A month ago, sixty-two sea ships were loaded with cargo gathered in Zhoushan. The two Zhejiang Navy and his team escorted south to the coast of Fujian and Guangdong to replenish freshwater and food.

Sixty-two sea ships, formed in the name of various commercial banks, should have been to advance and retreat together, but in fact, the time and location of goods sold and purchased in Nanyang were slightly different, so they returned in batches.

The last fleet of ships returned only had eight ships. The pirates seized the opportunity. After a battle, they lost two ships. The other six also abandoned a large amount of cargo to speed up their escape.

"Look clearly, it's indeed a pirate?"

"It's indeed a pirate." Liu Hong, who went out to sea this time, said affirmatively: "If you return one day early, the fleet will have more than 30 sea ships. The pirates will not dare to attack. Unfortunately, they are too greedy and buy too much cargo, which will delay for a day..."

"Which company is from... so stupid!" Qian Yuan asked casually: "Remember that all this batch has been paid?"

"Yes..." Liu Hong coughed twice, "The eight sea boats belong to the same company, Hengtong Business."

"Hengtong Business Name?" Qian Yuan thought for a while but couldn't remember which business it belonged to.

Liu Hong coughed twice again, "Cixi Yuan Family."

The room was silent, and Qian Yuan's face looked a little weird.

The Yuan family in Cixi became rich by sea trade in the early years, and later became a leader of Yuan Wei, who favored Emperor Jiajing with Qing Ci, and even became powerful in Zhejiang.

In the 35th year of Jiajing, the Yuan family in Cixi was the first Southeastern big-name household to go out to sea to sell goods. Unfortunately, it was a bit stupid... The bank forced to go out to sea without paying taxes, but was intercepted by Yang Wen and Qi Jimei and fired.

It was not until Qian Yuan returned to Beijing that the Yuan family participated in the maritime trade, but they became much more well-behaved, especially in the past two years... because Yuan Wei, who had entered the cabinet in the original time and space, died of illness in his post as the Minister of Personnel in this life.

In recent years, Suiyuan and Yuan Wei, Qian Yuan and the Yuan family in Cixi have been quite unhappy. Yuan Wei was criticized by Xu Wei many times, and Qian Yuan also threw the gift from the Yuan family out.

"It may not be a bad thing." Qian Yuan thought for a while and couldn't help laughing: "There hasn't been much progress in Sitong Trading this month, right?"

Guo Yuan, the deputy shopkeeper of Sitong Trading Company, was standing aside, and said bitterly: "Young master, my colleagues are silent, but behind my back... Someone asked if Suiyuan is short of money."

Qian Yuan smiled indifferently and said, "Maybe he is still scolding me for levying heavy taxes behind me!"

More than a month ago, Liu Hong, the shopkeeper of Sitong Trading Company, Guo Zhong, the deputy shopkeeper, and Liang Sheng, the leader of the Qian family guard who stayed by Qian Yuan, held a banquet and invited a large number of peers... those shopkeepers with sea boats under their names and shopkeepers of the shopkeepers of the shops.

Liu Hong proposed a transaction that surprised many people. Before going to sea, the ship was valued with the cargo and the ship itself, and paid half a share to join the Sitong Trading Company.

If a merchant ship goes to sea and encounters a storm and is damaged by pirates, Sitong Trading Company will compensate in proportion, with the maximum full compensation.

There are a lot of regulations, in short, in a word, take money... This is the consensus view of those maritime merchants and shopkeepers.

Although Qian Yuan did not come forward, Liu Hong, Guo Zhong and Liang Sheng were both from the Qian family's guards, which was obviously Qian Yuan's idea.

Many people either faced or tactfully advised Qian Yuan, the former was like Hai Rui and the latter was like Zheng Ruozeng. During the Zhengde period, the Japanese smuggling was not strong, and the smuggling of large Southeasters to sea was extremely rampant. On the one hand, the imperial court banned the sea, and on the other hand, the Maritime Bureau requested too much.

In their opinion, Qian Yuan was actually tax hike in disguise, increasing from 10% to 10% and not to mention anything else. This change will cause Qian Yuan's reputation among Southeast China businessmen to fall rapidly.

Qian Yuan, who was mainly engaged in import and export trade in his previous life, sneered at this view. What is the difference between a half-two tariffs and a free pickup?

It is still taxable for exports, no tax for imports, and no tax for transactions in sea markets... Qian Yuan really wants to get out the value-added tax.

And it is not a half-two tariff, and the tariff is still only 10%, but it is just a half-final insurance.

Qian Yuan was not sure when the so-called insurance industry emerged in later generations, but he keenly discovered that insurance could deeply participate in the maritime trade system and allow his influence to spread deeper and wider every corner of maritime trade.

In the original time and space, the insurance industry appeared around this era, and the opportunity that emerged was precisely because of sea trade... Whether in the East or the West, navigation is always at a relatively high risk in various industries. Once the ship is destroyed and people die, it may go bankrupt. In this case, insurance emerged, sharing risks to reduce losses.

After the insurance industry emerged in the West, it was promoted very quickly, but it was a bit difficult in the East.

Well, it's not a bit difficult, but it's very difficult.

After all, in this era, sea ships have poor storm resistance, and pirates frequently attack merchant ships. Even if a friend from the Sihai Commercial Bank who was guarded by the Qian family is stationed on the ship, it is inevitable that insurance compensation will be cheated, and sometimes it is difficult to verify.

But if it can be promoted, the benefits will be obvious.

First of all, financial resources, insurance industry... Sometimes it is not much different from fundraising. After promotion, Qian Yuan can gather a large amount of silver with the Sihai Commercial Bank.

It takes money to build warships, not to mention that Qian Yuan’s workshop in Kuocangshan requires a lot of money to develop various firearms.

With the money, Sitong Trading Company can open semicolons in various places, open shops, restaurants, inns, and reach anywhere you can reach.

The second is influence. Promoting insurance will definitely have considerable constraints on maritime merchants. The choice of routes, when to go to sea, type of goods, etc., only changes in the insurance regulations of Sihai Commercial Bank will have an impact on the entire maritime trade system.

The simplest thing is, if the insurance industry is promoted in the Southeast, Sihai Commercial Bank will add to the insurance regulations, and the ships transporting iron and sea will not be accepted...

However, even if Qian Yuan asked Liang Sheng to come forward, even if a large amount of silver was transferred from Beijing to the Sihai Commercial Bank, insurance would still be difficult to promote.

The first reaction of countless people was that Qian Yuan wanted to increase taxes!

In the end, Qian Yuan could only give his political and commercial alliances a try. The so-called alliances are basically the same party as Suiyuan.

The Pan family in Xinchang, the Zhou family in Hangzhou, the Shanyin family in Yuyao, the Chen family in Qiantang, the Gao family in Songjiang, and the Lu family in Songjiang reluctantly paid half a percent of the insurance fee a month ago and went out to sea. Qian Yuan did not expect that he also mixed into the Yuan family in Cixi.

It just so coincidental that the unfortunate one was the Yuan family in Cixi... But this is not a bad thing for Qian Yuan. Is there any better person to give mercy than this?

Liu Hong suddenly spoke, "Fortunately the ship was just robbed in the South China Sea. If it was near the sea... I was afraid it would be a bad thing... Especially the one who was unlucky this time was the Yuan family."
Chapter completed!