There is a small city gate at the southeast end of the outer city. It is located next to the turret at the southeast end of the Beijing city wall. It has a gate tower and an arrow tower. Outside the gate is known as the Water Town. The northern terminus of the Grand Canal is Datongqiao Wharf here, which is a large passage for pedestrians and goods to enter and exit from the north and south.
The river is like a belt, and the weeping willows are combing.
At this time, the New Year is approaching, and the canal pier has already turned into a sea of ice. Just like the Shichahai Houhai that remains from Jishuitan Pier, which was the most prosperous in the Yuan Dynasty, it has become a good place for children to play on the ice.
At this time, there was a large courtyard at the dock, with a four-character plaque bearing the name Pioneer on the door. This courtyard was quite large.
"The new year is approaching, we have worked hard for a year, and the accounts have been settled early. Today we will pay wages and dividends. Everyone will divide the money and have a party together. Then we will go back to our homes to have a good New Year. After the new year, we will meet again.
Get together and open.”
There is a stove burning in the lobby, which is very warm.
The one who stood and spoke was the Prime Minister of the Dynasty, his voice was a bit shrill. This was the big boss of the Pioneer Company. Last year he took them on three ships to Haidong to recruit the savage Jurchens, declare rewards and make deals with each other.
Their errand went relatively smoothly. Not only did they successfully recruit the Jurchen tribes in Changchun, Jilin, Ningguta, Sanxing and other places, but the goods transported by the three ships were also exchanged for three shiploads of good things from Haidong.
Three large ships were filled with ginseng, deer bark, mink skin, dongzhu, and various skins.
They also redeemed more than 2,000 Han people who had been taken into slavery in Haidong and settled them in camps such as Vladivostok, Hunchun, and Mokowei.
After returning, he also helped transport several military supplies to Liaodong.
The emperor was very satisfied with their performance, and even took time out of his busy schedule to summon the three captains, Lin Xuewu and Wang Qi, the Prime Minister of the Dynasty, and rewarded them with jade belts and purple robes.
The Pioneer Fleet has also been officially upgraded to the Pioneer Trading Company, whose full name is the Ming Dynasty Royal Pioneer Trading Company. It can be considered that it was officially established under the supervision of the Shaofu and became its own system.
From now on, they will mainly go to Haidong to trade ginseng and fur. They are considered a very special caravan, because the emperor has promised to give them three to five more ships next year, and also allows them to recruit another group of retired veterans as crew members.
Let’s go to Haidong Trade together.
They were even authorized to establish a trading station for purchasing furs in Haidong, and even to build wharves and bastions. They were also authorized to form a pioneer caravan and armed escort.
This means that they are a semi-official and semi-military colonial organization. They can represent the emperor and the Ming Dynasty in Haidong, where they can contact, trade, and even form alliances and go to war with the Jurchen tribes.
They were not included in the Royal Navy, nor were they included in the Fifth Army Governor's Office. Instead, they acted in the name of business names. This was mainly for convenience and to prevent the Jurchens from being too sensitive. It also showed that they were opening the way through trade.
"His Majesty is very satisfied with our Pioneer. He praised the three of us for being so handsome. Our family is very handsome."
"The accounts for this trip to Haidong have been settled, and the profit is very high."
"Your Majesty will keep his word and give us dividends."
After excluding costs, 30% of last year's net profit was used to distribute dividends to all crew members. According to the pre-agreed share ratio, the three captains each held ten shares, which means each accounted for 10% of the total crew shares.
The three captains accounted for 30% of the crew's dividends, equivalent to 9% of the total stock income.
The remaining 70% of the shares are divided among the remaining 500 crew members, who each have different top shares according to their different positions and levels on the ship.
Compared with ordinary merchants, there are no apprentices or clerks in the fleet. There is no need to go through two accounting periods and you can directly receive dividends.
The emperor owned 70% of the company's profits, and the crew members accounted for 30%, but the crew members only had the right to dividends. If they were not in the position, they would not have the dividends. The emperor did not participate in direct management, but only appointed the top shopkeeper and two shopkeepers to review the accounts regularly, etc., all of which were done by the junior staff.
The special audit department of the government supervisor completed this for the emperor.
Although only 30% of profits are distributed as dividends, it is actually quite a lot. After all, if you make profits, you can distribute dividends, and if you lose money, you don't need to spend money to make up for the shortfall.
What's more, the profit this time is not just a little bit.
In fact, everyone has already seen the bill and knows it by heart.
But when the Prime Minister read it again in public, although not all the more than 500 sailors were present in the room, these representatives were still very excited. Hundreds of people crowded in the yard outside, and they all listened with their ears pricked up.
Yes, although it is snowing outside, everyone is feeling hot.
I need to divide the money.
"We made more than 600,000 silver dollars in net profit this trip, and we get 30% of it, which is just over 200,000 yuan."
As soon as this number came out, there was a burst of inhalation.
There are more than 500 people and 200,000 silver dollars are divided among them.
On average, it's almost 400 yuan per person.
One hundred shares can be divided into 2,000 yuan each. The three captains each have 10 shares, which is 20,000 silver dollars each. The first mate and second mate have seven shares and six shares.
There are also boatswain, quartermaster, artillery chief, marine captain, chief cook, doctor, craftsman, etc. on the ship.
They had four boatswains, six quartermasters, ten artillery commanders, and ten on-board repairmen on board.
There are also five navigation officers sent by the Navy, ten midshipmen, and a Marine Corps of at least fifty people on board.
There are also a total of thirty-six navigation petty officers, who are also sent by the Navy and are responsible for various professions, including mast workers, repairmen, gunners, quartermasters, boatswains, chief cooks, etc. Almost every technical occupation has a navigation petty officer.
Responsible, some of these people are promoted from ordinary sailors with good professional skills and rich experience.
The largest group of people on the ship are sailors, with more than a hundred people, who are responsible for all aspects of the ship, including operating the artillery.
There are also dozens of people who assist sailors, mainly doing physical work on the ship. Those who perform well will receive training as a navigational officer on the ship to become a sailor.
There is a team of more than a dozen craftsmen on board, responsible for ship repairs, lock making, blacksmithing, etc.
There is also a group of young people, basically interns sent by the Naval Academy, including intern sailors and intern petty officers. They have to learn professional affairs on the ship and also serve as handymen. If they can successfully complete their internship on the ship, they will
You can officially become a regular official and join the navy's fleet.
As for the other marine force on the ship, they usually serve as security patrols and occasionally attack miscellaneous troops. Their main mission is still on the shore.
There are more than 500 people on the three ships of the vanguard fleet. They were basically arranged according to the configuration on the naval warships. Each person performs his own duties. Some people can even take on two positions at a time and can be replaced at any time.
Depending on the position and level, the body will naturally be different.
The captain directly has ten shares, the first mate also has seven shares, the second mate also has six shares, the other boatswain, quartermaster, Marine captain, and gunnery chiefs only have one share, while the navigation sergeant and the Marine platoon leader only have half a share.
.
As for ordinary sailors, craftsmen, etc., it is only one or two cents.
But even the ship's handymen and trainees, who have the lowest qualifications and lowest positions, are at least one cent, which means they can get two hundred yuan.
It is certainly worth being happy to receive a dividend of two hundred yuan a year.
If you work as a clerk in a normal business, you won't even receive wages for the first three years, let alone dividends. Generally, you have to work for at least two accounting periods, at least eight years, and you have to perform well and be listed on the counter before you can get dividends.
But the portions were small at first.
A high-class cavalryman in the imperial camp only earns four and a half yuan a month. Even if he is paid fifteen months a year, it only costs more than sixty yuan. This trip will last him three years.
"Whether each individual's body size is ten points, one point, or one centimeter, this has been decided before going to sea, and no one has any objections."
"Originally, the account period was every four years, with one dividend per period, but His Majesty gave us a special reward and said that we did a good job on this mission, so we will pay it directly this time.
Come, everyone, line up, come up, collect silver coins, have your fingerprints printed, and go home to have a prosperous New Year!"
Iron-armed Wang Qi said with a smile, "Twenty thousand yuan, I really didn't expect that after going out to sea, I actually earned 20,000 yuan. I won't say anything more. I would like to thank the saint for the reward, and thank you brothers for your concerted efforts. Wait.
I'll be the host, and Tai Feng Restaurant will take care of it. Please invite them to come over and cook us a big meal, beef, sheep, seafood, good wine and food. If you have enough, feel free to eat."
With 20,000 silver dollars, Wang Qi, a poor scholar born as a domestic slave, could be regarded as prosperous. When he chose to retire from the imperial camp, he never thought that he could still achieve such prosperity despite being disabled.
Although he is now the shopkeeper of the shop, this is an imperial shop and he is still under the supervision of the Shaofu. He still has a rank, the fifth rank, and he is also given a purple robe and jade belt with a goldfish charm. Even if others think that this fifth rank is not valuable,
It's not as good as the prefect, but now this is a real dividend of 20,000 yuan.
If the prefect does not commit corruption and impose bad rules, can he save 20,000 silver dollars in the year of the monkey and the month of the horse?
Everyone laughed together and agreed to go to sea together. This relationship was stronger than the ordinary military relationship.
Wang Chaoxiang smiled and said, "Everyone, don't spend your money randomly. Those who don't have a wife should marry one quickly. Those who have a wife should buy a house and land to have more children. If you still have money left, then adopt one or two orphans, which is also a way of doing good deeds."
, to flatter the will.”
The cash issued today is cash, taken directly from the Royal Bank. Boxes of Silver Emperors, with silver dragons on the back and Emperor portraits on the front, are all unopened newly minted silver coins, extremely new.
After the two hundred thousand yuan is distributed as bonus.
Everyone did not disperse immediately.
Lin Xuewu stepped forward, "I know that everyone must still be thinking about the private goods, and they have already taken action and paid it into the account. This amount of money is about 120,000 yuan. This is also the saint Hong En, who has granted us permission
In addition to the official goods, we are also allowed to take 20% privately. The 20% final profit, the emperor originally said he did not want us, is the hard-earned money given to us.
But we can’t forget our roots, so we act according to the rules. If we are allowed to carry 20%, we will never exceed it. If we earn silver dollars, we will directly pay half of it to the emperor. The rest will be divided according to our shares, 60,000 silver dollars.
One share is 600 yuan, and the captain holds ten shares, which is 6,000 yuan per person.
The first officer has seven shares, which is four thousand two, and the second officer has six shares, which is three thousand six.
A bosun long share is six hundred, and the lowest cent is sixty yuan.
All the 60,000 yuan was taken and distributed directly together."
When a ship goes out to sea for trade, it is normal for the captain and sailors to carry some private goods. Even when envoys go out to pay tribute, they have to carry private goods. Therefore, Zhu Yihai has made it clear long ago that the crew members are allowed to carry private goods, but
The cargo space shall not exceed 20% of the cargo hold, and the crew will be responsible for the profits and losses of these private cargoes.
However, the dynasty ministers and others still agreed that after deducting the capital, the final income from the private goods would be divided into two, half of which would be paid to the emperor as tribute, and half of which would be shared by them. Moreover, this cost actually included the taxes paid.
The trainee sailors aged sixteen or seventeen were all given two hundred and sixty silver dollars, a large bag full of silver.
There are three captains, each worth twenty-six thousand.
The key to making such a huge profit this time was due to information asymmetry, or the years of war between the Ming and Qing Dynasties, which led to the severance of trade between the Northeast and the Central Plains.
When they were in Sanxing City, the Hezhe people exchanged pots with them. Instead of telling them how much a pot cost, they put the pots directly on the ground. Then they filled the pots with the best sable skins. A pot full of sable skins was exchanged for them.
An iron pot.
There were even eighteen sable skins exchanged for an axe.
Five tiger skins for a bird gun.
The farther north they went, the less valuable the furs were, and the Ming Dynasty goods they brought were very popular with the Jurchens. They just threw the bundles of skins on the ground and let them choose. How to change them was all decided by the Ming envoys.
Calculate.
This kind of business is really huge profit.
The lowest-quality mink skins they transport back to Fengtian Port are sold for one silver dollar each, while the top-quality sable fur, black with silver hair, can be sold for two hundred silver dollars each.
There are fifty taels of tiger skin, fifty-one taels of sea dragon skin, twenty-one sea tiger skins, and several taels of sea dog skin.
What is called sea dragon skin is actually sea otter skin, sea tiger is otter, and fur seal is also called stingray.
Others, such as black fox, black fox, blue fox, white fox, deerskin, silver fox, wolf skin, squirrel skin, beaver skin, chinchilla skin, etc., are so many that they really cost the same as cabbage.
Those wild Jurchens who are good at hunting, especially the Saurons, are the best hunters. In a hunting season from autumn to spring, one person can hunt 120 to 280 sable skins. For them,
Skins are very common. They are used to make clothes, tents, pockets, etc., and they are also used for trade or tribute. However, the frontier is far away, and it is not easy to exchange tribute for rewards.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! The three cargoes of the Pioneer Fleet brought silk, porcelain, tea, tobacco, wine, salt, iron pots, swords, and even firecrackers, as well as telescopes produced by Huangdian
, glass mirrors, self-ringing clocks, pocket watches and many other novel and good things, each of which they have never seen before and like.
The Jurchens thought that the other party's treasure was a peerless treasure, so it was a good deal to exchange it for worthless skins or ginseng. Even if it was Dongzhu, they felt it was not as good as Mingshi's treasure.
They never imagined that if these mink skins, ginseng, deer bark, Dongzhu, etc. were brought back to the Ming Dynasty, the profit would be ten times or even hundreds of times.
They exchanged eighteen sable skins for an axe, and thought it was a good deal. This ax was much better than the one they had before, but they didn't know that such an ax only cost a few dozen dollars, but the eighteen sable skins were shipped back.
Sold for a hundred silver dollars.
During this trip, they shipped back more than 10,000 mink skins of various grades. I don't know how much they made from this alone.
The three ships made a total profit of more than 700,000 silver dollars from both public and private goods. This was a net profit and after tax. This kind of profit-for-profit business even surprised Zhu Yihai, who had known that the fur trade in Northeast China was very profitable, so he decisively decided to add another three dollars to them.
The five ships will expand trade volume next year, increase trade points, and even go further to the mouth of the Heilongjiang River.
He even asked Wang Chaoxiang and others to recruit some Jurchen hunters from Haidong Haixi Sanxing and other places, carry some excellent hunting tools such as fishing nets and traps, and go deep into the northeast to directly hunt and obtain furs. They would then share the shares with the hunters and purchase them from tribes.
In addition, it can add another way to get more fur.
Zhu Yihai knew very well that the expansion of the Northeast, even the outer Northeast, and even Siberia would have to be supported by money. A lot of money could not be supported by Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Di and their traditional seal-protecting army model.
And if the fur trade drives hunting and exploration, and leads to the establishment of fur trade settlements there, or even hunting points, and the development of settlements, you will slowly be able to gain a foothold there, and you will naturally gain more control.
, you can also get a lot of trade income and even tax revenue, why not?
He is not shy about talking about money at all.
Use money to open roads and open barriers through trade, from fur purchase points to commercial strongholds, and then slowly turn into development points, or even fortresses. As time goes by, it will become a matter of course.
Isn’t this the way Tsarist Russia marched eastward into Siberia?
As far as he knew, in recent years, thousands of people in Tsarist Russia crossed the Lena River to hunt every year. They established the city of Yakutsk in 1632 and sent 24,000 sable skins to Russia in 1639 alone.
They also established the Lena Customs House.
In 1639, the twelfth year of Chongzhen, when the Ming Dynasty was still invaded by Hou Jin across the Great Wall and directly killed in Shandong, the Tsarist Russians had already crossed the Kolyma River and reached the coast of Okhotsk, pushing the fur boundary to
Pacific coast.
Last year, Tsarist government agent Alexeyev and explorer Dezhnev had led an expedition along the east coast of the Chukotka Peninsula to Anadyr Bay, and began to build on the headlands of the Chukotka Peninsula.
With a stronghold that reached the Bering Strait, it not only engaged in fur trade, but also began to collect physical taxes there, as if the entire Siberia was included in the territory of Tsarist Russia.
Soon they will follow the Heilongjiang River and enter the outer northeastern plains.
For many people in the Ming Dynasty, they could not even figure out where Tsarist Russia was, let alone how big Siberia was, and they did not believe that the Tsarist Russians could travel from the extreme west to the extreme east to declare their sovereignty.
Zhu Yihai has planned to add not only three to five ships to the Pioneer Company, but also one to two thousand people so that they can continue to develop in the upper reaches of the Songhua River, Ussuri River and Heilongjiang River.
Moreover, he plans to set up another development company and go directly to Sakhalin (Sakhalin Island) and Nurgan Yongning Temple (near the mouth of Heilongjiang River) to appease the Jurchen tribe, establish docks and port fortresses, enter the Heilongjiang River Basin, establish strongholds, and preemptively deploy
, not giving those Cossacks in Tsarist Russia a chance.
If you dare to come, kill them.
Although Guanlong is still calming down the chaos, and there are still captives in Mobei fleeing north, the outer northeast must also make timely arrangements to avoid losing the opportunity.