Chapter 49 Lu Yi

Welcome guests are also divided into three levels.

The highest level is of course the opening of the middle door, but this is usually the etiquette of the envoy to welcome the emperor, or the Shangguan.

Then go out to greet, greet at the gate, etc.

As the governor, Zhou Mengchen was a magnificent position, so it was not considered a rude thing when he went to the second gate to greet him.

A moment later, Zhou Mengchen saw Lu Yi.

He was very surprised. Lu Yi in front of him did not walk at all, but leaned on a four-wheeled car, just like the car used by Zhuge Liang to march. He was wearing layers of sable fur and covered Lu Yi layer by layer with snow-white fluff. Lu Yi's face was extremely pale, with a sick look on his face, and a little tired.

It makes people worry, as if the person closes his eyes, he will drive away.

This surprised Zhou Mengchen.

Zhou Mengchen felt that Wang Shizhen could not have known Lu Yi's current situation. Since Lu Yi's body was so weak, Wang Shizhen also recommended him, which means that this person must have outstanding talent. But the matter is back. Zhou Mengchen wants to invite Lu Yi to do things, how much labor can Lu Yi bear like this?

Behind Lu Yi was a teenager who gently pushed Lu Yi's four-wheelchair.

Zhou Mengchen led the person into the living room. After a few greetings, Lu Yi's voice was soft, like thin silk, as if he could be cut off at any time, and said, "Sir, please forgive me, Lu's survivor is inconvenient to move, so he can only let the dog serve him. Please forgive me."

Zhou Mengchen glanced at the young man. He knew that this man was not Lu Yi's own son, or the heir adopted from the same clan. Zhou Mengchen knew that Lu Yi was sick before, so he didn't even have a son. Before Lu Shen passed away, he chose the heir for Lu Yi. I think it was this young man. Zhou Mengchen smiled and said, "If I had known that Mr. Lu was in this state of health, I would have visited him in person."

Lu Yi said, "Thank you, Lord Zhou."

Zhou Mengchen was worried that Lu Yi was not good enough, so he got to the point and said, "Why did Mr. Lu teach me?"

Zhou Mengchen doesn't need to analyze the problem for Lu Yi, because he knew that although the Lu family had some problems, they were still one of the top wealthy families in Jiangnan. If they marry the Gu family, who is also in Songjiang, they will know what to do. And if Lu Yi doesn't know, it means that Lu Yi was squeezed out of the circle by the Jiangnan family. This cannot make Zhou Mengchen believe in Lu Yi.

Lu Yi coughed lightly, with a rosy face brought out from the cough, and said, "I know about what the Xiang family wants to do. After all, I just want to find some money from the Jiangnan family to solve the urgent problem. This is understandable. If my family had not suffered such a hard time, I might not be willing to donate tens of thousands of taels to the court. But now, I feel that the adults put the cart before the horse and ignored a little."

Zhou Mengchen also knew that Lu Yi's words might not be lies. Before the rise of the Xu family, the Lu family and the Gu family were representatives of Songjiang. Whenever Songjiang had something to do, the Lu family and the Gu family would contribute money and efforts without hesitation. Of course, this has a lot to do with the Lu family and the Gu family. Even though the Xu family has expanded vigorously in the hands of Xu Pan, it is said that the land of the Xu family may not be as good as the combination of the Lu family and the Gu family. It is nothing more than that of the Lu family and the Gu family. The Lu family and the Gu family are both old families, with a large family and the land is scattered among all parties. Before the Xu stairs, the Xu family was almost the same as the poor family, and the Xu family's land was concentrated together.

Two years ago, the Lu family also donated a lot of money to build the Shanghai city wall.

The war against Japanese defence that intensified since the 30th year of Jiajing actually caused serious disasters to Songjiang Prefecture, Suzhou Prefecture, Jiaxing Prefecture, Yangzhou Prefecture on the north bank of the Yangtze River, and other coastal prefectures. It also caused many aristocratic families to suffer heavy losses, such as the Lu family.

Zhou Mengchen thought Lu Yi wanted to complain to the aristocratic family and wanted to shirk responsibility. So he said, "Mr. Lu thinks, what I did is wrong?"

"No." Lu Yi coughed twice and said, "If the adults insist on asking our Lu family to pay, it is nothing more than selling some land. It can always support it. However, the people in Jiangnan are no longer able to sustain it. Students think that this is the first crisis in Jiangnan. If the adults do not deal with it early, they may not be able to do it."

The Lu Yi family now looks miserable, but in fact the foundation is still there. Although the Lu family’s manor and fields are deserted, the land is still owned by others. It only takes a few years of peace to recover. What is the biggest worry is that there is no power and influence to own the land. This is the disaster.

This is why Lu Yi wanted to be carried and served Zhou Mengchen.

The Lu family has few people. Since his father Lu Shen moved to the country, three generations have been passed down from generation to generation. His heir is only in his teens. If he doesn't come out to support him, who will support him? And he also wants to see how Zhou Mengchen is? If it is worth serving, he will work for Zhou Mengchen to give Zhou Mengchen a big favor to the Lu family.

In the future, Zhou Mengchen will be in a high position, and the Lu family will not decline if they are protected by Zhou Mengchen. As for what should Zhou Mengchen do after he retreated, it is not something Lu Yi can think of. At that time, the next generation of the Lu family should have come out as a family.

Zhou Mengchen's heart moved and said to himself: "There are some things we haven't thought clearly?" Zhou Mengchen asked: "What's the matter?"

Lu Yi said: "Suzhou commercial disaster."

Zhou Mengchen was stunned. He vaguely understood the content of Lu Yi's Shangshen, but he had never heard of this word. He said with some uncertainty: "Shangshen?"

Lu Yi took a deep breath, as if trying to calm his breathing down, and said, "Students heard that Governor Wang had already gone to Huguang to purchase grain. Adults should know that Suzhou and Hangzhou are mature and the world is full, and it has long been a thing. In today's Jiangnan area, whether to plant mulberry and hemp or kapok, it is because of the benefits of mulberry trees, which is ten times more than grain. Although the people still plant grain, they are more used as food, and they do not know how to take out. Suzhou is the most typical. Suzhou has to purchase 2 million to 4 million stones every year to supply millions of creatures in Suzhou."

"In Suzhou City, both men and women are weaving, silk, cotton, and even all kinds of Su samples to sell the world. They make money to buy food."

"For several years, wars have been raging. The business roads are intermittent and overseas can no longer be shipped. Now, life is not easy in the Jiangnan world. They are all tight-fitting and frugal. The cotton cloth is not bad, and the daily use of the people is indispensable. During the war, although there were fewer buyers, there were still many places in the Ming Dynasty. But silk is not used. Now, Suzhou silk has been unsold for a long time. After a long time, I am afraid that the people will find it difficult to support it."

Zhou Mengchen was shocked when he heard this.

Zhou Mengchen easily understood Lu Yi's logic. After all, Zhou Mengchen naturally had concepts such as production, market, consumption, etc. Lu Yi was a little bit, and he immediately understood and said in his heart: "Yes, I overlooked this."

Suzhou City is different from other cities, or the prosperity of Jiangnan is different from other places. Most of the millions of Suzhou people are engaged in handicraft production. They have no land and may not be pure workers. But they live with the entire production industrial chain.

Why are they not pure workers?

There are two types of them.

The first type refers to a large number of feudal personal dependence relationships with a large number of weaving workers. Even if they are not selling themselves as slaves, the relationship between the worker and the boss is not a purely a relationship between the employer. There are a large number of feudal personal dependence relationships.

The second type is that although there is no real large textile factory in Suzhou, it is not the mainstream. The real mainstream is the producers of small family workshops. They share a certain item of textile, and the cloth merchants and cloth act intermediaries to form a complete production chain. Although they are also in this production chain, they cannot be considered workers. Most of the people who made their fortunes made their fortunes from this chain, slowly replacing cloth stores from a loom, and becoming a new production intermediary themselves. They became rich.

The prosperity of Jiangnan has always been based on this production system. From the beginning of the land, it is all oriented towards economic crops. However, this prosperity is also very fragile. In this case, Zhou Mengchen is not sure whether he can withstand such storms.
Chapter completed!