1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 1721 Food New Deal
Qin Huacheng didn't even know how much Dacheng Mixing sent Welbeck last year, and of course he had no way of knowing how much the so-called [-]% of the so-called service fee was, but judging by the attitude of the Dutchman, it was obvious that the payment would only be made after the conditions were negotiated. He intends to sign, but his negotiating authority is not enough to make such a promise involving money, so he dare not do it for him, so he can only accept it with a wry smile, and prepares to go back and ask Shopkeeper Wang for instructions.

Welbeck said: "After you go back, make it clear to your boss that the company's board of directors will reconsider the grain procurement from this year onwards. If your rice company can't come up with better conditions, then the board of directors may adjust the grain purchase policy. .”

Qin Huacheng already had some understanding of the middleman operation mode of Dacheng Rice Bank, and he couldn't help asking: "Then, my lord, can you tell me about the adjustment method?"

Welbeck looked up at Qin Huacheng, and added, "Perhaps from now on, we won't buy grain through Dacheng Rice Company."

Dacheng Rice Co., Ltd. is the undisputed number one in the local grain market, and Cheng Dapeng can even influence the trend of local grain prices by himself.In the past few years, the grain reserves purchased by the East India Company have always been organized by Dacheng Rice Bank. This mode of operation has both advantages and disadvantages for the East India Company.

The advantage is that Dacheng Rice Company can provide uniform price and grain quality, as well as stable delivery time. It does not need the Dutch to spend a lot of time to organize purchases separately. It only needs to negotiate with Dacheng Rice Company a few months in advance for the purchase content. The operating efficiency is very high.The disadvantage is that Dacheng Rice Company has further grasped the local grain market as an official agent, and the price must be higher than the cost of the Dutch purchasing separately.Of course, the Dutch officials in charge of this matter, including Welbeck, all made a lot of money from the grain trade. Since the officials in charge are all vested interests, they have never paid attention to this matter. This mode of operation has been disputed.

There are two important factors that are indispensable for this trade model. One is the absolute influence of Dacheng Rice Co., Ltd. in the local grain market, and the other is that the officials of the East India Company who manage grain purchases can obtain sufficient benefits. Any changes may lead to the collapse of this model.

Dacheng Rice Co., Ltd. is still the most important local grain supplier in Batavia. Even though the East India Company has begun to organize grain farming in the past few years, there is still a huge gap between the planting scale and operating efficiency of Dacheng Rice Co., Ltd. , the cost of grain production is even higher than the price purchased from Dacheng Rice Bank.Therefore, there has always been a dispute within the East India Company about growing grain by itself, thinking that it is easier to place an order directly with Dacheng Rice Company, especially the officials who can get kickbacks from the grain trade, and actively acted as representatives of Dacheng Rice Company within the East India Company customers, firmly opposed to investing company resources in agricultural projects with lower returns.

But the faction that insists on growing their own food is not weak. These officials believe that the lifeline of food must be in their own hands to be safe, rather than handed over to black-haired and yellow-skinned Han immigrants.Even in the previous years of war, Cheng Dapeng shared weal and woe with the Dutch in the city, but he did not win the full trust of the East India Company.In the eyes of these Dutch people, Cheng Dapeng is a foreigner after all, and the important resource of food cannot be handed over to him all year round. The control of Batavia's food market will eventually need to be gathered in the hands of the authorities.

This has to mention the second important factor in the East India Company's current grain procurement model, the power distribution model for related affairs.For officials in charge of agriculture and grain procurement, the seat below their buttocks is a cornucopia, and a lot of wealth enters their pockets through the grain trade every year, and this situation will inevitably attract the envy of others, after all, such cheap benefits Who wouldn't want it?
If you want to gain benefits from the grain trade, you must either pry the current officials out of power and replace them yourself, or cancel the old trading model and start a new one to reshuffle the local grain market.But no matter what it is, for Qin Huacheng who is in charge of this matter, it is a fight between gods and gods, and a small shrimp like himself can't figure it out at all.Welbeck said that it may not be possible to purchase grain through Dacheng Rice Bank in the future, which means that the power distribution of the East India Company in the field of grain procurement will change.And all Qin Huacheng could do was to bring the news back first, and see how his superiors would respond.

Although Qin Huacheng did not complete the task of signing the contract when he left, he finally got some information, and he did not leave empty-handed.Although he wanted to find out more information, but because he didn't have the money to bargain with the other party, Welbeck naturally didn't bother to discuss it with him, a runner who couldn't get any real benefits.

When Qin Huacheng returned to Dacheng Rice Shop, the sky had already darkened. The shopkeeper Wang saw that his face was unhappy, so he guessed that he hadn't been able to finish the job. The shopkeeper is coming, and you will report to him about the situation of the Dutch."

Although Qin Huacheng was a little surprised by Shopkeeper Wang's attitude, he still followed his instructions and went to eat first.Sure enough, not long after, Cheng Dapeng came to Mihang, first summoned the shopkeeper Wang, and then quickly called Qin Huacheng into the study.

Cheng Dapeng dispatched the treasurer Wang back first, and then asked Qin Huacheng about the process of going to these places for business today.Qin Huacheng didn't dare to be negligent, so he first talked about the meeting with Chu Huo and Duan Xuan at the two farms in the morning, and then the meeting with Welbeck in the city.

"The Dutch want to play new tricks!" After listening to Qin Huacheng's story, Cheng Dapeng couldn't help expressing emotion: "It's been more than four years, and it seems that they don't want me to control the grain trade all the time, and plan to slowly Take down my desk!"

Qin Huacheng didn't know how Cheng Dapeng gradually controlled the grain market in Batavia, so he didn't dare to answer this question, and could only stand obediently and wait for orders.

After Cheng Dapeng sighed, he asked Qin Huacheng: "Did Welbeck mention any specific time? For example, how long does it take for us to reply, or when will the change in the procurement plan he said be implemented?"

Qin Huacheng thought for a while, then shook his head and said, "I haven't heard him mention the specific time, maybe this person is just bluffing to bargain."

Cheng Dapeng thought for a moment, then shook his head and said: "If he wants to bargain with me, there is no need to make such an excuse. As long as the conditions he proposes are not outrageous, I should agree. Adding [-]% ​​to last year's basis is nothing. Big thing...he should have rejected you on purpose and asked you to bring news back."

Qin Huacheng said in astonishment: "It is necessary to use this unconventional method to convey the news. Could it be that this Dutch official has already..."

Cheng Dapeng nodded without waiting for him to finish speaking: "Yes, he has probably been vacated, maybe there are still people watching his every move, waiting to catch him. I don't know where he is. How many people are jealous in the dark!"

Seeing Qin Huacheng's unconcealable surprise, Cheng Dapeng asked with a smile, "Do you think it's a bit exaggerated for an official in charge of food procurement to lead to official fights?"

Qin Huacheng nodded, indicating that what Cheng Dapeng said was exactly what he thought in his heart.When he went to Welbeck earlier, the office space didn’t look like the treatment of an important person. Besides, although this job has good benefits, it is just a low-level official to put it bluntly. serious.

Cheng Dapeng said slowly: "Welbeck alone is certainly not a big man, but the person who put him in this position is one of the seventeen major shareholders of the East India Company. Master, if someone wants to pry his seat, it probably means that the upper echelons of the East India Company are going to change."

Qin Huacheng didn't know much about the composition of the East India Company, and only after arriving in Batavia did he gradually receive some information about this colonial organization.For such a large commercial organization as the East India Company, internal power struggles are inevitable. Cheng Dapeng said that Welbeck's position may involve high-level power struggles, so the current situation seems to make sense.

Qin Huacheng asked for instructions: "Then if we agree to Welbeck's request, will this year's grain purchase order be secure?"

Cheng Dapeng shook his head and said: "According to what he expressed, if he can't stay any longer, then this year's procurement model may change. I think this is Welbeck reminding us to try to keep his seat, To keep the food business."

Qin Huacheng said: "Even if the Dutch want to change the game, the food price in Batavia is still in the hands of the big shopkeeper. It stands to reason that they can't get around it anyway, even if Welbeck is replaced. Has something changed?"

Cheng Dapeng said: "The Dutch are not as simple as you think. Think about it, they changed the way they purchase grain in order to weaken the influence of Dacheng Rice Company on grain prices. Those small grain merchants who have been obeying our orders have finally With the opportunity to stand out, at the same purchase price, they will not hesitate to sell the surplus grain in their hands to the government, and what we can do is to affect the local grain price by increasing the purchase price or increasing the amount of sales, but here In this situation, it doesn’t really work. If we take the initiative to raise grain prices, small grain traders will be reaping the benefits. If we suppress grain prices, the Dutch will want it.”

Qin Huacheng hadn't heard the people from Mihang talk about these market conditions in detail before, and after listening to them, he couldn't help sighing: "So although Mihang can affect local food prices, in fact this trick is just a display to scare people. It doesn't work."

Cheng Dapeng said: "Whether it works or not depends on whether the Dutch are willing to cooperate. In the past, they purchased grain through our rice bank, so it is very useful to control the fluctuation of rice prices. When purchasing grain from the private sector, we can lower the market price." For grain prices, when the Dutch come to buy, we will raise the grain price again. The difference in the price will be distributed to officials like Welbeck, and everyone will make this deal tacitly. But if the Dutch change Without the grain purchase model, the previous set of operations will not be so easy to use.”

Qin Huacheng thought for a while and then asked: "But our side is the big local grain producer. If the Dutch buy grain from small grain merchants, they may not be able to collect the amount they need, right? In the end, they have to find us. Buy food."

Cheng Dapeng said: "That's what I said, but when the time comes, we will be passive. The seller's market has become a buyer's market. It is very unfavorable to us, and the higher authorities certainly do not want to see such a situation."

Qin Huacheng didn't understand terms like buyer's market and seller's market, but he understood what Cheng Dapeng meant by "above".Although Cheng Dapeng is a big businessman in Batavia who can call the wind and rain, he is only a spy leader serving Haihan. If Cheng Dapeng can't complete this main mission by collecting all kinds of information, no matter how much money Cheng Dapeng makes here, he can't be regarded as a qualified intelligence officer after all.

Since Cheng Dapeng said that the higher-ups did not want to see this kind of situation, it means that his previous manipulation of the local grain market was also inspired by Haihan.Thinking that another country thousands of miles away could control Batavia's grain market remotely, Qin Huacheng couldn't help but be amazed by Haihan's economic intervention methods.However, he didn't know that Haihan actually had a similar deployment in Manila earlier, but the scale of operation of Ran Tianlu and others in Manila was far from reaching the influence of Cheng Dapeng in Batavia.

Since Cheng Dapeng could not just sit back and watch such changes happen, in order to prevent the Dutch from changing the grain procurement plan, the next step is to try to intervene in the power change of the East India Company and keep the official positions of these vested interests headed by Welbeck.

But when Qin Huacheng and Welbeck met before, the other party was vague, and it was difficult for Cheng Dapeng to deduce Welbeck's real situation and thoughts based on the limited information Qin Huacheng brought back.However, Welbeck once mentioned asking Cheng Dapeng to give him an explanation during the meeting. Cheng Dapeng thought this was a signal that Welbeck wanted to have a direct interview with him, so he planned to go there again in person.

"You go with me tomorrow." Cheng Dapeng ordered Qin Huacheng's general: "If Welbeck really needs our help, then this matter may be more troublesome. I want to say hello to him and contact him in the middle." The task is given to you."

"Leave it to me?" Qin Huacheng was taken aback for a moment.

"You are a new face in the local area. Even if someone knows that you work for me, they will not pay much attention to you as a newcomer." Cheng Dapeng pointed to his head and said: "But you should be smart when you encounter problems, remember you identity and mission!"

(End of this chapter)