1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 876 Zhoushan Merchants Association ([-])

For businessmen, it is not important who is in charge of the operation of the market, what is important is that they can get reasonable benefits.Not everyone is willing to accept the trade share allocation system formulated by the Zhoushan Ship Gang in the past, and there are many local people who want to replace it.It’s just that on the one hand, the Zhoushan Ship Gang has a deep background and a solid foundation, and ordinary people can’t pry it at all. On the other hand, this method of benefit distribution has been solidified, and it affects the whole body. prestige to preside over the formulation of a new profit distribution model.

The arrival of the Haihan people is like a stone thrown into a calm lake, breaking the previous balance.Whether it is force value or commercial ability, Haihan is far above the private forces of the Zhoushan Islands, and has accumulated rich experience and successful operation cases in Fuguang, as well as maintained an excellent business reputation for a long time.For those who want to change the status quo, it is undoubtedly the most convincing for Haihan to take the lead in rebuilding the maritime trade system in this region.

Although these people came to ask Qu Yutong for instructions, they had actually communicated with each other before coming and unified their views.For Wen Bo and others, Haihan people are now planning to re-establish market rules. If we don’t seize this opportunity to enter, when will we wait?If you don't participate in this business promotion meeting, and wait for others to divide it into east and west, and divide up all the franchise rights of Haihan products, then you will not even have the right to drink soup in the future.

Qu Yutong heard the opinions of the crowd, but he still said calmly: "Then do you know what kind of goods are included in the franchise that the Haihan people will release this time?"

Everyone shook their heads and said they didn't know. They only got invitations now. As for the content of the Merchants Association, they had not received relevant information before.

Qu Yutong twirled his beard proudly and sighed: "If you just ask questions like this and don't know anything, you can only be a spectator. Go to He Xiao later, he has what you need."

Wen Bo heard the words and said happily: "If you can grasp the news, great things can be accomplished!"

The invitation letter sent by Haihan made it very clear that there will be more than 90 kinds of franchise rights released at the Merchants Fair, and this franchise right can only be obtained by paying real money.Even for a merchant with strong financial resources, it is impossible to acquire all the franchise rights of so many commodities, so it is necessary to make a targeted choice.For example, if you want to get started quickly, you can choose to operate in a field that you are more familiar with, or if you consider profits, you can choose products with higher profits, or you may choose products that may not have too many competitors and are easier to obtain franchise rights.Before the investment promotion meeting, formulate a relatively safe strategy and prepare in advance for the project you want to win, which can undoubtedly greatly increase the chance of success.

Qu Yutong exhorted: "You need to be more careful about this matter, and don't spread it to outsiders!"

Wen Bo and the others hurriedly bowed and said, "Don't worry, my lord, we will keep it in mind."

Since the Haihan people did not make this part of the news public, it means that they are going to take care of some related households like Qu Yutong who have great influence in the local area at the Merchants Conference.If this kind of news leaked out, it would have little impact on the Haihan people, but their competitive advantage would be completely gone.These people here are all planning to throw money into it, so naturally they will not easily leak the unique information they have.

The competitive pressure faced by Wen Bo and others was not limited to Ningbo Prefecture. Two days after they agreed with Qu Yutong, businessmen from other prefectures in Zhejiang began to pour into Ningbo City. Among them, Taizhou Prefecture, There are especially many merchants in Shaoxing, Hangzhou, Huzhou, and Jiaxing.Although there were not so many invitations sent out by the Haihan people, after the relevant news spread, businessmen from other state capitals would naturally not miss this opportunity to hug their thighs in vain.

Although no invitation was received, the Haihan people's invitation did not mention that they would need to go to the island with a sticker, which means that even if they did not receive the invitation, they still had the opportunity to go to the island to participate in the investment promotion meeting.With the passage of time, businessmen who came to Ningbo began to come to Ningbo one after another in addition to the neighboring state capitals, as well as the farther Wenzhou Prefecture, Jinhua Prefecture, Songjiang Prefecture, Suzhou Prefecture, and Yangzhou Prefecture. meeting.Few of these people received Hai Han's invitation directly, and they all came to join in the fun after hearing the news.Those who intend to go to Zhoushan Island to participate in the investment promotion meeting are all wealthy people with some backgrounds. They are all served by a group of people when they travel far away. When they arrive in Ningbo, they have to stay in a hotel for dinner. All the hotels and restaurants in Ningbo are overcrowded for a while.

The fact that so many people came here upon receiving the news was not only because of the attractiveness of the cake released by Haihan, the means of publicity were equally important.Haihan does not have so much manpower to send invitations to various places in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and at the same time, it does not know who is worthy of invitation in various places, so spreading invitations widely is not an efficient solution.

If you just rely on the speed of news dissemination in this era, it may take ten days and a half months or even longer to spread the news to hundreds of miles away.However, while delivering the invitations here in Ningbo, it is not difficult to arrange some people to spread some processed news in other areas, so as to attract interested people to Ningbo and Zhoushan to participate in the investment promotion meeting.

It was rare for so many businessmen to gather in one place in the past few years. Many businessmen who wanted to gain something at the China Merchants Fair not only lamented that the attraction of Haihan was too strong, so many came. People will undoubtedly increase the competition for franchise rights at the China Merchants Conference.In the beginning, some businessmen came to Ningbo to watch the excitement with half-belief and dubious luck, but they found that the news they received before was not a fake, but a real opportunity to make a fortune. These people immediately changed their original wait-and-see attitude , Ask around how to go to Zhoushan Island to participate in the Haihan Investment Promotion Conference.

Although there are still some people in the government who do not welcome the arrival of the Haihan people, but now if they want to stand up and announce some unfavorable measures for Haihan, they will offend too many people.Although these merchants cannot directly participate in politics, there are many Ming officials in their network like Qu Yutong, the prefect of Ningbo, who are waiting to take advantage of the opportunities created by the Haihan people to make a fortune. Among the merchants who will go to Zhoushan Island to attend the meeting at the end of the month, there are quite a few Some of them went there on behalf of official figures.

Wu Huanzhi was one of the businessmen who came to Ningbo to join in the fun. He was from Taicang, Suzhou, and his family ran a silk business.Thousands of pieces of silk are sold by hand every year.However, for export trade, Wu Huanzhi does not have a good sales channel, and has always been wholesale to marine merchants, who then resell overseas.And this part of the transaction, most of the time is carried out in the Zhoushan Islands.Compared with the profits from reselling overseas, Wu Huanzhi's profits from this part of the trade are not huge, so he has been thinking about finding a more direct sales channel to sell the silk on hand overseas.

A few days ago, Wu Huanzhi heard the news that the Haihan people from the south had arrived in Zhoushan and drove away the Zhoushan boat gang that had originally occupied the area.In the past, all the folk rules on maritime trade were abolished, and the Haihan people had to formulate a new set of operating rules, and build a large-scale trading port on Zhoushan Island to attract merchants from Jiangsu and Zhejiang to settle in.Those who want to participate in this plan can go to Zhoushan Island for a field trip at the end of the month, and meet with Haihan people face-to-face to discuss conditions.

Wu Huanzhi was moved after hearing the news.He is not particularly familiar with the distribution of forces in the Zhoushan Islands, but the arrival of the Haihan people is an opportunity he thinks cannot be missed.Although the silk he sells overseas has been changed hands every year, he still knows the general destination. Some of it was sold across the East China Sea to North Korea, Japan and Ryukyu, and the other part was transported south and sold at Sanya Port in Qiongzhou Prefecture. To Haihan and some merchants from western countries.What Wu Huanzhi wants to do is to snatch this part of the profit from the middleman and take it back into his own hands.To achieve this goal, the best way is to meet with the Haihan people to discuss specific conditions.

Wu Huanzhi believes that he has a great competitive advantage in terms of price, and no matter how much the middleman lowers it, it is impossible for him, a manufacturer, to lower it. If the Haihan people really want to settle in Zhejiang, then Wu Huanzhi must try to sell his products directly to them.So he came to Ningbo without hesitation, and he didn't even hear about the Haihan People's Merchants Association sending invitations until he arrived in Ningbo.

The thing that makes Wu Huanzhi feel headache now is how to go to Zhoushan Island to participate in the Haihan people's business promotion meeting without receiving the invitation card.Almost all the people he knew in Ningbo were colleagues, but it was inconvenient to discuss this matter with them. After all, from the perspective of a businessman, Wu Huanzhi went to this business invitation meeting as a silk merchant when he couldn't afford it.Two days after arriving in Ningbo, Wu Huanzhi hadn't inquired about any useful news. Although there were still about ten days left until the meeting at the end of the month, Wu Huanzhi was faintly anxious.

When eating at the restaurant that day, Wu Huanzhi finally heard people at the back table talking about Zhoushan.He has been worrying about this for the past few days, and when he heard the word "Zhoushan", he couldn't help but keep his mind on it.

Then one of them said: "The Haihan people are said to have traveled long distances from Fuguang. Even if they have the upper hand for a while, how can they defend against the counterattack of those in Zhoushan? I heard that the life and death of Wang Jialin, the leader of the Zhoushan Ship Gang, is unknown. If he gathers another Help people kill and drive away the Haihan people, so what? Let’s go to Zhoushan Island at the end of the month to watch the excitement, so don’t be taken as a gesture of goodwill to Haihan.”

Another person with a rougher voice replied: "My dear brother, why worry? You just came to Ningbo, so you don't know anything. The Haihan people have been in Zhejiang for nearly a month. First, they broke Liuheng Island and the Haisha Gang. They only called from island to island in the north, and pushed them all the way to Zhoushan. If Wang Jialin had the ability to turn things around, why would he sit back and watch them encroach on his own territory?"

The person who spoke before said: "It seems that Brother Huang knows a lot of inside information. What is the strength of the Haihan people, and they dare to boast such a big Haikou. Can Brother Huang tell us?"

The person known as Big Brother Huang replied: "I dare not tell you the inside story, but when the Haihan people entered Ningbo, their first stop was Shipu Port, and they happened to be working in Shipu at that time, so I have seen the sea. The true face of the Han militia. You said just now that the Haihan people traveled long distances. This is true, but they are not passers-by. The fleet that came to Zhejiang this time included hundreds of large warships and tens of thousands of soldiers. , Just like an army conquest, how can the gangs in Zhoushan stop them? Let alone the Zhoushan boat gang, you see that the Haihan people occupied Zhoushan Island with open swords and guns, did the garrisons of Changguowei and Guanhaiwei say anything?"

Others responded: "The garrison has been standing still and turning a blind eye to the behavior of the Haihan people. This is indeed a bit strange."

"Don't dare to move!" Brother Huang sighed: "The Haihan militia is famous for being good at fighting. They fought so hard in Fujian that they even abandoned their old dens. It is said that they also laid down many places in Nanyang. The Folangji people and the red-haired people all stay away. The Ming army in Ningbo Prefecture can't even provoke the people in Zhoushan, so how dare they provoke this great god."

"Then in the opinion of Brother Huang, the Haihan people won't let go of this territory in a short time?"

"It's not just that I won't let go..." Brother Huang deliberately lowered his voice, but Wu Huanzhi who was sitting next to him could still hear clearly: "I just went to Zhoushan Dinghai Port the day before yesterday, and there is a big construction project there. Create a new port, and from now on, the east sea gateway of Daming will be in Zhoushan."

Some people wondered: "The portal of the Ming Dynasty is in the hands of the Haihan people, it seems a bit inappropriate?"

Brother Huang sneered and said, "Then it was fine to be controlled by people like Wang Jialin in the past? The Zhoushan Ship Gang said it was a joint operation of the ship company, but Wang Jialin has many Japanese pirates under his command. Where are the good people? Although the Haihan people are domineering, they have never heard that the place they control will charge fees to passing ships. In my opinion, it would be good for this place to change its master. I went to the island to have a look, and I heard that as long as you can win a franchise, the money will be like growing legs, and it will run into your pocket."

"But we don't have the invitation cards sent by the Haihan people!" someone said worriedly.

"It doesn't matter. I asked in Zhoushan the day before yesterday. Anyone who is sincerely willing to cooperate with the Haihan people can go to Dinghai Port, Zhoushan Island, to participate in this investment promotion conference. The ones who receive the invitation are only the big households that the Haihan people are optimistic about." , send a post to show respect. It is said that a total of 48 invitations have been sent, you and my brothers are not enough!"

"Since you can go without an invitation, it's easy to say, let's go to the island together to see..."

Wu Huanzhi didn't pay much attention to what those people said later. He only knew that the problem he was worried about had been resolved, and it was time to think carefully about how to negotiate terms with the other party.

(End of this chapter)