu Chengdong was silent, the man next to him whispered: "Gong Xu, can you make some preparations?" ”

"Ready? What preparation? Xu Chengdong said lightly.

"Uh, as it used ,......"

"Do you think this Xiao Feng Xiu will be such an ordinary official?" Xu Chengdong's upright body seemed to relax, and he paced around the flower hall with his hands behind his back, "If he can settle it like that, why do we need to go from Beijing to Yangzhou?" ”

"Maybe it's waiting for the price to sell?" The people next to him were a little unconvinced.

"The term "selling at a price" is also accurate, but this 'price' and 'sell' are probably not as simple as you think, if he only looks at silver, then my eyes should really be gouged and lost." Xu Chengdong muttered: "The plan is big." ”

"Then Duke Xu, what do you think of this Xiao Feng's revision?"

"I don't know, if I know, why bother thinking about it again?" Xu Chengdong said leisurely: "It seems that we can watch from the sidelines, but my intuition tells me that if we don't dare to go on this trip, it seems that we will miss a lot more, and even have no chance to catch up with ,......."

Gut feeling? This reason is really strong enough, but in the face of the head of the Xu family of the "Weng Xu" family among the Dongting merchants, others naturally dare not refute it directly.

"Then Xu Gong, what should I do?"

"The soldiers will block the water and cover the earth, and they will just see the move." Xu Chengdong also collected all his thoughts, and said calmly: "This Xiao Feng Xiu has left us dry for so long before seeing us, so he naturally has an idea, but I really want to know what this Xiao Feng Xiu wants us Dongting merchants to do." ”

Industrial, perhaps? Xu Chengdong suddenly realized.

If you want to say that the biggest difference between Dongting merchants and Hui merchants and Shanxi merchants is that the Dongting merchant group is not only a businessman, such a group not only has a merchant business, but also a group that operates a workshop.

The silk workshops and printing workshops in Suzhou, the cotton cloth workshops and dyeing workshops in Songjiang, the pharmaceutical workshops in Jinling, and the ceramic kilns in Jingdezhen are all inseparable from the figures of Dongting merchants.

Could it really be that this is the reason why the other party put aside the Shanshan merchants and the Hui merchants and saw himself first? Xu Chengdong groaned.