While Yanxiu was busy running around for his own business, a banquet that would be related to him was being held in Odawara Castle where the guardian daimyo Miura Takaren of Sagami Province, which Yokohama belongs to, was located.
"Fujiwara-dono, have a drink." A lean man said with a smile.
Kajo Fujiwara, whom he called Mr. Fujiwara, was fat and tall. He raised his wine bowl and took a sip. He said with a smile: "Mitsubishi-san, this is a yellow bar from China. You can tell it is different from sake when you taste it."
"Your Excellency, this is the rice wine from Shaoxing, China. It is the best in the area." Mitsubishi, known as Mitsubishi-kun, said with admiration.
"It's not easy to transport such good wine all the way from Nagasaki. The bottle can't help but bump around. It's not safe to travel by sea," said Fujiwara Kajo.
"Sir, it is naturally inconvenient to transport these wine bottles from Nagasaki. We have to transport these wine bottles carefully to prevent them from being broken. But now if you want to drink the best rice wine from Ming Dynasty, you don't have to send it from Nagasaki. It is from Kanto.
Yes." Mitsubishi said with a smile.
Fujiwara Kajou was stunned for a moment, and then said: "Are you referring to the merchants who came with the navy of the Ming Dynasty?"
"That's them. Your Excellency, these merchants from the Ming Dynasty have a lot of goods in their hands, which are in short supply. If they buy them, they will make several times the profit when they sell them." Mitsubishi said convincingly.
"Of course I know this, but the current Kyoto government stipulates that foreign businessmen can only do business in Nagasaki and not elsewhere." Fujiwara Kajou said.
"Your Excellency, Sagami Country is not a territory directly under the jurisdiction of the Taizheng Minister, so why do you need to comply with the government's regulations so much? An open market like now will definitely not work, but you can buy all the goods privately and quietly from the merchants of the Ming Dynasty, and then quietly
Sell it." Mitsubishi said convinced.
Fujiwara Kajou remained calm, just drinking and not talking. But Mitsubishi's convinced smile became brighter.
After a while, Fujiwara Yashiro, who had enjoyed some fine wine and food, left drunkenly without leaving a single word. Mitsubishi's convinced brother Mitsubishi Akihiro said: "Today's meal was in vain, and I can't do anything."
Permission is granted."
"Xiangyi, why did you invite me for nothing? I think this matter will have some clues." Mitsubishi said convinced.
"Brother, he has no accurate words, how can he have an clue?" asked Mitsubishi Xiangyi, a novice businessman.
"Didn't you see that he continued to drink and eat without hesitation after hearing what I said? This shows that Miura-sama of Sagami Country has already been interested in this and even expressed it, which is why he eats with such confidence; if Miura-sama is right
This was unintentional, he would never dare to do this." Mitsubishi said convinced.
"Then why didn't he say the right thing?" Mitsubishi Xianyi asked.
"Businesses can never be concluded in one go. They have to be negotiated repeatedly. Besides, none of these ministers are greedy. If he agrees to the banquet only once, how can we entertain him many times?" Mitsubishi said convinced.
"These officials are so shameless and greedy," Mitsubishi Shiyi shouted.
"There are some officials who are not shameless and greedy, but they are rare. There are only a few in Kyoto, and none in Sagami Country." Mitsubishi said convincingly.
"Xiangyi, this time my father asked me to take you out to train you. When the negotiations officially begin in a few days, you will be the main one." Mitsubishi said convinced.
"What? I'm afraid I can't negotiate well." Mitsubishi Xianyi said with some joy and some panic.
"No matter how bad the business is, it can't be ruined. Such a good business is nothing more than the share. And now the Kyoto government is discussing with Ming Dynasty about the opening of Yokohama to the sea. The agreement reached in the past two days is just before the opening of the sea.
It’s just for use, and it will inevitably change when it officially opens to sea, so it’s just a temporary agreement, and it doesn’t matter if the share is smaller.”
"Besides, we can only share the profits equally with Sagami Country. Our Mitsubishi family is not a fool. We have the Kyoto government behind us. They don't dare to go too far." Mitsubishi said convincingly.
"Okay, brother." Mitsubishi Xianyi said.
…
…
After Fujiwara Kajou left Mitsubishi Sangfu, he immediately ordered the carriage to drive to a mansion of the Miura family. The driver wanted to persuade: 'Master, you have drunk a lot. It may not be appropriate to go to the Miura family like this now.'
But when he turned back to look at Fujiwara Kajou, he saw that he looked very sober and did not look drunk at all.
After a while, the carriage arrived in front of a mansion. Fujiwara Kajou got out of the carriage and walked in without any announcement.
He walked along the winding path in the courtyard very familiarly. After a while, he walked outside a pavilion, opened the door and went in.
At this time, a strong man in the pavilion was drinking wine with a maid who was accompanying him in his arms. The maid was already half-dressed, and the man's clothes were not neat. On the other side, a young maid was also kneeling.
About a foot or two directly in front of the man, several geishas were performing the song and dance "Narukami".
When he saw Fujiwara Kajo coming in, he smiled and said, "You're here, sit down and have a glass of wine."
Fujiwara Kajou knelt down on the tatami and said with a smile: "I won't drink any more. I drank a lot just now. I will get drunk if I drink any more."
"Oh, in that case, you all should go out." The man suddenly changed his expression and said to the maids and geishas performing singing and dancing beside him. However, they were not surprised at all and simply cleaned up. The half-naked maid got dressed.
Bow and leave.
The strong man also put on his clothes, with a serious look on his face, and said to Fujiwara Kajou: "What do you mean by Mitsubishi's submission?"
"Miura-dono, he didn't say much. He just said that you can earn several times the profit by getting goods from merchants in Yokohama." Fujiwara Kajou replied.
"Hmph, Mitsubishi is so slippery that he won't hold back anymore. Keep grinding with him and see who can beat him." A strong man named Miura Keigo said.
"Your Excellency, why don't we come forward to buy these goods ourselves and insist on cooperating with the Mitsubishi family?" Fujiwara Kajo asked puzzledly: "If the Mitsubishi family passes through it, we will have to share the profit; I, the Fujiwara family, also have
Several businessmen are all businessmen who regard one of their sons as the adopted son of our family so that he can become a warrior, so there will be no problem."
"The problem is not here, but the reaction of other daimyo. Yokohama is located in my country of Sagami, and the other Kanto daimyo can't get it. How can they not be jealous? Our country of Sagami has a small population and a small area. If you take all this money, you will be like a child.
How can you not attract the covetous attention of other famous people by holding gold in the market?"
"At that time, the only way out for my family is to ask the government for help. The Mitsubishi family is the royal businessman of the government. When they make money, the Ashikaga family will also make money. How can they not help? If they are not allowed to intervene, how can the Ashikaga family help?
"
"And how to distribute these goods is also Mitsui, Mitsubishi, and Sumitomo. They are more experienced, and none of your businessmen can compare." Miura Keigo said.
After listening to Miura Keigo's explanation, Fujiwara Kajo suddenly realized and said: "My subordinates thought too little and did not think of this. In the next few days, I followed your instructions and continued to deal with Mitsubishi."
Miura Keigo nodded, said a few more words to him, and let him go down.
In the next few days, Fujiwara Kajou continued to come to every invitation, but even if he didn't say the right thing, Mitsubishi was convinced but kept his composure and didn't say much.
But some people couldn't calm down. Yang Jingxiu, a businessman from Caojiang, went to Mitsubishi Xiangfu and said anxiously: "Brother Xiangfu, it has been eight days since King Yong'an ordered us not to trade directly with you Fuso people, and the weather in Yokohama is damp again.
, some goods will go bad if they are not sold.”
Yang Jingxiu used to be a businessman running the line from Jiangsu and Zhejiang to Nagasaki. This time he saw the opportunity in Yokohama and wanted to make a fortune here. Because his family cooperated with Mitsubishi in Nagasaki, the merchants who came to Yokohama to do business knew that Mitsubishi was convinced.
After he came to Sagami Country, he was asked to act as a representative to sell things to the Fuso people. Yang Jingxiu was determined to form the Yokohama Chamber of Commerce as the president of both officials and merchants in the future, so he agreed to come down and communicate with Mitsubishi Sangfu. Unexpectedly, he has not seen him for the past eight days.
If there is any movement, I can only come and ask.
Mitsubishi Sagami pretended to be helpless and said: "Brother Jingshu, the adults in Sagami Country have always disagreed, and there is nothing I can do."
"What should we do?" Yang Jingxiu asked anxiously.
"How about I introduce you to Mr. Fujiwara Kajou, who is in charge of this matter, and you can talk to him personally?" Mitsubishi said convinced.
"Okay, okay." Yang Jingxiu said immediately.
Mitsubishi convinced him and secretly smiled: he could save a bribe, and said: "Tomorrow night I will host a banquet for Mr. Fujiwara Kajou, please remember to come to my mansion here in the afternoon."
"You must remember that our Fusang has more rules than Ming Dynasty. You can only call him Your Excellency. I also know that you understand Japanese, but you still speak in Chinese, not Japanese, and you have to use the wrong words.
I have angered Mr. Fujiwara Kajou. I will be your translator." Mitsubishi convinced him.
These instructions were all as they should be, and Yang Jingxiu agreed to them one by one. Anyway, he knew Japanese, so he was not afraid of him lying to him.
But Yang Jingxiu was dumbfounded when he arrived at the banquet, because he could hardly understand the Japanese spoken by Mitsubishi Sangfu and Fujiwara Kajou. Japanese is different from Chinese. The Japanese spoken by the upper class of society is very different from the Japanese spoken by the lower class. He could only understand it.
There are several pronunciations, but because there are many homophones, I am not sure that the pronunciations I understand are what I think they mean.
After a while, Mitsubishi Sangfu said to him: "My lord, he is also responsible for this matter in Sagami Country."
Yang Jingxiu understood immediately, took out 20 taels of gold and said, "How can you let your responsibility be in vain?"
Mitsubishi convinced him and chatted with Fujiwara Kajo again. Fujiwara Kajo smiled and took the bag containing gold from him.
After he left, Mitsubishi Xiangfu said to Yang Jingxiu: "My lord has agreed to buy your goods, but there are these conditions..."
Although Yang Jingxiu didn't know what they just said, he felt that he had been cheated based on his businessman's intuition. But he had no other choice but to accept the conditions proposed by Mitsubishi Xiangfu.
'Anyway, this price is much more than their capital, so they won't lose money, not to mention they made a lot of money by selling it directly to Fuso people a while ago.' Yang Jingxiu thought. He then agreed to Mitsubishi's conditions.
