Chapter 356

When people talk about Yangzhou, they first think of a group of salt merchants who are the richest in the world. The so-called Yangzhou Salt Merchants refer to overseas Chinese living in Yangzhou, or businessmen who run the salt industry of Lianghuai in Yangzhou. In fact, the vast majority of Yangzhou Salt Merchants are not Yangzhou locals.

Why did the merchants of Lianghuai salt industry choose Yangzhou as their gathering place? This is related to Yangzhou's unique geographical advantages.

Yangzhou is located in the north of the Yangtze River and the south of the Huaihe River. It is close to the canal in the West and the sea in the East. Within a radius of hundreds of miles, Yangzhou has vertical and horizontal rivers and convenient land and water transportation. It is the throat that ships must pass through since the excavation of the Beijing Hangzhou Grand Canal in the Sui Dynasty.

In addition, there was the largest sea salt production site in China at that time near Yangzhou, that is, the two large salt production areas in the South and north of the Huaihe River in Jiangsu. The folk saying "salt in the two Huaihe rivers is salty in the world" has been circulating among the people, and the management center of the salt industry in the two Huaihe rivers was in Yangzhou, which naturally became the gathering place of salt merchants in the two Huaihe rivers.

For Yangzhou Salt Merchants, the market is their life. It is their path to create wealth by monopolizing the market and obtaining goods at low prices and selling at high prices.

Since Huaiyang has been a place with heavy taxes since ancient times, with the privileges given by the government, they obtained the huge market of nanzhili, Henan, Huguang and other provinces, which were almost the most economically developed and densely populated areas in the Ming Dynasty, thus achieving the prosperity of Yangzhou Salt Merchants and the prosperity of Yangzhou.

When the salt merchants became rich, they squandered and lived a life of extravagance.

At first, the main force of these salt merchants' luxury consumption appeared as a public relations means to cling to dignitaries and dignitaries. Later, it became an urban habit. There is a saying in Yangzhou that it is called black gauze hat and embroidered shoes. Black gauze hat means that if you are good friends with an official, you should be an official if you can't be an official. Embroidered shoes are good women.

These two words represent the political concept and life pursuit of Yangzhou salt merchants. In the process of crazy consumption, the salt merchants in this city have gradually formed their own unique citizen culture and highly specialized consumer market.

Salt merchants like beautiful living environment, so they have formed a mature garden construction market and fed a large number of gardeners, bricklayers and carpenters; Salt merchants like to have fun and drink, so there are developed opera art and theatres in Yangzhou; Salt merchants like delicacies, so there are Huaiyang cuisine and famous chefs; Salt merchants like leisure, so there are a large number of teahouses and bathhouses. Salt merchants like to visit brothels. Prostitutes are easy to dress up, so there is a fragrant powder industry in Yangzhou.

The consumption of salt merchants has led to the prosperity of the whole city. They are the people who pay for stimulating the domestic demand of the city. What are the local people doing in Yangzhou when the salt merchants from Huizhou consume wantonly? This will talk about the other two social strata in Yangzhou besides officials and businessmen: literati and idle people.

These two classes are attached to the salt merchants. Let's start with literati. Why are the same Huizhou businessmen who can and will spend money when they come to Yangzhou? I'm afraid this has something to do with the interaction between literati and businessmen in Yangzhou. Salt merchants are popular to raise a large number of literati pilgrims in order to be elegant or really like them. In addition to businessmen, they also play the role of art patron.

Because the salt merchants are so rich that an ordinary family member can earn enough money to support a large family. As a result, Yangzhou is rich in a large number of idle people, who have no jobs and do nothing, so they pack water in the morning and water in the evening. This means teahouses and bathhouses.

How idle are these people? Many people go to the teahouse when they get up together in the morning. Why? Because his towels and toothbrushes are all in the teahouse, and his washing and rinsing are all in the teahouse.

Most of the gardens in Yangzhou are built by salt merchants. They either live in the mountains and near the water, are broad and open, or are light and colorful, ethereal and jade, or Banqiao bamboo shadow and beautiful spring. In these gardens, spring stones, xiuzhumao forests, salt merchants often set up one case each, with pen 2, ink 1, paper 4, poetry 1, teapot 1, fruit box and tea box. Poets and painters were invited to write poems and paintings, and the poems were published in the market a few days later.

At that time, this speed was amazing. Many people published a book. All literati were proud of writing books and making statements. Many people published a book and almost spent years and countless silver. However, if they had a relationship with salt merchants, that is, a few days, money was not a problem. Therefore, literati also like to be with salt merchants, which can easily achieve their wishes.

This is the salt merchants in Yangzhou. Compared with the Jin merchants of the same era, they are elegant and high-grade. They love to find leisure and interest in ordinary life and wash away their philistine habits. Shanxi merchants were ridiculed as "high and low inlaid shoes, stepping on mud, sheep's head robes, and neat heels. They rushed for a burst of green pepper gas without waiting to hear the sound to know the old west". This can be seen only from the houses of Shanxi merchants. It has a different style and temperament from the garden houses of salt merchants.

It can be said that after the salt policy reform in Wanli year, the Shanxi merchants who received dividends due to the opening of China and France were indeed stabilized by the salt merchants in Yangzhou. When these people have money, they change their ways to spend it and use it. This gives people the impression that the salt merchants in Yangzhou have too much money to spend.

Of course, this is a wrong feeling. These people are one level higher than others because they have money. They show their differences and status everywhere. He can be one level higher than others because he has money.

Just like a famous man surnamed MA in later generations, he has so much money that he says he doesn't care about money. If he doesn't have so much money, he is just an ordinary person, so the rich can't help but have one thing, that is, the more money he has, the more money he makes. They salt merchants spend a lot of money and enjoy life after work, But basically everyone can understand that they can live such a life because they have money, so they must earn more money to maintain this life.

Selling salt is a way to earn the most money they can think of at present, but if they can make more money in another way, they will not mind. You know, they are salt merchants, but they also invest in all kinds of businesses, but there is no intention to make money faster than selling salt.

Rich families in this era have money. In addition to buying fields, buying land, building luxurious yards and buying more beautiful wives and concubines to enjoy, there seems to be no other way of consumption. Even the way of investment is relatively single. Now there are futures and stock markets in Europe, but in the East, primitive trading methods are still popular in Daming, As for stocks, they are just hearsay.

Then again, if he had stocks at this time, Liu Bu probably wouldn't have become a way to deal with money, but directly create a stock disaster.

Now he finds out that these salt merchants are too rich and fat. If they don't get a batch of things from them like this, he is really sorry for himself and so many poor people in Daming.

His ultimate goal is to start with this group of people and this group of rich gentry. He has set up such a big game and certainly won't want to seek fan Ruoshui's money. Fan Shui has no money at all. Tian tiger has some money, but Tian tiger's little money is not worth Liu Bu's effort and time layout.

That's why he secretly spread the news to let more people know that there is such an immortal in Yangzhou. With such a great magic power, he can turn silver. Under his intentional publicity, this matter spread all over Yangzhou in just two or three days.

Fan Ruoshui didn't feel anything wrong about this. Instead, he was complacent. He felt that he was finally famous and ready to make a fortune, because now everyone saw that he was respectful and greeted him with a smile. Everyone knew that there was an immortal in his family who would hatch money for him. He would soon make a fortune. He liked this kind of flattery that everyone flattered him, Everyone flattered him.

But Tian tiger thinks it's wrong. Why does he think it's wrong? He has always asked for strict confidentiality of this matter. If it is known by others, who will not take a share of such a great bargain?

No matter when you make a lot of money, if you leak the news and pass it on, everyone will want to grab it and everyone can't help but want to take a share. In that case, it's impossible for him to dominate this way of wealth.

Why did Tian Laohu become sworn to fan Ruoshui and seduce him with beauty? In fact, his idea was to control fan Ruoshui. 5 million taels of silver is astronomical, but he still had an idea in his heart, that is, he finally completely controlled the immortal and kept incubating silver for them. 5 million taels is a lot, But there is another number above 5 million Liang called ten million, ten million. Naturally, the more silver, the better. Who would think of more money? Even today's emperor always thinks he has less money. He collects and increases taxes in the first two days.

If you have enough money and food, you can basically do whatever you want now. Tian tiger is a very ambitious man. He is different from fan Ruoshui. He only knows how to enjoy it. What he envies more is the Zheng family in Fujian and the Liu family in Shandong. If he has money, he will form his own army and make himself a local faction and local giant, This is the real strong man. He can not only protect his wealth, but also get more benefits.

Such an organizational structure is the strongest, so that he can decide everything by himself without looking at other people's faces. This is what he most desires and pursues. He also wants to have his own army and do whatever he wants one day, like the Liu family.