Although Henan is the hinterland of the Central Plains and relatively rich, it is only a secondary market. The most important markets in Henan are also in Kaifeng and Henan along the Yellow River. As for Runing and Guide, they are even less important.
Xi'an and Taiyuan in the northwest, not to mention nearby Xiangyang and Wuhan.
In the past, the Wang family had noticed abnormalities in the markets in Runing and Guide. When the Wang family and his business group's caravan entered this area to do business, many products were confiscated and fined by the Internal Affairs Department of the Runing Army.
, and the name used turned out to be something the Wang family had never heard of: violation of the Patent Law.
What exactly is the "Patent Law"? The Wang family doesn't know. So they take it for granted that someone is monopolizing business in this area.
This is not the first time that the Wang family has encountered a monopoly. After all, the commercial market in the late Ming Dynasty was not very standardized. Some local officials and local wealthy families occupied the local market to make huge profits. Therefore, the Wang family also used ordinary methods.
Deal with it. To put it simply, it means using money to open the way.
But this method did not work for the Runing Army. Of course, the Wang family first prepared generous gifts and made good friends with the local officials, but in Runing, all commercial activities were under the control of the Runing Army, and the countryside was completely controlled by the Runing Army.
Control, so the administrative orders from the local government alone are of no use at all, because there are no actual executors!
And bribery and buying off those people from the Department of Internal Affairs will not be effective. The discipline of the Runing Army itself is very strict, and in addition, the Department of Internal Affairs has always implemented the decrees issued by Wu Shigong to the letter. They even "Prohibition"
The more brutal laws such as the "Absence Order" and the "Prohibition Order" are violently enforced, so the "Patent Law" is nothing more than spreading water!
If the Runing Army hadn't implemented a policy of encouraging industry and commerce, perhaps the Wang family's bribery and buying behavior would have tightened the grip of the Department of Internal Affairs. Therefore, the lower-level route would not work.
In this case, let's give up for the time being. It makes no sense to let the Wang family spend a lot of money to dredge an unimportant small market. This kind of thing is not worth the gain.
This shows how ruthless the business vision of Ma Boan, the head of the Ma family, was. He saw the importance of the Patent Law at a glance and used the Patent Law to form technical barriers that only appeared in modern business. In
Runing and Guide formed the Ma family's monopoly.
However, with the establishment of the Ma family's production base in Runing and the trade routes secured by force from the Sihai Commercial Bank, the products produced in Runing and Guide rapidly spread to the central and western regions, with one going down and the other going up. The survival space of the Wang's products also increased.
It was squeezed. And there is also a "Matthew effect" in the market. Once the gap widens, it will get wider and wider.
Moreover, the Wang family is at a disadvantage when it comes to fighting for funds. With Runing's complete financial support and the convenient financing provided by the stock exchange, the Ma family is definitely not afraid of a price war.
What makes the Wang family vomit blood the most is that many of the Wang family's own advantageous products have been patented by the Ma family. Instead, the Wang family has stolen Ma family's technology.
And as the peasant army became more and more raging, the entire central and western regions would not be able to trade smoothly without the protection of the army. In addition, the Wang family finally found out that the ship used by the Ma family belonged to Wu Shigong, so they finally found out that the ship used by the Ma family belonged to Wu Shigong.
Realized the importance of Wu Shigong.
Since they were seeking help from others, the first thing they had to do was to establish friendship. At this time, the Wang family carefully inquired about Wu Shigong's background. Once they learned that Wu Shigong was a descendant of a noble family, they contacted the nobles in Jinling City.
However, the result of the contact made the Wang family dumbfounded. Wu Shigong's last trip to Jinling had offended almost all the noble children in Jinling City.
Let's change direction! The Wang family also learned that Wu Shigong is a Donglin Party member, so they should contact the Donglin Party officials in Jiangnan. But after contacting them again, they found that no Donglin Party officials knew Wu Shigong at all. They really didn't know who Wu Shigong was.
How did you sneak into the Donglin Party?
This is a strange thing, why don’t you ask Ma Boan for safety? Isn’t this humiliating yourself? I finally found a position from Taipu Temple in Nanjing. I once sold it to the official of the Runing Army’s war horse, but at this time the imperial envoy Suo Na,
When the news of Wu Shigong's execution came, the official immediately withdrew his "letter of introduction."
At that time, the Wang family was a little gloating. The Ma family, who was tied up with Wu Shigong this time, must be in bad luck! After the nest was overturned, were there any intact eggs? Unexpectedly, the Runing Army's bird's nest was not only not overturned, but also transformed into steel bars.
Concrete. Not only did the court not punish Wu Shigong, but they also continued to make appeasement actions. At least for a short period of time, Wu Shigong could sit back and relax.
Of course, wealthy businessmen of the Wang family's level are particularly concerned about the dynamics of the imperial court. So they immediately analyzed: there are ways for the imperial court to obtain Wu Shigong, and there are also places where the imperial court is wary of Wu Shigong. And what does the military attache have that the court should use and worry about? It's nothing more than that.
He has an army in his hands.
If it were just like this, it would be fine. In peaceful times, the Wang family would definitely not wade into such muddy waters. Military attachés like Wu Shigong, who were not favored by the court, would have been too late to avoid them. But now there is a big chaos.
Era.
The Wang family, like the Ma family, are not scholars who are indifferent to world affairs, nor are they people who only stay in prosperous cities. Their caravans have traveled all over the world, so they are very familiar with the situation in various places.
Look at the world today! There are constant disputes between the DPRK and China, natural disasters continue year after year, Tatars from outside the customs continue to enter the customs, and peasant rebel armies are rampant in the Central Plains. No matter how you look at it, it is a scene of approaching troubled times. Therefore, we are discussing behind closed doors.
At that time, they even thought that the time for a change of dynasty was coming.
Therefore, in this situation, in order to protect one's family's industry, whether it is betting on one side or not putting all the eggs in one basket, one will definitely not ignore the power of any party that may succeed.
Let’s look at Wu Shigong in Runing! He has a strong army and wealth, and he will not suffer any loss after making good friends. So the Wang family decided to send Wang Jueqing, second only to the head of the family, to Runing with heavy gifts, that is
We can no longer delay the shameless visit.
After Wang Jueqing arrived in Runing, he was also lucky. He happened to meet Xiaojie getting married, so he asked an official he was familiar with to introduce him and attended the banquet in Fucheng first. Sure enough, Wang Jueqing's generous move attracted Wu Shigong's attention.
Attention, and was summoned by Wu Shigong smoothly.
Wu Shigong really didn't understand such a complicated background, but he did know about the Wang family in Suzhou Prefecture. After all, Wu Shigong was also a businessman himself, so of course he had heard about the top wealthy families. If
If he could achieve cooperation with the Wang family, or even allow the Wang family to come to Runing and invest in Germany, Wu Shigong would definitely welcome it with both hands.
Therefore, Wu Shigong received Wang Jueqing as he would a big businessman.
At the beginning of the meeting, both the host and the guest were happy, and the specific conversation will not be detailed. Anyway, the content of the conversation with Ma Bo'an, the head of the Ma family, was similar. But as the conversation progressed, Wu Shigong felt that Wang Jueqing's purpose was very serious.
"Sir, after listening to your introduction to the Patent Law, Wan Sheng took the liberty to ask: Many of the patents registered by the Ma family were originally owned by our Wang family, but now they have been snatched away by them. It is very unfair!"
Although his words were sharp, Wang Jueqing still maintained his usual smile.
Wu Shigong was stunned, because this question was difficult to answer. Of course Wu Shigong also knew about the Ma family's registration-squatting behavior and understood that this approach was unethical. However, at that time, only the Ma family was willing to invest a large amount of money in the Runing Army, so the policy was biased
It will definitely benefit the Ma family.
However, the Runing Army has developed to this point, and it is definitely not willing to have a large business that is too big to appear in its jurisdiction, so its policies will definitely be deflected, and it also hopes to support a few more large businesses to compete with each other. Therefore,
, these issues left over from history will have to be resolved sooner or later.
But Wu Shigong didn't want to rashly intervene in the business dispute between the two families, because no matter what kind of judgment Runing Jun made, it would always make one family dissatisfied, and even lead to a thankless result that both families were dissatisfied with.
So Wu Shigong thought about it for a while and replied carefully: "This matter is already known to me, and I will give you an answer before you leave. However, what the Ma family did is not illegal and is difficult to deal with, so I will first tell you what is unique to your family."
Make a list of the goods. If they are indeed owned by your family, I will first make a guarantee that they will definitely be sold locally and will not be subject to the "Patent Law" for the time being. However, I hope that Mr. Ma will negotiate properly with the Ma family and can reach an agreement on his own.
most."
Wang Jueqing gave a bitter smile and then said: "If the late student is unwilling to negotiate, then the Ma family has made huge profits and will never let go. I hope you will uphold justice for the Wang family." Because the interests involved are too huge, Wang Jueqing also
They can only push each other step by step. However, it can also be seen that the wealthy businessmen in the late Ming Dynasty were not very afraid of any officials.
Wu Shigong thought for a while and said: "This matter does not belong to your Wang family, and there will definitely be many such things in the future, and there will be some other commercial disputes. Let's do this! I will first establish a chamber of commerce in Runing, and give special advice to
If you leave a spot in the Wang family, your Chamber of Commerce will formulate various rules, and after approval by our Runing Army, a formal decree will be formed."
"In the future, if there are disputes between merchants, it is best if they can negotiate among themselves. If this is not possible, our Runing Army will establish a separate arbitration court to judge various commercial matters. Before that, I will also send a dedicated person to be responsible for coordination.
, I also hope that all the merchants in Runing and Guide will have abundant financial resources. Harmony is the most precious thing! What do you think, sir?"
Seeing that Wu Shigong was so frank and gave the Wang family the right to participate in the decision-making of the business guild, Wang Jueqing had achieved his goal. In the next few days, Wang Jueqing discovered that the stock exchange was issuing Runingjun's newly built paper.
He made a prompt decision to buy stocks of porcelain and other workshops, and soon reached a controlling stake. Using the shells of those workshops, he first extended the Wang family's industry to Runing. (To be continued.
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