Several big families in Ningbo openly support the opening of the sea, but secretly deal with it.
They were asked to contact the Fujian maritime merchants, and indeed they were contacted, but the negotiations were delayed and Zhang Cong was not allowed to have direct contact with the maritime merchants. In anger, Zhang Cong ignored these wealthy families and went directly to Fuqing to find the maritime merchant Xue.
Negotiate.
Wang Yuan also sent a letter inviting Ningbo wealthy people to come to Hangzhou to create a dental business together.
These guys felt that Wang Yuan's share was too small, and they were reluctant to express their attitude - Wang Yuan planned to set up ten dental shops in Hangzhou. Each company can only invest in one dental shop, and the shareholding must not exceed 20%. This is to prevent
A single family.
Other merchants also found it difficult to make up their minds to join the business. Firstly, they were worried that Wang Yuan would not be able to contact the maritime merchants, and secondly, they were worried that the opening of the sea would be repeated.
July twenty-eight.
More than thirty ships suddenly appeared on the surface of Hangzhou Bay, immediately making the Qiantang Navy feel like they were facing a formidable enemy.
Fortunately, according to Wang Yuan's request, a huge flag was hung on the mast of every seagoing ship. The flag was blue with a black border, and the word "明" was embroidered in the middle. The Qiantang navy saw the word clearly and immediately released it.
.
The pirates did not dare to sail all into Hangzhou Bay, so they only sent one-third in, and the remaining two-thirds were on guard outside.
"Everyone, the ship is here." Wang Yuan said to the merchants with a smile.
At this time, the harbor had not yet been fully built, and there were only a few berths. The merchants followed Wang Yuan to the dock, and were immediately overjoyed when they saw the ships. Finally, the wait was not in vain!
The goods of merchants from Suzhou and Hangzhou are all piled up in the warehouse, and the first ones to arrive have been waiting for nearly a month.
Wang Yuan couldn't pay for the harvest, and it was impossible for the official harvest to be harvested. Hangzhou Yashixing didn't dare to accept it, for fear that it would be difficult to get rid of it. Anyway, he kept waiting stupidly, and Wang Yuan waived the warehouse storage fee.
The goods have been counted, and each store's inventory receipts are stamped with the governor's seal.
With so many merchants involved and big seals used, no one would dare to embezzle it, otherwise the lawsuit could be brought to the capital.
"This is...a pirate?" Someone recognized it.
"Governor Wang is such a strange person, he actually recruits so many pirates!"
"It doesn't matter whether he is a maritime merchant or a pirate, as long as he can sell goods and go to sea. If the sea ship doesn't come again, I will pick up the goods and go to Ningbo."
"..."
These merchants on land were standing at the dock and talking about it.
Chen Shuangxi was wary and did not dare to enter Hong Kong in person, so he only sent his financial deputy.
The financial officer's name was Zheng Shen. After getting off the boat, he raised his hands and said, "President Wang, the two boats you want have been brought along with the sailors."
"It's easy to say," Wang Yuan asked with a smile, "aren't the other pirates willing to sacrifice their ships?"
Zheng Shen said: "We are all small and small households. How can we donate ships? We all plan to spend money to buy sea vessels. There are one or two families who have little money to turn around. Can I give it after returning to the sea?"
Wang Yuan was very generous: "As long as the ship comes, it will be fine. Haiyin owes me the money first."
After acquiring three ships from Lu Qianhu, Chen Shuangxi "presented" two more ships, Wang Yuan now had a total of five sea-going ships, and he could be considered a powerful maritime merchant.
Wang Yuan suddenly ordered: "Hang the dragon flag!"
Disciple Bao Chaoxiang led everyone to board the ship, took out five dragon flags, and hung them all on his ship.
Everyone was shocked.
A merchant asked: "General Wang, is this the emperor's ship?"
Wang Yuan smiled and said: "Who else dares to fly the Tuanlong flag except today's emperor?"
The Ming Dynasty prohibited officials from doing business, but since the Hongzhi Dynasty, officials have sent domestic slaves to do business, and Emperor Zhengde took the lead in sending eunuchs to do business. The ancestral system of the Ming Dynasty has been completely destroyed!
When Wang Yuan opened the sea this time, he not only wanted to increase customs duties for the court, but also collaborated with the emperor to do business.
The profits from these five ships that were picked up for free were divided into 50% by Zhu Houzhao and 20% by Wang Yuan. The remaining 30% were collectively enjoyed by the disciples of the Physics School, some were donated to the School of Physics, some were used to support poor students, and the remaining 30% was divided
To the disciples who followed Wang Yuan to open the sea this time.
A gentleman should also use benefits to tie many disciples together.
Wang Yuan turned around and said to those merchants: "There are too many goods in the warehouse. There are many land merchants selling goods, and there are many sea merchants harvesting them. You are not willing to form a joint venture to open a tooth shop, so this time I will do the overseas business."
Host the auction."
No matter merchants or doubtful pirates, they all don’t know how to buy and sell.
Wang Yuan called in the pirates from each family who were responsible for harvesting, and each family was given a number plate, and then gathered outside the warehouse for an auction.
Jiang Xin presided over the auction meeting and started directly without any explanation: "The goods auctioned today will be processed in order of arrival. We are auctioning 500 kilograms of raw silk shipped by Fulongsheng, Huzhou, with a starting price of 1,500 taels."
Maritime merchants who are willing to bid please raise their placards. Each time the price is increased, it must not be less than fifty taels!"
Disciple Bao Chaoxiang was responsible for going to sea for Wang Yuan. He held up a sign and said: "One thousand five hundred taels!"
No one dared to bid for fear of losing face to Wang Yuan.
Wang Yuan smiled and said: "If you want to increase the price, just increase it. Don't hold back."
The treasurer of a pirate family felt that the price was very low, so he couldn't help but hold up a sign and said: "I will increase the price by fifty taels."
Jiang Xin immediately said: "No. 4, the price will be increased by fifty taels. Is there any increase in price?"
Seeing that this person had nothing to eat, someone immediately raised the price, until it reached 1,700 taels and finally gave up.
For these 1,700 taels of raw silk, after excluding customs duties and other costs, the net profit would be at least 5,000 taels when shipped to Japan.
It’s not gross profit, it’s net profit!
The Zhengde period was relatively good, with profits from Sino-Japanese trade ranging from three to five times.
When the sea was banned during the Jiajing period, profits once increased to more than ten times. Such huge profits made maritime smuggling even more crazy.
Wang Yuan's opening of the sea was beneficial to small pirates and small maritime merchants. Otherwise, the net profit of 5,000 taels would be used to support the government, and the filial piety would be much higher than the sea tax.
Jiang Xin decided to take pictures of the pirates who were raw silk. He was immediately taken to inspect and pick up the goods, and then hired people on the spot to move them to the ship.
Jiang Xin continued: "The goods we auctioned today were all appraised by the old shopkeeper of Yahang. Therefore, there is no need to inspect and estimate the goods. We will auction some Suzhou lacquerware at the lowest price of one thousand two hundred taels!"
No pirate dared to raise his sign.
In the past, the raw silk was fine, and the silk shipped from Huzhou was not much worse. Now, when it comes to the number of lacquerware, I don’t know how many pieces there are, let alone the quality. It’s just a wild guess.
"One thousand two hundred taels." Bao Chaoxiang continued to hold up the sign.
Those pirates didn't know that as Wang Yuan's disciple, Bao Chaoxiang knew that the lowest prices in today's auction were all slightly lower than the market price.
After waiting for a while, Jiang Xin saw that there was no one bidding, so he immediately took the photo of Xingmu: "A number of Suzhou lacquerware, one thousand two hundred taels were sold, and the price was won by No. 1 A!"
The pirates immediately understood that they would never suffer a loss at the lowest price.
From mid-morning to the evening, the bidding continued until the ships arriving at the port were finally full, and more than 60% of the pirates in Zhejiang waters came.
On the second day, thirty-four ships set out to sea collectively under the flag of the Ming Dynasty.
In addition to doing business, they also have another mission. If they encounter a lone ship on the way, they can directly attack it and share the stolen goods with everyone. Wang Yuan stipulated that Chinese merchant ships with sea leads must gather more than ten ships to accompany them.
Going to sea, a Chinese fleet of less than ten ships must be illegal smuggling!
The pirates went to Japan happily, and the mainland merchants were also happy from ear to ear. Because there were no middlemen to eat the price difference, they made more money than before this time, and it was the first time they tasted the sweetness of opening the sea.
There is still a lot of cargo on the shore, just waiting for the next batch of sea ships to arrive.
Wang Yuan once again convened merchants to discuss the establishment of a tooth shop in Hangzhou. This matter must be led by the government, otherwise a tooth shop will be formed spontaneously, and then a few big businessmen will control the right to send and receive goods.
Well, Zhao Yidao and Fatty Lin have been detained in the Governor's Mansion and are undergoing rounds of fatigue interrogation.