Next, Sanniang told Zhou Zhong in detail about the financial situation of the Chamber of Commerce, in fact, Zhou Zhong also expected it in advance, Zhou Hai even borrowed money from his family, and it was impossible for the Chamber of Commerce not to owe debts.

In fact, it is true, when Zhou Hai went to sea for the last time, the fleet mobilized was quite large, and the loaded goods were also very large, many of the goods were mortgaged by the reputation of the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce, and the payment was not paid off to the cargo owners, but after Zhou Hai's accident, those cargo owners came to ask for debts, fortunately, Sanniang They tried their best to raise, plus the three of them took out their personal money, and finally paid off some of the urgent debts, and the rest were some old customers of the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce, For the sake of the past, there was no urgency.

"Now the Chamber of Commerce is still burdened with nearly 20,000 taels of debts, in the past, I shared some with Uncle Camel and Sun Tong, and with the current situation of the Chamber of Commerce, I am afraid it will be difficult to pay off these debts in a short period of time." Sanniang said later that she not only manages the shipyard of the Chamber of Commerce, but also manages the finances of the Chamber of Commerce.

Zhou Zhong couldn't help but have a headache when he heard this, if the soap production method belonged to him completely, then he was still sure that he would pay off the debt in a short time, but now that the soap making method has cooperated with the Xie family, he only accounts for 20% of the profits, and it is probably not easy to make up 20,000 taels of silver with this business.

"Sanniang, what are the main profit points of the Chamber of Commerce now?" Zhou Zhong felt that if he wanted to pay off the debts of the Chamber of Commerce, he still had to rely on the profits generated by the Chamber of Commerce, so he wanted to hear how the Chamber of Commerce operated, and see if there was anything he could improve.

"Qi Yu Shao Owner, now the Chamber of Commerce has three incomes, the first is the profit from smuggling, but with the death of the owner, the Chamber of Commerce's fleet has also gone to most of it, only the fleet in Sun Tong's hands is left, and it can only run a little bit of odd work at ordinary times, and there is also a shipyard, originally this shipyard was mainly for repairing the ships of the Chamber of Commerce, and usually built some small boats, but with the decline of the Chamber of Commerce fleet, the shipyard's business was also greatly affected."

When she said this, Sanniang couldn't help but show a little lonely look on her face, but then she said with a strong spirit: "The last major income is the port, which is also the most profitable industry of the Chamber of Commerce at present, one-third of the ports of the entire North Port are controlled by our Nanyang Chamber of Commerce, and not only will charge fees for the ships that come and go, but also the supplies of these ships such as water and water, which also need to be purchased from our Chamber of Commerce, and there is at least tens of thousands of taels of silver every year." ”

Zhou Chong's frowning brows finally relaxed a little when he heard the income of the last port, but he quickly thought that although the port income was rich, this income was almost dead, and there was very little room for further growth, unless he had the strength to take back the other two-thirds of the ports, but this was obviously impossible.

So in addition to the port, the shipyard is not to mention, this factory was originally dependent on the Chamber of Commerce, and now the Chamber of Commerce has no ships and no money, and the shipyard naturally has no business, of course, it can also be taken out to work, but it is difficult to see results in a short period of time. So Zhou Zhong thought about it, and finally felt that if he wanted to pay off the debts he was carrying, he had to rely on smuggling.

However, just when Zhou Zhong was thinking about how to make money, he saw Sanniang next to him showing a little hesitation on his face, and he gritted his teeth and said: "Shaodong, Sanniang has a few words, I don't know if to say it or not?" ”

Zhou Chong raised his head in some surprise after hearing this, but then smiled and said: "Sanniang is polite, just say anything." In addition, Sanniang, you are my elder, don't always call me Shaodongjia in the future, it sounds awkward, or call me directly by my name Zhou Chong, or call me the word Wenda. ”

Hearing Zhou Zhong say this, Sanniang was also very pleased and smiled: "Okay, Sanniang, I will rely on the old man to sell the old and call you Wenda." After speaking, I saw Sanniang pause for a moment, and then her face became a little serious, "Wenda, you have been admitted to Xiucai at a young age, and it can be said that you have a bright future, in contrast, sea smuggling is very risky, and if you are not careful, the Lord may die, your father is a living example, so in my opinion, Wenda, you had better stop caring about the affairs of the Chamber of Commerce, go back and study hard, and wait until a few years later, you will be named on the gold list, that is what your father wants to see the most!" ”

Sanniang wanted to say these words to Zhou Zhong for a long time, but after meeting in a hurry the day before yesterday, she raided the Jeolla Chamber of Commerce last night, although they stayed in the same boat at that time, but because Xie Lingyun was an outsider, she didn't have much to say, and now she finally had the opportunity to say it.

After Zhou Chong took over the Chamber of Commerce, the power in the hands of Sanniang and Uncle Camel became smaller, so the words of Sanniang who persuaded Zhou Chong to leave now were easy to cause misunderstanding by others. Fortunately, Zhou Chong knew that the relationship between Lu Dao Sanniang and her father Zhou Hai was extraordinary, and she also really cared about herself, which was similar to Aunt Wang's, without any utilitarian color.

I saw that Zhou Chong smiled at Sanniang after hearing this, and then stood up and poured a cup of tea for her personally, and then said: "Sanniang, I know that you are for my good, as a junior, I will say a few words to you today!" ”

Zhou Zhong said that he sat back in his seat here, and then took a sip of tea and said: "In the eyes of the world, the imperial examination is indeed a right way to advance, but Sanniang, have you ever thought about it, the imperial examination every three years, there are hundreds of thousands of students participating in each time, but the most capable of the title of the gold list is only two or three hundred people, it is no exaggeration to say that the imperial examination is a single wooden bridge squeezed by thousands of troops." ”

"But ......"

Sanniang had already heard the meaning of Zhou Chong's words, and just wanted to refute it, but was interrupted by Zhou Chong: "I know what you want Sanniang to do, it's nothing more than that I am rarely talented, and I was admitted to Xiucai at a young age?" ”

Hearing Zhou Zhong say what he thought in his heart, Sanniang had to shut up and nodded.

But Zhou Chong shook his head with a smile and said: "Sanniang, what you think is too simple, the officialdom is far darker than our smuggling, and it is not enough to just have talent and learning, for example, there are two talented celebrities in Suzhou, one is Tang Yin and Tang Jieyuan, who was high-spirited when he participated in the imperial examination, and became Xie Yuan in one fell swoop during the township examination, but because of the battle in the officialdom, he was innocently involved, and his life and future were ruined. The second is Tang Jieyuan's friend Mr. Zhishan, who is also a talented person, who was younger than me when he was admitted to Xiucai, but what is the use of this, he is almost fifty years old since he was a child, and he is still just a lifter, staying at home and depressed. ”

Sanniang is a native of Ningbo, not far from Suzhou, so she has also heard of the names of Tang Bohu and Zhu Zhishan, and when she heard Zhou Chong take them as an example, she was speechless for a while, but she still defended herself after the end: "Tang Jieyuan and Mr. Zhishan are just unlucky, maybe Wenda you will be able to win the first place in one fell swoop next time you participate in the imperial examination." ”

Seeing that Sanniang still didn't give up, Zhou Chong had to say again: "Sanniang, you now admit that the imperial examination also has to try your luck, and Tang Jieyuan and Mr. Zhishan are unlucky, but who can be sure that my luck must be better than theirs?" Moreover, in terms of talent and learning, I asked myself that I was far from the two of them, so I naturally had less confidence in the imperial examination. ”

"But...... But ......" Although Sanniang felt that what Zhou Zhong said was also reasonable, she always felt a little unwilling.

At this time, Zhou Zhong had to reluctantly take out the most powerful killer and said: "Okay, Sanniang, you don't have to worry too much, because I have to mourn for three years, so if I want to participate in the imperial examination, I will have to wait for at least five years, during this time, I will try my best to put the business of the Chamber of Commerce on the right track, and it will not be too late to study hard." ”

Hearing Zhou Zhong say this, Sanniang could only nod. At this time, Zhou Zhong also hurriedly changed the topic and asked how the smuggling business of the Chamber of Commerce was carried out, he wanted to figure out the process, and then think about whether there was a way to speed up the profit from smuggling.

Although Sanniang is not in charge of the smuggling fleet, but after all, she is in charge of the financial power of the Chamber of Commerce, so she is also very clear about the smuggling process.

Speaking of the smuggling of the Ming Dynasty originated in the early Ming Dynasty, when Zhu Yuanzhang was forbidden to the sea, and even fishermen were forbidden to go to the sea to fish.

Although the uprising was suppressed, the poverty of the coastal people still could not be solved, and in the last case, many coastal people had to brave the ban to go to the sea, driving small boats to carry some simple goods, and trading with the Japanese and Nanyang people who came to the coastal area of the Ming Dynasty, in exchange for some silver. Later, with the relaxation of the imperial court's maritime ban policy, the scale of smuggling became larger and larger, and it was not until the early years of Zhengde that this kind of smuggling finally reached a peak.

Although the smuggling along the Ming coast has developed over the years, in fact, the mode of smuggling has not changed much, first of all, some merchants along the coast of the Ming Dynasty have a large number of commodities in their hands, and these commodities cannot be digested only by the Ming Dynasty, so these people will contact smuggling merchants like the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce and sell the goods to them.

After the smuggler agrees with those land-based merchants on the price of the goods, he will send a fleet to pick up the goods at the place designated by the seller, and the chamber of commerce will not pay the other party until the goods are delivered to the ship, and then the goods will completely belong to the chamber of commerce, and no longer have anything to do with the original owner, and all the risks will be borne by the smugglers themselves. After that, the smugglers will use their fleets to transport the goods out of the country, such as Nanyang, Waguo, Korea and other places, in order to make huge profits, which is the general process of smuggling.

However, generally speaking, a smuggler will collect a lot of goods, and these goods cannot be sold at one time, which requires a place to store goods, and the smuggler's fleet also needs a place to be stationed and repaired, so smuggling bases such as Shuangyu Port have also appeared.

It is also the emergence of smuggling bases that smuggling has become more and more diversified, for example, some merchants on land will directly organize their own small fleets, and then transport goods to Shuangyu Port to sell, so that the price will be much higher than that on land. And this also provides convenience for some foreign smugglers, such as the Japanese and the Koreans, who do not have the same network base as the smugglers of the Ming Dynasty, and it was difficult to receive the goods in the past, but now some people take the initiative to sell the goods, and they can directly buy them and ship them to the country for huge profits, which also attracts more Japanese and North Koreans to take the risk of participating in smuggling.

Originally, this smuggling model has lasted for many years without any problems, but after Zhou Zhong carefully considered this model several times, and then compared it with the sales model known to him in later generations, he suddenly had a flash of inspiration and came up with a shortcut that might allow the Chamber of Commerce to develop rapidly.