I

Tin-zinc alloy is used to weld cans, so naturally, someone thought of inventing white iron sheet, that is, galvanized iron.

Perhaps one day in the future, copper cans will be replaced by tin cans.

But that’s a story for another day. Let’s take the timeline of this book back to before Jiang Liu developed copper-shell cans. At this moment, Zhao Han, having finished his five-day autumn hunting trip, returned to the Forbidden City half worried and half happy.

Zheng Sen, the left-wing governor of Guangdong, suddenly sent a secret message: A private securities trading place has appeared in Guangzhou!

The big merchants on the coast were not short of money, and even had an excess of silver.

Due to the inability to freely purchase land and the emergence of inflation, wealthy merchants were unwilling to store their money in cellars to depreciate in value. The most common way is to open a bank, pawn shop, etc., which is allowed by the court. There are also some businessmen who will deposit their money in banks or money banks to earn interest.

But there are also some ruthless characters who, relying on their deep pockets, have begun to engage in mergers and monopolies.

They often use their place of origin as a tie to form hometown chambers of commerce for maritime trade. Several or more than a dozen large companies in a government work together to manipulate the market, forcing their counterparts in the government to go bankrupt, and then take advantage of the opportunity to use banknotes to carry out mergers.

Or they may cause trouble overseas, such as a number of commercial banks joining forces to bribe the Sultan of Brunei to jointly obtain the right to purchase spices throughout Brunei. The rest of the maritime merchants were all squeezed out, and there were often weak maritime trading companies that were forced to go bankrupt due to various reasons.

Where there is oppression, there is resistance, and the same is true for business competition.

A Chenghai businessman named Huang Qichong secretly contacted 18 small and medium-sized maritime merchants in Guangdong to form a business alliance in Guangzhou...

a year ago.

A theater in Guangzhou was booked, and after only two plays, the actors were kicked out.

Huang Qichong himself stepped onto the stage and said impassionedly: "Dear colleagues, those big trading companies have gone too far to bully people. They drive up the supply prices of mainland merchants and make them sell goods to them. They have plenty of money. Even if the goods are backlogged in the warehouse, they would rather Losing money will crush us! They are still lowering shipping prices in Coconut City and Palembang at will to let foreign businessmen buy their goods. Everyone here, are you often out of stock? Are you sending out goods but Dead in Coconut City and Palembang, unable to get rid of it?”

As soon as this statement came out, more than a dozen maritime merchants felt the same way.

"Who says it's not? I have four ships under my name, but I only bought the goods of three ships last year. The remaining ship has been vacant for a year, and ordinary sailors can be temporarily laid off. The captain, mate, pilot, accountant, and senior puller However, sailors and senior bosuns cannot be replaced. Even if the ship is not running, we must provide for them. No matter where the empty ship is parked, it must pay parking fees. It also costs money to maintain the ship. How can we delay our small business? rise?"

"My five boats are all full. But half of them are filled with cotton cloth. Now only cotton cloth is not out of stock. But after it was shipped to Coconut City, there were too many cotton cloths sold there, and the prices were severely suppressed by foreign merchants. !”

"I used to receive goods in Siam, but those damn big trading companies spent money to bribe Siamese officials. They were some Greeks who were in charge of Siam's maritime trade business. They colluded with officials and merchants and have controlled several commodities. Ordinary businessmen can’t buy it even if they want to.”

"It's similar in Jimei (Cambodia). There are dozens of local products, and more than half of them are controlled by big trading companies."

"..."

There was a buzz under the stage, and they kept talking indignantly.

Huang Qichong stood on the stage and waited for the scene to calm down a little before continuing: "Today's maritime business is not as easy as before. We small maritime merchants can no longer work alone, we have to work together as a team to find a way out."

A maritime businessman named Chen Fujun said: "What can Boss Huang do?"

Huang Qichong stated: "I often come into contact with the Dutch and the British, and they are all employees of the East India Trading Company. These two East India Trading Companies were jointly established by many businessmen. Why can't we join forces?"

"When you do business in partnership, you have to make good articles of association," said another maritime merchant named Tao Chengbi. "In recent years, there have been many joint-stock trading companies. They did business well, but they broke up and went to the government to file a lawsuit. .”

Huang Qichong said: "The articles of association must be drawn up. According to the number of shares, each company will send representatives to form a meeting. Any rules to be changed and decisions to be made need to be discussed by the meeting. The big shopkeeper, accountant, manager, etc. are also organized by the meeting. Will be voted on.”

"We hold a shareholders' meeting every three years, and the board of directors is also voted for by the shareholders' meeting. Anyone who does not do well will be replaced. Part of the annual profits is used as dividends, and part is used in the trading company to strengthen its power."

"The ships, shops, and personnel of each trading company will be managed uniformly after the partnership. Anyone who has any objections can raise it at the shareholders' meeting. Once approved by the shareholders' meeting and the council, no one is allowed to change their mind, nor can they arbitrarily install cronies."

"We are all losing money and don't have much money to spare. We can learn from the Dutch and issue stocks to the private sector. There will always be a few bold people who have extra money in their hands and will take the risk to buy our stocks. You have one tael, he has two taels, and a little adds up to a lot, which is tens of thousands of taels of silver..."

The maritime merchants nodded repeatedly after hearing this, and another person asked: "Our difficulty now is that it is not easy to receive goods at home, and it is not smooth to sell goods overseas. Can these problems be solved after joining the stock market?"

"It can't be solved, but it can be circumvented," Huang Qi said with a confident smile, "I would like to ask you, what is the most indispensable goods now?"

"Of course it's cotton!"

Everyone answered in unison.

Huang Qichong clapped his hands and said: "Then we will focus on the cotton cloth trade! The cotton cloth business is fiercely competitive east of Malacca. We can ship it directly to India. I have inquired about it a long time ago. Cotton cloth is very popular in India. We are in Palembang, Palembang, The low prices in Coconut City were deliberately provoked by the big trading companies. The British, Dutch, Persians, Indians, and the Han people in Palembang and Coconut City made a lot of money by transporting cotton cloth to India. Full."

"When we sell cotton to India, we are competing with those transshippers you mentioned," Chen Fujun asked. "How can we guarantee that we can survive the competition if we are not familiar with the place?"

"Of course we will cooperate with the Portuguese!"

Huang Qichong smiled and said: "The east coast of India has been occupied by the Netherlands. As long as the Portuguese merchant ships dare to cross the east coast, they will be robbed by the Dutch. Nowadays, Portuguese merchant ships almost no longer come here, and they can only bring Indian merchants to India. Goods from the west coast are shipped back to Europe. We might as well go farther and ship the cotton cloth to the west coast. Some of it will be sold to Indian merchants, and some will be sold to Portugal and shipped back to Europe."

"It's too far." Everyone was worried.

They are all small maritime merchants with only a few boats, and some even have only one boat. Even to the east coast of India, they feel that it is risky to go too far, let alone go to the west coast to engage in trade.

Huang Qichong said: "This is the advantage of partnership. In the past, people did not dare to go too far because they could not afford it if the ship sank. From now on, when we do business together, there will be dozens of ships in total, and a few will sink in a storm." I can handle it too.”

"In addition, our joint-stock trading company can also do business in the Americas. Two-thirds of the ships go to India, and one-third of the ships go to the Americas. They mainly deal in cotton cloth and also deal in other goods. I have also inquired about the American trade, Li My husband has been running for many years and has only sunk one ship, so it is not as dangerous as we thought."

"My colleagues, if you are willing to join forces, just stand on the stage and let's sing a good show and show it to those big trading companies!"

A few merchants walked onto the stage without thinking much.

The rest were hesitant, but most of them agreed in the end, with only one merchant silently exiting the theater.

Counting Huang Qichong, there are exactly eighteen shareholders, named "India Trading Company".

It took them two months to integrate the original funds, ships, goods, manpower, and stores. More than 30 sea-going ships were organized and sailed out of Guangzhou in a mighty manner, stopping for supplies along the way and crossing the Strait of Malacca to India.

In this fleet, 60% of the cargo is cotton.

The production of cotton cloth is so huge that no one can control the market. If you want to buy it, you can definitely buy it. Another 20% are iron products. Guangzhou is backed by Foshan and uses steam engines for smelting. The steel output is huge, so there is no need to worry about lack of supply.

They sailed around the southernmost tip of India and docked at the Portuguese port of Cochin.

Since the Dutch blocked the waterway, the Portuguese in Cochin Port could only buy Chinese goods through Indian merchants. Indian merchants, on the other hand, purchase goods for transshipment in Coconut City and Palembang, where the goods are sold by Guangdong merchants. In the process of changing hands, entering and exiting the port, loading and unloading, the cost increases rapidly.

Huang Qichong's "Indian Trading Company" has now opened direct flights, which makes the Portuguese extremely happy.

The Port of Cochin could not accommodate dozens of shipments of goods, so they continued to go north, and finally sold out all the goods in Goa.

In addition to selling to the Portuguese, many were also sold to Indians.

It was the territory of the rebel Shivaji, whose strength had grown rapidly in recent years while fighting the Mughals and Bijapur.

Hearing that the Chinese had shipped a large amount of goods, Shivaji personally met them and asked: "Can you get muskets and artillery? As long as they are firearms, I will buy as much as they bring. If the gold and silver are not enough, I will exchange goods for them." "

The person in charge of this trade was named Chen Shichun, with a confused look on his face: "It is a pity that muskets and artillery are contraband in China."

Shivaji was quite disappointed and asked, "Where are the swords and armor?"

Chen Shichun said: "The sword and armor trade needs to be reported to the government and can be shipped to India in small quantities."

The Datong court strictly prohibited the private manufacture, transportation, and sale of firearms, but the management of swords and armor was less strict.

First of all, the standard weapons and armor of the Datong Army are absolutely prohibited among civilians. Even when farmers and soldiers train, they can only use approximate substitutes.

Secondly, scribe swords, leather armor, etc. can be manufactured and sold.

Third, cotton armor, iron armor, crossbows, and some powerful swords can be manufactured, transported, and sold by applying to the government. It is also divided into north and south, and the north is explicitly prohibited to prevent soldiers from flowing to the grassland. The South can apply to ship overseas, but there are regulations on the quantity, and every overseas shipment must be reported. The consequences of illegal trade will be disastrous.

Shivaji took out a machete and asked, "Can this kind of knife be made to order?"

Chen Shichun nodded and said: "Yes, but only three hundred can be transported every year. No matter how many, I'm afraid they won't be able to go to sea."

"Only three hundred?" Shivaji thought it was too little.

Chen Shichun glanced at Sivaji's soldiers and found that a few soldiers were still wearing leather armor. He immediately had an idea: "That kind of leather armor can be sold open, and it also comes with a protective shield on the chest. The tip of the spear , sell you three thousand every year."

"Great!" Shivaji was delighted.

Chen Shichun said: "I need cotton."

Shivaji said: "All the cotton in my territory will be sold to you in the future, as long as you can provide soldiers and armor!"

One-third of Shivaji's territory is a cotton-producing area, and it is the highest-quality cotton-producing area in India.

(Thanks to the leader of Wangyun Mountain for the reward.)