Chapter 154 Visitors from Guangzhou

Li Nai stood on the deck with his hands behind his back, silently looking at the lucky ship flying the "Haihan" flag in front of him, but he was thinking about other things.

The business name "Fu Ruifeng" was founded by the Li family during the Hongwu period and has been passed down from generation to generation for more than 200 years. After the efforts of several generations of the Li family, "Fu Ruifeng" has grown from a hawker walking around the streets in the beginning.

A salesman, it gradually developed into a large trading house with seventeen branches and its business spread all over South China. In Guangzhou, today "Fu Ruifeng" can be regarded as one of the few shopping mall giants.

Li Nai has a good life. It can be said that he was born with a golden spoon in his mouth. This is because his father is Li Jifeng, the big boss of "Furuifeng". From the day he was born, he has been living a life of being a master.

If there is any regret, it is that there are two older brothers above him. In terms of the order of succession, Li Nai can be ranked third at most.

If nothing unexpected happens in the future, what Li Nai will probably inherit is a local business name under "Fu Ruifeng". Just like the shopkeeper Li of "Fu Ruifeng" in Yazhou, he and the big boss Li Jifeng are also cousins.

, but because he had no inheritance rights, he could only be assigned to serve as a steward in a local business.

Li Nai's father didn't really want him to continue on the road of business. After all, the entire social environment emphasized agriculture over business. There were four classes of scholars, farmers, industry and commerce, and businessmen were always ranked at the bottom. Although the Li family

Generations have been good at doing business, and they have continued to develop and expand "Fu Ruifeng" for more than two hundred years. However, in terms of social status, the Li family is still far from being a truly wealthy family.

The reason for this is actually very simple, because for eight generations, no one in the Li family has been an official, and all of them are businessmen. Naturally, it is difficult to achieve a higher social status. Li Jifeng learned from the painful experience, and this is what happened to Li Nai

He worked hard and spent a lot of money to hire famous teachers to study in famous schools, hoping that he would pass the imperial examination and soar to the top, so that the old Li family could also become a civil servant within the system.

Li Nai did not live up to his expectations. He was selected as a scholar at the age of fourteen, and passed the provincial examination at the age of eighteen and was elected as a civil servant. However, he took two public examinations and failed to pass. Although it is said that as long as he becomes a civil servant, he can become an official.

However, there are so many people in the world, and it would take at least ten years to be ranked as a county magistrate. This is obviously a deviation from Li Jifeng's original goal of hoping for a successful son.

Li Nai himself had been studying for more than ten years and was a little tired of taking exams year after year, so he tactfully proposed that he wanted to try to help his family run the business. Li Jifeng was also an open-minded person, thinking that Li Nai was already here anyway.

He was admitted to the Juren Examination and was considered to have achieved fame. It was really not easy to take the next step to grab the three hundred tribute places, so he was given a relatively easy job - to go to Qiongzhou Prefecture to discuss trade cooperation with a local maritime merchant.

.If Li Nai does well, there is nothing wrong with gradually handing over some business to him to take care of. If he does not do well, he can just go back to study and take the exam. Anyway, the family does not lack the money to support him to concentrate on his studies.

Li Nai had actually heard about the target of this visit. In May, a business in Qiongzhou sent several pieces of glassware and silver mirrors. According to the guy who sent the things, there was a shop in the south of Qiongzhou Island.

A new group of maritime merchants appeared near Yazhou, claiming to be from the "Haihan Kingdom" thousands of miles away. Their appearance and language are consistent with those of the Ming Dynasty, but their clothing and customs are unique. These Haihan people seem to have mastered a certain

These unique craftsmanship can produce glassware that is no less than that of Western merchants. As for the silver mirror, Li Nai has also seen it with his own eyes. It illuminates people very clearly, much better than a bronze mirror, and it is extremely rare on the market.

of objects.

Li Jifeng has been doing business for many years, and he also knows that Western merchants have this kind of strange silver mirror, but because the quantity is extremely rare, they don't take it out at all, they keep it for their own use. And these new Haihan people have obviously mastered some kind of production.

Among the mirrors they sell, there is even a square mirror with a length and width of one foot. Although this mirror is priced at eight hundred taels of silver, in Li Jifeng's eyes, this kind of thing is rare in the world.

, not to mention eight hundred taels, even if the price doubled or tripled, it would still be worth it.

Sure enough, this mirror was only displayed in the "Furuifeng" head office for two days before it was purchased by a certain big shot in Guangzhou Prefecture for a price of 1,500 taels of silver. As for the small number of other samples sent from Qiongzhou Prefecture,

It was quickly sold out. Li Jifeng immediately asked people to buy the saltpeter, sulfur, coke and other commodities requested by the other party on the market, and shipped them to Qiongzhou Island.

After that, every half month or so, a batch of goods from "Haihan" would arrive in Guangzhou. Because of the shrewd performance of shopkeeper Li from Yazhou, "Fu Ruifeng" obtained the Guangzhou sales of Haihan glassware and silver mirrors.

The exclusive rights to operate the business also allowed the head office to make a lot of money.

In mid-June, shopkeeper Li from the Yazhou branch of "Furuifeng" returned to Guangzhou to report on his work, and brought back the latest Haihan products and their requirements. Li Jifeng kept half of this new glass stationery for himself.

As the representative scholar in the family, Li Nai was also fortunate enough to be assigned a set.

In order to help his family promote this new product, Li Nai took the lead in holding a poetry meeting and invited many local cultural celebrities in Guangzhou to attend. As soon as this glass stationery appeared, the quality of the entire poetry meeting seemed to have been qualitatively improved.

Just as Schneider expected, this crystal clear cultural product was immediately praised and sought after by scholars. Of course, the scholars who can pursue this thing are generally from relatively well-off families. After all, not every scholar has the financial resources.

I can spend a hundred taels to buy a set of glass stationery.

Yes, that's right. The ex-factory price of glass stationery in Port of Victory was only 10 taels per set. After arriving in Guangzhou, the price has already increased. In addition, the Li family has already digested five sets, so only five sets can flow into the market.

It's just a set. One hundred taels is not too expensive. If you are not closely related to Mr. Li San, the owner of "Fu Ruifeng", you won't have anywhere to buy it even if you have money.

Li Nai told the local scholars "with great regret" at the poetry meeting that this kind of glass stationery came from thousands of miles away, and each set was custom-made, so it was very difficult to get. The merchant house was trying to place an order, but as for when it would arrive

There is no comment on how much the goods will be available. Friends who are interested in buying can pay more attention to the stores of Jishang Company - the implication is that this thing is currently priced but not available. If you want to buy it to show off, then prepare early.

What a penny!

Naturally, some quick-thinking people quietly found Li Nai after the poetry meeting and insisted on getting a deposit to make a reservation. In view of the high enthusiasm of consumers to buy, Li Nai had no choice but to accept these reservations. After two or three days,

Since then, more than 20 people have already placed deposits with Li Nai, and the market prospect can be said to be bright.

According to shopkeeper Li who brought these samples back, these are just samples produced by Haihan people, and the official products will definitely be more refined and perfect. Shopkeeper Shi from Haihan has already said that there will be more in the future.

A variety of products will be launched one after another, and products in this category will be differentiated by brand and price. In the words of Haihan people, this is called "developing products according to the needs of consumers."

The Li family and his son were all stunned for a moment. The principles contained in these business strategies are not particularly profound. They have been doing business for many years. They can figure out the key points with a little effort, but they have never understood it.

Some people have thought and done this. The remarks relayed by Shopkeeper Li are like opening a new door in front of them, making them realize that business can still be done this way.

Of course, in addition to these, the thousand kilograms of refined salt also aroused a lot of interest in Li Jifeng. Needless to say, the profit of the private salt business, Li Jifeng, who has been in the shopping mall for many years, naturally has a lot of it. And the refined salt provided by Haihan people is not only

The quality is good enough and the price is extremely low - the other party is willing to supply "Furuifeng" for a long time at a price of fifty taels of silver per kilogram. This is comparable to the current price of three hundred and fifty to four hundred taels of silver per kilogram in Guangzhou.

Compared to this, the profit is simply terrifying. Even if "Furuifeng" does not sell it directly but resells these private salts to several local salt dealers, the profits from this resale are still very considerable. But out of caution, Li Jifeng still warned

When he contacted shopkeeper Li, he had to ask the Haihan people to supply more than 10,000 kilograms of goods per month - without the support of a huge transaction volume, the benefits that this business could bring would not be enough for "Fu Ruifeng"

Take risks for this.

Shopkeeper Li from Yazhou, who has had many dealings with the Haihan people, highly praised the Haihan people's attitude towards doing business. In his opinion, the Haihan people have several characteristics in doing business. One of them is trustworthiness and negotiating good product prices.

, the types and quantities will not be changed, the settlement of accounts is also very clear, and there will be no delays and repetitions.

The second is flexibility. Haihan people rarely ask for cash payment when doing business. They usually use barter. Nowadays, "trading coupons" have been introduced to replace money in local transactions.

It saves you the trouble of counting the numbers and checking the quality during the payment settlement.

The third is the method. The Haihan people have not only mastered advanced production technology, but their skills in selling goods are also worth learning. The poetry party organized by Li Nai this time was actually Schneider's idea for Shopkeeper Li in Yazhou. Of course,

When Schneider described this method, he did not mention using the form of "poetry meeting", but used another word that is relatively unfamiliar to everyone - product promotion meeting. But no matter what, this method is obviously very effective, Li Jifeng

Even if you have already thought about it, when something new comes on the market in the future, you should promote it in advance like this.

These characteristics summarized by Shopkeeper Li of Yazhou became an important reference for Li Nai when he traveled to Qiongzhou Island to visit the Haihan people. Shopkeeper Li brought thousands of taels of cash and two ships to the Haihan people in a few days.

The purchase ship has left Guangzhou, and he will go to Victory Port to order the next batch of glassware, stationery, mirrors, and perhaps other new goodies from the Haihan people.
Chapter completed!