"Tell me the whole story," Fang Yundao said.
Dong Wencong nodded. "Xiang Province's geography is excellent. The environment is suitable, and the population is dense. Especially after the human race's ability to transport water increased, Baling City, which is near the river, rose to prominence. With the development of water transportation, the goods the workshops needed could be imported at a low price, and the goods produced by the workshops could be transported away quickly. Thus, there were many workshops in Baling City. There are rivers and lakes to the north and west of Baling City, which are the most suitable for water-powered machinery. Thus, the northern workshop district and the western workshop district were formed. You must have seen it when you climbed the Military Reading Tower … no, Yueyang Tower. "
Fang Yundao nodded slightly. "Indeed."
"Many years ago, even though Baling City had a great advantage and formed a continuous chain of workshops, it only made life easier for some of its citizens. It didn't benefit all of Xiang Province's citizens. This was because all of the craftsmen, scholars, and excellent craftsmen in the workshops were all Gyeongo citizens. They only left the simplest, dirtiest, and most tiring work to the citizens of Baling City. Moreover, they bought raw wood, medicinal ingredients, and grains from Xiang Province at a low price. After making paper, medicine, and other goods, they would prioritize selling them to Gyeongo or other countries. Only the leftover goods would be sold to the citizens of Xiang Province at a higher price than those sold to other countries. "
"After hearing this, others will surely ask why the citizens of Xiang Province don't buy goods from other countries. However, you must know that because Gyeongo established a Xiang Province Association, all goods entering and leaving Xiang Province is decided by the association. The Xiang Province government has no right to interfere. The members of the association are all Gyeongo's major trading companies. The true masters of Gyeongo and all of Saint Origin's major trading companies are all aristocratic families, imperial families, wealthy families, or high officials of various countries. "
Fang Yundao nodded slightly.
Dong Wencong continued, "In other places of Gyeongo, these major trading companies still care about their reputation. After all, they have to proclaim that they are doing this for the sake of the citizens of Gyeongo. If they go overboard, they will be condemned by scholars of Gyeongo and even other countries, and even shake the foundation of the country. However, Xiang Province is different. That's why Gyeongo indulges the association. The Xiang State Assembly was not like the government. They did not need face, only money. Therefore, they used all kinds of methods to exploit the people of Xiang State. Up until now, the ones who truly control the lives of the people of Xiang Province are not the government, but the Xiang Province Council. "
"I have some understanding of this matter," Fang Yundao said.
"Xiangzhou will control all aspects of Xiangzhou. In the first year that Xiangzhou was taken over by Jingguo, Jingguo did not make any moves. They did not give up Xiangzhou either. They only made compromises. For example, they raised the wages of the workers in the workshops, lowered the prices of the goods they sold, drew in the workers and scholars in Xiangzhou, moved away the papermaking workshops that had too much waste water, and so on. However, from the second year onwards, various trading companies from Jingguo began to enter Xiangzhou. However, Jingguo's trading companies are well aware of how powerful the Xiangzhou Guild is, so they've only opened shops and not workshops. "
"After probing, the Jingguo Trading Company discovered that Xiangzhou was a treasure trove of money. Therefore, they prepared to invade Xiangzhou. However, the Xiangzhou Guild immediately used some tricks to make the trading companies realize how powerful the Xiangzhou Guild is and hesitate. It was only recently that the Zhao Trading Company officially broke the deadlock. They began to build a large-scale papermaking workshop in the North Workshop District. After it's completed, the paper it produces can at least satisfy the needs of a prefecture. Before the Zhao Trading Company's workshop was even completed, they began to advertise that they treat all workers equally. The price of paper is also in line with the entire human race. This is equivalent to digging up the roots of all the papermaking workshops near Baling City. Furthermore, 70% of the papermaking workshops in Baling City belong to the Qingjiang Trading Company, "Dong Wencong said.
"That's Ge Baiwan's trading company?"
"Yes, that's the famous Ge Baiwan's trading company. However, although everyone is used to calling him Ge Baiwan, his wealth is already several billion taels of silver. Of course, you should know that this wealth does not completely belong to him. He is not the owner of the Qingjiang Trading Company, only its head shopkeeper. "Dong Wencong glanced at Fang Yun.
Fang Yun smiled and lightly nodded. He understood this sort of thing. The clans of new high-ranking officials or clans that, for various reasons, could not directly engage in business, would cooperate with certain merchants. They would have the merchants appear in public while they waited behind the scenes to collect money.
Because it was illegal for high-ranking officials to use their power to make money, to use a common saying, 'dirty one's hands', these merchants were like clean gloves that covered the dirty hands of these high-ranking officials. Thus, these merchants were also known as' white gloves'.
Ge Baiwan was Gyeongo's greatest 'white gloves'.
Fang Yun had long known of Ge Baiwan's identity. Although he loathed this person for colluding with officials and merchants and for not caring about the lives of the common people, he was still rather confident in his own abilities. If it had been anyone else, even if they had the support of a high-ranking official, they might not have been able to expand the Qingjiang Trading Company to such an extent.
Fang Yun thought for a moment and said, "Then the one who incited the people of Baling to take to the streets this time should be Ge Baiwan's distant nephew, the Xiangzhou Jinshi tycoon Ge Yiming, right? The Ge family probably hates me to the bone. Thus, after the inauguration ceremony ended yesterday, they could not wait to incite the people of Baling to take to the streets. On the surface, it is to oppose the Zhao Trading Company and to compete for business, but in secret, it is to attack my prestige. "
Dong Wencong sighed in admiration. "You really are 'sitting at home, but your heart knows everything in the world'. Although Ge Baiwan is the head shopkeeper of the Qingjiang Trading Company and can easily move among the high-ranking officials and nobles, his own status is not high. He is most afraid that one day, he will lose both his wealth and his people. Thus, his nephew in Xiangzhou, Ge Yiming, suddenly appeared in everyone's sight. This person is a Jinshi. His words are often unexpected, but also within reason. The key is that this person recruits talented people and has a wide circle of friends among scholars. Moreover, he is good at creating some incidents so that the common people will remember him. Most of the common people feel that although this person is a Jinshi tycoon, he is very down-to-earth. Thus, he is also very popular among the common people. "
Fang Yun smiled slightly and said, "This Ge Yiming, after returning to Xiangzhou from Kong and becoming a Jinshi, his Literary Name began to skyrocket. It should have been seven or eight years ago."
Dong Wencong said, "Whether it is those wealthy families that have accumulated wealth for many years or those that have risen in recent years, whose children are as flamboyant as Ge Yiming? Not a single person. Why? Because the Ge family is unstable. Because Ge Baiwan moves among the Gyeongo nobles, the slightest carelessness will cause his reputation to be ruined and he will not be able to protect his family. In order to prevent misfortune from causing a loss of wealth, he must transfer part of his wealth to the Ge family. Ge Yiming has the highest literary position and is the most suitable candidate. Ge Yiming's previous self-deprecation was nothing more than promoting the Literary Name. Once the Literary Name is enough, even if there is a great change in the Qingjiang Trading Company, Ge Baiwan only needs to die to end it. Those people will not be ruthless and will let Ge Yiming live a stable life as a rich man. "
"A dog that bites does not bark. Back then, when faced with the persecution of Liu Zicheng, Liu Zizhi, and Ji Zhibai, I wanted to use all means to strengthen the Literary Name, just to make them hesitate. But now, even when facing the Zong and Lei families, I will not be flamboyant. "Fang Yundao said.
"That's the principle. However, Ge Baiwan is indeed a dragon among men. He is a tycoon in business. If he were to follow the literary path, he would probably become a great scholar. As for Ge Yiming, he has been nurtured by Ge Baiwan. Naturally, he is far better than ordinary people in all aspects. It is not an exaggeration to say that he is one in a hundred. However, when those Hanlin scholars and scholars occasionally evaluate him, they only say that he is above average. "Dong Wencong did not hide his dissatisfaction with Ge Yiming.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
