Wind Rises in North America 1625

Chapter 91 Trading
"I didn't expect that Mr. Pedro would actually dare to come and conduct this transaction with us." Luo Zhenhui looked at the Spanish businessman with a playful smile on his face.

It seems that businessmen are basically of the same character. For the sake of wealth, they are willing to sell their souls and do not mind making deals with the devil.

As for loyalty to the emperor, patriotism, and national justice, they are never considered by them.

Not to mention trading with these "pirates"!
After hearing the Spanish translation, Pedro smiled and pointed to a Spanish galleon parked in the distance. He said, "If I'm not mistaken, that ship should be the 'St. Louis' that lost contact over two years ago, right?"

"Yes, it's the St. Louis," Luo Zhenhui admitted openly. "We captured it intact, and it has now become our Zhengtu."

"Then you probably have more than a hundred thousand pesos worth of oriental goods on hand?"

"Last year, we returned from Ming Dynasty with more than 300,000 pesos worth of oriental goods."

"Oh, then you've made a fortune!" Pedro spread his arms exaggeratedly. "Of course, the prerequisite is that you can sell these oriental goods."

"..." Luo Zhenhui narrowed his eyes slightly and looked Pedro up and down.

What? Your subtext is that if we want to sell Ming Dynasty goods, we must cooperate with you?

Then, you can use this to bargain down our prices!

"We're willing to resell you the imported Eastern goods at 80% of the Acapulco port's landed price," Luo Zhenhui said calmly. "All transactions will be paid in gold and silver. We can also pay in kind at a discount, such as copper, iron, and grain."

"Fifty percent!" Pedro ignored the Eastern pirate leader's offer and directly stated his price. "We all know that the procurement cost of these Eastern goods is not high locally. Once shipped to Mexico, the price will skyrocket to more than five times, and for some goods, even ten times."

"So, the price you offer is not reasonable. You take the lion's share of the profits, leaving me with only a tiny fraction. And I have to bear higher political and economic risks, and spend more money for it. This is very unfair. Gentlemen, what do you think?"

"Haha..." Luo Zhenhui smiled, shook his head, and said, "Mr. Pedro, you only considered the political and economic risks you might face, but you didn't consider the life-threatening dangers we faced. A round trip across the Pacific Ocean is over 20,000 kilometers, and we have to go through all kinds of hardships and dangers. If we're not careful, the boat could capsize."

"You can easily acquire vast quantities of Eastern goods at prices far lower than those in Acapulco, and your profits will far exceed those of merchants and financiers investing in trans-Pacific trade. Don't forget that the vast quantities of gold and silver carried on merchant ships departing from Mexico are accumulated by numerous traders and investors."

"Yet you haven't made any advance payment for the Oriental goods we've provided, making your financial risk practically zero. So, Mr. Pedro, do you think it's fair to take 50% of the landed price?"

“…” Pedro was stunned when he heard this.

Oh, these Eastern pirates are not simple!

"Sir, your words make sense, but you completely overlook the market and buyers of these Eastern goods." Pedro blinked. "Trade between Acapulco and Manila normally involves a round trip every two years, or twice every three years. The quantity of goods transported is somewhat fixed."

"Under these circumstances, the prices of Eastern goods remain relatively high, allowing numerous traders and investors to profit enormously. However, once new forces enter the market, the volume of these already limited commodities will increase by 50% to 60%, or even double. Then, will these scarce Eastern goods still fetch such high prices?"

After hearing this, Luo Zhenhui pondered in silence.

By the way, doing business and conducting business negotiations are really not their forte.

It seems that what the Spanish businessman said is correct.

Originally, trans-Pacific trade was restricted and constrained by the Spanish royal family. Regardless of whether the royal ban could be effectively enforced, political and economic influences had to be taken into account in the trade process. The entire trade volume was extremely limited, far less than the huge trade scale of the Dutch East India Company, which sold spices and oriental goods to the whole of Europe through hundreds of merchant ships.

The addition of Shixing Fort will inevitably lead to a sudden increase in the number of Eastern goods sold in Spanish America.

Once the market is flooded with things, the prices will fall, right?
With the carrying capacity of the "Polang" and "Zhengtu", even if they are mainly used to transport immigrants, they can still barely fit three to five hundred tons of cargo.

What is even more speechless is that in order to quickly increase the population, the time travelers plan to travel to Ming Dynasty every year.

Under these circumstances, while the amount of Eastern goods flooding Spanish America was certainly much greater than before, although not overwhelmingly so. Of course, a significant portion of these goods were destined for sale in Spain, but the increased volume of goods on the market inevitably had a certain impact on overall prices.

"Mr. Pedro, we can't accept anything less than 50% of the landed price at Acapulco." Luo Zhenhui was about to make a small concession to this greedy Spanish businessman. "I hope you can fully consider the various risks and losses we will bear and offer a reasonable price so that we can achieve a win-win situation for both parties."

"Win-win?" Pedro chewed on this new word carefully, and the expression on his face relaxed a little.

Well, these Eastern pirates are ready to make concessions.

In this case, I can't insist any longer. What if I anger them and we end up parting ways, and I get nothing.

This is a big business after all.

If it is run well, the net profit can be at least 50,000 pesos per year, or even more.

More importantly, he did not need to advance large sums of money like those big businessmen and investors in Mexico, which greatly reduced his economic risks.

"Sixty percent of the price at Acapulco Port." Pedro quoted a new price.

"Sixty-five percent."

"make a deal!"

“…” Luo Zhenhui’s expression froze, and a bitter smile appeared on his face.

It seemed that they were letting this Spanish businessman take advantage of them!

"By the way, sir," Pedro said with a smile, "last year, you 'lent' me 25,000 pesos. Can that be used as part of the payment for this transaction?"

"Mr. Pedro, you didn't come here without any money, did you?" Luo Zhenhui said with a frown.

"Uh..." Pedro rubbed his hands awkwardly and said with a smile, "I'm sorry, gentlemen, I didn't bring much gold and silver with me this time. I didn't know you would come to me to work together. So... so, I only have less than 10,000 silver pesos here."

"So you're planning on buying on credit?"

"Well, this... this... I'm truly ashamed," Pedro said with a heavy face. "If you don't trust me, we might have to postpone our trade until next year."

Luo Zhenhui turned around and looked at Wei Yingbin, Harvey and others.

"How about giving him 50,000 pesos worth of goods on credit first?" Wei Yingbin also shook his head and smiled bitterly.

"For now, this is the only solution." Luo Zhenhui said rather depressedly: "Damn it, he took all the advantage!"

"Let him take advantage of it for now," Wei Yingbin whispered. "Later, as we grow stronger, we'll make him pay back everything he's owed with interest!"

Seeing those pirates with oriental faces whispering to each other, and soon turning their heads to look at him reluctantly, Pedro immediately showed a satisfied smile.

In the Americas, it is not easy for you, a group of pirates and smugglers, to find a reliable marketing channel!
However, if they could reach a long-term cooperation agreement with them and obtain a steady stream of huge profits from smuggling, the Alamo family, as a family native to the Spanish American colonies, might have a pivotal position in the entire American region and enter a glorious era.

And all of this depends on your own thoughts.

Oh, Virgin Mary, you are so loving to your child and have given me great wealth!
The king and the government?
Oh, who cares!

(End of this chapter)