Chapter 2099
Chapter 2099
Chapter 2099
Before the troops go out, it has been proved to be a very effective measure to boost morale through various activities on National Day.For the Zhoushan authorities, the next cross-sea combat mission is important, but as Haihan's most important colony on the eastern coast of Daming, the annual festival will still be held as usual.
However, since the executive committee and the Ministry of National Defense have issued an order to prepare for the war, the Zhoushan garrison has canceled all holiday arrangements, and even those who are on vacation must return to the base to report as soon as possible, so Haihan in the Haigang port area has been scheduled for the last two days. Soldiers are no longer seen everywhere like usual, only a small number of patrols maintaining law and order are still on duty.
However, there are many more armed patrol boats at sea than usual. They maintain the order of the waterways outside the military port area, and use signal flags to clearly require ships entering and leaving the port to stay away from the military port wharf.
If it is a foreign businessman who has been in and out of Dinghai Port in Zhoushan all year round, it is not difficult to think of what will happen next through such signs-every time the Zhoushan garrison takes a relatively large action, it will take similar measures.If the Zhoushan authorities' large purchases of military supplies on the market are some kind of signs, then these signs in the military port are already unofficial official announcements in the eyes of the outside world.
Everything indicates that the Haihan army will take action in the near future. If this signal was placed two or three years ago, it would definitely cause tension in the coastal state capitals, and even make the city of Hangzhou four hundred miles away fall into a state of panic, but Now it will not be so easy to cause confusion.Some well-informed sources pointed out that the target of the Haihan army's operation this time is not Daming, but somewhere overseas, and merchants of Ming Dynasty don't need to worry about wars breaking out in coastal areas.Of course, it's not certain whether these news were figured out by themselves, or whether Haihan officials used their influence to release it deliberately.
But at least the festive atmosphere on Zhoushan Island is not deceiving. In addition to the festive environment created by the lights and festoons in the port area, the Haihan trade department also held large-scale promotional activities as in previous years.Merchants who sign trade orders with Haihan and pay deposits during the event will receive a huge discount for a limited time.And this special event held during the Haihan National Day has basically replaced the spring fair in the early years, and has become a major business event that merchants from all over the world are eager to participate in.
This year is no exception. Although there were some bad news before this, businessmen are still more concerned about whether they can get a greater share of trade from Zhoushan this year.Although there will be great discounts for trade orders during this period, they all know that the supply of Haihan products is always in short supply, especially for some short-sought products that are limited in supply for a limited time, and they have to go through bidding to get the supply, so they must arrive early Here, we need to understand the circulation situation in the market in order to carry out follow-up operations.
In mid-March, all kinds of inns on Zhoushan Island had already been fully booked.A small number of powerful businessmen are not in a hurry to buy real estate in Zhoushan Island, but those who cannot find a place to live will either live on a boat or set up a tent in a designated area, or they can only live in Ningbo and go back and forth on the same day Zhoushan Island.However, as long as it is profitable, these difficulties are not a big deal for the merchants. The trade negotiation activities only take two or three days, and if you overcome it a little, you can win tens of thousands of taels of silver.
By the end of March, various exhibitions and sales activities had already started on the island.These commercial activities are not necessarily organized by Haihan officials. Most of them are operated by businessmen from various countries to promote their products to potential customers.Most of the businessmen who come to Zhoushan in this season come with their goods, so that they can make money by buying and selling without leaving empty time, and strive to maximize the benefits of participating in this grand event.
It is also the brilliance of the Zhoushan authorities to provide a platform environment for free transactions to businessmen from all over the world.With Haihan officials providing services such as inspection, settlement, delivery, warehousing, and transportation for these transactions, the trading environment is far better than that of Daming, which is close at hand. Merchants are naturally happy to complete transactions on Zhoushan Island, and they will use it by the way. Haihan provides financial, logistics and other services ahead of this era.After they experience the superiority of Haihan's services, they will gradually get used to the trading system formulated by Haihan, and then gradually integrate into the economic system dominated by Haihan.
Merchants from various countries have made considerable profits from the system established by Haihan, but the transactions they have completed here have also become part of this system, which has boosted Haihan's influence in the field of transnational trade in this region.And Haihan has been using this routine to win over businessmen from all walks of life over the years, so the operation of each link has become more and more proficient.
As an official in charge of commercial work of the Zhoushan Management Committee, Yang Yun has been as busy as the top leaders in the area these days. He needs to receive visitors from all walks of life every day, and most of them come to Zhoushan Island to participate in the recent Active businessman.Some came to check their acquaintances, some came to ask for help and wanted to find a place to live on the island, some came to seek business cooperation, and some came to inquire about the tone, wondering if Haihan would send troops from Zhoushan to take action recently.
Naturally, Yang Yun couldn't easily deal with all kinds of people with different purposes.Fortunately, he can be regarded as an official with status now, so the salary is not bad, and he even has tonics every day to ensure that he can have enough energy to complete the heavy work at hand.
After seeing off a group of businessmen, Yang Yun sat down and took a sip of the ginseng tea just made by the secretary, closed his eyes slightly to rest his mind, and recalled the content of the conversation with those southern businessmen just now.He did not buy this ginseng tea with his own money, it was a personal gift given to him by a businessman from Shandong a few days ago.Although Yang Yun doesn't accept money, he usually won't refuse gifts like souvenirs.
Given his current status, it is normal for someone to come rushing to give gifts. If he just refuses, it will seem unreasonable.The most important thing is that his boss, Shi Diwen, also acquiesced in accepting gifts, and did not prohibit accepting gifts. After all, being an official is to get promoted and make a fortune. Who wouldn't want to enjoy the benefits of this special status?
Of course, this gift is not for nothing.After Yang Yun accepted the gift, he naturally let go of some of the gift giver's demands, but as long as there is no obvious damage to Hai Han's interests, no one will pursue these details.
Yang Yun drank ginseng tea and ate a few more snacks. After recovering a bit, he called the secretary in and asked, "How many visitors are there today?"
The secretary replied: "There are three groups of people waiting outside."
Yang Yun sighed, nodded and said: "Then you go and bring someone in, finish talking early and rest early."
When receiving the last group of people, the sky had already darkened, and this time was actually beyond Yang Yun's working hours, but Yang Yun saw the greeting post, the identity of this last visitor was a bit special, and it was inconvenient for him to send the other party to come back tomorrow.
The person who came was an old man in his fifties. After entering the room, he cupped his fists and bowed to introduce himself: "I have met Mr. Yang, and this is Ma Zhengping from Yangzhou."
Yang Yun nodded and said, "Boss Ma, please sit down and talk."
After the other party was seated, Yang Yun took the initiative to ask: "Boss Ma is a salt merchant?"
"Business with small capital makes adults laugh." Ma Zhengping replied very humbly.
Yang Yun smiled and said: "If I remember correctly, Boss Ma's family should be one of the seven surnames of Huizhou salt merchants in Yangzhou? Maybe it's a coincidence that Boss Ma has the same name as the current patriarch of the Ma family?"
Yang Yun spends a lot of time meeting visitors from all walks of life every day, so he will naturally set a certain threshold to screen the identities of the visitors, otherwise cats and dogs will come to line up to see him, and he will not be able to work normally.And although this old man only wrote his name and where he came from on the greeting card, he prepared a generous gift list that caught Yang Yun's attention.
Yang Yun had a little impression of the name Ma Zhengping, so he asked the secretary to find out the answer.Then he remembered that when he was operating the Xiangshan Salt Farm, he had entrusted the Ministry of Security to collect relevant information on salt merchants in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. At that time, the main figures in the two camps of salt merchants in Yangzhou were also on the list provided by the Ministry of Security. Among them was Ma Zhengping.
Although the visitor's occupation was not stated in the greeting card, Yang Yun believed that there should be no second Ma Zhengping in Yangzhou who would bring a special gift to Zhoushan to meet him, so he boldly revealed the identity of the visitor.
The old man also smiled, and admitted Yang Yun's identification: "Ma Zhengping, a grassroots man, is exactly who the adults said. But the seven surnames are just folk praises, and the adults laughed."
Yang Yun generally knows why the salt merchants in Yangzhou came to Zhoushan Island to see him.In November last year, the Ministry of Security and the military jointly took a team led by Gong Shiqi and Ji Yuanqing to Yangzhou to investigate the musket case. Later, they succeeded in luring the snake out of the cave and fought fiercely with the private armed forces of the local salt merchants on the canal overnight. Shang's vitality was seriously injured.The Anhui salt merchants who opposed it were reaping the benefits of the fishermen, and began to gain the upper hand in the battle of the local salt merchants after that night.
But Huizhou salt merchants also understand that the advantage they have gained is only temporary, and their opponents are not short of money. It is only a matter of time before they want to recover. The standard musket, which means that they can make a comeback at any time, which makes the Huizhou salt merchants dare not neglect at all.
After discussing with the families of the seven major surnames, they believed that the main reason why the Haihan people attacked the Shanshan salt merchants was not the competition in the salt business, but that the musketeers under the hands of the Shanshan salt merchants made Haihan feel threatened, so they decided to attack the Shanshan salt merchants. Send troops to Yangzhou.In this way, buying muskets to arm themselves is too risky, because it may also attract Haihan's military attack, and they do not have the ability to train private armed forces that can defeat Haihan's army.
The safest way is to try to let the Haihan people continue to attack the Shanxi salt merchants. For this reason, the Huizhou salt merchants can make some concessions to Haihan in terms of salt industry management, and the two parties can even sit down and negotiate. Talk about business cooperation.
The Huizhou salt merchants sent such a signal to the Zhoushan authorities through some channels, and Yang Yun received more than one person who conveyed the willingness for peace talks on behalf of the Huiji salt merchants.However, Shi Diwen believed that Haihan had just finished his work in Yangzhou, and the local situation was unclear. It might not be an ideal time to sit down and start negotiations with Huizhou salt merchants at this time.
And this view was also agreed by Yang Yun. He believed that the struggle between the two factions of salt merchants in Yangzhou was objectively beneficial to the salt industry operated by Haihan. The more bargaining chips they have, the more obedience they have, so there is no progress in conveying the wishes of the Huizhou salt merchants to Yang Yun.
Seeing that the matter has passed for a few months, Haihan seems to have no intention of attacking the Shanshan salt merchants again. This makes the Huizhou salt merchants a little anxious. If this drags on, the opponent will have a breathing space. The first target to deal with is not the Haihan people, but himself.After several rounds of discussions, they decided to send representatives to Zhoushan to directly discuss the matter with senior Haihan officials.
Ma Zhengping was a well-known figure among Huizhou salt merchants, and his seniority was high enough, so he was elected as a representative.After he came to Ningbo, he didn't take much effort to find out that the official in charge of salt industry affairs of the Zhoushan government was Yang Yun.
Ma Zhengping knew that he had no connections or qualifications to go directly to see Shi Diwen, so he made Yang Yun his first choice.His choice was right. Now all business-related matters in Zhoushan were in the hands of Yang Yun, and he could only talk to Yang Yun about this matter.
However, he didn't expect that Yang Yun had already done his homework in advance, and he directly revealed his identity as soon as he came up, which made a bunch of self-introductions he had prepared completely in vain.But he believed that Yang Yun would not immediately end the conversation because of his status. After all, the other party had already accepted all the gifts he sent here, so he had to give himself a chance to speak.
Yang Yundao: "Boss Ma came here from Yangzhou on a special trip, do you have any advice?"
Ma Zhengping quickly responded: "Don't dare to advise, I just want to discuss something with Mr. Yang, so I came to Zhoushan to ask for a meeting."
Yang Yundao: "Since Boss Ma is full of sincerity, let's talk about it."
Seeing Yang Yun's tired face, Ma Zhengping knew that he should not be impatient with him at this time, so he said straight to the point: "Caomin came here on behalf of the Huizhou salt merchants in Yangzhou, and wanted to discuss with Master Yang about the management of the salt industry. A matter of cooperation."
Yang Yun said with a smile: "I remember that the year before last, I had already conveyed my willingness to cooperate with you through some businessmen and friends. I didn't expect to wait for almost two years before finally waiting for Boss Ma's visit. It seems You Yangzhou salt merchants must have done too much business, and look down on our small business in Haihan!"
When Yang Yun organized the development of the Xiangshan Salt Field in 1636, he contacted sales channels everywhere in the early stage. The famous Yangzhou salt merchant was naturally one of Haihan's goals.However, at that time, Yangzhou salt merchants were worried that foreign competitors would occupy their market share, so they would not be willing to discuss cooperation with Haihan.
(End of this chapter)
Before the troops go out, it has been proved to be a very effective measure to boost morale through various activities on National Day.For the Zhoushan authorities, the next cross-sea combat mission is important, but as Haihan's most important colony on the eastern coast of Daming, the annual festival will still be held as usual.
However, since the executive committee and the Ministry of National Defense have issued an order to prepare for the war, the Zhoushan garrison has canceled all holiday arrangements, and even those who are on vacation must return to the base to report as soon as possible, so Haihan in the Haigang port area has been scheduled for the last two days. Soldiers are no longer seen everywhere like usual, only a small number of patrols maintaining law and order are still on duty.
However, there are many more armed patrol boats at sea than usual. They maintain the order of the waterways outside the military port area, and use signal flags to clearly require ships entering and leaving the port to stay away from the military port wharf.
If it is a foreign businessman who has been in and out of Dinghai Port in Zhoushan all year round, it is not difficult to think of what will happen next through such signs-every time the Zhoushan garrison takes a relatively large action, it will take similar measures.If the Zhoushan authorities' large purchases of military supplies on the market are some kind of signs, then these signs in the military port are already unofficial official announcements in the eyes of the outside world.
Everything indicates that the Haihan army will take action in the near future. If this signal was placed two or three years ago, it would definitely cause tension in the coastal state capitals, and even make the city of Hangzhou four hundred miles away fall into a state of panic, but Now it will not be so easy to cause confusion.Some well-informed sources pointed out that the target of the Haihan army's operation this time is not Daming, but somewhere overseas, and merchants of Ming Dynasty don't need to worry about wars breaking out in coastal areas.Of course, it's not certain whether these news were figured out by themselves, or whether Haihan officials used their influence to release it deliberately.
But at least the festive atmosphere on Zhoushan Island is not deceiving. In addition to the festive environment created by the lights and festoons in the port area, the Haihan trade department also held large-scale promotional activities as in previous years.Merchants who sign trade orders with Haihan and pay deposits during the event will receive a huge discount for a limited time.And this special event held during the Haihan National Day has basically replaced the spring fair in the early years, and has become a major business event that merchants from all over the world are eager to participate in.
This year is no exception. Although there were some bad news before this, businessmen are still more concerned about whether they can get a greater share of trade from Zhoushan this year.Although there will be great discounts for trade orders during this period, they all know that the supply of Haihan products is always in short supply, especially for some short-sought products that are limited in supply for a limited time, and they have to go through bidding to get the supply, so they must arrive early Here, we need to understand the circulation situation in the market in order to carry out follow-up operations.
In mid-March, all kinds of inns on Zhoushan Island had already been fully booked.A small number of powerful businessmen are not in a hurry to buy real estate in Zhoushan Island, but those who cannot find a place to live will either live on a boat or set up a tent in a designated area, or they can only live in Ningbo and go back and forth on the same day Zhoushan Island.However, as long as it is profitable, these difficulties are not a big deal for the merchants. The trade negotiation activities only take two or three days, and if you overcome it a little, you can win tens of thousands of taels of silver.
By the end of March, various exhibitions and sales activities had already started on the island.These commercial activities are not necessarily organized by Haihan officials. Most of them are operated by businessmen from various countries to promote their products to potential customers.Most of the businessmen who come to Zhoushan in this season come with their goods, so that they can make money by buying and selling without leaving empty time, and strive to maximize the benefits of participating in this grand event.
It is also the brilliance of the Zhoushan authorities to provide a platform environment for free transactions to businessmen from all over the world.With Haihan officials providing services such as inspection, settlement, delivery, warehousing, and transportation for these transactions, the trading environment is far better than that of Daming, which is close at hand. Merchants are naturally happy to complete transactions on Zhoushan Island, and they will use it by the way. Haihan provides financial, logistics and other services ahead of this era.After they experience the superiority of Haihan's services, they will gradually get used to the trading system formulated by Haihan, and then gradually integrate into the economic system dominated by Haihan.
Merchants from various countries have made considerable profits from the system established by Haihan, but the transactions they have completed here have also become part of this system, which has boosted Haihan's influence in the field of transnational trade in this region.And Haihan has been using this routine to win over businessmen from all walks of life over the years, so the operation of each link has become more and more proficient.
As an official in charge of commercial work of the Zhoushan Management Committee, Yang Yun has been as busy as the top leaders in the area these days. He needs to receive visitors from all walks of life every day, and most of them come to Zhoushan Island to participate in the recent Active businessman.Some came to check their acquaintances, some came to ask for help and wanted to find a place to live on the island, some came to seek business cooperation, and some came to inquire about the tone, wondering if Haihan would send troops from Zhoushan to take action recently.
Naturally, Yang Yun couldn't easily deal with all kinds of people with different purposes.Fortunately, he can be regarded as an official with status now, so the salary is not bad, and he even has tonics every day to ensure that he can have enough energy to complete the heavy work at hand.
After seeing off a group of businessmen, Yang Yun sat down and took a sip of the ginseng tea just made by the secretary, closed his eyes slightly to rest his mind, and recalled the content of the conversation with those southern businessmen just now.He did not buy this ginseng tea with his own money, it was a personal gift given to him by a businessman from Shandong a few days ago.Although Yang Yun doesn't accept money, he usually won't refuse gifts like souvenirs.
Given his current status, it is normal for someone to come rushing to give gifts. If he just refuses, it will seem unreasonable.The most important thing is that his boss, Shi Diwen, also acquiesced in accepting gifts, and did not prohibit accepting gifts. After all, being an official is to get promoted and make a fortune. Who wouldn't want to enjoy the benefits of this special status?
Of course, this gift is not for nothing.After Yang Yun accepted the gift, he naturally let go of some of the gift giver's demands, but as long as there is no obvious damage to Hai Han's interests, no one will pursue these details.
Yang Yun drank ginseng tea and ate a few more snacks. After recovering a bit, he called the secretary in and asked, "How many visitors are there today?"
The secretary replied: "There are three groups of people waiting outside."
Yang Yun sighed, nodded and said: "Then you go and bring someone in, finish talking early and rest early."
When receiving the last group of people, the sky had already darkened, and this time was actually beyond Yang Yun's working hours, but Yang Yun saw the greeting post, the identity of this last visitor was a bit special, and it was inconvenient for him to send the other party to come back tomorrow.
The person who came was an old man in his fifties. After entering the room, he cupped his fists and bowed to introduce himself: "I have met Mr. Yang, and this is Ma Zhengping from Yangzhou."
Yang Yun nodded and said, "Boss Ma, please sit down and talk."
After the other party was seated, Yang Yun took the initiative to ask: "Boss Ma is a salt merchant?"
"Business with small capital makes adults laugh." Ma Zhengping replied very humbly.
Yang Yun smiled and said: "If I remember correctly, Boss Ma's family should be one of the seven surnames of Huizhou salt merchants in Yangzhou? Maybe it's a coincidence that Boss Ma has the same name as the current patriarch of the Ma family?"
Yang Yun spends a lot of time meeting visitors from all walks of life every day, so he will naturally set a certain threshold to screen the identities of the visitors, otherwise cats and dogs will come to line up to see him, and he will not be able to work normally.And although this old man only wrote his name and where he came from on the greeting card, he prepared a generous gift list that caught Yang Yun's attention.
Yang Yun had a little impression of the name Ma Zhengping, so he asked the secretary to find out the answer.Then he remembered that when he was operating the Xiangshan Salt Farm, he had entrusted the Ministry of Security to collect relevant information on salt merchants in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. At that time, the main figures in the two camps of salt merchants in Yangzhou were also on the list provided by the Ministry of Security. Among them was Ma Zhengping.
Although the visitor's occupation was not stated in the greeting card, Yang Yun believed that there should be no second Ma Zhengping in Yangzhou who would bring a special gift to Zhoushan to meet him, so he boldly revealed the identity of the visitor.
The old man also smiled, and admitted Yang Yun's identification: "Ma Zhengping, a grassroots man, is exactly who the adults said. But the seven surnames are just folk praises, and the adults laughed."
Yang Yun generally knows why the salt merchants in Yangzhou came to Zhoushan Island to see him.In November last year, the Ministry of Security and the military jointly took a team led by Gong Shiqi and Ji Yuanqing to Yangzhou to investigate the musket case. Later, they succeeded in luring the snake out of the cave and fought fiercely with the private armed forces of the local salt merchants on the canal overnight. Shang's vitality was seriously injured.The Anhui salt merchants who opposed it were reaping the benefits of the fishermen, and began to gain the upper hand in the battle of the local salt merchants after that night.
But Huizhou salt merchants also understand that the advantage they have gained is only temporary, and their opponents are not short of money. It is only a matter of time before they want to recover. The standard musket, which means that they can make a comeback at any time, which makes the Huizhou salt merchants dare not neglect at all.
After discussing with the families of the seven major surnames, they believed that the main reason why the Haihan people attacked the Shanshan salt merchants was not the competition in the salt business, but that the musketeers under the hands of the Shanshan salt merchants made Haihan feel threatened, so they decided to attack the Shanshan salt merchants. Send troops to Yangzhou.In this way, buying muskets to arm themselves is too risky, because it may also attract Haihan's military attack, and they do not have the ability to train private armed forces that can defeat Haihan's army.
The safest way is to try to let the Haihan people continue to attack the Shanxi salt merchants. For this reason, the Huizhou salt merchants can make some concessions to Haihan in terms of salt industry management, and the two parties can even sit down and negotiate. Talk about business cooperation.
The Huizhou salt merchants sent such a signal to the Zhoushan authorities through some channels, and Yang Yun received more than one person who conveyed the willingness for peace talks on behalf of the Huiji salt merchants.However, Shi Diwen believed that Haihan had just finished his work in Yangzhou, and the local situation was unclear. It might not be an ideal time to sit down and start negotiations with Huizhou salt merchants at this time.
And this view was also agreed by Yang Yun. He believed that the struggle between the two factions of salt merchants in Yangzhou was objectively beneficial to the salt industry operated by Haihan. The more bargaining chips they have, the more obedience they have, so there is no progress in conveying the wishes of the Huizhou salt merchants to Yang Yun.
Seeing that the matter has passed for a few months, Haihan seems to have no intention of attacking the Shanshan salt merchants again. This makes the Huizhou salt merchants a little anxious. If this drags on, the opponent will have a breathing space. The first target to deal with is not the Haihan people, but himself.After several rounds of discussions, they decided to send representatives to Zhoushan to directly discuss the matter with senior Haihan officials.
Ma Zhengping was a well-known figure among Huizhou salt merchants, and his seniority was high enough, so he was elected as a representative.After he came to Ningbo, he didn't take much effort to find out that the official in charge of salt industry affairs of the Zhoushan government was Yang Yun.
Ma Zhengping knew that he had no connections or qualifications to go directly to see Shi Diwen, so he made Yang Yun his first choice.His choice was right. Now all business-related matters in Zhoushan were in the hands of Yang Yun, and he could only talk to Yang Yun about this matter.
However, he didn't expect that Yang Yun had already done his homework in advance, and he directly revealed his identity as soon as he came up, which made a bunch of self-introductions he had prepared completely in vain.But he believed that Yang Yun would not immediately end the conversation because of his status. After all, the other party had already accepted all the gifts he sent here, so he had to give himself a chance to speak.
Yang Yundao: "Boss Ma came here from Yangzhou on a special trip, do you have any advice?"
Ma Zhengping quickly responded: "Don't dare to advise, I just want to discuss something with Mr. Yang, so I came to Zhoushan to ask for a meeting."
Yang Yundao: "Since Boss Ma is full of sincerity, let's talk about it."
Seeing Yang Yun's tired face, Ma Zhengping knew that he should not be impatient with him at this time, so he said straight to the point: "Caomin came here on behalf of the Huizhou salt merchants in Yangzhou, and wanted to discuss with Master Yang about the management of the salt industry. A matter of cooperation."
Yang Yun said with a smile: "I remember that the year before last, I had already conveyed my willingness to cooperate with you through some businessmen and friends. I didn't expect to wait for almost two years before finally waiting for Boss Ma's visit. It seems You Yangzhou salt merchants must have done too much business, and look down on our small business in Haihan!"
When Yang Yun organized the development of the Xiangshan Salt Field in 1636, he contacted sales channels everywhere in the early stage. The famous Yangzhou salt merchant was naturally one of Haihan's goals.However, at that time, Yangzhou salt merchants were worried that foreign competitors would occupy their market share, so they would not be willing to discuss cooperation with Haihan.
(End of this chapter)