1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 3707

Port Said is a small place and its social structure is not too complicated, so it didn't take Qian Tiandun too long to get to know the general situation of this place.

The Ottoman Empire did not invest much resources in the development of this place. Most of the infrastructure here, including ports and roads, was funded by generations of caravans over thousands of years. After the Ottoman Empire took over this place, it only did some repair work.

So Port Said was nominally under the jurisdiction of the Ottoman Empire, but in fact its daily operations were handled by a non-governmental organization of the nature of a chamber of commerce.

This chamber of commerce has a total of 17 members, and it is said that they are the 17 trading houses that have contributed the most to the development and construction of Port Said. If newcomers want to settle in Port Said, they must first get the approval of the chamber of commerce and pay the corresponding port management fees.

This rule also applies to the Hai Han inspection team that comes from afar.

After the Hai Han inspection team arrived in Port Said, they immediately booked two hotels. Such a large move naturally attracted the attention of the Chamber of Commerce. Then someone took the initiative to visit Qian Tiandun and told him that he must first complete registration with the Chamber of Commerce and pay the management fee before he could engage in trade activities here.

Qian Tiandun was worried about not being able to find a suitable way to contact businessmen from various countries, but this Chamber of Commerce could just help him complete this step, so he immediately took Li Yuande and Dong Shangyi to visit the Chamber of Commerce.

As for paying the management fee, Qian Tiandun didn't think there was anything wrong with it. The fact that the Chamber of Commerce collected the fee instead of the local government was enough to show the influence of the Chamber of Commerce in Port Said, and there was no need to question the authority of the other party for a small fee.

The fees can be paid, and of course Qian Tiandun also put forward his own request, which is to ask the Chamber of Commerce to arrange an exchange activity on his behalf, allowing the Hai Han inspection team to promote various products from the East to the members of the Chamber of Commerce.

Most of the various commodities that Qian Tiandun brought to Port Said might not be unfamiliar to the Chamber of Commerce members, but the quotes given by Qian Tiandun and the promised supply capacity were definitely not something that could be provided by those middlemen who had been trading goods for who knows how many times in the past two or three decades.

It was a common understanding in the Mediterranean business community that high-quality goods from the East could be sold at high prices in the European market and earn high returns. The conditions offered by Qian Tiandun were obviously very competitive.

But the people in the Chamber of Commerce were well-informed and were not satisfied with this. Instead, they hoped that Hai Han could promise to grant regional franchise rights so that they could monopolize the sales revenue of these products in the European market.

However, Hai Han already has two distributors in Portugal and the Netherlands, one responsible for the Northern European market and the other for the Southern European market, so it is unlikely that a third distributor will be allowed to intervene. Qian Tiandun can only promise them the franchise rights in the Port Said area - this area does not even include the Port of Suez, 300 miles to the south.

This naturally made it difficult for the members of the Chamber of Commerce to be satisfied, and they immediately expressed their objections.

Qian Tiandun had no choice but to take a tougher stance: "If you want a larger franchise, please prove to me that you have the corresponding strength."

Next, Qian Tiandun finally understood why the local chamber of commerce established in this small Saide Port could override the government in certain areas.

The first fat man in black who answered the phone said that his boss was a famous nobleman in Athens, Greece. He owned a lot of industries along the Aegean Sea coast and would receive a grand reception even if he went to Constantinople.

The second person said that his master was a certain Hungarian Grand Duke, who owned many docks and a large number of merchant ships along the Danube River and was fully capable of obtaining the franchise. The third person proudly told Qian Tiandun that his company was originally owned by a member of the royal family in Constantinople, and the channels were directly connected to the sky. If this company did not join, the influence of the entire chamber of commerce would be greatly reduced.

Qian Tiandun listened patiently and found out that each of the 17 members had a very strong background. The financial backers behind the scenes were either rich or noble, and basically had high-level backgrounds. None of them were just there to make up the numbers.

This is not some insignificant small chamber of commerce, it is simply a fraternity of nobles around the Mediterranean. If these people are not bragging, then if the forces behind them are integrated together, they can indeed control the trade channels in most areas of the Mediterranean.

Qian Tiandun said: "Since you all have such strong capital, why do you still have to be patient to negotiate with me? Shouldn't you be the ones making demands on me to prove that I have enough strength to negotiate long-term cooperation with the Chamber of Commerce?"

The leading fat man in black responded: "The cooperation we expect is exclusive, and for this we can make certain concessions to you."

Qian Tiandun said: "But I have said before that we have established cooperative relations with Portugal and the Netherlands. It is impossible for us to cancel the long-term cooperation with these countries without any reason."

The fat man in black asked, "Then what kind of reason do you think is reasonable?"

Qian Tiandun said: "Unless these two countries lose the ability to continue to implement the cooperation agreement due to some force majeure, forcing our country to choose to terminate the relationship."

"For example, if a large-scale war breaks out, they must put all their resources into the battlefield and can no longer act as distributors for our country. Or, perhaps a madman inherits the throne by chance and then announces the severance of diplomatic relations with our country."

The two examples cited by Qian Tiandun are not completely impossible, but the probability of their occurrence is indeed very small, and I think it is probably not much higher than being hit on the head by a meteor.

Sure enough, after everyone in the Chamber of Commerce exchanged glances, they all felt that hope was slim, and several people showed disappointment on their faces.

During the first meeting, the two sides failed to reach any substantive agreement and could only agree to continue the talks at another date.

However, Qian Tiandun was very optimistic about the prospects of the talks. In his opinion, he had at least gained a preliminary understanding of the background of the local chamber of commerce and knew the other party's basic demands.

Although there are major differences between the two sides on the degree and methods of cooperation, Qian Tiandun keenly saw the consensus, that is, both sides do not rule out future cooperation in trade.

Li Yuande said: "It is understandable that the people in the Chamber of Commerce want to monopolize the benefits and exclude all European competitors. After all, for a long time, most of the goods shipped back to Europe from the East have been controlled by Portugal and the Netherlands. These people have probably been coveting this business for a long time."

Dong Shangyi said: "I think the reason is more than that. If the Ottoman Empire wants to emulate Portugal and the Netherlands and become a maritime power, in addition to strengthening its own strength, it must also continue to weaken the strength of its competitors to narrow the gap. The local Chamber of Commerce wants to take this opportunity to snatch the franchise from those two countries, and it may also have such an intention."

Qian Tiandun said, "What you said makes sense. But no matter how much the people in the Chamber of Commerce brag, it is only a local Chamber of Commerce after all. You can't disbelieve what they say, let alone believe everything. The big guys behind them may be powerful, but will they really jump up and down to cooperate with the Chamber of Commerce for trade benefits? I certainly won't pin all my hopes on these foreign businessmen."