Late at night, in a large courtyard in Sinan City, a few people who looked like the boss were sitting together drinking. While eating and chatting, one of them suddenly said: "Brother Taiyuan.
, I heard that your Li family in Suzhou has become prosperous? The emperor now accepts your family as an imperial merchant?"
They are the representatives of the Silk Business Alliance in Shanghai that previously included the Li family of Suzhou, the Zhao family of Huzhou, etc. The person who asked the question was Duan He. He had just exchanged glances with Xiao Zhuo and Lu Yu, and then
I asked under the influence of wine.
Li Taiyuan was startled, then smiled and said: "It was Yang Zirong, a member of the Zhongshu Keshe family, who met with the head of my family and the head of the Shang family and told them to set up an 'industrial park' and asked my family, the Monk family, to move some silk and tea industries to the industrial park.
There are all kinds of conveniences. My family owner was also dubious, and just decided to move part of the silk industry to the park after it was officially established."
"Isn't this called an imperial merchant? It's just not in name. Who else will dare to covet your family's property in the future? It's much safer." Duan He said with a smile.
Li Taiyuan did not continue to deny the theory of Huang Shang, but said with a wry smile: "No one else dares to covet it, but it will be much easier for the royal family to want my family's property in the future."
"Brother Taiyuan, I'm not telling you that although your family is one of the largest merchants in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, it's not worth the emperor spending so much effort to covet your family's industry, right? This Shanghai Shipping Company had a tariff of more than 300 yuan last year.
Wan Guan; Uncle Fang went to Jinning last year and allowed the court to obtain 480,000 taels of gold. Can your Li family earn one million guan from all their properties in a year?" Lu Yu said.
"Where is it?" Li Taiyuan said with a smile. Their family's property last year earned a total of 20,000 to 30,000 yuan. Even if each house has its own property, the total income is only 30,000 to 40,000 yuan. But the family still has various expenses.
It costs money to take care of everything inside and out, and there isn't much left over.
"Isn't that enough? Only businessmen at Shen Wansan's level are worthy of Your Majesty's attention. Your family can make money with ease from now on. Maybe we will all have to live off of you in the future." Wang Rende also smiled.
"Where are you talking about? Your Majesty is kind and tolerant to merchants like us now. He also exempts us from having to lead our business. As long as everyone is willing to work hard, they can make money. Why do they need to rely on my Li family?" Li Taiyuan said with a smile.
Although his words were suspected of being evasive, everyone liked to hear them and stopped talking about the Li family and started talking about other things.
"That's right, the road guides have been cancelled, and most of the checkpoints have been eliminated, making it easier to go out. Apart from the water bandits on Taihu Lake, the area in Jiangsu and Zhejiang is still quiet and there is no worry about goods being robbed. It is much better than before.
" Zhao Dechen said.
"I think so. It's much more convenient than before. I even want to convert my household registration into a merchant. It's just that the tax is a bit high. It would be nice if it was the same as before," Xiao Zhuo said.
"How is that possible? There is no tariff on anything on the road now, and the burden is less. How could the court reduce the tax back to 20 to 1?" Wang Rende laughed.
When Xiao Zhuo heard this, he laughed and said, "I think it's wrong."
Several people were talking and drinking, and soon someone got drunk. When Xiao Zhuo saw this, he said: "We have to do business tomorrow, so let's stop here today. We will drink again when we have the opportunity."
Everyone agreed and dispersed. Xiao Zhuo and Lu Yu took the already drunk Duan He back.
After returning to his house, Xiao Zhuo called Lu Yu over after settling Duan He, and said to him: "Based on what you heard from Li Taiyuan today, is it possible for the Li family to fly solo?"
Today Xiao Zhuo instigated Duan He to deliberately test, just to see if the Li family wanted to go solo. As a big silk merchant, the Li family owns half of their supply, and has the strength to go it alone. Now that the Li family has become an imperial merchant, they can
The power of the royal family. The land in their hands for the shop only has a five-year lease.
Lu Yu said: "Brother, I don't think so. If the Li family were so greedy, they would have been squeezed out by their colleagues. Besides, we also have the Wang family here. The Wang family is local in Shanghai. A strong dragon cannot suppress the local snakes. Without the Wang family
It’s not easy for them to gain a foothold in the shipping company.”
Xiao Zhuo thought for a while and said, "What you said makes sense. It seems that I have overthought it."
"My brother is not overthinking anything. It's just that he is cautious by nature." Lu Yu said with a smile.
The two of them smiled, and Xiao Zhuo added: "I heard that the emperor came to Shanghai today. I wonder if the emperor will come to the Shibo Division to take a look."
"No way, the emperor has many things to do. Besides, Shibosi is a gathering place for businessmen. How can he come here?" Lu Yu said.
"It's impossible to say for sure. The current Holy Emperor is different from the late Emperor. But even if the Emperor comes, we won't recognize him." Xiao Zhuo said: "I just have to remind you guys to drink less and fight less. It doesn't matter whether the Emperor comes to Shibo or not."
Most of the officials in the department will patrol more strictly, and be careful about being kicked out for fighting."
"Brother, let's talk about this tomorrow, it's so late now." Lu Yu said with a yawn.
"What I'm saying is, it's so late, let's rest." Xiao Zhuo said.
…
…
Yunxi got up early the next morning, had breakfast after a boxing session, took a few guards out of the house, and went straight to the Shanghu Shibosi Yamen.
When they arrived at the Yamen location, Zhang Yanfang was not there, so Yunxi called his deputy Zuo Jiji and said to him: "I want to inspect the Nanbei City and arrange for me to have guards."
Yunxi was of course very interested in the Oriental International Trade Zone of this era. Although he dissuaded Yunzhi from coming over to take a look, he couldn't help but come to take a look.
** was shocked and said: "Your Majesty, how can your Majesty, with his wealth of gold, go to a place like Nanbei City!"
In this era, due to the limitations of transportation conditions and technical means, it was very difficult to do business over long distances, especially on the sea. The foreign merchants who were able to come to Shanghai to do business had strong force, and even those who did serious business did not mind
Pirates occasionally appear as pirates, and many of them are unruly. Therefore, even if they try their best to maintain order in North and South City, it is not particularly safe. Therefore, ** prevents Yunxi from going to South and North City.
Yunxi said: "I am wearing official uniform and accompanied by local guards. I am said to be a patrolling person from the capital. How dare these businessmen do something to me?"
"Well, they really don't dare to do anything to the officials of the Yamen, but if they are not afraid of ten thousand, they are afraid of just in case!" ** said.
"There's no such thing as a chance! It's settled, I'm going to Nanbei City to have a look in person." Yunxi said.
** Unable to dissuade Yun Xi, he could only accept it. Yun Xi changed into a seventh-grade official uniform and headed to Nanbei City with several guards and a dozen servants.
First, visit the Bei City. The Bei City is where merchants from the Kingdom of Fanguo sell their goods. From the moment he entered the market, Yunxi didn’t hear too many shouts. Although many store clerks were standing guard at the door, they answered questions from customers in detail.
But just don't shout.
Yunxi curiously asked**.** and said: "Sir, this is different from an ordinary market. The prices of the goods here are not cheap, but there are no ordinary small businessmen coming to buy things; and this is a fixed store, so come
Most people who buy goods are familiar with whose goods are like them, so there is no need to shout."
After hearing his explanation, Yunxi understood this place to be a mid-to-high-end large shopping mall. Even the cheapest pepper and other seasonings were considered mid-range goods in this era and most people were reluctant to buy them, so it was normal that there was no shouting.
Have you ever seen any shouting in mid- to high-end stores?
Yunxi looked around as he walked and saw many rare treasures. Even though he was an emperor, there were many that he had never seen before, so he couldn't help but buy some things.
Before paying, Yunxi asked someone at a shop: "Do you accept treasure notes?"
This man had dark skin. Yunxi thought he was probably a boss from the Nanyang Islands. He said in blunt Chinese: "Treasure notes can be accepted. But it can only be calculated based on the fact that one guan is equal to six guan."
Guard Li Bo said: "These days, it is clear that a regular currency can be exchanged for a five-guan note. How can you calculate that a consistent currency is equal to a six-guan note?"
He then said in harsh words: "We are not allowed to leave the Shibo Department. How do we know the exchange price outside? You Han people are cunning in doing business. We can only guarantee not to suffer losses by following the lowest price set by the Ming government."
Li Bo wanted to say more, but Yun Xi stopped him and said, "Give him the money as he said." Li Bo felt a little bit at a disadvantage. Although Yun Xi had spoken, he wanted to ask the owner of the shop to spare some money, so the owner gave him the change.
erased.
After buying something, Li Bo still felt a little bit at a disadvantage. Little did he know that Yun Xi was extremely pleasantly surprised at this time.
Although he seemed to have suffered a bit of a loss when buying things this time, he learned one thing: merchants from the foreign country also accepted treasure money.
This is definitely a very good thing. It is similar to the Chinese merchants in later generations who sold things to most countries around the world. The money they received in the end was US dollars, and the treasure banknotes were equivalent to US dollars. How much benefits has the United States gained by relying on its currency hegemony?
Needless to say, by imposing a seigniorage tax on the world, it can be said that the poor in the United States are supported by the countries that hold U.S. dollars. China is engaged in the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the Belt and Road Initiative. One of its important purposes is to get rid of
US dollar, establish its own currency system.
Yunxi visited hundreds of shops in the morning and bought goods from more than a dozen. Among them, eight accepted treasure banknotes and five did not. Yunxi asked again and learned that about 60% of the merchants in Bei City
Only 40% of the treasure banknotes are accepted. Because most merchants will use the treasure banknotes to purchase goods from Nanshi and return home, so there are not many treasure banknotes left in their hands. According to government estimates, there are about two to three million banknotes.
, and the amount of treasure banknotes kept by Nanshi merchants is almost the same.
But Yunxi was still very happy: this meant that he could issue another four to five million banknotes without causing inflation.
'After returning home, he ordered an increase in the printing quota of three million guan of treasure notes. In addition, there are 40% of merchants who do not accept treasure notes, probably because they still have doubts about the credit of treasure notes. It seems that it is time to further increase the number of treasure notes.