Zhang Anshi then asked Chen Li about Chen Deng.

Chen Li answered them one by one.

Zhang Anshi nodded, and then said: "I have issued a military order to Your Majesty. The result will be within two or three days. You can just take care of it in these two days."

As soon as he heard about the military order, Chen Li's expression suddenly changed and he became worried.

Seeing Chen Li's worried look, Zhang Anshi smiled and said, "Don't worry, I have my own ideas."

After hearing this, Chen Li said: "Yes."

In Hezhou City, things were just as before.

The excitement here is different from that in Qixia.

The bustle of Qixia is not only the frequent commercial activities, but also the busyness of all kinds of traffickers and the vitality brought by the workshop production.

But here, although there is frequent business, there is always a sense of leisure that Qixia does not have.

The man holding the words was slightly out of tune with the shopkeeper's shouting.

There are few people wearing gold and jade here, but there are more people wearing silk shirts on the road.

At this time, Ma's Ship Line seemed to suddenly have a lot more manpower.

In the back room of the shipyard, a large number of accountants and shopkeepers transferred from Qixia are already busy.

Ma San rushed in to report to his young master about the various visitors.

Ma Yu then handed over a matter, and the shopkeepers and accounting clerks hurried away after receiving the instructions.

On the other side, there are some people in charge of writing affairs, who are responsible for handling letters for Ma Yu.

The scale of the boat trip has grown, and it is no longer the same as before.

In the past, most of the people recruited were illiterate sailors or coolies doing menial work.

However, as the scale grew, Ma Yu recruited 30 to 40% of the manpower. They became accountants who could write and do calculations, clerks who were proficient in writing, and technical personnel who graduated from various universities.

These chores are naturally left to them.

But it doesn't mean that Ma Yu is a hands-off shopkeeper. He knows very well that with such a large family business, what he has to do is not to micromanage everything, but to find ways to let the people below him perform their duties.

He has his own way of managing things.

The rest of his energy was devoted to making friends through literature.

In his view, the ultimate goal of studying is to become an official, and the way to become an official lies in the ability to negotiate and adapt.

The ultimate goal of doing business is to make money, and the way to make money lies in negotiation and flexibility.

In these days, he has visited countless people, let alone participated in countless cultural gatherings.

Whenever someone asked him about his livelihood, Ma Yu could talk endlessly.

If anyone else were to explain this to the gentry and scholars, they would definitely be scoffed at.

But the dignified Zhuangyuan Gong explained these, and mixed in some quotations from scriptures to help the other party understand. Occasionally, he would add some words and make some witty remarks. Although some people felt sorry for Ma Yu to go into business, there were also many people who could.

I quickly understood its meaning.

The fundamental reason why the so-called estrangement between scholars, farmers, industry and commerce is so deep is that they cannot communicate effectively with each other.

This is actually easy to understand. If a businessman and a scholar have a conversation, the ideas and values ​​​​of the two parties themselves will not match, and it will be even harder to communicate with each other. Even the way they speak and their understanding of affairs are incompatible.

They are so different, it would be strange if they could talk about it together.

Ma Yu is different. He has a good understanding of the psychology of these two groups of people. What's more valuable is that after many years of business, he has long developed the ability to talk to people and talk to ghosts.

When he left today, it was already getting late, so he hurried to Wu's house.

Wu Tong from Fuzhou had already become a close friend with him.

There are quite a few scholars here today, more than twenty of them, all of whom have already made appointments.

Of course, there are also a few people who have not met Ma Yu yet, but most of them have heard of Ma Yu's reputation.

A single champion is enough to make people awe Ma Yu.

Everyone came to Wu Tong's study and chatted with each other, talking about various characters, and everyone looked happy.

One of them said to Ma Yu: "Mr. Ma, I still want to ask you something, but...it's really hard to say it."

Ma Yu had a smile on his face and said humbly: "It's okay to say it."

This man was young, with a bit of vigor on his face, and said: "Why did Mr. Ma go into business? You know..."

As soon as these words came out, everyone fell silent, and the scene suddenly became strangely quiet.

Obviously, this issue falls into the more sensitive category.

Everyone can't help but feel a little embarrassed. After all, in people's eyes, merchants are a lowly profession. If Ma Yu hadn't been the number one scholar, I'm afraid not many people would look down on him as a scholar.

So now, in everyone's eyes, this scholar is just poking Ma Yu's lungs.

Ma Yu's expression was quite calm and calm, and he even said with a bit of a smile: "Then, do you know why I don't become an official?"

A high-ranking scholar who has a bright future but chooses to go into business must have his own reasons.

This is the thinking of a scholar.

Since Ma Yu asked, the scholar explained his understanding: "In the court, traitors are causing trouble, and your majesty is deceived by others. He kills loyal people and makes all officials fearful. Since Emperor Taizu and Emperor Gao, he has been punished.

Zhongliang, I don’t know how many people there are. Ma Gong was very disappointed with this, so he would rather stay in the wild. I don’t know... is what the student said correct?”

Ma Yu still smiled.

Wu Tong and others looked at Ma Yu, looking forward to his answer.

In fact, there are different opinions about Ma Yu, and scholars also have their own interpretations in private, but it is just inconvenient to ask in person.

Finally, Ma Yu said: "Hey... things are really unpredictable."

Scholars are reserved and will never be straightforward.

Ma Yu's emotion needs everyone to interpret it individually.

However, most people still sympathized with Ma Yu.

Such a person should have risen to prominence and become a prince, but it is a pity that he encountered such a world, so that's why.

There must be some pain in his heart. This is something that is difficult to describe. He wants to express it but cannot, which makes people sympathize.

Otherwise, isn't Han Chuang studying hard just to become an official? Why didn't he even become an official in the end?

Ma Yu smiled and said: "As for going into business, it's not that I have to do it. It's just that there are always people who say that a scholar is useless. This sentence is really difficult for people to agree with."

After a pause, he continued: "Mou Ma has read countless books, and if I say it without humility, he is full of knowledge. Could it be that Ma Mou is not as good as a businessman? This is also a lesson to others. Even if a scholar is engaged in other businesses,

He is still stronger than others. This reading makes one's will clear and his reason clear, but this is not an empty lie."

After everyone listened, the atmosphere seemed to gradually become more relaxed, and everyone even laughed, especially Wu Tong. In order to ease the embarrassment, Wu Tong said: "What the wise brother said is really true."

Ma Yu added: "Let's talk about the business of this boat shop. Two or three years ago, Ma only had a mere thousand taels of silver, but now? But he is making gold every day. After a year, casually, the business income is as much as

What is in Ma’s hands is tens or millions of taels of silver.”

"At the beginning...the people who invested in this shipping company together with Ma Mou, all of them have increased in value a hundred times, from ten taels to one thousand taels, and from one hundred taels to ten thousand taels of silver. Just these are enough for those people to no longer dare to look down on them.

There are so many scholars in the world.”

What Ma Yu talked about was turnover, but did not involve gross profit and net profit.

Therefore, a million taels of silver is enough to make people gasp.

Wu Tong couldn't help but said in surprise: "Brother Xian, how can this boat business make such huge profits?"

Ma Yu said: "It's actually simple. It's the same as farming. With land, people can cultivate it, harvest, and rent. Therefore, you can slowly accumulate family property. The same goes for this boat shop, but,

The foundation of shipbuilding lies in ships. These ships are like farmland. Money can be earned by exchanging what is needed."

Now everyone can understand it easily.

Then they all showed signs of sudden enlightenment.

It turns out that this is the case. Isn’t a business similar to collecting rent? I understand this too.

But Ma Yu's eyes flashed and he said with a smile: "It's just that there are differences."

Wu Tong was very curious and said: "I would like to hear the details."

Ma Yu said: "There are tens of thousands of arable lands in the world. In just one county, there are tens of hectares of arable land. There are countless people who own a lot of land. Everyone makes farming their profession, and the food they get is countless.

But sea-going ships are different. How many people in the world have sea-going ships? How many people can own a fleet?"

"Not to mention other things, just talking about the trading houses with hundreds of ships, as of now, there are only seven or eight in the world. Therefore, although the huge profits from the exchange of goods are coveted by everyone in the world, in reality

It is only managed by these seven or eight shipping companies."

Ma Yu said again: "It's like, the cultivated land in the world is only a hundred thousand hectares, but there are only seven or eight families who can own ten thousand hectares of farmland. So... I dare to ask you, who are the seven or eight families who have ten thousand hectares of fertile land?

What’s your net worth?”

Everyone was stunned when they heard this.
To be continued...