At the end of Qin, I became a son of the plane

Chapter 464, Tianzhu Trading Company

On March 17th, the 19th year of the Han calendar, at the Commodity Exchange in Kuaiji County.

This place is the wealth center of the entire Kuaiji County. Goods from Shuzhong, Jiangnan, Hebei, and Nanyang all circulate here. This small transaction has hundreds of millions of dollars of wealth circulating every day. Even the goods in Guanzhong cannot compare to this. The goods exchange has made great contributions to Kuaiji County becoming the wealth center of the world.

Because of the discovery of Tianzhu, the commodity exchange has become even more lively these days. Many big merchants and managers of princes who usually do not appear here have also appeared here in the past few days. Their purpose is to get the goods from Tianzhu.

Various exquisite and exotic gold and silver statues, gems shining with various colors, various brightly colored dyes, and unique spices brought from India all attracted a large number of people. These merchants spent a lot of money to buy these Indian specialties.

After buying these Indian specialties, many merchants made a request to meet the manager of the place, but were all rejected by the shop assistants.

Zhang Zhongze was in a private room where he could see his own container, looking at the counter filled with people with satisfaction. The specialty of Tianzhu was so popular that they sold hundreds of millions of dollars worth of goods in 5 days. The total revenue might be % higher than they expected. Tianzhu was a gold mine that was ten or a hundred times larger than the Spice Island. But when he thought that they had only dug this gold mine once and it was known to everyone in the world, Zhang Dong's face became a little gloomy. If he had known that Tianzhu was so rich and the locals were so weak, he would rather reduce the size of the fleet than spread the news.

At this time, a waiter rushed in and said, "Boss, there is a wealthy merchant from the Central Plains who wants to buy goods worth 1 million, and he only wants to meet you."

Zhang Zhong said gloomily: "No!"

Zhang Zhong could smell what these merchants were planning, even though they were so far away. They just wanted to go to Tianzhu. They wanted to rob his family's money, so he naturally couldn't give these merchants a good look.

At this time, two people pushed the door open and said with a smile: "Manager Zhang is so lucky this time. We actually found a rich country like Tianzhu."

"Who are you and how dare you break in without permission?" The waiter was about to chase the two away.

However, he was stopped by Zhang Zhong, because the people who came were Ji Yu, the steward of Duke Guangyang, and Wang Fen, the steward of Duke Yingguo. He could refuse to give face to other merchants, but he could not refuse to give face to Duke Guangyang and Duke Yingguo.

He asked the waiter to go out first, and then poured tea for the two men and said, "If I had known that you two brothers were here, I would have invited you to come up and taste the tea."

After saying that, Zhang Zhong served tea to Ji Yu and Wang Fen respectively.

The two of them drank their tea slowly, and Wang Fen said, "We are all family, so I won't beat around the bush. Brother Zhang, if you want to go to Tianzhu, please take our British fleet with you."

Ji Yu also said, "That's what I meant. Your Majesty said that when doing business, you should make fewer enemies and more friends. Moreover, all the nobles in the world are one family, and sharing the benefits equally is the kingly way."

Zhang Zhong smiled and said, "My two brothers want to go to India for trade. I welcome you very much. When the time for sailing is set, I will inform you."

Ji Yu and the other person got the answer they wanted and left the place satisfied. However, several noble families of the Han Dynasty came later. Although they were not as tough as Ji Yu, these people were either the families of Zhang Liang's former officials and would mention themselves as soon as they opened their mouths, or they would say that their sons were classmates of Zhang Buyi. Zhang Zhong could not refuse these people.

That night, Zhang Zhong and Hu Hai met.

Hu Hai said: "There are more than a dozen big merchants who have come to me these days. They are either the prime minister or the county governor. They are all powerful and I can't afford to offend them."

Zhang Zhong smiled bitterly and said, "More than a dozen noble families have come to me these days. They are either Dukes or Earls. They also want to go to India. We can neither stop them nor stop them. Moreover, as the news spreads, more and more people will want to go to India. We can't stop them at all. With the Han Dynasty's navigation technology, as long as they are willing to look for them, they will find them soon."

Zhang Zhong naturally wanted to dominate Tianzhu, but this was simply impossible, so he was very distressed. He finally found a gold mine at home, and as soon as he dug a shovel, other big men rushed over.

Hu Hai said in distress: "If Tianzhu is dominated by our two families, we can become the richest people in the Han Dynasty. Even if there are more families, everyone can make a lot of money.

But now there are dozens or even more families who want to go to India, and each of these families has several ships. But if hundreds of ships rush to India, and each ship is full of goods from the Han Dynasty, then the price of our goods in India will plummet, and the tragedy of sugar and spices will happen again in India. Isn't this us making wedding clothes for those merchants in India? "

Zhang Zhong was also distressed and said, "There is nothing we can do about it. We can only make as much money as possible. At worst, we can transport more people back from Tianzhu so that Korea will not lack manpower for development."

Hu Hai thought for a long time and then said, "Mr. Zhang, I have an idea. We can learn from the system of the Mo Nan Trading Company and gather all the families who want to do business in Tianzhu together to establish a Western Tianzhu Trading Company. Everyone can contribute money and ships, and the shares can be calculated fairly."

"We are all one family now, so naturally there will be no price-cutting. This way, the profits from going to Tianzhu are guaranteed, and it can also save everyone's sailing costs to the greatest extent. With everyone's strength pooled, we can easily recruit tens of thousands of sailors, which is enough to ensure the safety of the fleet."

Zhang Zhong was pleasantly surprised and said, "This method works."

So Hu Hai went to Guan Hong and Wu Xiao to talk about the establishment of the Tianzhu Trading Company, and Zhang Zong also went to the noble families of the Han Dynasty to talk about the establishment of the Tianzhu Trading Company.

On April 7, the 19th year of the Han calendar, at the Commodity Exchange in Kuaiji County.

Hu Hai and his men booked the largest private room, which was occupied by dozens of Han nobles and big merchant families. Everyone was chatting and laughing like great scholars, and there were no unlearned people among them. They communicated with each other before the meeting, and even reached a number of business agreements. These merchants were also asking each other about the news of the so-called Tianzhu Trading Company.

Wu Xiao said to a business partner, "The main purpose of establishing the Tianzhu Trading Company is to prevent the spice disaster. At that time, the price of spices was higher than gold. It was a great business. I could make tens of millions with just one trip to the sea. But now I have to risk my life to go to sea, but I only earn some hard-earned money. Is this reasonable? It's all because of those reckless knights who drove their little broken boats to the sea. It's okay for them to not only risk their lives, but also mess up the spice market."

At the end, Wu Xiao gritted his teeth. He was considered the second group of people to go to the Spice Islands. He caught the most profitable wave in the Spice Islands. It was really profitable. His family business doubled with one trip to the sea. But when he wanted to make another fortune, the price of spices was like a flood, constantly falling, and the downward trend could not be stopped at all. Eventually it fell to hundreds of coins per catty, becoming a most common marinade.

"Brother, what you said makes sense. The emperor is too merciful after all. Those people are allowed to trade. They don't know any public rules. They just cut prices arbitrarily and disrupt the market. Many profitable businesses have been messed up by them. The Shu brocade in my Shuzhong is more valuable than gold. When we leave Shuzhong, as long as we carry Shu brocade, it is equivalent to carrying gold. As a result, those people are jealous of the money made by Shu brocade and work hard to produce Shu brocade, causing the price of Shu brocade to collapse."

These words touched the hearts of other merchants, and they also complained about the unruly people in their hometowns who used steam engines or other machines to destroy their hometown's specialties.

In the feudal era, productivity was underdeveloped, and many goods were extremely labor-intensive, material-intensive and time-consuming, which led to extremely high prices for these goods. There were specialties that were more expensive than gold, and some were even more expensive than gold. Almost every county had one or two such products. But where there is profit, there are people who are jealous. What's more crucial is that these people simply did not learn the old-school methods, but directly used steam and industrial methods to increase production efficiency by dozens or hundreds of times, and production capacity increased by dozens of times, so the price naturally could not be sustained.

Now the business community in the Han Dynasty directly devalues ​​the price of these goods by dozens or hundreds of times, calling it the sugar disaster or the spice disaster, because these two luxury goods were the first to collapse and had the greatest impact.

Wu Xiao said: "That's why we have to unite and unite. Tianzhu is thousands of miles away from our Han Dynasty. According to Hu Hai, the local silk costs more than 3 coins per piece, and this is not even the top-quality silk. Hu Hai sells our Han Dynasty's medium and low-quality silk for coins per piece, and those ignorant Tianzhu people are going crazy for it."

"What a fool Hu Hai is! Since everyone knows that a piece of silk from India costs hundreds of thousands of coins, how can he bring down the price? 3 coins a piece, how much money will he lose?" Someone soon put himself in his shoes. Thinking that he lost hundreds of thousands of coins on a piece of silk, if there were 1 pieces of silk, that would mean a loss of more than ten billion coins. After calculating this number, the merchant was so heartbroken that he held his hands and almost couldn't breathe. He was truly an unprecedented prodigal. The price of silk had already dropped to 3 coins, and it would be very difficult to raise it again.

And at this time Hu Hai and Zhang Zhong appeared on the scene.

Hu Hai said: "We are gathered here today to establish the Tianzhu Trading Company. Let me first tell you about the current situation in Tianzhu."

After saying that, Hu Hai took out a simple map of India and hung it on a wooden board for everyone to see.

Hu Hai pointed to a large area in the north and said, "This is the Kushan Empire. They are the Yuezhi people who were driven out by the Han Dynasty. They fled to the west of the Western Regions and destroyed the dominant country in India, the Maurya Dynasty, and became the new dominant country in India."

"This point is the city we captured in Tianzhu, called Tanmosudi City. This city is a maritime trade city in Tianzhu, which is equivalent to Kuaiji County in our Han Dynasty. Of course, it is not as wealthy as Kuaiji County. The population of this city is only a few hundred thousand. In addition to nobles, wizards and monks, there are also a few merchants. There are not many wealthy people in the city. There are more than a dozen countries in the south of Tianzhu, and this area is relatively chaotic."

In this way, Hu Hai told everyone the information about India bit by bit.

Then he concluded: "India has a large population and fertile land, and is several times richer than Southeast Asia. But if we don't unite, even gold can only be sold at a very low price. We risk our lives and travel thousands of miles by sea. No one would be willing to earn only this little hard-earned money."

"This is natural. The spice disaster must not happen again in India."

"You're right. Anyone who dares to sell silk at a low price without authorization is our enemy." These merchants said indignantly.

Hu Hai said: "If we want to maintain the price, we should monopolize the silk market in Tianzhu. In this way, we can decide how high the silk is sold. So it is not advisable to fight alone. That would only give money to the Tianzhu people. We should unite to monopolize the market. In this way, we can earn a reasonable reward."

As soon as Hu Hai finished speaking, the audience burst into thunderous applause. Hu Hai's words touched their hearts.

After the applause stopped, Hu Hai said, "Let's talk about the rules for the establishment of Tianzhu Trading Company. First of all, the total share capital of Tianzhu Trading Company is 10 billion. Those who want to join can use merchant ships as share capital. Merchant ships are given first priority, and those merchant ships with cannons and muskets will get one more point. The next priority is cheap silk, tea and other goods. Second, each company can only hold a maximum of half of the share capital. This is also to attract more members and make our strength stronger. Among them, the merchant ships and cities of Mr. Yi account for half of the share capital, and the army and chariot cities account for half of the share capital."

"That means you still have 90% to share. I hope you can come up with chips that are attractive enough."

When it came time to divide the benefits, everyone quieted down and looked at the big guys at the front.

Ji Yu said: "We, the Duke of Guangyang, will provide five ships with a capacity of 10 tons, each with 500 cannons, and musketeers, accounting for half of the shares of Tianzhu Trading Company."

The merchants present could only look at Ji Yu with envy. They could provide merchant ships, but only the nobles of the Han Dynasty had cannons. Only the Duke's Mansion had the confidence to provide 500 soldiers openly. Even if they wanted to get some armed forces, they didn't dare to raise private soldiers openly, let alone powerful musketeers.

Wang Fen said: "My Yinggong Mansion also provides five 50-ton ships, 500 cannons, and musketeers, but there is a requirement that the porcelain sold by the Tianzhu Trading Company must be produced by my Yinggong Mansion."

Hu Hai and Zhang Zhong looked at each other and said, "Even if we are family, we still have to do business. The price of porcelain must be the market price."

Wang Fen said: "This is natural."

The two bosses talked about their own conditions, and other merchants naturally followed suit, offering merchant ships or other things as shares. However, because they lacked the most important military force, the value of everyone's goods exceeded their shares, but no one felt that this was unfair.

However, the shareholders of Tianzhu Trading Company were either from the Duke's Mansion or the Prime Minister's Mansion. Those with weaker backgrounds could only band together to hold half of the shares. In this way, Tianzhu Trading Company selected 20 shareholders, and Hu Hai was elected as the first president of Tianzhu Trading Company with a high vote because of his special status.

(End of this chapter)