Chapter 290: Venice Scroll (6)

Massimo sent Huang Xuan to a familiar hotel, and after determining his accommodation, he took him through the warehouses in the Inner Harbor, which was no less prosperous than the commercial streets of the 21st century, and perhaps only Wall Street could compare with the proportion of wealthy people here.

Venice in the 15th century, as well as the other commercial cities of Italy – Florence, Pisa, Genoa plus Cyprus and Marseille in France – constituted almost all the major commercial circles in Europe, and the credit system developed extremely extensively during this period.

The credit system was indispensable in long-distance trade, especially in international trade, and from about the 13th century, the great merchants of Venice no longer needed to use blood relatives as ship owners, because with credit, the cost of commercial transactions was greatly reduced, and in the 15th century the Florentine humanist Poggio was greatly reduced. In his Collected Short Stories, Blacciolini vividly tells a story about commercial credit: a man named Danocella needs to pay a large ducater in Florence, so he gives the money to the Medici bank in Rome in exchange for a letter of credit, and then travels to Florence with the letter of credit, on the way, he begins to wonder if he will be able to receive the money, but as soon as he arrives at the Florentine bank, his money is immediately paid to him. So he came to Cosimo and said, "Your credit is your reputation." Cosimo replied, "O Danochera, the trust of others is the wealth of a merchant, and the more trust a merchant receives, the richer he becomes."

The last sentence is quite classic to explain the source of the wealth of the Venetian merchants.

At the same time, around the middle of the Ming Dynasty in China, money banks had the same business as withdrawing money from other places, but their functions were still too weak compared to the prototype of the modern bank in Venice. When the Genoese could already use letters of credit for endorsement, the form of trade in Chinese money banks did not change fundamentally.

The business skills of the Italians provided an important impetus for later Western European commerce and capitalism.

And Huang Xuan, it is very easy and very accustomed to adapt to this kind of impulse.

For an ordinary businessman with no professional training in international trade, the financial services offered by Genoa and Venice are quite mature and sophisticated.

When he simply put more than 580 tons of wheat in the warehouse, Huang Xuan almost immediately got 520 gold ducats.

After inspecting the wheat, Daist warmly shook hands with Huang Xuan and said, "When your fleet arrives next time, please be sure to inform the Perrot Chamber of Commerce." ”

Huang Xuan smiled and nodded, like an Italian who had completed the deal, hugged Daist, and then left the warehouse with the money.

……

Early the next morning, Huang Xuan came to the Pero firm again and said to the somewhat strange Daster: "Oh, please forgive me for my caution, because it is the first time I have come here. ”

Daist, who had a long, large hooked nose, kept a decent smile and replied, "What do you mean?" ”

"I actually have some wheat and paddy to sell."

"Same quality?"

"From the same region, of course." Huang Xuan secretly added in his heart: "It's the same plane." ”

Daist immediately came to his senses, he waved his hand to Massimo, and said, "If you don't mind, we need to confirm it first, and then prepare the gold coins, how many bushels do you have left?" ”

"A lot." Huang Xuan pouted, he brought 10,000 tons of grain, about 430,000 bushels, worth 25,000 gold ducats, a figure about the larger aristocratic property in Venice - such aristocrats, that is, families capable of running for leadership, there were about 200.

The Venetian merchant rarely subjectively doubted the credibility of another merchant, so Daist smiled and sent Huang Xuan out of the room, as the store manager, he had his own duties.

However, it was not long before Massimo returned to the Perrau firm. His red hair was slightly covered with beads of sweat, and he panted and said to Daster, "Sir, I think you should." ”

"What?"

"Mr. Cosa's warehouse has at least 100,000 bushels of wheat and paddy, and the quality is outstanding."

Even if it is a standard grain from the R-plane, its "color" is also quite "color".

Hearing 100,000 bushels, Davis immediately sorted out the work at hand and walked out the door with Massimo.

In fact, it was 430,000 bushels, which Huang Xuan placed in a rented dock warehouse on the outskirts of Venice. 200 workers counted the whole day.

25,000 gold ducats are no longer something that can be carried by manpower, and the boss of the Perrault Commercial Bank, Mecero personally handed over the letter of credit of the Peruzzi Bank to Huang Xuan, and said: "Mr. Cosa, on behalf of the guild, I would like to invite you to join us, of course, you need to provide some of your personal information." “

Huang Xuan did not refuse, but took the letter of credit and looked at it, then put it in his pocket and said: "The information must be obtained after I return to France, but I am very happy to do business with you." ”

"Me too." Messero was an aristocrat in his 50s, with a luxury rarely seen by merchants in this period, and the buttons of his clothes were made of clear glass, which was comparable in price to pearls of equal weight.

Messero was a man who cared for details, his nails were clean, very different from ordinary Europeans, and while shaking hands with Huang Xuan, he said, "What does Mr. Cossa need to buy in Venice?" Maybe I can help. ”

Huang Xuan really needs someone to help, because he only has 4 days here, and if he wants to buy enough things, he can't wander around the square.

Every firm is willing to deal with a reputable firm.

Huang Xuan patted the credit tucked into his chest and said with a smile: "I personally prefer goods from Africa, such as ivory, rhinoceros horn, leather, sheep 'wool' ......."

Africa during this period mainly refers to Egypt, the Almoravid Empire and the Almohad Empire (secession) established in southern Morocco, a small area of East and West Africa, and the islands of Zimbabwe and Madagascar in South Africa. It is rich in sheep wool, leather, wax, alum, ivory, gold, rhinoceros horn, spices, and slaves exported from slave or non-slave countries.

Compared to the inherently expensive spices such as musk and cloves in Europe, the prices of goods such as ivory and rhinoceros horn, which have been regulated or gradually disappeared in modern society, have become even more exciting.

Mecello smiled because of Huang Xuan's big appetite, 25,000 gold ducats can buy anything he wants, it's just a difference in quantity, he let the workers who carry the grain, thought for a while, and said: "The price of a good ivory is about 100 gold ducat, and the rhinoceros horn will be half cheaper." He glanced at Huang Xuan and said, "Do you have to be the African Brother Pi and the sheep 'Mao'?" ”

"Oh, of course not." Huang Xuan spread his hands and said: "As long as the quality is gone, the origin is not important. "This is exactly how Italians think, they don't care much about the quality and delivery time of goods that exceed the standard, but are willing to save more money. This is the exact opposite of the Germans, who would rather pay a little more and also demand better treatment and strict delivery times.

Mecero smiled even more, and said: "In fact, we have a lot of trade relations with the Slavic region, if you like, we can provide a lot of leather from Eastern Europe and even further afield, as for sheep wool, it is better to solve, we have a fleet to and from England every year, and the Peruzzi Bank that shows us a letter of credit is the Baldi Bank to jointly control all the English sheep wool trade rights." However, I personally recommend that you buy the woolen wool that has already been produced, and there are more than 200 wool weaving factories in Florence, so you can buy enough wool. ”

The energy screen opened by Huang Xuan showed that Mecello did not lie at all, and analyzed it with a high degree of similarity, Florence should produce 7 to 80,000 woolen wool horses per year, and the value of woolen wool produced in the city was as high as 1.2 million florins, almost 2 million gold ducats. Just to buy them, 800,000 tons of grain would have to be used. If all the U.S. aircraft carriers in service were converted into freighters, they would be almost completely filled.

If it were normal times, Huang Xuan might let go of this kind of project with a high amount of exercise and low profits, but a lot of absolute profits, but in the face of the threat of the Time and Space Administration, he no longer dared to be lazy.

Clearing his throat, Huang Xuan made up the reason again, and said: "Yesterday my first fleet has left Venice, they were originally going to Florence to load goods, if the Perrault comptoir can provide all the supplies in a short time, I can recall the fleet." ”

"What do you mean by a short period of time?" Messeiro is a very cautious person and does not let up because of the huge amount of money he trades.

"Within three days." Huang Xuan cut the way categorically.

Davis, who was next to him, took a deep breath, Venice was a global market in the 15th century, and they often encountered fleets that demanded strict time in order to catch the monsoon, but they had not yet encountered such an urgent situation as Huang Xuan.

"If you can do that, I can also bring in fleets that are heading to other locations, carrying large quantities of food."

Massero began to wonder where Huang Xuan came from, when another Venetian hurried in and shouted, "Are you Mr. Cosa?" ”