Lu Ming

Chapter 540 Liquidation of the firm
There is a saying that goes well: Opportunities are reserved for those who are prepared.

When the tide of the times comes, whoever works hard in advance will get the opportunity.Those who work hard do not necessarily guarantee success, but those who do not work hard will definitely not succeed.

In the early days of the reformation of later generations, whoever practiced English in advance can change his life overnight.You can go abroad to study abroad and become a foreigner, but you can’t get along there and come back, at least you will be treated like a sea turtle; you can also do translation, international trade, public relations, foreign exchange, smuggling, smuggling, and lectures.

In short, this is a brisk life that can bid farewell to the masses, bid farewell to layoffs and repair the earth.

The same was true in the 17th century.

Take Zheng Zhilong, who was originally a successful man in history, as an example. Not only did he have a fierce fight with the Portuguese, but he was also baptized into a foreign religion and became the spokesperson of the Spanish-Portuguese forces.Zheng Zhilong's behavior has brought great benefits to his future development.It was an extremely successful venture, both commercial and military.

Zongben, who was originally an unknown little figure in history, is actually no different from Zheng Zhilong in essence.Everyone is a waver of "responding to the wave of internationalization in the 17th century".It's just that the former is much smaller in scale.Zheng Zhilong did a full set, Zongben just learned a foreign language.

In the more than ten years since he came to Haojingao, Zong Benzhi has changed from a rookie to a successful foreign trader, which is inseparable from his conformity to the trend.Macau is a city built by the Portuguese. In fact, it is the Portuguese who make the decisions, so Zongben has worked hard to learn Spanish before.

In the colonies of this era, Latin was spoken among the nobles, while ordinary people spoke Spanish, even in Portuguese cities.The reason is simple, the colonies are places where people from all over the world gather, so Spanish, the colonial boss's language, has become the lingua franca.As for Portuguese, as far as the seventeenth century is concerned, it is more of a Catalan dialect than a common language.

Even though Zongben was not as aggressive as Zheng Zhilong, he only learned a foreign language, but it also brought him infinite benefits.Over the years, relying on the convenience of communication and the business channels behind him, Zongben has established a very strong business relationship with the Jesuit Society in Macau, and there have been many cooperations between the two parties.

The three-person group who came to the company to discuss business today, the translator Mr. Niu, leave him alone, and Brother Garcia is an important person among them.

García's title is deacon of Jesus Branch of Macau.This person does not seem to be a high-level person, but he is the first executor of the Macau Jesuit Society in charge of business evaluation and specific business plans, a bit similar to the area manager of later generations.

For a businessman like Zongben, Garcia is the key figure in dealing with the Jesuits, a behemoth that combines cultural aggression and commercial trade.

"If the price is right, then my firm is property that you can dispose of at will. Of course, I can also accept shares in the form of capital injection."

Time was running out, and Zongben had to take advantage of information asymmetry to sell the firm, so after a few pleasantries, he got straight to the point.

The acquisition of the three-person group naturally understood the meaning of Zongben's words, otherwise they would not come.After receiving the message from the Zongben faction last night, to be honest, Brother Garcia still attaches great importance to it.This can be seen from his actions of hiring a cattle translator overnight and contacting Captain Martinez.

Deacon Garcia has brown hair and the color of his eyes is pure blue.Although the high nose bridge that southern Europeans usually have makes him look more ferocious, but when he speaks, he has a professional preaching training, and his voice is quite gentle, which sounds very sacred: "Zong, you are a long-term cooperative member of the church. Partner. Compared with buying your firm, I actually care more about the reasons behind it."

Recently, the atmosphere in the city of Macau has been very depressed.Whether it is the city council or the upper echelons of the Jesuits, they are very anxious about the huge pressure from the Ming Dynasty (actually, the crossing forces).

In this situation, any information about the Ming Dynasty will attract the attention of the Macau side.For Garcia, the reason behind the change of an important supplier at this point in time must be clarified.

Zong Ben laughed when he heard the words, "It's a good thing."

The climate of East Asia is not suitable for Europeans.In other words, all low- and middle-dimensional areas full of mosquitoes are not suitable for Europeans.Even if the Jesuit monks are mixed with God, the attrition situation here is also very serious, so Garcia is already the third business manager Zongben has dealt with-he is now very clear that these white-skinned foreign visitors are worried What, he appeased the other party immediately.

"Regarding this matter, it is my brother who has taken action."

Zong Ben began to explain: "My brother got news from the capital a few days ago. After the investigation in Beijing this autumn, he is probably expected to be promoted. Therefore, I sent a letter from my family to raise money for one or two."

What Zong Ben said was to Mr. Niu Xijian.

As a professional broker, Mr. Niu undoubtedly acted as a temporary employee of the church today, so there is no need for Zong Ben to explain a lot here.How to translate his words is the job of the translator.

As a native Ming businessman, Master Niu naturally understood the information contained in Zongben's words in seconds.So he turned his head and expressed the matter in a foreign language vocabulary that the foreign guests could understand.

Foreign guests soon understood, isn't it just spending money to buy an official?Didn't I have this tradition when I was in the Holy Roman Empire?

In fact, in the period of the seventeenth century, and even longer, buying officials was a tradition, both in China and abroad, but the means of expression were somewhat different.

The Ming Empire had an open collection of donations, not to mention the Qing Dynasty, which was behind it, and donations were everywhere.But here in Europe, aristocratic families spend money to find a public office for their children, or a monk spends money to get the title of bishop in a rich area for himself. The Grand Duke himself is a good seller of public office. How did the position of taxpayer come about?

So when Mr. Niu gave such an explanation, the foreign guests quickly understood.Immediately afterwards, Brother Garcia, who thought he had figured out the situation, nodded, with a friendly smile on his face: "Dear Zong, first of all, please allow me to congratulate Lord Zongmao. His promotion means a lot to all of us. It's all good news."

Zongben's elder brother, Zong Mao, is a Daoist in Shanxi. He is currently the highest-ranking official in the Zongfu, and he will be used as a signboard by his children.Zongben wanted to gain a firm foothold in a place like Macau surrounded by tigers and wolves, so he naturally did not make much publicity, so the Jesuits knew that there was such a number one person.

"Thank you for your love, thank you very much."

After a few words of politeness, Zong Ben added: "It's not easy to say that the matter will be completed now. This matter will take time, and secondly, it will cost a lot of money. Therefore, Zong has made today's move."

Brother Garcia nodded: "Then, let's discuss the price of the product."

So far, today's meeting has entered the formal negotiation stage.

The process of formal negotiations can be said to be uneventful.The reason is simple: Zongben, the seller, put on an attitude of needing money urgently and willing to cooperate, and then offered a reasonable price for the resources at hand.In this way, the most difficult part of the negotiation will not exist.

And Zongben quickly figured out the internal reality of the trio from the dialogue between the two parties.

In the three-person acquisition group, the one with the most pure purpose was Captain Martinez.This Portuguese gentleman with a big beard is the owner of the three-masted sailing ship "Coimbra" moored in Macau's inner harbor at the moment.

Martinez's purpose is simple: to acquire all the Ming country's spot goods in Zongben's hands, because he will sail to India soon.

Zongben complied with the captain's request without any hesitation.Including the goods in the firm and the inventory in the port warehouse, Zongben charged the captain a reasonable price for everything—since this bearded gentleman was specially brought by Brother Garcia to "pick up leaks", there is no doubt that their There must have been a deep personal relationship between them.

Zongben is an old Jianghu, and it is common to see this kind of business affairs intertwined with personal affairs, so he will naturally not make a mistake in the way of coping.

When Zongben and Captain Martinez first reached an agreement, not only the bearded captain raised the corners of his lips, but Brother Garcia also nodded and smiled.

Next is Boss Niu.Only at this time did Zong Ben realize that Niu Translator was more deeply involved in this matter than he had imagined.Originally, the business firm he had planned was acquired by the Jesuits, but now Brother Garcia intends to let Mr. Niu run it as a white glove.

In this way, Niu Xijian is bound to occupy a stake in the future firm.

Zongben doesn't matter.Now that he has figured out that he wants to sell this hard-earned foundation, it has nothing to do with him who will own the shares.

So he naturally agreed to Master Niu's request to sell all the storefronts of the firm and the port warehouse.

However, at this time, Brother Garcia raised an objection.From the monk's point of view, Zongben has not only these tangible assets, but also the intangible assets such as the purchasing and sales channels of the Ming Dynasty that he has established over the years, and the Zongfu's signboard are also very valuable.

So Garcia proposed to reserve 20.00% of the shares for Zongben to maintain the business channels behind him.The remaining [-]% is digested internally by the Jesuit Wagyu Master.

Zongben laughed and agreed to the proposal, and assured that the business channels behind him would still play a role in the future.

Zongben must guarantee this.Otherwise, let the other party feel that he is determined to take the money and leave, then the reason I said earlier seems a bit far-fetched.

However, Zongben also made a request when he nodded his head: [-]% of his own shares must be mortgaged to someone present on the spot, and it should be treated as a loan.

Zong Ben's request is not a big deal, neither the Jesuits nor Boss Niu are the ones who are short of money.In addition, he was very happy to facilitate Captain Martinez just now, so Brother Garcia decided to use the public funds of the Jesuits to mortgage the [-]% of the shares to Zongben.

So far, it only took half a day for Master Zong to sell out the firm he had worked so hard for over the past ten years, and there was nothing left. Oh yes, he still wants to take away a group of old people under his command.

Later that day, when everything was settled, Master Zong received nearly 8 taels of gold and silver coins from various countries.Adding these money and Zongben's own savings, he scraped together a total of 10 taels of cash.

Early the next morning, he brought all his men and escorted the silver boat to the pier in the new district.

(End of this chapter)