At the reception banquet in the evening, Liu Yu sat on the main seat as a matter of course.

In addition to them, there are also people who have missed the last bus and now regret their intestines.

Hei sat at dozens of tables, but it was quite quiet.

Everyone knows that Liu Yu is definitely not here to send silver this time, there must be something else.

As soon as the banquet began, several maritime leaders who had a lot of shares first toasted Liu Yu with a glass of wine on behalf of the rest.

"Ying Sabo took us to make a fortune this time, and squeezed out the group of Fujian Yankees and Zhangzhou Gang in the Japanese country. I can't thank you enough, I can't thank you enough! ”

Liu Yu took the wine and said with a smile: "What you said is not right. It's not that I squeezed those people away, it's really that the shogunate of the Wa Kingdom only gave so many trade cards, and if I take more, others will take less. I can only say that I have some skills in the Japanese country. But if the Japanese state let go of the trade card, it will depend on the Jiangsu-Zhejiang gang, the Fuzhou gang, and the Zhangzhou gang, who has more capital, whose supply of goods is more stable, and whose ships are more. ”

"Besides, the so-called brothers are humiliated outside the wall, and the Zhangzhou Gang and the Fuzhou Gang are still the people of our Heavenly Dynasty, and they are also their own people. In the future, if Japan opens up trade, I think it's hello, I'm good, everyone. ”

In just one sentence, everyone was shocked.

The people present were all human spirits, and some different tastes were vaguely heard from these words.

If the Japanese state liberalizes trade?

Is this a casual remark? Or does the eagle have the means?

How did Liu Yu get so many trade cards in Japan, no one knows, and no one goes. I couldn't find out even if I asked.

Coupled with Liu Yu's official identity, many people feel that this seems to be something in words.

If only the Japanese liberalized trade...... Don't say anything else, but if you say that the bills in your hand have now risen to 181 shares, you have to more than double.

Even if the Zhangzhou Gang and the Fuzhou Gang still have strength, and the locals still have money, after all, Liu Yu has taken too many trade cards in recent years, and many Fujian maritime merchants have been seriously damaged.

In addition, in the past few years, trading companies have been relying on the way of transporting rice and bringing goods to engage in smuggling in Japan, which can be said to be familiar from top to bottom, and the trade network has been rolled out, and it is also difficult for others to compete in the future.

They know very well what it means for Japan to liberalize trade.

Before Arai Shiraishi restricted the Nagasaki trade, even if Japan had a lockdown order, it could still make a lot of profits through loopholes and smuggling, and even pondered smuggling through Shimonoseki to the Seto Inland Sea.

The biggest difference with the British, Dutch and other colonists is that they did not have a company with an army, and when the Japanese opened artillery to bombard smuggling ships in Shimonoseki, no one did a single shot to force Japan to open the country.

Although Arai Shiraishi died, the people died and the government did not stop, and the policy of restricting trade remained.

This is a set of policies, such as limited trade, the letter card system, the prohibition of gold and silver in the exchange of copper for raw silk, the prohibition of porcelain and silk entering the port, and the mandatory carrying of some goods that are not easy to sell at all and not high in profit, and so on.

A few people who had been trading in Nagasaki before were clear about the change.

At this time, Liu Yu said this at the wine table, and of course these people hoped that Liu Yu would have something to say, but it was not good to be direct.

After a long time, the bold man said: "Uncle Ying's words make a lot of sense." When Arai Baishi didn't do this back then, there was no contradiction between our Jiangsu-Zhejiang gang and the Fuzhou gang and the Zhangzhou gang. Every year when the copper is harvested, we unite to reduce the price. ”

"The copper of the Japanese merchants was sold to us at a loss. But they can sell our raw silk at the price of copper. If we delay for a month, they will get another month of interest and turnover. It was a good time. ”

"Even if the policy of restricting trade was introduced later, we not only cooperated with the Fuzhou Gang and the Zhangzhou Gang, but also cooperated with the Dutch to smuggle raw silk."

"It's just that later Arai Shiraishi did this, there are more wolves and less meat, so can't you fight? We can't beat the Japanese people, so we can only fight first. Back in Nagasaki, we had a lot of conflicts with the Fuzhou Gang and the Zhangzhou Gang. ”

Liu Yuxin said, what is involution? This is a living example of the combination of foreign wars and internal competition.

After the businessman finished speaking, Liu Yu smiled and said: "I have also invested a lot of shares, but I was born late." It seems that when I went to Einingji Temple, Arai Shiraishi died. It's a pity that I didn't make it in time for the good times. Listening to you say this, business was better back then than it is now? ”

As soon as he said this, the originally quiet hall suddenly became chaotic.

Many people have worked in maritime business, and they have all experienced that good time, although they have not caught up with the better days before the closure of the country.

But those days are relatively nostalgic enough for now.

"I don't know. At that time, how good was life? ”

"At that time, there was not much copper in Yunnan, and the price of copper was extremely high. The copper of the Wa Kingdom is cheap, and once it comes and goes, even if it is not lucky, it is also a double benefit. ”

In recent years, due to the copper mining in Yunnan, the increase in the price of copper in Japan, and the fact that Japan's official control has shifted the pricing power from Chinese maritime merchants to Japanese merchants, the profits are really not as good as before.

In addition to copper, there are a few others.

Porcelain, in the past, it was impossible to grab raw silk, and it was also profitable to transport two ships of porcelain to Japan. But now in Nagasaki, as long as porcelain is found, the ship is directly detained and not allowed to enter the port, and no one dares to take risks now.

Silk, cotton...... Which one is not profitable?

And, most importantly, there was no mandatory barter at that time, and it was possible to trade gold and silver in large quantities. It is very different from the large trading of gold and silver, and the current exchange of copper and goods.

The old man misses the good old days, and the young man listens to the old man's complaints, and one by one the chatterbox is opened.

Some people ridiculed them, saying that they were a plate of loose sand and a worm when they went outside. But in fact, 30 years ago, this was not the case at all, and the Jiangsu-Zhejiang Gang, the Fuzhou Gang, and the Zhangzhou Gang could cooperate. When Arai Shiraishi engaged in smuggling before the New Deal, the three of them tried to go to Kokura together, but they were bombed back, which led to infighting.

Seeing that the emotions in the hall were mobilized, Liu Yu stood up, coughed lightly, and told everyone to be quiet.

"I was too young to know there was such a thing. I thought, if one day the Japanese state switches to allow trade, and the imperial court gives us the privilege of trading with the Japanese state, how much money are I willing to pay for this monopoly in a year? ”

Monopoly power, these maritime merchants have heard of it. Most of the Western merchants trading here were East India Company, and they had never eaten pork, but they had seen pigs run, so they naturally understood what monopoly meant.

Liu Yu said again: "I'll just say so." But, you think, given the monopoly, you must pay for it, right? How much do you think? ”

said that it was just that, but Liu Yu finally had an official identity, since he said this in front of so many people, it was okay to say nonsense, and it was right to have something to say.

A few former sea merchants muttered for a while, but said, "If Uncle Ying wants to say this, it depends on what it looks like." For example, is the Japanese country completely liberalized trade? Same as ever? Or can you even sell porcelain, silk, etc., and there is no limit to gold and silver? ”

Liu Yu smiled: "Anyway, it's a nonsense dream, so let's take it as a dream." Everything in my dreams. It is a switch for the Japanese country, and it is free to trade at will, and it is forbidden to prohibit gold and silver, porcelain and silk. Naturally, the tariff still has to be paid, and it will be calculated according to the value of three out of 100. ”

Tariffs or something, it's all small money. Don't say that it's worth three out of a hundred, that is, double, as long as you can meet the conditions mentioned above, it will also make a lot of money.

That means that cotton, silk, and porcelain can be frantically shipped to Japan, and it also means that all grains, rice, ironware, etc. can also be transferred, as well as Japanese sulfur and so on......

Such a good thing has never been experienced even by the elderly.

The good times they had experienced were only the trade with Japan before the Arai Shiraishi reform, and that was already a good day.

If it can really be as Liu Yu said...... Pay money to the court? That is naturally to be handed over, everyone knows that it is safer to have a court standing behind them, and why did the court hand over such a good thing to them for no reason?

"If this is really the case, 500,000 taels a year should be possible."

"I think 800,000 should be fine."

It's hard to imagine exactly what you haven't experienced, and you have to take into account Dutch trade. These people have not only been to the East, but also to the South Seas, and knowing that the Dutch ships are strong and artillery, and have in their hearts the gap between the naval divisions of several countries and the Dutch, they naturally dare not imagine a trade with Japan without the Netherlands, and it is difficult to imagine a Japan that is completely switched.

The monopoly of 800,000 taels a year is basically close to Liu Yu's bottom line. For the imperial court, 800,000 taels a year is also a lot of income, and all the customs taxes are not much.

The level of handicrafts and poor resources in Japan made it impossible for these people to become compradors, even if they had monopoly power.

There is nothing to sell back, except for precious metals, sulfur, rice, etc., Liu Yu can't think of anything in Japan that can have an impact on Dashun's handicraft industry.

At this time, many people didn't understand why Liu Yu said this, and of course they didn't know that Liu Yu's confidence was that the 1.2 million taels of naval construction funds allocated by the national treasury every year enabled him to straighten his waist a little, and he didn't need to be extremely careful to prevent Japan from detecting.

At this time, they were all arguing, Liu Yu naturally believed that the businessmen were not much worse, and the merchants of Dashun were no worse than the European businessmen.

After all, Mongolia and Southeast Asia are all rumors about "Chinese businessmen and treachery", and even some of them can become part of the content of calling for national pathos and imaginary enemies to shape the national community.

He never wanted to occupy Japan, unlike to control Mongolia, he just regarded Japan as a primitive accumulation and dumping ground for the first pot of gold.

When this step is completed, if you are willing to awaken the nation, you will wake up, and if you are willing to work hard, you will work hard, but it will definitely be too late, and it will be useless.

The negative problems brought about by monopoly power are all long-term. Under the trade-off of not pursuing the long-term and wanting the support of the imperial court, this is an effective choice.

"Everyone, be quiet, and I'll think it's a dream. But this incident also reminds me of one thing. If we want to develop as a trading company in the future, we have to set all the rules. Thanks to everyone's trust before, many things are decided by me, but there is a way that if you pay a penny, you will have a share; If you have a share, you can say a word...... Of course, in the future, if you take responsibility, you will have to bear it for everyone. ”

"Brother, settle accounts. Today, I will take you to make a fortune, you open your mouths to eagle uncle, shut up Lord Liu, call intimate. In the future, if I make a wrong decision and lose a lot of money, then don't curse me? I think we'll have to elect a few people to talk about things. ”

"Doing business, there are profits and losses, and I am willing to gamble and lose. The person who was selected really went wrong, and it was also chosen by everyone. I also got out early so that I wouldn't get into trouble in the future. ”