Chapter 513: Bottom Line for the Zheng Family's Negotiations
"Fifth Master, I handed in all the twenty hats today and exchanged them for two taels of silver dollars. It seems that the business of this yamen is going well? How about we finish all the remaining dozens of hats in the next few days?" Zhang Qiushan had just gone to the Shenyang City Temporary Civil Affairs Office to hand over the sheepskin hats he had made. This time he was bolder and gave twenty of them directly, and he got the money without any discount.
"The Ming Dynasty is the Ming Dynasty after all. The Tatars will never learn this method of making profits for the people in a few lifetimes. Let's work harder in the past few days and quickly make the rest of the list and give it to the government. Next time you give it to the government When the hats pass, I'll ask the official if we can do a few more orders. I've counted the bad leather in the account, and I should be able to make two to three hundred hats." The old and miserable Fifth Master felt that It seems that the passion that he only had when he was young has sprouted in his body. Although the current business is small, it is all for himself. If he, Zhang Qiushan and others can start this leather goods shop again, , even if I didn’t enter the business field in vain in my life.
"The official who received the goods today also told me about this. He said that as long as our shop has the ability to do the work, there will be a lot of orders, let alone small orders for one or two hundred military hats, just one signing at a time. He can sign orders for thousands of items. Winter will come in a few months, and the army coming from the pass is in short supply. Clothes to keep out the cold are in short supply. Leather hats and leather gloves are in short supply, and the court is willing to give them up. Spend money. Hey, I’m excited after hearing this, but we just don’t have the ability to do it.”
"Did you hear the officials say that you can sign a bill for a thousand pieces? Is the money still paid like a snake shedding its skin like now?"
"If we complete this order in full and sign a contract for a thousand hats, the advance payment will be at least a hundred hats! Look at this generosity. Did we ever do this when we worked for the Tatars? "
"Shanzi, this time we have to find a way to make all the remaining hats. Send them all to the Yamen, and then quickly sign the order for a thousand hats with the Yamen. We can't miss such a good business opportunity. As long as you sign With a big order of thousands of hats, this leather shop can really do it. Your son is destined to be rich."
"My Fifth Master, are you crazy? Do we have the ability to make thousands of fur hats? You don't know how many fur goods are left in the company to make hats. Even if there is stock, with the four of us who are old, weak, sick and disabled, I can’t finish the big order of a thousand hats.”
"Shanwazi, since you call me Fifth Master, today I will teach you how to do business! Shenyang is in short supply of everything now, but there will never be a shortage of bad leather hats. Shenyang in previous years does not count. For expensive fur, at least tens of thousands of good and bad sheepskins need to be handled every year. As a leather shop like ours, which does not mainly make money from sheepskins, it usually produces tens of thousands of sheepskins every year, right? You should know this well as a leather maker. When the Tatars ran away, they must have carried all the valuables, but they would not take away the rotten leather goods. In other words, there is definitely a lot of usable materials in this city, it depends on whether we can find them! As for It is naturally hard to find people who are good at handling leather like you. But an ordinary old woman can sew a leather hat. It is difficult for these people to make a living in the Qingjian team recruited by the government. I can use it to my advantage. ?”
Mr. Wu, who has been a leather goods dealer all his life, is very business-minded, but he didn't have this opportunity before. Now that the opportunity has come, his experience and ideas can suddenly be put to use.
"How can we find the available leather goods in the city? We can't bring people all over the city to search for them, right?"
"Are you still a businessman? Do we need to go digging for this? Post a notice about collecting leather goods in the shop, and then take a few people to shout for a few days near the old place where leather goods were sold in the city. Naturally, There are people who have collected fur goods and come to deliver them."
Can such a simple solution to the problem of no raw materials? Zhang Qiushan was impressed by the confidence of the fifth uncle! No matter whether it can succeed or not, just give it a try first. Heroes emerge from troubled times, and you may not be able to make such a big effort. Just strive for a fortune.
Hero! In the main hall of Beijing City, Zhu Youjian was carefully studying a young man standing with His Highness. This young man will undoubtedly be a hero in the history books of later generations.
Classmate Omu finally arrived in the capital. Zhu Youjian sat on the dragon chair and looked at it carefully for a while. I have to say that he is very energetic. In terms of appearance, he looks like a hero.
"I am very pleased that your father can send you to Beijing to see me. Today I will go straight to the point and talk about the resettlement measures for your Zheng family. There is no precedent for the Ming Dynasty to seal the territory, and I will not make this hole because of your Zheng family. If you accept the imperial court's recruitment, about 10,000 of the current soldiers of the Zheng family will be recruited and mixed into the imperial navy. All your remaining ships will be converted into merchant ships and continue to engage in maritime trade. Ocean trade is not like inland trade. You must have firearms for self-defense. I grant you, the Zheng family, a free lease of firearm-armed ships from the imperial court for ocean-going maritime trade. However, all firearms must be numbered and registered with the imperial court, and the imperial court must send personnel on board to supervise the use of firearms. Temporary concession, Your Zheng family owns a port in Xiamen, which serves as the home port for maritime trade ships. The imperial court will station a yamen to supervise the port. When you engage in maritime trade, you must abide by the imperial court's regulations and pay taxes in accordance with the regulations. As long as you do not engage in smuggling and pay 10% The net profits will be given to the court, and the Ming Dynasty sea area can be used for trade. As for you, father and son, as well as the canonization and status of the soldiers and generals under your command, after detailed discussions between the cabinet and the military command hall, it is no problem for your father to be granted the title of Duke."
"Gene Era"
After thinking for several months, Zhu Youjian finally came up with a way to deal with the Zheng family's maritime trade power. Apart from reorganizing some of the Zheng family's existing merchant ships and artillery gun registration numbers into the navy, the rest were leased to them. , and then gradually standardize the management of leased weapons and take back their authority to use firearms for their own use. This method should be the most suitable for the imperial court to seize the military power of the Zheng family, prevent its piracy from threatening the security of the Ming Dynasty sea area, and at the same time allow it to have a strong role in maritime trade. The method of self-protection is to wait until the time is right to divest all its military power and achieve freedom of maritime trade by purchasing the navy's escort services.
From Zhu Youjian's point of view, the current policy for the Zheng family is already very considerate of them, and it must be compromised as much as possible. In the Ming Dynasty, no force can have the qualification to independently possess armed forces. .As for the Zheng family, they still want to collect protection fees in East Asian waters and monopolize East Asian sea trade as before! How can they accept it? What is the purpose of spending so much effort to build a navy? Isn’t it just to make the East Asian waters have only one voice and truly realize the Ming Dynasty merchant ship? Freedom of navigation and business? In East Asia, protection fees can only be collected by the Ming Navy. Any other force is out of the question and will never be allowed to appear in the future.