Begging in late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 480 West India Company

It was really busy for another year, starting from Tainan Port in December, until the eighth day of the first lunar month, Song Qingshu returned to Jiangnan after a long absence.

The ship did not return directly to Yingtian, but stopped in Songjiang. Now that there is a base in Tainan, Jiaduobao has shifted its focus again, moving most of the production ponds of Yingtian's Longjiang Shipyard to Songjiang Shipyard. It is convenient for the ships here to go out to sea and go straight to Taiwan.

In the age of great voyages, wherever there are boats, it becomes prosperous. Songjiang Shanghai County, which was originally just a dry beach, is now becoming more and more lively, especially the Bund, which is not far from the sea. Wanguo buildings are neatly arranged into several streets. Many maritime merchants of the Zheng family, and even pirates in the sea have set up shop here. It's like being a boss.

The busiest thing is the Songjiang bank. Banks play a big role in these business operations. If you are optimistic about a batch of goods and have no money at hand, it is no good to seize a business opportunity and spend a lot of money, or you have money in hand. Anyone who invests can invest in it. As a semicolon, Songjiang Bank even surpasses Yingtianzhu Bank. It occupies a four-story Bauhaus-style large office building. The business hall on the first floor is where people come and go. Frequent, loans, deposits, just like ants.

Prosperous business is naturally accompanied by a prosperous conference room. The shopkeeper of Songjiang Shop has a conference hall of about 150 square meters on the fourth floor. According to the regulations formulated by Song Qingshu, there is a huge hollow round table in the middle that can accommodate [-] people. , There are also many sofas and evergreen trees in the room. The only fly in the ointment is that the windows are not the large French windows of later generations, but rectangular glass about five centimeters long and wide embedded in the wooden lattice.

No way, although I got the method of making transparent glass from Westerners, but these days, large pieces of glass are too difficult to burn, and I can't burn large pieces, so I can only use this small piece to make peace, but standing by the window , Looking down, you can have a panoramic view of the entire Bund, which is the only one in Shanghai County, Songjiang Prefecture.

The usually empty conference room was overcrowded today. Almost all the shareholders of Jiaduobao Company were present. Some were drinking coffee from India, some were drinking black tea, and a few natives from Shanxi The fat man was lying on the edge of the window looking down at the rickshaws passing by in a strange way.

People from the west came all the way, from the original Eight Great Masters of Shanxi Merchants and Song Qingshu shared most of the shares, until now, the proportion of shareholders in Zhongjiangnan people has risen rapidly, accounting for a full half, originally Song Qingshu It is holding 50.00%, and now only 30.00% is left. However, the strength of the entire firm has expanded to a terrible level. Many counties and rich people who cooperate with the following do not even have one ten thousandth of the shares. Those who can enter the board of directors must have at least five thousandths of the shares. It sounds very small, but it represents 50 taels of snowflake silver assets. Almost the richest 130 people in the north and south have all gathered in this room .

"My boss is here!"

With the sweet voice of the secretary outside, the door of the meeting room was opened. Once in, Song Qingshu saw a lot of elites gathered together, and Song Qingshu suddenly had the feeling of the future generations of Wall Street. These people are not only his economic strength, but also his political power.

"Congratulations, Marshal, the flag has been won, and the Ryukyu has been brought down in one fell swoop, which has added new sources of income to our business! Everyone pays tribute to the Marshal!"

Cao Sanxi is still an old man with a clever mind, and now this old Xier is no longer the old man who was hunched over and trying to bend his body, with a straight waist, wearing a straight black mink velvet shirt, and actually holding a bag in his hand. A cane with a golden head, listening to his pleasing lottery, a large group of shareholders, familiar or unfamiliar, all gathered and cheered loudly.

This is the power of capital. Many of you here are from a family of scholars. If ten years ago, even five years ago, they were asked to go overseas to occupy a large island and become kings, it would be treasonous and treacherous for everyone. The imperial court wanted to behead them, but now, all they saw were thousands of boxes of sugar, tobacco, cloves, cinnamon, tens of thousands of deerskins, and tens of thousands of antlers that were unloaded this morning. These are all in short supply. , but it all came out of thin air, and everyone's pockets can be bulged out when the dividends are paid. As for occupying an island privately, it is not important to them.

Although they all worked hard on their own, it was reassuring to have someone support them. Song Qingshu also smiled at the shareholders who responded with smiles, and while walking towards the chairman's seat, he waved his hands and postponed.

"Don't dare! Don't dare!"

Song Qingshu is here, and the 13th annual meeting of the board of directors of Chongzhen has officially begun. The first major event is about the newly acquired colony of Taiwan. Although today is the first day to come back by boat, Song Qingshu is not idle on the boat. Then, let Li Xiangjun and other secretaries transcribe the situation of Xinzhou Capital and distribute it to every shareholder present as information.

Seeing candy this morning, and receiving souvenirs such as gemstones, gold, and handicrafts from the Chamber of Commerce, everyone had an impression of Taiwan as a good place, but after opening the information, everyone's eyes were straightened.

"There are gold mines!"

"Measuring 50 mu of land, 20 boxes of sugar can be produced annually, grain can be harvested for three seasons, and 30 tons of grain can be harvested annually!"

"Ten thousand buckskins!"

Looking at the data below the information, regardless of whether the shareholders are fat or thin, they all stared wide-eyed, and couldn't help but gasp, but as if afraid that the news would not be shocking enough, Song Qingshu said with a smile: "Of course, this It is only one-third of Taiwan, and the rest of the land has not been explored, if we add one piece, there will be a lot more!"

"How much do you want to increase your investment this time, my boss? Just tell me! Even if they don't agree, my Zhang family in Puzhou will sell everything, and I will follow my boss to invest in it!" He was the first to yell, and Qu Boju and the others beside him were displeased.

"Old Zhang, what are you talking about? Such a big business, why do you want to monopolize it?"

"Let's get rid of Cao's family. When did the commander-in-chief back down when he made a request? Lao Cao is still an old shareholder!"

"Don't just you Jin people want to monopolize it, we Yingtian businessmen are also dedicated to follow the commander, this is a good thing, how can we be missing?"

"All right, all right, don't make noise!"

Seeing the front and rear shareholders almost blushing and cursing, Song Qingshu panicked and waved his hands in a funny way: "Everyone, these are just things on paper, and we need someone to plow them. We are a whole. Naturally, the profit and profit will be divided according to the shares, everyone has a share!"

"However, the most difficult thing is how to get people and bring them to Taiwan to cultivate. This requires everyone to work together. Here, Song made a charter first. On the third page of the information, everyone went back to prepare , this matter is settled, now let's move on to the next topic, Zheng Zhilong and Zheng Zongbing from Fujian, and the Guangdong, Guangxi and Thirteen Lines of Maritime Merchants also want to merge into our company, what do you think?"

This is a bit similar to the merger of multinational companies in later generations. There are advantages and disadvantages. If you cooperate, on the one hand, your resources will be expanded, and on the other hand, you will also have to share the resources and channels at hand with others. When investing in shares, everyone's shares will shrink first, and there is even the danger of being squeezed out of the board of directors. It is not allowed for those present not to weigh it.

"I think this is feasible!" It was Cao Sanxi who spoke first again: "Think about it, everyone, if the Zheng family monopolizes Japanese trade, if it is released, how big of a business opportunity will there be?"

Zhang Mingxing, Fan Mingjing and the others couldn't help but nodded upon hearing this.

…………

Merger and reorganization is a big deal. A group of people have discussed it for more than four hours, but they have not come up with a specific charter, and the rest needs to be negotiated with the Zheng family. After listing a lot of conditions, each shareholder has It's a heavy heart, full of the upcoming Taiwan dividend and the impact of the Zheng family.

However, after these people left the table, the big guys took a round of the carriage, Qu Boju, Cao Sanxi, Fan Mingjing, Wang Chongwen, etc. The twelve old shareholders of Shanxi Merchants who joined from the ticket number all came back, and Song Qingshu seemed to be early. Just waiting for them, sitting on the chairman's chair, not surprised to see them at all.

Everyone pulled out the chairs and sat down in order in a tacit understanding. This time, Qu Boju was the first to speak, and he clasped his fists at Song Qingshu with a serious expression.

"Boss, the big guy has been with you for so many years. You said in your letter that life and death are at stake. What is wealth and glory? You can explain it to everyone!"

The efficiency of the meeting is inversely proportional to the number of participants, and more than 100 shareholders may not be reliable for everyone. The real decision of the company's major events is still the earliest meeting of 13 shareholders who made blood alliances. With a relaxed smile, Song Qing threw out more than a dozen notebooks with a rather heavy expression.

"This time we are competing with us for Taiwan is the Dutch of the Hongmao Fan, but it is not the Dutch court, but just a Dutch company, the East India Company! Just like our company exists, look at their Company, look at us again!"

I don't know why Song Qingshu suddenly mentioned this, Cao Sanxi and the others opened up the information one after another, but after a glance, their faces became serious.

"Have a private army, a private fleet!"

"Officials, appointment and dismissal of the governor! Declare war, cease fire!"

"This Dutch company actually still has the right to judge. This, is this a country?"

After reading the introduction of the Dutch East India Company, a large group of shareholders shook their heads unimaginably, and finally Zhang Mingxing made a heavy conclusion.

"Marshal, this will definitely not work in our Ming Dynasty. It is impossible for the emperor and elders to give us such rights to a group of businessmen!"

These words are the sorrow of the unified regime in China. In this era of great navigation, the Queen of England confidently handed over the power of a country to a company. The board of directors of thirteen gentlemen of the Dutch East India Company almost controlled several vast colonies the size of the Netherlands. It brings unimaginable wealth to the country every year to support development.

There are also France, Germany, etc., but the unification of China is not feasible. They would rather give those beautiful mountains and rivers and the wealth at their fingertips to the hands of foreigners than trust their own people. The real reason why Zheng He's voyages to the West stopped is Fearing that the large fleet, which is almost a country on the sea, will fight against the imperial court, and miss this Southeast Asian back garden bestowed by God on China in vain.

But after Zhang Mingxing finished speaking, Song Qingshu's eyeballs lit up like light bulbs in an instant, and he tapped his fingers on the table and said hastily.

"So let's do it quietly!"

"I think that the newly established West India Company will all be placed overseas. Its organizational structure is exactly the same as that of their Dutch East India Company. It will use the banner of the Ming Emperor externally, and only our 13 directors will really decide the company's major events. !"

"This is a new world overseas. If it is handled properly, the most eastern part, the Buddhist country Tianzhu, where Buddhism spreads, can be ours! It is a land equivalent to the size of Ming Dynasty. The princes and generals are kind. Sitting on the world for too long, riding on the heads of us businessmen for too long, now, it is our turn to experience what it feels like to sit on the world! There is no emperor in the company, and any decision is made by you and me after discussion!"

"And, as long as it is kept secret, there will be no consequences!"

Song Qingshu's voice was like an open Pandora's box. The heart of each of the twelve directors hooked up was beating wildly, their throats became dry, but there was a look of longing in their eyes. Who has no ambition?Why can those red-haired vassals dominate overseas, but our Ming merchants can't?A company is equivalent to a country!

The bourgeois political ambitions of the East were inadvertently stirred up by Song Qingshu in this small conference room...

(End of this chapter)