At the turn of the spring and summer of the third year of the Great Song Dynasty, Lin'an seemed to usher in the most prosperous and lively time.

Although he has only been away for less than two months, Qu Huajie, who has returned to Lin'an, has a feeling of being separated from the world. Before entering the city, when he arrived outside Yongjinmen, Qu Huajie's carriage and horse encountered a traffic jam. The road on the edge of the West Lake is surrounded by countless richly decorated cars and horses, and it is simply difficult to move an inch.

Qu Huajie lifted the curtain of the car and looked out, the first thing he saw was the endless pedestrians on the street, there were scribes in Confucian clothes and scarves, businessmen who wore gold and silver coins as if they were about to fall, and even some sesame officials in green robes, or in groups of three or five, or accompanied by beautiful concubines and servants, hurriedly went to Fengle Building on the edge of the West Lake, looking very in a hurry. There are also many people who carry heavy burdens or are carried by the servants around them sweating profusely, and they don't know what good things they have brought?

Bai Zhanji suddenly whispered outside the car: "Chief, the road in front is blocked, why don't you get out of the car and walk." ”

Qu Fat Man was stunned. How is this blocked? Where is this? Yongjin Gate didn't enter, it was blocked like this, if you get to the Royal Street, wouldn't it be difficult to move an inch?

Besides, what day is it? Tomb sweeping on Qingming Festival? I don't think it's there yet......

The fat man had no choice but to jump out of the car and look in the direction of Yongjinmen, and sure enough, it was a sea of cars and cars, and it was blocked. Most of the passengers in the sedan car have already come down and walked, forming two streams of people on both sides of the road, all heading towards Yongjinmen.

"How can there be so many cars?" The fat man asked suspiciously. Yongjinmen has always been lively outside, and when he was grinding the water mirror in Lin'an, he often took his wife and children to play. Take a look at the West Lake and order a few cheaper side dishes in the lobby of Fengle Building for a good meal.

But at that time, there was not much traffic jam outside the Yongjin Gate, and there was no scene of tens of millions of people trekking in unison - outside the Yongjin Gate. On the banks of the West Lake, this is a place to play and relax. Even if there is a traffic jam, the people in the car will not rush to get out of the car and walk as if they are in a hurry to catch the exam.

"These sedan cars are all going to Fengle Building." Bai Zhanji said with a wry smile.

"Go...... Eating? Now it's time for dinner? ”

"It's not to eat, it's to do business."

"Going to Fung Lok House to do business?" The fat man was stunned for a moment, "What business?" ”

"Late appointment!"

"Late appointment? What does this have to do with Fung Lok House? Isn't Fung Lok House a restaurant? ”

Bai Zhanji shook his head, "Fengle Building is not a restaurant now...... It is a guild hall that specializes in late dealings. ”

"Guild Hall?" Qu Fatzi still didn't understand what it meant -- this Qu Da speculator, who was later called the first financial predator in history, didn't know that speculating in stocks and futures needed a special trading place.

Bai Zhanji explained: "For more than a month. Many restaurants and teahouses in Lin'an City have been converted into 'late dating halls', which are places for people to buy and sell late appointments. And Fenglaolou is one of the largest and most well-known 'late dating halls'. There are not only the latest trading quotation announcements, but also the most timely Zhenjiang, Jiankang, Pingjiang, Shaoxing, Mingzhou and Quanzhou late prices, cash rice price changes publicity. There is also the latest news from the upstream and Jiangbei towns, and even the latest military and political events in the three northern countries...... It can be said that it is sitting in the middle of Fengle Building, and everything in the world is known. ”

"Sit in the middle of Fengle Building, and know everything in the world?" Qu Huajie sneered. "The Privy Council wouldn't dare say that, would it?"

"Of course not. Every day, the Privy Council will send a deputy to Fengle House to inquire about the news from all over the world. It is said that Fengle Lou sent eyeliner to all corners of the world, and used fast horses to deliver news to Lin'an every day......"

"And this kind of thing? That's going to cost a lot, right? Qu Fatzi shook his head, paused, and asked, "So how does this Fengle Building make money?" ”

Bai Zhanji said: "One is a ticket, if you want to enter Fengle Building, you have to spend at least eighty copper plates to buy a standing ticket, and you can only stand in the lobby to watch the market and read the news." If you want to go up to the second floor, you have to buy a ticket, which costs 160 yuan. If you want to enter the elegant seat, there is a special small house to inform the market and news. You need consistent money. If you want to book a private seat, you will need ten dollars a day.

The second is the tap. There is a special late appointment person in Fengle Building, who is responsible for matching the upper and lower families. There is a special quotation row in Fengle Building, on which there are five ask prices and five buy prices and the offer volume on each sell and bid price, as well as timely transaction prices. If you want to sell or buy, you can find a tooth person to place an order and list it, and Feng Le Xing will take one-thousandth of the transaction amount as a tap. In addition, if you want to buy and sell through Guò Feng Lok Lou, you must first deposit the late appointment or cash money into an account opened in Fung Lok Lou.

Of course, it is also possible to find buyers and sellers in the market, but it is not as convenient as trading through Guò Fengle Building. Steward, if you want to release the late appointment in your hand, it is best to pass through this Fengle Building. ”

"It's a big market...... This Fengle Building is officially owned, right? Who is doing it now? ”

Although the Song Dynasty claimed to be on the verge of the embryonic stage of capitalism, it was more like the initial stage of socialism when examined in detail, because the state-run economy of the Song Dynasty was very strong and almost ubiquitous. Fengle Building, the largest restaurant in Lin'an, is the official property, which belongs to the government-run Fengle Liquor Warehouse -- in the Southern Song Dynasty, wine was monopolized, and if private individuals wanted to make wine, they had to buy koji from the government-run liquor warehouse. However, official property does not necessarily have to be run by officials themselves, and most of them are given to private contractors. The people who can contract to Fengle Building naturally have a very good background.

"The shopkeeper of Fengle Building is named Sun Meichen."

"It doesn't sound like a trader by name."

"He is the military attache of the original Sanya Forbidden Army, and the rice merchant Fengle Xing in Lincao Town is his family's business, and he can contract Fengle Lou because of the blessing of His Royal Highness King Rong. This Fengle Building and Fengle Xing are all taken care of by His Royal Highness King Rong. It is said that one of the sisters surnamed Sun was the concubine of King Rong. ”

"......I see," Qu Huajie asked in a deep voice, "Then let's go to Fengle Building to have a look, and I don't know if we can have a seat?" ”

"Naturally, there is a private seat, and Mr. Deng's Jingu Xing has a private room for a long time."

Qu Huajie raised his head and looked at Fengle Building, which was standing outside the Yongjin Gate, and nodded: "Let's go, let's also walk to Fengle Building." ”

……

In Fengle Building, it was full of people at this time. The lobby was crowded with people who came to trade. Everyone is talking about late deals, and thousands of deals are made here.

"It's falling! Why did it fall again? ”

"If it goes up too much, it will naturally fall...... This late contract is just a piece of paper, and the highest has risen to 70 guan, which is more expensive than gold! Can it not fall? ”

"But the food shortage in the north is not over yet! Doesn't it mean that Beiming has recently expanded its troops to 300,000 and is ready to swallow the pond and destroy the Yuan in one fell swoop? Is this going to war, not food and grass first? ”

"Besides, the price of grain has risen a lot, according to a late calculation of about 70 yuan, the price of rice per stone has been consistent and 560 yuan. This is the price of rice in Zhenjiang rice market, and it is at least two and a half times when it is transported to Lin'an, and it has to be three times for retail in the market...... It's not cheap anymore! A few days ago, Pingzhang Gong had already spoken, to stabilize the price of rice, to make the people afford to eat rice! ”

"That's right, the price of rice is indeed more expensive now, and it is rising every day! As the price of this rice rises, other things also rise. Yesterday my mother-in-law said that the family's expenses were a bit too much......"

"What's the big deal? The price of rice has risen, and the rent we collect in the countryside is not worth it? It turned out that 500 Wen couldn't get out, but now 200 have always been rushing to ask for it. In my opinion, the price of this rice has to go up...... This country rice has always been two hundred, how can it be transported to Zhenjiang Rice Market to buy only five hundred and sixty Wen? The freight discount along the way is more than 360 Wen? So I'm optimistic, how can this late appointment be broken! ”

"Breaking a hundred? Dude or not? I've got 15 here, 1000 for you to take. ”

"Okay! Do you accept the flying money ticket of Tiandaozhuang? ”

"Close!"

When Qu Huajie and Bai Zhanji squeezed into the lobby, they happened to bump into a transaction, a large stack of Tiandaozhuang flying money in exchange for fifteen Zhaofeng Xing's late appointments - this flying money is actually an anonymous bill of exchange, which appeared as early as the Tang Dynasty and has the function of paper money in the Northern Song Dynasty.

Because of the large amount of late transactions, there is basically nothing to buy and sell with copper coins. It has always been that copper coins weigh several catties, and a thousand copper coins weigh thousands of catties, but I don't have the strength to carry them around.

Of course, there is no use for the meeting. Although the value of this thing is now appreciating, the previous depreciation has hurt the credit. No one wants to collect huiko. The flying money found in the private money bank, the salt and degree issued by the imperial court, and of course, gold and silver are all relatively popular hard currencies. Among them, because the flying money issued by Tiandaoxing can be used to pay taxes at sea, it can also be exchanged for gold and silver in the Tiandaozhuang branch of Nanfan, Japan, Goryeo and other countries. Therefore, it has also become a common currency in late transactions.

A young man dressed in small clothes greeted him at this time and saluted Bai Zhanji: "Mr. Bai, you are late enough to come today, do you still go to the Tianzi No. 10 box?" ”

"Yes, let's go to Tianzi No. 10, Mr. Deng is here?"

"It's already here, it seems that there are still guests, do you want to pass it on?"

"No need, I'll just go up." After Bai Zhanji finished speaking, he took out a few copper coins and threw them to the little guy, and then led Qu Fat Man up the stairs. As he walked, he said, "It's okay to be a runner here, and it's enough to tip every day." When you meet a high roller who has made a lot of money, there are silver leaves that you can directly reward. However, the waiters on the second and third floors are even better, and they are all singers and official prostitutes who accompany the wine in the original Fengle Building. They run errands here, and they earn more than they used to sing and laugh at! Now this Fengle Building is a treasure building, and whoever wants to dip it on the edge can make a profit. ”

When Qu Fatzi heard this, he suddenly stood still, turned his head to look at the crowded scene in the lobby below, and said coldly: "No, this is not the Treasure Tower, this is ...... It's a battlefield! (To be continued......)