Chapter 431 Southland Meeting
Southland
Xie Zhan and his group finally returned home two days before the New Year.
It was already evening when we entered the city.
The Xie family's land was in the West City. When they were about to return, Xie Zhan couldn't help but lift the curtain of the carriage to take a look. At this time, their carriage was about to pass by a bookstore owned by the Lu family. A scholar carrying a basket walked out, muttering to himself.
When the two passed each other, Xie Zhan clearly heard the scholar saying some complaints.
When passing by the bookstore, Xie Zhan took a look inside and saw that the business was neither good nor bad.
When he returned home, he first went to see his mother and then to see his wife.
Zhao Yutan's postpartum recovery was okay, but her son's frail body made her look a little sad.
His son is now more than three months old. Because he was born prematurely, he currently weighs only eight or nine kilograms.
Xie Zhan knew very well that this was the result of careful care.
Later, after Xie Zhan had dinner with his mother and wife, he went into the study. There were too many things waiting for him to deal with.
He first sorted the information he was going to process into categories, thought for a while, and took the one related to Liaodong County to look at.
These materials mainly record the recent events and changes in Liaodong County and even the entire Pingzhou.
From these written descriptions, Xie Zhan could get a glimpse of the prosperity of Liaodong County.
Xie Zhansi, Qin Sheng, Xue Xu and their companions thought about the money and grain they had plundered from the South, and they thought that the South had also contributed to this prosperity.
Xie Zhan sorted out the information he had collected about Liaodong County's policy direction and program for that year.
He found that everything they did was related to people's livelihood, including suppressing bandits, building roads, constructing kangs, building academies, and setting up various plantations and breeding workshops.
Over the past six months, Nandi has mainly focused on solving the problem of post-disaster reconstruction for disaster victims.
They organized the victims to return to their hometowns or settle nearby, and then helped them build or repair houses, giving them a place to live. They also repaired official roads and paths that had been destroyed by the floods, and rebuilt bridges that had been washed away by the floods, ensuring that roads were open.
He had originally thought that the Southland was well governed. But now, after reading the information, he realized that compared to the booming development of Liaodong County, their Southland was really developing slowly.
Xie Zhan flipped through the documents in his hand again, and his eyes fell on a piece of document. In order to let the local people have a good New Year, the Liaodong Chamber of Commerce Grain and Oil Store supplied a large amount of salted fish, and each household was limited to purchasing ten kilograms?
Looking at the news, he fell into deep thought unconsciously.
At this time, Xie Zhan keenly realized that there was something wrong with the salt in Liaodong County. Then he remembered the 100 acres of land in Zhonglong City that the Lu family had asked for as compensation when they came to break off the engagement.
During this period of time, he went out, and in addition to meeting various talented people, he also gained other things.
This trip, communicating with different talented people, gave him a sense of enlightenment and a comprehensive understanding. He realized that what he had learned before was only the results, not the reasons.
Like now, he vaguely guessed the reason why the Lu family insisted on taking the 100 acres of land in Longcheng. However, whether the reason was as he speculated, he still needed to send someone to verify it.
If it was really as he thought, Xie Zhan's eyes darkened. Salt and iron were under the jurisdiction of the imperial court, and trading them privately was tantamount to a crime.
At this moment, there was a knock on the study door.
Xie Zhan frowned slightly, "Come in——"
After the door opened, Zhao Yutan brought him a bowl of ginseng tea and said, "My dear, it's very late. Isn't it time to rest?"
It would have been fine if Zhao Yutan hadn't mentioned it. As soon as she did, Xie Zhan felt a sudden surge of fatigue. He frowned and hummed.
Thinking about the meeting with Gu Huaisheng and other heads of aristocratic families tomorrow, Xie Zhan felt that it was indeed time to rest.
So he stood up and took the ginseng tea from her hand and drank it all in one gulp. "It is indeed time to rest. Thank you, Madam, for reminding me."
Seeing that he trusted him so much, Zhao Yutan smiled.
Xie Zhan put his arm around her and left the study together. He went to see his son first, and then they returned to the bedroom.
The next day, the current heads of the southern families gathered at the Xie family, including Gu Chusheng, Lu Fei, and the heads of the Zhang and Liu families.
During this meeting, Xie Zhan mainly wanted to unify the thoughts of the people on the ship, summarize this year, look forward to next year, and help them solve some problems.
After everyone gathered, Xie Zhan couldn't help but ask about their recent business.
The four people present all shook their heads. Ever since the flood, the economy of the South has been very sluggish, and their business has been difficult.
Xie Zhan nodded. "Okay, I understand. Come one by one and let's discuss and see if there's a solution. Master Lu, how's business at your Lu's Bookstore?"
Lu Fei said bluntly, "Ever since the incident at the Liaodong Chamber of Commerce Bookstore half a year ago, business at Lu's Bookstore hasn't been very good." And they're constantly being criticized. If they make the price of the Four Treasures of the Study even slightly higher, the scholars will start to criticize them. They'll say, 'You're so expensive! If the Liaodong Chamber of Commerce Bookstore still existed, they definitely wouldn't charge that much.' It's infuriating to hear.
Although they had previously paid the Liaodong Chamber of Commerce's bookstore a sum of money to withdraw from the South, they had undercut their silver-glossy paper prices with a 20-cent price tag. It could be said that for the past six months, the Lu's bookstore hadn't been making any money, if only by losing money.
"Hasn't the Lu family been researching how to improve the papermaking process for the past six months? Has there been any progress?" Xie Zhan asked again.
At this time, Lu Fei nodded with a slight smile on his face. These days, the papermaking master of their Lu family has been improving the papermaking recipe in an attempt to reduce costs.
Later on, their papermaking technology did improve, but at a selling price of twenty cents per knife, they could only break even, and the profit was really not much.
Xie Zhan thought for a moment and said, "Well, Lu's company should improve the quality of the silver paper. At least it should be higher quality than the snow paper."
Lu Fei frowned, "But if this happens, the cost will go up again."
Xie Zhan said, "It doesn't matter, we will sell notebooks in the future!"
The Liaodong Chamber of Commerce bookshop sells a kind of notebook, which is made by gluing a piece of paper or half a piece of paper together to sell. The notebooks they sell come in various sizes and thicknesses.
"We'll only make 240 sheets and sell them for the price of three sheets of paper."
The others were stunned when they heard Fang. It was so thick? And it was so expensive, would anyone buy it? You know, the quality of Xueguang paper is pretty good, and it only costs twenty wen per piece.
Xie Zhan continued, "On the title page of each book, excerpt one or two famous quotes from rare ancient books. You can tell scholars that if they collect a rare copy of a book, they can exchange it for a book."
Books have always been a unique treasure of the aristocratic families. Not only did the Lu family have a large collection of books, but the Xie family also had a large collection of books.
Their rich collection of books is their advantage. Besides, shouldn't we pay for knowledge?
He'd been wrong before, always thinking about competing with Liaodong County. But reading is an elegant and precious art. Only families with a rich history can raise outstanding scholars. They just need to capture this group of people.
After the others figured out the key, they couldn't help but praise, "Great! Master Xie, this way, Lu's paper won't have to worry about selling." You know, scholars are very eager for books and knowledge.
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