Looking north towards the rivers and mountains

Chapter 95 Transportation Industry (Bonus chapter for Black Hawk of Alliance Network)

Although Liu Huipeng's uncle's reputation in this industry is not among the most prominent, it is still above average.

Furthermore, while fame is certainly related to skill, whether or not someone is a fan is also a major factor.

As more people buy your porcelain, your reputation will naturally grow. If you then get someone to write a few articles praising it or create some popular anecdotes, you might even earn the reputation of a "famous kiln".

The kiln owner was named Huang Housheng. His family had been making porcelain for generations, and after hearing and seeing so much of it, he couldn't possibly be unaware of this principle. But he had a question—

"Are you going to sell these to the Ghost Kingdom? These patterns are all different; are they perhaps their unique family crests?" Huang Housheng examined the noble coats of arms closely and asked, "How many do you want?"

"There are no fewer than ten thousand cups, plates, bowls, dishes, vases, lamps, and stoves," Zheng Fan said. "However, they must be made according to the prescribed styles and to suit the tastes of the barbarians. Make a few of each item first so we can take a look, and then we can make a final decision."

"Since they are people brought by Ji Ming, making a few pieces is no problem," Huang Housheng said. "However, it will have to wait until late February. I still have a batch of yellow and black porcelain samples that haven't been fired yet, and someone is waiting to order them."

Zheng Fan pondered for a moment and said, "Alright. But let's hurry. The foreign merchants and seafarers should arrive around August."

"That's still a long way off," Huang Housheng said with a sneer.

"Master Huang, why are you making yellow and black porcelain here too? Isn't that what the Hutian area specializes in?" Shen Xie asked, somewhat surprised. "Isn't that breaking the rules?"

"They also secretly make celadon over there, it's no big deal." Huang Housheng shook his head and said, "My old friend on Jiqing Road placed an order for kiln wares, and there are quite a few people buying yellow and black porcelain over there."

"Do you have any celadon porcelain here?" Zheng Fan asked again.

"Very few, maybe two or three hundred pieces left," Huang Housheng said. "Do you still want the bluish-white version? How many pieces?"

"We will receive 10,000 items, which will arrive no later than May," Zheng Fan said.

Huang Housheng's expression was initially solemn, then overjoyed, and finally somewhat dejected.

"I can only produce around three hundred pieces per kiln. Even if I get my younger brother and brother-in-law to help me fire them, we can only produce a thousand pieces," Huang Housheng said, counting on his fingers. "Actually, firing the kiln is relatively fast. The difficult part is getting the clay and shaping the pieces. Nowadays, business is booming, and we are short-handed. People may not be available to help. So firing a kiln of utensils can take anywhere from seven or eight days to half a month or even longer. Even if we take ten days, we can only fire three thousand pieces a month, barely enough to finish firing all your foreign goods."

Zheng Fan thought for a moment and said, "If you're quick, start burning it in March, and it should be almost finished by the end of June. I'll transport it in July, which will be just right. As for the price, we can raise it by 20%, what do you think?"

At this point, Zheng Fan was also somewhat helpless.

Ali's two attendants, whether due to acclimatization issues or something else, began vomiting and having diarrhea after the start of spring. Sanshe was worried they might die, so he didn't let them come along; otherwise, it would have saved some time.

After hearing Zheng Fan's words, Huang Housheng thought for a moment and then suddenly stood up.

Just as everyone was confused, he gritted his teeth, stamped his foot, and said, "Let's do it! I'll go find someone today and quickly fire up a batch so you can all see. But—"

'

At this point, he winked slyly and added, "If you want to buy celadon porcelain, I can help you find some—"

Liu Huipeng turned his head away, seemingly somewhat resigned.

Zheng Fan smiled and said, "I was just wondering where to buy it. It would be great if the kiln owner could help me."

Shao Shuyi leaned close to Zheng Fan's ear and whispered a few words.

Zheng Fan understood, then looked at Shen Xie and said with a smile, "Master Shen must know some kiln owners. Could you help me find three or four thousand pieces?"

Shen Xie was somewhat surprised. He looked at Zheng Fan, then at Shao Shuyi, and finally nodded with a smile, saying, "I'm afraid the kilns in Jingdezhen don't have many pieces in stock. They often sell out as soon as they fire a kiln. I can only help by making some inquiries, but it will probably take quite some time to gather them all together."

"No problem," Zheng Fan said with a smile. "You can place the order first, and we'll send a ship to pick it up later."

Of course, Zheng Fan could have asked the kiln owners to hire boats to deliver goods to Liujiagang, but he ultimately didn't mention it, and the reason for that is not for outsiders to know.

The matter was quickly settled.

Out of respect for Shen Xie and Liu Huipeng, Zheng Fan paid a total of over three hundred ingots as a deposit, agreeing to meet at the end of April.

In early May, a ship was sent to load 10,000 pieces of celadon porcelain.

Huang Housheng and Shen Xie took the money to a kiln owner they knew and asked him to fire the pots as soon as possible—as for how they distributed the profits in private, that was beyond Zheng and Shao's control.

******

On the 22nd, a light drizzle fell from the sky.

Zheng Fan and Shao Shuyi abandoned their entourage and climbed a small hill near Huangjia Kiln to look out over Jingdezhen and Hutian City, located on the north and south banks of the Changjiang River.

"Should we go back and buy a few more boats?" Zheng Fan glanced at Shao Shuyi and asked.

Shao Shuyi, holding up the borrowed oil-paper umbrella like a lackey, propped it up on Zheng Fan's head and laughed, "Sir, is it really possible that this porcelain transport business will fall into my lap?"

"It's hard to say what will happen in the future, but this trip should be fine," Zheng Fan said. "Besides, even if you don't transport porcelain, the bamboo and rattan canes will be enough for you. As for the boat, is it difficult, like in Li Fu's story?"

"It's not difficult." Shao Shuyi breathed a sigh of relief.

Throughout history, as long as you have resources, you can start a business even if you don't have money.

Later generations worked for their bosses, investing in projects everywhere. Some clients didn't do the work themselves, but specialized in facilitating transactions, and in the end, you still had to give them the bulk of the profits in the form of consulting fees and service fees.

The same was true during the Yuan Dynasty.

Without the Zheng and Shen families, these bamboo, wood, and porcelain transportation businesses would not have existed. No family could send an empty boat to Jiangxi; they would still need to carry a batch of goods on the way there, which would also constitute a business transaction.

Zheng Fan and Shen Niangzi can decide who will handle this transportation business.

If they say "Little Tiger is good," then Little Tiger is indeed good and can do this business, even without start-up capital.

this is the truth.

"Do you really like money?" Zheng Fan glanced at Shao Shuyi and asked with a smile.

"I like it." Shao Shuyi nodded without hesitation.

"Work hard." Zheng Fan turned his head and looked at Jingdezhen, which was still shrouded in thick smoke in the spring rain, and said, "Liujiagang is not without people who can soar to great heights, Sun Chuan is one of them. If you can become a broker or even a brokerage firm in the future, your future will be limitless. To be honest, brokerage firms make money more easily than this kind of transportation across thousands of miles of water, which is purely hard work and dangerous."

"My lord, I enjoy doing hard work, and I'm not afraid of danger," Shao Shuyi declared. "You have a large family to take care of, so let them handle the easy tasks, and I'll do the hard ones."

Zheng Fan glanced at Shao Shuyi in surprise, then laughed and scolded, "You blockhead, you're actually eager to take on the hard and tiring work?"

"It's just to share the burdens of officials," Shao Shuyi said with a smile.

If we had to make an analogy, both intermediaries and transportation are service industries, but the former is "asset-light" while the latter is "asset-heavy" and employs more people, thus having greater influence at the grassroots level.

If in the future we can build ten or twenty ships, each trip will involve hundreds of sailors, and if we include their relatives and friends, the influence will be considerable.

Influence is something invisible and intangible, and seems to have little use, but Shao Shuyi has a way of monetizing it, and the benefits it brings are beyond imagination.

He was well aware of this, but he wouldn't tell outsiders, not even Zheng Fan.

"Alright, I'll put in a good word for you from now on. I'll give you as many jobs as possible hauling porcelain from Jingdezhen," Zheng Fan said. "I guarantee you'll make a fortune and become a big shot in Liujiagang. But one..."

He sighed slightly as he said this.

"What's wrong?" Shao Shuyi asked, puzzled.

"Do you still remember Wang Laizi from Caizhitai?" Zheng Fan asked.

"I remember." Shao Shuyi nodded.

"He started out by relying on the old man. It's hard to say how much wealth he had, but going from nothing to owning a hundred acres of paddy fields in the countryside, he clearly made a considerable fortune," Zheng Fan said. "Later, as you saw, he was appointed by the prefectural government as the head of the westernmost district of Zhangjing Township. In a panic, he went to plead for help, but the three districts refused. Several months have passed since then; Wang Laizi is probably either dead or severely injured. I heard he's already started selling off his paddy fields recently. You..."

Shao Shuyi understood immediately.

The Yuan Dynasty had a very loose system of governance at the grassroots level, and the society was chaotic, so there was no shortage of opportunities for upward mobility.

There was Sun Chuan, who started as a shop assistant and gradually became a famous broker—but now he's a dead man in the futures market.

Then there was Wang the Madman, who went from being penniless to owning hundreds of acres of paddy fields and countless riches. Now he has also begun to sell the real estate he accumulated in the first half of his life to make up for his losses.

There was even a Zhu Chen whom I had heard of but never seen. He started as a salt smuggler, then opened shops and did business all over Pingjiang, Changzhou, Jiqing and other places, and became a wealthy magnate.

They can indeed get rich, but after a certain point, there seems to be an invisible yet real ceiling that is always difficult to break through.

Traveling against the current, retreating if not advancing.

If Sun Chuan and Wang Laizi can't break through this ceiling, then they will begin to decline. Only a few, like Shen Wansan, can break through the barriers and successfully achieve upward social mobility—in fact, the Shen family hasn't completely broken through either; so far, they've only married into the ranks of officials at the thousand-household level.

Zheng Fan's meaning is roughly that "its rise is sudden, and its fall is swift," so be careful, lest you work hard to accumulate a lot of wealth only to be exploited by the government.

In short, Zheng Fan did not want Shao Shuyi to suffer the same fate as Sun Chuan and Wang Zi.

"Thank you for the reminder, sir." Shao Shuyi bowed deeply and said, "I will be careful."

Be careful? Be careful my ass!

He couldn't quite remember how many years it was since the Red Turban Rebellion, but it was probably no more than ten years.

Over the past decade, I have been accumulating wealth like crazy, turning into a fattened pig or sheep waiting to be slaughtered in the eyes of the government. Who will enjoy whom is still unknown.

In early March, Huang Housheng fired the first batch of custom-made porcelain.

Upon hearing this, Zheng Fan and Shao Shuyi, who were purchasing timber in the Poyang Lake area, immediately returned to Jingdezhen and carefully inspected the timber.

After confirming that everything was correct, Zheng Fan did not hesitate and paid the deposit on the spot, ordering Huang Housheng and others to work day and night to produce batches of the products.

Next, they will be heading back; there's still a lot to do.

>