Daming Town Haiwang

Chapter 1130, Stocks and Railways
The spring of the seventeenth year of Hongzhi passed quickly, and Liu Jin was very busy.

The Tianjin Stock Exchange, the first railway in Ming Dynasty, the affairs of the Egyptian canal, the affairs of his own bureaucracy, etc. Liu Jin was so busy with many things that he was dizzy, and several months passed in a blink of an eye.

At the beginning of summer, the Tianjin Stock Exchange and Daming's first Beijing-Tianjin Railway were finally busy.

"Sell newspaper~sell newspaper~"

"Big news, big news~"

"The imperial court established the Daming Stock Exchange in Tianjin~"

"The Beijing-Tianjin Railway Commercial Bank will become the first commercial firm to be listed on the stock exchange. Anyone can subscribe and purchase the shares of the Beijing-Tianjin Railway Commercial Bank on the stock exchange."

With a slight chill, the Beijing-Tianjin area ushered in a new day again. In the streets and alleys of the Beijing-Tianjin area, newsboys carried a large number of newspapers on their backs and walked through the streets, shouting loudly as they walked.

Accompanied by the yelling of the newsboys, the whole huge city seemed to wake up all of a sudden.

Originally, there were few pedestrians on the street, but soon a large number of people poured out from every corner. These people quickly came to these newsboys, holding the copper coins that had been prepared in their hands, and quickly distributed newspaper after newspaper. I bought them and delivered these newspapers to my master.

Then there were more pedestrians on the street, some were in a hurry to go to work, and some were very leisurely, holding a newspaper in their hands, ready to go to the teahouse for morning tea, read the newspaper, and chat with friends.

There are also those busy four-wheeled carriages that are constantly driving on the street, loaded with all kinds of goods, which appear to be in a hurry.

From shop to shop along the street, waiters came out one after another, put away the door panels, and started to prepare for the new day's business. As for the teahouse, it was already overcrowded, and many tea drinkers gathered in twos and threes, holding Newspapers, drinking tea, eating breakfast, discussing a few words from time to time, while patiently waiting for the arrival of the newspaper reader.

The business of the tea house is considered to be the best and most stable business in the entire capital at present, and it is also the largest number of merchants in the entire capital. It is almost everywhere and can be seen everywhere.

Young and old in the capital also like to drink tea and chat in teahouses. Of course, the most important thing is to listen to the newspaper reader's interpretation of the newspapers of the day.

Newspaper reports, everyone has everyone's views and opinions, limited by their own knowledge and cultural level, not everyone can understand the contents of newspaper reports.

Of course, it is mainly because there are too few people who can read and write in this era, so a profession like Mr. Newspaper has been derived.

Mr. newspaper readers are generally knowledgeable and well-informed, not only able to understand the above content, but also to be able to understand the past and the present, and at the same time be able to draw inferences from one instance and interpret it in connection with history and background.

Only in this way can we have an in-depth and detailed interpretation of the news content involved in the newspaper, so that the tea drinkers can be inspired and benefited, so as to drive the business of the teahouse and attract people to come to the teahouse to drink tea every day.

Tingyu Pavilion is the most famous teahouse in the capital. Mr. Yang of Tingyu Pavilion is also recognized as one of the most powerful newspaper readers in the capital. He can draw inferences about almost the contents of the newspaper, quote the classics, and then explain the current situation in Daming clear.

Therefore, before Tingyu Pavilion opened every day, there were already many tea drinkers who came to drink tea and listen to newspapers. When the door opened, there were basically no seats.

Today is the same as usual, almost every tea drinker holds a newspaper, and discusses it with the people around him while reading it.

"What's the use of this Tianjin Money Exchange?"

"Isn't it very clear above that it is mainly used to trade stocks, and this stock is a share of a commercial firm. If you sell the stock for money, it is equivalent to being the shareholder and owner of the commercial firm."

"Anything like that?"

"That's right, isn't it written very clearly on it? Take a closer look at this paragraph, isn't it so?"

"It's just that the commercial firms listed on the Tianjin Stock Exchange are very large commercial firms, often costing millions of taels of silver. In order to allow more people to invest and share the benefits, the shares were split into hundreds of dollars. Ten thousand shares, one tael of silver per share, everyone can buy a few shares, invest in this commercial bank, and when the commercial bank earns silver, the silver earned can be used for dividends at that time."

"You can get a corresponding amount of dividends with the stock in your hand."

"With just one tael of silver, you can be your boss?"

"One tael of silver is also the owner, but it's just a small owner."

"This stock can still be bought and sold, will anyone buy it?"

"Who knows, maybe someone will buy it."

"Anyway, I don't want to buy it. This business has a capital of several million taels, not to mention one tael or ten taels, but one thousand taels or ten thousand taels. They are also small shareholders. In front of major shareholders, they are simply Don't talk."

"That's right, but it's clearly written in the newspaper that the interests of both small shareholders and large shareholders are very important. Although large shareholders have the right to speak, they can't deprive small shareholders of their interests."

"How complicated it is, what's the use."

"Let's wait and hear how Mr. Yang interprets it."

"And this Beijing-Tianjin Railway, what the hell is this?"

"Railway, railway, don't you use steel to build roads? How much steel is needed? Even if it is built from Beijing to Tianjin, the amount of steel needed is astronomical."

"You read it carefully first, isn't it written clearly?"

"The Institute of Machinery in Beijing has successfully researched steam locomotives using steam engines. Steam locomotives can be used to run, but special rails need to be built to run."

"This railway is a road specially used for steam locomotives. Because it is a railway track, it is called a railway."

"This train is actually a steam locomotive. It is called a train because it burns coal and emits black smoke."

"What's the use of this train? I read in the newspaper that they want to raise 200 million taels of silver to build the Beijing-Tianjin Railway. Isn't the two million taels of silver too much?"

"Everyone has never seen a train, and no one knows what it is like. If you invest two million taels of silver at once, would anyone be foolish enough to buy their stocks?"

"Yes, yes, no one knows what this train looks like and what it is used for, so I am asking you to raise funds to buy stocks on the Tianjin Stock Exchange. Isn't this a joke?"

"This share costs one tael of silver. This is a lot of money, not copper coins. You can't earn a few taels of silver even if you work hard for a month."

"Whether others will buy it, I don't know, anyway, I will definitely not buy it."

"I won't buy either~"

"This stock sounds very good. It's almost like using money to buy shares to do business. It's just that it used to be a partnership between acquaintances to do business, but now it's changed to raise funds from everyone and do business together."

"Doing business between acquaintances depends on reputation and the size of the share capital. If you are a small boss, you can't talk at all. You have no place to cry when you are tricked."

"Now we still come up with stocks, one tael of silver per share, I really don't know how to come up with it."

"If the money is cast, it will be a waste of money."

"It's very good, you can participate in dividends at the end of the year, and who knows how many coppers will be given to you, not even a penny."

"That's right~"

"That's right, that's right~"

The entire Ting Yu Pavilion was discussing the two major events reported in the newspaper.

"Crack~"

While everyone was discussing, Mr. Yang, a newspaper reader who was sitting on a square table in the middle, came, and saw him give a heavy slap, and the entire audience in Yuyu Pavilion immediately stopped discussing and chatted in unison. She looked at him quietly, waiting quietly for him to start reading today's newspaper.

"Today's newspaper reported two major events, which are enough to have a major impact on my Ming Dynasty in the future!"

Mr. Yang sipped his tea and spoke slowly.

As soon as he opened his mouth, the tea drinkers in Tingyu Pavilion couldn't help but slightly widen their eyes.

From everyone's point of view, the two things reported in the newspaper today are not too unusual or important, but in Mr. Yang's opinion, these two things will have a profound impact on the entire Ming Dynasty.

"First of all, let's talk about the Tianjin Stock Exchange."

"The establishment of Tianjin Stock Exchange has extraordinary significance."

"Maybe many people don't agree with my point of view, but it doesn't matter, please listen to my explanation slowly."

"If Zhang San wants to open a chaotic stall, it should be a very simple matter. Take out his savings, buy some tools for making wontons, and buy a few seats."

"But if Zhang San wants to go to sea to do business, he only has [-] taels of silver, not even enough to buy a boat. At this time, he must either borrow money from the bank or borrow money from rich relatives and friends to raise funds."

"But if one day Zhang San needs to do a really big thing, for example, if Zhang San wants to build a road from the capital to Liaodong, it may cost three million taels of silver."

"What should Zhang San do?"

"Borrowing from banks may not be able to obtain such a huge amount. Borrowing money from relatives and friends, even if you borrow all of it, is far from enough."

"But Zhang San also values ​​the benefits of building the cement road. After the cement road is repaired, even if the fee is collected, it will be enough for Zhang San to earn a lot of money in the future."

"So Zhang San thought of a way. He put forward his idea of ​​building a road, and raised funds from everyone in Daming, and promised that in the future, he would use the proceeds of the road to distribute dividends to all investors."

"...This is actually the essence of the stock exchange. Its essence is to raise funds from the society and gather idle funds to do big things, build roads, build ports, etc."

　Is it a good idea to privately own the railway?

　　
　
(End of this chapter)