Chapter 530 Merchant Ship
Afterwards, Song Yuntang looked at him.
"Where on earth did you get so much silver?"
Seeing her curiosity, Xu Qingye said, "Tang'er, do you still remember that last year a good friend asked me to borrow money to buy a boat?"
Although he had never been involved in ocean trade before, he had heard of it.
The profits here are huge. With a smooth round trip, you can not only make back the investment in buying the ship, but also make a profit.
In previous years, the merchant ship tax collected by the Maritime Customs was one of the important sources of fiscal revenue for the national treasury.
He had this in mind when he lent the money he had on him to his friend.
If the merchant ship can return safely, the money he lent will naturally be returned, and he can also earn a considerable amount of interest.
But if a merchant ship encounters an accident at sea, given my friend's personality, he will probably find a way to raise the money and pay it back afterwards.
Maritime trade depends entirely on luck.
If you bet right, you will make a fortune.
If you bet wrong, you will lose everything.
Song Yuntang understood.
"Did he return the two thousand taels to you?"
"He joined me directly." Xu Qingye looked at his wife beside him. "After buying the merchant ship last year, he sailed twice to the southeast, brought two ships of goods to sell, and brought back a lot of rare items from foreign countries. He made a lot of money from reselling them on both sides."
However, although I earn a lot, I also pay a lot of taxes.
This means that for every 10,000 taels of silver earned, one would have to pay 300 taels of silver in taxes to the government. In the end, the tax alone would amount to several thousand to tens of thousands of taels of silver.
With such considerable profits, it is no wonder that there are so many corrupt officials along the coastal areas.
Song Yuntang had never been in contact with a merchant ship before, so he couldn't help but feel curious.
"So, how much silver did he give you?"
The man spoke in an unhurried tone.
"He gave me 20,000 taels, but I didn't take it all. I left him 15,000 taels and asked him to take me with him when he bought another merchant ship."
In just one year, two thousand taels turned into twenty thousand taels.
The interest is indeed considerable.
The profit is much greater than that from her shop.
However, maritime trade also carries considerable risks.
Song Yuntang yawned. She was exhausted from all the trouble just now.
It turns out that the saying "a short absence makes a new marriage better" is not just idle talk.
She found a comfortable position in Xu Qingye's arms.
"How much silver does a merchant ship cost?"
The man patiently answered her questions.
"The cost of building a merchant ship is high. One ship costs about 66,000 taels. When it is sold by the Maritime Customs, the price is roughly between 80,000 and 110,000 taels."
After hearing this, Song Yuntang murmured, "The risk is not small."
Xu Qingye hummed and tightened his hold on her arm.
"We just need to join the gang and make as much money as we can. There's no need to get involved ourselves. The more money is involved, the more tricks there are. People who don't know the business will easily lose everything if they get involved."
Song Yuntang nodded, snuggled in his arms and fell asleep.
…
If you work late, you will get up late.
When Song Yuntang woke up, Xu Qingye was no longer by his side.
If she hadn't been able to faintly smell his scent in the quilt, she would have thought that she had had a wet dream last night.
Song Yuntang put on his coat, put on his shoes, walked forward and opened the door. The sky was clear today, but the morning sun was not very warm.
At the gate of the courtyard, Xu Qingye was holding Hao Ting's little arm and practicing walking in the courtyard.
The little guy is not only energetic, but also extremely curious. He wants to touch everything and even taste it with his little mouth.
The man is emotionally stable and you will patiently explain to him what he should not do.
Perhaps the child understood and actually stopped trying.
Perhaps he noticed the gazes behind him, Xu Qingye looked towards the main house. When he saw Song Yuntang, a gentle smile appeared on his face.
"Tang'er is up, are you hungry?"
Song Yuntang nodded, "Have you all eaten?"
"I've eaten everything." Xu Qingye said, "Mom asked the cook to leave some breakfast for you. Go wash up first."
Song Yuntang nodded and went back into the house.
Jinshu has already brought in the hot water.
We had breakfast in the yard.
A bowl of millet porridge, an egg roll, three fried dumplings, some light cold dishes, and a bowl of bird's nest.
The portion of each dish is not too large, but the variety is quite rich, which is enough for Song Yuntang alone.
Song Yuntang remembered that there was no bird's nest in the warehouse. This thing was very precious. Even the queen in the palace might not be willing to eat it every day.
"Did you buy the bird's nest too?"
Xu Qingye raised his hand, picked up his lazy son in his arms, and walked towards her.
"They were all brought here by merchant ships. I thought they were good, so I asked someone to keep some. I asked Xia Ning to take them to your warehouse last night."
Song Yuntang took a bite and found the bird's nest to have a good taste, without any musty or fishy smell. It was delicate and smooth with a natural sweetness.
It can be seen that the quality is excellent.
Seeing that she liked it, Xu Qingye smiled.
"Don't save it. I'll send a letter to someone and ask them to leave some for the family every time the merchant ships come back."
Song Yuntang smiled and nodded.
"Has mother eaten yet?"
Seeing Song Yuntang eating with relish, Hao Ting licked his lips and reached out to grab the food.
"I know you'll be thinking about mom." Xu Qingye turned his son over so that he would face him, so that he wouldn't grab the bowl in front of Song Yuntang. "I prepared some for her, too, but she said she wasn't used to eating these expensive things."
Seeing that his son was greedy, Song Yuntang tore off a small piece of egg pancake and put it in his mouth. Looking at his little teeth chewing up and down, he couldn't help but reach out and pinch his little face.
"There are many ways to cook bird's nest. I'll ask the cook to try other cooking methods. Maybe then my mother will like it again."
Both my parents-in-law are hardworking people.
I rarely saw them idle in my hometown before, and their health has been somewhat damaged over the years.
But now that I am middle-aged, it is not obvious.
Now that she had followed them to the capital, she could see that they were not used to living here at first.
But in order to let her and Xu Qingye focus on their own things, they were willing to stay and look after the house and the children. Not only did they keep the house in order, but most of the time they were the ones who kept an eye on the servants and worried about what the children ate and wore, which relieved a lot of her burden.
Now that there are any good things at home, she wants Xu Yongwang and Jiang to enjoy them too.
Take good care of your health so that you can enjoy more happiness with them in the future.
…
After the birthday, the weather gradually became hotter.
The child was afraid of heat, so Jiang made ten pairs of fine cotton trousers for Hao Ting at one time. Children at this stage could not walk a few steps and liked to crawl on the ground most of the time, so she added a piece of soft leather at the knees to prevent the child from hurting his knees when crawling on the ground, and the pants were also stronger and more wear-resistant.
I only change my clothes when I go out occasionally.
Xu Yongwang had nothing to do, so he found some wood and asked Fengshi and Yuanzhi to help him make a swing for the child and a small wooden horse.
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