Smuggling Daming

In the early Ming Dynasty, sea smuggling was strictly prohibited by the imperial court. Merchants involved in smuggling not only had to face the harsh natural environment at sea, but also had to be careful to avoid the imperial court's navy, and they might lose their lives if they were not careful.So even if everyone knows that smuggling is extremely profitable, but those who dared to participate in smuggling in the early stage are all bold and desperadoes.

If you want to complete smuggling, you cannot rely solely on smuggling merchants. Someone must supply these smuggling merchants and purchase the smuggled goods, so there are suppliers and purchasers, but these two kinds of merchants are worried about being smuggled. Therefore, at the beginning, their contact with smugglers was very secretive, and many people even deliberately concealed their true identities, so as not to implicate themselves in case those smugglers fell.

It is precisely because of this situation that the smuggling industry has gradually formed a situation where smuggling merchants, suppliers, and purchasers are clearly distinguished. Suppliers and purchasers are indirectly involved in smuggling, and they bear the least risk. The dividends from smuggling are also the least, and smuggling merchants bear most of the risks in the smuggling process, so they share the most smuggling dividends.

Originally, the above situation had lasted for hundreds of years, but by the time of Emperor Xiaozong, the sea ban had been completely relaxed, and smugglers used money to open the way and bribe officials in the coastal state capital. At the same time, the forces behind them were also intertwined. In the end, officials at all levels turned a blind eye to the smuggling situation under the rule, and even the guards at the seaside joined forces with smugglers to provide various conveniences for smuggling. Smuggling was almost done in a semi-public manner The situation is so popular that smuggling merchants are not much different from ordinary merchants except that they have to bear the risk at sea.

It is precisely because of the reduction in the risk of smuggling, coupled with the huge rewards of smuggling, that more and more people want to participate in smuggling, especially those suppliers and purchasers who are originally related to smuggling. They invested money to buy ships to recruit people, and personally participated in smuggling.

But smuggling is not something everyone can do, especially after years of development, those veteran smuggling merchants have already divided up some traditional sea routes. For example, like the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce, they mainly take southern routes such as Nanyang and Ryukyu. They are also very familiar with these routes, and even some indigenous officials in Nanyang and Ryukyu have been bribed by them. It can be said that they have formed their own fixed interest chains, so it is simply a matter for those new smugglers who want to compete with them. It's hard to beat the sky.

For example, Li Mo, who is in front of Zhou Zhong now, has invested a large sum of money to build a smuggling fleet many years ago, intending to take the route of the country of Wa, but the route of the country of Wa has been divided up by the smugglers of Da Ming and the country of Wa, so he just left The route conflicted with the interests of a group of Japanese people. In the end, not only could they not compete with them head-on, but they were secretly robbed by this group of Japanese people a few times. In the end, they couldn’t hold on anymore, so they had to go back and make a confession honestly. Merchant.

It can be said that since Emperor Xiaozong, situations like Li Mo's were very common. Many people were tempted by the lucrative profits of smuggling, and in the end they rashly built ships and went into the sea. Because they were not familiar with the situation, most people lost their money. With these Many people later gave up their idea of ​​smuggling.

After Zhou Zhong learned about the above situation, and the fact that the chamber of commerce really lacks funds to restore strength, he made the decision to let others buy shares, and he was not worried at all that people like He Xian would refuse.After all, they have long wanted to participate in smuggling, but they have no way out. Now that I offer them such an opportunity, only a fool would refuse.

"Yes! Of course I am willing!" As expected, Hu Lei reacted at this time, slammed the table and roared excitedly, "I didn't expect my nephew to be so generous, willing to take out the business and let everyone buy shares. If there is a lot, there is more wood and money, not to mention anything else, as long as you become a shareholder, I will cover all the wood for the chamber of commerce!"

Seeing that Hu Lei was the first to speak, Xu Min and Chen Wufa who were next to him also reacted, and they all agreed loudly at the moment. He Xian and Li Mo, the oldest two, pondered for a while, and finally couldn't stand the smuggling. The huge profits brought, finally nodded slowly.

Seeing that the five people passed unanimously, Zhou Zhong couldn't help showing a smug smile.But at this moment Li Mo, who has always been very steady, suddenly said: "Nephew, since you want to recruit us as a shareholder of the chamber of commerce, we naturally wish for it, but the old man wants to ask one more question, I don't know how we should become a shareholder? "

Li Mo's question was also what the other four people were most concerned about, so they all turned their attention to Zhou Zhong when they heard this.I saw that Zhou Zhong said with confidence long ago: "Uncles must also know that not everyone can do smuggling. Our Nanyang Chamber of Commerce has been operating in Nanyang for many years. Not only are we familiar with the routes there, but we also have a wide range of local businesses Networks, and these are what others don't have, and they are also the biggest resource of our chamber of commerce."

When he said this, Zhou Zhong paused for a moment and then said: "Of course, everyone knows about the situation of our Nanyang Chamber of Commerce. Because my father had an accident before, the strength of the fleet of the Chamber of Commerce was greatly damaged, and the funds were very scarce, so my nephew After careful consideration, I decided to take out 2% of the shares of the chamber of commerce, and the price of each [-]% of the shares is [-]. How much are the uncles willing to pay?"

Seeing Zhou Zhong finished speaking with a smile, Li Mo and He Xian were all taken aback. 2% of the shares would cost [-] taels, and they could only share the money without intervening in the management of the chamber of commerce. This is really a sky-high price Yes, but considering the huge profits brought about by smuggling and the previous scale of the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce, this price is barely acceptable.

"Don't say anything, my old Hu will pay 2 taels, [-]% of the shares of the Chamber of Commerce!" Hu Lei was the first to speak again, despite his rude appearance, he is actually a shrewd and decisive person Otherwise, the timber business would not be so big.

"Hey, Big Brother Hu has paid [-] yuan, and my younger brother can't stay behind. I am also willing to pay [-] yuan to buy [-]% of the shares." At this time, the youngest of the five and the most well-connected Xu Min said. .

"Tsk tsk! The two brothers are really bold. You took away [-]% of the shares after being stupefied. Although I really want to ask for more shares, but there are still brothers Li and He. I wonder how many shares the two old brothers are willing to buy?" At this moment, Chen Wufa, the richest of the four, said, but now only [-]% of the shares are left, but they still have three people, so he wants to ask for it first Li Mo and He Xian's opinion.

After hearing this, Li Mo and He Xian looked at each other first, then discussed in a low voice, and finally said: "We can't compare with Brother Chen in terms of financial resources, and we are too old You young people have the momentum, so the two of us will each contribute 1 taels, and each will hold half of the shares!"

Chen Wufa also knew that it was Li Mo and He Xian who gave in to him, so he immediately cupped his hands to the two of them after hearing this: "Thank you two brothers for letting me go, and I will not be polite to you, I will take the last [-]% of the shares." !"

In just a few moments, 8% of the shares of the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce that Zhou Zhong gave up were divided up. At the same time, [-] taels of silver will be available soon. With this amount of silver, the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce will definitely be able to recover in the shortest possible time. Coupled with a major reform he tailored for smuggling, the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce will definitely skyrocket by then. A mere Shuangyu Port will not be able to accommodate the development of the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce, and there will definitely be a broader stage in the future.

Next, Zhou Zhong discussed with Chen Wufa and the others about the specific matters of the shareholding, such as the payment method of silver and how to check the accounts in the future.It is worth mentioning that among the five, only Hu Lei does not need to pay cash, because the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce needs to build a large ship, so he can convert the silver into equivalent timber and ship it over.

However, at the last moment, the shrewd Xu Min suddenly raised a very sensitive question: "Brother Zhou, we can sign the document after a while, and after paying the shares, we will officially become shareholders of the chamber of commerce. I would like to ask one more question, as a shareholder of the chamber of commerce, will the chamber of commerce have any preferential treatment when it buys our goods or sells them to us in the future?"

As soon as Xu Min's question came out, it immediately attracted the attention of Chen Wufa and others. They were either suppliers of the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce, or purchasers of the Chamber of Commerce. As a shareholder of the chamber of commerce, if you get some price concessions, then the accumulation in a year may not be a small amount.

"Brother Xu is a good question. In fact, even if you don't ask, I just have something to discuss with you. This matter is related to the future operation model of the Chamber of Commerce. As for the discounts you want, it is also related to this matter. Related!" Zhou Zhong laughed.Before, he had always put himself in the position of a junior, but this Xu Yin was commensurate with his peers several times, and the other party was indeed not very old, so Zhou Zhong simply followed the other party's words and called the other party "Brother ".

In addition, Zhou Zhong was also thinking about how to raise the most critical question below, but he didn't expect Xu Min to ask about it on his own initiative, which just gave him a chance, and it was time to discuss with them the reform of the chamber of commerce's smuggling model.

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