Just a few days ago, Zhao Dagui was still a novice in the business field, but during this time, he has been talking about business with these shopkeepers, and he has gradually come out of experience.

Chinese do business differently than foreigners, that is, pay attention to quietness, with Zhao Dagui's city government can not read the minds of these treasurers who have been in the business world for decades, but just looking at these treasurers paying attention to listening, and did not say that the price is too high, Zhao Dagui knows that these people are moved.

Moreover, this is almost an inevitable thing, at the beginning of the five-port trade, the first time the Chinese people came into contact with foreign cloth, almost all of them were trapped, except for several other ports in Guangzhou, this foreign cloth sold so hot.

Between 1843 and 1845, foreign cloth was the hottest commodity in the four northern treaty ports, even surpassing opium.

The reasons for the popularity of foreign cloth are:

The foreign cloth is lighter and better than the homespun foreign cloth, the feel is better, and it looks more noble;

However, the price is only about one-third of the homespun cloth, making the homespun almost impossible to parry.

It was not until two years later, when the hot-headed British brought in too much cloth, and the Chinese gradually woke up from their madness and had a better understanding of the shortcomings of foreign cloth, that the foreign cloth trade plummeted, and a large backlog of cloth led to the closure of a large number of merchants.

Chinese and British merchants were so impressed by this that until 1860 they were cautious about the foreign cloth business, and kept relatively strict control over the amount of foreign cloth imported.

However, at least in the early days of the opening of the port, the foreign cloth was almost invincible against the native cloth.

Zhao Dagui took out the goods, in addition to the foreign cloth is a large quantity, the rest of the clocks and watches to copper and iron are also sought-after goods, these shopkeepers also do comprehensive warehouses, understand that these things are very easy to sell, the profit is not low, there are many people at that time quite tempted.

According to the customary practice of this era, the owner can find a warehouse to store the goods, and then ask the warehouse to sell the goods on behalf of the store.

However, Zhao Dagui was anxious to close the business in the short term, and he was not familiar with these shopkeepers, so he could only ask for cash transactions, which made this transaction have many restrictions.

The two sides talked for a long time, Zhao Dagui took samples to everyone, and then asked them to go back and decide whether to do it or not after a good total, and then quote a price.

"Please give us an answer as soon as possible, you are too late, it is not good to let others take the lead, and if the time drags on too long, the British captain may not have to bring the cargo back to Canton. Zhao Dagui sent people to the gate and said politely.

"We'll get back to you as soon as possible. The shopkeepers said in unison.

Zhao Dagui went back to his room, thought about it for a while, cleaned up the house, and then prepared to go home to catch up on sleep, but he didn't expect to hear someone banging on the door outside, so he had to get up and open the door.

When I pushed the door, it turned out to be the shopkeeper of the Li family's tea house, with a shopkeeper of the cloth store, waiting outside the door.

"I don't know what happened to the two of you?" Zhao Dagui invited the two into the room and asked curiously.

The two shopkeepers exchanged glances with each other, and then the shopkeeper Li spoke.

"Master Zhao, we just heard from you for a long time, and said that this transaction still needs to be settled in cash.

I don't know what Master Zhao wants to do with the cash after getting it?"

"Naturally... I used it to buy some goods for the return trip. Zhao Dagui's heart moved and said.

"There are a lot of good local goods, whether it's tea, raw silk, porcelain or lacquerware, it's in a lot of quantity and good quality, and it can be shipped to the UK for sale. ”

"Oh, then since you still want to buy tea, we will trade with you with tea, okay?

In this way, you don't have to buy tea after selling the goods, wasting effort and money, it is better to buy tea directly with this number. ”

"That's right," Zhao Dagui groaned and looked at the two shopkeepers: "The two of you want to work together to win this batch of foreign goods with tea, right?"

"I can't hide this from Master Zhao. Xiangji Warehouse is a warehouse that has been with our Li Family Tea House for several generations, we want to use this number of tea to win your batch of goods, and then sell them together, I don't know what Master Zhao thinks?"

For the two shopkeepers, it is naturally cost-effective to be able to use tea to offset part of the payment, which is equivalent to making one more money; moreover, the foreign cloth is so cheap, it should be easy to increase the price after getting it.

Zhao Dagui thought for a while, if this was really the case, it would save some trouble, but some things must be made clear.

"It's fine, but I'd like to talk to you both about the details to be discussed, and to confirm with the English captain.

In addition, don't think about taking so many goods with only tea, such a big business, you can trade most of the goods with tea, but you also have to pay some cash, after all, people want to go back to the UK, in addition to tea, they also have to bring some local specialties.

It would be a pity if you only brought back the tea leaves. ”

"Your request is reasonable. Shopkeeper Li thought for a moment, communicated with the shopkeeper of the inn, and then nodded in agreement.

"Then, let's discuss how to determine the price of exchanging tea for foreign goods, and then determine how much of it is paid for with tea and how much is paid in cash..."Zhao Dagui said with a slight smile.

It took a long time for the three to finalize some details and form a draft contract that would serve as the basis for the subsequent transaction.

After that, the two shopkeepers said goodbye and left, this time it was really leaving, this business reached the scale of more than 100,000 silver dollars, and the two of them went back and had a lot of things to discuss with others.

Zhao Dagui read the contract herb carefully, felt that there was no problem, and then put it in his arms, and then went out to find the Captain Kellett.

When I went out, I saw that the activities of those foreigners looking for tea had long ended, and I didn't know what the harvest was.

When I went to the captain's room, I knocked on the door and went in, and I saw the other party smoking with a pipe in his own room, spitting clouds and mist, and he was very comfortable.

"Damn second-hand smoke," Zhao Dagui muttered in his heart, and he couldn't care much at this time, so he talked directly to the captain.

"Mr. Captain, have you ever found that ring?" Zhao Dagui greeted people politely first.

"I found it, Mr. Lao Comprador is concerned. At this, the captain's face turned unnaturally red.

"Oh, that's great. By the way, if Mr. Captain wants to sell the goods he brought, is it better to return the goods with tea?"

"It's best to be able to buy tea. However, I also want to buy some souvenirs and take them to the UK to see how the response goes. ”

"As I thought, then I will buy these foreign goods in your hand directly with the kind of tea from yesterday, what do you think?"

"That's good, of course, how do you want to exchange?" Captain Kellett perked up and immediately became interested.

Zhao Dagui already had some knowledge of the barter trade, so according to the agreement with the shopkeeper Lu, he discussed it carefully with the captain.

In the end, Zhao Dagui agreed with the captain that according to the quality and price of the tea the day before, he would provide tea worth 70,000 yuan, and provide cash worth 10,000 yuan.

Next, according to this agreement, Zhao Dagui negotiated with the shopkeeper Lu and them, and finally finalized all the details two days later, signed a contract with both parties, and chose a day to exchange tea and foreign goods for each other, which can be regarded as a complete business.

When I bought tea for the first time, it took me a few days to investigate before I decided to buy and sell; when I sold foreign cloth, I determined the intention to buy and sell almost within a day, and then it was delivered quickly, Zhao Dagui was a little helpless when I thought of this, who would have thought that the magic capital was so strange here, and it was easier to sell things than to buy things.

In any case, in this way, Captain Kellett sold all the goods that came in half a month, bought suitable tea, and 10,000 yuan in cash for working capital or other special products.

Such speed and convenience were the first time that the captain had been doing business for many years, and he couldn't help but praise Zhao Dagui, and he also praised Zhao Dagui for a while in front of Consul Bafur and other foreigners.

The consul and others watched all the processes of Zhao Dagui's help in the transaction, and also had a deep feeling about the cleanliness of this transaction and the huge profits that it might bring, and immediately became much closer to and wooed Zhao Dagui.

Zhao Dagui calculated it himself, and felt that he had made a lot of money in this business.

First of all, the captain brought 50,000 silver dollars, and he helped others buy tea, and obtained a net income of nearly 17,000 yuan;

Then there is the foreign goods worth 80,000 yuan, the total price of this batch of foreign goods except opium is about 74,000 yuan, this is actually the price quoted by the captain to Zhao Dagui, sold to the shopkeeper Li and them, Zhao Dagui actually quoted the price of 102,000 yuan, after some bargaining, he made a price of 95,000 yuan, and the shopkeeper Li gave Zhao Dagui 50,000 yuan of tea and 45,000 yuan in cash;

Zhao Dagui did business with the captain, and the price of 50,000 yuan of tea would rise by about 50%, so he would give the captain 70,000 yuan of tea, and then give the captain 10,000 yuan in cash, and finally leave 35,000 yuan in cash;

In this way, the total income of Zhao Dagui's agent for a shipload of goods is 52,000 Spanish silver dollars.

Originally, Zhao Dagui's income could be higher, but unfortunately, in order to make a quick deal, Zhao Dagui did not bite the offer very hard, and at the same time, out of the morality of modern people, the ten boxes of opium Zhao Dagui kept in his hands and did not sell them to the shopkeeper Li.

In this way, Zhao Dagui's actual income was 52,000 Spanish silver dollars and 10 boxes of opium worth 6,000 yuan, and the total income could have reached more than 60,000 yuan.

In any case, with so much cash, Zhao Dagui immediately got out of the career of a consular clerk who was forced to work (in modern times, there are many people crying and shouting for this kind of work) and entered the ranks of large families.