Chapter 812
Opening of Maritime Trade
Chapter 812 Opening of Maritime Trade
The government is notoriously slow at handling matters, especially cases.
Cases involving a wide range of people will only take longer.
Therefore, after the imperial court resumed work on the fourth day of the lunar new year, Pan Yun did not rush to Ji'an to find Magistrate Wu. Instead, he went to Quanzhou Prefecture first and left Wang Cong there.
During the Lunar New Year, Wang Cong prayed sincerely and consulted a fortune teller, who said that this voyage would be an extremely auspicious one.
Miaozhen then calculated a suitable day for him to go to sea based on the celestial phenomena, between the 21st day of the first lunar month and the 2nd day of the second lunar month.
Wang Cong planned to go to Quanzhou Prefecture in advance to make preparations.
Since they were going to go to sea, they couldn't just focus on the silver in Yinshan. Wang Cong wanted to carve out a niche for himself in maritime trade.
During his six months in Japan, he conducted extensive research and found that the upper classes of Japan, such as the daimyo of various regions, and their family members preferred books, fine silks, porcelains, and gold and silver ornaments from the Ming Dynasty.
Books offer the best value for money.
However, they were not willing to pay high prices for just any book. Because Japan was a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty, and its writing system was also Chinese characters, and it admired the culture of the Tang and Song Dynasties, there were quite a few books from the Central Plains in Japan.
To sell books acquired from abroad at a high price, they must either be unique copies or important editions, or they must be books that are not available in their own country.
They pay to watch content.
Wang Cong had been preparing since returning to China. He had visited all the bookstores in Quanzhou and also looked through many books in Ji'an.
He found quite a few good books, including military strategy and tactics. These couldn't be taken to Japan, but he could show them to his junior uncle.
Sigh, Junior Uncle's heart is already not kind enough. If he reads these military strategies and analyses of human nature, won't his heart become even darker?
Wang Cong casually handed out medical books and herbal texts to Tao Yanbai and his junior sister Miaohe. If there were any extras, he would bring one back for the old Japanese. Things are valued for their rarity, so he couldn't bring too many books, otherwise they wouldn't seem precious.
He would bring along any other books on crafts that he could.
He would first leave a copy of the book on astronomy and geography for Miaozhen and his second junior brother in the capital, and then pick out one copy of each subject to take to Japan.
After searching for so long, he picked out mostly Confucian books.
Pan Yun flipped through the books and nodded, saying, "Confucianism is good. It teaches people to be kind, and it teaches people benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and trustworthiness. It's good, it's good. Take a few more books with you."
Wang Cong also felt that he made a good choice: "I have been to Mr. Yitian's study, and they highly value Confucian culture."
Pan Yun nodded: "After all, we come from the same source, how can we not like it? I think Japan should also carry out a reform and rethink its way of selecting talents. Our imperial examination system is very worthy of learning from."
Pan Yun shoved all the books into Wang Cong's hands and said, "You can suggest to Mr. Masuda that we should maintain frequent exchanges with Japan in the future. The better Japan is, the better we will be. We hope that they can live in peace and prosperity and achieve a win-win situation with our Great Ming."
Wang Cong agreed.
Wang Cong put a lot of thought into the books, while the other silks and porcelains were easy to choose from; he simply picked the most fashionable ones of the time.
The patterns that become popular in Jiangnan are naturally the best. They are also easy to sell in Japan. Just say that they are the most popular silks in the Ming Dynasty this year and they can be sold at a high price.
The tastes of the upper and middle classes in Japan are more complex, with silk, cotton, linen, and tea being their favorites.
For the middle and lower classes, inexpensive porcelain and cotton and linen fabrics were the most popular.
In addition to these, Ming Dynasty copper coins were highly favored by all social classes in Japan.
However, copper was a controlled commodity in the Ming Dynasty. Copper coins could be used domestically, but exporting them was impossible.
Before the maritime ban, ships were used for smuggling. Many people would fill their ships with copper coins, and as long as they weren't caught by the navy, they could exchange them for a lot of silver after crossing the ocean.
That's why pirates like to rob Ming Dynasty merchant ships; as long as they can intercept them, they can make a lot of money.
Before the maritime ban was lifted, Wang Cong was in contact with seagoing vessels for the first time. He was very honest and naturally could not have hidden copper coins to leave the country.
Now that the sea ban has been lifted, even for the sake of his junior uncle's and Sanqing Mountain's reputation, he wouldn't engage in smuggling. So after arriving in Quanzhou, he had his managers prepare manifests for all the goods and excitedly took them to the Maritime Trade Office to submit them.
Right after the New Year, all levels of government offices were very busy, except for the Maritime Trade Office, which was so idle it was practically growing mushrooms.
Wang Cong was the first to come and submit his order. Not only did the officials handling the matter warmly welcome him, but even Cao Jixiang, the head of the Maritime Trade Office, came out to personally receive him.
Wang Cong was flattered and couldn't help but say, "Lord Cao, my junior uncle won't be coming today."
As soon as Pan Yun arrived in Quanzhou, she went to whisper with Prefect Lu. These past two days, her junior apprentice could only see her before going to bed.
Cao Jixiang smiled and said, "Master Wang, you underestimate us. We are just handling official business, and it has nothing to do with Pan Yun. Of course, your junior uncle made great contributions to the lifting of the sea ban, which also lets our Maritime Trade Office know that we are in this together."
Cao Jixiang patted Wang Cong on the shoulder in an ambiguous manner, everything was understood without words.
Wang Cong indicated that he understood.
With the lifting of the maritime ban, many merchants are eager to make their fortunes, but so far no one has dared to be the first.
Or rather, everyone is making preparations in full swing, but no one has yet come to the Maritime Trade Office to submit a declaration.
Therefore, when Wang Cong came to submit his order, it not only caused a stir within the Maritime Trade Office, but also caused an uproar among the entire population who were paying attention to the Quanzhou Maritime Trade Office.
As soon as he left the Maritime Trade Office, someone greeted him warmly and pulled him into a restaurant for drinks.
Those who didn't have a boat but wanted to do maritime trade could hitch a ride on his boat. Wang Cong agreed, as long as they paid the fare, whether it was people or goods.
He had three ships. One ship was left in Japan as a backup for his friends. He took the other two with him, but he didn't have much cash. Even with the help of his junior uncle and the others, he couldn't buy enough goods for the two ships.
He's been waiting for them to come to him.
Merchants with boats also approached him, wanting to travel with Wang Cong.
Everyone knows that Pan Yun made great contributions in the battle to suppress bandits, not to mention Xuanmiao and Tao Ji killed pirates in Japan, making the Japanese pirates cry out in terror.
Because it was a grassroots initiative and involved foreign countries, the government only collected information and did not comment on it.
But the martial arts world is different.
In the martial arts world, Xuanmiao and Tao Ji's reputations are no less than Pan Yun's.
These three killing gods are all from Sanqing Mountain, so who would dare to attack Wang Cong's fleet that is flying the Sanqing Mountain flag now?
From the Ming Dynasty navy and Japanese official ships to the Ming Dynasty pirates and Japanese pirates, please stay far away when you see the flags of "Ming Dynasty" and "Three Pure Ones" flying together, okay?
Therefore, traveling with Wang Cong's fleet, as long as one is extra careful of the wind and waves at sea, one can avoid 80% of man-made disasters.
Boats would come knocking, willing to pay a certain protection fee.
If it were someone else, they might not accept the bribe in order to win people's hearts, but Wang Cong is a Taoist priest.
Taoists believe that every effort should be rewarded.
If you're treating a poor person on the street, even if it's just a blade of grass, the doctor will ask for something in return, otherwise the consequences will fall on him.
They gave it to him, and Wang Cong accepted it.
However, he didn't accept money indiscriminately. He established a standard, and the protection received varied depending on the amount of money paid and the location of the fleet.
Oh, right, Wang Cong's ship also has cannons.
However, the cannon had not yet been fired, so no one knew.
With just those few cannons, he could accept the protection fee without any qualms.
(End of this chapter)