That night, the three people who completed the first time and space journey held the first work summary meeting. The minutes were taken according to the formal meeting procedure. According to Wen Desi: We are making history.
At the meeting, various issues in the time travel were summarized. The conclusion was: too much contempt for the wisdom of the ancients, not enough homework, too little understanding of the Ming Dynasty, and mostly taken for granted.
Overall, I had good luck and found a reasonably suitable agent quite smoothly.
As for the next trade plan, although the price was lower than they expected, after careful calculation, the profit was not as low as imagined.
One tael of silver in the Ming Dynasty is equivalent to about 37.3 grams. Although the purchase price of silver in this time and space has fluctuated, it is only about 3 yuan per gram (the sales price is 3.6-3.8 yuan, and the purchase price is 2-2.6 yuan, whichever is slightly higher
For some prices), one tael of silver can be obtained for 112 yuan. In fact, including the cost of "fire consumption" - much of the silver circulating in the Ming Dynasty was of low purity and needed to be remelted, and the income was lower.
If a powder box can be sold for ten taels, that is to say, it can earn about 1,000 yuan. Xiao Zishan brought more than 200 powder boxes. From this alone, he can earn 2,000 taels of silver, which is equivalent to 200,000 yuan. Even if they
To purchase these powder boxes, the current wholesale price is only a few yuan each, and the cost is almost negligible.
"Actually, we can resell it once." Xiao Zishan took a pen and daubed it for a long time, "I remember that the price of gold and silver in the late Ming Dynasty was about one to ten. We asked for these two thousand taels of silver to be converted into gold, and we got two hundred taels.
, a total of 7460 grams. Calculated at 150 yuan per gram, it is more than one million. It is more profitable than selling goods."
"But generally speaking, the stock of gold in society is limited, and you can't exchange much for it." Wang Luobin felt a little pity.
"Actually, we can ask for another thing as a price, which is more valuable than gold." Wen Desi said.
"what?"
"Porcelain." Wen Desi pointed to the Christie's auction announcement in the newspaper, "I don't need to mention the porcelain of the Ming Dynasty..."
When the servant ran to the study with a pale face, Mr. Gao knew that the three Australians were here again. This time it was late at night, and just like last time, they appeared out of thin air from the hotel yard.
If they hadn't come during the day last time and left in broad daylight, Mr. Gao would really have suspected that they were some kind of ghostly monster.
"Gao Daguo, these are goods."
Under the corridor of the study, there were piles of four or five cardboard boxes that the servants had moved from the hotel yard. This was the first time he saw using paper to make cargo boxes, and his heart couldn't help but beat wildly, although he had secretly used chickens a few days ago.
After the blood was soaked in the samples, I looked at them the next day and found that these items were still in good condition and had not turned into clod puppets. This was reassuring.
"Manager Yan, take stock and make a list." Master Gao ordered his men.
"Yes, sir."
The steward led the servants to unpack the cartons. Each piece of goods was wrapped in exquisite cartons and stacked neatly. Mr. Gao nodded, this Australian businessman is really extravagant - just this packaging, I'm afraid
It cost a lot of money.
The three of them sat on chairs and watched the servants of Gao Mansion counting. Under the dim candlelight, Master Gao's Nanjing satin robe shone slightly. Xiao Zishan thought of the shroud inexplicably and got goosebumps.
Fortunately, they had prepared a special gift. After counting, the two sides compared the numbers one by one. Wen Desi opened a box and took out a kerosene lamp. It took them a long time to buy this thing from a handicraft store.
At 120 yuan, it was the most expensive thing of all. Wen Desi took out a can of kerosene from the box, poured it in, and lit a flame with the candle at hand. After a while, the flame gradually grew brighter, and it turned out to be dim.
The study room suddenly became bright.
Mr. Gao and his servants were all dumbfounded. Nothing brought by Australian maritime merchants these days had left such a deep impression on them.
"This is a kerosene lamp, and it's of the same quality."
"What a rare thing!" Mr. Gao also walked up to him in a few steps. A white flame was dazzlingly bright, and there was a completely transparent glass lampshade on the outside. He turned around and asked, "This thing is from an expensive place, how much is it worth?"
?”
Xiao Zishan couldn't help but sigh about human beings' desire for light. Things they thought would surprise the ancients did not cause much trouble. Instead, they were shocked by this kerosene lamp that has been eliminated from modern society - just because it is better than candles and oil lamps.
It is much brighter. What if Mr. Gao could see the electric light?! Xiao Zishan was immediately full of confidence in his future time travel plan.
"It is indeed produced in our country," Wen Desi smiled like a profiteer, "Two hundred taels are enough."
"A strange thing, a strange thing!" Mr. Gao looked around the lamp in fascination, and then imitated Wen Desi's example and turned the knob to adjust the size of the flame. He could make the light brighter or darker as he pleased.
He was secretly amazed in his heart. He knew that although this thing had a weird shape and an expensive glass cover, it was actually a lamp and oil stand used by poor families. However, the light was more than ten times brighter, and it had no oil smell and no oil smell.
Without smoke, light and dark can still be adjusted. Could it be that all the skilled craftsmen in Australia are Lu Ban resurrected?
Suddenly I remembered something and asked again: "The oil used for this lamp - um, kerosene, is it also produced in Australia?"
Xiao Zishan nodded, Mr. Gao is really a smart man, he can see the key points at a glance.
"Exactly."
"Gas prices?"
"Twelve a bottle." A bottle is actually just one liter. They don't plan to engage in large-scale kerosene trade at the moment, so it's okay to sell it more expensive to leave a certain amount of space for the future. (Quotation of kerosene for lamps in Shanghai is 8.5 yuan/liter.
)
"The lamp is a good lamp, but it only needs oil..." Mr. Gao looked regretful.
"A bottle of oil can burn for more than ten hours, and it only costs one or twenty taels of silver a month, so it's not too expensive."
"If the oil can be cheaper, I can sell this product..." Mr. Gao was unwilling to give up.
Xiao Zishan only laughed and did not answer his questions. Mr. Gao knew that this group of Australian merchants would not let go. However, he got this lamp for free and twelve bottles of kerosene as a bonus, which was a great benefit.
He thought that maybe it could be replaced with vegetable oil, so he would try it tomorrow.
At that moment, Xiao Zishan demonstrated all the methods of disassembly, maintenance, and oil filling. Gao Juming watched and learned from a boy nearby, and followed it several times. When he saw that everything was correct, he decided to price according to the order.
The payment was settled at the price they had agreed upon, and they received a total of more than three thousand taels of silver. Xiao Zishan asked for one thousand and fifty taels to be converted into gold. Mr. Gao shook his head repeatedly and said that there was no place to exchange gold at night, and he only had five taels in his hand.
Sixty taels of gold. Finally, six hundred taels of silver were replaced with sixty taels of gold.
Xiao Zishan asked to buy porcelain again, which was not beyond Mr. Gao's expectation. Overseas businessmen like to buy porcelain. It was not troublesome, as there were too many porcelain in his warehouse. He ordered someone to bring a few baskets of porcelain for export.
He opened the straw rope bag and took out a few pieces for inspection. Based on several porcelain books that Xiao Zishan had read unexpectedly, he identified that this was the so-called "Clark porcelain", which was a representative variety of exported porcelain in the late Ming Dynasty.
How much can this porcelain sell for now? An ordinary plate will not be less than a few thousand yuan. On December 10, 2005, it was salvaged from the South China Sea by the Swedish Stensjostrand.
214 pieces of Clark porcelain were auctioned at the "Hailao Ceramics" special event. Although the glaze of the porcelain was severely corroded and even peeled off due to long-term immersion in water, it still achieved a transaction rate of 92% and a total transaction volume of 2.727 million yuan. One of them
A Ming Dynasty Wanli blue and white lotus petal-shaped consecrated flower and bird dish sold for 55,000 yuan.
At this moment, there were several large baskets full of brand new Clark porcelain in front of them!
They spent less than twenty taels of silver to buy these porcelains. Xiao Zishan and others thought it was a bargain, while Master Gao secretly laughed at these merchants for not understanding the market price. Both parties felt that they had gotten a big deal.
Before leaving, Wen Desi left two hundred taels of silver and asked Mr. Gao to buy a house nearby for their stay. According to the plan, the exit of the wormhole in this time and space will be temporarily arranged there. Mr. Gao once
A promise.
After the Australian maritime merchant left, Mr. Gao thought for a long time in his study. He even kicked out the concubine who invited him to rest. Buying a house was naturally not a big deal given his ability, but the identities of these people have always been unknown.
, still made him a little worried. After going around in circles a few times, he called the manager over and told him not to leak out the affairs of the Australian maritime merchants. He also asked him to make a list of all the servants, servants and maids who knew about the matter.
Come in, if the news leaks out, you will be investigated and severely punished.
Note: The knowledge about Clark porcelain comes from Mr. Ma Weidu’s book.