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Chapter 156 Trip to Yangzhou

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    That day, everyone spent the night on the boat and arrived in Yangzhou City the next morning.

    Yangzhou is adjacent to the canal and the river. It has been the world's top commercial metropolis since ancient times. Merchants from all over the world live here, which has created the prosperity of Yangzhou City for thousands of years.

    By this dynasty, although Yangzhou¡¯s status as the economic center was replaced by Jinling and Suhang, it was still the national salt transportation center.

    Every year, more than one billion kilograms of sea salt is transported from Yangzhou along the Grand Canal and the Yangtze River to be sold across the country.  It is no exaggeration to say that half of the people of the Ming Dynasty were eating Huai salt shipped from Yangzhou.  There is no doubt that today this is a city prosperous and prosperous because of salt. There are more than 100 large and small salt merchants in the city, among which Hui merchants are the most important.

    Huizhou merchants took over the salt transportation in Yangzhou, and the two Huaihe Rivers imported 16.9 million yuan, which were handled by more than a dozen Huizhou merchants, and then distributed to the small and medium-sized salt merchants below.

    These big salt merchants have huge capital and make money from the land.  Without the pain of running a business, they naturally regard money as dirt. They have long lost the thrift and stinginess of traditional Huizhou merchants.  They lived a luxurious life in Yangzhou, competing to build gardens, raise thin horses, build theater troupes, and collect collections Of course, in addition to these personal enjoyments, they would also actively build bridges, pave roads, build schools, and donate generously to public undertakings.

    Salt merchants also particularly like to assist students. Not only will poor students in Yangzhou and Huizhou receive their support, but any student who comes to Beijing from the Grand Canal to take the exam will be warmly entertained by the salt merchants as long as he or she settles down in Yangzhou, and will be greeted before leaving.  Send Cheng Yi, who is not cheap.

    Therefore, the reputation of salt merchants among scholars is not as bad as ordinary people imagine. On the contrary, they are very popular among scholars.  Among the people traveling with Zhao Hao and others, there were many who had received funding from salt merchants.

    Passenger ships flying yellow flags arrived at Dongguan Pier in Yangzhou one after another.

    Every time they arrived at a ship, the young people would be greeted by various salt merchants who had been waiting on the dock for a long time. They would be invited back to their gardens, where they would have a big banquet and entertain them happily.

    Zhao Hao and the others are naturally no exception.

    And their ships had the most yellow flags, causing the most intense competition.

    In the end, the Ye family, one of the eight major salt merchants in Yangzhou, came forward and split their ship in two. One half was divided among the other several families, and the other half was kept by the Ye family.

    Zhao Hao and the others got on a luxurious and comfortable eight-carriage sedan, walked through the streets and alleys to the sound of gongs, and were carried into Yangzhou City.

    When everyone got off the sedan, they saw that they were in a luxurious and beautiful garden. There were brocade curtains and mink curtains everywhere, calligraphy and paintings, and Yi statues, decorated with precious jade, and hidden with famous incense.  Victory.

    At this time, the warm sun was shining brightly at noon, so the host held a banquet in the waterside pavilion. Zhao Hao and others sat down at the table. They felt that the room was as warm as spring, surrounded by clear water and trees, and swimming golden scales.  There are also a number of stunning female historians surrounding the hall, with their warm fragrance and soft voice.  There is also a Liyuan opera troupe, who responds to the call in the garden. When called in the hall, the song responds, and the silk and bamboo are lingering, making the performers feel as if they have come to heaven from the human world. They feel that the surroundings are shining with gold and green, five colors of light, and the figures and flowers are blurred and messy.

    Zhao Hao and his son were on pins and needles.  For Zhao Hao, he was too young to see such a messy scene; for Zhao Shouzheng, he couldn't do such a messy thing in front of his son.

    Fortunately, the host was very considerate. He smiled slightly and whispered a few words to the concubine who looked like a fairy concubine.  The concubine invited Zhao Hao and his son to follow her to a flower hall at the end of the corridor.

    "Someone is waiting for you two, please come in and meet me." The concubine bowed slightly, making a gesture of inviting you in.

    Zhao Hao alertly grabbed Zhao Shouzheng.

    Seeing this, the concubine couldn't help but chuckle, and said to the inside: "Master Zhao, the person you were waiting for has arrived."

    Zhao Hao and his son were stunned when they saw Zhao Xian, dressed as a son of a rich family, wearing a brocade robe and a jade-inlaid headdress, walking quickly to the door.

    Zhao Shouzheng couldn't help being surprised when he saw it was his eldest nephew.  "Oh, Zhao Xian, didn't you go back to Xiuning? Why are you here? Have you seen your grandpa?"

    Zhao Xian hurriedly saluted his second uncle, and then said hello to Zhao Hao.

    The concubine was blessed and left silently.

    "Second uncle, this is" Zhao Xian was clumsy. Facing his second uncle's barrage of questions, he didn't know where to start, so he stamped his foot and said, "Let's talk about it when we go home."

    "Go home?" Zhao Shouzheng couldn't help but ask, "Go back to Nanjing or Xiuning?"

    "Next door." Zhao Xian led the way with a wry smile, and said helplessly to the two of them: "You will all know when we get there.

    Zhao Shouzheng had no choice but to suppress his doubts and follow his eldest nephew through a white marble moon door in the wall and into another luxurious garden.

    ??~~

    Enter the garden and walk along the winding bluestone road.As we walked, we saw thousands of bamboo poles and sparse flowers and trees beside the road.

    When you turn around a Taihu stone named "Willow Dark Flower Ming", you will suddenly see a bright light in front of you. A small lake with residual lotus reflecting water is an extremely elegant winding corridor, secluded pavilions, and flower hall study.

    Although it is not as splendid and luxurious as the one next door, it looks more elegant and stylish, and is more in line with the ideal aesthetic of scholars.

    Zhao Shouzheng couldn¡¯t help but nodded repeatedly, and smiled at his son: ¡°When we settle down, we will build a garden like this, and then the two of us will enjoy flowers and fish every day. It will be a wonderful life¡±

    "Good-for-nothing!" He heard a familiar scolding, which made Zhao Shouzheng tremble violently.

    The father and son hurriedly followed the news and saw Zhao Liben, who had been absent for nearly a year, wearing a black gauze Pingding square scarf on his head and a maroon dark flower lake silk robe, looking at his son with a red face, pretending to be angry.

    "Oh, father"

    Zhao Shouzheng¡¯s eyes were light-hearted, and when he saw Zhao Liben, whom he cared about day and night, he immediately burst into tears.

    He rushed forward with tears in his eyes and wanted to hug Zhao Liben.  "Isn't my son dreaming?"

    Zhao Liben pushed him away with a look of disgust, and said angrily: "You are now an official, so you must pay attention to your decency!"

    "Even if I become the prime minister, I am also my father's son." When Zhao Shouzheng saw that his father refused to hug him, he pulled Zhao Hao and knelt on the ground to kowtow to Zhao Liben.

    "Okay, okay, get up." Zhao Liben then reached out to help his grandson and said to his son: "Come into the house and talk."

    The four people, grandfather and grandson, walked into the flower hall named "Tinghe Xuan" by the pool.

    I saw that the windows of the flower hall were not covered with the common Korean paper, but were inlaid with five-color glass.

    Looking in from outside, nothing can be seen clearly.  But when I went in and looked outside, I saw the outdoor scenery, which was clear and colorful.

    What surprised Zhao Hao even more was that there was actually a silver-framed glass mirror hanging on the wall of the study room!

    Looking at himself in the mirror, he couldn't help but blurt out: "Is this a Thai product?"

    "My good grandson is knowledgeable," Zhao Liben nodded happily and said, "This is a glass mirror smuggled in by Fo Langji, with a price of five hundred taels. In Yangzhou, if you don't have many Western products like this, you will be embarrassed to talk to others.  greet."

    Zhao Haoxin said, this business is really profitable

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