Tong Guan said this, and Yang Huairen could already hear the meaning of the words.

It seems that Zhao Xianqiu is not covering the sky in Jiangnan, and Father-in-law Cen of the City Bo Division seems to be a little bit at odds with him.

From the perspective of the functions of the three divisions in the south of the Yangtze River, the Caoyun Yamen and the City Shipping Division are both in charge of transportation, the Caoyun Yamen is in charge of inland shipping, and the City Shipping Division is in charge of foreign trade shipping.

The two are related, but they have nothing to do with it, because the internal transportation and foreign trade of the Great Song Dynasty are not the same thing at all, and the weaving bureau is sandwiched between the two, which is particularly interesting.

The maritime trade of the Great Song Dynasty was forbidden in the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, and Emperor Taizong issued a decree to implement the maritime ban in the first year of the Taiping Rejuvenation of the Kingdom, stipulating that those who engage in maritime trade without permission shall be convicted of a crime of 100 yuan and sentenced to 15 yuan in prison, that is, tattooed on the face.

After Zhenzong succeeded to the throne, although the sea ban law was not abolished, in fact, maritime trade had been appropriately liberalized, and the imperial court took the lead in starting overseas trade, but the private maritime trade was still within the scope of control.

It was not until the second year of Yuanfeng in the Song Dynasty that the sea ban was completely abolished, and the imperial court allowed merchants to conduct maritime trade, and even introduced a series of management and taxation policies, resetting the city and shipping divisions, and managing and assisting merchants to freely engage in maritime trade.

The exquisite silk, porcelain, tea, and some exquisite handicrafts of the Great Song Dynasty were transported by sea to Southeast Asian countries for transit, and then bought from Southeast Asian countries by merchant ships from the Middle East and South Asia, and transported back to their home countries for sale.

This form of maritime trade continued until the Southern Song Dynasty, when the maritime trade ships could not run the ocean because of the limited manufacturing process, and they were also limited by the season.

In summer and autumn, there are frequent storms along the southeast coast, and it is very dangerous to run ships at sea, so it is only in winter and spring that the sea trade is most intensive.

The porcelain and silk of the Song Dynasty were very popular in the Middle East and South Asian countries, so in the past ten years since the lifting of the sea ban, maritime trade has been very frequent, fattening the city, and also producing many wealthy merchants in Jiangnan who rely on sea trade to make their fortunes.

This has created a strange phenomenon, the maritime merchants who made their fortunes by sea trade and the wealthy merchants who have made their fortunes by domestic trade in Jiangnan are divided into two factions, each of them has their own circles, and everyone does their own business but has no cooperation.

The cloth merchants in Jiangnan who relied on weaving to make a fortune were caught between them and became an independent merchant circle.

And the three divisions of the imperial court in Jiangnan were each promoted by the three groups of merchants, and the three leaders and eunuchs each had their own financial routes.

Between the three leaders and eunuchs, on the surface, everyone may not interfere with the river water, but in fact, under such a complex entanglement of interests, it is difficult to say that they are really three people with one heart, or if they do not calculate each other because of interests, then something is wrong.

Zhao Xianqiu, who manages Caoyun, seems to have the oldest qualifications and the highest status, but the scope of his jurisdiction is different from that of the Gonggong Cen who manages the city's Bo Division, and the people he contacts are not very related, one is in Yangzhou and the other is in Jiangyin, the two places are not far apart, but there is not much contact between the two sides, and Gonggong Cen does not have to accommodate him.

Compared to these two, Tong Guan is a newcomer, and if he wants to say that the power and connections in Jiangnan must not be compared with the two of them, so he can only be sandwiched between the two and try to find ways to find the right and left.

In terms of actual interests, it is obvious that Father-in-law Cen, who manages the city's shipping department, is the most oily and watery, and Zhao Xianqiu does the most things here, but most of them, such as the transportation and allocation of grain and official salt, are the errands of the imperial court, and he does not dare to take profits from the civil officials in the court.

Only from the non-governmental canal trade can get some benefits, but although the domestic trade volume is large, but the profit is actually not high, to put it bluntly, take the route of small profits but quick turnover, relying on the accumulated volume to obtain profits.

These Jiangnan businessmen who transshipped goods through Caoyun must of course know how to respect Caoyun Yamen, and of course, Zhao Xianqiu has benefited from it, and it is also a long-term stream.

But the maritime merchants are different, the number of goods they go every year does not seem to be comparable with the domestic trade merchants, but they run the sea trade to make a lot of profits.

The silk and porcelain of the Northern Song Dynasty were sold at one price in China, another price when sold to Southeast Asia, and another price when Middle Eastern merchants resold them back to them.

In ancient times in the Middle East, there was a story about a rich man fighting for riches, saying that two rich people were richer than whom, and a businessman said that his house was full of grain, so much that it was piled up into a hill, and he could not eat it all for a lifetime.

The second merchant said that my house was full of gold and silver, and the floor tiles were all inlaid with gold, which frightened the first merchant into not speaking.

The third merchant smiled and said that silk was porcelain at the beginning of my family, and even the porcelain toilet was used to go to the toilet, and the buttocks were wiped with silk.

Although the story is told as a joke, the production of such a story is not without historical basis, which shows that silk and porcelain were status symbols in the hearts of the wealthy in the Middle East and South Asia at that time.

Therefore, the maritime merchants of the Great Song Dynasty made profits several times or even dozens of times at every turn, which belonged to the high-end route.

The cloth merchants spun cloth and weaved silk, and sold it to anyone to make money, as long as the balance between the two sides was done, and people did not mix with the contradictions between the Cao merchants and the maritime merchants.

Tong Guan seems to be helping Zhao Xianqiu speak now, but in fact, he is also helpless, he still has this point of saying what he likes to hear in front of whom.

Yang Huairen had already learned some about the situation in Jiangnan, so Tong Guan mentioned that Gonggong Cen was coming, and he also asked in a pretentious manner, "Yes, Tong Geling didn't say that I really forgot, this is all after autumn, and the sea trade should be busy soon, Cen Geling has been very busy recently, so he didn't come to Yangzhou to see this king?" ”

Yang Huairen didn't want to get involved in the matter between the three eunuchs, but since Tong Guan had spoken, he always had to make a statement, that is, some polite words from good old people, trying to fool the past, after all, he would hide in Jiangnan in the future, but he didn't want the three old eunuchs to be okay all day long to bother him.

Tong Guan thought about it for a while, and said quietly, "Probably...... Possible...... Maybe it's too busy. ”

Zhao Xianqiu also heard the meaning of Yang Huairen's words, and it was inconvenient to continue to say anything, so he also followed Tong Guan's words, "Yes, Gonggong Cen has been busy recently, maybe it is delayed, maybe he will come to see the prince in two days." ”

Yang Huairen nodded and smiled and stopped talking, picked up the teacup and drank it slowly, and kept praising Zhao Xianqiu's tea in the yamen for being delicious.

Zhao Xianqiu knew that he didn't give Grandpa Cen a dismount through Yang Huairen this time, and he was a little unhappy in his heart, but he didn't show anything, pretending to be surprised and said, "If the prince likes it, our family will send someone to prepare more, let the prince take it with him, and when he wants to drink, he will send someone to cook it." ”