Red Mansion: Bastards rule the roost

Everyone's heart was filled with excitement. They had found a nest again, but they didn't know who this righteous man was.

Jia Cong added: "Now that the first thing is done, let's talk about the second business thing. If you are interested, you can join us."

"Please give me some advice." Everyone pricked up their ears when they heard that there was a business.

"Do you know anything about sea trade?" Jia Cong directly threw out a delicious bait.

Everyone's blood immediately surged when they heard the words, and they hurriedly said: "I know a little bit, but it's a pity that we are not blessed."

Jia Cong said with a smile: "Everyone knows that the Jinling Xue family and my family are family friends, and they are also imperial merchants. They happen to have the right to conduct maritime trade. The day before yesterday, I had a chat with the owner of the second house of the Xue family about this matter, and I learned that the benefits of maritime trade are not trivial. .

Take Hu silk as an example. The barbarians all like Chinese damask and satin. There are no silkworms in their country. Only by bringing silk from China can they weave exquisite satin and wear it as a splendor.

Therefore, a hundred pounds of Hu silk is worth only seventy or eighty taels of silver to me, but when shipped to Japan, it is worth about 500 taels, and the profit is more than four times.

On the way back, the copper was taken. Japan was rich in gold and silver, and a hundred catties of copper cost only two or three taels of silver. Nowadays, copper is very scarce. The Ministry of Household Purchase price is 15 taels of silver per hundred catties, and the profit is more than 6 times.

Another example is porcelain. The Western Yi people valued splendor, and maritime merchants took advantage of it. They fired white wares and shipped them to Guangdong. They hired other craftsmen to paint them according to their painting methods, and then baked and dyed them to make porcelain. If sold to Western merchants, the profit will be more than ten times.

As for other damasks, gauze, colorful silks, medicinal materials, copper coins, needles, iron pots, etc., they are all in short supply to the barbarians, and rare items are available.

I also lack the gold, iron, precious stones, spices, precious medicinal materials, beauties, etc. that the barbarians possess. The benefits of traveling back and forth are indescribable. "

Everyone was aroused by Jia Cong's words, their faces turned red, and they hurriedly said: "Please take me along this new path, but if you are given any orders, we will obey them."

The city government of Jiang Biehe was shaken when they first heard about this. This was a huge amount of wealth. In the past, people who had the power of sea trade were all afraid that others would come to steal their business. Listening to the uncle's wishes, he seemed to have some support. meaning.

Because he raised his hands and said: "If uncle has mercy on you and takes us out to see the world, from now on, I will only follow your lead."

"Yes, yes, what Mr. Jiang said is absolutely true. We will all follow the uncle's lead." Everyone said hurriedly.

Jia Cong smiled and said: "You guys are serious, Cong Su has always adhered to the principle that if there is wine, everyone drinks it, and if there is money, everyone makes money. When I came last year, Mr. Jiang and your family showed great love. Now that we have a way, how can we not reciprocate the favor? "

Jiang Biehe and others hurriedly said: "Uncle, your words are serious. I should thank you later."

Jia Cong smiled and said: "Actually, this matter is not profound. Maritime trade is like a golden mountain. Everyone wants to go into the mountain to dig for treasures. Unfortunately, the road into the mountain has long been occupied by various families. You can't get in, so you can only look at the ocean and sigh.

Now that I have persuaded the Xue family to lend it to me, won't it be a matter of course if I lend it to you again? "

Everyone was overjoyed and hurriedly raised their hands and said, "Uncle, I am so righteous. We will never forget this."

Jiang Biehe, He Shenghua, Du Chun and other elderly people knew that it was not so cheap, so they all asked: "Please give me the charter, so that we can take charge of it."

Everyone said yes.

Jia Cong said: "I have a simple idea, let me discuss it with you. I am going to establish a partnership with the Xue family to deal with maritime trade. You can participate in the stock and distribute the benefits according to the amount of investment.

The company will keep 20% of the profit you gain. To ensure fairness and selflessness, you can send people to participate in business supervision. "

Everyone pondered for a moment and said: "This method is very good, simple and clear, I don't know when it will be opened?" They didn't expect to eat and drink for free, so it was reasonable to pay 20% to buy the way.

Jia Cong said: "I thought that if we set out earlier, we would benefit from it. After I returned to Beijing, I ordered people to send money to the south of the Yangtze River."

"How much investment are you planning to make? We can follow suit." Jiang Biehe said.

Jia Cong stretched out four fingers.

"Four million?" Everyone nodded slightly, not afraid of this number.

Jia Cong shook his head and laughed, turning his fingers again.

"Forty million?" Everyone lost their voices. This number is not small.

Jia Cong said: "Everyone, although the profits from sea trade are huge, the investment is not small. To do this, you must first have big ships. This is one. Second, you must have a large number of shipwrights, sailors and craftsmen."

Third, there are many pirates on the ocean. If there is no strong warship to protect them, they will eventually marry, so invincible warships and sailors are also indispensable.

These are all upfront investments. Do you still want to do this business if you don’t have money?

Fortunately, the Xue family has been immersed in this business for nearly a hundred years. They have deep connections, abundant supplies, and many ways to do business. Otherwise, even if you were allowed to do business on your own, I'm afraid the tuition fees you would pay would be more than this. "

Jiang Biehe nodded slowly: "What your uncle said makes sense. Now that you are on a new path, you can't do it without money. Our family doesn't dare to compete with your uncle. We subscribe for 2000 million shares and we can get it together within two months."

He Shenghua, Du Chun and others had always been convinced by Jiang Biehe and said hurriedly: "My family has 1000 million, thank you uncle for your support."

"The same goes for my family, 1000 million."

The heads of each family hurriedly acknowledged their accounts, fearing that they would be left behind. You asked for one thousand, and I asked for eight hundred.

Jia Cong waved his hand and said: "Since everyone is interested, please submit it to Mr. Jiang to register and compile it together later. If you think this is a good way, you can continue to inject capital in the future and start calculating dividends from the next year. How about it?" "

Everyone nodded in agreement.

Jiang Biehe said with a smile: "Since my uncle is taking us to make a fortune together, what's the name of this business name? Please give me the honor of naming it."

Jia Cong said: "Since we are traveling on the sea to trade with all nations, how about calling it the Wan Guo Hao?"

"What a good name, just in time to make money from all nations!" Everyone laughed.

Jia Cong talked with everyone for a long time before leaving.

Jiang Biehe said with a smile: "Uncle, I stayed here. Last time when uncle came, we had the intention to pay tribute to some local products, but uncle was busy with military affairs and did not dare to disturb him. This time, uncle returned to Beijing, he just happened to bring our thoughts and wishes with him." Uncle, please don’t refuse, as it will make it difficult for us to be human.”

Jia Cong nodded slightly and said with a smile: "I feel ashamed to accept your kindness."

Everyone hurriedly said: "Thank you, Uncle, for your favor. Let us be grateful."

"Everyone, see you later." Jia Cong cupped his hands and turned away.

"Farewell uncle, uncle, have a safe trip." Everyone sent them off respectfully.

Jia Cong came out of Wanshu Garden and stopped slightly. Pan Sang, who was accompanying him, was very alert and hurriedly stepped out, stood by the side and whispered: "What are your orders, sir?"

Jia Cong glanced at him lightly and said, "Yangzhou Thousand Households is a rich vacancy. Do you think the salt merchants will be very respectful to you on weekdays?"

Pan Sang's heart tightened, cold sweat suddenly broke out on his forehead, and he hurriedly bowed and said: "Your Excellency is wise, and I don't dare to say that I have nothing to do with my humble position, but I will never dare to abandon public service for personal reasons. Please be clear to me." His voice was already trembling.

Jia Cong smiled slightly and said: "I know you are a smart person, but you must not be mistaken for your cleverness."

"Yes, I am humble enough to remember the lessons taught by adults and never dare to be smart," Pan Sang said.

Jia Cong said: "I once heard that Yangzhou is the Yangzhou of salt merchants. What do you think of being in Yangzhou for a long time?"

Pan Sang said hurriedly: "This is a big fallacy. I only know that all the people in the world are the king's land. On the shore of the land, are they the king's ministers? What are they, just salt merchants?"

Jia Cong nodded, patted his shoulder and said, "As long as you know, don't forget your identity, don't let money blind you, do you understand?"

"Yes, sir, please rest assured. In this humble position, you must fulfill your duties and supervise the party."

Pan Sang nodded like a chicken pecking rice, and his face was as white as paper. He knew that Jia Cong had noticed the ambiguous relationship between him and the salt merchant, and deliberately let the Jiang family "find out" a lot of information.

"You should know that even if the governor is far away in Shenjing, he will never relax about the important place of Yangzhou." Jia Cong said.

"Your Excellency has a clear view of thousands of miles. He humbles his duty and is sincerely convinced. He will serve to the death."

Pan Sang's feet gave out and he fell to his knees. He knew very well Jia Cong's methods and almost bloodbathed the top brass of Jinyiwei. He didn't want to be killed by a knife.

"Well, let's go and take care of ourselves." Jia Cong ignored him, waved his hand and led the people away.

Seeing that he was far away, the captain next to him hurriedly helped Pan Sang up.

"Qianhu, the admiral has gone. It's okay."

Pan Sang's vest was soaked, he glared at his men fiercely and cursed: "You know nothing, the admiral is warning us not to get too close to the salt merchants and forget our duties.

Hundreds of households are urgently ordered to return to their homes, and the responsibilities of supervision must be redeployed to these thousands of households. Whoever dares to let water or air leak in the future will be taken care of by the family law. "

"Yes." Colonel Yiqian hurriedly sent the order.

Jia Cong kept thinking all the way. This time he took the salt merchants to do it together, but he was helpless.

According to the information he learned from the Xue family, building a standard Xiyi warship, seventeen feet long, with three decks, a capacity of about 350 people, and no more than 50 cannons would cost to silver.

This was just a Diaosi model among Xiyi warships, called a fourth-level ship. Jia Cong sneered at it.

As for the big ship he wanted, Xiyi called it a first-class battleship, with a capacity of about 900 people and more than 100 cannons. One ship costs at least 30 silver.

Based on Jia Cong's rough thinking, if he wanted to protect the Celestial Empire and compete with the barbarians, he would not be able to win without dozens of first-class battleships and hundreds of second- and third-class battleships.

The cost of building a ship is nothing. The key is that the cannons, gunpowder, muskets and other consumables on the ship must not be controlled by others. Many factories must be built by oneself, and it is unknown how much money it will cost.

Therefore, he didn't care how much money he could make from sea trade. He would first use the money from the salt merchants. Anyway, relying on his own financial resources is definitely not enough.

Moreover, his financial resources are gradually drying up. I heard a few days ago that the profits of Shenxian Distillery have dropped sharply because a smart person finally figured out how to distill alcohol and took away a lot of business.

Nowadays, high-quality wine is sold everywhere. Naturally, the sales of such expensive wine from Shenxian Liquor House are not good.

Not long after, Jia Cong had just returned to the boat when he saw Wen Youfang sneaking over and pointing to it.

He said in a low voice: "Uncle, just now the Jiang family sent people to send more than 200 top-quality thin horses and million silver, saying it was the filial piety of the members of each family. Girls and grandma asked to send them up to have a look. I don't dare to do this because I am humble. defy……"

I go! Jia Cong glared at him and climbed up to the top floor. He saw that his room had become a kingdom of girls, with birds and birds, fat and thin birds, sitting and standing in groups of three and five, and felt dazzled.

They are indeed the best thin horses carefully selected by the salt merchants. All of them are as beautiful as Qingwen and Xiangling, and they are even more charming and charming.

"You..." Jia Cong secretly complained in his heart that something big was going to happen.

"Slave, please see me, uncle." The girls chuckled and gathered around to give blessings.

"Okay, no gifts, no gifts." Jia Cong was a little embarrassed when he was surrounded by so many beauties for the first time.

The girls covered their mouths and smiled softly, boldly looking at the most romantic and talented man since the founding of the country. As expected, he was handsome and extraordinary.

They were overjoyed when they learned that they were given to Jia Cong a few days ago. Now that they have met, they are even more famous. Regardless of etiquette, they all gathered around to pay their respects to Jia Cong, hoping to get off to a good start.

Suddenly I heard an oriole outside the door coming to deliver a message

"Third Master, girls and grandmothers, please come over."

"Here we come." Jia Cong hurriedly got out of the powder formation and followed Ying'er, fearing that he would be caught by a group of female goblins behind him, who would knock his bones and suck out his marrow. (End of chapter)