Lin Gao Qiming

Chapter 1492

"Liu Xiang is finished?!" The surprised person who asked the question was about fifty years old, wearing a square hat, wearing a lake blue silk gown, with a jade pendant on his waist, and he was dressed like a common wealthy businessman.It was the maritime merchant Qin Haicheng who negotiated with the Australians on behalf of the maritime merchants trapped in Huangpu during the Battle of Guangzhou.

"Yes, it's over!" The middle-aged man sitting opposite him nodded vigorously, "I received the news that just three days ago, Liu Xiang's gang drove to Hong Kong Island. Please surrender the island. It is said that the scene is extremely spectacular, but there are 3 boats and [-] people!"

"I remember Liu Haizhu has more than these people..."

"For the past two years, he has been trapped in Chaoshan. First, Zheng Zhilong and then Australians surrounded him. He couldn't move. There was no money to be made, and the crew probably dispersed a lot."

"It's unbelievable!" Qin Haicheng shook his head and turned Xiangfeizhu's chimney to one side, asking a young maid with bright eyes and kind eyes to light him with a paper medium. "Liu Haizhu has the temperament of Chaozhou people, and he is the most stubborn. He didn't buy it when Zheng Zhilong was so powerful. He didn't expect that since he would bow his head to the Australians!"

"Australians are so strong, even the Zheng family was defeated. Liu Haizhu's entity is far inferior to the Zheng family, what else can he do if he doesn't surrender?"

"To be honest, I really didn't expect that Zheng Zhilong would disappear so quickly!" Qin Haicheng took a puff and exhaled a white smoke ring, "The Zheng family's financial resources: silver is like the sea, if you want to build ships, you can build as many as you want How much, and with the support of the government—even the Dutch dare not do anything to them, it’s over when it’s over, and even the old nest has been copied!”

"Although the Zheng family is not finished right now, judging from the appearance, it will probably not be long." The middle-aged man who spoke was Liu Deshan, a businessman who specialized in coastal trade. Although he was a native of Dongguan, Guangdong, he was from the south and from the north. He looked like a big man from Shandong, "I heard that Weitou Bay is not peaceful, and the Zheng family members are secretly fighting each other. I'm afraid that if the Australians don't fight over, they will kill them first."

"Although it was unexpected for the Australians to attack the Zheng family, it was actually expected. Although the sea is big, it still cannot accommodate two dragons."

The demise of Zheng's power and Liu Xiang's surrender were great changes for East Asian maritime trade.As a maritime merchant, of course, you must carefully analyze the impact on your business.

It has been quite a while since the Zheng family's defeat in Weitouwan, but Qin Haicheng has always been watching with a cautious attitude--in the past few months, he has only cooperated with Liu Deshan to conduct short-distance trade along the coast of China, which is not easy. Send ships to Manila.He was in no hurry to return to the dangerous foreign trade before it was clear who really owned the sea power.

"Isn't it? The Australian offensive can be described as devastating. We heard the sound of cannons from the sea early in the morning at the inn, and immediately withdrew to Dongshan Residence with our buddies and sailors. Before the ship set sail, Zheng's navy had already retreated, and the Australian ships immediately blocked the port. In just one day, the Australian soldiers had already occupied the entire port. I don't know when it was On the shore of Hou Shang. One day! In just one day, the old nest that the Zheng family managed with great painstaking efforts was taken over by Australians..."

The man standing and talking was wearing a Confucian scarf and Confucian uniform, but he looked like a Confucian scholar who had just returned from a long journey.He recalled the situation at that time-although it has been a long time, he still has a lot of aftertaste.The man in the talking gown is called Chen Huamin, Liu Deshan’s cousin. He became a scholar when he was 20 years old, but he failed to succeed after repeated trials. Seeing that he is almost [-], his family has been established, but his career has not yet been established, so he simply gave up going to school. And You Zeshi's career also started as a maritime merchant.His family is a native of Guangzhou. There are three generations of maritime merchants in his family, and they have been dealing with foreigners since the generation of their great-grandfather.Different from other ordinary merchants who sit and wait for Frangji to come to trade, their family belongs to a merchant who owns his own boat and sells goods himself.There is an old Cantonese ship with a history of more than ten years at home.Chen Huamin followed his father and uncle since he was a child, traveling north to Japan on old Canton boats and south to Nanyang to traffic various goods.I have been to places such as Dayuan, Nagasaki, Champa, and Batavia, and spent most of the year floating on the sea.Because of this growth background, Chen Huamin understands the overseas world better than most common people and even businessmen in Ming Dynasty, and he also has a unique business vision.Because he was still young, his father was worried that he would go ocean trade alone, so he told Liu Deshan that he should take this cousin to practice coastal trade first.It just so happened that the family built a new boat, and the old Cantonese boat was the capital of Chen Huamin's business.

Liu Deshan didn't have a boat, and usually rented space on other people's merchant ships for business. The business was not big and the expenses were high.The cousin owns a boat, and the two hit it off immediately and started a business together.

Liu Deshan and Qin Haicheng had a long history of business cooperation, many of Qin Haicheng's overseas goods were supplied by Liu Deshan, and Chen Huamin followed to Qin's foreign firm.

"At that time, we all thought that there must be no cargo this time, and they would all be swallowed up by the Australians. Who knew that the Australians who came to the port to collect the goods saw our Lingao sailing flag and checked the Australian office of Bopu. The registration sign says that we belong to the ones with Guangzhou citizenship... what kind of 'self-employed' is not a member of the 'Fujian Zheng Group', so we can leave freely."

"You left Xiamen like this, and you were not detained?"

"Yes, the head of Australia who led the team also said that as long as the Australian sailing flag is hoisted, the Australian warships patrolling the port will not stop our ship from leaving. After that, I sailed on my own to go to the big trade. The transaction went well."

Liu Deshan said with a smile: "I'll tell you don't worry, the Australians have always been the most disciplined and reasonable in doing things, not unreasonable like the government. At the time when there was a riot in Sanliang Town, they came to my house to set up cannons, and the fight was over. And repair the house for me—it’s true that Qiu did nothing wrong!”

Qin Haicheng nodded. This is not news. When the Australians attacked Humen, there were thousands of ships moored in Huangpu Port, and the cargo was more than a million. The Australians did not touch it at all.How much is an old Canton boat worth?What's more, I bought the Australian sailing flag.

After the Battle of Guangzhou, Liu Deshan felt that the Australians were good business partners, and he also found out that they needed all kinds of cold goods, so he boldly sold a shipment of iron ingots produced in Foshan to Bopu to trade with the "Kun Thieves". During his days, he continued to traffic various native products along the coast of China to Lingao and Kaohsiung according to the "Trade Guidelines" issued by the Ministry of Colonial and Trade.Later, a route to Longkou, Shandong was also opened up.

The profit of this kind of trade is not big, but the income is very reliable. There is no need to worry about the sale of the goods, and the safety of navigation is generally guaranteed. As long as you run frequently, you will definitely make money.

After accumulating the first pot of gold, Liu Deshan and Chen Huamin discussed that the ship in hand was too old, so it was better to use the money to build a new ship.Chen Huamin noticed that the Australians have built a shipyard in Hong Kong, and there are new large ships for sale—the private version of seagoing ships specially designed by the shipyard for sale.This new type of large ship uses cloth soft sails, which not only have better seaworthiness, but also increase the cargo capacity, simplify the handling method, and sail faster than the old ships.It's just that the price is high, and it's a new thing, so few general ship owners dare to ask for it.

At Chen Huamin's suggestion, the two ordered a new large ship at the Hong Kong shipyard.Chen Huamin only waited for the completion of the new ship before preparing to go to Nanyang, and continued to work in the promising career of maritime merchants with high ambitions.

The original plan of this trip was to go to Songjiang to purchase a batch of silk cloth, then go south to Xiamen, purchase a batch of dried seafood, and then return to Guangzhou for sale.Since it was just a simple short-distance sale, Chen Huamin was busy planning the purchase plan for the next six months in Guangzhou, so Liu Deshan led the team alone and expected to return in a month.As a result, I got news from Liu Xiangtou Kun on Hong Kong Island at the right time. Although I don’t know much about business, I also know that the annexation will have a huge impact, so I didn’t even make a purchase, and rushed to Huangpu to discuss with my partners.

"After Liu Xiang landed in Australia, the air route from Guangdong to Shandong has been smooth!" Liu Deshan said excitedly.

Originally, this route had been largely unimpeded since the Weitou naval battle.Especially after the Australians established the coast guard cruise system in the Taiwan Strait, the safety of civilian ships can be guaranteed in general. However, after all, the forces of all parties are intertwined, and small and medium-sized businessmen with small forces still have to think twice when sailing.

"There are indeed great business opportunities." Chen Huamin calmly went through the whole matter, thought it over, and keenly discovered that there are quite business opportunities in this incident. As long as he is willing to take a risk, he will be rewarded.

"This opportunity is divided into short-term and long-term." Chen Huamin stretched out two fingers
"In the short term, due to the civil turmoil in the Zheng family, Liu Xiang's downfall, and the Australians busy processing and digesting the fruits of victory, it is bound to cause other maritime merchants to wait and see, and dare not enter this area easily. Therefore, from Xiamen, Songjiang and other Jiangnan areas to the mainland Freight transport to Taiwan and Kaohsiung is at a standstill, which will definitely cause price fluctuations. If the outside goods cannot come in, the price will rise; if the self-produced goods cannot be sold, the price will decrease. So now we ship goods there Sell ​​it, and then buy local specialties and sell them back, so that between entering and exiting, you can at least half the profit.”

"One and a half times the profit is not a lot, but it's a pity that we can't do it for a long time! So what are the long-term opportunities?"

"Why do most merchants only run short distances, usually selling goods between adjacent cities? Don't you know that long-distance trafficking will make more money?!"

(End of this chapter)