Phoenix Descends – Queen with a Thousand Pets

Chapter 29: spices

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Update time 2014-12-14 18:42:12 Word count: 4875

Fan Ye, Shi Fanye of Quanzhou Shipping Department, has been very worried recently. Last year, when Quanzhou Shipping Department opened its port last year, it set off three fleets and one ship from Quanzhou Wharf, as well as several seagoing ships from Fanwai. The momentum was just right, but they encountered A catastrophe broke out on the Sanyu side. It is said that the waves were 100 meters high. All the ships sailing in that area and the surrounding ports were killed, and all the routes were cut off. For nearly a year, there were no sea ships in Quanzhou. . And the major shipping companies suffered heavy losses. It is said that most of the Xie family's ships also sank. It was not until recently that new ships began to go to sea. However, the royal family and Bianliang needed a lot of spices. An order from Bianliang was sent the day before yesterday, asking the Shibo Department of each port to mobilize 100,000 catties of spices to Beijing within two months. There is still Xie’s stock in Guangzhou, but Quanzhou , where did he find the spices? Sorrow's hair has turned white a lot.

"Master, madam, please go to the backyard." Looking at the master circling in the study, the servant girl said timidly.

"Go, go, master, I'm not free." Fan Ye waved impatiently, the officials were almost gone, and those girls in the backyard still couldn't live in peace.

"Madam said that an old friend came to visit and brought gifts, which are spices. Please take a look at the master." The servant girl said under pressure.

spices! The light on Fan Ye's head suddenly lit up, and he walked towards the backyard with big strides, leaving all the maids behind.

Before reaching the main house, he heard laughter coming from inside, his wife Yang said with a smile: "Look at you girl, what you said is so funny, you really want to kill us from laughing."

Then a hearty female voice said: "Madam, you don't know, among the sailors on our ship, some young ones couldn't stand it, and almost stayed there."

"Miss Ling is just joking, there is such a shameless woman."

Hearing Aunt Ye's cool voice, Fan Ye frowned unconsciously and stepped into the door.

There were several women sitting in the room, besides his wives and concubines, sitting next to him was a woman in Tsing Yi, when she saw him coming in, she got up and saluted.

"Excuse me, excuse me," Fan Ye walked to the main seat and sat next to Mrs. Yang, glanced at the ceremony plate on the table, and saw that there was a piece of water agarwood, a piece of dragon birth incense, and dipterophyll frankincense sandalwood After a little bit of incense, he turned around with a smile on his face.

"Master Xie Fan." Ling Qingyu sat down next to the chair, keeping his body leaning forward slightly, in a humble and polite posture.

"Master Ling took our boat to Quanzhou last year." Knowing that her husband definitely didn't remember who it was, Yang said, and at the same time waved to the other aunts, telling them to leave.

"Oh, it's that, that," Fan Ye asked uncertainly, "the owner of the Madman."

You are a lunatic, your whole family is a lunatic, Ling Qingyu still replied with an impeccable sweet smile: "Master Fan still remembers the little girl, the little girl is really honored."

"Didn't your ship sink?"

"Cough, cough, cough," Yang covered her face and coughed a few times, interrupting her husband, just joking, the spices on that plate are worth ten thousand taels of silver, don't be scared away by such a big God of Wealth up.

"It was a disaster, but the little girl was lucky. She drifted to an island and was rescued by the residents of the island, and the boat was repaired." Ling Qingyu replied respectfully.

"Oh, how many spices did you bring back this time?" Fan Ye leaned forward a little and asked, "Why didn't the pier give you any news when your ship arrived?"

"There are always tens of thousands of catties of spices, but," Ling Qingyu frowned slightly, with a hint of weakness and embarrassment on his face, and said: "After our ship passed Guangzhou, it was blocked by the ship of the Guangzhou Municipal Shipping Department. They asked us to go ashore in Guangzhou. But the little girl thought, we are going out from Quanzhou, why should we go to Guangzhou? So I dare not agree, and now the boat is still parked in the open sea, and I dare not dock.”

"What a bastard!" Fan Ye slapped the table and said angrily: "The claws have come to me, don't be afraid, I will get on the boat with you, and the boat we leave from Quanzhou will naturally go to Quanzhou Extraction!"

"Thank you, Mr. Fan!" Ling Qingyu showed surprise on his face, got up quickly, and bowed deeply.

"This is my duty. Don't worry. The imperial court is in urgent need of spices. I will definitely give you a good price. You wait here. I will mobilize the manpower right away." Fan Ye got up and walked out. Thousands of catties of spices! This time, not only can she keep the black hair on her head, but she might even receive a reward.

"Master Ling, you sit down, don't worry, drink some tea first." With a gentle smile on her face, Mrs. Yang changed her mind for a moment, covered her mouth with a handkerchief and smiled: "Master Ling, look, my dowry Here, some money has been idle, I wonder if I can take a share with you?"

"That's naturally a great thing," Ling Qingyu said flatteringly.

"I have two thousand taels of silver here, you take it first." Yang beckoned the woman beside her to get the money.

"This time the little girl brought back mostly spices and wood. Later, the little girl asked someone to send some spices to count as Madam's shares." Ling Qingyu took the silver ticket and said with a smile.

This is obviously giving money, Yang nodded unconsciously, and heard Ling Qingyu continue: "Madam find someone and my daughter to go to the Yamen to transfer the shares of the shipping company?"

Now Mrs. Yang is more satisfied, and she didn't want to take more. After all, her husband is an official of the Shibo Department, and said with a smile: "There is no need to go to the Yamen. How can I not trust the Ling family? However, the position of my lord is It's not a good idea to take a stake in your shipping company, and you see, I'm in the back house."

Yang's eyes glanced over, and Ling Qingyu immediately answered: "It's the little girl who was negligent. In this way, after the spices are sold, the little girl will send you the proceeds."

There were maids outside saying that the master was already waiting outside. Ling Qingyu was surprised by Fan Ye's speed, but immediately got up to leave.

Mrs. Yang enthusiastically sent her to the second gate, and saw her getting into the carriage and leaving with Fan Ye and others from a distance, so she couldn't help but walk back full of joy.

"Ma'am, this shipping is very risky. I heard that many ships from the shipping companies have sunk this time. After all, Master Ling is only a woman. Maybe this time is just a fluke." The confidant woman next to her said while supporting Yang.

"What do you know, look at the spices she sent, and my husband said this time that the price has increased several times due to the lack of spices in Kyoto. I don't know how much the cargo she came back this time is worth. It's more than two thousand taels, she's smart." Yang smiled deeply, this woman is not simple.

Fan Ye took people on the ship of the Shi Ship Company and followed Ling Qingyu's boat out to the open sea. When he saw the Fengshen, he felt lost for a moment. He had never seen such a big boat before, it was really like a huge house, and the sails were like clouds hanging from the sky, it must be more than ten thousand stones!

When the ship went up and down to the cargo hold, Fan Ye was even more shocked when he saw the full cabin of spiced wood, coral and pearls, and hurriedly asked someone to record them carefully.

After the clerk below started counting, Ling Qingyu welcomed Fan Ye to the captain's cabin for tea. Fan Ye saw that there were actually two floors of cabins at the stern, and the layout was simple and elegant, which was very comfortable. He nodded unconsciously, and then saw, A few people in the cabin, who were about to dodge when they saw him, blew their beards and said, "Why, can the Guangzhou Shipyard manage my ship with the trade certificate of the Quanzhou Shipyard?"

"No, no, Master Fan, we just want to find out from Head Ling why their ship can come back." Those little officials were sweating profusely and complained in their hearts. They were on a cruise and saw this big ship. It didn't look like the boat on Fanwai, so I only chased it for two days, boarded the boat to check, I thought I could get it off, but who knew that although the captain was a woman, she first fooled around, and then led his men to persuade them to drink and get them drunk , and then, to bring Mr. Fan on board. Everyone knows that Mr. Fan from Quanzhou and Mr. Xie from Guangzhou are not in the same boat. This time, they will definitely be cannon fodder.

"That's the boat we went out from Quanzhou with great luck, and it also shows that Quanzhou can build the best boat." Seeing the boat full of spices, Fan Ye was in a good mood, and waved his hand: "There is nothing wrong with you here." ,move."

Several small officials immediately saluted and left. As soon as they boarded the ship, they were welcomed into the captain's room by Ling Qingyu, and then they cried about how they encountered a catastrophe and how they came back after all the hardships. I finally found the party and found support, and said that they came here eating grass roots and wild fruits all the way, it was really hard and couldn't be more bitter. These unscrupulous little officials felt that this Chuanzi was really unlucky and pitiful.

Seeing Fan Ye come up so happily now, I thought to myself, there are only some wild fruits on board, what kind of good goods can your Quanzhou shipping company receive, and you rushed over here, thinking that if Fan Ye saw that there was nothing there, he would get angry To make trouble for them, these little officials disembarked at a fast speed, changed to their own boat, and ran away.

In the end, the little official counted the following goods: 5,000 catties of wood, 100,000 catties of spices such as agarwood, sandalwood, frankincense, and light incense, 100,000 catties of sumac, cardamom, myrrh, pepper, and other herbs and medicinal materials, as well as pearls and corals. , tortoiseshell, agate, emerald feathers, and some precious stones.

Seeing the long list, Fan Ye spouted a mouthful of tea, his eyes straightened.

"My lord," the little official leaned closer to Fan Ye and whispered in his ear, "If we want to buy three cents, we don't have enough money." The value of the goods here, the 50,000 jin of frankincense alone costs 600,000 taels of silver, Adding 100,000 taels of borneol, a total of 400,000 taels of silver, 20,000 catties of agarwood, a total of 90,000 taels of silver, 20,000 catties of sandalwood light incense, a total of 50,000 taels of silver, these spices alone totaled 1.14 million taels of silver, One cent of the tax is free, and the purchase of three cents costs more than 300,000 taels of silver, and the pumping fee of the Quanzhou Shipbuilding Department is only 200,000 taels, which is not counting the other precious medicinal materials.

"Cough cough," Fan Ye wiped off the tea stains, leaned over to Ling Qingyu, and said kindly: "Master Ling, the imperial court is short of spices. Can I take 10% of your spices and buy 70% of them? Only 10% of the tax is charged for precious goods, so I bought it in confusion."

Ling Qingyu knows that all major shipping companies in Dazhou collect a share of tax on fine goods, and one-fifteenth of tax on coarse goods. In addition, the official price for forced purchase is called three points for the purchase price, and the housekeeper’s purchase price is at most the market price. Half of the price, now that Fan Ye proposes to buy spices for 70 cents, it’s not bad, but it doesn’t matter, we still have a lot of goods in the dark cabin, and it’s not bad to sell you a favor. So he said with a smile: "Thank you so much Master Fan, the little girl has a heartless request, please ask if Master Fan can help?"

"Hehe, as long as I can do what I can." Fan Ye breathed a sigh of relief. If the court hadn't been so tight this time, he would not have wanted to do such black-hearted things.

"The little girl is young, and she doesn't understand many things. This time I saw that I like silk and porcelain a lot, but the little girl suffers from lack of supply. I don't know if I can exchange some of the money I bought for some goods? The little girl is not in a hurry, let's separate You can also give it."

Fan Ye was overjoyed. If he bought it for seven cents, even if the price was reduced, it would cost 700,000 taels of silver, and the difference would be 500,000 taels of silver. But if it was exchanged with silk and porcelain, then it would be no problem. But... how much silk porcelain worth five hundred thousand taels of silver is worth! It doesn't matter, let's deal with the emergency first, if it doesn't work, ask the uncle for help. Rushi smiled and said: "Ke Ke, just at the south gate of Quanzhou, the government has newly built a lot of warehouses, you can rent them for use."

"That's a good thing, I wonder if these warehouses can be purchased?"

"Cocoa, is it also deducted from the purchase price?" Fan Ye asked with a smile. Those warehouses at the south gate were built by him for the official reputation, but it has been almost a year now, and there are no ships coming and going, and those warehouses have become vacant. The construction cost of 10,000 taels has not been evened up to now. Fan Ye rolled his eyes and said kindly: "Then, how about 50,000 taels?"

"Thank you my lord, my lord, the little girl sailed this time, and many of the crew members she took out died because of this storm. The little girl wants to buy some land for their family's pension. I wonder if my lord can help?" Ling Qingyu saw Fan Ye I was stunned for a while, and said with a smile: "If the adults can help buy some fertile land, the little girl is willing to donate 10% of the spices to the imperial court."

Fan Ye's brows and eyes immediately stretched out, and he said: "It's very good that you have such a heart. A few days ago, I heard that the government has a Guanzhuang to sell, about 120 hectares. If you are willing to give 150,000 Two silvers, I can help you make peace."

"So, the little girl would like to thank the lord for these people under her command. The kindness of the lord is unforgettable!" Ling Qingyu saluted repeatedly with a look of excitement and tears of gratitude.

Fan Ye's vanity was greatly satisfied, and he thought, he really is a small family, even if he made such a large amount of money, he would not be able to get on the stage. The farmland in Guanzhuang was low-looking, and the asking price was 100,000 taels. Zhizhou had not sold it for more than half a year.

The two sides chatted very happily, and the atmosphere was very enthusiastic. Yan Sanluyao, Ding Dong and others who were behind Ling Qingyu as the background were also very dedicated, standing straight behind as the background wall. When Zheng Xi accompanied the clerk to seal up the spices for the ship to land, when Fan Ye got up to leave, he had a good impression of the female ship owner's subordinates, thinking, this woman has such low vision and is so coquettish Well, this time I was able to bring so many things back, I am afraid that it is also thanks to these subordinates. Thinking about it this way, this ship company can look forward to it.

When Fan Ye's boat was out of sight, Ling Qingyu put down his tired hands and ordered, "Enter the port."

"Girl, the price given by the government is two-thirds lower than the market price. If you let them buy seven cents, give away one cent, and take one extra cent, we will lose a lot." Zheng Xi said with a bitter face. . That was wasted money, at least one million taels was gone, and the money had to be paid off with other things.

"You don't know that, do you?" Ling Qingyu patted his head and said, "We brought back too many spices this time. If there are too many jealous people who go ashore, maybe they will be tricked and given to the government. , Firstly, Master Fan’s favor was sold, and secondly, we got the future source of goods and warehouses without any effort. If we use our own strength, I’m afraid we won’t be able to buy them at all.”

"Then why do you want that land? The fields in Guanzhuang are generally not in good condition, so they are not worth that much money." Ding Dong asked after him.

"It's for Boss Ding, Uncle Wu, and you. It's better to have a field than to run a boat, and I have an explanation for my family." After Ling Qingyu finished speaking, he walked to his bedroom with a hache to catch up on sleep.

Ding Dong was stunned for a moment before he realized that there were many people in Fujian but few fields. It was actually not easy for sea people like them to buy land. That is enough for a family to live well.