Sakai City is currently under the clutches of Oda Nobunaga, so naturally he doesn't dare to change his court, otherwise he will all die.

But with the knowledge of Zhao Gongzi's time, there was naturally a way to tie Sakaichi to his chariot without angering Nobunaga. That's a joint venture.

He planned a three-step route for Sakai City. The first step was to establish a "Sakai Sho Co., Ltd." to control the main assets of Sakai City in a unified manner and to plan and operate trade in a unified manner. This is unthinkable for other cities, but it is a perfect fit for a merchant autonomous city-state like Sakai with a Crowd of Clans.

The 36 members of the Federation hold more than 80% of the wealth of Sakai City, and can be directly reorganized into a shareholders' meeting, and then the distribution of shares will be clarified, the articles of association will be formulated, and the board of directors and the board of supervisors will be elected.

In the second step, Sakai Shosho Co., Ltd. will issue 100% of the shares to the Gangnam Group, and after the additional issuance, Gangnam Group and Sakai Chamber of Commerce will each hold half of the shares.

In the third step, Sakai Sho Co., Ltd. was subsumed under the group's guidance and management, and enjoyed the exclusive agency rights of the Tamna Chamber of Commerce to export Japanese goods to Honshu, Shikoku and two islands, except for Onsentsu.

In addition, the agreement between the two companies stipulates that Sakai Sho Co., Ltd. will be a Sakai businessman as the president, and the chief auditor will be appointed by the group. The group has a veto power over all matters of Sakai Shosho, including the appointment of the chairman.

Sen no Rikyu was very satisfied with this agreement, and in his opinion, the two things that Sakai City needed most, security and trade agency, were the most effectively guaranteed. Although the company owned half of the shares of the Gangnam Group, in Sen no Rikyu's view, it only meant that Sakai City would hand over half of the profits to the group as a price for security and trading rights.

He didn't think that the Jiangnan clique in the Ming Dynasty would seize control of the entire city like the Miyoshi family or the Oda family. This is very important to the Huido, Sakai City is their foundation, and no one can rob it.

Although half of the profits to be handed over are a bit high, only in this way will the interests of both parties be highly aligned, and the group can truly help Sakai City earn more wealth.

And people get happiness from comparison. Ninety percent of the profits to be handed over to the Tamna Chamber of Commerce there, Sen no Rikyu clearly felt the love from his father.

After thinking for a moment, he signed the agreement on behalf of the Sakai Kai United. Zhao Hao invited the two to lunch together, and solemnly told them three things during the banquet.

First, it is necessary to strictly prevent and control the flow of artillery, artillery-making technology, and artillery-making craftsmen into Japan.

He told the two that only if there was no artillery in Japan, the Coast Guard fleet could maintain control of the Sea of Japan at a lower cost and thus protect the security of Sakai. Once artillery technology spreads, the Gangnam clique will have to move away from the Seto Inland Sea and control key points such as Tsushima instead. Protect your route in a safer way, but then you won't be able to take care of the safety of Sakai.

"Hey." Sen no Rikyu nodded heavily, in fact, he was planning to buy a few cannons with Zhao Gongzi with a lot of money, and put them on the walls of Sakai City to deter the princes. Hearing this, he hurriedly refused to mention the matter.

"Childe rest assured, Japanese craftsmen have not mastered the casting technology, and they can't even cast copper coins, let alone cast cannons." The Shimai clan hurriedly said: "And the island country is full of mountains, and the artillery is too heavy, and it is a nightmare to move, and it can only be used to defend the city, and ambitious daimyo may not be interested." ”

"Don't leave anything to chance." Zhao Gongzi shook his head and said: "Now is a troubled time, anything can happen, we can only strangle all possibilities from the source in order to maintain our advantages for a longer time." ”

"Hey!" Hearing Zhao Gongzi say 'we', the two Japanese businessmen couldn't help but be overjoyed and hurriedly responded loudly.

"How long a humble merchant can gain respect is up to you." Zhao Gongzi looked at the two of them expectantly.

"Childe, rest assured, Sakai City's commercial network is all over the country, and the wind and grass of all kinds of daimyo can't escape our ears and eyes." Sen no Rikyu said confidently: "Whoever has any attempt in this regard will be attacked by us with all our might." ”

"Without our help, those arrogant daimyos would have had little to offer artillery." After speaking, the Shimai clan reminded Zhao Hao: "Unless those Franc machine people ......"

"I'll take care of them." Zhao Hao waved his hand, obviously having a plan.

~~

In another period of history, it was seven years later that Otomo Sorin, from the Portuguese, received the 'Stone Fire Hammer'...... That is, the Franc machine. Lao Wang adheres to the strong and invincible naming ability of the Japanese, and calls it 'national collapse'.

It is said that when the Shimazu family invaded Usuki Castle, he used the country to collapse and retreat from the enemy, which was also the first time that a Japanese daimyo used artillery in actual combat. After that, there was still no record of the use of artillery by the Japanese princes, and even during the invasion of Korea, the Japanese navy and army were not equipped with such 'heavy stupid guys'.

It was not until the final battle of the Warring States period, the Battle of Osaka Summer, that the Tokugawa old turtle destroyed the castle tower of Osaka Castle with a cannon, declaring the complete victory of the Edo regime, that the Japanese army finally had an artillery unit. It also shows that they have finally learned to make cannons.

But that was 46 years later. And we know that Japan had been in contact with missionaries more than 20 years ago, and had been trading with the Portuguese for a long time, so it was clear that there was an opportunity to come into contact with advanced firearms. For example, they began to imitate arquebuses at the first time, and it only took more than ten years for the 'iron cannon' to become the standard configuration of the daimyo army. If anyone doesn't have an independent iron artillery team, they are embarrassed to greet people when they go out.

But for more than half a century, they turned a blind eye to the powerful weapon of artillery. It took a big loss on the Korean battlefield to realize the importance of this thing, which shows how poor the affinity between the Japanese and artillery is.

Zhao Gongzi didn't want to let the Japanese use artillery in advance because of himself, which would bring a lot of uncertainty to the future. Therefore, he proposed a 'proton plan' aimed at locking up the Japanese manufacturing industry, the core of which was to delay the Japanese daimyo mastering artillery as much as possible.

His requirements are not high, as long as it is not earlier than the original historical node, the generation gap should have been formed at that time, and they will be useless even if they have artillery.

~~

After talking about artillery, Zhao Hao turned the topic back to the trade that the two were most interested in.

He invited the two of them to taste the skillfully cooked sour bamboo shoot fish soup, and then asked with a smile, "Have you two thought about how to maximize the profits of Sakai Shokai in the future?" ”

"This ......" The two thought that Zhao Gongzi was testing their business talents, and hurriedly replied cautiously.

"Sell the scarcest or most in-demand goods." Shimai replied.

"Exclusive monopoly of trade power, control of pricing power." Sen no Rikyu's answer was clearly a cut higher.

But they would be wrong. A big businessman who can hold up a piece of the sky in the Warring States Period, what is Zhao Gongzi good to test them? Who knows how to do business better than anyone else.

"Both of them are right, and Qianlisang has exhausted the essence of trading." What Zhao Hao wants to do is brainwash them into compradors, he smiled: "But there are two ways to make the goods we sell unique in the market." The more passive ones are selling goods that are not yet available on the market. The more proactive is to make the competing products in the market disappear. ”

Zhao Gongzi picked up the wine glass and took a sip of the 'beautiful boy' sake that Sen no Rikyu respected, well, how does it taste, but the name of this wine is too apt. A beautiful boy drinks a beautiful boy's wine, and a good man drinks a beautiful wine. "You take a closer look, which of the two is higher or lower?"

"This ......" The two of them had a feeling of being opened to a new world, and they were busy thinking reverently.

"Apparently it's the latter." It's still Sen no Rikyu's level is a little higher, or he's the chief, and Shimai isn't.

"When you sell something that is not available in the market, you need to get the buyer's demand first. Whether buyers recognize it or not, and how long it will take to cultivate demand, are very uncertain. Therefore, the risk is high and the effect is slow. ”

"Indeed, it is safer to let all the competitors in the existing market disappear." Shimai also said with a sudden expression: "And the sales are there, and the sales can be increased immediately." ”

"Well said, the two of them are really business wizards." Zhao Gongzi slapped his palms and smiled: "So how to operate next?" You two have a good idea, right? ”

"I understand, we will study the market carefully, see if we start with those locally produced goods, and find a way to squeeze them out of the market." Two Japanese businessmen began their comprador path.

Zhao Gongzi learned through the Tang Dynasty that Japan's handicraft industry is still very developed, and the most pillar industries are silk weaving, cotton spinning, porcelain and tea.

It just so happens that this is also the main handicraft industry of the Ming Dynasty. The son follows his father, and this is also something that can't be helped.

Obviously, this will not only affect the profits of the products sold to Japan by the Ming Dynasty, but will also form a competition in the trade between the South and the West. In the Age of Discovery, the most important thing to avoid was free competition, so Zhao Gongzi decided to train compradors in Japan and strangle Japan's competitive handicraft industry with their hands.

The comprador has three good, and the soft body is easy to push down...... Oh no, it should be 'the 'black-hearted and knowledgeable party'.

When the interests of both parties are highly linked, they will take the initiative to advise foreign investors to make the dumped goods more suitable for the needs of the local market. These comprador merchants were not only familiar with the local market conditions, but also had the ability to establish a marketing network from Tongdu Dayi to the poor countryside, so that foreign goods and local goods could fully compete for the market, so that a situation of 'foreign goods being sold daily and local goods being scarce' was created, and the local handicraft industry was stifled.

In order for the Ming Dynasty to obtain enough dumping ground for its products to create the conditions for the initiation of the commercial and industrial revolutions, Zhao Gongzi needed the contributions of the compradors.

"Okay, I think let's start with porcelain and cotton." He smiled and raised his glass, touched the two of them and said, "In three years, I hope that there will only be our porcelain on the market." Within five years, all Japanese people will be wearing our cotton. ”

"Don't worry, Childe, I'll do our best!" The two hurriedly held wine glasses in both hands and bowed down to make a military order to Zhao Gongzi.