New Shun 1730

To make money, of course you can’t eat alone.

Besides, strong dragons cannot overwhelm local snakes. In Europe, Dashun cannot be alone.

Now that the Swedes want to order porcelain, Liu Yu not only said that there is no problem with this, but also talked about another temptation with the Swedish curator.

"What you are harvesting here, I guess, is because you are not familiar with the place. A lot of goods are difficult to handle. In addition to agreeing to order porcelain, I can also come forward and find some people to form a chamber of commerce. You must pay a certain deposit. That’s fine, we’ll handle the goods as you want.”

"Whether you're ordering porcelain or silk tea, I'm telling you, you've definitely found the right person for me. I'm still very well-connected among merchants."

Two huge temptations hit the director of the Swedish Commercial Center directly on the head, making him a little dizzy.

In his opinion, this is a very suitable condition.

The Swedish East India Company neither disclosed its accounts nor its earnings, and its main investors did so privately.

The royal family contributed a sum of money, and the rest came from some big businessmen. In fact, it is similar to the voyages to the West during the Yongle period, except that Yongle's voyages to the West used money from the treasury, and the benefits obtained were attributed to internal funds. But in terms of tax exemption, monopoly, etc., there is no problem in saying that it is almost the same.

If you don’t have a door, you can’t invest in shares.

The accounts are not made public, and except for a small circle of trustworthy people, normal people will not invest in the company.

Private navigation was not allowed by the East India Company's monopoly.

Besides, Sweden is also poor, and there are not that many rich people. In recent years, Spain has reformed its currency system and minted copper coins. The copper mines in Sweden are not very profitable, and they were spared by Russia, so they are poor.

Now everyone in the Swedish East India Company knows that it is very profitable. Even if they tear up the account books every time they go back, the employees also know that it is very profitable. No one is stupid.

But the money earned in the early stage is now being invested in shipbuilding on a large scale.

The branch director probably knows that Sweden is currently building several large merchant ships, especially large ships of 1,300 tons, which is a huge investment.

This puts the Swedish East Indies in a very special situation: trade with China is very profitable, but the East India Company does not issue additional shares, and shareholders do not want latecomers to get on board. The goods are now selling well, but the money is on the shipbuilding platform. , it will take a year or two to ensure that there are enough ocean-going ships to transport goods to China.

Now Liu Yu offered to help with ordering porcelain and stocking goods. The price was just to go to Europe with the Swedish ship and let the Swedes help sell the goods. There was really nothing wrong with this.

Besides, there is a reason to send Lenat and a bunch of Swedish prisoners back to the country, and to allow employees like them to bring a batch of goods, naturally they have to support it.

"Lord Earl, I cannot decide this matter. It needs to be decided by the directors of the company, but I believe they are happy with this matter. The trend is about to change now, and I should be able to give you an answer by this time next year."

"I think the answer must be yes. We will bring the patterns and drawings for ordering porcelain by then. I also hope that you will have your ship ready by then."

Liu Yu thought to himself, "If you ask me to do it now, I won't be able to do it yet."

More than a year of communication time can be used to prepare goods and ships in advance, which can also be regarded as a gift for the institutionalization of the trading company.

"Okay, then this matter has been settled for now. In a few days, I will send the formal documents. The specific details will have to be agreed upon next year."

"I can prepare the porcelain order now."

After the matter was temporarily finalized, Liu Yu and Tian Ping left the Swedish business building.

As soon as he went out, Tian Ping couldn't restrain his excitement.

"Okay, brother Shouchang, we negotiated a big deal again while chatting and laughing. I just said before that if we can transport goods to Europe and sell them, we can make a lot of money. You are borrowing money from the Swedes. Let’s explore the way first, but even if it’s just exploring, it’s still a big profit.”

Liu Yu was also very happy.

"It is necessary to make a lot of money. There is a saying that no one does the business of losing money. As long as the business of decapitation is profitable, some people will do it. I saw the news that the French sent me and I paid for it. You will know this business How good it is.”

"This load of tea, in Fujian, Wuyi tea only costs 14 or 50 taels of silver per load. Good long-fried green tea is more expensive, only 40 or 50 taels."

"When we got to the UK, it was sold by the pound. However, the British taxed tea heavily."

"One pound of Wuyi tea is only about one pound. The news in the UK the year before last was that after it arrived, it was 20 pence, which is about three or four cents of silver. However, the tax is 120%, and the tea costs three cents of silver. "The tax is four cents of silver. If you want to buy a pound of tea, you have to pay seven cents of silver."

"But what if it's smuggling? Brother, think about it, is it possible to stop smuggling?"

"It's just that we don't have any connections there. The Swedes do, so we can borrow their connections to get a deal. The tea sold by the load is sold by the kilogram over there. How can we not make a profit?"

Tian Ping made a calculation in his mind and thought that this would be a real benefit several times over. As long as Britain does not relax its tea tariffs, there will be no shortage of smuggling.

"Brother Shouchang, this time we are just throwing stones to ask for directions. I think you can make less money, but the key is to have a good relationship with those smugglers."

Liu Yudao: "This matter is not yours or my business. Didn't the trading company elect committee members? For those who do business, what can we think of, but they can't think of it? Just tell them the situation..."

Tian Ping laughed and nodded: "Extremely, absolutely. These people's ability to bribe and give gifts to build relationships is no worse than you and me, so you can rest assured. Brother Shouchang had already planned this, otherwise why would he have said this a few days ago? What about building a big ship? It seems that he has other thoughts than just going to Japan. "

"However, even if this big ship is built and makes its maiden voyage..."

Liu Yu already had a candidate.

"Don't worry. I'll let Mi Ziming lead the team. I'll also send some trainee captains to learn how to sail and record the route."

"Besides, I also took a trip to Sweden. I have a skill to learn."

Tian Ping wondered: "What skills does this small country like Sweden have to learn?"

Sweden was indeed a small country at this time.

It is no longer the era of Gustav who led the trend, and there is really nothing to learn in the military.

The fleet can be defeated by Russia, and the army is also declining day by day. Besides, Liu Yu feels that there is nothing to learn from the army. The template of the Qingzhou Army after the military reform is not perfect in terms of the tactical system, but in terms of ideas Sixty or seventy years ahead.

However, Sweden has a technology that Liu Yu urgently needs now.

Wood tar refining.

Sweden exports three major items: copper, iron and wood tar. These three things are amazing. Every time Europe goes to war, Sweden has money.

Not to mention copper and iron, wood tar is also a necessary material for the navy.

When there were no asphalt mines, it was a very good anti-corrosion material for ships. The Swedes have been producing wood tar for so many years, and their technical level ranks first in Europe.

Liu Yu is now the governor of the Whale Sea. The coast of the Whale Sea is densely covered with forests. The climate is similar to that of Sweden, and the tree species are not much different.

If Sweden can do it, Whale Sea can do it.

All the trees found in Sweden are found in the Sea of ​​Whales.

Due to the demand for large-scale shipbuilding, Liu Yu now has to buy all the asphalt, which makes Liu Yu a little worried.

I haven't heard of any natural asphalt mines nearby, but there seems to be some in the Western Regions, but it would be better to buy them from Europeans than to transport them here.

It is better to have your own wood tar workshop, at least you will feel at ease.

When you want to blow up the fleet and make dumplings, you don't have to panic when you have tar in your hands.

As long as you're willing to spend money, there's nothing you can't get.

Dashun is so far away, and no matter how large the production of wood tar is, it will not affect Sweden's ability to make money from big shipbuilding countries such as the Netherlands and the United Kingdom through this stuff, so there should be no problem.

In addition to stealing wood tar's technology, this time it happened to be an attempt at a long voyage. At least he knew the route to Europe, the ocean currents, etc., so as to train the naval officers.

Maybe we can even connect with the ancestor smugglers of the "North American Rebels". As long as we can connect with this group of people, smuggling will be much easier to handle in the future.

Back at the trading company, Liu Yu discussed the matter with the elected committee members. The reactions of these people were the same as Tian Ping's, they were all beaming with joy.

"Sure enough, Ying Suobo is really capable, and he actually came up with such a good way. Let's throw stones first this time. As for the money... we can make less."

"We just discussed it yesterday and decided to build a large Western merchant ship every year. But now that there is such a good thing, in my opinion, we will build two ships this year."

"It's just that... the manpower to control the Western ship needs Ying Suobo to come forward."

They knew that the handling of Western ships and freewheeling ships were different, and that ocean voyages had to follow the Swedish lead. Of course, it was best to build Western sailing ships.

It’s not that it’s impossible to use the Fuchuan, but no one has ever tried to go directly from Songjiang to Gothenburg, Sweden. It's better to learn from others, it's simpler.

But now there are not many people in the trading company who can operate Western ships. They can go to Southeast Asia to recruit sailors, but captains are not so easy to recruit.

"Don't worry about this. We have the manpower, and there are plenty of people who know how to operate the ship. But the top priority is that you have to set the grade and salary."

"To put it bluntly, if you work as a sailor in the navy, you can still earn one or two and a half silver a month. The salary of an officer is higher. If you want to retain people, you can't pay less than the court."

Lin Yunwen smiled and said: "Don't worry, young lord. As a businessman, how can you not know the principle of investing money to make a living? Being an official means official status and fame. If the money is given, it will not be as much as what the court gives. , Why should we, the merchants, retain people?”

The rest of the people nodded in agreement, this was such a simple truth. Maritime merchants should at least be more courageous than landlords, because it is easier to get into trouble at sea than to collect rent while farming.

Since he had the courage and the idea of ​​investing money to buy talents, Liu Yu ignored it and believed that they could give a reasonable price.

"There are two more things. One is that gold is expensive in Europe now, but trading companies must not accept gold and transport it to Europe in exchange for silver. There are too many people staring at us. When the time comes, someone will take advantage of this to say Things are always good. Remember this.”

He spoke extremely solemnly, and also mentioned the "power of the imperial court" that businessmen feared most. Even though these people were brave, they still kept it in mind for the long-term interests.

Liu Yu didn't want precious metals to leak out. Gold and silver were all useful, but he wasn't really afraid that someone would find trouble in this matter.

"Another one is the matter of porcelain being ordered by the Swedes. Although I agreed, it still depends on your connections."

Several committee members smiled easily when they heard this.

"Don't worry, sir. The Swedes are new here and can't find the way. Although we haven't done porcelain business for a long time, this is really simple. Even if you bring the Swedish drawings now, I can ship goods for them next year. Who doesn't want to make money?"

Liu Yu snapped his fingers and said, "Okay, then I won't be involved in the affairs of this trading company. You should prepare the payroll as soon as possible so that I can go to Weihai to recruit people. As for what goods to ship, I won't ask at all. It depends on your ability. If you can't even do this well, I think the shareholders will not be convinced."