Tin-zinc alloy is used to weld cans, and naturally, some people want to understand the iron sheet, that is, galvanized iron.

Perhaps one day in the future, copper-shelled cans will be replaced by white-tin cans.

But that's a later story, let's pull the timeline of this book back to before Jiang Liu's development of copper-shelled cans. At this moment, Zhao Han ended his five-day autumn hunt and returned to the Forbidden City with half sorrow and half joy.

Zheng Sen, the political envoy of Guangdong Zuobu, suddenly sent a secret letter: In the city of Guangzhou, there is a private securities trading place!

The big merchants of the coast were not short of money, and even too much silver.

Unable to buy land freely, coupled with inflation, wealthy merchants were reluctant to devalue their silver in their cellars. The most common practice is to open money banks, pawnshops, etc., which are allowed by the imperial court. There are also some merchants who will deposit their silver in banks or money banks for interest.

But there are also some ruthless characters, relying on their deep pockets, and they begin to play mergers and monopolies.

They often use their origins as a link to form a chamber of commerce in the maritime trade. Several or a dozen large companies in a government have joined hands to manipulate the market, force their counterparts into bankruptcy, and take the opportunity to wave silver tickets to carry out mergers.

Or they are making trouble overseas, such as a number of commercial houses joining forces to bribe Wenlai Sultan to jointly obtain the right to purchase spices in Wenlai country. The rest of the maritime merchants were all excluded, and there were often weak maritime trading companies that were forced to go bankrupt for various reasons.

Where there is oppression, there is resistance, and the same is true of commercial competition.

A Chenghai businessman named Huang Qichong secretly contacted 18 small and medium-sized maritime merchants in Guangdong to form a business alliance in Guangzhou......

A year ago.

A certain opera garden in Guangzhou was contracted, and only two plays were sung, and the actors were driven away.

Huang Qichong himself stepped onto the stage and said excitedly: "Colleagues, those big trading companies deceive people too much. They inflated the supply price of the Lu merchants, so that the Lu merchants sold their goods to them. What they have is money, and even if the goods are backlogged in the warehouse, they would rather lose money than crush us! They also lowered the shipping price at will in Coconut City and Palembang, so that foreign merchants would buy their things. All of you, are you often out of stock? Are you sending your freight out, but you can't get rid of it in Coconut City and Palembang? ”

As soon as this remark came out, more than a dozen maritime businessmen felt the same way.

"Who's to say it isn't? I have four boats under my name, but I only bought three boats last year. The remaining ship was left vacant for a year, and the ordinary sailors could be temporarily dismissed, but the captain, the first mate, the star puller, the bookkeeper, the senior sailor, and the senior boatswain could not be replaced. Even if you don't run the boat, you have to provide for them well. Empty ships are subject to berthing fees regardless of where they stop. It also costs money to maintain the ship, so where can we afford to delay our small business? ”

"My five boats are full. But half of it is filled with cotton cloth, and now only cotton cloth is not out of stock. But after it was transported to Coconut City, there were too many cotton cloths sold, and the price was very miserable by foreign merchants! ”

"I used to receive goods in Siam, but those damn big trading companies, who paid Siamese officials, were some kind of Greek, in charge of Siam's maritime trade. In collusion between officials and businessmen, they have manipulated several commodities that ordinary businessmen cannot buy if they want to. ”

"Ji Mo (Cambodia) is similar, dozens of local products, more than half of which are controlled by large trading companies."

“……”

There was a buzz under the stage, and there was endless indignation.

Huang Qichong stood on the stage and waited for the scene to be a little quieter before continuing: "Today's maritime business is not as easy as before. We, the little maritime merchants, can no longer fight alone, we have to be together to have a way out. ”

A maritime merchant named Chen Fujun said: "What is Boss Huang's method? ”

Huang Qichong stated: "I was in constant contact with Dutch and British, both of whom were employees of the East India Trading Company. These two East India trading companies were formed by a number of merchants, so why can't we join forces? ”

"In recent years, there have been many joint stock trading companies, and their business has done well. ”

Huang Qichong said: "The articles of association must be determined, and according to the number of shares, each family will send representatives to form a council." What rules to change and what decisions to make need to be discussed by the council. The chief treasurer, the bookkeeper, and the manager are also voted on by the council. ”

"We hold a general meeting of shareholders once every three years, and the meeting is also elected by the general meeting of shareholders. Whoever doesn't do a good job will be replaced. Part of the annual profit is used for dividends, and part of it is put into the trading company to grow its power. ”

"The ships, shops, and personnel of each trading company are managed in a unified manner after the merger. If there is any objection, it can be raised at the general meeting of shareholders. Once approved by the general meeting of shareholders and the council, no one can change their mind, nor can they arbitrarily install cronies. ”

"We are all losing money, and we can't get much money, so we can follow the example of the Dutch and issue shares to the private sector. Those ordinary people who have money in their hands, there are always a few bold ones who will take the risk to buy our stocks. You have one tael, he has two taels, and the accumulation of a small amount is tens of thousands of taels of silver......"

The maritime merchants nodded their heads again and again, and one of us asked: "Our difficulty now is that it is not easy to receive goods at home, and it is not smooth to sell goods overseas." Can these problems be solved after the merger? ”

"It can't be solved, but it can be bypassed," Huang Qi said with a confident smile, "I want to ask you, what is the most important thing to do now?" ”

"Cotton, of course!"

Everyone replied in unison.

Huang Qichong clapped his hands and said: "Then we will be mainly engaged in cotton trade!" The cotton cloth business is very competitive in the east of Malacca, and we can ship it directly to India. I have inquired a long time ago, cotton cloth is very good in India, and we were depressed in Palembang and Coconut City, all of which were deliberately provoked by those big trading companies. The British, the Dutch, the Persians, the Indians, and the Han Chinese in Palembang and Coconut City, they made a lot of money by transporting cotton cloth to India. ”

"When we sell cotton cloth to India, it's like competing with the forwarders you mentioned," Chen Fujun asked. ”

"With the Portuguese, of course!"

Huang Qichong said with a smile: "The east coast of India has been occupied by the Dutch. The merchant ships of the Portuguese, as long as they dared to cross the east coast, were robbed by the Dutch. Nowadays, Portuguese merchant ships rarely come to Europe, and only carry goods from the west coast of India back to Europe. We simply went far away and shipped the cotton cloth to the west coast, partly to the Indian land-based merchants, and partly to the Portuguese to ship back to Europe. ”

"It's too far." The crowd was worried.

They were all small maritime merchants with only a few boats, and some even had only one boat. Even on the east coast of India, they felt that it was too far and risky, let alone to trade on the west coast.

Huang Qichong said: "This is the benefit of the joint stock, in the past, everyone did not dare to run too far, because in case the ship sank, they could not afford it." In the future, we will do business in partnership, and there will be dozens of sea ships in total, and we can carry a few sunk in a storm. ”

"In addition, the trading company in which we have a joint venture can also go to the Americas to do business. Two-thirds of the ships go to India and one-third to the Americas, mainly cotton cloth and other goods. I also inquired about the trade of the Americas, and Mr. Li ran for many years, and only sank one ship, which was not as dangerous as we thought. ”

"Colleagues, if you are willing to join forces, stand on the stage, let's sing a good show and show it to those big trading companies!"

There were a few maritime merchants who, without much thought, paced onto the stage.

The rest hesitated, but in the end most of them agreed, and only one maritime merchant silently withdrew from the theater.

Including Huang Qichong, there are exactly 18 shareholders, named "Indian Trading Company".

It took them two months to integrate the original funds, ships, goods, manpower, and shops. More than 30 sea ships were organized, sailed out of Guangzhou, docked for supplies along the way, and crossed the Strait of Malacca to India.

Sixty percent of the fleet's cargo is cotton.

The output of cotton cloth is too large, and no one can control the market, as long as you want to buy it, you will definitely be able to buy it. Another 20% is iron products, Guangzhou is backed by Foshan, steam engine smelting, steel production is huge, and there is no supply of goods.

They rounded the southernmost tip of India and sailed to the Portuguese port of Cochin.

Due to the Dutch blocking the shipping lane, the Portuguese in the port of Cochin could only buy Chinese goods through Indian merchants. Indian merchants, on the other hand, bought goods in Coconut City and Palembang, and the goods there were sold by Guangdong merchants. In the middle, the port is reversed, the port is in and out of the port, the loading and unloading of goods, and the cost is rapidly increasing.

Huang Qichong's "Indian trading company" has now opened a direct route, which can make the Portuguese happy.

The port of Cochin couldn't eat dozens of boatloads of merchandise, so they continued north, eventually selling out all the merchandise in Goa.

In addition to being sold to the Portuguese, many were sold to the Indians.

It was the territory of the insurgents Sivaji, who had grown rapidly in power over the years, fighting the Mughals and Bijapur at the same time.

Hearing that the Chinese had brought in a large amount of goods, Sivaji personally received them and asked, "Can you get muskets and artillery?" As long as it is a firearm, I will buy as much as I ship, and if there is not enough gold or silver, I will exchange it for goods. ”

The person in charge of this trade is called Chen Shichun, and his face is puzzled: "It is a pity that muskets and artillery are contraband in China. ”

Sivaji was disappointed and asked, "What about the swords and armor?" ”

Chen Shichun said: "The trade in swords and armor needs to be reported to the government, and it can be shipped to India in small quantities. ”

The Datong Imperial Court strictly prohibited the manufacture, transportation, and sale of firearms without permission, but the management of swords and armor was not too strict.

First of all, the standard weapons and armor of the Datong Army are absolutely forbidden among the people, and even when the peasants and soldiers are training, they can only use approximate substitutes.

Secondly, scribe swords, leather armor and the like can be openly manufactured and sold.

Third, cotton armor, iron armor, bows and crossbows, as well as some powerful swords, can apply to the government for manufacturing, transportation, and sales. Moreover, it is divided into north and south, and the north is expressly forbidden to prevent the flow of soldiers and armor to the grassland. The south can apply for shipping overseas, but there are regulations on the quantity, and every time it is shipped abroad, it must be reported, and the end of illegal trade will be miserable.

Sivaji took out a scimitar: "This kind of knife, can it be customized?" ”

Chen Shichun nodded and said, "Yes, but only 300 can be shipped every year, and no matter how many they are, I am afraid they will not be able to go to sea." ”

"It's only three hundred?" Sivaji felt that it was too little.

Chen Shichun glanced at the soldiers in Xivaji and found that a few soldiers were still wearing leather armor, and suddenly had an idea: "That kind of leather armor can be sold openly, and you will be given a heart shield on your chest." The head of a spear, which sells you three thousand a year. ”

"Great!" Sivaji is overjoyed.

Chen Shichun said: "I need cotton. ”

Sivaji said: "The cotton in my territory will be sold to you in the future, as long as you can provide the armor!" ”

One-third of Sivaji's territory is a cotton-producing region, and it is one of the best cotton producing areas in India.

(Thank you to the leader of the alliance of the elders of Wangyun Mountain for the reward.) ）

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