Early October is the day when the Southern Song Dynasty maritime merchants began to go to Nanyang. Any maritime merchants who were preparing to go to Nanfan would start preparing ships and cargo. Some were anxious and had already set off in advance with the monsoon. ￥f, from this time until the winter solstice, the coastal ports in the south would become extremely lively. Not only were maritime merchants busy, but mainland merchants would also come with goods. Without them, what would the maritime merchants carry on the ship? On the surface, they were just maritime merchants going to Nanyang to run, but in fact there were two complete industrial chains hidden behind this. The maritime merchants who took goods to Nanyang to fight for their lives were just one end of these two industrial chains. At this time, they were the tail, and when they came back next year, they would be the head.

Guangzhou and Quanzhou are the main ports for the southeastern sea merchants. It is absolutely not an exaggeration to describe their current ports as a scattered sail. This year's Guangzhou Port is a bit different from previous years, because two strange sea ships are docking in the port, and there is a copper coin flag hanging on the mast. What is a copper coin flag? It is a large copper coin embroidered on one flag, with no dynasty's year name on it, and only four Chinese characters, which attracts wealth and treasure!

Needless to ask, this thing was made by Hong Tao, so he couldn't get any high-end objects. When he thought of setting up a flag for the merchant ship of the Strait Company, the others thought of all auspicious beasts such as pythons, tigers, big rolls, and kirins. At the very least, they were dragon sharks, whales, etc. But he first thought of the trademarks in later generations. Chambers of commerce, they were so tall and high-end, and literati regarded money as dirt. Why did merchants learn from them? We are not so fake. If you like money, you can say it openly. The copper coin flag is our voice. Adding auspicious words that have been used in later generations is enough. This kind of gadget doesn't need to be sought from anyone's opinion. The board of directors of Jinhe Company is not worried about everything. The board of directors of the Strait Company will not argue with Hong Tao because of this small matter, so the copper coin flag is decided like this!

These two ships were specially built by Hong Tao for the Southern Song Dynasty maritime merchants. Based on the Jiaosha class warship as the design basis, the main keel bones were removed, the ship plates and ribs were thickened, five secondary keel bones, seven partition plates were added, and the stern building was raised. Currently, only two salmon-class ships were built. If the construction was fully started, the Jinhewan Shipyard could build about six ships within a year.

However, Hong Tao did not intend to waste good wood and boatmen's energy to build this thing too much. He just wanted to make a few samples for the Southern Song Dynasty maritime merchants, and then let them invest in the construction of the shipyard and explore and build it by themselves. Only by passing this technology to the Southern Song Dynasty maritime merchants can they obtain the wings of voyage and fly all over the oceans of the world. Only by relying on themselves to build them will not only delay their work arrangements, but also develop their laziness. As the saying goes, "It is better to teach people how to fish than to fish." This is the reason.

This cargo ship named Hong Tao as the salmon-class is more suitable for deep-sea long-distance voyage than the Guanghai, Fuchuan, Bird, and Sand ships at this time. Not only is the cargo load large enough, but the speed can also be maintained at about seven knots, which can fully keep up with the speed of the escort warship. If you can equip a few cannons in the future, it is a standard armed merchant ship, but it can engage in low-intensity and small-scale naval battles. But it also has great limitations, that is, it uses soft sails, which are basically impossible to play with this thing, and you still need to learn from the beginning. Moreover, the cost of this ship is higher than that of the same type of Guanghai, Fuchuan and Bird ship, how much is it? It is about three times higher.

The cost of ships in the Song Dynasty I checked a lot of books, such as "Song Huiyao", "Song Huiyao", and "Wu Jing Zongyao". There were no particularly detailed records. Some said that the amount of money was allocated and how many ships were built, but they did not say how big the ship was, so it was impossible to measure the unit price of ships in the Song Dynasty. In the end, only one record was found in Volume 1 of Lu You's "Lao Xue'an Notes": In August of the third year of Jianyan of Emperor Gaozong (1129), the imperial court ordered the Pingjiang Prefecture (Suzhou) shipyard to build the Siluhai Falcon ship, which was five meters long and 327 guan. Two more oars, warships, eight meters long and two meters wide, and loaded 800 materials. The unit price was 1,607 guan, and seven hundred guan.

If you calculate it, the salmon grade is nearly ten feet long, the displacement is more than 7,000 materials, and the entire set of sailing tools. It is not an exaggeration to sell 4,000 guan, right? I think 5,000 guan is worth it, because high technology must always have high profits.

So are these Southern Song sea merchants willing to spend three or four times the price to buy sea ships with the same load capacity? The answer is that Southern Song sea merchants are not stupid at all. They not only want to buy, but also rush to buy. Because this time Hong Tao asked Luo Youde to pass the message that this year's long-distance fleet does not carry any Southern Song merchant ships, and it is not forcing everyone to buy ships. Instead, the Southern Song sea ships are too slow and have poor seaworthiness, and cannot keep up with the speed of the escort fleet, which is a drag!

If this principle is discussed with other maritime merchants, they will definitely sneer, but the maritime merchants who sailed with Hong Tao last time nodded, saying that it is slow and dangerous! Especially when crossing the Indian Ocean, if it is not for the good weather, it is a problem whether everyone can come back. Although making money is important, when everyone has money in their pockets, they should think about how to make money safely. Fighting their lives is just to get start-up capital. Whoever fights their lives every day and fights their lives every time? That is not a businessman, that is a madman!

The price of a ship is expensive, it doesn’t matter. No matter how expensive it is, as long as it can be earned back, it is a good thing. No matter how cheap it is, it is useless and wasteful when you buy it! Merchants are the best at calculating the accounts. The ship is expensive but has good performance. What’s more important is that if you buy a ship, you will get tickets for huge profits in the long journey. If you don’t buy a ship, you won’t take you to play. To put it bluntly, people don’t buy it all, but buy the confidence in Hong Tao.

Luo Youde was not polite. According to the practice of the merchants of the Song Dynasty, he bought the two ships, and they all secretly bid. Each sea merchant can only offer once, and only the directors of the Strait Company have the right to bid. Others don’t have the right to buy them yet. What is this called? This is called privileged consumption, just like going to a high-end club. People do not sell tickets, nor do they set a minimum consumption, and they want a membership card. You said that I have money in my pocket, but I’m sorry, but I still don’t let you enter. Do you want to enter? Hurry up and buy a membership card, and pay a one-year membership fee for free, and then you are qualified to go in and continue to consume.

In the end, both salmon-class merchant ships were sold at a price of nearly 5,000 guan. Ledeluo Youde couldn't even match his mouth, which means that Hong Tao insisted on not entering the estuary of the Pearl River. If Hong Tao was present, he even wanted to encourage Hong Tao to sell the six ships next year in advance. He made a fortune by making money and used it for a year with someone else's reservation. What does it feel like?

However, Hong Tao was still very kind and righteous. He didn't buy a ship or a marshal who bought the ship. As long as he was a director of the Strait Company, he could bring a new sea merchant to join the long-distance trade fleet. Their cargo could be loaded on the Jinhe River. At present, this big guy was parked outside the estuary of the Pearl River. The cargo capacity of a ship was as high as five or six salmon-class ships, and other escort ships could also carry some cargo in small portions. In short, the sea merchants who contributed to the Strait Company will not forget you in the organization! Let's make a fortune together!

"Brother Wu, I dare to ask which sea ship this is. The flag on it is so strange. It is actually a copper coin. This is in line with the identity, but it is a bit too ostentatious!" Luo Youde and the sea merchants of the Strait Company were struggling on the dock, and it was impossible for anyone to see it. These two strange ships were already very eye-catching. They held such a lively auction, and they couldn't help but attract attention. Soon, other sea merchants began to inquire with each other.

The maritime business group is not a very close organization. The Song Dynasty was a very, very relaxed society. The people would create countless guilds, and a few people would create crickets. Hong Tao had seen countless guilds in Guangzhou and Lin'an, so many that he could not count them. If you see a sign that reads jade milling, gold and silver, lacquer, nail hinge, oil, wood, etc., then this store was joined by the Song Dynasty.

Guilds are called. In fact, there are very few buyers and sellers who do not have guild marks on the signboard, and basically all of them will join a certain guild. Luo Youde once introduced to him that there are more than 600 guilds in Lin'an City, and there are 414 industries that are subdivided, and each industry has more than one guild organization. There is also a guild organization with the charity sign in front. It is not called because it is a public welfare nature and does not make money. It is a bit like volunteers in later generations.

These guild organizations do not listen to the government like later trade unions. The government does not care about them, and they have no obligation to the government. They will issue their own industry standards and use these standards to show consumers their high standards and strict requirements, which is also a means of competition. Whoever has industry standards that can satisfy customers and merchants who join, will have more guild members and have more say in the industry. It is precisely because of the constraints of these guilds that various vicious competition, fakes and fakes, and no credibility can be reduced in the market. Because before you can lie, the guild will remove you first. Without the collective behavior of the guild, you will not survive in the harsh market competition, and consumers will not buy you.
Chapter completed!