Late Yuan Dynasty: I am the true emperor

Chapter 225 My Master Invites You
Jiangxi Province, Longxing Road, Nanchang Prefecture, Wei Ziming, with six guards and carrying gold and silver, finally arrived at this destination after going through untold hardships.

That’s right, this person is an intelligence officer affiliated with the Military Command Department of the Martial Academy.

Wei Ziming was originally a scholar from Wuwei County. His family was mainly engaged in business. Later, when Lu Jin summoned scholars from all over the country to take the exam, this guy also went to take the exam. It was a pity that the territory was limited and there were only so many official positions at that time, so he was not accepted. However, he still had some knowledge.

In addition, Wei Ziming's family had business experience and was quite familiar with business matters. Moreover, his family members were all healthy and in the territory of the Shengwu Army and could be used as hostages. He was also knowledgeable. Such a person was born to be an intelligence agent. He was soon selected by Bao Yu and made the stationmaster of Nanchang Station.

For intelligence personnel at the station chief level who are in charge of a certain direction, Lu Jin usually promises them directly that they can start directly from the rank of prefect of the fourth rank after the success in the future. In this way, these people will work harder.

Wei Ziming was reluctant to be a spy at first, but after learning about the conditions offered by Lu Jin, he quickly agreed. His knowledge was not outstanding, and he failed the first exam. When the territory becomes bigger in the future, there will definitely be more talented people taking the exam. As the son of a businessman, he may not be able to beat those people. It is better for him to take this opportunity to make a living, and there is basically no particular danger.

Bao Yu trained these people, but due to the lack of suitable personnel and organizational structure, Bao Yu did not allow them to collect intelligence themselves. He only let them be responsible for the construction of intelligence lines, and mainly rely on the development of downlines to collect intelligence. He also did not allow the various intelligence lines to cross, and they were not allowed to know each other. The intelligence station was only responsible for transferring the intelligence collected by various lines.

To put it simply, it is a single-line connection, which can guarantee the greatest security. Even if it is discovered in the future, as long as the headquarters moves fast enough, most of the intelligence lines can be preserved. As long as the person in charge is replaced, the intelligence network can be rebuilt quickly.

Therefore, although he was working as a spy behind enemy lines far away from the base, Wei Ziming was not too worried about his safety.

He took six guards and dozens of taels of gold and silver and took a boat to Nanchang. Relying on his ability to make money, he quickly found a place to stay in Nanchang and set up a safe house inside and outside the city.

In addition to the gold and silver he carried with him, Bao Yu also bought him a batch of chengni inkstones and Hui ink from Luzhou as trading materials.

Hui ink is a very famous specialty product in the Lujin area. There is no shortage of pine wood in the Dabie Mountains, which can provide a stable supply of Hui ink. Although Dingyuan's chengni inkstone is not a famous product, its main feature is small profits but quick turnover. This thing is made of pottery clay. Dingyuan has plenty of pottery clay mines, so there is as much as you want.

Jiangxi is a major papermaking province. If he imports some paper and brushes from Nanchang, he can open a stationery store.

Wei Ziming, under the pretext of checking out shops, wandered around the city for several days in a big way. He finally secretly collected information on the city's street layout, city wall defense arrangements, and other information, and drew a map.

Then he bought two stores in the city, which were called Yin-Yang stores.

Yangdian mainly sells stationery, which serves as a superficial cover for Wei Ziming, and is not an intelligence station itself.

Yindian is close to the city gate. It is a large coach inn, which was the lowest-end inn in ancient times. There are no single rooms in it. All the rooms are spread out with straw mats. A group of strangers sleep together. It is an inn specially for poor people such as coachmen, porters, and peddlers who go out. There are all kinds of people in it, making it convenient to develop downline from the coolies.

Moreover, people like coachmen, porters, and peddlers are more familiar with the local traffic conditions. By asking them for directions and talking to them, you can get a clear understanding of the local road conditions, which will facilitate future planning of troop routes.

On the surface, this Yindian has nothing to do with Wei Ziming, but in fact, Yindian is the real station of Nanchang Station. Moreover, there are many people coming and going here, so it is not easy to attract attention when traveling far away to other places to collect and transport intelligence.

Wei Ziming announced to the outside world that he had escaped from Wuwei to avoid the war and came to Nanchang to seek refuge with his relatives.

As for where the relatives are, just look for them slowly. When you find a reliable downline, that person will be the "relative".

After the two shops, one open and one hidden, and the two safe houses inside and outside the city were arranged, and Nanchang Station was officially established, Wei Ziming sent someone to deliver the situation on his side, together with the defense map of Nanchang City that he had drawn, back to his hometown, and then began to develop downlines.

Of course, it would be difficult for Wei Ziming to carry out his work with only a stationery store. Firstly, the newly opened store did not have many customers and he had no chance to come into contact with upper-class people. Secondly, he was a poor refugee scholar with a small shop and had no excuse to talk to people. So he had to find a way to "attract traffic" to the store and come up with a reasonable excuse to actively contact people.

But this is not difficult, Lu Jin has already thought of a solution for them.

The Jiangsu and Zhejiang line relied on the relationship between the two famous doctors, Zhu Danxi and Ge Kejiu, as well as the supply of medicinal materials from the Dabie Mountains, and developed relationships mainly as a medicinal materials business.

There are many papermakers in Jiangxi, and the literary culture is prosperous, with many scholars. They mainly deal in stationery and calligraphy and paintings. Of course, it is difficult to become famous just by calligraphy and painting. You must also have your own characteristics, the kind that is rare and valuable. Therefore, Lu Jin also prepared a special project for him, folding fans.

People in the Song Dynasty had seen folding fans. However, during the Song Dynasty, folding fans were tribute from Goryeo, and Goryeo's folding fans were traded from Japan, with Goryeo acting as a middleman.

This thing was still a rare item in the Song Dynasty. Only high-ranking officials and dignitaries had the opportunity to see it. The price was ridiculously high. A folding fan imported from Japan was even worth a fortune in the Song Dynasty.
Later, after the Jingkang Incident, when the Song Dynasty lost half of its territory, this channel for tribute from Goryeo was gone. When it came to the Yuan Dynasty, the Yuan Dynasty invaded Japan twice, and Japan sent pirates to harass the Yuan Dynasty. Diplomatic relations between the Yuan Dynasty and Japan were severed, and the route for importing folding fans was completely cut off.

Up to this point, Chinese people had not seen folding fans for nearly two hundred years.

Later, folding fans became popular again in China, but that had to wait until the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty. It was because Zhu Di was particularly fond of folding fans that he recruited a group of craftsmen in the palace to specialize in making folding fans. He would often use folding fans to reward his ministers when he had nothing to do.

As the saying goes, if the superior likes something, the subordinates will follow suit. Even the emperor liked this thing very much, and the people praised it even more.

Moreover, folding fans are convenient to use, store and carry. The bamboo bones can be carved and the fan surface can be used for calligraphy and painting. They can be enjoyed and appreciated, and they have practical value. In addition, the materials are not expensive, so they quickly became popular among the people. During the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty, a good folding fan could be sold for 20 to 30 taels of silver, or even hundreds of taels of silver. You should know that at that time, a house with a single door and a small courtyard only cost 20 to 30 taels of silver. A fan could be priced at the same price as a house, which shows the huge profits.

It's funny to say that the folding fan, which originated in Japan, has been greatly developed in China, and the round fan, which originated in China, has also become a fashionable item for the upper class in Japan. Even the family emblem of the Uchiha family in the later Naruto is in the shape of a Chinese round fan.
After Lu Jin traveled through time, he found that he hadn't seen a folding fan for a while. He asked many people about it, but most people had never even heard of it. A few people had only heard of it but didn't know what a folding fan looked like.

Moreover, the folding fans of this period at the end of the Yuan Dynasty had not even developed to mature shapes like those in Japan. At this time, most Japanese folding fans had three or five ribs, fewer folds, and a small unfolded surface. Moreover, the fans were only mounted with paper on one side, so they were not sturdy enough and were very easy to damage. They were not the kind of folding fans commonly seen in later generations.

Later, when the Ming Dynasty made folding fans, China had already developed to have at least nine ribs, and the unfolding range of the folding fan was greatly increased, almost close to 180 degrees after unfolding. Then this large-width folding fan with at least nine ribs, paper on both sides, and words and paintings on the fan surface was later passed back to Japan.
Lu Jin took one step directly to allow the craftsmen to produce the complete folding fan of later generations. As a result, the 3.0 version of the complete folding fan was released in Jiangxi fifty years ahead of schedule.

Jiangxi Province is surrounded by mountains on three sides, like a treasure vase. The Yangtze River in the north runs across the mouth of the vase. Jiangzhou, which later became Jiujiang, is the cap of this treasure vase.

To the northwest of Jiangxi is Poyang Lake, and there is also the Ganjiang River, which runs from north to south and runs through the entire province, becoming an important transportation route for Jiangxi at that time.

Nanchang's location is excellent. It is located on the southwestern edge of the Poyang Lake Plain and is adjacent to one of the three major lakeside grain-producing areas in the late Yuan Dynasty. Jiangxi has not suffered any disasters in recent years, and the population is very dense, so both food and population are sufficient.

Nanchang is located next to the main channel of the Ganjiang River. Jiangxi's famous silk, porcelain, paper, and medicinal materials are all transported from the Ganjiang River and finally gather in Nanchang. It can be said that the essence of the province is gathered here, and the cultural heritage is naturally very prosperous. This created opportunities for Wei Ziming.

After this guy opened his shop, he didn't care that it was only March and the weather was still cold. Every day after opening the shop, he would walk to the door with a folding fan, and shake it open with a swish. He would unfold the folding fan, which had a landscape painting on one side and a poem on the other, in front of his chest, and then fan it back and forth, immediately attracting the attention of passing literati and poets.

Folding fans were rare items, and no one had ever seen one. When some came forward to ask what they were out of curiosity, Wei Ziming would immediately start bragging to them in front of the door, saying that they were tributes from Goryeo, made in Japan, and that only the royal family and dignitaries of the previous dynasty had the honor of seeing them. Once he had said all these impressive things, everyone would immediately stare at them intently, and the value of the folding fan would double, making it more upscale.

Wei Ziming then said that he had seen it once by chance in a nobleman's house, and then he studied the production method, and made localized improvements to make it more sturdy and durable, and decorated it with calligraphy and painting, making it truly an elegant item that scholars and writers carry in their sleeves. In addition, the ability to customize the fan with calligraphy and painting leaves gives the folding fan a unique commodity attribute of "there is no other like it in the world".

As more and more people gathered around, Wei Ziming began to talk about the shape and characteristics of his own folding fans, such as the large bones on both sides that should be bent inwards to clamp the paper fan, the two ends should be tight, the waist should be loose, the head should be gathered and the tail should be scattered, etc. The people listening were very interested, and when someone finally asked for the price, Wei Ziming immediately quoted an exaggerated figure.

The cheapest blank folding fan starts at 500 wen. If you write two to four words on one side, it will cost one tael of silver. If there is words on both sides, it will cost at least two or three taels, and if there is a painting on it, it will be no less than five taels. Don't even think about ordering one without ten taels. If the folding fan is inscribed by a famous artist, it can even be sold for more than twenty taels, which is equivalent to selling the calligraphy and painting together with the folding fan.

When the onlookers heard the price, they gasped. This is simply robbery!
However, Wei Ziming kept saying that the fans were tributes from the previous dynasty and foreign products, which raised the quality of the folding fans in advance. Even if people thought they were too expensive, there was nothing they could do about it, because he was the only one selling scorpion poop, and there was no other like it in the entire Yuan Dynasty.

So even though everyone thought it was too expensive, many wealthy customers couldn't help but pay for it. No less than ten swords were sold on the opening day. The business was so good that the people selling calligraphy and paintings nearby became jealous.

But Wei Ziming was not stupid. He came here to gather intelligence, not just to do business. He could choose not to make money, but he could not make enemies with the locals. That evening, he took gifts and went to visit several calligraphy and painting shops next door. He made an agreement with several shop owners that in the future he could invite them to paint and write inscriptions on their fans. They would share the profits, and would give them one to five taels for each fan.

As soon as this proposal was made, several calligraphy and painting shop owners in the vicinity became very enthusiastic about him and jointly paid for Wei Ziming to attend a banquet. Wei Ziming took the opportunity to ask them about local celebrities, scholars, and powerful people. The reason was naturally who he could sell fans to, which one could make more money, and who he could find to commission him to write paintings and inscriptions for them and sell them for a high price.

The calligraphy and painting dealers did not suspect anything. After all, they also got a share of the profits from selling fans. They all helped to give advice and introduced the local customs and practices. Wei Ziming also quickly learned about the situation in Nanchang.

After the banquet, Wei Ziming returned to the store to summarize the information he had collected, picking out important and useful information, such as who was the Wanhu of the Yuan court in Longxing Road, who were the local officials, and what powerful and famous people there were in the local area, and then compared this information with the carriage inn in Yindian.

Wei Ziming from Yangdian was responsible for contacting celebrities, collecting upper-class information, and finding valuable and important targets. The specific operations and errands were then handed over to the cart shop in Yindian. They pretended to be porters and peddlers, and collected road and hydrological information everywhere, recording which roads could be used for marching and which rivers could accommodate large ships.

There are also some important target persons who have been found and tracked by people sent from Yindian.

After a few days, Wei Ziming actually found out about Wang Dayuan.

Wang Dayuan, whose courtesy name was Huanzhang, was born in 1311. Now is the 1352th year of Zhizheng, which is 41 in the Western calendar. Wang Dayuan is years old, a little older than Lu Jin estimated.

This man went to sea alone at the age of 19 and went deep into the ocean twice. The farthest he went west was North Africa and the farthest he went south was Australia. He returned from his second voyage in the tenth year of Zhizheng, which was two years ago.

After Wang Dayuan came back, he published the book "A Brief Account of the Island Barbarians" in his hometown. Once the book was published, Wang Dayuan became famous overnight, and all local booksellers had heard of his name.

It was also a coincidence of timing. If Lu Jin had found him two years earlier, perhaps Wang Dayuan would not have returned to China yet.

Wei Ziming was overjoyed when he heard the news about this person. He asked people about Wang's whereabouts and learned that his family lived in Shiyao Village. He immediately asked Yindian to send someone to look for him. When Yindian confirmed that Wang Dayuan himself lived at home, Wei Ziming immediately prepared gifts and went to visit him.

It was a pity that he looked for Wang Dayuan two or three times and each time he happened to be away from home, but he still managed to attract the attention of Wang's servants.

After Wang Dayuan returned home, he learned that someone had come to look for him three times in a row. This person was a scholar who had fled to Nanchang from the rebel territory. After much hesitation, he sent his servant to the city to invite him to come.

(End of this chapter)