Chapter 14 The Shuangcheng in Western Liaoning (14)
The front camp of the Pingzhou Army is different from other armies. One of the most significant differences is that they do not receive empty pay. Not receiving empty pay can prevent the rapid corruption and degeneration of an army to the greatest extent, and can ensure the army to a certain extent.
This is an obvious benefit. But doing so seems a bit inappropriate in this era. In other armies, officers at all levels have free pay, but in your army you cannot get this money.
Comparing the two, no matter how much you talk and sing high-pitched words, how can you convince the officers to follow you to fight the war?
Li Chengzhong's army is a newly established military unit. This problem may not be serious at first, but over time, it will inevitably become a major hidden danger.
The only way to solve this problem is to let the officers under his command gain benefits, at least to make up for the benefits lost by not eating empty pay. There is no condition to consider this issue in Bailang Mountain. After occupying Liucheng, this issue will naturally be raised by Li Chengzhong
within the agenda.
In this chaotic era, if you ask others how to get rich quickly, at least 90 out of 100 people will tell you, of course, to rob! But in the eyes of Li Chengzhong, who has modern thinking, the answer is to do business. Outside the customs
Ginseng, fur, deer antlers, cattle, sheep, and various medicinal materials are all goods he can sell. The only thing he lacks is trade routes.
In order to open up this trade route, Li Chengzhong had a secret discussion last night with Zhou Zhiyu, the prince's young master Li Juncao, who came to the Zhou Mansion for a banquet, and Yancheng guard Li Cheng, and planned to build a trade route from Yingzhou to the south.
The trade road leads to Pingzhou, leads to Jizhou, and finally reaches Youzhou. The northern end of this trade road is taken care of by the Pingzhou Army, and the south and west roads are maintained by the Li family and his sons.
The trade route from Youzhou to the west to Hedong is controlled by the Gao family. When everyone was discussing yesterday, they also planned this direction and were ready to find an opportunity to explore the Gao family's reputation.
Unexpectedly, as soon as Li Chengzhong mentioned it, he actually got the news that the Gao family had a fleet. This was so important. It meant that in addition to opening up a trade route to Hedong, the fleet could also be used to go south directly from Yingzhou to transport goods.
Sell to the South! Compared with the Central Plains where wars are frequent, the wealth in the South is enviable to everyone. Why can Yang Xingmi and Qian Liu of Jianghuai separate their own territory and withstand the attack of the tiger and wolf troops from the north? Without him, they have more money.
you!
Li Chengzhong drooled when he thought of the raw silk, tea, porcelain, and grain from the south. He immediately decided to tie the Gao family firmly to the commercial warship he had envisioned, and build a ship composed of Li Chengzhong, Zhou Zhiyu, the Gao family, and Li Chengzhong.
It is a commercial aircraft carrier that all parties participate in. The original idea of each firm being responsible for their own trade routes no longer meets the current needs. Only by relying on common interests can the leaders of the Lulong Army be firmly bound together. For
Therefore, Li Chengzhong immediately thought of the concept of joint-stock system.
The earliest records of partnership business in Chinese history were Guan Zhong and Bao Shuya of Qi State in the Spring and Autumn Period. After that, although there were merchants who jointly contributed money to make a living, they were all simple and crude partnerships, which were very different from modern joint-stock systems.
But Li Chengzhong had no way to explain the word "joint-stock system", so he used the word "partnership". In fact, what he called a partnership trading company was a joint-stock trading company. Li Chengzhong had never studied economics, but he also knew about some joint-stock companies
Approximately.
"Partnership trading company? How to form a partnership? I'd like to hear the sermons." Of course Gao Liu knew the meaning of partnership, but she had doubts about it. The consequences of doing business in partnership are usually not good. In addition to business failure, there are often troubles.
The two parties who obtained the partnership turned against each other. Of course, not all partnerships will cause the two parties to fall out, such as the partnership between Bao Shuya and Guan Zhong.
In the partnership business of these two celebrities of the Spring and Autumn Period, not only did the two parties not have any conflicts, but their friendship with each other became even deeper. However, this example is only an individual case and has no reference value, because Bao Shuya of one partner paid great attention to the other party Guan Zhong.
Guan Zhong showed great tolerance, even to the point of being obscene - Guan Zhong lost money many times during his business operation, and Bao Shuya would say with a shy face every time, "It doesn't matter, boss, I will make up for the loss. It's not strange for the business to lose money."
You, it all depends on Tianshier! Speaking of it, God is quite unfair. He was shot while lying down.
The partnership between the two eventually failed because Guan Zhong, who was in charge of the business, was really not a good material for business. Facts have proved that he was better at governing the country, and his real talent lay in conducting large-scale macroeconomic control on a national scale.
Guan Zhong, whose business went bankrupt, was later recommended by Bao Shuya as the Prime Minister of Qi. Eventually, Qi was brought into great power and achieved great hegemony for a generation.
As far as Gao Liu's heart is concerned, she doesn't agree with the idea of doing business in partnership, but she is willing to listen to Li Chengzhong's ideas.
"For example, if we set up a trading company with a principal of 100,000 guan, and divide the 100,000 guan into 100 shares, each share is 1,000 guan, and if I claim 50 shares, I will need to contribute 50,000 guan, which will occupy the trading company's capital.
50%, you can share 50% of the future profits." Li Chengzhong explained.
There is no difference between this statement and partnership trading. Of course Gao Liu understands it immediately. She is waiting for Li Chengzhong's next explanation. If it is just like this, she will not be interested in this partnership trading company at all.
"The management and operation of a trading company are the responsibility of the proprietors' association and the shopkeepers' association. The proprietors' association is an alliance composed of proprietors who contribute funds, and the shopkeepers' association is composed of hired shopkeepers. The final power of a trading company lies with the proprietors' association, which is composed of
The proprietors will formulate major strategies for the operation of the trading company, and the shopkeepers association will be responsible for the specific implementation. The proprietors will exercise their power according to the share of investment they hold. Those with larger shares will have higher powers. The proprietors will elect a leader and designate a leader.
The shopkeepers and proprietors will not interfere with the daily operations of the shopkeepers. The shopkeepers must complete the business goals set by the proprietors..." Li Chengzhong talked eloquently, carefully explaining the concept of joint-stock system in his understanding in a way that the other party could understand.
.
"Separation of power between proprietor and shopkeeper?" Mrs. Gao Liu is worthy of being the head of the Gao family for so many years. She is really a good hand in business. She immediately saw the key to the separation of ownership and management rights in the modern joint-stock company system.
"What if the shopkeepers conceal their profits?" Gao Liu asked immediately. She had already seen the crux of the problem.
Li Chengzhong carefully recalled the joint-stock enterprise model he had heard about, and replied: "It can be controlled from two aspects. In addition to electing the leader, the proprietors' association also elects several supervisors to review and supervise the shopkeepers. At the same time,
, Mr. Accountant is dispatched by the proprietors’ meeting to control the source and destination of money and items from the accounts. The chief shopkeeper’s term is one year, and whether to renew the term is decided by the annual proprietors’ meeting.”
"How to elect the president and supervisors of the proprietors association?"
"Uh... I have said before that each company owns the capital of the trading company according to the amount of investment, and also has the right to choose according to the amount of investment. Everyone sits together and jointly elects. If the person who is elected gets more than 50% of the investment amount,
If the proprietor supports it, then he will be the leader of the proprietors association. In the same way, he can elect supervisors and the chief shopkeeper. Other shopkeepers will be appointed by the chief shopkeeper..."
"The big shopkeeper is not loyal and responsible to a certain proprietor. His allegiance and responsibility is to the proprietor association that hired him..."
"The proprietors' meeting is convened once a year. The leader and the chief shopkeeper must report on the operating conditions of the trading company that year at the proprietors' meeting..."
…
The idea of establishing a joint-stock trading company gradually took shape during a morning's discussion. Li Chengzhong also gained a clearer understanding of this model under constant questions from Gao Liu and Gao Xingzhou.
The guests and hosts had a great conversation, and they didn't realize that time was rushing by.
While they were talking, a servant of the Gao family reported back: "The military envoy Zhou Zhiyu came from the Mansion and urged Li Xuanjie to go over, saying that there was something urgent."
Li Chengzhong had no choice but to leave and made an appointment with Mrs. Gao to continue talking in detail. It is very difficult to support the Gao family's large business. Mrs. Gao attaches great importance to making money. At this moment, she really has some unfinished ideas, so she said: "It is already noon. I wanted to stay here."
Xuan Jie is having dinner, but Xuan Jie has something to do, so I can’t stay too long... I will seriously consider the partnership business mentioned by Xuan Jie, and if you have any questions you need to ask Xuan Jie again."
Li Chengzhong had long admired the name of this woman who was rumored to have bravely entered the festival hall last year and hit Liu Zhiwen, the judge of Jiedu Prefecture, with a shoe.
, I have an intuitive understanding of the straightforward and courageous temperament. This kind of temperament is more in line with the views of Li Chengzhong from later generations. Therefore, Li Chengzhong also admired the Gao Liu family very much. He bowed respectfully and deeply at the moment.
Say goodbye and go out.
When people from the Zhou Mansion rushed to Zhou's house, Zhou Zhiyu had been waiting at home for a long time. He grabbed Li Chengzhong and got on his horse to go to Jiedu Mansion.
"The Marshal wants to see you, it's probably about the Zhao family's war horses." On the way, Zhou Zhiyu explained the situation of the military meeting in the morning one by one, and then said: "The Zhao family has gone too far to bully others. You can just find a way to deal with it, Marshal."
, as for the war horse, I definitely can’t give it to him.”
Hearing that Zhao Ba insulted Zhou Zhiyu in public at the military meeting in the festival hall, Li Chengzhong was furious: "This bitch, you want horses? There is no door! Their Cui Cheng is still in Liucheng, not only the horses, but also all the goods he has
Don’t even think about it! There are also those officers who were forced into my hands. Isn’t he afraid that I will deal with them? By the way, why don’t you move your wife and Dalang to Pingzhou?”
Seeing that Li Chengzhong was angry and worried about his family, Zhou Zhiyu was worried and said: "Zi Cheng doesn't need to worry too much. There is a commander in charge of Youzhou. How can he dare to do something to a family member? With what happened today."
It is estimated that the officers of the Zhao family will not dare to go to Liucheng. As for the merchant, we will discuss it later. Now think carefully about what you will say when you meet the commander."
Arriving at the yamen of Jiedu Mansion, the military attache on duty said, "Please come in first, the military envoy and Xuanjie. The commander-in-chief went out on business just now. Before leaving, he asked the two of them to wait outside the festival hall. He will see them when he comes back."
Bit."
The festival hall was a walled courtyard with several Yajun guards standing at the door. The military attaché led Zhou Zhiyu and Li Chengzhong to a wing outside the courtyard. The yamen, also known as the Yamen, handed them tea and then left.
Zhou Zhiyu and Li Chengzhong sat and waited in the wing for more than half an hour. After drinking several cups of tea, Liu Rengong still didn't come back. Li Chengzhong talked at Gao's house for a whole morning, drank a lot of water, and hurried to Jiedu Mansion and drank some more.
A lot of water, but I didn't have time to clear out the inventory. At this moment, I couldn't help but urinate urgently. I said to Zhou Zhiyu: "I'm so nervous. The soldier and horse commander sit down for a while, I'm going to pee."
Zhou Zhiyu said with a smile: "There is a toilet in the festival hall, but you are not allowed to break in. After bypassing the festival hall, go through the corridor to the left, and there is a toilet." Zhou Zhiyu often travels to Jiedu Mansion and is very familiar with this place.
, it was Li Chengzhong’s first time here, so he gave some guidance.
Li Chengzhong stood up, followed Zhou Zhiyu's instructions, and trotted out the door.
Seeing him in such embarrassment, Zhou Zhiyu couldn't help but smile.