In fact, sea trade does not directly become more and more difficult...
Generally speaking, when modern people say that a certain project or a certain type of business has become difficult, they usually mean that profits are becoming thinner and thinner, sales are getting worse and worse, and so on.
But this is not the case that Wang Jing and others encountered this time. The prices of recent overseas rare goods, such as beads and mother-of-pearl, are getting better and better. It can be said that they are rising continuously.
As prices continue to rise, it stands to reason that this is a hugely profitable business.
Of course, in modern business, there are situations where product prices skyrocket but business becomes difficult.
But the current situation is not like that. Instead, business is still doing well. It can even be said that profits have increased significantly, and costs... costs have not increased much.
But the problem is, there are so many pirates on the sea!
There are so many that it makes one’s scalp numb.
There weren't that many at first, but after the construction of the base in Southeast Bay was completed, complete port facilities were built, as well as several good cement official roads...
Once this infrastructure is built, it is natural to imagine the prosperity of business. Sea trade is completely popular among merchants in China.
After the sea trade became popular, the number of pirates at sea quietly became more numerous.
Wang Jing and others were surprised because...
Because as early as when Li Er opened up the South China Sea and established the Zhongzuo base, the Goguryeo boss Yeon Gaesumun saw that the Tang Dynasty seemed to have a big plan, and he had used the army as bandits to interfere with the Tang Dynasty's operational strategy.
attempt.
Wang Jing and others didn't seem to appreciate Yeon Gaesumun enough at the time, and they even spent money to build more than 20 large ships to accompany them, but then...
Then, the effect was not very good. After Yeon Gaesumun's main force of the Chinese army was defeated by Li Sheng's god-level airship, Sky Eye, the incident ended.
This matter itself has nothing to do with the problems Wang Jing and others are facing now. What is relevant is that...at least at that stage, pirates were rare. It can even be said that "the sea road development situation is too good."
"Not enough gangsters" is used to describe...
But now it has become more and more unknowingly, even to the point where it has become so common.
Wang Jing and Pei Ji, these are the top and most powerful families in China.
Putting aside the merchants at sea and on land, there are bandits and bandits all over the world. How can anyone dare to take advantage of them?
As a result, the Five Surnames and Seven Hopes became extremely prestigious, and everyone in the world knew that these people were simply a bunch of local emperors.
Secondly, a wealthy family can also be a famous person, and since it is a famous person, it should be taken for granted that disciples, old officials, wild dead people... there are so many people who are born with armed forces, otherwise Li Er would not have a headache.
Take care of these people.
But it’s different at sea…
Recently, the merchant ships of Wang Jing and others have been severely damaged. Out of ten ships, at least five or six were robbed.
When five or six items are robbed, only one can be saved...and it's not even useful.
This is not because Wang Jing's ship is not well-armed, and there are still many armored private soldiers, but the problem is that pirates are different from bandits on the ground.
The bandit on the ground is, I opened this road, I planted this tree, if you want to cross this road...
The key point is "crossing this road", which means that when you pass by a place, there is often an ecosystem in that place, and the ones who rob you are the bandits and nothing else.
In this wave, whether you pay your dues and buy a way through, or whether you just slaughter the bandits and step on them, in short, it is just like this. In the next wave, you will have to go to the next mountain, all the way, and the next state and county.
Only then.
But at sea, maybe if you are wandering around in a sea area, one wave of pirates can come in the morning, two waves in the afternoon, and three waves in the evening, which is even more exciting.
Even if Wang Jing and others are from wealthy families and have many elite soldiers and generals, they can't withstand such an approach!
Now Wang Jing and the others are in a difficult position. The pirates and the mountain bandits are completely different.
What to do about this, Wang Jing and others... can only stare and worry in vain.
Five or six out of ten seagoing ships were robbed. The wind and waves must have damaged at least one or two, right?
Then what’s left in the end is…
One can imagine.
How high is the real cost of importing and trafficking exotic goods from overseas!
Risk is also part of the cost.
Just like many people who set foot in the stock market and are cut off, they originally go there with the purpose of making money, but in the end the results are often not good.
The real hard-core reason for this is that the real cost of making money by stock trading is not the money to buy stocks, but the money to solve the risks.
How to figure out the true prospects of a company is where the real cost lies.
The same goes for sea trade!
The purchasing cost is...not high.
Prices of goods... skyrocketed.
Things look great!
But the sea is different from the land after all. There are too many uncertainties in that place. Not to mention how many pirates there are, the wind and waves on the sea alone are extremely scary things. All people who go to sea, no matter merchants, sailors or armored warriors, are afraid
something, or rather...
Even if there were no pirates, it would be extremely difficult to go to sea before the infrastructure in the Southeast Bay was built.
Now that we have infrastructure and stable navigation charts, we can rely on them to reduce the effects of wind and waves, but this also adds to the problem of frequent pirates.
This time...
It's difficult for Wang Jing and others, because the risk is too high, which means the cost is extremely high.
And the cost is extremely high, so even if the prices of overseas exotic goods skyrocket, the entire business will still be in the red!
And based on the current ratio of five or six of the ten ships being plundered, and one or two being damaged by wind and waves, it can even be said to be a total loss of blood.
This way...
Originally, Wang Jing and others had already thought of the idea before, so they went in the opposite direction of Li Er's guidance. In fact, the effect was not bad and it was really profitable.
This simply made Wang Jing and others ecstatic.
But now, the entire business is losing money, and...
It is still because of the problem of pirates, and it is the main problem. Because of the construction of Southeast Bay and the opening of the sea route chart from Southeast Bay to Zhongzuo Station in Hangzhou, the phenomenon of ships damaged by wind and waves has been greatly improved compared to countless years in the past.
But pirates are more difficult to deal with. They come from all kinds of sources. According to the accounts of sailors who escaped from robbed ships, a considerable number of pirates were simply caused by other maritime businessmen who wanted to make money and changed jobs midway...
This will make things very troublesome. If the pirate problem is not solved for a long time, then...
Wang Jing and others wanted to make a fortune through overseas trade, or even revive the wealthy family behind them, and rebuild the five surnames and seven hopes of glory. It was our duty to do so, but everything was in vain...
Something is wrong!
"What should we do? Brother Wang, only three ships have returned from this trip to sea. I will suffer another loss in waiting for this wave!"