I'm afraid the bosses outside still don't know that they are risking their lives in order to enter the trade zone!
After finishing the matter, he vowed never to do this kind of trade again!
But this idea was broken after five minutes, and he became hesitant.
Half a day later, he completely gave up the idea of never coming to the trade area again!
Because everything he saw constantly made him give up this idea!
Is this a trade zone?
Are you sure it's just a trade area for doing business, not a paradise?
It was a clean and tidy street with almost no garbage. The pedestrians all looked like decent gentry. The shops on both sides of the street were brightly lit. He even saw the exterior wall of one shop, which was all paved with glass.
.
In the middle of the street, there were two parallel railroad tracks. Just when he was wondering what these two railroad tracks were used for, he saw a bell ringing in front of him. When he looked up, he saw a carriage slowly approaching.
.
But the strange thing is that this carriage is too huge, and it has two floors, with at least thirty people on it. What's more important is that there are only two horses pulling such a huge carriage.
Seeing the carriage approaching from afar, Almi and Luke, who had lived in the port area for more than a month and knew the rules of the Tang Dynasty to some extent, quickly gave way. When they passed an intersection, they followed the crowd and lined up to pass by.
Everything is so orderly, there is no garbage, no beggars, and the pedestrians coming and going, whether they are Tang people or foreigners like him, are all well-dressed and respectable gentry.
This sight seemed to make him see heaven!
While he was surprised, he also followed the guidance manual in his hand and prepared to go to the trade area to settle down. They came to the trade area to find partners. This kind of thing would definitely not be done in one day, so they needed to find a place first.
According to the guide manual, they walked along. When they passed a tall building, they couldn't help but take a second look inside. This building looked magnificent from the outside, and it was staggeringly tall. There were five people in it.
The floors are high, and the height of each floor is very high. This building is very conspicuous even in the trade area.
He didn't recognize the men above, but the instruction manual had Spanish, Portuguese and Latin translations.
This is the name of this building, it's called the South Africa Hotel!
It is the most luxurious hotel in the trade area and provides functions such as catering, business meetings, etc. Although the price is stated in the guide book, they had heard about it when they were in the port area. Most people in South Africa cannot afford to live or eat in this hotel.
Those who can stay in South African hotels are often the real big bosses!
Although Baier was wearing a decent Tang suit, he was not a real boss. Although he had some activity funds given by Alvin in his pocket, he also had some money of his own.
But the total amount of money is not enough for three days of food and accommodation in a hotel in South Africa.
In fact, he still had a sum of money with him, totaling more than 500 yuan, but this money was used for transactions and was mainly intended as a deposit for goods.
If he dared to spend time in a South African hotel, his boss Alvin would probably shoot him directly.
However, the South African Hotel is not the only one in the trade area. There are other places that provide food and drinks, such as the Tiandi Inn in the trade area. This is a place with low prices and good quality, although the charges are higher than the most expensive hotels in London.
It is much more expensive, but in a place like South Africa City, where consumption is extremely high, Tiandi Inn is a typical civilian consumption level.
If you want a slightly better stay, you can also go to the Cape of Good Hope Hotel. Although this hotel is not as luxurious as the South African Hotel, it is still good.
This is where Baier and the others are right. Although pirates like them earn a lot of money on weekdays, they also spend a lot of money. They can't save much money at all on weekdays.
What's more, even if you save money, you probably won't be able to spend it in the South African Trade Zone!
After arriving at the Cape of Good Hope Hotel along the way, it can be seen from the outside that this Cape of Good Hope Hotel is far inferior to the previous South African Hotel, and even though the charges are quite low, it still makes Bai Er quite heartbroken.
He only wanted a third-class room with twin beds, but this third-class room costs six Tang Yuan for one night and eighteen Yuan for three days. As for meals, group meals are provided here, and each person has to pay for each meal.
About one yuan.
Just for food, if they stayed for three days, they would have to pay twenty-four yuan.
This is the twenty-fourth Tang Yuan!
One Tang Yuan is equivalent to 6.2 grams of gold, and 24 Tang Yuan is equivalent to 144.8 grams of high-purity gold.
Among the various gold coins in contemporary Europe, the florin gold coin is relatively representative, and it is also a common gold coin in Europe. This florin gold coin weighs 3.5 grams. If it was before the 13th century,
, then the gold florin coins are pure gold, but the gold content of gold florin coins in Europe today is often only 75% or less.
If converted into contemporary gold florins with a gold content of only about 75%, these twenty-four Tang Yuan can be exchanged for at least fifty-six gold florins.
Moreover, the exchange business opened by the Royal Bank of South Africa branch does not calculate gold and silver coins from European countries based on the gold coins, but directly based on the pure gold or pure silver they contain, and there is also a Swiss fee.
Consumption.
Therefore, other types of gold and silver coins are often exchanged at a discount. According to their gold content and silver content, the discount is at least 20% off, and even more is only 60% or 70% off.
Therefore, in actual exchange, these twenty-four Tang Yuan coins can actually be exchanged for at least sixty or more gold florins.
However, these days, even if it is a fully armed knight with armor, horses and even attendants, it is actually about the same number.
The two of them stayed at the Cape of Good Hope Hotel for three days, which cost almost as much as a knight's equipment!
And this Cape of Good Hope hotel is so expensive. Baier really can't imagine how expensive the rumored more expensive South African hotel is. Maybe after three days of food and accommodation, the equipment cost of a knight's apricot is estimated to be just as much.
It's almost done.
But even so, he found that the business of the Cape of Good Hope Hotel was extremely good.
When they were booking a room, they happened to meet a few people from the Tang Dynasty with black hair and dark eyes. They originally wanted a first-class room, but the waiter apologized and said that there were no first-class rooms, and there were only second-class rooms.
Rooms and third-class rooms.
Bai Er originally thought that they would choose a third-class room like him. After all, the cost of a first-class room was very high, costing more than ten yuan a night.
But I didn't expect that when those Tang people heard this, they immediately booked three first-class rooms.
These Tang people are really rich!
I just threw away dozens of yuan without batting an eye!
Regardless of others, he took Luke to the room and rested for a while, then went to the restaurant in the hotel to have a meal. Originally, they thought they would be able to eat some Chinese food, but it turned out that it was bread or something. After asking, they found out that the collective
The restaurant does not serve Chinese food.
If you want to eat Chinese food, you have to go to the Chinese restaurant next door. After briefly asking about the price, he gave up the idea of going to the Chinese restaurant next door to try Chinese food.
Damn it, any dish costs several yuan, how can you eat it at such an expensive price!
Now he still doesn't understand, how do other foreign businessmen who come to this trade zone live? The cost here is so expensive, and they only have so much money?
The cost of the port area was already not cheap, but compared with the cost of this trade area, it was simply as high as heaven and earth. Then he also wondered, are all the people in the Tang Dynasty so rich? Are there no poor people?
?
Well, Baier just doesn't know this.
In fact, the people of the Tang Dynasty in South Africa, that is, the local population, including the newly arrived immigrants, do not live in the trading area, but in the urban area of South Africa, that is, the bastion city.
As for the trade area, it sounds like a trade area, but except for the trading floor, the other areas are all service areas. To put it bluntly, this place is a one-stop shop for eating, drinking, and having fun.
It is specially used to receive maritime merchants who are willing to spend money, so the prices are set very high no matter what.
To put it bluntly, most of the restaurants and shops in the trade zone are designed to rip off customers, and they do so in an aboveboard and aboveboard way!
Otherwise, you think the money used by South Africa City to build ports and forts is that there is no local industry or agriculture. As for tariffs, although there are them, in order to encourage trade, the tariffs collected are actually not much. Datang encourages trade these days.
Freedom, China is increasingly leaning toward low tariffs or even no tariffs.
Because what Datang wants is raw materials and markets, the lower the tariffs, the more cost can be reduced, which is more conducive to the development of the domestic industrial revolution. As for the fiscal losses caused by tariffs, they can be replenished through the development of domestic industry and commerce.
The various tariffs at the South African Port are also relatively low, and a considerable part of this part of the tariff has been taken away by Datang Western Trading Company.
Two years ago, the Tang Dynasty Western Trade gained access to southern Africa by giving up some administrative rights and some colonial property rights, transferring a large number of warships and equipment to the military, and providing some cash to the central finance.
Partial tax dividend rights last for fifteen years, mainly on tariffs. Every year, Datang Western Trading Company will take away 60% of South Africa City's tariffs.
In this operation, the Western Trade of the Tang Dynasty actually sold part of the industry, such as the ownership of colonies, the armed forces of the company fleet, as an asset to the official, and then the official repaid it with tax dividends, paid in installments over fifteen years.
The tariffs are not much, so don’t count on local manufacturing and agriculture. So what South Africa can count on is the service industry.
At the same time, South Africa, as the intersection of Sino-Western trade, also has favorable conditions for developing high-end service industries.
Therefore, taxation in South African cities basically relies on taxation from the service industry, and the tax rate for the service industry set by the Ministry of Taxation for these port trading cities is also very high. The tax is high, so the fees are naturally expensive.
Of course, an even more important point is that the officials of the Xiyu colonial authorities summoned the merchants in the area every three days to ask them to maintain good market order, maintain healthy competition, and resolutely not allow vicious competition.
Anyone who dares to engage in vicious competition, especially low-price dumping strategies, to undermine South Africa's economic order is committing a crime!