Chapter 785 0780 [It’s too difficult to be a businessman]
Those goods orders released by the prince will have to wait for a few more days before they can be picked up.
What to do?
The bankers who had just bought the Prince's order went outside the exchange and shouted: "Who wants to change the order?"
Many retail investors were stunned for a moment, and then realized what was going on. They rushed over and shouted: "I want to change orders, I want to change orders!"
The delivery date of the manifest is from a certain day to a certain day.
As long as you pick up the goods within this time period, you don't have to pay additional warehouse fees.
If the delivery period exceeds three days and no one comes to renew, then the goods will be swallowed up by the exchange.
The current situation is——
The merchants bought Prince's cloth at a low price and wanted to retail it to the people tomorrow, but the order in hand was not due for delivery yet.
However, retail investors have a large number of futures orders in their hands, even orders that have been overdue for renewal.
If the two parties exchange orders, the merchants can pick up the goods for retail tomorrow, and the retail investors can also pay less warehouse fees.
A big businessman would never do this.
But how many retail investors can endure it?
For them, it would be nice to lose less!
Li Wenzhong was sitting in the carriage, looking at the lively scene outside the exchange, and couldn't help but sigh: "I'm so smart, I thought I could take advantage of the exchange's loopholes. The prince made a plan and then acted. He had already set up a trap for us to enter."
Field."
Li Dunyi said: "We scanned the goods relatively early. Even if we bought a lot during the price increase, after all, there is a warehouse to store the cloth. Just pick up the goods when they are due, and leave them in the warehouse to sell them slowly. We will only lose tens of thousands of dollars."
."
Of course that's not how the accounts were calculated.
The Li family's warehouse is full of cloth. For a long time, they can no longer move back and forth to make the difference. They must find normal bulk goods at the right price.
Moreover, there are cases where merchants see the booming cloth market in Tokyo and rush home to collect the goods before shipping them back.
The new goods brought by merchants, coupled with the goods thrown out by the prince, will cause cloth prices in Tokyo to remain low for a long time.
As a result, Tokyo Cloth Market has become a world dominated by retailers.
The big merchants who used to show off their power had to beg retailers for bulk goods.
On the surface, Li only lost tens of thousands of dollars, but in fact, he lost his bargaining power and dumped a bunch of goods in the warehouse without being able to do anything else.
In this situation, they were unable to sell even if they lowered the price, because the prince directly lowered the price to the bottom.
…
The next day.
The prince continued to smash it to the end.
Retail investors continue to follow the selling orders, and they will pay whatever price the prince sets.
These are people who borrowed money to speculate in commodities, and they have long since run out of money. The delivery date is about to expire, or has even expired, so if they are sold at a low price, they can still get some money back.
If you don’t sell it, you won’t be able to renew within three days of expiration, and even the goods will be confiscated by the exchange!
In an instant, there were all selling orders, and the small traders couldn't finish them all.
This caused panic to spread again and retail investors continued to cut prices. The price of orders on the exchange actually became lower than before the winter.
Now even if the big traders who entered the market early ship goods, they will still lose money based on how much they sell.
"Sales of military cloth are temporarily suspended." The prince's confidants who were hiding in the exchange began to prepare to evacuate.
From beginning to end, the court never thought about making money.
Since low-price selling orders are flying everywhere, there is no need to use military warehouses.
Of course, the court will definitely gain something in the end.
Many people who speculate in futures have large quantities. Even if their homes are filled with cloth, they still cannot pick up all the goods. Moreover, picking up the goods requires transportation fees, which is another huge expense. They cannot renew the extension, and they have no money to hire people to move and pick up the goods.
, the cloth on the manifest can only be given to the exchange for free.
"Sold, I sold!"
Zhao Shu cheered for joy. It was obviously a loss-making transaction, but it seemed like he had made millions. He said to Zhao Kai: "I'm going to the government to submit a petition to sue those bastards for inducing me to borrow usury."
Zhao Kai was stunned: "When did you mortgage your house for a loan? And you secretly bought so many bills!"
Zhao Shu was embarrassed and said nothing, then took the money from the sale and ran to Kaifeng Facao.
The Facao Yamen in Kaifeng was crowded with people, all of whom came to report the loan sharks.
A clerk repeatedly shouted loudly: "When you submit the petition, it will be classified according to the lender. The same lender involved in the case will be aggregated into the same case. Each room has been vacated, and the lender's name is posted on the door.
Name or business name, you can find the name and hand it over. If you can't find the name of the lender, go to the second hall to file a complaint, and the law clerk will immediately fill it in!"
Zhao Shu walked around Fa Cao's rooms and soon discovered the name of the bastard who lent him money.
"I want to surrender!"
Zhao Shu shouted and rushed in.
As soon as he rushed in, he was pushed out. Everyone stared at him fiercely: "Honestly wait in line!"
…
During the Northern Song Dynasty, there were 72 main restaurants in and around Tokyo.
These seventy-two official stores have the power to brew, wholesale, and retail. This power is obtained by purchasing money from the government.
If it is not an official store, it can only retail alcohol and is not allowed to participate in brewing or wholesale.
Tiechilou, run by Jews, is one of the 72 main stores, and its store is located in a prime location, only slightly inferior to Fanlou and Panlou.
This shows how strong the financial resources of the Jews are!
They lost a lot of money when the dynasty changed, and many of the loans they took out under the previous dynasty could not be recovered. When the city of Tokyo was destroyed, they were looted by rioters and mobs, but they still managed to survive.
It has recovered very quickly in recent years because the imperial court banned temples and temples.
In the past, the main loan sharks were monks. The court's ban on temples was tantamount to helping the Jews eliminate their competitors, which made their loan shark business more prosperous.
"Dad, dad, it's not good, the imperial court has sent troops!"
Li Yansheng ran and shouted.
His family is the richest Jew in Tokyo. In order to facilitate business, his ancestors had long ago changed their surname to a Chinese name.
By Li Yansheng's generation, speaking Hebrew was no longer easy.
But he still recognizes Hebrew characters, can read the Jewish Bible, and does not marry outsiders.
In fact, the lower-class Jews have been intermarried with Han Chinese for several generations. In fact, the Jewish base in Tokyo was too small. In the early days, it was difficult to completely internally marry, and they could only marry poorer Han people.
However, after intermarriage, most of the descendants still believe in Judaism.
This day is their Sabbath, so no commercial activities are allowed, but the Iron Chip Building is still open for business as usual.
Just do as the Romans do when you are in the country, can you still make money if you have one?
In the backyard of Tiezhi Building, a large group of Jews were gathering. After reciting scriptures and praying, they discussed how to deal with the crisis.
Hearing his son's cry, Li Lianghan sighed: "This is our disaster day, but there is still room for recovery. We have not written the interest in excess of the "Ming Dynasty Law" on the deed. Maybe the court can easily
Punishment.”
There are policies and measures to counter.
The imperial court stipulated a maximum lending rate, which could be bypassed when actually lending.
That is, write the interest rate lower in the contract, within the legal scope stipulated by the court, and give less money when lending. In the contract, you loaned me a hundred yuan, but I only gave you sixty or seventy yuan.
Borrowers and lenders, one is willing to fight and the other is willing to suffer, which is usually difficult for the government to deal with.
But this time it's different.
There were too many people borrowing money, all at the same time, and all of them lost their money.
Not only was Tiechilou surrounded by officials, but the entire Jewish community was also under control.
The customers who were having a drink in Tiechilou, instead of being scared away by the officials, happily followed them to watch the fun.
An official stepped into the backyard and shouted: "Take them all away!"
Even ordinary Jews, if they had spare money, would lend it to Jewish businessmen at low interest rates, and the Jewish businessmen would use the money to lend money at high interest rates.
Li Lianghan stepped forward and bowed: "My husband, I have always abided by the law in my business. All loans have deeds, and the interest does not exceed the court limit."
The official sneered: "Do you want to re-read the "Da Ming Law" again? If you lend more and give less, the crime will be increased! This time you have the most people suing you, and the amount involved is huge. Your home will be confiscated and exiled."
The official then glanced at the others: "You can't run away! Those who can gather here are all wealthy people, and all of them are involved in loan sharking. Even if it doesn't amount to confiscation and exile, a fine of three to ten times will still punish you to death."
them!"
In fact, there is no need for a fine. Just the invalidation of a loan contract can cause these people heavy losses.
Facing the swords, guns and clubs in the hands of the officers, more than thirty Jews obeyed obediently and were dejectedly taken to Kaifeng for trial.
It was not just the Jews who lent money at usurious rates.
There are also big businessmen in other industries who did not participate in speculating in commodities, but took advantage of the futures trend to borrow money at high interest rates. I thought that nothing was wrong and they would definitely not offend the prince, but I didn't expect that they would be slapped in the face.
In the cell, the cries and cries of injustice were loud. They really felt that they had been wronged.
Although successive dynasties have cracked down on usury, the court itself did not take it seriously, and officials would not really punish it.
Take the Northern Song Dynasty as an example. The market transactions created by Wang Anshi's reform eventually turned directly into official usury. The government forced businessmen to borrow money. If you have money in hand, you must borrow it. If you don't borrow it, you can't even do science and technology business.
.And the richer you are, the more the government will force you to borrow money, because you must have the ability to repay.
The previous government lent usury, so why can't we businessmen do the same now?
"What's the fuss about?"
An official rushed in, knocked on the cells one by one, and scolded: "As long as the amount of the loan is not particularly huge, our homes will not be confiscated and you will be exiled. According to the loan amount in the deed, you will be fined three to ten times. You are all the people who loaned money."
You have such a big career, but you still can’t afford to pay this small fine?”
As soon as he finished speaking, the crying became louder.
The fine is only paid to the government. The problem is that the contract is void and the principal they lent cannot be recovered.
With this trend of reporting, not only speculators and borrowed money come to report to the government, but also those bastards who borrowed money at usury in the past took the opportunity to report to the government for defaulting on their debts.
There are too many people who reported the crime. If one of them is bad and the amount involved in the case is "extremely huge", then his house will be confiscated and he will be exiled.
It was difficult to be a businessman in the former Song Dynasty, but even more difficult to be a businessman in the Ming Dynasty!
But they don't want to think about whether the government has ever launched a major case to harm real law-abiding traders?
At this moment, many small businessmen in Tokyo are cheering and shouting long live.