Looking north towards the rivers and mountains

Chapter 43 Initiative

The departing barbarians stopped in their tracks one after another and turned around in surprise.

One of the most striking figures was a middle-aged man with a white turban and a thick, curly beard. He wore a finely embroidered robe and carried a jeweled dagger at his waist, clearly indicating that he was the leader.

His azure eyes sharply looked at Shao Shuyi, his face first showing surprise, then a strong interest.

"Assaram, Al-Alaqum (peace be with you, Lord)?" the tribal chief asked tentatively in more complete Arabic.

As he asked the question, his gaze swept over Shao Shuyi's blue robe, which, while not top-of-the-line, was still respectable. He then glanced at the guard-like man (Wang Huadu) jogging towards him from a distance, before finally settling back on Shao Shuyi's anxious face.

He knew that expression all too well. A young speculator, brimming with greed for wealth and status!

Shao Shuyi's heart was racing, but he maintained a calm demeanor.

He stepped forward and said again in Arabic, "Wa'al al-Kum, Salam (peace be with you, Lord)."

After saying this, his Arabic vocabulary, honed in Yiwu in his previous life, was completely depleted.

So they switched back to Wu dialect and said, "Welcome to Liujiagang, guests from afar. May the Heavenly Princess bless your journey."

The leader looked at him with a half-smile.

The barbarians behind him burst into laughter, as if they realized that this young man only knew these two phrases.

"Your greeting is quite good, I accept it, young man." The chief also switched back to the local Taicang dialect, saying, "You can call me 'Ali' (Ali), like everyone else. I come from Basra (Bishiluo). Are you—a merchant from here?"

Basra! Shao Shuyi's heart skipped a beat. This was an important node on the Maritime Silk Road.

Arab merchants transported Chinese goods to Basra, where they were then shipped northwest by sea or camel caravans to Europe. The West Asia region didn't actually have a large market, and more than half of the goods were eventually sold to European city-states. Arabs were both consumers and middlemen.

Shao Shuyi was well aware of this, so he briefly introduced himself: "Honorable friend, I am Shao Shuyi, the accountant of the local 'Zheng Ji' trading company. I am not a large merchant who specializes in trade, but I do have some connection with maritime trade."

"Zheng's?" Ali repeated, then looked at one of his attendants and asked, "Have you heard of it?"

The attendant whispered a few words in Arabic.

Ali nodded, then looked at Shao Shuyi again with a sly glint in his eyes, and said, "Never heard of it."

Shao Shuyi didn't care whether he had heard of it or not; he only knew that he should seize the opportunity to tear a hole in the iron curtain woven by the brokerage firms—why are brokers so privileged? I refuse to accept this!

So he immediately said, "It is good to inform you that Zheng's mainly deals in Longquan celadon. We have many kilns in the inland areas and can fire any kind of porcelain you want."

"Tell me about it," Ali said casually.

"If you would like to come to my shop to discuss this—"

"You need to convince me first." The leader shook his head and was already preparing to leave.

"We can produce porcelain with Quranic proverbs, hymns of praise, or auspicious phrases," Shao Shuyi said, taking a deep breath. "If you are willing to provide a sketchbook, we can also provide porcelain with paintings in your preferred style, or porcelain with the coats of arms of the Rumm (Eastern Romans) or Frankish (generally referring to Western Europeans) nobles."

We can even make the shapes of the items you commonly use, just by telling you.

As he listened, Ali's feet seemed to take root, and he couldn't move them anymore.

"Do you know what we use?" he asked.

"Take ink bottles, for example." Shao Shuyi gestured as if writing with a quill pen, and said, "Nobles need a certain style. As far as I know, no one in the Yuan Dynasty has ever made ink bottles."

"Take candlesticks, for example," Shao Shuyi continued. "Your candlesticks are different, I know, these can also be made. And then there are water cups and bottles, they're all very different. If someone needs to commemorate the deeds of their ancestors, we can ask an artist to paint them and put them on porcelain..."

Shao Shuyi spoke at length, and Ali listened attentively. Even the entourage put away their playful expressions and became serious.

Everyone's smart enough to understand what this means. Putting everything else aside, the porcelain bearing family crests alone will sell very well—of course, this needs to be negotiated beforehand.

"I'll wait for you here for three days." Ali raised his head, looked at Shao Shuyi, and said, "Bring your master to the 'Road of Frankincense' to find me. I'll only wait for you for three days, including today."

After saying that, he stepped forward, hugged Shao Shuyi, and turned to leave.

Shao Shuyi stood quietly in place, his heart unable to calm down for a long time.

For some reason, he recalled his proactive attempt at the Changping Granary, hoping to use his mathematical abilities to attract the attention of the Semu officials and help them escape their predicament, but unfortunately, it failed.

What about this time? He once again took the initiative, or rather, it was a spur-of-the-moment decision. Will he succeed?

He didn't know, but he felt he should give it a try.

"What are you mumbling about?" Wang Huadu walked over and asked softly.

"We might be about to strike it rich." Shao Shuyi laughed heartily, put his arm around Wang Huadu's shoulder, and left.

******

Shao Shuyi returned to the ware shop that day and reported to Zheng Fan. The two then went together to the Zheng family's old residence in Yantietang to wait for Zheng Guozhen to return home from his post at the Caofu branch office.

"If I had known this would happen, I wouldn't have gone to see Shen Rongfu. It's caused so much trouble." Zheng Fan looked at Shao Shuyi speechlessly and said, "Why are you so good at causing trouble?"

Shao Shuyi smiled shyly and said, "I was also anxious, always thinking about making new contributions for the Zheng family. When I suddenly saw the foreign merchant, I chased after him. I didn't expect that the foreign merchant Ali would actually have such ideas."

Zheng Guozhen withdrew his gaze from Shao Shuyi, stood up and took a few steps, saying, "Although Xiao Hu's actions were reckless, they were a lucky accident."

Shao Shuyi was somewhat surprised, wondering where this came from.

Zheng Guozhen chuckled and said, "Actually, there's nothing to hide. Why is Sun Chuan so famous in the antique and ware trade? Foreign merchants love to have him vouch for them and mediate transactions. Among these foreign merchants, Aihamadin is the biggest, followed by Mansur, then Mahmud, and then this Ali."

Ali's business isn't huge, but it's not small either. Nine years ago, when he first came to Liujiagang, he had two boats. He would come every year or two after that, and now he has three boats. Even so, it's said that he suffered a shipwreck, which damaged some of his boats; otherwise, his business would be much stronger, and he certainly wouldn't be ranked fourth.

He's willing to talk to you so much for a reason. This foreigner is quite shrewd.

At this point, Zheng Guozhen turned to Shao Shuyi and asked, "Xiao Hu, how do you make those porcelain pieces that you lured him into giving us?"

"This is easy," Shao Shuyi said confidently. "As long as the foreigners write down the words and draw the design, we can find a kiln to try making it. There are many kiln craftsmen in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and countless skilled ones. If no one can make it, we can try in Jingdezhen, Jiangxi. Actually—"

"Hmm?" Zheng Guozhen waved his hand and said, "Speak freely."

"Yes." Shao Shuyi bowed and said, "In my opinion, we should find more kilns, test-fire samples, and select the best ones. There's no need to haggle over prices at this point; getting the goods made is the most important thing. The profits from maritime trade are enormous; we don't care about lowering the price by a penny or two."

Zheng Guozhen grunted and frowned in thought.

Zheng Fan glanced at Shao Shuyi and nodded slightly.

After a moment, Zheng Guozhen suddenly smiled and said, "No wonder Wang Sheng also fell into your hands; you do have some skill. That scoundrel Sun Chuan, relying on Nasuladin's protection, doesn't take my family seriously. This time, we'll teach him a lesson. This matter—"

Zheng Guozhen pointed at Zheng Fan and Shao Shuyi, and said, "You two started this, so you're the ones who should clean up the mess. If it works out, I won't be stingy with my rewards. Yifang, what do you want?"

"Sanshe, you know I've been missing your black horse for a long time," Zheng Fan said with a grin.

"You, Zheng Yifang, I spent a fortune to get that. But—" Zheng Guozhen laughed loudly, "What's wrong with giving it to you as long as the job is done?"

"Great!" Zheng Fan was overjoyed.

Zheng Guozhen smiled helplessly, then looked at Shao Shuyi and asked, "Little Tiger, what do you want?"

Shao Shuyi suppressed his excitement and said in a deep voice, "Sanshe, I am a seafarer. I only wish to be exempted from miscellaneous corvée duties and no longer have to go out to sea to transport grain. That would be enough for me."

Zheng Guozhen was taken aback and said, "That's all you ask for?"

"I hope you will grant my request," Shao Shuyi said earnestly.

"It's a small matter," Zheng Guozhen said with a smile. "The canal administration has recently signed contracts with over a thousand seafarers, so your case won't make a difference. But let me make this clear from the start: the matter must be handled properly."

"Yes," Shao Shuyi replied.

Zheng Guozhen was in a good mood.

While venturing overseas to trade with foreign countries could be extremely profitable, the risks were considerable. Ideally, one could simultaneously establish a foothold in Liujiagang and sell blue-and-white porcelain to foreign merchants.