1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 1719 Grain Trade
There were a lot of private transactions of money and money in this grain business, and Qin Huacheng had heard some from shopkeeper Wang before, but he didn't expect that he would encounter such a situation on his first errand, and someone would force him to give him benefits.And according to what Chu Huo said, not only he, the handler, will benefit, but even his boss, shopkeeper Wang, will have a share. This is probably not the first time that such an operation has been carried out between Chu Huo's farm and Dacheng Rice.

If measured by the transaction amount agreed upon by the two parties in this contract, the price Chu Huo offered for two hundred silver coins is actually not high. The content of the job is just running errands back and forth to seek opinions from both sides, and the hard work of two hundred silver coins is not a small amount. You must know that this money is almost a year's living expenses for ordinary people in the local area.

But Qin Huacheng didn't dare to take this trick. The execution scene he saw yesterday was still deeply imprinted in his mind. If he was greedy for this little money, he might be tied up as a victim to make an example of others.Not to mention two hundred silver coins, even two thousand, twenty thousand, compared to the safety of one's own life, it is not worth it.He, Qin Huacheng, is not a poor man who has never seen money. When he was in Manila, when Ding Feng gave money every time, it was more than 100 or [-].

Qin Huacheng said: "Brother Chu, my younger brother has only been working in Mihang for a few days, and I really don't know the rules here. How about this, let my younger brother go back and ask Shopkeeper Wang for instructions to see what the old man thinks."

Chu Huo's face became even more ugly: "It seems that my little brother really doesn't want to give face! Well, then I will go to Shopkeeper Wang to explain the matter myself, and then don't blame me for not taking care of you!"

Qin Huacheng was about to say a few more words of persuasion, but Chu Huo was already unwilling to continue the conversation, so he directly served tea to see off the guests.Qin Huacheng couldn't force the other party, so he left Chu Huo's farm in despair and went to the next location.

On the plain to the south of Batavia City, there are grain fields criss-crossing, stretching as far as the eye can see.Since the end of the war with Mata Lan, Batavia's agricultural development has never stopped, and the scale of farmland today has even exceeded the level before the war.Since food was extremely scarce during the war, the Dutch learned their lessons and gave more support to farmers who grew food during the post-war reconstruction, with preferential measures in terms of land prices and taxes.And Dacheng Rice Co., Ltd. also seized this opportunity. After the war, it planted thousands of acres of land in the south of the city to specialize in the cultivation of food crops, and became the largest local grain merchant in one fell swoop.

Cheng Dapeng is still not satisfied with this situation, and has successively arranged many related households to come forward to open some other farms in this area, and through private joint ventures to realize industry alliances in disguise and control the grain price trend in this area .There are more than a dozen members of this Han Chinese Grain Merchant Alliance, and the local farmland has reached a scale of [-] mu. It is only a matter of one sentence to control the price of grain in the market.

The Dutch are not completely ignorant of the actions of Cheng Dapeng and others, but the grain supplied by them accounts for more than half of the local market. If these Han Chinese grain merchants are to be sanctioned, the local grain market will inevitably be closed in the short term. There was a crash and social unrest, a situation the Dutch had to avoid as much as possible.Of course, there is another part of the reason, that is, the officials in charge of agriculture and grain trade in the East India Company can get very considerable benefits from such a big grain merchant as Cheng Dapeng. Without violating the fundamental interests of the East India Company, the Batavian authorities will still turn a blind eye to the informal business methods of the grain merchants.

As a major grain merchant, Dacheng Rice Company purchases grain from farmers, and then sells it to the Dutch at a uniform price and quality standard, saving them the trouble of purchasing scattered grain on the market.In this process, the managers of the farm, Dacheng Rice Company, and the East India Company all had the opportunity to extract a sum of money as personal income.Qin Huacheng didn't know how many shady transactions there were, but he knew that he would never make mistakes because of money this time. The same accident had happened once in Manila, and he couldn't repeat the same mistakes in Batavia, so Regardless of whether he would offend Chu Huo and shopkeeper Wang because of this incident, he still resolutely refused to accept the benefits offered by Chu Huo.

But now Qin Huacheng is a little worried about whether a similar situation will happen to the second farm he is going to visit next. After all, according to shopkeeper Wang, the two farmers who have reached a grain transaction with Dacheng Rice Bank are all from Rice Bank. The old employees may have communicated with each other a long time ago. Maybe this second company will follow Chu Huo's operation and ask for a price increase, and then give a little sweetness to Qin Huacheng to facilitate the matter.

"No matter what, money cannot be collected." Qin Huacheng looked at the farm gate in front of him, and silently reminded himself once again in his heart.

The owner of this farm is named Duan Mingxuan, who looks a few years younger than Na Chuhuo, and has a bit more literati air.Duan Xuan claimed that he used to be a clerk at Dacheng Rice Bank, specializing in writing various sales contracts and the like, so he was a half-literate man.Qin Hua deliberately thought that this guy was an expert, and he had to be extremely careful when dealing with him to negotiate the content of the contract.

As if he had guessed what Qin Huacheng was thinking, Duan Xuan took the initiative to say: "Actually, this model of the grain sales contract was drafted by my subordinates at the beginning. For each transaction, it is only necessary to modify the details of the grain quantity, grade, price, and delivery time. .You must have read the content of this contract, are they all the same, exactly the same?"

Qin Huacheng suddenly said: "So that's how it is. That little one won't be playing tricks here. I'd like to ask Boss Duan to give me a clear answer on whether the conditions in this contract are feasible."

Now that the other party made the point clear, Qin Huacheng didn't need to waste his saliva on explaining the contents of the contract, and simply asked Duan Xuan to give him a good word to save everyone's time.

Duan Xuan said: "Since Brother Qin is a straightforward person, then I will be straightforward. The transaction price in the contract may have to be increased by another [-]%. Of course, this matter will not let Brother Qin be in vain. Hard work Fees must be paid."

Qin Huacheng's heart sank when he heard this. The other party's conditions were almost exactly the same as that of Chu Huo's, asking for a [-]% increase on the originally agreed price.But the price increase was not what he said Qin Huacheng could do. The other party put forward such a condition, and it was probably asking him to be a microphone in the middle.

Qin Huacheng said: "To tell the truth, Boss Duan, I went to visit Boss Chu earlier, and he also made such a request."

Duan Xuan said: "Huh? Then since you made a request, surely Boss Chu has made other conditions for you?"

Qin Huacheng nodded and said: "Boss Chu did promise to give Xiao's some benefits after the matter is completed, but Xiao's did not agree to it."

"Don't think so? Or are you afraid of trouble?" Duan Xuan asked again when he saw him confessing so frankly.

"Afraid of trouble." Qin Huacheng frankly admitted the other party's guess: "The young one has not been in Batavia for a long time, and he doesn't understand the rules here. Not a single copper plate can be touched."

Duan Xuan said: "Shopkeeper Cheng sometimes speaks just to scare people, you don't have to take it seriously. Besides, it's the rule in this industry to give you benefits, and it's not to harm you. Even if shopkeeper Cheng finds out in the future, he won't take it because of such trivial things. Blame it on you."

Qin Huacheng shook his head and said, "Whether shopkeeper Cheng will blame me is his idea, but since he told me, I can't make this mistake. If Boss Duan wants to take advantage of me to try to promote a price increase, then there is no need No, the little one won't accept the money."

"You are very honest." Duan Xuan nodded and said: "But if you refuse to accept my money, this matter will not be able to be done, and you will not be able to deal with your superiors after you go back, so what should we do?"

Qin Huacheng smiled wryly and said, "I can only tell the truth. If Shopkeeper Wang really wants to blame him, then he will admit it."

"You really would rather be punished for failing to complete the task than take the money and go back and say something nice to shopkeeper Wang to persuade him to raise the price?" Duan Xuan still tried to persuade Qin Huacheng to give up this pointless insistence: "Actually, even if you raise the price, If the price is paid, Dacheng Rice Shop will not suffer losses, because the price of selling it to the Dutch will also rise accordingly, and the rice shop will not lose any money. Think about the reason behind this!"

At this time, Qin Huacheng seemed to have turned into a dead-headed person, but shook his head again and again: "The truth is indeed what Boss Duan said, but the small ones still can't accept this benefit. Boss Duan doesn't need to persuade you anymore."

Qin Huacheng knew very well in his heart that working in Dacheng Rice Company was just a transition. According to Cheng Dapeng, he was sent to the rice company to learn about grain trade, and he would definitely not stay in the rice company after he finished his studies. work.As for whether he can make more profits for Mihang during his tenure, this is not the main criterion for Cheng Dapeng to test his training results. As an intelligence officer lurking in the private sector, not making mistakes is the primary quality.Previously, a companion was eliminated because of greed for money, how could he fall into the same pit again.

If this offends Chu Huo, Duan Xuan, or even shopkeeper Wang, Qin Huacheng is not worried. After all, these people are unlikely to affect his future development, and Cheng Dapeng does not use him because he needs him in business. Dacheng rice line creates profits.As for what punishment Shopkeeper Wang can give, at most he can complain to Cheng Dapeng.So no matter how much Duan Xuan persuaded him, Qin Huacheng still made up his mind and decided not to join forces with these small grain merchants in the periphery.

Qin Huacheng refused to let go, and the deal was naturally not settled, but Duan Xuan did not drive Qin Huacheng away angrily like Chu Huo, but invited him to visit his farm after the negotiation was suspended.Although Qin Huacheng didn't understand what it meant, he could feel that Duan Xuan's move should have no malice. Anyway, he was not in a hurry, so he accepted the other party's invitation.After a simple lunch, Qin Huacheng followed Duan Xuan to the farm, and accompanied him to inspect the farming conditions in the farm.

The two walked slowly along the field path, one in front and one behind.Duan Xuan introduced the situation of this farm to Qin Huacheng as he walked: "Two years ago, shopkeeper Cheng asked me to come forward and enclose [-] acres of arable land here, all of which will be used to grow rice. To tell you the truth, brother Qin, the money to run the farm Ninety-ninety percent of them were put on by Shopkeeper Cheng first. Although I also understand that he did this not entirely to take care of me, but to control the local grain market, but after the farm was put on the road, Shopkeeper Cheng also handed it over to me. I took care of it. After two years, not only did he repay the expenses he had paid in advance, but also built a manor here with the rest of the money. This year, we enclose [-] acres of land to open up wasteland and grow food. Even if we run it on our own, we can support our family and family There are dozens of long-term laborers on the farm."

Qin Huacheng didn't interrupt, and listened quietly to his narration.However, in the past two years, relying on the income from farming grain to earn back the initial investment, there is still a surplus, which shows that Batavia's grain trade is indeed quite profitable.But he immediately thought that the cost of growing grain would be reduced correspondingly only after the cultivation of the farmland reached a certain scale. If it was like an ordinary family planting ten acres or eight acres of land, it would probably only be enough for a family to live on. up.

Sure enough, Duan Xuan went on to talk about this issue: "But if it is not for the shopkeeper Cheng to contribute funds, it is not realistic to open up wasteland and farmland in this place by himself. Now the latecomers want to set up farms here, and the cost It is also much higher than two years ago, so the local grain market is basically controlled by shopkeeper Cheng. In fact, the level of grain prices is just a matter of his words."

Qin Huacheng savored Duan Xuan's words carefully, and found that his statement was consistent with that of the shopkeeper Wang of the rice shop, and both confirmed the dominant position of Dacheng rice shop in the local grain market.But since the price of grain has always been controlled by Cheng Dapeng, why do these farmers dare to ask for a price increase, not to mention that they started their business with the support of Cheng Dapeng, they should have a heart of gratitude and awe, aren't they afraid of Cheng Dapeng Dissatisfied with this, they used other means to suppress their food prices.

Duan Xuan continued: "It's not our turn to raise the price increase. The annual grain purchase price is basically decided by the shopkeeper Cheng. Of course, he will not treat us badly, and the price given is not bad. It can make everyone a profit. There are thousands of acres of grain fields under the name of Dacheng Rice Co., and the cost of this kind of grain may be calculated better than us. If anyone finds an excuse to make Dacheng Rice Co. increase the purchase price, Most likely, he will come back after being stumbled upon by shopkeeper Cheng."

Qin Huacheng finally couldn't help asking: "If that's the case, why did Boss Duan and Boss Chu insist on raising the price?"

Duan Xuan smiled and said: "Why do you say? Of course it is the meaning of the shopkeeper. We are just following the order."

(End of this chapter)