Tianjin General Military Mansion, after Yang Honghongzhang's wedding, is still full of friends, staying here in addition to the Jiangnan businessmen who followed the Yang family and the Xia family to come to Tianjin, as well as Tian Hongyu from the capital and Shi Lang, the former Fujian sailor.

The first step of the Jiangnan Trading Company is to rely on Tianjin, a newly built Shangfu, to accumulate capital, and the second step is to rely on the two bases of Hangzhou and Tianjin to develop maritime trade along the canal and in East Asia, Japan, and Korea through the Grand Canal and maritime transportation. The long-term goal is to devote itself to communicating trade between the Ming Dynasty and Southeast Asian countries and Western countries. Hongzhang once had the privilege of going to the West, at present, the navigation of the Dutch is also the most developed in the Western countries, the Dutch grab more than three or four million taels of silver from Southeast Asia every year, this is still not into the Jiangsu and Zhejiang area and need to pay protection fees to the pirate Zheng Zhilong, in the future, if the Jiangnan trading company can directly sell the goods in the capital and Jiangsu and Zhejiang to Southeast Asia and even the West, then the annual profit is at least more than five million, or even more. You have also seen how the Western goods of the past few days are gunners, and the Westerners are also very fond of my Ming silk, tea, ceramics, etc.

At present, the biggest obstacle is the piracy in the Southeast Asian Sea and the sea ban of the Ming Dynasty. As for the imperial court, I think it won't be long before it will be fully opened, and to deal with pirates, for the time being, we can only rely on ourselves, which is also the reason for the establishment of a trading company, where the profits are shared and the risks are shared. Hongzhang had made an agreement with Raphael, the son of the Duke of Castro of Lisbon, that the two sides would work with each other to break through the Dutch blockade as soon as possible and be able to trade freely in Southeast Asia and even India or Arabia. Before that, he will help me buy warships and muskets and cannons in the West, but we need to defend ourselves against pirates before the court can form a new sailor.

Let me introduce to you, this was once a thousand households under Zheng Zhilong, a Fujian sailor, with excellent naval combat ability, and very upright and principled, because he was not used to seeing the Dutch robbing Jiangsu and Zhejiang merchants on Dachen Island, he was angry and sent troops, and was hated by Zheng Zhilong, he and most of his parents were killed by Zheng Zhilong, his goal is to eradicate Zheng Zhilong to avenge his parents, which is consistent with the future plan of our Jiangnan Trading Company, so I want to invite him to join, When our Jiangnan Trading Company is not strong enough, he will escort it.

This is some of the articles of association that I have prepared for the company, and if you have a good problem, I think you can immediately form a trading company. What needs to be explained here is that once you join the company, you are a community of interests, and some things will not be hidden from you, but you need to keep them secret, especially when it comes to the laws of the imperial court, in addition, the people we are sitting here today can only account for seventy percent of the company's shares at most, and the rest needs to be left to those nobles who have a say in overseas trade or arms control in the imperial court, as for who these people are, it depends on the future development of the situation, of course, the addition of new shareholders will be agreed by most of the people here today......"

"Lord Yang, the old man believes you, and there is no need to say much about the rest, you just say how to divide the shares and how much money is needed, the old man is well prepared." Tian Hongyu was the first to stand up and say after reading the company's articles of association.

"Lord Tian, the Netherlands has an East India Company in India, and they are the militarized pirate and chamber of commerce model. I think we will follow their model, there are all kinds of restrictions in the land of Daming, so some of the restricted things of our Jiangnan Trading Company will not appear on land, such as warships, such as muskets and artillery. According to the amount of silver contributed, the shares were 10,000 taels per share, and Shi Lang and his men bought shares in battleships and artillery for 150,000 taels. In the future, their escorts will be paid the same as ordinary hired sailors. The board of directors of the trading company is responsible for making decisions on the development direction of the company, as well as the annual distribution and account inventory, etc., and the specific affairs are carried out by the compradors and managers hired by the board of directors. The Board of Directors elects the Chairman or Executive Director to be responsible for the day-to-day operation of the Board of Directors......"

Hearing this, many people nodded, and one of the merchants stood up and asked, "Lord Yang, we saw Shi Lang's warships when we came, and it is reasonable to make 150,000 yuan according to the market price and the level of naval warfare of these people, but I don't know how much the Yang family's Spanish warships and the rest of the Japanese warships are worth?" ”

Hearing that someone asked a question that everyone was concerned about, everyone held their breath and stretched their necks to look at Yang Hongzhang, because when they came from Hangzhou, they had heard that Yang Hongzhang's five warships were worth at least 300,000 yuan, and there were a few Japanese ships, I don't know how Yang Hongzhang should deal with it? Yang Hongzhang glanced at everyone and said with a smile: "The Yang family, like everyone, only gives out silver taels and manpower, and those warships of this official will be temporarily leased to Jiangnan Trading Company in a short period of time." The rent will be paid according to your actual profit and frequency of use each year. The reason why I keep them is because I don't know when I can't be an official, I always have to keep some old money to make a comeback, and if I feel that it is unnecessary in a few years, I will sell it to Jiangnan Trading Company. ”

Hearing this, Tian Hongyu was taken aback: "Brother Shilin, don't you join the shares?" How's that going to work? ”

"Master Tian doesn't have to worry, isn't my Yang family's shareholding just my shareholding? And at present, the second brother has taken over the fleet, and those battleships are actually similar to the company. The official doesn't have so much cash, and it's not good to eat dry stocks, right? Rest assured, although the official does not have shares, Lord Arita, you are here, and the shares of my Yang family and Xia family are there, in Tianjin Mansion, everything is still the priority of Jiangnan Trading Company. In the future, one day, if Hongzhang can be the admiral of the navy or the governor of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, he will not be polite to you, and at that time, the admiral yamen or the governor's yamen will be at least two percent of the shares! ”

"It's still not appropriate, Brother Shilin, you have a lot of worries about the establishment of Jiangnan Trading Company, and now Tianjin's business still depends on you to take care of it, no matter how you say it, you have to account for one percent, don't you say?" Tian Hongyu got up from his seat and said to the other Jiangsu and Zhejiang merchants.

"Yes, Lord Yang, the idea of setting up a trading company is also something you came up with, the specific plan and articles of association are all made by you, and you will not have to lose face when you contact Westerners in the future, and those muskets and artillery forbidden by the imperial court have no way, how can you deal with pirates without guns at sea? One percent is still less, at least two percent. ”

These businessmen are all human spirits like Tian Hongyu, not to mention that Yang Hongzhang has a huge fleet in his hands, just because he is in his early twenties, he is a celebrity in front of the emperor, and he wants 30% of the company's shares. Especially in the early days, everyone was ready to do a big job in Tianjin, and Yang Hongzhang was the chief soldier and prefect.

Some people took the lead and others also said one after another, Yang Hongzhang must have at least two percent of the dry shares in the newly established company, Yang Hongzhang's father and Xia Yan's father looked at Yang Hongzhang with a smile, the enthusiasm of the businessmen who came here today They have all figured out in advance, plus Tian Hongyu is a big fat sheep, I am afraid that the silver put together is at least two million, if this is two percent of the dry shares, wouldn't it be 400,000 for nothing? It's better to be an official! They have worked hard for so many years to accumulate so much cash for our belongings.

Seeing everyone like this, Yang Hongzhang also knew that it was not just everyone trying to find a way to slap him, or that he didn't have confidence in not joining the big guys, the collusion between officials and businessmen in this era was simply blatant and justifiable. So after repeatedly refusing to leave, he reluctantly smiled and said: "I know everyone's thoughts, but you can't ask for dry shares, because most of the income of the trading company in the early stage will be generated in Tianjin Mansion, and it is not appropriate for me to take dry shares." The day before yesterday, I also received a lot of congratulatory gifts, so I'll make up some cash, but it won't be too much, even if I also became a member of the trading company. ”

"Then it's decided, everyone will leave you two percent of the shares, and if the silver is not enough, I will help you advance it first, and the rest of the people will count the shares according to the amount of capital contribution." Tian Hong met Yang Hongzhang and hurriedly answered. Hearing that everyone said yes, Yang Hongzhang was helpless, knowing that this was Tian Hongyu's grafting, no matter how much money he made up, he would calculate it according to 20% of the shares, and as for the advance payment, it was just a scene.

After the articles of association were made, so everyone began to promise their own capital contribution ratio, I have to say that the wealth of Jiangsu and Zhejiang merchants is indeed amazing, thirty-five people made up 4.2 million taels, plus the Yang family's 200,000 taels, the Xia family's 200,000 taels and Tian Hongyu's wanton 10,000 taels and Yang Hongzhang's 70,000 taels, the company's operating capital has reached an astonishing more than 5 million taels, Yang Hongzhang really regrets that he should have started a company directly in Hangzhou, and then bought a battleship to climb Zheng Zhilong down first. Simply calculated, if he accounted for 20%, it didn't mean that it was equal to more than 1 million taels of silver, Yang Hongzhang wanted the same as a rattle, and resolutely disagreed, and finally only agreed to account for 10% of the shares, and the rest of everyone divided according to the proportion of capital contribution.

Tian Hongyu was also taken aback when he saw the result of this investment, he didn't expect these businessmen from Jiangsu and Zhejiang to be so bold, he recognized Yang Hongzhang, these people would never make such a heavy bet like himself, and the only explanation was that these people's personal capital far exceeded their capital.

But after thinking about it, the silver stored in Yuan Dewang and Xue Guoguan's homes alone reached several million taels, and it was not too much for these more than 30 merchants from Jiangsu and Zhejiang to come up so shallowly.

After committing to the proportion of capital contribution, it is in accordance with the company's articles of association to begin to elect the board of directors and plan future projects, in Yang Hongzhang's mention, Jiangnan Trading Company has a large project in Tianjin, one is naturally responsible for the trade of goods between the capital and Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and the other is specifically responsible for providing building materials for the construction of Tianjin. As for overseas trade, the headquarters is set up in Hangzhou, and Shi Lang and others are still stationed in Zhoushan. Originally, everyone also wanted to involve Yang Hongzhang's so-called local property development, Yang Hongzhang said that the goal of gathering together is too big, and everyone is welcome to set up a new chamber of commerce or individuals to invest, Yang Hongzhang said that the focus is naturally on Tian Hongyu, Tian Hongyu took out a one-time 10,000 taels and invested in Jiangnan Trading Company, but it is far from achieving the purpose of asset transfer, so Yang Hongzhang hopes that Tian Hongyu will make great efforts in the future development of commercial housing.