1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 154
Li Nai stood on the deck with his hands behind his back, silently looking at the lucky boat with the "Haihan" flag in front of him, but he was thinking about other things.

The business name "Furuifeng" was created by the Li family during the Hongwu period, and it has been passed down from generation to generation for more than 200 years.Through the efforts of several generations of the Li family, "Furuifeng" has gradually developed from a peddler who roamed the streets to a large commercial firm with [-] branches and businesses all over South China.In Guangzhou, today's "Furuifeng" can be counted as one of the big shopping malls.

Li Nai's fate is not bad. It can be said that he was born with a golden spoon in his mouth. This is because his father is Li Jifeng, the big boss of "Furuifeng". From the day he was born, he has been living a life of a master .If there is any regret, it is that there are two older brothers above him. In terms of the order of heirs, Li Nai can at most be ranked third.

If there are no accidents in the future, what Li Nai can inherit is probably a certain local business name under "Fu Ruifeng".Just like the treasurer Li of "Furuifeng" in Yazhou, he and the big boss Li Jifeng are also cousins, but because he has no inheritance rights, he can only be assigned to a local firm as a manager.

Li Nai's father didn't really want him to continue to be a businessman. After all, the whole social environment was heavy on agriculture and less on business. There were four classes of scholars, farmers, businessmen, and businessmen were always at the bottom.Although the Li family has been good at doing business for generations, and has continued to develop and grow "Fu Ruifeng" for more than 200 years, but in terms of social status, the Li family is still far from the real rich.

The reason for this is actually very simple, because no one in the Li family has been an official for eight generations, and all of them are businessmen after a while, so it is naturally difficult to obtain a higher social status.Li Jifeng learned from the pain, so he worked hard on Li Nai, spending a lot of money to hire famous teachers to study in famous schools, hoping that he would pass the imperial examination and soar to the sky in the future, so that the old Li family can also produce a civil servant within the system.

Li Nai was also competitive. At the age of 14, he was selected as a scholar, and he passed the provincial examination and passed the provincial examination, but he failed to pass the two general examinations.Although it is said that as long as one becomes a juren, one can become an official, but there are so many juren in the world, and it takes at least ten years to be a magistrate.

And Li Nai himself had read books for more than ten years, and was a little tired of taking exams year after year, so he tactfully proposed that he wanted to try to help his family with business.Li Jifeng is also considered an open-minded person. He thought that anyway, Li Nai had already passed the Juren examination, so he could be regarded as famous. It would not be easy to grab the [-] tributes in the next step, so he gave him a relatively easy job. ——Go to Qiongzhou Prefecture to discuss trade cooperation with a local sea merchant.If Li Nai is doing well, it’s okay to take care of some business slowly. If it’s not going well, just go back to study and take the exam. Anyway, the family is not short of this little money to support him to concentrate on studying.

Li Nai has actually heard about the object of this visit.In May, the merchants in Qiongzhou sent several pieces of glassware and silver mirrors. According to the guy who delivered the things, a new group of maritime merchants appeared near Yazhou on the south side of Qiongzhou Island, claiming to be from Wanli Overseas. The appearance and language of the "Haihan Kingdom" in China are the same as those of the Ming people, but there are many unique features in clothing and customs.These Haihan people seem to have some unique craftsmanship, and they can make glassware that is no less than that of Western Fanshang.As for the silver mirror, Li Nai has also seen it with his own eyes, and it is very clear, much better than the bronze mirror, and it is an extremely rare item on the market.

Li Jifeng has been in business for many years, and he also knows that Western Fan merchants have this kind of peculiar silver mirror, but because the quantity is extremely rare, they don't take it out at all, and keep it for their own use.And these newly emerged Haihan people obviously mastered some kind of mirror-making technology. Among the mirrors they sold, there was even a square mirror with a length and width of one foot.Although this mirror was asked for 800 taels of silver, in Li Jifeng's eyes, this kind of rare thing in the world, let alone 800 taels, is worth two or three times the price.

Sure enough, this mirror was only placed in the head office of "Furuifeng" for two days before it was bought by a personage from the Guangzhou government at a price of 500 taels of silver.The other small samples sent from Qiongzhou Mansion were also quickly sold out.Li Jifeng immediately asked people to buy the saltpeter, sulfur, coke and other commodities requested by the other party on the market, and shipped them to Qiongzhou Island.

After that, every half a month or so, a batch of goods from "Haihan" will arrive in Guangzhou. Because of the shrewd performance of the shopkeeper Li in Yazhou, "Furuifeng" has obtained the Haihan glassware and silver mirrors in Guangzhou. Exclusive operating rights, which also allowed the head office to make a lot of money.

In mid-June, shopkeeper Li of the Yazhou branch of "Furuifeng" returned to Guangzhou to report on his work, and brought back the latest Haihan products and their requirements.Li Jifeng kept half of this new glass stationery, and Li Nai, as a representative of scholars in the family, was lucky enough to get a set.

In order to help his family promote this new product, Li Nai specially took the lead in organizing a poetry meeting, and invited many local cultural celebrities in Guangzhou to attend.As soon as this glass stationery came out, the style of the entire poetry meeting seemed to be qualitatively improved.Just as Schneider had expected, this crystal clear cultural item was immediately praised and sought after by scholars—of course, those who can pursue this stuff are generally from relatively well-off families, after all, not every scholar has a financial If you have the strength, you can spend 100 taels to buy a set of glass stationery.

That's right, the ex-factory price of glass stationery in Shengli Port is only 100 taels. After arriving in Guangzhou, all boats have risen. In addition, the Li family has digested [-] sets, so there are only [-] sets left in the market. It's just a set. Don't think it's too expensive for [-] taels. If it's not someone who is closely related to Mr. Li San, the owner of "Furuifeng", there is no place to buy it even if you have silver.

Li Nai told the local scholars "with great regret" at the poetry conference that this glass stationery comes from thousands of miles overseas, and each set is custom-made, so it is not easy to get. There is no comment on how much you can get, and friends who are interested in buying can pay more attention to the store of the firm - the implication is that this thing is now priced and there is no market. If you want to buy it to pretend to be aggressive, you should prepare early Good money!

Naturally, some quick-witted people found Li Nai quietly after the poetry meeting, insisting on taking a deposit to make a reservation first.In view of the high buying enthusiasm of consumers, Li Nai had no choice but to accept these reservations. After two or three days, more than 20 people have placed deposits with Li Nai, and its market prospects can be said to be bright.

According to shopkeeper Li who brought back these samples, these are only samples produced by Haihan people, and the official products will definitely be more refined and perfect.A shopkeeper from Haihan has already sent a message, and there will be a variety of products to be launched in succession, and this category of products will be differentiated from the brand and price. In the words of Haihan people, this is called " To develop products according to the needs of consumers".

The Li family father and son were all stunned when they heard it. The principles contained in these business strategies are not particularly profound. They are all people who have been in business for many years. Someone has thought this way and done it.The remarks relayed by shopkeeper Li are like opening a new door before their eyes, making them realize that the original business can still be done like this.

Of course, in addition to these, the thousand catties of refined salt also aroused Li Jifeng's interest.Needless to say, the profits of the private salt business are numerous, and Li Jifeng, who has been in the mall for many years, is naturally innumerable.The refined salt provided by the Haihan people is not only of good quality, but also extremely cheap - the other party is willing to supply "Furuifeng" for a long time at a price of 50 taels of silver per thousand catties.Compared with the current price of 350 to 400 taels of silver per thousand catties in Guangzhou, the profit is frighteningly high.Even if "Fu Ruifeng" does not sell directly, but resells these private salts to several local salt merchants, the profit from this resale is also very considerable.But out of prudence, Li Jifeng still told shopkeeper Li to ask the Haihan people to supply more than ten thousand catties per month. Not enough for "Fu Rui Feng" to risk it for this.

The shopkeeper Li from Yazhou, who has dealt with many Haihan people, is very respectful of Haihan people's attitude towards doing business. In his opinion, Haihan people have several characteristics in doing business. The types and quantities will not be changed, and the settlement of the accounts is also very clear, without delay and repetition.

The second is flexibility. Haihan people seldom require cash payment when doing business, and they usually barter. Now they have introduced a thing called "circulation coupon" to replace money in local transactions. It saves the trouble of counting the number and checking the fineness in the money settlement.

The third is the method. The Haihan people not only have mastered the advanced production technology, but also their sales skills are worth learning. The poetry meeting held by Li Nai this time is actually Schneider’s idea for the shopkeeper Li in Yazhou. When Schneider described this method, he did not mention the form of "poetry meeting", but used another word that everyone is relatively unfamiliar with - product promotion meeting.But no matter what, this method is obviously very effective. Li Jifeng has even thought that when something new comes out in the future, he should promote it in advance like this.

These characteristics summarized by shopkeeper Li in Yazhou have become an important reference for Li Nai to visit Haihan people when he travels to Qiongzhou Island.Shopkeeper Li left Guangzhou a few days later with thousands of taels of silver and two sea-going ships purchased for the Haihan people. He will go to Shengli Port to order the next batch of glassware, stationery, mirrors, and perhaps There will be other new goodies coming.

(End of this chapter)