Chapter 124 Payment first, goods later, the root of Shanxi Merchants betraying the country!
The people from the Artisan Research Institute sent a cloth woven from wool, and Zhu Youjian called Liu Dachang to see if the cloth was suitable for use.
"Dachang, this is the cloth woven from wool in the palace. Take a look at it and make suggestions for improvements."
Liu Dachang took the cloth from the little eunuch's hand, looked at it carefully, touched it carefully, put it to his nose and smelled it.
"Your Majesty, this woolen cloth is indeed softer than the ones made by civilians, and it has no peculiar smell. It just feels a bit rough and heavy."
"Dachang, you are right. It is indeed a bit rough. The main reason is that the machines used for weaving and spinning are cotton weaving machines. If it is a machine that specializes in weaving wool, it will be much better than this. As for the thickness, there is nothing we can do about it.
Wool is inherently heavier than cotton, so this kind of cloth can only be worn as a winter coat."
"Winter clothes? Wool is more suitable for winter clothes than cotton."
"Okay, now that you have seen the sample, I will arrange the next work for you. First, you must collect a large amount of wool. If you don't have it in your mouth, collect it from outside. Then you need to build a woolen cloth factory and we must weave enough wool in October.
We have produced woolen cloth to make 20,000 sets of winter clothes. This winter, the New Army will use woolen cloth for their winter clothes.”
"Your Majesty, it may be troublesome to collect woolen cloth from outside the country. The imperial court has closed the trading market, and things from outside the country cannot come in. Even if the market is opened, the merchants outside the country will not confiscate the finished wool. It is estimated that it will be difficult for a while.
How much wool was collected?"
There seems to be some truth in what Liu Dachang said. Due to the war between the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the Ming Dynasty basically closed down all the business areas in order to impose an economic blockade on the Manchus and the Mongolian tribes affiliated with them.
Logically speaking, as a country with strong material and manufacturing capabilities, the Ming Dynasty's economic blockade on backward areas such as the Manchus and Mongolia should be quite effective. The Mongols who retreated to the grasslands were severely affected by the Ming's economic blockade.
Now even iron pots cannot be made. But this method is not very effective for the Manchus. Economic blockade and sanctions have been carried out for ten or twenty years, but the Manchus have not declined because of this, but have become stronger and stronger!
Why are the methods that have been effective in the past not used this time? Zhu Youjian also had some reflections after his freshman year. The primary reason is that the military has been losing ground! Blockade can only be a backup for military means without strong military power.
, it is simply impossible to maintain an economic blockade for a long time. If people can’t buy your stuff, they won’t come and grab it?
At the same time, there were many Han people in Liaodong occupied by the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and they had a certain manufacturing and production foundation. This was also one of the reasons. Unlike the Mongolian grasslands, the foundation of handicraft industry was too weak and there was no settled culture, so industrial production was easily destroyed.
In addition to these objective reasons, there are also subjective reasons. The various military leaders at the border of the Ming Dynasty, whether it was Mao Wenlong and Yuan Chonghuan before, or Zu Dashou and Wu Sangui later! They were all engaged in smuggling business and resold a large amount of materials to the Manchu and Qing Dynasties.
, seeking huge profits from it. The military leaders were traitors, and the merchants were no less willing to give in. The famous traitor Shanxi merchants were said to have made tens of millions of taels of silver by doing smuggling business with the Manchus.
Is the profit from doing business with the Manchus so great? Zhu Youjian never understood why Shanxi merchants would go out in groups to engage in traitorous activities! Doing this kind of business will indeed make more money than ordinary business, but it can't make people flock to it.
Are you going to take a huge risk? Besides, except for the money obtained from some robberies, there is nothing that can be used as bulk trade goods! Furs, ginseng, Dongzhu, just count them.
These were the only things that were produced. What the Ming Dynasty sold in the past were ironware, grain, cloth, tea, porcelain and other bulk commodities. No matter how you calculate it, the Qing Dynasty would not be able to take advantage of this trade line.
The products of the Manchu and Qing dynasties have no advantages. They can also make businessmen flock to the pole to do business. There must be some special method! It also took Zhu Youjian a long time to figure out that Shanxi merchants were willing to risk beheading. Danger is the core reason for doing foreign business. Doing business with the Manchus can make a lot of money at a small cost!
I have to say that all successes are not accidental. In terms of economic policies, the Manchu Qing Dynasty was much more proactive than the Ming Dynasty. In order to encourage merchants to do business in Liaodong, he gave merchants preferential policies such that they could first take goods and transport them to the mainland for sale. After that, I made money and transported the supplies to Shenyang for settlement.
In other words, as long as they have transportation capabilities, merchants can make money with Manqing goods at zero cost. In the spring, they buy a batch of goods from Manqing, sell them in their mouths, and then buy some daily necessities that Manqing needs to sell. Sell it to them. In this way, the businessmen can make money back and forth without much capital. It is strange that such a good policy can not allow businessmen to do it.
The so-called traitorous Shanxi merchants are what people in later generations often refer to as prostitutes! What they do is to make a living by taking other people's money to make money for themselves. Many of the eight imperial merchants who were granted the title of imperial merchants by the Manchu Qing Dynasty were not traditional Shanxi merchants. Most of them have only started their business within ten or twenty years.
Being a salesman is definitely profitable, and Shanxi merchants are not the only group to make this kind of money. Zheng Zhilong in the south earns just over a penny. His salesman was even more ruthless than Shanxi merchants, and he took money from the Netherlands and other Western Europeans. Just take the money first and then buy the goods. This is truly taking other people's money to make your own profit, and others will have to thank you.
Because of the policy of delivering goods first and paying later, Shanxi merchants became the most diligent product salesmen, the most diligent material transportation team, and voluntary intelligence agents in the Qing Dynasty. This is the effect of good policies, and the officials on the Ming Dynasty did not finish the work. The exploitative businessmen who have disappeared are too lazy to think about how to mobilize the vitality of businessmen other than becoming bosses! Collecting land rent, the laziest and easiest management method, has made the bureaucracy into a state of disrepair over thousands of years. This thing is still very degenerate. Quickly, in history, after the Manchus entered the customs, they quickly fell into the same position as the officials of the Ming Dynasty.
Since the Manchu Qing Dynasty was able to cultivate a lot of prostitutes, Zhu Youjian felt that he should be much better than them in economics.
"I will discuss with the cabinet to open a sales market near Miyun to open up the mutual market channel between Daming and Kouwai. In addition, Dachang, you and Yu Liancheng of the supply and marketing cooperative will discuss it and launch a special policy for exporters. Exporters can start with Your enamel factory waits for other palace operations to get goods on credit, and waits until they bring back wool and furs from abroad to pay for the goods. Remember, as long as wool and furs are available, expensive goods like Dongzhu will not work."
"Your Majesty, give them our good goods on credit? What if they don't pay back then and run out of the country?" Liu Dachang felt that it was better to see the payment first before giving the goods. This is a stable business.
"Dachang, you have to give up before you can get it! We need to establish a credit point system for exporters. At the beginning, the goods on credit will be less. Then the more wool and fur they ship, the higher the points will be, and the goods that can be credited will be There will be more. You and Liancheng will discuss the specific regulations and bring them to me for approval."