Rule over Ming Dynasty

Five years later, in Beijing.

The stock market trading hall located in a prosperous area in the north of Beijing is now bustling with people.

On a towering blue brick building built in the tenth year of Hongzhi reign, the five large golden characters "Stock Market Trading Hall" sparkle in the sun.

Inside the hall, hundreds of investors came to the window, holding up the bearer stocks in their hands to trade, while the traders wearing red vests inside were busy like robots.

On the innermost wall, there are signs with various names hung: "Royal Textile", "United Textile", "First Dyeing and Spinning", "Royal Bank", "Royal Shipping", "Ping'an Fishery", "United Trade", etc.

Below each four-character sign, there are two horizontal bars, "Buy" and "Sell", with prices marked on them, and these prices are constantly changing.

As early as the beginning of the sixth year of the Hongzhi reign, because the Beijing-Tianjin Railway needed 1000 million silver dollars in funds, the Ministry of Revenue issued bearer shares to the public for the first time, opening a new era of shareholding in the Ming Dynasty.

After that, under the underwriting of the Royal Bank, companies such as the Royal Weaving Factory and the United Weaving Factory issued bearer shares to the public to raise funds for the construction of new factories.

As the number of bearer stocks increased, the Beijing Stock Exchange was established in the tenth year of Hongzhi due to market trading needs, and at the same time provided a trading venue for stock market transactions.

It is now the 22nd year of Hongzhi. After 12 years of development, the Beijing Stock Exchange has become famous both at home and abroad and has become the most active stock trading market in the world.

Different from the financing stock market that many people knew in the past, the stock market of Ming Dynasty is the best in the world. It not only brings rich investment returns to the majority of stockholders, but also attracts overseas royal funds to enter, making it the most successful stock exchange.

Among so many stocks, the most eye-catching one is Royal Shipping.

The predecessor of this enterprise was Tianjin Shipyard. After divesting its military business, Royal Shipyard became the largest shipyard in the world. In addition to providing warships for the Ming fleet, it also sells three types of ships: cruise ships, cargo ships and fishing boats.

Cruise ships are the core business of the Royal Shipping Industry. Due to the frequent exchanges between Ming Dynasty and various countries, Ming Dynasty now has passenger routes with most coastal countries or regions. The Golden Fleet Line is naturally the passenger route between Beijing and Ming City in America.

The cargo ship business is also in great demand. After the Pacific Governor's Office was stationed in Europe, it has become a veritable maritime overlord. Now the cargo ships of the Ming Dynasty not only transport goods between the country and foreign countries, but also trade between third countries also requires the transportation of Ming merchant ships.

As for the fishing vessel business, this is the fastest growing business of Royal Shipping.

As people's lives continue to improve, they have enough oil and water in their stomachs, and the seafood that was once despised is becoming more and more popular, causing the price of seafood to continue to rise.

On the other hand, the Ming Dynasty became the undisputed overlord of the seas. The four oceans were all fishing areas of the Ming Dynasty. In addition, new materials such as nylon nets could support deep-water operations, so the Ming Dynasty's fishing industry ushered in a golden age.

In addition to small-scale fishing in the near sea, more and more fishermen are now engaged in deep-sea fishing, especially the emergence of fishing boats that specifically go to Hokkaido to catch whales for whale oil.

In view of this, more and more coastal people engaged in the fishing industry, so various places purchased fishing boats from the Royal Shipping Industry.

Thanks to the booming Ming Dynasty's strong demand for all kinds of ships, although the royal shipyard had nearly 100,000 shipbuilders, orders were already scheduled for two years later, and the annual profits were terrifying.

That's why the shipbuilding industry has become the underlying demand of the three golden industries of maritime passenger transport, cargo transport and fishing. Coupled with the large orders from the Ming fleet, the Royal Shipbuilding Industry has now become the most profitable factory in the world.

"998 silver dollars!"

"999 silver dollars!"

"1000 silver dollars!"

……

Investors in the hall suddenly shouted in unison, and as the stock price of Royal Shipping climbed to 1000 silver dollars, the entire trading hall suddenly exploded.

This is the first stock in the Ming Dynasty to break the 1000 silver dollar mark, and it is also the first super company with a market value of a terrifying million silver dollars. Everyone present today has witnessed history.

"It's posted! It's posted!"

“Haha…I’ve really become rich!”

"1000 silver dollars, I have 10 shares!"

……

As the share price of Royal Shipping continued to rise, and the number of investors in Royal Shipping numbered in the hundreds of thousands, all participating investors saw considerable profits, with some even making more than ten times the profit from Royal Shipping.

If we say that a certain wine in the past barely supported the soft backbone of the Burmese market, then today's royal shipping industry has become the backbone of the Ming Dynasty's stock market.

In addition, major textile factories, maritime trading companies and other enterprises have considerable profits, and the Beijing-Tianjin Railway also creates a lot of profits, so these listed companies also bring considerable returns to investors.

That's right. In this wave of stock market boom, in addition to radical speculators like Zhao Xiaosi, many originally ordinary people became rich through the stock market.

Among this group of ordinary people, many are just ordinary farmers, craftsmen or small vendors, but due to the continuous bull market in the stock market, they have gradually accumulated huge wealth.

"Farming? Wouldn't it be better if I sold the land and invested it in the stock market?"

"Cooking? How much does it cost to buy a Nanyang maid now?"

"No dog would eat the food cooked by a Nanyang maid. A Japanese maid is more attentive!"

"How can the food at home compare to the food cooked by a chef outside? Come with me to Zuixianlou for a seafood feast!"

……

Thanks to the dividends of this era, the people who entered the stock market early on, as long as they were not as unlucky as Zhao Xiaosi, are now making a lot of money and living a very comfortable life.

As people's lives have improved in recent years, the consumer market in Ming Dynasty has also been boosted, which in turn stimulated the productivity of major workshops.

As the clock struck three o'clock in the afternoon, the stock market officially stopped trading, and the share price of Royal Shipping was fixed at 1010 silver dollars.

"Is Royal Shipping Industry about to pay dividends?"

"It's about this time every year. I wonder how many points it will be this year?"

"Everyone is guessing that we made so much money last year, so each share should get at least 1 silver dollars!"

……

The stockholders present saw that the market was closed, and under the drive of the security personnel, they all left from the gate, but the topic was still around the Royal Shipping stock. A middle-aged man walked out of the gate, and was treated like a star by everyone.

Li Si was originally just an ordinary worker in a dyeing factory in Beijing. Although the wages in the dyeing factory were not low, he was very smart. After seeing the Royal Textiles issuing stocks in Shuntian Daily, he decided to give it a try.

Because he has always had good luck in gambling, he has been successful over the past decade or so and has become a well-known stock god.

At first, because of the dyeing factory, he accidentally bought stocks of Royal Textiles. As a result, this move brought him a total profit of dozens of times.

Later, when the Beijing Stock Exchange was officially established, he immediately quit his job and became a professional stock investor. At the same time, he sold his Royal Textile stocks to make a profit. At that time, he had already become a small millionaire.

Seeing more and more people going to Southeast Asia and the West Sea to seek gold, he chose to buy trade stocks, just in time to catch the wave of trade concepts and made another huge profit from it.

He became famous for his battle with Foshan Iron and Steel six years ago. After learning that the imperial court had mobilized two million people to immigrate overseas, he immediately placed all his assets in Foshan Iron and Steel, which produced iron pans. As a result, Foshan Iron and Steel was heavily speculated, and he made ten times the profit.

That's how Li Si went from being an ordinary wage earner to a wealthy tycoon, and even the stock god that everyone talked about. Now he has a house in Beijing, bought a dozen servants from Southeast Asia and Japan, and lives a life of luxury.

"Li Gushen, what are you going to do next?"

"What else can I buy? Of course I will continue to buy Royal Shipping!"

"Li Gushen, this is already 1000 silver dollars, isn't it too high?"

"Maritime trade is the general trend of the future. The Zhujiang branch will be able to produce cargo ships after it is completed next year. This year's dividend is expected to be 50 silver dollars. The Royal Shipping Industry naturally has unlimited potential. I believe that it won't be long before the market value of the Royal Shipping Industry will double again!"

……

Li Si did not hold back at all in the face of the humble inquiries from the people around him, and still chose to continue to be optimistic about the Royal Shipping Industry.

Of course, there is still a certain amount of selfishness here. After all, he now has a large stake in Royal Shipping. Only if everyone continues to buy Royal Shipping in large quantities, the market value of Royal Shipping will double again.

After hearing these remarks, some investors decided to continue to follow up tomorrow, but some felt that Royal Shipping's share price was too high and turned to look for other low-priced stocks.

But no matter what, the Beijing Stock Exchange has indeed benefited most of them and made their lives better and better.

In this bustling crowd, three young noblemen watched all this.

Although they were dressed in ordinary gentleman's clothes, their fair and delicate skin and confident eyes that did not match their age proved that they were of extraordinary status.

"Even if we really get 50 silver dollars every year, it will take 20 years to get our money back. The bubble in our stock market is too big!"

"As long as our Ming Dynasty can continue to obtain resources from overseas, this bubble will be digested by itself in a few years!"

"Development is the only way! If we keep moving forward, the stock market won't suddenly plummet!"

……

The three young noblemen all had their own opinions and expressed their views, but all three of them had already seen the bubble in this hot stock market.

As they were talking, they got on the rickshaw at the same time and headed towards the West Garden.

West Garden, Tingchao Pavilion.

Zhu Youtang, wearing a dragon robe, sat in the Tingchao Pavilion, slowly sipping tea and admiring the lake view through the window. Time had left some marks on his face.

He was no longer the young emperor who had ascended the throne at the age of seventeen, but a middle-aged emperor who was about to enter forty, with white hair appearing on his head.

Since the decision to develop America was made in the 16th year of Hongzhi, and after another five years of governance, although the Ming Dynasty still encountered various problems, its overall strength has reached a new level.

What made him most satisfied was America. With the arrival of two million immigrants, the Golden Basin had been built into the granary of the Ming Dynasty in America.

With the support of the American granary, the Viceroyalty of America now basically controls the entire North American region and has a firm grip on the maritime trade of the American continent.

In accordance with the established policy of "engagement by land and attack by sea", Europe, including England, was turned into a land country by the Governor's Office of the Atlantic, and more and more European countries obediently surrendered to the Ming Dynasty.

If there is one thing that is not satisfactory, it is that there is some turbulence in the Indian Ocean.

"Your Majesty, are you worried about something?" Fragrant Concubine Han Youying looked even more graceful as she knelt opposite and personally made tea for Zhu Youtang.

Zhu Youtang took a sip of tea and turned his gaze away from the lake and mountains outside the window: "I am the most powerful person in the world, and I am probably the richest person now, right?"

As he said this, his eyes fell on Concubine Jing, Su Yun'er, whose appearance remained unchanged.

Concubine Jing was a typical Jiangnan woman, born in Suzhou into a silk family, and her appearance was the best in Jiangnan. Although she lived in the palace, she had been helping Zhu Youtang run the inner treasury.

She used her extraordinary business talent to become Zhu Youtang's most capable assistant in managing money and grain. Over the years, she helped Zhu Youtang manage the inner treasury in an effective manner.

Take the Royal Shipbuilding Company, which has a market value of 100 million silver dollars, for example. Although the largest shareholder is the Ministry of State-owned Assets, the Internal Treasury holds 20% of the shares. This share alone means that the market value of the Royal Shipbuilding Company's shares in the Internal Treasury is as high as 20 million silver dollars.

In addition, almost all other listed companies have the presence of Neiku. For example, Royal Textile and Royal Watch have nothing to do with the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, but are completely Neiku's industries.

That's right. Now the total funds in Zhu Youtang's inner treasury have reached nearly 100 million silver yuan. In addition, he has several unincubated enterprises, making Zhu Youtang the world's richest man in name and reality.

"Your Majesty, the current assets of the inner treasury are more than 90 million, but the Royal Telegraph will be listed next month, and by then the assets of your inner treasury will definitely exceed 100 million!" Concubine Jing Su Yun'er met Zhu Youtang's gaze and said with a slight smile.

One hundred million silver dollars?
Although the Imperial Concubine Yang Zisu already knew that the inner treasury had extremely exaggerated assets, she still couldn't help but gasp when she heard this specific number.

With the massive influx of gold and silver dollars from overseas, although one silver dollar is no longer equivalent to one or two ounces of silver, its purchasing power has not declined much.

The inner treasury now has assets of 100 million silver dollars, which was unimaginable a few years ago.

You know, back then, the Minister of Revenue Li Min was already the most corrupt official in the Ming Dynasty for embezzling one million taels of silver. But now the wealth possessed by the inner treasury is a hundred times more than that of the most corrupt official in the Ming Dynasty, and these are all legal assets.

Zhu Youtang gently put down the teacup, but his eyes fell on Yang Zisu's increasingly plump body: "Medical Concubine, your Royal Pharmaceutical should prepare and arrange for its listing as soon as possible!"

If the Royal Telegraph is the most imaginative technology company of this era, then the Royal Pharmaceuticals, which owns penicillin, also has broad prospects and may even become a century-old company with a global reputation. (End of this chapter)