Chapter 62: The recent situation of the royal merchant
Fan Xian hurriedly went to help, but the shopkeeper was insistent on kneeling and kowtowing, before getting up and said with emotion, “So it is the future proprietor, this head is to be kowtowed no matter what, not to mention that the adults are still the main envoy of this mission, the small people are in a foreign country, and usually it is just to want to do a salute to the adults of the hometown, but there is no place to do it.”
The shopkeeper suddenly woke up, thought of his earlier in front of this adult from the south, seems to mention some more taboo names, can not help but mumbling asked: “Lord Fan, how do you think to come to the small store to see?”
After all, Beiqi’s water was far away from the Southern Qing Emperor, so the merchants here were a bit more daring, which was why they still kept their old signboards and kept talking about the old proprietor they were so proud of. Fan Xian looked at him and realized that the other party was afraid that these words would be sent back to Kyoto and offend the royal family, who now controlled the entire Qing country’s export business.
He smiled and said in reply that he wanted him to pick out a few exquisite glass drinking utensils that were not ordinary goods.
The shopkeeper curiously said, “What is this for?” He originally thought that Lord Fan was just taking the opportunity of his mission to check out the business he would be taking care of in the future in advance, how did he know that the other party was actually preparing to buy glassware.
Lin Jing explained a few things, and the shopkeeper hurriedly called out his fellows. A few handy fellows listened to the order and rushed into the store room inside, thinking that the real high-grade goods were not placed inside the front store. Taking advantage of the waiting time, Fan Xian and the store owner started chatting, the store owner knew what this lord wanted to know, and didn’t dare to hide it in the slightest, reporting the number of glass products exported from Southern Qing Dynasty to the Northern Kingdom in these years as a rough figure.
Although it was only a rough figure, Fan Xian was still a bit surprised. Shangjing only this one South Qing glass workshop, the annual income is very terrible, no wonder to the abundance of Qi’s products, now in the financial strength is only with the country will pull a tie.
The shopkeeper suddenly sighed and said, “But I don’t know why, but the goods sent from Kyoto are not as good as in previous years, and there is nothing new, so the business is a bit worse.”
Fan Xian asked, “How much worse than at its peak?”
“About thirty percent worse.”
Fan Xian pondered briefly and knew where the problem lay. After the Ye family was returned to the inner treasury, the eldest princess was in full control of the Ye family, even if that crazy woman was an extremely politically intelligent and tactful character, but in the face of these glass soaps and other brand new things, I’m afraid that she would still not know what to do, since the color of the glass was poor, it must be a problem with the ingredients and the process, and the several Ye shopkeepers at Qing Yu Tang could not operate it personally, so naturally there was no way to make any adjustments.
But business is only 30% worse, it seems that the Princess is also aware of the importance of these firms for the economy of Qing, and not too much nonsense, just follow the practice of previous years in doing.
The conservative has more than enough, enterprising is not enough.
Speaking, the young fellows have the store’s most precious several glass fine bottles out, Fan Xian picked up a, squinting at the sunlight outside the store, found that there is not a trace of impurities inside the glass, than those in Kyoto glass windows really much better. He couldn’t help but smile and said, “These are the ones.”
The boss hurriedly called out to his fellows to wrap them up, but unexpectedly, Fan Xian waved his hand and said, “Don’t panic.” The crowd didn’t understand what he meant, but only listened to his orders.
Suddenly the boss face showed a hint of difficulty, Fan Xian sharp eyes have long seen, opened his mouth and asked: “Boss your name?”
“My name is Yu.” The boss hurriedly answered.
“The apprentice of Qingyu Hall’s surname is Yu?” Fan Xian laughed in his heart and said, “What’s so difficult about Boss Yu?”
The boss smiled bitterly and said, “Lord Fan, these glass beats were prepared for the Empress Dowager’s birthday at the end of the month.”
Fan Xian was slightly startled and said, “Could it be that the powerful people of Northern Qi ordered the birthday gifts for the palace from you? Then this official can’t have it, so Boss Yu might as well change a few things for me.”
Yu boss froze, seems to have not thought of such a big official was so good to talk, hurriedly explained: “Ordered is not ordered, because the North Qi power and nobility has always been clear, we will always store a few good goods in this store, then again, this glass bottle is not the most expensive gift nowadays …… just the internal library rules set dead This month is usually a thick month, if you take these, when you report to the south at the end of the month, you will be short of a large amount of money, and I’m afraid that the people in the inner treasury will ……”
Without finishing his words, Fan Xian also understood what the other party was afraid of and said with a smile, “Don’t worry, naturally, I will pay you.”
Wang Qinian also laughed and scolded, “Afraid of the inner treasury checking your account? Don’t you know that this person in front of you will be the master of the inner treasury in the future?”
Boss Yu stammered and wiped the sweat from his forehead, but in his heart he was thinking, even if this Lord Fan will be the master of the inner treasury in the future, the problem is that nowadays the …… master of the inner treasury, who is in charge of thousands of merchants in the world, is not this master ah.
Suddenly, Fan Xian patted his purse and said with a bitter smile, “When I traveled to Northern Qi, I seemed to have forgotten to bring one thing.” The crowd silently understand, thinking that Fan Tisi as the main ambassador of the mission, this trip to North Qi is naturally a publicly-funded trip, although the body with some idle silver, but where will prepare so many silver tickets.
Boss Yu continued to wipe the sweat out of his mind, “If your honor is on official business, naturally you should report the public account, your honor will write a slip, I will send the slip back to Kyoto, and it will also be able to offset the account.”
“Playing a white slip? That’s a good idea.” Fan Xian thought in his heart, and took the ink, paper and inkstone that had been prepared long ago, thinking that this Boss Yu was extremely perceptive, and had probably seen more than his fair share of ambassadors taking white out notes. He wrote a few lines of words on the paper with a brush, and Boss Yu carefully wrote the number of silver money, and it was Fan Xian’s turn to make a payment, but at this time he hesitated, and turned back to ask Wang Qinian: “Is there any money in the courtyard?”
Wang Qinian said with a bitter smile, “One-third of the institution’s finances are allocated by His Majesty, and two-thirds are allocated by the Ministry of the Household, that is, your family’s old master, and it has been a bit tight in recent years.”
Fan Xian looked back at Gouda and thought to himself, “You’re following your father, the Tiger Guard is naturally extremely wealthy. Seeing the young master look at himself, Gouda’s face was embarrassed for a moment as he said, “Young master, the old master has a tight control over the Tiger Guard’s silver money.”
Fan Xian sighed, looked at Lin Jing and said, “It seems that we still have to use the name of Honglu Temple.”
Lin Jing stifled a bitter laugh, thinking, “You are clearly eating Honglu Temple, what else can I say? Anyway, it is public in the account, Lin Jing is not distressed, but also said with humor, “the internal library outside the library, always inferior to the national treasury.”
This is extremely, whether it is the current eldest princess in charge of the internal treasury, or Sinan Bo Fan Jian in charge of the Ministry of households, in the final analysis, always the silver money of the country of Qing. Fan Xian and Lin Jing, the pair of ambassadors and vice ambassadors, dashingly signed their own names and glanced at the two thousand taels on the paper, then walked out of the glass store door.
Several people didn’t have long followers, so Boss Yu carefully instructed his fellows to hold those precious glass bottles and follow several adults out of the door, because Fan Xian didn’t instruct them to send them back to the embassy, so he thought there was another use for them.
Walking past the toy store that sold the Nine Linked Rings and Huarong Dao, Fan Xian just glanced at it, his gaze clear and soft. The previous shop was a place that sold liquor, and Fan Xian walked in first. The owner of this store had already been informed by his subordinates that there were several high officials from his hometown, and was standing at the door to welcome them, very respectful.
Fan Xian sat on a chair and swept a glance, and found that the wine containers in this shop were also extremely expensive, just a few glass bottles worse than the ones he had “bought”, and beckoned the store owner to come forward and asked, “What is the best wine?”
The owner, whose last name was Sheng, produced a long, transparent bottle like a magic trick. The wine in the bottle glowed with an extremely attractive red color that was thick but not too thick.
Fan Xian squinted slightly and said in surprise, “Wine?”
“Lord Fan is truly worthy of being an immortal in wine and poetry.” Boss Sheng had long ago inquired about the composition of this hometown’s envoys and smiled fawningly, “It is precisely grape wine.”
Taking a cup, he poured some into it, and with his eyes closed, Fan Xian slightly shook the open cup and brought it up to his nose to sniff it. Seeing him in this manner, not only Wang Qinian, who had also been a lavish thief back then, but even Lin Jing and Boss Sheng were all praising him in their hearts, thinking that Lord Fan was indeed a descendant of a famous family.
Fan Xian was not a master of wine tasting, he just made a gesture, put the cup on the table beside him and said, “I’ll take this wine, and then pick the strong ones and bring out some more.”
Sheng boss did not dare to be slow, hurriedly served one by one, Fan Xian in turn shallow taste a mouthful, slightly frowned, this and his own usually drink the kind of wine is not too different, degree is too low, far less than in the Tanyu state, five bamboo uncle to give himself the whole sorghum and the capital of the tribute wine.
Seeing his lord’s frown, Boss Sheng asked in a low voice, “Spirits are forbidden to go north, so your lordship is more sympathetic.”
Fan Xian knew that the other party did not tell the truth, there is nothing in this world that can not be bought with money, the powerful and noble people in Northern Qi are mostly rich and wealthy people, spending money has always been not soft, the boss had to be prepared for some high-grade goods, and did not say anything more, just shook his head to express his dissatisfaction.
Boss Sheng suddenly glanced at him, and then took out two more bottles of good wine. Fan Xian frowned slightly, in that previous glance, this seemingly ordinary boss had revealed a very unusual look.
Served in a small porcelain cup, Fan Xian took a sip, then frowned, not speaking for a long time.
The crowd thought that the wine tasted bad, and Wang Qinian couldn’t help but open his mouth and ask, “What’s wrong, my lord?”
Fan Xian took a silky breath, turning the scalding sensation in his throat all into a stimulating pleasure, and exclaimed loudly, “Good wine! Good wine! What’s the name?”
Boss Sheng smiled faintly and said, “Wuliangye.”
Fan Xian’s face remained serene and unchanged as he praised again, “Good name.” In his heart, however, he bitterly laughed and praised, “Ye Qingmei, you were really idle back then.”
After finishing all this, the four officials got up and went out. However, when he was leaving the house, Fan Xian realized that the boss surnamed Sheng had given himself a wink, and associating it with what he had noticed earlier, Fan Xian stopped in his tracks, letting the remaining three go first, while he himself turned back around and came down to the rear among the tents under the leadership of Boss Sheng.
There was no one in the tent room, and it was unusually quiet.
As soon as Boss Sheng entered the inner room, he was as if he had changed, his entire body straightened up, his face solemn, and he bowed to Fan Xian, who was seated on a chair, saying in a deep voice, “Inner Treasury Sheng Huairen, I pay my respects to your aunt.”