Back at the inn where he lived, Liu Quan was just waiting for Xia Nan. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 info The old man visited the kiln, and he inquired about the situation of the raw silk industry in Suzhou.

"Master, in the past two days, I went to Suzhou to a place related to the trade of raw silk, and I have a general understanding of the situation here, and it is not easy for outsiders to meddle in the trade of raw silk."

As introduced by Murong Longcheng, the most developed areas of the raw silk industry in the Ming Dynasty were in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, especially Suzhou and Hangzhou. The mainstream model of the raw silk industry is as follows: silkworm farmers raise silkworms, reel silk, and then sell them to silk shops, which then sell raw silk to cloth shops as materials or sell directly to overseas markets. The problem faced by Tiannan Commercial Bank is that this industrial chain is closed, and silkworm farmers' cocoons and raw silk can only be sold to silk stores, and others cannot buy them directly, but can only buy them through silk stores, unless they can get "ministry posts".

To a certain extent, the "ministry post" is greater than the "salt introduction", and it is more difficult to buy and sell raw silk than to be a salt merchant.

"Isn't this a monopoly? Isn't it up to them to decide the price of the purchase and the price of the sale? Xia Nan saw through the essence of the silk line at a glance.

Liu Quan nodded: "That's really the case." It is said that the people said that the silk shop was to buy and sell the dead, and that no matter how they bought or sold, they had to be ruthlessly exploited. The silkworm farmer's raw silk is sold to the silk shop for only 20 taels of silver per 100 catties, and the best lake silk is only 30 taels, and the selling price of the silk shop reaches 80 taels, and the lake silk is 100 taels. ”

This is the windfall profit brought by monopoly, you don't have to do anything, one in and one out is more than three times the net profit.

"This silver is too easy to earn, isn't it?" Xia Nan was quite jealous, and the profits of his cotton cloth and shochu business were not so high.

Liu Quan nodded: "It's really lying down and counting money." It's a pity that we can't get into such a lucrative deal. ”

Xia Nan thought for a while and said to Liu Quan: "Not necessarily, the raptor can also cross the river, and he may not be afraid of these ground snakes." Let's go to visit the prefect of Suzhou first, and then go to the largest silk store in Suzhou, let's go to the bottom first. ”

Accompanied by Sima De and Liu Quan, with Mu Tianyan's "letter of introduction", Xia Nan successfully met Chen Zhongsheng, the prefect of Suzhou.

is also the prefect, Chen Zhongsheng is much stronger than Qin Bingyan, the prefect of Qiongzhou. Jiangnan is rich and rich, Suzhou is one of the core areas in the south of the Yangtze River, and it is not like the neighboring Hangzhou Mansion in the provincial capital - there is a saying in the Ming and Qing dynasties, "Three lives are unfortunate, and the county is attached to Guo; Three lives do evil, attached to the provincial city of Guo; The evil is full of evil, attached to Guo Jingcheng. "It is said that the previous life did too much evil, the prefect and the prefect will be attached to the county order in a city, and the prefect will be attached to the Guo Mansion Yin with the political envoy and the governor in a city. Because these county orders, prefects, and Shangguan are in the same city, their every move is constrained, and their tasks of sending to usher in and entertain past governors are also heavier than those of other prefectures and counties.

Among the magistrates of the Ming Dynasty, the prefect of Suzhou in the fourth grade was coveted by all officials of the same grade, and perhaps only the salt transfer envoy from the third grade could compare with it. However, when it comes to the political advantages of promotion, the transfer makes it a step worse. If you are an official in such a place, you will not change the governor of a remote place.

Chen Zhongsheng was a wealthy middle-aged official, he was carefully reading Mu Tianyan's letter, and Xia Nan sat down with Sima De and Liu Quan to wait.

Xia Nan did not open the letter, and did not know that Mu Tianyan asked Chen Zhongsheng to regard Xia Nan as his nephew in the letter, and hinted that he might become his nephew and son-in-law, and his eldest brother was Xie Sanbin, who was about to take up the post of Shandong Governor Imperial History.

Mu Tianyan did not do this for a while, and the happy cooperation with Xia Nan to do away with the Guangdong Patrol Imperial Shi Gao Shunqin and the annexation of Hongtu Qianzhuang made him see Xia Nan's ability to absorb money and political means, coupled with the strength of his troops, the future is limitless, and it is necessary to take the relationship further. And Xie Wenjun, who has always been arrogant, suddenly came to ask for a letter for Xia Nan, how could he, as a person who came over, not understand Xie Wenjun's careful thoughts? Obviously, marriage is the most primitive and effective way to strengthen the relationship between the two parties. Of course, this plan had to be gradual and could not be rushed, so neither party knew about it.

Therefore, Chen Zhongsheng came to the conclusion based on the letter, the young man in front of him was not only a famous general, but also a bold businessman - few outsiders dared to come to Suzhou to meddle in the raw silk industry - and his future uncle and father-in-law, one was the current governor of Guangdong, and the other was an incomparably noble official of science and Taoism, which was a great help to officials at any level, as long as they helped this young man, Mu Tianyan and Xie Sanbin owed themselves favors. Chen Zhongsheng naturally knew what to do.

He closed the letterhead, and already had a plan in his heart about how to contact Xia Nan, and asked with a smile: "The virtuous nephew came to Suzhou to do a raw silk business?" Master Mu is the same age as me, and he has a very close personal relationship, and his son and nephew are my sons and nephews, and I need this official to help you speak. ”

The parents of the first good place in Jiangnan were so easy to talk to, which greatly surprised Xia Nan. He is very self-aware, with the pattern of the Ming Dynasty's noble and military level, the other party's attitude will never be because of his official position as a third-grade general, but because of Mu Tianyan's letter. It's a pity that I haven't dismantled it in advance, so I don't know what was written. But no matter what the content is, it's good for you anyway, and that's enough.

Xia Nan bowed his hand: "Fu Zun is willing to help, it's the best." I heard that the purchase of raw silk must be 'ministry', and I can't break the rules of the imperial court and make the palace embarrassed, so I only ask for a letter so that I can sit down with the local silk store and talk in detail. If I can get raw silk, I don't care about having more silver. ”

Chen Zhongsheng stroked his beard and nodded with satisfaction, this summer Nan still knew how to advance and retreat, and did not give himself a problem.

The raw silk trade in Suzhou and Hangzhou is a closed monopoly industry, extremely profitable, and the gods and goddesses behind it are also very well-known. If Xia Nan opened his mouth and proposed to use the power of the prefect's yamen to directly buy raw silk in Suzhou, then he could only regretfully serve tea to the guests, and then repair a letter to inform Mu Tianyan that he had seen the wrong person. And Xia Nan proposed to talk to the silk company and was willing to buy it at a higher price, which was not a violation of the rules of the silk line, and all he had to do was to introduce and raise his hands.

He smiled and agreed: "It's easy to say, it's easy to say." ”