Huang Bojian was a merchant from Yangzhou. He used to only do land cargo transportation. After the Ming Dynasty reformed the shipping department, he quickly switched to transporting overseas spices with the help of his connections.
That is, Fan merchants transported the spices to Guangdong, Fujian, and Daming maritime merchants, and then transferred them to Ningbo, Hangzhou, or Haimen.
Some merchants continued to transship the spices to Runzhou (Zhenjiang) or Yangzhou.
Huang Bojian purchased goods in Yangzhou and transported them all the way to Kaifeng through the canal.
In this way, merchants make money at each level. However, the price of spices in Kaifeng is much lower than that in the former Song Dynasty, because the spices in the former Song Dynasty were bought and sold by officials.
After the Ming Dynasty reformed the Shipping Department, not only did merchants at all levels earn more, but the court's tax revenue also increased.
So the question is, where did these profits come from?
In addition to overseas spices, Huang Bojian also transports some southern goods. Diversified operations can hedge potential risks.
But no matter what I do, I will make more money than before.
Because the tax cards of prefectures and counties along the way were cancelled, there was no need to pay tolls again and again. The court only set up tax offices to collect taxes in a few key places, which greatly reduced the burden on merchants.
Ming Dynasty has a holy emperor, and the life of merchants is finally better!
Arriving at the tax field in the southeast of Kaifeng, Huang Bojian stopped the boat and waited to enter the tax field.
There were many merchant ships parked inside and outside the harbor. After waiting for more than two hours, it was finally Huang Bojian's turn to enter.
The dock coolies moved the goods in, and Huang Bojian watched the whole process until the goods on the ship were transferred to the open space. Then, they continued to line up.
After waiting in line for almost two hours, Huang Bojian took out his cargo voucher.
On the voucher, the type and quantity of the goods are written, and the place of departure is Yangzhou. It also indicates which tax offices passed along the way and how much tolls have been paid. From Yangzhou to the tax offices along the way, every place has a stamp.
Anything missing a stamp is considered smuggling.
"Inspect the goods!" shouted the tax collector.
Tax collectors immediately conducted random inspections. It was just a random inspection. It would take too much time to inspect all the goods. There were many merchants queuing up behind.
Huang Bojian is in a happier mood. Since the nationwide "severe crackdown" last year, even the tax collectors no longer deliberately create difficulties.
In the past, there would always be minor problems, and I had to pay some small sums of money to solve them.
While inspecting the goods, a tax collector said to Huang Bojian: "Excuse me, please come and sit over there. The imperial court has promulgated a new law."
Huang Bojian didn't know what was going on, so he asked his confidants to guard here and watch, and he walked in curiously.
I saw an official sitting there and many merchants surrounding him.
The clerk pointed to the notice on the wall: "Commissioner, please read it carefully. If you have any questions after reading it, you can ask Mr. Zhong who is sitting here."
Huang Bojian squeezed towards the crowd, and the notice contained the detailed rules for the establishment of the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
In the past, when transporting goods to Beijing, the goods were transported to the tax field and then moved to the official warehouse for storage. Wholesalers or intermediaries came to see the goods for valuation, and if they could agree on the deal, they bought the goods.
If you can't sell it all the time, you have to pay warehouse usage fees every day.
Every industry has a guild, and the leader must be the largest wholesaler, and most of them work part-time as intermediaries. Small and medium-sized retailers must rely on wholesalers to supply goods. Merchants from other places must also rely on wholesalers to buy goods.
Foreign merchants can of course trade directly with retailers, and the law does not prohibit this.
But if the guild bosses know about it, they will not buy the goods from this merchant in the coming year, nor will they sell the goods to relevant retailers. Any private transactions that bypass the guild will be punished by the guild leaders.
The guys join forces to attack.
How do guild bosses manipulate prices?
They first agreed privately that they would not buy any goods during a certain period. The goods shipped by foreign merchants could only be piled in the warehouse, and they had to pay warehouse usage fees every day.
As time goes by, not only the foreign merchants cannot afford the warehouse money, but also the official warehouses are piled up like mountains. The officials who manage the warehouses will force the merchants to ship goods at low prices.
As a last resort, foreign merchants can only sell goods at low prices or even sell them at a loss.
After eating up the merchants, the guild bosses also eat away at the retailers. Anyway, they have their own warehouses. As long as the backlog of goods is not too much, they will work together to ship in limited quantities to create the illusion of a shortage of goods, and then sell them to retailers at a higher price.
"Haha, there is an exchange in Tokyo, which is a blessing for merchants all over the world!" Huang Bojian heard a merchant clapping his hands in praise.
A businessman next to him said: "May I ask, brother, is this exchange really serious? Apart from Tokyo, where else have exchanges been established?"
The merchant said: "All the six major shipping companies have exchanges."
"Why does it look like the city affairs of the former Song Dynasty?"
"No, no. The Yiwu officials in the city were waiting for me at first when buying and selling goods, but then things gradually changed. Those officials in the Yiwu city in the former Song Dynasty categorically described the high-quality goods of merchants as inferior.
They force merchants to sell goods at low prices. They also take low-quality goods and sell them to merchants at high prices. They also force merchants to borrow usurious loans. They are more ruthless than the leaders of the trade!"
"That is, it is better not to change Mr. Wang's trading laws. We would rather be oppressed by those leaders than be beaten to the bone and sucked out the marrow by the officials."
"This exchange is different. The government does not interfere in the trading. It is like the government has set up a stage, let us sing on the stage ourselves, and just pay a stage tax to the government."
"But what if those big merchants join forces and don't buy goods? It's too slow to rely on small merchants to buy goods. Once the delay is too long, the warehouse will cost a lot of money."
"Yes, I know the exchanges of the six major shipping companies. But the seaport is different. The local merchants do not buy the goods, but the foreign merchants buy them and transport them away. But this is Tokyo, and the goods cannot be transported elsewhere.
"If the small and medium-sized merchants can't finish the goods for a while, then they will all fall into the hands of our merchants, and in the end they will have to sell them to those big merchants at a low price."
"Go ask Mr. Zhong!"
"..."
The official who had been sitting all this time was called Zhong Qi. He put aside the tea and explained slowly: "I don't want to be my husband. I am just a member of the Hubu Department. I am a member of the Communist Party of China like everyone else. You guys, just call me Zhong Yuanwai."
Huang Bojian raised his hands and asked: "Please also ask Xianggong Zhong to clarify my doubts. What if the big merchants (wholesalers) do not accept the goods and the small and medium merchants (retailers) are too slow to eat the goods? In the market transactions of the former Song Dynasty, the government would take the excess goods.
We want to buy it, but the current exchange does not have the government to buy it. As time goes by, we will not be able to afford the warehouse costs."
Zhong Qi raised a finger: "First. When the exchange is selling goods, as long as it costs ten cents to apply for a subscription certificate, anyone can purchase the goods for a long time. Although the goods bill has a minimum subscription amount, even if it is
Vendors selling food along the street, even if several families pool their money together, they can buy one item together.”
He raised a second finger: "Second, the daily market price of the exchange follows the ten-day price in Tokyo, and is mostly lower than the shipment price of the big traders. The small and medium-sized traders in Tokyo will rush to take the lead.
Single purchase. Because of the large number of people, they are very capable of buying goods. In the market affairs of the former Song Dynasty, the reason why small and medium-sized merchants could not buy too many goods was because officials exploited the profits. They even forced small and medium-sized merchants to borrow usurious loans from the government to buy.
Goods, they won’t sell them without borrowing usury.”
"Third, no matter how the big traders manipulate the market, their ultimate goal is to make money. If they don't scan the goods, but let small and medium-sized merchants buy on the exchange, then they will never make money, and their warehouses will
It has been empty. As time goes by, it is they who should be anxious. They will be more anxious than you merchants!"
"Fourth, what you should really worry about is not you, but the small and medium-sized merchants who retail goods. It is very likely that the big merchants in Tokyo will join forces to sweep up the goods and buy up all the spot goods on the exchange. Then they will hoard the goods and not sell them.
Retail sales to small and medium-sized traders.”
"Hey, let them hold on to the goods. If they really dare to collectively control the market, the court doesn't even need to arrest anyone. It only needs to contact foreign merchants urgently and transport more goods to the exchange. By then, small and medium-sized merchants can buy goods on the exchange.
. How much can the big merchants eat if they continue to sweep goods? They can’t fill their warehouses and continue to sweep goods on the street, right? The more goods they hoard, the more losses they will suffer!”
Huang Bojian asked again: "If the big merchants are really hoarding, will the government be able to transfer goods from other places in time?"
Zhong Qi explained: "The imperial court gave the exchange special privileges. At critical times, it can use four hundred miles to rush to contact merchants from surrounding provinces to transport goods to Beijing. Moreover, these merchants who receive four hundred miles to rush to Beijing will pay taxes along the way.
All goods will be released without taxation. Then they will not have to pay taxes along the way, and the price of the goods transported to the capital will be lower. Those big merchants who hoard them will suffer a lot!"
"Wonderful, wonderful!"
"He is indeed the Holy Emperor. He has even thought about these things."
"If you transport goods to the capital from now on, you won't be bullied by big merchants anymore."
"Long live the Ming Dynasty! Long live the official family!"
"..."
The merchants from all over the world were all cheering for joy at this moment.
For the exchange, preventing prices from being depressed is secondary, but the main thing is to avoid operating risks.
In the past, when more goods came to Beijing, big merchants would join forces not to buy the goods, and would threaten the warehouse usage fees, forcing merchants to ship goods home at a loss.
Huang Bojian straightened his clothes and suggested, "After we finish the work at the exchange, why don't we go to the Donghua Gate to thank the emperor for his great kindness?"
"Go together, go together!"
The merchants laughed and agreed. They are very sensitive to policies and can accurately judge what is beneficial to them.
Everyone was delighted and continued to inquire, asking how the exchange performed transactions.
In the afternoon of the next day, Huang Bojian completed the procedures.
When he was happy, he went to a restaurant outside Tokyo and took all the caravan guys out to have a drink.
However, the leaders in Tokyo were holding an urgent meeting.
It is still a meeting between all walks of life, not an internal meeting within the industry.
Their business predecessors were killed by Wang Anshi back then, but they soon colluded with the powerful to kill them back. Even Song Huizong and Cai Jing, in order to make money and restart the market transaction law, were forced to compromise by big businessmen and powerful people.
Tong Guan is so awesome, but when he was conquering Xixia, the leaders of Chang'an also went on strike to teach him a lesson.
"Is it possible to go on strike?" a leader asked.
"If you want to die, don't drag us into trouble!" The other leaders of the line all glared at him.
Strike?
Thinking about last year's major cases, the leaders collectively shuddered.