After a while, Lin Wenqing came to the mansion of the plateau, and at the same time brought several large volumes of accounts, all of which were recorded in and out of the caravan's trip to Qiguo. Obviously, Lin Wen had already prepared it early in the morning, and as soon as he heard about Gao Yuan's invitation, he brought it to Gao Yuan.

Looking at the more than 20 bamboo slips carried in by the two servants and piled up on the desk, Gao Yuan also smiled bitterly and said, "Mrs. Wenqing, if we record the accounts in the future, let's use paper to record them." Since we have produced paper, we also have to use it, which is much more convenient than bamboo and wooden slips. And in the future, the output of paper will be higher and higher, even if we use a little by ourselves, it will not have any impact. You asked the craftsmen to make a batch of account books and dismantle them, and in the future, we will gradually use paper to record, write words, and make announcements on behalf of the county. ”

Lin Wenqing nodded and said, "Yes." Wen Qing will do it next. ”

Gao Yuan flipped through these accounts, and took a brief look, this trip to Qi State, in addition to paper, also carried a large number of other commodities, a total of 150 catties of gold, and in Qi State bought a large amount of grain, salt, cloth, iron and other things, and there were still 20 catties of gold left, and returned to Daijun. And this trip to Qi is about fifteen catties of gold, and if the cost of goods is added, it is not more than fifty catties of gold, so the profit of this trip to Qi is huge. Of course, every expense and income is also recorded in detail.

For the profit of the caravan this time, Gao Yuan had expected it, and he didn't feel any surprise, so he didn't take a closer look, and said: "Mrs. Wenqing, who are the merchants from the Qi Kingdom this time?" ”

Lin Wenchun said: "Lord, the merchants of Qi Country who came to Dai County this time are all people with great backgrounds. It is the Tian family, the Tao Zhu family, the Duanmu family, and the Guan family, all of which are wealthy businessmen in the Qi country, and they are also famous families in the Qi country, and they have great influence on the national politics of the Qi country. ”

In fact, as soon as Lin Wenqing finished talking about the names of these four families, Li Yinghong's eyes widened, these four families, she had heard of them all, not only the family of wealthy merchants, not to mention in the Qi country, but also among the countries, they are all famous, and it is not an exaggeration to say that the assets of each family are at least above 10,000 gold, and it is not an exaggeration to describe them as rich and rival countries.

The plateau is also quite surprising, not to mention in this era, several of the families are in later generations, and they are also very famous, and even almost all of them have become legendary stories.

The Tian clan is naturally the clan of the Qi State. It turned out that the Tian family was the ancestor of Chen Wan in the Spring and Autumn Period, because of the civil strife in Chen State, Chen Wan went into exile to Qi State for refuge, which was equivalent to taking refuge in the government and was taken in by Qi Huan, the monarch of Qi State at that time. Chen Wan was a humble and courteous person, and he had always been very virtuous, so the Duke of Qi Huan appreciated him very much, so he appointed him as Gongzheng (an official in charge of craftsmen) and sealed him in the field. So Chen Wan took the land as his name and changed his surname to Tian, indicating that he would give up the status of the son of Chen Guo and always be the people of Qi, that is, the ancestor of the surname Tian in later generations.

After Tian Wan's death, his grandson gradually began to make a living in business, after more than ten generations of business, and after several bloody political struggles, Tian became the largest family in Qi State, and when Tian Wan's twelfth grandson Tian He, Tian finally replaced Jiang and became the monarch of Qi State.

However, after Tian He became the monarch of Qi State, the Tian family also became the clan of Qi State, but there is still a clan that is still engaged in business, and it has developed until now. More than fifty years ago, Tian Dan, who used the Fire Ox Array to break the Yan Army and restore the Qi State, was the person of this Tian clan. Therefore, the relationship between the Tian family, which is in business, and the ruling Tian family, is very close, and it has also received strong support from the ruling Tian family, and it has naturally become one of the top giant merchants in the Qi country.

Compared with the Tian clan, the Duanmu clan is even more famous. It turned out that the Duanmu clan was not from the Qi country, but a patriotic person, and the ancestor was one of the seventy-two disciples of Confucius, named Duanmu Ci, the word Gong.

Gong Gong was born in the family of merchants in the defense of the country, and later worshiped under the door of Confucius, and Kong Gong did not despise him because he was born in a businessman, accepted him as a disciple, and taught Zigong by example, and later became the most famous brother of Confucius, one of the ten philosophers of Confucius, known for his eloquence, eloquence, and ability, and accessibility. He once served as the minister of Lu and Wei, lobbied among the candidates, and repeatedly put an end to the disasters of the war, and was regarded as a saint by the Wei, Qi, Wu and Lu countries.

Moreover, when Zigong studied with Confucius, he did not forget to do business, and Zigong was not only good at learning, but also proficient in the way of business, and once did business between Cao and Lu, and was rich in ten thousand gold, and was the richest man among Confucius's disciples. Kong Xiao traveled around the world for more than ten years, and although Zigong did not follow the whole process, almost all of the expenses were supported by Zigong. And several times used his good argumentation and communication skills to rescue Kong Xiao from danger. Therefore, in the Warring States Period, he has always been the proudest figure of the merchants.

After the death of the tribute, the descendants settled in the Qi country, although there are also people who are officials in various countries, but they have been doing business in various countries, and because the ancestor Zigong is a disciple of Confucius, the Ruimu clan has always maintained a good relationship with the Confucian family in Qufu, although Confucius was not happy when he was alive, but after his death, he had a prominent reputation and was respected as a saint by the nations, so the Ruimu clan has this relationship with the Confucian family, doing business in various countries, and the candidate countries also sell them a little face, and as a result, the business of the Ruimu clan is getting bigger and bigger, Now he has also become a well-known wealthy businessman in the world, and he also has a certain influence on the government of Qi State.

The Tian clan and the Duanmu clan have more or less the meaning of taking the upper route, while compared to them, the Tao Zhu clan is much simpler, completely a businessman, and no one in the family has ever held an official position. Moreover, the origin of the Tao Zhu clan is also more legendary than the Tian clan and the Duanmu clan.

Ju said that the ancestor of the Tao Zhu clan was Fan Li, the advisor of Goujian, the king of Yue in the Spring and Autumn Period.

Fan Li helped Gou Jian to rejuvenate the Yue country, destroy the Wu country, and be ashamed of a snow, but saw that the king of Yue Goujian could only share the hardships and hardships, not the common wealth, so after the success of the rapids, he retreated bravely, and took the beautiful Xi Shi to say goodbye without saying goodbye and left the king of Yue Goujian.

A few years later, a wealthy man appeared on the coast of Qi State, who claimed to be called Ouyi Zipi, who led thousands of poor people to reclaim wasteland, build cities, and often spend a lot of money to buy grain, cattle and sheep, and soon became famous. And it is said that he also has a beautiful lady. Therefore, the people of Qi have speculated that this Ouyi Zipi is Fan Li, and his beautiful lady is Xi Shi, and the two stole the treasures in the palace of King Wu, went incognito, and came to Qi to live in seclusion.

Later, even the king of Qi heard about this rumor, so he sent a messenger to the seaside and invited him to enter the court as an official, wanting him to worship as the prime minister. And the skin did not become an official in the Qi country, but scattered all the wealth to the residents of the seaside and disappeared again.

And just after the Yizi skin disappeared in the Qi State, there was a huge rich man named Tao Zhugong in the Song Kingdom, who was engaged in business and trade, and Taoyi was adjacent to Qi and Lu in the east; Qin and Zheng to the west; Beitong Jin, Yan; In the south, Chu and Yue live in the world, the region is accessible, it is the best place to do business, and Tao Zhu Gong is very good at management, often very profitable, so it soon became a huge wealth of Taoyi.

The merchants in Taoyi City have legends that this Tao Zhu Gong is the Qi State's Ouyi Zipi, that is, the Fan Li of the Yue Kingdom. And after Tao Zhugong heard everyone's rumors, he just smiled, neither denying nor admitting it. But this Tao Zhugong did not have the beautiful lady by his side, so everyone guessed for a long time, but they didn't guess a reason.

Since then, Tao Zhugong has been doing business in Taoyi, the business is getting bigger and bigger, and he has made more and more money, not only buying land and building houses in Taoyi, but also marrying wives and having children, making friends with powerful people from all over the world, and completely settling down in Taoyi. Although later, several monarchs of the candidate countries sent people to invite Tao Zhu Gong to be an official, but they were all rejected by Tao Zhu Gong Wanyan.

Moreover, Tao Zhugong, who is rich in the world, has also handed down many legendary stories in Taoyi, among which people talk about it the most, and the most bizarre and bizarre thing is that Tao Zhugong is a story that he can't save his younger brother.

It turned out that after Tao Zhugong settled in Taoyi, he had three sons, the eldest son was loyal and stubborn, the second son was irritable and violent, and the three sons were smart and witty. After Tao Zhugong became old, he handed over the family business to his three sons to manage.

When Tao Zhugong's second son was doing business in Yingdu, the capital of Chu State, he had a conflict with someone, and he even drew his sword and killed the other party. The officials of Yingdu immediately arrested Tao Zhugong's second son and put him in death prison, preparing to be beheaded in the autumn queen.

The second slave fled back to Taoyi and told Tao Zhugong about the matter. And Tao Zhugong sighed after hearing this: "Murder pays for life, this is even reasonable, but people have a difference between high and low, I heard that those who are rich in gold can redeem their widows from dying, and the accumulation of my years is far more than the sale of thousands of gold, although I am guilty of capital crimes, I can also not die." So Tao Zhugong took out 1,200 eridium gold and asked the third son to take it to Chu to carry out activities and save the second son from prison.

But just as the third son was about to set off, he was stopped by the eldest son, who said: "In the family, the father is the master, and he is called the head of the family." The eldest son has the responsibility to help his father supervise the housework, and is called the family governor, and the eldest son should do the things that the father should not come forward to do. Now that the second brother has committed a capital crime, my father did not send me to Chu to rescue me, but sent the third brother to come and go, could it be that I am not virtuous and cannot bear the responsibility of the governor? After saying that, the eldest son will commit suicide with a sword.

Tao Zhu Gong saw that the eldest son was like this, so he had to leave his third son and sent the eldest son to Chu to rescue the second son. Before leaving, Tao Zhugong wrote a letter to Zhuang Sheng, a wise man of Chu State, asking the eldest son to bring the letter to visit Zhuangzi, and instructed the eldest son: "After you arrive in Chu State, give this letter and gold to Zhuang Sheng, and then obey his orders, and never quarrel with him." ”

The eldest son was very happy, and in addition to the 1,200 eridium gold given to him by Tao Zhugong, he also took the 300 eridium gold that he usually accumulated privately and set off for the Chu State.