Number of romantic figures

Chapter 587: The Compiler of the T-shaped Scroll is Arriving!
Zhuang Wenjing sighed inwardly, and shook her head, "There are two more friends who will be here soon, Brother Lu and Brother Gu haven't arrived yet?"

This time to intervene in maritime trade, there are only four or five companies in Nanzhili that can stand out. Compared with Liangzhe and Fujian, they are much inferior. However, Fujian and Zhejiang have always been important places for maritime trade. The scribes were mainly concentrated in Songjiang and Suzhou.

The Gu family is a wealthy gentry family in Suzhou. They had never set foot in the sea trade before, but this time they have to set foot in the sea trade, and they have already attracted a group of small sea merchants who took the initiative to join them.

"It's almost the same, brother Zhuang. Now, I'm afraid that the families in our southern Zhili will also need to give up their prejudices. As far as I know, the number of families from Zhejiang and Fujian has exceeded ten, which is far more than ours in southern China. Zhili, and the imperial court may not allow too many families, it will be more difficult to manage,..."

Zhuang Wenjing knew that compared with these old gentry families, his family was far inferior in terms of connections.

He can easily get on the line of the ministers of the six ministers, and can even reach the cabinet ministers, while his group of people even have to be careful when they meet the magistrates. This is the gap.

Of course, I also have an advantage, but at least for now, gentry families with deep backgrounds like the Lu family and the Gu family are not comparable to me, a family of merchants who are single-minded in the sea.

With a shudder in her heart, Zhuang Wenjing couldn't care less about being reserved, "Brother Lu, didn't you say that as long as the requirements of the court are met, no matter how many courts can accept it? Anyway, they are paying the royalties,..."

"Do you believe in such words?" Lu Yanchong smiled contemptuously, "If hundreds of families come at once without control, how will the imperial court manage them? The Shibo Department has been abandoned for decades, and now it is rebuilt. Many people will manage it? If everyone avoids Ningbo and Quanzhou and chooses a remote place to go ashore for trading, how will the sea tax be calculated? The imperial court is still counting on this sea tax to mortgage debts. Do you think the salt merchants in Yangzhou are fools? They are all those who don’t see rabbits and don’t spread eagles, and don’t know how much the annual sea tax can be collected, can they willingly buy this so-called sea bond?”

Before Feng Ziying arrived in Yangzhou, he had arranged for people to start building momentum.

For example, set the number of merchants participating in the sea trade.

This is also an unavoidable arrangement. If the quantity is allowed to go unchecked, it will be much more difficult for the shipbuilding department and the navy to supervise, and it will even be difficult to take care of, and this may lead to tax evasion, which is directly related to to the ability to repay the debt.

Therefore, in the early days, we could only limit the number of households and encourage everyone to jointly bid. In this way, the imperial court and the Shibo Department could only control a small number of large households, and if they really wanted to catch escapees, they would be severely punished.

Naturally, these large households who have obtained relatively monopoly trade power also cherish this power, and will do their best to supervise the behavior of other fugitives to ensure that their own interests are not infringed.

Like this time, the debt will be sold in the name of Kaihai bonds, and the bonds will have interest, which is also the first time ever.

In the past, it was not that the imperial court did not borrow money from merchants temporarily, but it never said that there was interest.

The imperial court thinks highly of you if it borrows money from merchants, even if you donate or lose, no one can say anything.

Now the imperial court has turned those temporary loans into more formal-looking loans, issuing them in the name of bonds, setting the collateral as sea tax, and paying interest. Of course, the interest is relatively low, much lower than ordinary private loans.

According to Feng Ziying's vision, the fixed amount of bonds starts from 1 taels and is divided into five denominations: 5000 taels, 1 taels, 5 taels, 10 taels, and [-] taels. The bonds can be transferred before the repayment period expires. trade.

At the same time, Feng Ziying is also considering that when the bond is less than one year away from maturity, it can be paid rigidly by the future Haitong Yinzhuang.

That is to say, this kind of bond, which may be three-year, five-year or even ten-year, can be cashed directly in Yinzhuang as early as two years later. Of course, there will definitely be a discount for cashing.

Feng Ziying also disseminated these situations through various channels, such as Wang Wenyan's side, the imperial household department and Zhongshu Division, and even revealed a thing or two through the mouth of King Zhongshun.

In the end, Feng Ziying even had some tacit understanding with Emperor Yonglong, and this kind of news was more or less circulated in the palace.

After all, the harem is more or less related to the outside world, especially the mother clan of some concubines, who are either involved with merchants or Wu Xun, even including concubines with children.

The two matters of sea trade franchised accounts and Kaihai bonds are closely related. The number of sea trade franchised accounts determines the governance ability of the imperial court, as well as the amount of sea tax revenue, and also determines the amount of Kaihai bonds that can be issued.

Zhuang Wenjing suddenly realized what Lu Yanchong said.

It's no wonder that a large group of small and medium-sized maritime merchants have started to form groups, or directly rely on gentry like the Lu family who have no experience in maritime trade. This is also due to helplessness.

If the imperial court determined that only three or five merchants in Nanzhili could conduct sea trade, then if other small and medium-sized sea merchants could not find a way, they would starve to death.

"Brother Lu, if this is the case, wouldn't there be a lot more places in Fujian and Zhejiang than in Nanzhili?" Zhuang Wenjing couldn't help asking.

He also thought about this problem. There are not many large households in Nanzhili who are actually engaged in maritime trade, but Fujian and Zhejiang are much stronger. This is why Songjiang was not considered as the location for the establishment of Kaihai Shipping Division. .

On this point, even Lu Yanchong can't do anything about it. It's clear that Minzhe is better than Nanzhi, so they can only argue with reason in the negotiation with Mr. Feng.

But having said that, as long as you can secure your own quota, the fewer people who can squeeze in, the better, so that the pressure in the future competition will be less.

"Look, Mr. Feng summoned us today, isn't it just to talk about these things? Guangdong and Guangxi should be listed separately, but our Nanzhili, Fujian and Zhejiang are combined. You have to give us an explanation, right?"

Lu Yanchong sighed.

The person surnamed Feng was a scholar from the north, and Ying Zhen, the official in charge of opening the sea, was from Huguang. The court clearly put aside the scholars from the south of the Yangtze River to prevent favoring the gentry from the south of the Yangtze River.

I don't know what the elders Ye and Fang think, they just let this situation go.

A lot of carriages came one after another. This street itself is very lively, next to the Siyamen of the Salt Envoy, but today the side courtyard is more lively than the Siyamen of the Salt Envoy next door.

Both Zhuang Wenjing and Lu Yanchong greeted the visitors, some they knew and some they didn't, but as long as they introduced themselves, everyone would understand.

From Nanzhi, Fujian, and Zhejiang, there are more than 50 gentry merchants from the three provinces who intend to compete for the sea trade franchise, which is more than expected.

Lu Yanchong took a cursory glance. Nanzhili alone exceeded his expectations. He originally thought that there were only five or six households, but seven or eight households came. Two of them were unexpected. representatives of business associations.

It is estimated that Fujian and Zhejiang are similar, which greatly exceeded the initial expectation.

Feng Ziying didn't care.

There are not too many households in the [-] or so cities of Ningbo and Quanzhou, but they must be compressed and excluded, otherwise the franchise is too worthless. Wait until the scale of the sea trade expands in three to five years, and then there will be another wave of expansion. Not too late.

Wang Wenyan did not show up this time.

Many people in Nanzhili knew that Wang Wenyan was Lin Ruhai's aide, so it seemed too blatant.

There is no one available under his command, so Jia Lian and Duan Xigui can only be used.

For Jia Lian, this is simply a "blessing".

Although he is not very capable, at least he is the person in Jia's family who is responsible for entertaining and entertaining outsiders. He has seen a lot of people in the world, and he even has the false title of a fellow acquaintance.

Feng Ziying suddenly gave him such an opportunity, which made him so fond of it that he didn't sleep well for two or three days.

Even the thoughts of being indulging in Guirong's pomegranate skirt all day long have faded a lot, and he has been thinking about how to handle this matter well.

All the people who came here were wealthy gentry from the three provinces of Nanzhi, Fujian, and Zhejiang. It can be said that each family has a very strong background and network resources behind them.

Even Jia Lian can be regarded as an honorable person in Beijing, but in front of these people, in terms of financial resources, there is a huge difference, and in terms of background, almost all of them here can relate to officials in Beijing or Nanjing. A little confidence is not enough.

The same is true for Duan Xigui.

Before, in the eyes of others, he was just a country bumpkin from Datong. Feng Runxiang's little property could be looked at by others elsewhere, but in front of these people, it was not enough at all.

If it weren't for the relationship with his cousin, he wouldn't even have the qualifications to step into this door.

Watching the guests come to the door one after another, Jia Lian and Duan Xigui have already been assigned.

After all, the Jia family is also a long-established family in Jinling. Although the direct branch is now in the capital, the Nanzhi side still has some heels. The gentry and merchants were mainly entertained by Jia Lian, while the visitors from Fujian were mainly entertained by Duan Xigui.

The two of them had already prepared for it, and the famous post had been prepared long ago. When the famous post was delivered, the two of them would also take the initiative to respond.

Seeing the steady flow of guests, Ruixiang and the servants called from the Lin family were very busy.

Jia Lian and Duan Xigui kept bringing guests back and forth into the specially reserved hall in the outer courtyard. Even though the distance was only a few feet away, they had to climb and talk for a while. Exploding and filling.

Seeing more and more people in the hall, most of the chairs in three rows on the left and right of the hall are already full, and there are still a few seats with names on them that are still unoccupied.

Si is here.

Seeing that Jia Lian and Duan Xigui were already standing on both sides of the chair in the center, the hall suddenly fell silent.

"Master Xiuzhuan is here!"

Ruixiang, who had practiced for several days, sounded his ups and downs, and accompanied by a burst of footsteps, he turned from the back hall, and the blue figure with his hands behind his back, who was about to decide the future of everyone present, walked in proudly.

Almost subconsciously, everyone in the hall stood up, accompanied by the rattling of chairs and stools. Although the voices were inconsistent and chaotic, the formation was awe-inspiring.

(End of this chapter)