However, after Kang Yuquan finished his second point, there was no immediate statement from the two of them like the first one. Li Guangrui did not do anything, he just sat on the chair and stared at the teacup in front of him, as if there was something strange about this teacup; Gu Mingxuan said
He ordered Kang Yuquan's servants to pour another cup of tea.
It is indeed safer for three families to store their goods together than it is for one family alone, and a family of their size will not be hurt if something happens to their goods. The people who can take charge are not stupid, and no one has to worry about the other two.
I deliberately tried to hurt myself like this.
But storing the goods of the three companies together means that the other two companies know what they plan to buy and sell, sell more and sell less. Even if they don't know more information, it is enough to have an impact on the business. In the future, Baoan Shipping Company will inevitably become their main external contact.
It is not a good idea to let others know where you are doing business what and how much you buy and sell in Baoan.
But for now, it is still beneficial, so the two of them were a little hesitant. After thinking for a while, Li Guangrui felt that the advantages outweighed the disadvantages for the time being, and said: "As my father-in-law said, let's store the goods together now."
Gu Mingxuan saw that Li Guangrui had agreed. Although he felt that Li Guangrui agreed without much thought because Kang Yuquan was his father-in-law, he also felt that the advantages outweighed the disadvantages for the time being, so he agreed.
Seeing that they all agreed, Kang Yuquan smiled, said a few more words, and sent them out.
Li Guangrui returned to his team and saw that all the waiters had been settled. He asked his servants to call Bai Jingyi over and told him what Kang Yuquan had just said.
Bai Jingyi asked: "Master Kang, didn't you say anything about the two major pawn shops of tea and porcelain?"
"No," Li Guangrui said, "There is no way to discuss such a matter. After all, tea and porcelain are the bulk of the goods sold to foreign countries, and no one can give in."
Although they also sell various luxury goods to foreigners, the three main export goods are tea, porcelain and ironware.
Although Guangdong's tea is not very famous, there are a lot of tea plants and a lot of exports. Although Guangcai porcelain is not as famous as other places, the Cantonese people were the first to create an export-oriented business model, according to what foreigners like.
Specialized in custom-made porcelain, more are exported than those from Jingdezhen and other places; as for ironware, the smelting technology of Southeast Asian countries is not up to standard and they lack the ability to mine iron ore on a large scale, so it is a hot-selling product.
Among them, the imperial court had very strict export controls on ironware and iron ore. Even if the sea was opened, smuggling could only continue. The two major industries on the surface were tea and porcelain.
"Even if it is impossible for the three families to give in, they will try to test it out a few times and never mention it no matter what?" Bai Jingyi was confused.
"This," Li Guangrui also became confused. He felt that what Bai Jingyi said made sense, and he should test it a little bit.
Bai Jingyi frowned and thought for a while, then suddenly said: "Young Master, I understand."
"Uncle Bai, what is going on?"
"Young master, the reason is that the goods of the three families are stored together. Our family has been friends with the Kang family and the Gu family for many years. When doing business, we can all know how much goods are stored in each store. Even this time
Because there is a slight gap in the estimate when Baoan first opened, it is no different than two stores; the effect of the on-site interview is probably not as good as the estimate based on the goods."
"This," after hearing Bai Jingyi's explanation, Li Guangrui also understood and said hesitantly: "Uncle Bai, do you want to cancel the agreement to store the goods with them?"
"Now that you've agreed, you can't go back on it. Young Master, in order to do business, you have to make a promise of a large sum of money before people are willing to believe you. We are not small businessmen who do one-time transactions. We must keep our promises even if we know that we have been cheated."
"Besides, it's not a scam this time. It's not necessarily a bad thing to let them know that our Li family wants to have several shops in these two businesses. Besides, our family can also know how much their goods are." Bai Jingyi said.
Hearing what Bai Jingyi said, Li Guangrui breathed out and said, "Uncle Bai is right, I think so too, but I'm still not sure."
It was already dinner time. Everyone had not had a good rest since they got on the boat yesterday morning. They also ate their meals on the boat. Li Guangrui ordered the two servants he had brought with him to order some food from the inn to make sure they were full.
After drinking enough, lie down on the bed and sleep.
The next day, the three families put their respective goods together for safekeeping according to yesterday's agreement. Naturally, they were placed in the warehouse of the Kang family, which had been prepared long ago. The people from the three families were divided into three groups to guard the goods day and night.
When putting the goods into the warehouse, Bai Jingyi of course also paid attention to how many goods the other two families had brought, and secretly estimated them in her mind. After coming back, she said to Li Guangrui: "Young master, the rule of the Kang family is to sell one and keep two."
, there are always enough goods in the store, even if there are a little too many goods, there will be no shortage. But the Gu family is different,..."
Bai Jingyi passed on all her experience in dealing with these two families over the years to Li Guangrui, and finally said: "Young master, so the Kang family probably wants five or six porcelain and tea shops; the same goes for the Gu family."
"Our family wants six porcelain shops and six tea shops, which are similar to theirs," Li Guangrui said.
"Each shop has five or six shops, which doesn't look like much, but there are only thirty shops each for porcelain and tea. The three shops together want to account for at least half. But in addition to Guangzhou businessmen, there are also businessmen from Chaoshan, Huizhou and other places doing business in Bao'an.
Businessmen, not to mention people from Fujian, Huguang and other places, are not easy to deal with." Bai Jingyi said.
Just when Li Guangrui was about to say something, Bai Jingyi said again: "We have nothing to say to the Kang family and the Gu family. Who is willing to give in? Besides, it is useless to give up one or two shops. If the shops of these two businesses are rented tomorrow, it will definitely be
It’s not that easy.”
He finally said: "Tomorrow we will just have to play it by ear."
…
…
The next morning there was a bidding war for the Ming businessmen's shops.
The competition for tea and porcelain, the two major export shops in Guangdong and Fujian provinces, is indeed extremely fierce. Businessmen from all over the country refused to give in. The price of a small shop quickly exceeded 1,000 yuan, which was only a year's rent.
In the end, the Li family won five tea shops and four porcelain shops, and the Kang family and the Gu family each won three or four shops.
Li Guangrui is still satisfied with the result of his family. After all, the competition on the scene is too fierce. "Those Yong Jian guys didn't even think about whether they could make money. The prices were so high. They had money and didn't know how to spend it!"
Li Guangrui complained.
"These Yong Jiang guys are asking for investment certificates!" Bai Jingyi whispered expressionlessly: "The shipping company is located in Guangdong. They are afraid of being controlled by the Guangdong people in the future, so they have to lose money even if they lose money this year.
By occupying some space in the Shipping Department of Baoan City, we are also showing our support to Mr. Zhang for the imperial court's opening of the sea."
"These Yong Jianren guys!" Li Guangrui said bitterly. However, since he knew what Yong Jianren was thinking, he did not insist on competing with Yong Jianren who did not hesitate to spend money.
The shops of several major businesses were rented out, including those of small businesses, such as pens, inks, paper and inkstones. At that time, the domestic production of pens, inks, papers and inkstones in the Ming Dynasty could not even be satisfied by the local market, so although exports were not prohibited, few people operated them.
These.
In a blink of an eye, several industries passed by, and some small merchants or branches of big merchants actually opened shops in these industries.
At this time, the person who presided over the rental competition today said: "Next is the rental competition for the jewelry store."
After hearing the host's words, Li Guangrui couldn't help but sit up straight; not only him, but also Kang Yuquan, Gu Mingxuan and others also sat up straight.
Although Li Xianming didn't say it explicitly, Li Guangrui also understood that his grandfather's test for him this time was about these two aspects.
First, it is to see whether he can assign work to the workers in an organized manner and whether he can arrange things properly;
Second, it depends on his judgment and decisiveness. Although the transaction volume in jewelry and other industries is low, the price of a single piece is high, and the profit is also high. It is useless to occupy too many shops, but it will not work if there is not one, which means that in the future
It is difficult to get involved in this business; but if you pay too much money for it, it may not be worth it. After all, it is only a one-year right to use the shop. It is difficult to know what is going on.
During the whole process of renting a jewelry business, Li Guangrui pursed his lips and looked very solemn, but he did not rent any shop until the end.
After all the shops were rented out, and everyone dispersed and returned to their residences, Bai Jingyi couldn't help but ask: "Young Master, why don't you rent a shop?"
"Uncle Bai, the prices of these shops were so high for Yong Jianlao that it was impossible to make any money in the first year. If I rented them, someone in my family would definitely say that I wasted money." Li Guangrui said.
"But Liufang, which specializes in jewelry, won't be satisfied without renting a shop," Bai Jingyi said.
"So I decided to share a shop with others." Li Guangrui said: "Although the shop prepared by Shibo Company is not large, it is not small for the jewelry industry, and half of it is enough."
"Yesterday, I saw the head of the Liang family from Foshan also come to Bao'an, and I chatted with him for a few words. Although the Liang family seems to be mainly engaged in jewelry and fields, in fact, our family and his family collaborated to smuggle iron.
It’s what made their family rich, and the jewelry is just an embellishment or a cover-up.”
"Our family wants to cooperate with their family. If he doesn't dare to offend our family, he will definitely agree to cooperate."
"Of course I can't make Liang Shuqi feel too dissatisfied. I can't control the iron business at home, but I can give him more money for the shop, even if it accounts for 60% of the total price of the shop."
"Yes, the young master has a good idea." Bai Jingyi twisted his beard and said with a smile. How could a large merchant like them share a shop with others? So he didn't think of it for a moment, and he felt that Li Guangrui was thoughtful.
Li Guangrui was very happy to be praised by Bai Jingyi and said: "I will immediately place the goods in the store in the shipping department after I return, and try to open it tomorrow. I think my grandpa will be happy to be able to make money one day earlier."
