At the end of the Tang Dynasty, it was a feudal town, but in Western Europe

"Make the best pottery?"

"Build a good relationship with the buyer and let him keep buying our house."

"Sell pottery where there is no pottery."

"It's small, the layout is small." Feng Sen had a disdainful expression, "No matter pottery or any industry, monopoly is the most profitable! Monopoly means, for example, if I sell these woolen cloths, all the shops that sell woolen cloths will reach an agreement with me. Once the agreement is reached, we will set the price according to how we set the price.

For ten Denier's things, we will order ten Solidas for him, won't we buy it?Then you can’t buy it elsewhere, I said ten solidas, and all the ones sold are ten solidas!This is monopoly. "

"However, if someone makes and sells it secretly, we can't stop it." A businessman shouted, "There are so many people, how can we prevent others from selling it?"

"This is the reason for the method I mentioned before. We block the technology first, so that they cannot get our technology at the beginning and cannot compete with us. Therefore, our technology must be kept secret. For this reason, we must Form a business alliance or a guild, and keep the secrets strictly.

Second, we're going to crush them at scale, which is why I'm handing over the technology to you.

We develop rapidly first, accumulate a huge scale and capital, and when the technology leaks out, once someone wants to participate, we will lower the price.

For example, a newcomer sells ten Deniers, and we sell one Denier at a loss, forcing him to be unsustainable. Unless he joins us, his goods will not be sold at all. We have money and people have scale, and soon Just energy drains them.

Of course, there will definitely be some smuggled and sold ones, but as long as they don’t threaten our monopoly, we can even let them do it, we just need to make a lot of money.

It is precisely for this reason that I will give you this technology, but the price is that you must sign an alliance agreement and form the West Britain Company, and we must advance together and retreat together. "

Chapter 118 The establishment of the West Britain Company

"May I ask your Excellency, the alliance you are talking about should be the West Britain Company?" A ship owner from Sweden asked impatiently.

"Yes, the West Britain Company will exist in the form of a business alliance. I have technology, and you have ships and contacts. We are together, it is a match made in heaven." Feng Sen gestured to a nobleman, and soon, several pieces of birch bark were handed over to these merchants.

Feng Sen raised the birch bark in his hand: "This is the articles of association of the West Britain Company. The West Britain Company will exist in this form. You pay for it, and I will help you build the factory. After the construction is completed, I will invest in technology and own Part of the shares in the factory will receive dividends in proportion to each year."

"Your Excellency, can I ask a few questions?" A middle-aged man in a long silk cloak stood up, and he had brown curly hair.

"Excuse me?"

"My name is Fowles, I am an ordinary nobleman in the Kingdom of Kent, and I am also a businessman." Fowles bowed to Feng Sen politely.

Feng Sen responded with a smile: "Of course, I convened this meeting just to clear up your doubts."

"I have just listened carefully to your plan and read this white paper, but I have a question. You have said a lot, but it seems to be based on one thing, that is, your so-called clothing can sell In the case of going out." Fowles stroked the silk cloak in his hand, "So, I have a few questions that I hope your Excellency can answer."

"First, how do you know that these clothes will sell well? Nowadays, if the clothes are not broken, many nobles will not buy new clothes at all. How are you going to convince them?

Second, what can these clothes be exchanged for?If we sell it to the nobles, they don’t have much gold and silver coins in their hands. In our northern kingdoms of Mercia and Northumbria, salted fish are still often traded as currency. How can we use these precious clothes to exchange? Salted fish, or wood?

Third, except for those minor nobles, many powerful and powerful people have their own private tailors. Even if we make these clothes, how can you ensure that they will not weave for themselves, or even compete with us? "

Feng Sen glanced at the curly-haired man with some surprise, and replied: "These three questions are actually very simple to say.

The first point, as I mentioned before, since His Royal Highness Charles established the Carolingian Dynasty, many tribal leaders have become nobles and priests, but how to symbolize their identities?Of course, it is more beautiful and novel clothes.

There may be many nobles who are not too cold, but when most nobles dress like that, this shape will naturally become a symbol of nobility. In order to prove their identity, even if they don’t buy it, their heirs will buy it .

I can answer the second and third points together. If you just regard these clothes as ordinary clothes, then you are wrong.

In your eyes, clothes are clothes and cloth is cloth, but in my eyes, this is separate, clothes are clothes, but cloth is money.

These cloths are just needed, what is just needed?If you don't eat, you will starve to death, so you must have food, which is just needed.If you don't wear clothes, you will die of cold or catch a cold in winter. This is just necessary.

We need to know how big the gap in clothing is. People are busy with two things all their lives, food and clothing are basically the two cornerstones of business. If we can monopolize one of them, it is enough for us to enjoy it for a lifetime Endless.

But unlike food, clothes or fabrics can be stored for a long time, even ten or twenty years. Compared with food, cloth clothes are lighter, longer-lasting, and more valuable.

I don't know how many people lack clothes in this world, but I know that there are always people who lack clothes in this world, that is to say, cloth is always valuable...Fowles, have you thought of something similar to this? "

After a moment of silence, amidst the chatter of people around, Fowles opened his mouth: "Gold coins."

"That's right!" Feng Sen snapped his fingers, "Gold coins are very light, they can be stored for a long time, they are valuable, and gold coins are always valuable. To some extent, woolen and gold coins are the same thing except that they are not golden.

I tell you to sell clothes, I don't care what you get in exchange, but let everyone realize that woolen cloth can be money.

So I don't care what kind of transactions you do, what I want is your transactions, the more you trade, the more woolen cloth you use, and your textile workshops will gradually become mines and mints.

My friends, in the hands of others, these wools are wool, but in my hands, these wools are gold hidden in the rock wall. As long as you can refine it casually, you can burst out a lot of gold coins! "

"But where do we get so much wool?" asked Fowles calmly.

"Do you still remember the name of our company?" Feng Sen flicked the birch bark in his hand, "I have to admit that the quality of wool in Britain is indeed better than ours. I'm not praising you Britons."

"The Britons are dead, we are the Jutes." Fowles explained slowly.

Feng Sen didn't answer his words, but straightened up and stood on the high platform: "Everyone, what do you think?"

"I also have a question." A black-haired youth suddenly raised his hand.

"you are?"

Feng Sen was a little puzzled, he had no impression of this person.

"I'm Bolenus, Your Excellency." Bolenus still had that sunny smile, "I'm from Byzantium, and I have a question. In fact, what you said is really refreshing, but I want to ask, how much gold can your gold mountain produce in a year?

In fact, your approach was tried by a businessman in Byzantium, but unfortunately, if he couldn’t even beat the local wool merchants, he went bankrupt soon. This is not disrespectful to you, I just have some doubts... Is this true? kind of..."

"Six thousand! I can produce six thousand a year if the wool keeps up."

"Are you kidding me?" Bolenus was shocked. "Your city has only 8000 people at most, but you have to produce [-] bolts of cloth."

"Yes." Stupid, I have a loom, and a piece of woolen cloth can only take two days at the fastest, and I also have a centralized textile factory and assembly line operations, and the technological system is completely crushed.

"This, this, this is really amazing." Bolenus said very emotionally.

"Not only that." Feng Sen said with a smile, "By next year, we will gradually increase the production of cloth to [-]! Mr. Fowles, I have to remind you that it will be useful to buy more sheep when we go back."

"If you can really achieve a production of [-] horses a year, I will try my best to collect sheep, but how do you prove your production?"

"Hahahaha." Feng Sen laughed, "I will give you a batch of woolens and goods first, and let you try to sell them first. At this time next year, you will come here to meet again. At that time, we will have a good meeting with you." [-] bolts of woolen cloth will be auctioned in batches, officially starting the trade of our West Britain Company.

Ladies and gentlemen, don't leave for a while, there are still many novelty goods for you to choose from. I know that the sea is rough, and everyone who comes here will not let you go back without making any profit. "

Chapter 119 The Formation of the West Britain Company III

The Milky Way is a branch covered with dew-washed stars.

On the second floor of the market hall, a room in the corner.

"Thorn-"

Feng Sen untied the sealed lid, poured the gooseberries in the can onto a plate on the table, and handed the plate to Frasen: "Try it?"

"Why are these fruits sealed in earthenware pots?" Frasen sniffed, reached out and stuffed one into his mouth, "Well—this seems to be a little sweeter than ordinary gooseberries, but it should be placed in It has been soaked in water for a long time, so the taste is a bit weird."

"Maybe it's not sealed properly." Feng Sen sat on the chair opposite Frasen and shrugged, "After all, this thing has been stored for more than 20 days, and I don't know if it's broken or not."

"Ahem." Frasen coughed violently, and he managed to force a smile, "Why did you put the gooseberries in a clay pot and seal them for 20 days?"

"This is called canned food." Feng Sen showed a smile on his face. Canned food is relatively easy to master among the many time travel techniques.

This kind of can is very simple to make. You only need to mix gooseberries, gooseberry juice and maltose together, boil them, and then seal them in time. It is a copycat version of pasteurized fruit cans.

"This kind of canned food was prepared for the Vikings. They lived in the North Sea. There were not many places to grow fruit, but we all know that if you eat too much meat and don't eat fruit, you will have various diseases, so the Norse actually The demand for fruit is not low.

However, due to the long transportation time, our fruits often can only be sold to Denmark and then go bad. They can only be sold locally at low prices, and only a small part can be shipped. "

Feng Sen shook the small clay pot in his hand: "But this one can not only store apples, but even those perishable gooseberries and cherries can be stored for a long time. We have tested it, and if we keep it in the cellar for refrigeration , can be stored for about 25 days."

"what do you mean?"

"It's still the same as the previous statement, the cannery is specially sold to the Vikings, are you interested?"

"Of course." Frasen from Friesland rubbed his chin and said with a smile, "Your Excellency Astolfo asked me to come to you because I hope everyone can cooperate."

"Hahaha." Feng Sen laughed. "The lowland area where you Frisians are located is a treasure land of geomantic omen. In the future, not only canned food, but also perfume and paper. More money is waiting for us."

"The West Britain Company is indeed a genius idea. I want to ask you, what is your plan for the future?" Frasen took a beer and threw another gooseberry into his mouth.

"It's very simple." Feng Sen raised a finger, "The first step is financing. I don't have that much money, and I also know that you businessmen don't have much money either. The ones who are really rich are those who have money." Great nobles.

Therefore, before officially starting the trade, I may have to hold a meeting to attract investment with the Autun family, the Gerard family, and the nobles and nobles of the East Frankish Union. "

Although the Carolingian dynasty in Charles’s era had centralized power, in fact, it still had a feudal background. Although Charles tried to control these enfeoffed nobles by means of kingdom inspectors and taking back fiefs, it was not very useful as seen from the several noble rebellions in Charles’ era.

Within the Frankish Kingdom, the Lombards and the Franks were not of one mind at the beginning, and the Frisians and some conquered nations were even more hostile to Frank.

For example, the nobles of Thuringia and the noble alliance of East Francia—they even secretly formed a loose alliance. Since most of them were nobles converted from tribal leaders, they were once an alliance of the Franks, so compared with the core areas of the Frankish Kingdom, their independence is quite large.

Feng Sen had heard of them more than once. Although the two rebellions they launched later (the Thuringian rebellion and the Bavarian rebellion) were all collapsed by Charlie's random fart, at least they are still in full swing now.

They had a lot of money in their hands, and it would be a huge sum that even surprised Charlie.

"The second step, the business model, we set off from Hamburg, with beeswax, fruit, iron tools and beer, and headed west to Britain, in exchange for wool and canning the fruit in Britain.

Then we went east, to Scandinavia, traded fruit, iron tools, etc. for iron ore and furs, and finally went south back to Hamburg to make wool into wool and iron ore into tools and sell them .

I call it a triangular trade. Of course, in the future, if things go well in Oppolit, there will be a second trade line—for example, to buy Slavic slaves, honey and dolomite from Kiev, Nosgorod, Danzig and other places. We only need to exchange iron tools and woolen cloth. "

Although the Vikings like to bathe, love to be clean, have a hobby of playing chess, and look very civilized, in fact, their civilization level is quite backward. For example, their iron smelting technology is very rubbish, and the best sword in the village Most are Frankish swords.

Although they have rich iron ore resources, but unfortunately they do not have the corresponding smelting and forging technology, so they can only plunder handicrafts by dumping raw materials.

"The third step is to share the money in partnership. My company is different from other guilds. We will have strict organizational divisions. For example, you are only allowed to sell woolen cloth in Friesland, while Sir Fowles is only allowed to sell it in Kent. Woolen, in this case, to prevent internal member disputes.

And my company is a joint-stock company. As long as the shares are still there, your management right will last forever.In other words, if you are old and your children are useless, you can call someone else to help you run the business. Although you need to make less money, it is equivalent to doing nothing and just getting money. Isn’t it good? "

After several major constructions, the treasury was quickly emptied. Feng Sen knew that his three-year plan would be nothing but a huge bubble if there was no massive capital investment.

Due to the difficulty of swamp drainage and outdated tools, Feng Sen's goal of opening [-] mu of land may not be completed within three years. In terms of results, it is the same.

However, the industrial line in the three-year plan now seems to be too ambitious. According to the local conditions and the kaolin that is currently nowhere in sight, the [-]-ton clay blast furnace is basically useless.

The progress of the commercial line was originally based on the advancement of the agricultural line and the industrial line. Now that both sides are pulled, Feng Sen has no choice but to get more money through the commercial line to feed back the former two.

However, thanks to the existence of coal, Feng Sen's iron smelting output and technology are still far superior to the locals by a large margin, which can be regarded as a blessing in misfortune.

For this reason, Feng Sen crossed out three in the three-year plan and changed it to five, giving him a grace period of two years.

He needs to use these two years to get as much money as possible, so financing is undoubtedly a good plan. Besides, don't cheat their money, and when they rebel, it will all belong to Charlie. From Charlie It's not that easy to make money in your hands.

From another point of view, Feng Sen's debts to them will never be repaid as long as they are delayed for about five years.

"It's really a grand business plan." After careful consideration, Frasen said with sincere admiration, "Many businessmen are not as far-sighted as you in business, but I have to tell you something..."

"Go ahead, I'm listening."

"Although His Excellency Vollard and His Excellency Astolfo jointly issued an injunction in Friesland to warn the group of Frisian merchants that they really dare not stop your trade now, this has also caused many Frisian ship owners to be very dissatisfied with you.

Although they will still be as obedient as sheep on the surface, but based on my understanding of them, they will definitely act in places where they cannot be seen. Many of them have a close relationship with the Kingdom of Kent, and some even live in Kent..."

"Don't worry, my friend, they don't even have fifty ships in total." Feng Sen took a sip of beer with ease, "Businessmen are weak, and when they need it, they will have reasons they can't refuse."

1 Chapter [-] The formation of the West Britain Company IV

Feng Sen and Frasen discussed the details of cooperation in the room for a while, and then walked out of the hall. At this time, the banquet in the hall had already begun.

In Nuoda's market hall, there were more than a dozen tables and chairs. The maids wore low-cut woolen dresses and shuttled back and forth between the tables, placing plates of food on the tabletops made of oak.

A dozen copper hot pots are placed on each table, and the small red clay stove under the hot pots is emitting a faint red light. There are slices of mutton and some beef marinated in soy sauce on the side of each copper hot pot. Arrange in large chunks on a plate.

Every businessman changed into a right lapel Hanfu deep coat made of woolen wool in advance, but Feng Sen made a modification and tightened the cuffs to look like trumpet sleeves.

But unlike trumpet sleeves, the upper end of the sleeve fits the arm, while the lower half is the wide sleeve.

In addition to barrels of beer with white foam on the table, there are pottery mugs with handles, and jars of fruit canned with gooseberries, strawberries, and cherries, which were also handed to the merchants by the maids.

In front of the merchants, there were seven or eight blackened pottery bowls containing soy sauce, tempeh, minced garlic, cheese, malt syrup, vinegar, and mustard. With the help of the maids around them, the merchants were also in high spirits Prepared the sauce.

Considering the skills of this group of people in using chopsticks, Feng Sen thoughtfully used two wooden sticks and a leather rope to make clips for them to heat the hot pot.

Picking up a bell casually, Feng Sen tapped it lightly with his chopsticks:

"Everyone, today is not only a banquet, but also a product exhibition in Hamburg. Everything you use can be purchased from Hamburg. I, Earl of Hamburg, Lushan von Antony, sincerely welcome you all! "

"May Heavenly Father bless you, Your Excellency the Earl!" The merchants raised their beers together.

Holding a wine glass, Feng Sen walked between each banquet table, talking to these businessmen from all over the world. Many businessmen were at a loss, just like the meeting held in the hall before, only a few businessmen dared to speak. Don't others have any doubts?

No, of course not, because those who spoke were more or less aristocratic, and most of these businessmen now are civilians, or are patrons or even slaves of a certain nobleman.

Where have they seen a noble earl (in the Carolingian dynasty, there is a special title of "nobility"), who came to clink glasses with himself with a smile on his face, and kindly asked him how he ate and how the goods were, had he heard before? Understood, do you want to join the West Britain Company?

Under the influence of alcohol and the guidance of Feng Sen's words, many businessmen soon signed the alliance contract of West Britain in a daze - they didn't even look carefully at what was inside!

"Your Excellency the Earl." Feng Sen came to Bolainus's table, but Bolenus stood up and raised his glass to him: "It's really hard work for you to condescend to talk to us little people."