Four Harmonies and Good Fortune

Chapter 725 Unfolds
After resting for a while, the merchant told his crew to continue on their way. He needed to ask the ship owners if they wanted tea while the large ships were transporting porcelain.

They can't have a ship full of porcelain. Their Beiyuan tea is also something that those foreigners are scrambling to get. If they can seize this opportunity, they can make a lot of money.

As the passerby watched the caravan depart, he also stood up. His way home was in the opposite direction from the caravan's. Just as he was about to step forward, he suddenly stopped, stood there for a moment, and changed his mind. Instead, he followed the caravan. He was also looking for work anyway, so he figured he might as well go to a place with many caravans; who knew, he might find something there.

……

Quanzhou.

Xie Yuyan stood on the shore watching more than a dozen large ships gradually sail away.

"Old Master Xie's ships are loaded with porcelain. They'll fetch a good price when they arrive in Srivijaya. When they return, they can bring back some medicinal herbs and spices. With this back and forth, they can get back a good portion of the money they spent on the ships."

Xie Yuyan turned to look at the merchants behind him. They were veterans of the porcelain trade and kiln owners from various places. They had arrived a few days late and missed the fleet. Seeing others making money ahead of them, they were naturally filled with envy.

What makes them even more envious is that the imperial court's ships will escort them all the way this time. They don't know how far they will go, but it will definitely be farther than before. This was agreed upon with the imperial court when the official documents were issued.

I just don't know how long this situation can last.

Xie Yuyan and the others left the dock and walked towards the courtyard where they were staying.

The Bianjing Porcelain Company purchased a courtyard near the dock, where Zhou Guangyuan and Wu Tieshan were receiving a batch of porcelain.

Porcelain selected by the imperial court for sale at the border markets was first supplied there, while porcelain from kilns that were not selected could send their porcelain to Quanzhou. Once these arrangements were made properly, everyone's porcelain would have a market.

Of course, this is on the premise that the kiln can produce so many porcelain pieces.

Xie Yuyan promoted the use of coal kilns ahead of time, and many kilns in the north followed suit and renovated their own coal kilns. Even though these coal kilns have not yet started firing porcelain, they have new techniques in hand, so they don't have to worry about not being able to keep up with demand.

So when they heard that Madam Xie was going to sell her porcelain at sea, everyone immediately sent their goods to Quanzhou without saying a word.

Originally, with Quanzhou as its location, the Southern porcelain industry had a natural advantage, but the Northern porcelain industry beat them to it.

It can only be said that because of an expert like Madam Xie, the kilns in the north have all benefited.

After everyone sat down in the room, Zhou Guangyuan stepped forward and said, "Those who came from Sanfoqi went directly to the yamen."

These words immediately made everyone's hearts tighten, and they all looked at Xie Yuyan.

A while ago, merchants from Srivijaya came to Quanzhou, intending to buy a shipload of porcelain. The porcelain merchants dared not neglect them and quickly surrounded them. Xie Yuyan also led his men to inquire about the situation. Unexpectedly, the price offered by Srivijaya for the porcelain was extremely low, and they even threatened that they would not sell the porcelain to him at that price, and their merchant ships would have difficulty docking in Srivijaya.

The merchants, unable to withstand such intimidation, immediately devised various schemes to secretly send some benefits, hoping that the merchant would show leniency.

These two merchants from Srivijaya have long controlled maritime trade between Srivijaya and Daliang. They have close ties with Srivijaya officials, and if they were to get truly angry, they might actually block this sea route.

Previously, they had made a considerable amount of money off Xie Yizhi and the demonic sect. Now that Xie Yizhi has been arrested, relying on their status as merchants from the Western Regions and the lack of evidence from the court that they have broken the law, they not only do not care about this case, but have become even more arrogant. Anyone who wants to do business with them on Xie Yizhi's behalf must show sincerity.

Just as everyone was treating these two as honored guests, Xie Yuyan reported them to the authorities. Soon after, the court found undelivered goods on their large ship. How did Xie Yuyan know this?
The merchants who smuggled goods to the two men were hired by people from Caoyu Village. The villagers noticed something amiss and immediately relayed the information to Xie Yuyan.

As for how it could be such a coincidence...

It was naturally a deliberate arrangement by Xie Yuyan and Cao Yu.

If they violated the law in Daliang, the Daliang court could imprison and interrogate them. When they were arrested, they guessed that Xie Yuyan was behind it. Therefore, they made a threatening statement that they would never be able to sell Xie Yuyan's goods in Srivijaya, and that their fleet would never be able to pass through the waters of Srivijaya.

This is also why merchants who are not familiar with Xie Yuyan dare not send their porcelain to his large ship. Now that they hear that people from Srivijaya are coming, they all remember this incident and are afraid that Xie Yuyan will be retaliated against.

Wei Song, a merchant from Tongan County, Fujian, couldn't help but say, "Shouldn't we send someone to the government office to inquire about the situation?"

Wang Yan was not in Quanzhou, but he had people stationed in the government office. Any activity there would naturally reach Xie Yuyan's ears, but that didn't mean she could control all the information in the office. The imperial court had transferred officials from various places to Fujian, and only one of these officials was recommended by Prime Minister Wang, which showed that there had already been some struggle in Bianjing.

Under such circumstances, Xie Yuyan could not rely entirely on the government office.

However, she won't be in a hurry because of this.

It's hard to say whose people the officials were working for, but the government was implementing the new laws in Quanzhou to see how things were going in Fujian. At that time, no one dared to show favoritism in maritime transport, or they would end up like Xie Yizhi.

As long as no one openly targets her, Xie Yuyan is confident that she can make the merchants of Srivijaya conduct business in an orderly manner.

“No need,” Xie Yuyan said. “We just need to wait for the government office to release the results.”

Hearing that Xie Yuyan showed no concern, the crowd stopped trying to persuade him and rose to bid him farewell.

After seeing the person off, only Xie Yuyan and Zhou Guangyuan remained in the house.

Zhou Guangyuan looked in the direction those people left: "They are very smart. They are all waiting for the result to see if we can successfully complete this trade route."

“Merchants are driven by profit,” Xie Yuyan said. “If I cannot bring them benefits, they will naturally not come to me; this is only human nature.”

Zhou Guangyuan nodded. The old lady's meaning was clear: if those merchants were after profit, then they should only talk about profit and nothing else.

These people could be ignored for the time being, and Zhou Guangyuan stopped thinking about them and focused all his energy on Sanfoqi.

Zhou Guangyuan looked worried: "Our fleet just left and the people from Srivijaya arrived. They must have done this on purpose. As long as this matter is not resolved, they will not let our goods be sold smoothly."

Doesn't this mean we have their weakness? As long as the lady doesn't back down, that fleet will have to come back the same way it went.

If things really come to this, how can the old lady possibly save face in front of others?
Xie Yuyan said calmly, "This is not something they can decide."

(End of this chapter)