Along the Nanpan River, we arrived at the Hongshui River. The Hongshui River has been a convenient passage from Southwest China to the sea since ancient times. However, unlike the Nanpan River, the water here is deep, the slope is steep, and there are many reefs and dangerous shoals, making crossing a boat like risking your life.
Only the best ship bosses dare to challenge the whole journey. And only ships with about fifty materials can be sailed... "Material" is the unit of measurement of ship size in the Song Dynasty, and one material is equal to one stone.
Moreover, the copper boats are heavy and difficult to control and cannot pass the test of rapids and rapids. If this channel is used to transport copper, it is estimated that the Hongshui River will be blocked by sunken copper boats before long. Therefore, the rapids must be softened and the slope steeper.
It becomes flat and the rapids slow down, improving the navigation capacity of the Hongshui River.
The engineering difficulty of the Hongshui River section is much greater than that of the Nanpan River section. In addition to setting up steep gates, the river channel must be widened and dangerous shoals must be rectified. After investigation along the way, a total of 43 sites were finally finalized.
You can imagine how difficult it is to complete the project in a dry season.
Standing on the high rocks on the shore, looking at the surging red water lapping the shore, Chen Ke said to his left and right in a deep voice: "Next year, Yunnan copper must be transported out, otherwise something big will happen." You know, he built Dongchuan.
The money to build the city, build rivers, and even send troops to Dali City was all raised from investors based on the huge amount of copper and silver mines in Yunnan.
To this end, the series of methods he adopted can be called epoch-making.
First of all, he took advantage of the ignorance of officials and princes, and relied on his own influence to persuade the Qingshen Consortium and the Blue Hat Chamber of Commerce, so that Bianjing Qianhao spent huge sums of money to buy the mining rights of Dali for ten years.
However, the Bianjing Money Bank was also a start-up, and the heavy loan burden of the Thirteenth Bank was still undigested, so it was impossible to bear the huge war loan alone. In fact, after moving here and there, we tried our best to pay the first installment.
After receiving the payment, Bianjing Qianhao will have to subcontract the mining rights to raise the second installment of payment at the end of the year.
The second installment is not that important, because Hou Yi and Zhang Yu are going to eat half of it, and they are trying their best to persuade businessmen in Bianjing and Sichuan to take over. They have kept in touch with Chen Ke. It is said that there is basically nothing.
Problem.
But for future payments, you have to rely on more big businessmen and wealthy businessmen to provide money. However, the two most difficult things in the world are to impose your ideas on others, and to let others give you money.
Therefore, including Zhang Yu, Hou Yi and others, they had little confidence in Chen Ke's fundraising plan.
But what they don't know is that Chen Ke actually doesn't expect to make money through mining... Although it will be a very profitable business, due to the current level of productivity, mining is destined to only be a slow one, at least in the first few years.
It simply cannot offset the huge upfront investment.
No matter what age it is, sending troops, winning the country, building cities, building rivers... it is a huge investment that can bring down the country, let alone a small Bianjing money account, plus a few businessmen who fall into the eyes of money. If all
All the capital is paid for by oneself. It is not enough to squeeze them dry.
But in the view of Chen Ke, a second-generation guy, how can you invest only your own money when doing business? However, in this era of lack of financial tools, there are no investment banks, and there is no stock market, where can you find so much money?
?
After thinking hard, Chen Ke decided to issue bonds himself in exchange for money!
Even in the eyes of the bold Yici Leye people, this matter is unbelievable. Who is your Bianjing money account? Who will recognize the bonds? How could the big families of the Song Dynasty exchange real money for you? What about bonds that are too hard to wipe your butt?
But Chen Ke insisted on doing this. For this reason, he even moved out of the secret agreement with Yichi Leye to suppress the opposition of the Blue Hat Chamber of Commerce. The Qingshen Consortium also relied on their blind trust in him. Just to show support.
However, Qian Sheng said in the letter that Qianhao's shareholders and employees generally believe that he can use force to issue bonds. However, he cannot force others to subscribe, so their confidence is inevitably gloomy.
In fact, the bond issuance was indeed dismal. In the first month, less than 100,000 bonds were subscribed.
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Chen Ke repeatedly wrote letters to appease shareholders, urging them to stay calm and just wait and see. The situation would get better.
At that time, almost no one believed in him. Those small shareholders even clamored to withdraw their shares, which made the cash flow of Bianjing Money Account unstable. Rumors spread all over the place, and it was quite precarious.
Fortunately, Chen Keyuan was in Dali at that time and not in the gloomy Bianjing City. Otherwise, he would have been annoyed to death by the panicked shareholders...
However, after a difficult month, the situation improved. Soon, bond sales heated up, and then fell into a crazy rush... Those dignitaries who had previously avoided them suddenly turned around and rushed to buy them. Send the money to Bianjing Money Number.
In order to buy the bonds, their servants lined up in long lines day and night in front of the Qianhao. The housekeepers surrounded the shareholders of the Qianhao in Bianjing, vying to treat them to dinner and visit the brothel, hoping to use the back door.
For a time, the bonds of the Bianjing Money Company became the most sought-after thing in Bianjing City. Not only were they hotly debated on the streets, but even the officials in the palace couldn't help but ask the gentlemen: 'Have you bought it?'
The husband-in-law replied rather awkwardly: 'I'm not sure, it seems that my family bought some...'
The situation was completely reversed. Within a few months, the Bianjing money account ran out of bonds and raised a huge amount of 70 million yuan. Not only could it easily pay the dues, but the money account could also enter a period of rapid expansion.
All insiders admired Chen Ke and wrote letters asking how he did it.
In fact, Chen Ke just saw the right opportunity and carried out a successful concept hype.
Looking back, the officials and princes of the imperial court agreed to Chen Ke's bold plan to send troops, not mainly because of the temptation to expand the territory, but because they were forced by the money shortage. The Song Dynasty lacked copper coins! They couldn't get through to department stores, and merchants and people Difficulty and financial exhaustion.
But in fact, the dignitaries, wealthy businessmen and merchants of the Song Dynasty were extremely rich. Because the commodity economy of the Song Dynasty was very developed on the one hand, but on the other hand, commodity production was very underdeveloped. This caused the big households to make huge profits from trade. The currency lacks investment channels, so only a small part is invested in expanding reproduction in the form of productive capital, and most of it is used as a general store of wealth and withdraws from the circulation field.
Moreover, the continuous money shortage has caused the actual value of copper coins to continue to appreciate, which further encourages people to hoard money.
According to imperial court estimates, the amount of copper coins deposited in the cellars of wealthy families alone amounted to more than one billion guan. These coins were stored and not used, which exacerbated the money shortage and caused long-term deflation in the Song Dynasty, which seriously affected the country's economy. If
Being able to activate this money is the panacea to solve the financial crisis of the Song Dynasty.
As early as when he was thinking about Dali, Chen Ke knew that if the copper and silver mines in Dongchuan could be used by the Song Dynasty, the money shortage situation would be reversed, and huge opportunities would also lie in it - now, Dali has a long way to go.
News of the copper and silver mines, which are ten times more than the rest of the world, has spread throughout the country. The imperial court has sent troops and Dali has surrendered as evidence. Even the most conservative skeptics have no choice but to believe that Dali must produce copper and silver.
Of course, the big players have their own spies, and they have also found out many inside stories. For example, the imperial court is building a magnificent Dongchuan City and is about to dredge a waterway out of Yunnan. All these signs indicate that Yunnan Copper and Yunnan Silver do exist! And!
, the conditions for overseas transportation are already met!
People naturally believe that the money shortage will no longer exist, and the copper coins stored in the hoard are about to face the danger of rapid depreciation. If they want to preserve the value of their assets, they have two options. One is to exchange the copper coins for gold and continue to hoard them... because it is said that Dali
It only produces copper and silver, but no gold. Therefore, although the price of copper and silver falls, the price of gold will inevitably rise.
The second is to immediately use the money for various investments. But as mentioned before, the Song Dynasty lacked investment channels. At this time, the Bianjing Qianhao, which had the mining rights of Dali for ten years, naturally became a widely sought after target... In rumors
During the Song Dynasty, the value of Dali was constantly exaggerated. Later, in the eyes of the people of the Song Dynasty, it was like an inexhaustible mountain of copper and silver!
What happened next was much simpler. The Bianjing Qianhao creatively used the Dali mineral rights as collateral to issue bonds, which quickly brought in an income of 70 million guan, which was almost equivalent to the fiscal revenue of the Song Dynasty for half a year. If it were not for worries
The risk accumulation is too high, and it is not impossible to announce the sell-out in advance and the circulation volume to reach 100 million coins.
There are still many large investors who want to invest in the company. However, Chen Ke has not opened the door yet considering that it is not yet mature.
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Of course, huge debts will inevitably bring huge amounts of interest. Starting from the end of this year, Bianjing Money Bank will have to pay more than 10 million yuan in interest every year, not to mention that the principal will have to be repaid in five years.
Although the pressure is heavy, as long as the Yunnan Copper and Yunnan Silver can be transported out of Dali on time, there will be no big problem... Chen Ke does not expect much profit from the silver and copper itself. In fact, due to the high investment first, it is necessary to
Constantly losing money.
But as long as we can see a steady stream of real copper and silver, the market will maintain confidence in the 'Dali concept'. In later generations, there was a saying that 'confidence is more valuable than gold', which was also applicable in the Song Dynasty. Bianjing coins can be easily
Borrowing new debt in exchange for old debt keeps the cash flow flowing until the copper and silver mines become truly profitable.
But all in all, in short, everything is predicated on confidence. If the market loses confidence, terrorist disasters will be inevitable...
Therefore, Yunnan copper must be transported to Bianjing next year! Even if the waterway is still inconvenient, it must be done with human and animal power!