Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

"This last one is the Daming Shipping Group."

"It sounds bigger than the company. It is said that it has many subsidiaries."

This is the giant among the eight listed companies. It can even be said that the assets of Daming Shipping Group alone are more than the total of the other seven.

Although Qian Qianyi didn't know what its future would be, as long as he thought about the grain transport that competed with sea transport, he knew its value, at least millions of taels.

However, even though he was prepared, when Cao Huachun mentioned the market value of Daming Shipping Group, he was still shocked and almost jumped up:

"Ten million taels!"

“Why is the price so high?”

“Who will buy it?”

Cao Huachun was skeptical at first, but the attitude of the nobles these days made him realize that the shipping group's market value of tens of millions was not high, and it was even underestimated.

He said to Qian Qianyi:

"Mr. Qian should know how big the annual scale of the canal transportation is."

"If the scale of shipping reaches half of that, it would be easy to earn hundreds of thousands of taels of silver a year."

"If you calculate it this way, is 10 million taels of silver a lot?"

"All ports and lighthouses along the coast of Daming belong to the shipping group."

As a court minister and a native of Suzhou, which is located on the canal, Qian Qianyi was certainly well aware of the canal transportation.

As the place with the heaviest taxation in the Ming Dynasty, Suzhou Prefecture's annual grain tax was 697,000 dan.

The power of this prefecture exceeds that of provinces like Zhejiang.

The total amount of grain tribute from the prefectures of Nanzhili and the provinces of Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Huguang, Shandong, Henan, etc. is 4 million shi, and not a single shi can be less.

Once the grain from these places cannot be transported, the millions of people in the capital and the soldiers on the border will immediately become uneasy.

This is also the reason why the Qing government quickly sought peace when the British army reached Nanjing during the Opium War in history.

The Grand Canal is the lifeline of the capital city. Many people in the capital city and along the canal depend on it for their livelihoods.

Qian Qianyi was well aware of the importance of grain transport, and he also knew the checkpoints on the canal, which collected nearly 500,000 yuan in tax revenue a year.

The Grand Canal is a river of wealth. This is why when the emperor planned to develop maritime transport, the interest groups related to the canal soon caused trouble.

Until now, the Ming Shipping Group mainly transports immigrants and grain from Southeast Asia. The grain from Jiangnan is still transported via the Grand Canal.

However, some ships began to travel by sea, because after the emperor established the Canal Shipping Group and allowed them to operate independently, part of the canal's shipping capacity shifted to more valuable goods, and naturally the restrictions on grain were relaxed.

In addition, the former Governor-General of the Grand Canal, Guo Shangyou, is now serving as the Governor-General of Nanyang, and some canal merchants related to him are already operating on the Nanyang route.

Qian Qianyi estimated the changes and thought that it was very likely that one or two million dan of grain would be transported by sea in the future. Adding the grain purchased from Southeast Asia, the scale of grain transported by sea might reach two or three million dan.

In this way, it is indeed possible for the scale of sea transportation to reach half of that of canal transportation as Cao Huachun said.

Moreover, the business scope of the Ming Shipping Group is far more than just transporting grain, but also includes trade with Korea and Japan, exchanges with northern vassal states, and Southeast Asian vassal states, etc. This makes its potential likely to exceed that of grain transport.

By this calculation, a market value of 10 million taels is not really high. If the business is well managed, the profit can reach millions per year.

He was so tempted that he wanted to spend money to buy shares. However, Cao Huachun told him that he was not qualified to buy the shares of the shipping group:
"The Emperor gives priority to selling the shipping group's shares to the nobles."

"Only after becoming a landed noble will ordinary nobles be allowed to purchase it."

"If ordinary nobles fail to buy up even 10% of the shares, the public will be allowed to buy the rest."

Qian Qianyi was now in a somewhat awkward position, for he now only had an honorary rank and had not received a knighthood.

After the rebellion in western Beijing the year before last, the emperor granted hereditary titles to all court ministers in order to appease his ministers, which were converted into titles last year.

But he was only a junior minister at the time, not a minister or a senior minister. It was not until September last year that he became the Minister of the Ministry of Rites.

He had just become a minister and had no title, let alone a fiefdom.

Therefore, he cannot buy the shipping group’s shares for the time being.

Qian Qianyi was originally indifferent to the issue of buying stocks, but when he heard this, he immediately became angry and complained to Cao Huachun angrily:

“If it’s not for sale to the public, then what’s the point of listing it?”

“If someone comes to Beijing for the shipping group’s stocks, they will find out they can’t buy them when they get there.”

"Isn't this deceptive? It's unreasonable to sell stocks this way!"

He even planned to petition the emperor to abolish this arrangement.

But Cao Huachun told him that this was the rule set by the stock exchange.

For this purpose, restrictive stock clauses have been formulated to limit the circulation of certain stocks.

The stocks that employees receive as dividends are such restricted stocks. They only have the right to receive dividends and cannot circulate these stocks.

Qian Qianyi was now completely helpless. He could not challenge the terms of the stock exchange and force the stock exchange to make arrangements according to his ideas.

Not to mention him, even the emperor cannot change these rules at will after making them. Otherwise, the stocks listed on the stock exchange will rush to flee there.

This made him feel quite resentful. For the first time, he felt the difference in status without a title.
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The businessmen from the south also felt the same as him.

These people came to the capital after hearing that the Ming Shipping Group was going to issue stocks.

As they are involved in maritime trade, they are more aware of the profits on the ocean.

Now that the emperor was willing to share the profits of the shipping group with others, of course they flocked to buy shares.

As long as they become shareholders of a shipping group, they will naturally enjoy various preferential treatments when they dock at coastal ports.

However, to their disappointment, the emperor gave priority to the nobles with fiefs to raise shares. They, who had no fiefs, were not included in this group.

Some people therefore went to the landed rich and powerful, hoping to buy shares through them.

There were also some nobles who did not have any fiefdoms, but were also visited by people through connections.

Zhang Zhiji, the son of the Duke of Ying, encountered this kind of thing. He was even shocked by it, thinking that the news that the Duke of Ying was plotting against Jiaozhi had spread to the outside world:
"The Emperor promised us a fief of 500 li of land in Jiaozhi, but this matter has been kept strictly confidential."

"How come they knew that the British government could buy shares in the shipping group and wanted to buy them through us?"

The plan to establish a vassal state in the former territory of Jiaozhi is something that the Duke of Ying has been planning for the past two years.

Even the grandson of Duke Ying, Zhang Shize, has requested a post to inspect the coastal defense and is now in Guangdong. However, because the emperor strictly ordered that the news not be leaked to avoid disturbing the vassal states surrounding the Ming Dynasty, the matter has been kept secret and the Duke Ying’s office has not disclosed it at all.

Even though some nobles guessed that the Duke of Ying was going to establish a fiefdom, they did not know the exact location. They only inferred from Zhang Shize's supervision of building ships in Guangdong that it might be in the Nanyang area.

Zhang Zhiji was asked today if he could buy the shares of the Ming Shipping Group as a noble, and he almost jumped up in shock. He thought that the matter of opening Jiaozhi had been leaked, and the Duke of Ying's status as a noble could no longer be hidden.

Zhang Weixian was speechless when he heard his son's startled remarks. He didn't know how he could have given birth to such a terrible son after being so smart all his life.

Fortunately, his grandson Zhang Shize still had some ambitions, so he arranged for him to go to Guangdong to start a fiefdom. This made him feel a little relieved.

He tried to be as patient as possible with his son.
"Our Yingguogong Zhang family has always supported the current emperor."

"The salary of the Duke of Ying has also been raised to 5,000 dan, which is equivalent to the Duke of Wei."

"Adding to the preparations you and Shize have made, it is normal for the Duke of Ying to go overseas to establish a fiefdom. It would be a bit strange if it is not a fiefdom of nobility."

"Remember, you can admit the affairs of the feudal nobles outside, but don't mention anything about Jiaozhi."

"When the Annan Mo family causes trouble, we will send troops to conquer them."

He gave Zhang Zhiji direct orders and asked him to act according to his instructions.

Zhang Zhiji still respected his father very much, but he also had his own little tricks. He said:

"Last year, there was trouble with the Annan Mo family."

"Mo Jingkuan's subordinates, including the deputy governor Fen Yi, have invaded Shanggou, Guangxi."

"There are also 'Dasheng Gaidi and others from the Mo clan Mo Jingmao group, with more than 350 barbarians, who suddenly robbed the village of Wujia Shangfulong in Tielangdu on May 25th, and looted more than 50 men and women, more than 200 sand buffaloes, pigs, sheep and clothes.' They were ordered by local officials to return the looted items."

"Shi Ze proposed to send troops to attack the Mo family at that time, but unfortunately the emperor did not agree and only sent people to reprimand them."

After being appointed as the governor of Annan, Mo was generally submissive to the Ming Dynasty. However, he did have some small moves, and border disputes occasionally occurred.

Two incidents occurred in June last year, which suddenly caused tensions on the border between Guangdong, Guangxi and Annan.

The Duke of Ying's Mansion was planning to use this reason to attack the Mo family, but unfortunately the emperor had already ordered Man Gui, Mao Wenlong and others to send troops to Liaodong, so the matter was suppressed.

He simply sent Zhang Jingxin, deputy director of the Nanyang Division of the Lifanyuan's Outer Frontier Department, to give a warning and order the Annan Mo family to capture the relevant criminals.

Zhang Zhiji was somewhat unwilling to this, and he hoped that the court would send a large army to conquer Annan.

But before he could connect with others to take action, his idea was suppressed by Zhang Weixian.

Zhang Weixian, who knew the character of the Annan Mo family well, knew that the imperial court's reprimand would definitely not produce any results. The Annan Mo family might capture a few criminals, but they would definitely not hand over the Mo family.

Now half a year has passed, and things have turned out just as he expected. Zhang Jingxin has been running around, but has not been able to get the Mo family to hand over Mo Jingmao and others.

At this time, Zhang Weixian said calmly:

"Do you think the emperor expects the Mo family to hand over someone? This is just a show."

"It's better that the Mo family doesn't have any talents. As long as the negotiations continue, the Ming Dynasty will have a reason to mobilize troops against Annan at any time."

"Maybe our establishment of a fiefdom will be decided here."

Having lived through four dynasties and helped three emperors ascend the throne, he saw through the emperor's tricks very clearly.

Not to mention that the emperor had already promised him privately that he would grant the Duke of Yingzhou a fiefdom of 500 miles of land in Jiaozhi.

Everything that Mo Shi did now would be a crime in the future. When the Ming Dynasty wanted to attack them, it would be a reason to launch an expedition.

After listening to his father's explanation, Zhang Zhiji suddenly realized something and became more confident about the future establishment of a vassal state.

Not to mention that the Mo family is now in decline, even when they were at their strongest, they could not stop the Ming army. Otherwise, the Mo family would not have been granted the title of Annan Governor, just like the chieftain of the Ming Dynasty.

Feeling confident, he said to his father:

"Should we buy the shares of the shipping group?"

"Now there are many merchants asking for prices, hoping that we can buy them and then resell them."

"If you buy the shares from the emperor and sell them, you can make at least 20% profit."

A 20% profit is already a lot, because according to the emperor's regulations, each of the current feudal nobles can buy a maximum of 1% of the shares, and the set price is 100,000 taels, so a 20% profit is 20,000 taels.

Of course Zhang Zhiji was very tempted to make such a profit just by reselling the product.

When Zhang Weixian heard this, his patience in answering the question disappeared in an instant.

He was so angry that he took the cane given by the emperor and hit him on the head.

While beating him, he cursed:
"All they care about is money. They don't even know what a shipping group is!"

"This is the privilege given by the Emperor to the nobles, and you actually want to sell it for a 20% profit."

"Are you going to sell the Duke's Mansion in the future and exchange it all for silver?"

Zhang Zhiji was punished by being forced to kneel in the ancestral hall, and the financial power of the mansion was also taken back.

His original plan was to let his grandson Zhang Shize preside over the establishment of the fiefdom, and his son Zhang Zhiji be responsible for financial logistics in the capital.

But now he feels that his son is useless and might ignore the front-line arrangements for the sake of money.

So he planned to hand over all the power in the mansion to his grandson to avoid the failure of establishing a fiefdom due to some nonsense.

Zhang Zhiji completely lost his power in the Duke's Mansion and became a wealthy and idle man.

The British Duke's Mansion quickly took out 100,000 taels of silver to purchase 1% of the shipping group's shares in full.

And when purchasing shares, they signed an additional clause, promising that the future British vassal state would join the shipping alliance after the establishment of the shipping company and sell a portion of the shares to the shipping group.

This is actually Zhu Youjian's biggest purpose in selling the shipping group's shares to the feudal nobles. He needs to use these connections to increase the routes controlled by the Ming Shipping Group.

The nobles of the vassal states will also benefit from this, gaining control of the profits brought by shipping. The connection between the vassal states and the Ming Dynasty will also be strengthened, reducing the risk of separation.

Zhang Weixian, who had been in the government for a long time, could see this arrangement, but his understanding was not as good as that of the nobles who had already established their own fiefdoms.

After learning that the emperor wanted to sell shares of the Ming Shipping Group, King of Han Zhu Danshen, Duke of Jiangling Zhang Tongchang, Earl of Ningyuan Li Zunzu, Earl of Dongjiang Mao Wenlong... all rushed to send silver to buy them.

Even Prince In in the capital got involved and asked the King of Korea to send money to buy shares.

Zheng Zhilong, Li Guozhu and others who were preparing to establish a fiefdom in Southeast Asia sent a mere 100,000 taels of silver without even blinking an eye.

They even felt that the shares released were too few, and asked the emperor to release more. (End of this chapter)