Chapter 760 The Prince Meets with Maritime Businessmen
4348 years (AD 1651), the tenth day of the first lunar month.
Prince Su Shu took the initiative to ask Ying to go to Tianjin Port to express condolences to the merchants who were about to embark on a long voyage.
The contribution of commercial taxes to the empire reached nearly 80%.
Maritime import and export trade accounts for the majority of commercial taxes.
As the prince, Su Shu should care about the development of maritime merchants, set an example on behalf of the royal family, and make the world's merchants feel at ease.
The New Year has just passed, and most people are still celebrating the festival.
Prince Su Shu followed his father and mother to visit meritorious veterans, imperial dignitaries, and representatives from all walks of life during the New Year festival.
After finishing these chores, Prince Su Shu thought of the situations he had witnessed in various European countries.
In some European countries, their maritime trade has been carried out for hundreds of years, and some supporting policies are very mature.
The empire is still blank in this regard.
Prince Su Shu took the lead in implementing these policies, and he became the first to take advantage of them.
This can continue to enhance his status and reputation, allowing officials and people of the empire to see his ability to do things.
Prince Su Shu believed that with the closer exchanges between the empire and Europe.
With the intelligence of imperial officials, sooner or later they will introduce and absorb good European policies.
Prince Su Shu listened to the sound of the train wheels colliding with the railway tracks.
He thought about what happened during the New Year, when King Rui Sule complained that his feudal country had nothing, just an undeveloped wilderness.
When Prince Su Shu heard the news, he laughed in private for a long time.
He has always regarded the second prince Su Lei as his main competitor.
Even though the second prince Su Lei has left the capital, the current situation is very powerful for him, and the prince Su Shu has not completely relaxed.
He took the initiative to invite Ying to come to Tianjin Port in order to give himself a chance to perform, improve his status as soon as possible, and completely suppress the prince who had ambitions for the throne.
The prince's attendant Zhou Baixin walked quietly to the side of the prince Su Shu.
He is very satisfied with his current position.
He failed to grasp the two paths to heaven, the imperial examination and university.
Now I can only follow the prince Su Shu and do some chores for the prince. This is a job that others are extremely envious of.
The seventh-rank official in front of the prime minister's door is at least equivalent to the sixth-rank official in front of the prince's door.
As a potential minister of the prince Su Shu, once the prince Su Shu ascends the throne, he can be appointed by the emperor and become a feudal official from a commoner.
Zhou Baixin's future has been deeply tied to Prince Su Shu.
The main thing he does now is still to make suggestions and find out the flaws in Prince Su Shu's ideas.
Zhou Baixin waited until Prince Su Shu finished thinking before he handed over a telegram.
"Your Highness, after preliminary information collection, it turns out that the first thing maritime merchants need is safety, and the second thing they need is tax reduction."
Prince Su Shu looked at the contents of the telegram and wanted to introduce some policies to help these maritime merchants.
It is necessary to understand what are the main needs of these maritime merchants?
Doing things based on your own ideas is likely to backfire.
Not long after Prince Su Lei of Rui left, Prince Su Shu was discussing with his subordinates which direction to build his reputation.
Zhou Baixin suggested that the businessmen should make the fuss.
Policies should be introduced with the goal of making the pie bigger and try not to affect the interests of vested interests.
By doing this, you can minimize the resistance to doing things.
Prince Su Shu had made preparations in advance and finally understood the true thoughts of this group of maritime merchants before he arrived in Tianjin.
He shook the telegram and chuckled: "These businessmen are too naive and still think about the beauty of tax cuts.
In order to support the development of industry and commerce, the imperial court has refrained from raising taxes.
Paying taxes is an obligation that every businessman must fulfill.
Now you have to rely on the tax collector pointing a gun to pay your taxes.
It is simply impossible for these businessmen to reduce taxes.
No one in the position of Prime Minister would dare to cut taxes.
Once taxes are reduced, it will cause the court to suffer a deficit of millions of taels of silver coins.
Who will make up for such a huge deficit?
If it were added to farmers, I really think those farmers would starve to death.
We must learn from the lessons of the previous Ming Dynasty. We did not want to pay out 300,000 taels of disaster relief funds, but we had to pay 1 million taels in salary.
This is a complete joke, it does not solve the problem, but deepens the contradiction."
Prince Su Shu always remembered his father's teachings.
Money can solve most of the problems in the world. For the emperor, the most important thing is to keep a good purse and appoint officials.
Taxation is the lifeblood of his father. Prince Su Shu would not even think about touching taxation.
Zhou Baixin echoed: "Your Highness, those businessmen are greedy. Your Highness must be vigilant when communicating with them.
Merchants shipped the empire's goods to Europe, and the prices were at least several times higher.
They earn so much silver coins but still want to evade taxes.
If they stick to this kind of attitude, they will definitely annoy people."
Prince Su Shu waved his hand and said: "If the empire wants these businessmen to make contributions, it will naturally have to accept their shortcomings.
How can there be perfect people in the world?
The relevant policies this time are mainly based on safety, and we have made all plans."
Prince Su Shu and Zhou Baixin discussed various details of the matter in the train carriage.
The distance between Beijing and Tianjin is very short, and during their discussion, the train whistle sounded.
Prince Su Shu stood up and looked out the window at the bustling train station.
"We have arrived in Tianjin and hope there will be a good result this time."
The door of the carriage where Prince Su Shu was was opened.
Du Yuan, the governor of Hebei, led the main officials of Hebei to greet His Royal Highness.
Prince Su Shu saw Du Yuan, the governor of Hebei, taking the lead in saluting him.
He immediately said kindly: "You are all important ministers of the country, so there is no need for you to perform this great ceremony."
Prince Su Shu exchanged a few pleasantries with Hebei Governor Du Yuan, and under Governor Du's arrangement, he stayed at the hospitality hotel of the governor's Yamen.
Prince Su Shu must give Fengjiang Dali face, and some of the things he does in Tianjin require the cooperation of the local governor's office.
He accepted a banquet from local officials in Hebei in the evening.
It was only on the second day that Prince Su Shu found time to meet with representatives of Tianjin's major maritime merchants.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! Under the leadership of Zhou Baixin, he came to Baishun Restaurant, the most magnificent restaurant in Tianjin.
Prince Su Shu will meet with representatives of the imperial maritime merchants here.
As soon as he entered the restaurant, a large group of businessmen immediately came out and warmly welcomed the arrival of Prince Su Shu.
Four maritime merchant representatives, Wang Sen, Li Xingge, Lu Dahai, and Zhang Xin, immediately came forward to pay homage to Prince Su Shu.
Prince Su Shu looked approachable and greeted everyone with a smile.
"Happy New Year to everyone, your contribution to maritime trade will always be remembered by the imperial court.
On behalf of the imperial court, I express my condolences to you, just to help you stay on the right track.
You are running a very high-risk shipping business, so safety issues are urgent, and the Empire has done a lot to protect everyone's safety."
The four maritime merchants are all talented people, and they can hear some clues from the tone of Prince Su Shu's tone.
It is simply impossible to ask the court to pay taxes, and Prince Su Shu will not even talk about it.
They are mentally prepared for tax cuts.
They thought that Prince Su Shu would talk about some false and empty things.
They did not expect that Prince Su Shu would directly address the core safety issue of shipping.
Compared with tax cuts, security is extremely important.
The court did not reduce taxes, so they only lost a little money.
The sea route is unsafe, and it’s not just the expensive cargo that is at risk of loss.
It is even possible that the cargo ship and all the sailors on the cargo ship will disappear.
Once this happens, they, the maritime merchants, need to compensate a large amount of silver coins.
Wang Sen asked with surprise on his face: "Your Highness, what you said is that the rumors have become reality, and the imperial court is preparing to send the navy to escort us."
Prince Su Shu shook his head and said: "Some routes have encountered major risks, or countries that are hostile to the empire have begun to frequently attack merchant ships.
In this case, the court will consider sending the Royal Navy to escort.
Under normal circumstances, unless the Royal Navy is on the way.
Otherwise, it would not be dedicated to escorting a certain fleet, and it would be a public vessel for private use.
The bottom line cannot be breached, so don’t even think about this kind of thing.
The Royal Navy has a limited fleet and they will never accept such a mission."
Their faces showed joy before, almost all they thought about was the naval escort.
Now this matter has been denied by Prince Su Shu. They really can't imagine that there is a better way than this.
When Prince Su Shu saw these people, their expressions were exactly what he expected.
Of course he knew that the public was raising the voice of naval escort, which was inseparable from the support of these large merchants.
They just want to use popular opinion to coerce the court and serve their own interests.
Prince Su Shu did not beat these people, it was because they were very useful, had good command of the situation, and did not cross the line.
The room fell into silence, and I didn't know how things were going.
At this moment, a correspondent took a stack of telegrams and handed them to Zhou Baixin.
After Zhou Baixin briefly read the telegram, he walked to Prince Su Shu again.
Prince Su Shu took out a telegram and showed it to these maritime merchant representatives.
"Fifty miles away from Jing'an Port in Cochin, the winds are high and the waves are strong. It is suspected that a typhoon has crossed the border."
When Lu Dahai heard this brief message, he asked excitedly: "Your Highness, how do you know the situation outside Jiaozhi?
Even with radios, which can transmit messages extremely quickly, we would not be unaware of such severe weather.
In my impression, there is no relevant record at all.”
Prince Su Shu said with a smile: "This is not what happened before, but what happened just now."
When Li Xingge heard what Prince Su Shu said, he immediately stood up.
"Your Highness, there is nothing wrong with what you said. This is the real-time situation in the South China Sea."
Prince Su Shu was not angry because of Li Xingge's offensive words.
Li Xingge is Li Xiyue's uncle. He is the sitter arranged by Prince Su Shu specifically to liven up the atmosphere.
Su Shu learned most of the maritime merchants' demands through Li Xingge.
Prince Su Shu saw the change in the expression of the maritime merchant representative and gave Li Xingge a thumbs up. He handled this compliment very well.
He explained with a smile: "Everyone also knows that radio can transmit information extremely far without using wires.
Nowadays, wireless telegraph machines are only worth a few hundred thousand taels of silver coins, and large maritime merchants can afford them.
I went out to join the Royal Navy and some of the island's garrison troops.
Provide them with free wireless telegraph machines and only require them to provide information about the nearby sea areas.
After the information is screened and summarized by special personnel, it is disseminated in clear codes and can be received by every wireless telegraph machine.
If the private fleet joins in, it will understand the safety situation of most routes."
Whether it is the representatives of the four major maritime merchants or the maritime merchants who are watching.
After listening to Prince Su Shu's introduction, their eyes shone slightly.
Can you predict whether a certain route is dangerous?
Whether you will encounter pirates, typhoons, huge waves and other natural and man-made disasters will directly determine whether the fleet is safe.
The small price of a wireless telegraph machine is simply a drop in the bucket compared to the value of a fleet of goods.
There were also some maritime merchants who couldn't help but applaud.
The more they looked at Prince Su Shu, the more they liked him. His Highness really did some practical things for them, maritime merchants.
Prince Su Shu saw their great reaction and continued to smile and said: "This matter is just an appetizer.
What I came to discuss with you today is the main policy I will pursue next.
When I traveled in Europe, I discovered that in some European countries, they sell something called insurance for maritime merchants.
As long as the maritime merchant pays a premium before departure.
If the ship is damaged at sea, full compensation will be paid."
Zhang Xin couldn't help but said: "I have had many exchanges with Dutch merchants, and the Dutch insurance business is very developed in Europe.
Dutch maritime merchants had insurance, and they did not worry about damage to their goods. This gave the Netherlands the title of sea coachman.
If such a policy can really appear in the empire, it is completely an act of elegance.
A small sum of money can relieve the worries of maritime merchants like us.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! I have seen too many maritime merchants who have never recovered after fleet accidents.
The high debt gives them no chance to make a comeback."
Prince Su Shu looked at Zhang Xin's performance. He was not a bastard. His natural performance made the atmosphere harmonious.
Prince Su Shu wanted to start the insurance industry, mainly to provide some protection for the empire's maritime merchants.
Especially for small and medium-sized maritime merchants, if an accident occurs, they will lose everything.
All large merchants have transformed from small merchants. If small merchants are not allowed to survive the crisis, how can they cultivate large merchants from them?
Prince Su Shu initially thought of making no profit and not losing money. As long as the profits could cover the costs, he would stick to the project.
He asked Chen Yaozu to lead many accountants to conduct detailed accounting.
Prince Su Shu discovered that as long as he collected a premium acceptable to everyone, he could buy a ship with one thousand taels of silver coins.
Insurance business can bring more profit than loan sharking.
Prince Su Shu said solemnly: "I guarantee with my reputation that the insurance company can officially open for business before you go to sea.
If you want to buy insurance, you can go to the insurance company to experience it, and it will definitely be worth your money.”
Wang Sen said in surprise: "Your Highness, is the premium amount high? If the premium amount is too high, we will not be able to pay the compensation at all."
Prince Su Shu did not reply. Talking about money seemed too vulgar.
When Zhou Baixin saw Prince Su Shu's signal, he immediately introduced the insurance situation to the maritime merchant.
“Insurance has just started now, so we won’t make it too complicated and just use price as a reference.
The total value of the fleet, including ships, personnel, and cargo, is less than one hundred thousand taels of silver coins, and the insurance premium only requires one thousand taels of silver coins.
For amounts above one hundred thousand taels of silver coins, a premium of 1% of the total value will be charged.
Full compensation for accidents and proportional compensation for injuries.”
When the merchants heard the news, their eyes became brighter, and some couldn't help shouting that the prince is a thousand years old.
Such premiums are affordable for most maritime merchants.
They pay a premium and no longer have to worry about going bankrupt if something happens to their fleet.