Although Tang Ding had been to Old Port with Han Du before, he had never seen so many foreigners at once. There were too many people of all kinds with strange looks, strange clothes, and strange behaviors.
Now that I saw that Han Du knew a lot about the West and spoke eloquently, I couldn't help but feel curious about the West.
After Zhu Biao learned that the three Western cities were one kingdom, he shook his head and laughed softly, and did not continue to ask. Instead, he raised his eyes and looked at the rows of houses on the right side of the harbor.
Wang Yuanji followed Zhu Biao's gaze, laughed quickly, and explained: "Your Highness, that's the warehouse over there. Maritime merchants from the Ming Dynasty unloaded the goods they brought to the warehouse, while Western merchants went directly to the warehouse and
Daming Maritime Trading. It is the busiest place in the entire seaport, and countless transactions are completed there every day." .??.
Zhu Biao glanced towards the harbor and saw boxes of goods being unloaded from the ship by gantry cranes. Countless natives, driven by the people of the Ming Dynasty, carried boxes of goods to the warehouse for storage.
Han Du took a look and suddenly frowned. Although the old port was prosperous, both the plank roads and the roads were paved with stone slabs instead of cement. Although cement was very common in the Ming Dynasty, there was no trace of it in Nanyang.
You can't even see it. With poor sealing conditions, there is no way to transport cement to a place as far away as the Old Port. Unless it is made from local materials and fired locally.
Although it is not efficient to rely solely on manual transportation, there is no way to do it under the current conditions.
Seeing Zhu Biao's indifferent expression, Wang Yuanji thought for a moment and explained: "Your Highness, please don't look at the fact that this warehouse is not very big, but half of the annual income of Old Port comes from the rent collected from these warehouses."
"Collect rent? Those warehouses don't belong to maritime merchants?" Zhu Biao was very surprised. Businessmen are driven by profit. There is no reason why they can't see the importance of buying a warehouse here.
Wang Yuanji glanced at Han Du and said, "Mr., you still have the foresight. I heard that when you first established the Governor's Palace in Old Port, you built warehouses in this area, and also strictly ordered that no one except the Governor's Palace was allowed to
The construction of warehouses in the old port led to the huge financial resources of these warehouses today."
Zhu Biao turned to look at Han Du and sighed: "Your vision is really speechless. I'm afraid you have expected this scene as early as the beginning, right?"
Han Du looked indifferent, nodded slightly and said: "I can only do a little business like this. A governor's palace should also have some industries of its own. It is good to rely on taxes alone, but it is too dependent. Walk on two legs.
,
That’s the right thing to do.”
Along the way, Zhu Biao also saw the bustling streets, where you can even eat a variety of Ming Dynasty food. The signs with Chinese characters and the buildings with Ming characteristics make people feel like they are in a trance.
A certain street in Beijing.
This place is almost full of bright winds, interspersed with local characteristic buildings, which makes people feel surprised and surprised after getting used to it.
There were Westerners covering their heads with white cloth, wearing long cloth clothes, sweating profusely from the heat, and bargaining with the merchants of the Ming Dynasty in broken Chinese. The merchants of the Ming Dynasty were baring their breasts and holding a hand.
A folding fan kept blowing the wind, and a few strange chirping sounds came from his mouth from time to time.
The charm actually made Zhu Biao feel it was more interesting than walking on the streets of Beijing.
A local man, dressed cleanly and decently, stood aside with a smile on his face and watched the two parties communicating without speaking to each other, just looking at them with a smile on his face.
The constant comparison between the Ming Dynasty maritime merchants and the Western merchants did not add much help to the communication between them. In the end, they had no choice but to ask for help from the people next to them who had been waiting for a long time.
The locals had smiles on their faces, as if they were not surprised at all by the outcome of both parties. They spread their hands and stretched out towards both sides.
The Western merchants were a little reluctant and reluctantly put a dozen silver coins or a gold coin in the hands of the locals. The Ming Dynasty merchants were more generous and took out a stack of treasure notes from their arms and took out one
The usual treasure banknotes are also placed in the hands of local people.
When the locals received the silver coins, they just weighed them casually and put them into their arms. On the contrary, when they saw the silver coins, their eyes lit up obviously, they smiled at the Ming merchants, and their attitude towards the Ming merchants became much closer.
The value of treasure banknotes in the Ming Dynasty has long fallen to the point where it was usually exchanged for one tael of silver or one thousand cash. Lao Zhu, on the grounds that the people could not suffer losses, forcibly issued an order to fix the exchange ratio of treasure banknotes. In addition,
With the bank's constant adjustments, the ratio of copper coins and silver exchanged by treasure banknotes has not changed at all for several years. Once the price of treasure banknotes floats a little higher, the bank will continue to adjust the ratio of treasure banknotes to one tael of silver.
The people issue treasure banknotes. Once the price of treasure banknotes drops a little, banks will use them in turn.
Real money and silver were exchanged for the treasure banknotes. At the beginning, there were some profiteers who did not believe in evil and wanted to manipulate the changes in the exchange ratio of the treasure banknotes to make profits. As a result, they were hit by Han Du several times.
I know how many profiteers were bankrupted. After that, no one dared to think about treasure money anymore.
Therefore, the exchange ratio of treasure banknotes was extremely fixed in the Ming Dynasty, and there was not even a difference of one penny. Bao banknotes were always exchanged for one thousand coins or one tael of silver.
But this is not the case in Old Port. There are no banks in Old Port, and there is no decree by Lao Zhu to forcibly fix the exchange ratio of treasure banknotes. In addition, Western businessmen regard such ingenious treasure banknotes as a miracle, and many Western businessmen do not even trade at all.
Instead of buying other goods, you can directly take the treasure back and make huge profits.
Therefore, the exchange ratio of treasure banknotes in Old Port remains high. The amount of silver exchanged for treasure banknotes has never been less than five taels, and sometimes it even rises to more than eighty taels.
That's why everyone was so enthusiastic when they saw the treasure banknotes. In the old port, the treasure banknotes were a hard currency that was stronger than real gold and silver.
"What are they doing?" Zhu Biao also saw the actions between the three people and asked curiously.
Shi Jinqing has always wanted to talk to Zhu Biao, but he has never been able to find a good opportunity. Zhu Biao is the prince of the Ming Dynasty and the future emperor of the empire. Although Shi Jinqing's ancestors are also from the Central Plains, he has already established a foothold in Old Port for hundreds of years.
After so many years, he didn't even think that the Ming Dynasty would trust him. He himself didn't think that this trust would be so solid. The reason why Han Du asked for an official appointment for him in the first place was just because there was really no one available.
It's just a last resort. Otherwise, Old Port already has him as a consolation envoy, so why would Handu set up the Governor's Palace in Old Port? Isn't it just because he is afraid that his Shi family will dominate in Old Port?
Shi Jinqing knew deeply that if his Shi family wanted to truly establish a foothold in Old Port, they must have a good relationship with the Ming Dynasty. Especially the relationship with His Majesty the Ming Emperor, the closer the better.
Now that the opportunity has finally come, of course he will not let it go. He quickly explained to Zhu Biao: "Your Highness, those are Ming maritime merchants who are trading with Western merchants, and the other person is a middleman."
"Middle man?" Zhu Biao naturally knew what the middle man did. "You pay with one hand and deliver the goods with the other hand. Do you also need a middle man?"
Shi Jinqing echoed with a smile: "The Chinese are not promoting business between Ming maritime merchants and Western merchants, but helping the two parties understand each other."
the meaning of."
Seeing that Zhu Biao did not understand what he meant, Shi Jinqing continued: "The Ming maritime merchants and the Western merchants did not understand each other's language, and neither could understand what the other said. But these middlemen could barely understand the words of both parties, so
As a middleman, I will convey the wishes of both parties to the other party and earn some benefits from it."
After Zhu Biao understood the role of the middleman, he nodded with a smile and said interestingly: "I didn't expect that there is such a business. I just saw that he collected money from both sides. How much did they charge at one time?"
Shi Jinqing bowed slightly and replied: "The money received by people in old Hong Kong was almost fixed, usually fifteen silver coins, or five taels of silver. The weight of fifteen silver coins was about ten taels, but the silver coins of Westerners
The fineness is poorer, and it looks like six or seven taels of silver after being folded. However, the Westerners come from different kingdoms, and the gold and silver coins they use are also of different sizes, fineness, and weight, so how much they receive each time depends on the Westerners.
What kind of silver coins do merchants use?"
Zhu Biao nodded to express his understanding. This was just like before Qin had a unified currency. Every place had different currencies, and it was very inconvenient to trade. He frowned and said: "In that case, Western merchants
I’m afraid the transaction with the Ming Dynasty merchants would be extremely inconvenient, right?”
"Your Highness Mingjian, it is indeed very inconvenient." Shi Jinqing replied quickly, then shook his head and sighed: "But there is nothing we can do about it."
There is indeed no way. Zhu Biao nodded secretly. Anyway, he did not think of any good way to change this situation. Qin Shihuang could unify the world and then unified the currency. These Western businessmen all came from various kingdoms tens of thousands of miles away, and the Ming Dynasty
You can't just run over and unify these kingdoms first, right?
Han Du listened on the sidelines and lowered his eyes, with a smile already in his eyes. He casually asked Shi Jinqing: "I see that the Western businessman gave the Chinese man five silver coins, but the Ming Dynasty merchant only gave him a lot of treasure banknotes. Could it be that
Is it cheaper for Chinese people to accept money from Ming merchants?"
Shi Jinqing shook his head and said with a smile: "That's not the case. Guangbao banknotes can be exchanged for six or seven taels of silver in the old port, and sometimes even more. Therefore, the Ming merchants gave the Chinese the same amount as the Western merchants, not
Cheap."
"In Old Port, can you still get sixty-seven taels of silver with a regular banknote?" Han Du narrowed his eyes slightly and asked again meaningfully. He stared at Shi Jinqing closely, trying to get confirmation from him.