From Chief to Ball

He also said: "Nowadays the sea is not peaceful, and bandits are rampant. Those who go out to sea to survive have to fight both wind and waves, and struggle with bandits. It is really difficult. There are a lot of profits at sea, and I think bandits at sea will also More and more, if we all work together, we can keep the goods from being intercepted by thieves. Didn’t it also be said in the Water Margin that when passing through critical places, it is safe to gather enough guests to pass together. I think if we work together, the thieves will It's no longer a threat."

The people at the table nodded in agreement, but said in their hearts: "That's natural. If you don't join this company, you will be the biggest thief. Isn't this obvious? The sea is vast, and you say that the ship was robbed by bandits. Can you make it clear again?"

However, the people at the table are not concerned about this the most. They have already chosen to come to this banquet, which means they have the idea of ​​joining the company, and the problem of thieves is no longer what they worry about.In the future, the title of pretending to be a pirate and robbing a ship will not be called you, but we will be used.

What they really care about is whether Chen Jian is a person who really abides by the laws of the country, that is, whether the company is involved in smuggling to Japan?Because what is the relationship between Chen Jian and Japan after the Ryukyu War?What if the Japanese side refuses to trade with the company because of joining the company?

Although their previous performance and guesses made them somewhat aware, they still hoped that Chen Jian would make a statement at this time.

However, this most concerned question is also the most difficult to answer and discuss. There is no way to say it in front of so many people. Once I say it, I am afraid that someone will take the opportunity to make trouble.

Without joining the company, the inside story will not be clear.If you don't know the inside story, and you are worried about the profit after joining, you have to hesitate whether to join.

However, Chen Jian seemed to be ignorant of what everyone wanted to know, and then he continued the topic of thieves just now: "I just finished talking about thieves, let's talk about the future. You have also read the price list I gave you, and the profits in it are so high. , It is impossible not to be tempted. What is this money earned? It is blood money, and tens of thousands of miles of sea voyage can earn so much. However, although it is dangerous, those Helan people and Frangji people are no more than They have only been away for ten years, and they are so familiar with it. If they can do it, we can naturally do it, but this will be three to five years, six or seven years later."

"Looking at it recently, it is not allowed to go to Japan for trade. Many of us are good citizens of the Celestial Dynasty. Naturally, the company will not do such things that violate the laws of the country."

As soon as the words came out, there was a slight buzzing sound on the table, saying that if you sell the goods to Helan for the sake of six or seven years later, we will not participate.Who can say what will happen six or seven years later?

Chen Jian coughed lightly and changed the subject: "Looking closer, Luzon is a good place to go, and you can earn a lot of silver if you trade. One more thing, there is a country in the sea to the west, called Neon Country .They also have a lot of silver, and I have contacts with the king of their country, and I can charter trade. Most of the goods needed are raw silk, saltpetre, iron..."

He took out a small book and read the bulk items of Japanese trade. The people at the table understood immediately when they heard this, and heaved a long sigh of relief.

"It's just that there are a lot of thieves at sea going to this country, and ordinary people may not be able to do business directly. Fortunately, these thieves are afraid of me, and I also advise them to be kind to others and not to do these things that violate the law. But they said Mr. Chen's ship Of course we don’t dare to rob, but we also have to eat, so that’s not necessarily the case with other people’s boats. When I heard this, I was immediately angry, so I taught them to go back to farm and be a law-abiding person, but I didn’t want them to hide and hide. I sent a boat to turn around I couldn’t find their lair after a few laps, so I had to come back…”

Everyone thinks that for us, Japan is a market that can be traded.Since there is also silver, and since these goods are also needed, it has nothing to do with us whether this country is called Japan. If you say it is called neon, it is neon.

What you say is nothing more than intimidating others. If you go to Japan for trade, you will still have to arrest the ship.No one knows where the Neon Kingdom is; no one knows where the bandits are hiding.It is your responsibility to seize the ship going to Japan; it is your responsibility to rob the ship at sea. As long as you cannot be caught, who can say that you are a thief?

As soon as these words were said, the only doubts of the people at the table were also dispelled, and they all praised: "It turns out that there is such a country, and we don't even know it. It seems that the world is so big, it is really unimaginable. This is going to the Neon Country to trade I have to ask Mr. Chen to take care of it."

"This is what I said, since we have become a company, the company's affairs are the shareholders' affairs, which is what we should do naturally. Everyone can benefit from the company's profits, right? The accounts are clear and clear, and there is no mistake. This is going to I think the trade in the Neon Country can be carried out this year. Originally, I estimated that I could only go back and forth once a year, but now I don’t know if I can go half a time more.”

Everyone said yes, the atmosphere at the banquet gradually heated up, the last doubts were dispelled, the wine was good, the food was delicious, and the music was good.

Everyone at the table thought, fortunately, I joined early, otherwise the company would really cut off the sea routes to Luzon and Japan in the future, but I would regret it.

……

More than a month later, a joint-stock company called the Chamber of Commerce was quietly established. Its main business was armed smuggling, and it was armed smuggling that only allowed state officials to set fires and not allow people to light lamps.

The first batch of stock capital is not much, but some small and medium-sized maritime merchants still join in, and the rest are still waiting and considering, and more people will join when Mumu moves outside the city to collect money.

Chen Jian used ships, shipping lines, pilots, and silver coins as his share capital, and the party property accounted for 50.00% of the shares, which did not involve the land rent and mining of Wangbei City.For the rest, he used his private property as the stock capital of the soldiers, officers and those who were on board the ship that he had promised at the beginning, which accounted for part of it.

This is in the form of a joint-stock company, so that these coastal businessmen have clear, articulate, and common interests that understand what they want.The worst organization is better than no organization. When one day these businessmen are familiar with the various regulations and laws on property issues within the joint-stock company, they will also demand a change-provided that Chen Jiande guarantees that the annual rate of return is greater than Returning home to buy land and other income, otherwise it would be meaningless.

In addition to the normal shares, the rest also gave 5.00% bonus shares of Emperor Wanli's internal money in some name, which was regarded as bribes and private taxes in exchange for acquiescence.

After such a long time, the relationship behind those seized ships has also been sorted out.

Those who joined the company were all refunded, those who did not join the company were refunded quietly, and those who did not join the company and the background was not strong, all were formally detained.

After discounting the goods on ships that have no background and do not join the company, let the government of Wangbei City buy them with banknotes, sell them to the company at a higher price, and then exchange the banknotes for silver. The total is about 5 taels of silver.This is after peeling off two layers of skin.

Take out 5000 taels and give it to the eunuch on board according to the procedure, and encourage the eunuch to change the banknotes, saying that they can be exchanged at any time.

The rest took out 3000 taels and gave them to officials in Fujian as bribes this year, 4000 taels were taken as the Kaimeng Education Fund for Wangbeicheng Elementary School to buy shares in the trading company, and 2000 taels were deducted to buy rice for relief in their own name. The disaster victims in Fujian left 500 taels as this year's dispatch, and the last remaining 3 taels were boxed.

Then a boat was sent to Dengzhou, and the money was sent from Dengzhou to Emperor Wanli as internal money with gongs and drums.Although several layers of skin have been peeled off, this amount of money is still a bit too much, and the 40.00% ink corruption rate and misappropriation rate have already broken through the sky of incorruptibility.

Chapter 1 is not a colonial colonization

A joint-stock trading company called a trading company forcibly imposed a new organizational form on these originally scattered maritime merchants.

There are many despicable means, such as cutting off the sea route along the way from Ryukyu to Japan, and semi-coercive in the form of force, so that many maritime merchants had to join.

The new organizational form does not have an immediate effect, but it will gradually affect these businessmen who joined the joint-stock company in the long years to come—they are the ones who most urgently pursue the bourgeois legal system and desire that capital will not be directly plundered by feudal rights. batch of people.

Similarly, in the vicinity of Wangbei City, with the gradual increase of immigrants, the establishment of the government, and the frequent trade exchanges, the original and backward village community system of the aborigines is also inadvertently disintegrating.

At the beginning of the establishment of Wangbei City, Chen Jian bought the land of the village community with cloth, mirrors and some muskets, and got along with them temporarily.

The aborigines exchanged buckskins, bananas, etc. for goods from Wangbei City, and after the excess banknotes arrived, some people who were closest to these places began to accept money that could be exchanged for various necessities such as salt, iron, and knives they wanted. banknotes.

But as the number of immigrants increases, competition and conflict over natural resources will inevitably occur.

With the example of the Great Deserted City, the people from the Wangbeicheng Organization quickly gave a legal basis for the immigrant land. Some changes were made appropriately but the core of the essence remained unchanged.

Natural resources—such as uncultivated land—belong to all human beings.Human beings only have the right to use labor on these lands, and have no personal ownership.The land without human labor is meaningless, and the priority of the reclaimed land lies in the fruits of human labor, rather than the natural ownership of private or village-owned land.

Therefore, according to this legal principle, as long as all the land and hunting grounds owned by the aboriginal village community have not been cultivated or built, the ownership of these lands does not need to be purchased with money, but can be directly cultivated.If the legal principle of village commune ownership is not recognized, naturally there is no need to spend money to buy it, only labor to seize it.

The theory in Dahuangcheng is like this, and based on this, the large farm system that the state-owned collectives give priority to the reclaimed land of the immigrants in Dahuangcheng is determined.

In Wangbei City, there were not many people when Chen Jiang first came, and he had to focus on disaster relief, Ryukyu, tribute and other issues, so he had to spend money to buy it at the beginning.

Now that the number of immigrants has reached [-], when a group of domestic military personnel and members of the party organization arrived, they immediately tore off the original identity of agreeing with the ownership system and spending money to buy it.

After the internal opinions were unified, this theory also had a huge impact on immigrants.They like this theory at this time, otherwise, why should we let us reclaim the land of the aboriginal village community for free?

The seven villages around the Danshui River that are closest to Wangbei City are eager to build Wangbei City, and they don't pay much attention to land legal issues.

Regarding Taiwan, Chen Jian never thought of using it as a entrepot trade base, just for maritime trade.It is to implement formal rule here, so the policy is quite different.

The seven nearest villages are very small, with a population of only 4000 to [-]. There is a large joint village with a population of more than [-] further up the Danshui River.

The primitive headhunting habit of "making grass" made these seven small villages very uneasy. Before Chen Jian arrived, they were often attacked by the big joint village.

Barbarism and civilization are things that are difficult to define, and the values ​​that are universally applicable in the world are also wonderful things—in a sense, in the worldview of these aborigines, grass production and headhunting are sacred rituals, ethnic customs, It is respect for ancestors.

But for the already civilized and institutionalized Han immigrants and immigrants from the Republic, this is a barbaric and uncivilized behavior.

The seven small villages by the Tamsui River had contacts with Fujian merchants or Japanese merchants very early on. They were the first group of "civilized" people. At the same time, when their interests were at stake, they chose to abandon their customs and integrate into the Among the common values ​​​​of "civilized" society-because they are often headhunted by the big united village community.

After investigating the conflicts among the villages here, Wangbeicheng's organization sent people to these seven villages early on to instruct the settlers in agricultural planting and cattle farming techniques.

In a tribal conflict, the soldiers of Wangbeicheng stood on the side of the weak village, but before deciding to help these people, the interpreter of Wangbeicheng and the elders of the village and the people who knew the planting had a certain prestige here made a request .

The Wangbeicheng government agrees that these villages respect their ancestors, but headhunting is a barbaric custom. They hope that they can express their respect for their ancestors in a more "civilized" way.In this tribal conflict, the government of Wangbei City will not help any tribe from the perspective of tribal warfare, but from the perspective of maintaining a "civilized world" to help ethnic groups who want to move from barbarism to civilization.

In normal times, this is a huge humiliation.But when the village community is seriously threatened, it must be accepted.

After a short, low-intensity conflict, after a three-pound field cannon flintlock and a javelin-throwing spear duel, the elders and goddesses of the seven villages came to watch with a few banana saplings and orange saplings stained with soil. north city.

According to the customs of the tribe, the saplings stained with soil are the symbols of the land. They expressed their willingness to submit to the management of Wangbei City and donate their land.

These people were entertained by the government of Wangwangbei City, and many gifts were given back, and a grand banquet was held.