Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1117 "Road Cargo"

The Qingdao Port in midsummer is still refreshing and pleasant, but Captain Couette’s forehead is filled with cold sweat. The reason is that he learned about what his eldest son (inherited the family business) has done recently, and was shocked severely.

What his son did was both simple and complicated. It was simple because he no longer sailed on the sea, but rented the boat to others, and he was in a three-story building on the most prosperous "Exposition Road" in Qingdao Port. Rented an office to do business - mainly to resell cotton, rubber, wood and other special products from Xinhua Island; but what his son did was complicated because Ku Youcai (the eldest son of Captain Couette) When you order cotton from Xinhua Island, it is not for your own use, but for resale. In fact, when a lot of rubber and cotton arrive at the end user from the place of origin, they often change hands several times, and this kind of change of hands must be in the goods. Finish before arriving at the destination, otherwise you will have to eat it yourself.

For example, Ku Youcai has just booked cotton on a cargo ship that is expected to set sail from Mianhe Port on April 4. This flute-shaped carrier ship "Simingshan" belonging to the South China Sea Transportation Company carried a full 1 tons of New Huaxia cotton. And paid an advance payment of 300 yuan for this.This is a very normal business. At present, many enterprises pay advance payment to reserve goods when buying raw materials, especially in the east coast where the economy is developing rapidly.But the problem is that Ku Youcai never thought of eating this batch of cotton at all, because he is not a spinning business owner or a cotton wholesaler, and he has no ability to digest large quantities of cotton. The raw materials are purely expensive, and the warehousing and logistics costs are also a huge expense. Naturally, he who claims to be smart is unwilling to do this.

"So you plan to resell this batch of cotton before it arrives at Rocha Port? Then what if no one can take it?" Captain Couette took out a silk handkerchief and wiped the sweat from his forehead, and said angrily : "The shipment will start from the port of Cotton River on April 4st. Even if it stops at South African River Port to load some other goods, it will arrive at Rocha Port no later than May 1th, which is only 5 months away from now." .God, my dear son, you have to dispose of a full 20 tons of cotton in 4 months, do you have the ability? If you can't do it in time, then you have to rent warehouses on the docks, which is another It’s a big outlay, and you have to take the risk of a drop in quality.”

"Father, don't worry." Ku Youcai said disapprovingly. He opened the drawer and searched for it, and then found a few documents from it. After scratching his head, he said, "Father, based on my years of knowledge about the cotton market According to the analysis of the market, the market of cotton on the east coast will be optimistic for a long time in the future, and the price will show a long-term slow upward trend. This increase is not only due to rising prices, but also because of strong demand. You must know that no matter what Whether it is the English, the French, the Italians or the Swedes, they are all robbing us of cotton, which has led to an increase in the price of cotton worldwide. Of course, the pressure of this price increase will eventually be transmitted to the final consumer goods..."

"So, father, this kind of non-delivery sales method is actually nothing in today's Qingdao financial market. We call this kind of goods in transit that have not yet arrived at the mainland and are floating at sea as 'road goods'. Everyone buys these road goods. The goods have no intention of receiving the goods at all, and they only want to obtain a short profit or avoid too much loss. They even sell the goods without showing the bill of lading to the final buyer. This is a very popular The way to get income, father, I am very good at it, please rest assured." Ku Youcai put down the documents in his hand and said sincerely.

"But this is a very unreliable speculation." Captain Couette insisted. As a traditional conservative businessman, he hated this kind of financial speculation, and he didn't want his eldest son, who had high hopes, to be involved in it: " Is it not good to run a shipping business? This can bring us stable income. If you think the risk is too high, you can buy marine commercial insurance from Dongbao or China Insurance Company. These two large insurance companies are managed by our country’s financial There is no endorsement, reputation is nothing to say, it can help us lock in a certain degree of profit. Why are you unwilling to continue, my child?"

"That kind of life is really boring. I have worked for many years, visited ports in many countries, and seen many things, but I think the current life is the most suitable for me." Ku Youcai said helplessly, "Besides, father, I'm not giving up the shipping business altogether just now. Our family has five ocean-going vessels, three of which are chartered out, but we still operate the other two, the newest ships. I just In spare time, it’s nothing more than studying the long-term trends and market prices of some commodities at home and abroad, and making some quick money by the way. You know, this is Qingdao Port, the financial center of the entire east coast!”

"Besides, this kind of trading method does seem to open the door for speculation, but in essence, it is a good measure to prevent price fluctuations. Do you think that the road goods we buy end up going to Where? Of course, those cotton wholesalers in Luocha Port! These are regular wholesalers who have been engaged in cotton trade all year round. When they find that they can protect themselves by buying such road goods to lock in profits, when they find When the price curve can remain as stable as the environment allows, it is already destined to become popular in this way of buying and selling. And now everyone is saying that if one day the Central Railway and Telegraph Company can lay submarine cables to South Africa or Xinhua Island, The capacity of this market will continue to increase rapidly, and transactions will be more convenient and faster—of course, this is still a little far away from the current point of view." Ku Youcai looked at his father and said sternly.He knew that an old-fashioned businessman like his father might find it difficult to accept this deviant way of selling goods, but he still tried his best to explain, because he didn't want to disappoint his father, but the new things brought about by the times are hard to get used to. Old-school figures who have lost their inherent thinking quickly accepted it, because it takes time to baptize.

The opinions of the father and son seem to be difficult to reach an agreement, which makes Captain Couette a little disappointed.However, he had no choice. In the end, he could only comfort himself by saying that at least his son did not take money for unreliable speculation, not to mention that he did not completely give up the maritime shipping business that his family relied on for development. This was enough.

Leaving the bustling Expo Road, Captain Couette looked back at the exquisitely crafted signs all over the street, such as "La Plata Bank", "United Industrial Credit Bank", "Northwest Reclamation Bank", "New World Friendly and Mutual Bank", "Commercial Clearing Bank", "East Shore Insurance", "Central Insurance", "Foreign Exchange", "Central Bond Market", "Registered Stock Exchange" and so on, he suddenly felt that this world was a bit strange—even in Amsterdam, known as the heart of capitalism, does not have such a systematic, large-scale, and clear development strategy for the financial industry!In this country on the east coast, almost every step is ahead of others, and it seems to be just right, which really makes people think deeply.

"The great United Provinces once suffered heavy losses in tulip speculation, and later relied on their deep family background to survive. I really don't want such an outstanding country on the east coast to be ruined by financial speculation in the end. That would be a pity." Kuai Captain Te was thinking as he walked, "Fortunately, I heard that last year the Mei Agency made a big move in the West Lake bond trading market and captured a number of "Jining Gang" businessmen suspected of manipulating the market and exiled them to the Salmon Islands. Suppressing the atmosphere of domestic speculation is of great benefit. In fact, if you think about it, if making money is so easy, then who will work hard to produce industrial products and food? Who else will make arduous technological improvements without seeing returns? Who else would put money in the industrial and commercial fields with lower return on investment? It’s impossible, and I sincerely hope that the East Coast will not repeat the same mistakes..."

Ships came in one after another on the pier, and several of them even came from the East African Transportation Company of Xinhua Island. Although these ships traveled in the Indian Ocean most of the time, they occasionally carried some immigrants to settle in the mainland.This time, more than [-] people were transported by four ships. Together with some Polish refugees (currently non-citizens) transported here, they will go to settle in several settlements commonly known as "Qingdao Second Ring Road". , such as Liguo Township (near the small town of Libertad in later generations), Wangbei Township (near the small town of Canelones in later generations), Haisheng Township (near the small town of San Jacinto in later generations), Xiakou Township (near the small town of Arte Four newly-built villages and towns including near the small town of Lantida)—these four villages and towns will be connected to each other by light rail tracks like a "one ring". After completion, the traffic conditions will be greatly improved, and they will serve as satellite towns in the main urban area of ​​Qingdao County. (Of course, it belongs to Qingdao County in terms of administrative establishment), and in this way, Qingdao County has gradually become one of the largest cities on the east coast in terms of population, area and other aspects.

"There are so many new immigrants every year, and the population growth rate is extremely fast, far exceeding that of other countries or regions in the Old Continent. It is far from comparable to the United Provinces of the Netherlands, which currently only has a population of 80 million. Then even if the East Coast If something goes wrong in financial speculation, it will probably not affect the real economy too much." Captain Couette stood on the pier, let the sea breeze blow his messy hair, and murmured.

(End of this chapter)