T-shaped scroll, Section 138, Master Xiuzhuan is here! (Repair)
Zhuang Wenjing sighed inwardly and shook her head, "Two more friends will be arriving soon. Brother Lu and Brother Gu haven't arrived yet?"
This time when it comes to maritime trade, there are only four or five companies that can take the lead in South Zhili. Compared with Zhejiang and Fujian, they are much inferior. However, Fujian and Zhejiang have always been important places for maritime trade. There are so many maritime merchants along the coast, and South Zhili
Li Ze is mainly concentrated in Songjiang and Suzhou.
The Gu family is a large gentry family in Suzhou. They have not been involved in maritime trade in the past, but this time they are also involved in maritime trade, and they have also attracted a group of small maritime merchants who have taken the initiative to seek refuge.
"It's almost done, Brother Zhuang. Now, I'm afraid that the families in our southern Zhili have to give up their prejudices. As far as I know, the number of families from Zhejiang and Fujian exceeds ten, which is far more than our southern families."
Zhili, and the imperial court will probably not allow too many families, which will make it even harder to manage..."
Zhuang Wenjing knew that compared with these old gentry families, her own family was far inferior in terms of connections.
People can easily get in touch with the ministers and ministers of the six ministers, and can even reach all the ministers in the cabinet. However, people like me have to figure it out even when they meet the prefects. This is the gap.
Of course, one's own side also has advantages, but at least now, noble gentry families with strong backgrounds like the Lu family and the Gu family are not comparable to merchant families like my own who are focused on the sea.
With a shiver in her heart, Zhuang Wenjing no longer cared about being reserved, "Brother Lu, didn't you say that as long as you meet the conditions required by the court, no matter how many courts can agree? Anyway, you have to pay the charter fee,..."
"Do you believe this?" Lu Yanchong smiled contemptuously, "If there are no controls and restraints, and there are hundreds of companies at once, how will the court manage it? The Shipping Department has been abandoned for decades, and now it is rebuilt, how can the court be so good?
How many people will manage it? If everyone avoids Ningbo and Quanzhou and chooses a remote place to go ashore for trading, how will the sea tax be calculated? The imperial court is still counting on relying on this sea tax to borrow money. Do you think those salt merchants in Yangzhou are fools?
?They are all those who don’t know how much they can collect from the sea tax every year. How can they willingly buy this so-called sea-opening bond?”
Before Feng Ziying arrived in Yangzhou, she had already arranged for people to start building momentum.
For example, set the number of merchants participating in sea trade.
This is also a forced arrangement. If the quantity is left unchecked, it will be much more difficult for the Municipal Shipping Department and the Navy to supervise, and it will even be difficult to take into account, and this may lead to evasion of sea tax, which is directly related to
to the ability to repay debt.
Therefore, in the early stage, we can only limit the number of households and encourage everyone to join together to bid. In this way, the court and the Municipal Shipping Department can only control a few large households. If they really catch those who escape, they can be severely punished.
Naturally, these big players who have obtained relatively monopoly trade power will cherish this power and will do their best to supervise the behavior of other people who intend to escape to ensure that their own interests are not infringed.
This time, the debt will be sold in the name of Kaihai Bonds, and the bonds will bear interest. This is the first time this has happened.
In the past, the imperial court had borrowed money from merchants temporarily, but it had never mentioned interest.
The imperial court borrows money from merchants because it thinks highly of you, but even if it is a donation, there is nothing anyone can say.
Now the imperial court has turned those temporary loans into seemingly more formal loans, issuing them in the name of bonds, setting the mortgage as sea tax, and paying interest. Of course, the interest is relatively low, much lower than ordinary private loans.
According to Feng Ziying's idea, the bond quota starts from 10,000 taels and is divided into five denominations: 5,000 taels, 10,000 taels, 20,000 taels, 50,000 taels, and 100,000 taels. The bonds can be redeemed before the principal repayment period has expired.
transfer transaction.
At the same time, Feng Ziying is also considering that when the bond is less than one year away from maturity, it can be rigidly redeemed by Haitong Bank in the future.
In other words, a bond that may have a term of three, five or even ten years can be redeemed directly at the bank as early as two years later. Of course, there will definitely be a discount on the redemption.
Feng Ziying also spread these situations through various channels, such as Wang Wenyan, the Imperial Household Department and the Zhongshu Department, and even revealed something through the mouth of King Zhongshun.
In the end, Feng Ziying even had some tacit understanding with Emperor Yonglong, and this kind of news was more or less spread in the palace.
After all, the harem has some connections with the outside world, especially the mother clan of some concubines, who are either involved with merchants or with Wu Xun, and even concubines who have children.
The two matters of sea trade concessionaires and sea-opening bonds are closely related. The number of sea-trade concessionaires determines the government's governance capabilities, the amount of sea tax revenue, and also determines the number of sea-opening bonds that can be issued.
Lu Yanchong's words made Zhuang Wenjing suddenly realize.
No wonder a large group of small and medium-sized maritime merchants have begun to form a group, or directly join gentry like the Lu family who have no experience in maritime trade. This is also because they have no choice.
If the imperial court determines that only three or five merchants in South Zhili can engage in maritime trade, then if other small and medium-sized merchants cannot find a way, they will have no choice but to starve to death.
"Brother Lu, if that's the case, wouldn't the places in Fujian and Zhejiang have many more places than ours in South Zhili?" Zhuang Wenjing couldn't help but ask.
He also thought about this problem. There are not many big merchants in Nanzhili who are really engaged in maritime trade, but Fujian and Zhejiang are much better. This is why Songjiang was not considered to be the location for the establishment of the Kaihai Shipping Department.
.
Even Lu Yanchong had nothing to do about this. It was obvious that Fujian and Zhejiang were stronger than Nanzhi, so he could only argue with his arguments in the negotiations with Mr. Feng.
But having said that, as long as you can ensure your own quota, the fewer people you can squeeze in, the better. This will reduce the pressure in future competitions.
"Look, Master Feng summoned us today, doesn't he just want to talk about these things? Guangdong and Guangxi need to be listed separately, while our southern Zhili, Fujian and Zhejiang are combined, so we have to give us an explanation, right?"
Lu Yanchong sighed.
The person surnamed Feng was a scholar from the North, and the official in charge of opening up the sea was Ying Zhen, a Huguang native. The court clearly ignored the Jiangnan scholars to prevent them from favoring the Jiangnan gentry. It was a deliberate move.
I don’t know what Ye and Fang, the pavilion elders, were thinking, but they actually let this situation go unchecked.
Many horse-drawn carriages came one after another. The street itself was very lively, and it was right next to the Yamen of the Salt Transport Envoy in the Huaihe River. But today, the side courtyard next to it was even more lively than the Yamen of the Salt Transport Envoy next door.
Zhuang Wenjing and Lu Yanchong both greeted the visitors respectively, some of whom they knew and some who they didn't know, but as long as they introduced themselves, everyone would understand.
Looking at the gentry and merchants from the three provinces of Nanzhi, Fujian and Zhejiang who are interested in competing for maritime trade franchises, there are actually more than fifty people, which is more than expected.
Lu Yanchong took a cursory glance and found that Nanzhili alone exceeded his estimate. He originally thought that there would only be five or six households, but seven or eight households came. Two of them were unexpected. They should be some small and medium-sized households.
Representatives of business alliances.
It is estimated that the situation in Fujian and Zhejiang will be similar, far exceeding initial expectations.
Feng Ziying didn't care.
The two municipal shipping companies in Ningbo and Quanzhou have about fifty households, which is not too many, but some must be compressed and eliminated, otherwise the franchise will be too worthless. When the scale of maritime trade expands in three to five years, there will be another wave of expansion.
It's not too late either.
Wang Wenyan did not show up this time.
There are many people in Nanzhili who know that Wang Wenyan is Lin Ruhai's aide, which seems too revealing.
There was no one available, so Jia Lian and Duan Xigui had to be put to use.
For Jia Lian, this was a blessing.
Although he doesn't have much ability, he is still responsible for the reception of foreign guests in the Jia family. He has seen a lot of people in the world, and even has a false title of fellow intellectual.
Feng Ziying suddenly gave him such an opportunity, which made him so happy that he couldn't sleep well for two or three days.
Even the thoughts that had been spent all day indulging in Gui Rong's pomegranate skirt have become much lighter. I have been thinking about how to get this thing done all day long.
The people who came were all wealthy gentry from the three provinces of Nanzhi, Fujian and Zhejiang. It can be said that behind each family there is a very strong background and network resources.
Even Jia Lian can be regarded as a noble person in Beijing, but in front of these people, in terms of financial resources, there is a huge gap, and in terms of background, almost everyone here can compare with the officials in Beijing or Nanjing. In comparison, Jia Lian's
A little confidence is simply not enough.
The same is true for Duan Xigui.
In the eyes of others before, he was just a country bumpkin from Datong. Fengrunxiang's little wealth could be taken seriously elsewhere, but in front of these people, it was simply not enough.
If it weren't for his cousin relationship, he wouldn't even be qualified to step into this door.
Seeing the guests arriving one after another, Jia Lian and Duan Xigui had already made arrangements.
After all, the Jia family is also an old family in Jinling. Although the direct branch has now reached the capital, the Nanzhi side is still a bit hesitant, and the Liangzhe and Nanzhi sides have always been in the same family, so the Nanzhi and Liangzhi sides
For gentry and merchants, it was mainly Jia Lian who came to entertain guests, while Duan Xigui came to entertain visitors from Fujian.
The two of them have also been prepared for it, and have prepared their name cards long ago. When someone else's name card is delivered, they will take the initiative to respond.
Seeing the constant flow of guests, Ruixiang and the few servants called by the Lin family were extremely busy.
Jia Lian and Duan Xigui kept going back and forth to bring the guests into the specially reserved hall in the outer courtyard. Even though the road was only a few feet long, they still had to talk to each other for a while. In just half an hour, the two of them felt extremely special.
Explosive and fulfilling.
I saw more and more people in the hall. Most of the chairs arranged in three rows on the left and right of the hall were already occupied, and there were still a few seats with names on them that were not occupied.
It's arrived.
Seeing Jia Lian and Duan Xigui already standing on both sides of the central chair, the hall suddenly became quiet.
"Master Xiuzhan has arrived!"
Ruixiang's melodious voice, which he had practiced for several days, rang out, followed by a burst of footsteps from the back hall, and the cyan figure with hands behind his back who was going to decide the future livelihood of everyone present walked in proudly.
Almost subconsciously, everyone in the hall stood up, accompanied by a loud clatter of chairs and stools. Although the sounds were different and chaotic, the formation was awe-inspiring.