Xinshun 1730

Chapter 936 Binding

"Father means that the Duke is ready to deal with the British? But, what will we do?"

Xu Tao laughed and said, "How could I have guessed the Duke's method? Do you know what our family did when they attacked Japan?"

This can be regarded as the family history of the Xu family. Before engaging in Japanese trade and Japanese smuggling, he was at most a second- and third-rate businessman.In terms of influence and financial resources, it is simply not the same as the Yangzhou salt merchants.

Nowadays, the Xu family is the core businessmen in the Dashun Overseas Trading Group, especially the in-laws with the Lin family. In recent years, the overseas trade has become bigger and stronger, and it is no longer the status it was in the past.

The First World War in Japan was a turning point in the fate of the Xu family.In that battle, the Xu family gave their full support, responsible for coordinating the logistics, and paying for the troops.

Although there are certainly factors that his son was killed for smuggling.

But more, the Xu family seized the opportunity.

"Hen'er, remember, to do business in the Celestial Dynasty, you need to hold your thighs tightly. This is the first thing; the second is that you must be willing to spend money. If you spend more, you will earn more."

"Our family contributed to the war against Japan. So, we jumped up."

"How to fight, I can't think of it, and you can't think of it. But if you really want to fight, I don't understand the diplomacy or the principle. I only know that if you follow the Duke, you will definitely make a fortune. If you invest a penny, he will make you see a penny." , Guo Gong is a person who pays most attention to establishing a 'typical'."

"Nanyang Plantation, why are others not optimistic about new things like oil palm, and I want you to use the money to build it? Some people laughed at me and said that this is licking the country. It is true to say that, but everyone can understand When you see the benefits of licking, licking is worthless."

"Since you read books, you have read "Historical Records". Do you remember what Emperor Xiaowen said about Li Guang?"

Xu Heng is a new student, and he also needs to learn the first four histories, and this is also a famous book through the ages, so he has memorized it by heart.

"Emperor Xiaowen said that Li Guang was not born at the right time. If he was born in Gaozu's time, he would be a Marquis of Ten Thousand Households."

Xu Tao smiled and said: "Exactly. During the time of Emperor Wu, he was difficult to seal in his life, but it was Huo Wei who made it happen. The Duke's attitude towards us old men is like this, so he scolds us all day long, saying that we are a bunch of waste, He only sits at home and collects money. If he was born in another era, sitting at home and collecting money, he can also reap huge wealth. But, as the Duke always said, times have changed."

"He doesn't like the act of sitting at home and collecting money, so whoever can understand this can make things happen, otherwise Li Guang can't be sealed."

"The Duke has always liked to set up 'models'. In terms of trade, it has always been 'those who follow me prosper, and those who oppose me perish'. Now if you still want to sit conservatively at home and collect money, the Duke will definitely ruin your family. "

What the old man said made Xu Heng immediately connect some seemingly unrelated things before.

For example, after Dashun went to Nanyang, some wealthy Nanyang were unwilling to sell their properties and migrate to Songjiang Prefecture, so their families were ruined; The group of people who received the money were excluded from the trading system. Relying on the huge capital of the joint-stock system, the price was raised and lowered several times, and those people were ruined.

"When the father said this, the son seemed to see the sun through the clouds, and suddenly he was enlightened. Before, he said that the Duke is kind and kind. Although he laughed and scolded, he was informal. He didn't have too much airs, and he didn't like ostentation and ceremonies... Now think about it... "

"Hahahahaha... the Duke is kind and kind?" Xu Tao seemed to hear some funny joke, laughing and coughing continuously.

Xu Heng hurriedly picked up the tea and took it down, tapped his father's back a few times, and after he had recovered his breath, Xu Tao followed suit: "The Duke is kind and true, but the kind of heart that speaks of a woman's benevolence Shan, I haven't seen it at all. I think he doesn't like killing people very much, but he fought from the Rakshasa to the Western Regions and then to Nanyang, so what he said is unreasonable."

"Don't talk about killing people on the battlefield, just talk about trade matters. What happened to Japan? A company as big as the Netherlands, which has been around for nearly 200 years, was quietly wiped out by him. Let's talk about domestic ones, the canal million water workers, There are 10,000+ porters in Dayuling, hundreds of thousands of people from Lianghuai to Nanyang, and tens of thousands of Tang people from Nanyang to Ceylon, who caused it all?"

"He really doesn't rely on his own relationships or officialdom to kill people, and he has never even attacked a single person."

"But there's one word he always says: route."

"I don't quite understand the word, but I can probably understand it."

"What is the route? Is it sitting in the customs to collect money, or going out for trade? Is it better to move to Nanyang in the long term than in the short term, or is it normal for a gentleman to stay away from the kitchen and let the two rivers and Huaihe die?"

"This is probably the route problem I understand."

"Don't go the wrong way, follow him."

"I don't know what path the Duke is going to take, of course. But now, I can be sure of one thing, the Duke will definitely attack the British, because in terms of opium, this is almost the same as what he did to the Japanese before. Same."

"If you understand this, you will be able to understand many things. If you don't understand this, you will become the kind of person who is 'eliminated by the times' as the Duke said."

Xu Heng hurriedly responded, but said again: "Although what my father thinks is reasonable, what the Duke of the Kingdom means today seems to be to expand smuggling. Father thinks so, is it a bit too 'radical'? This is a war against Britain. It is much more costly than Japan and the Netherlands.”

"My son also knows the geography of Nanyang. Britain only has Bengkulu, which is not very important in this dynasty. As for Britain, there is no land connection with that Europe, and it is tens of thousands of miles away."

"To fight Japan, you need to land on the island and then enter its national city. Britain is so far away, it may seem..."

The old man Xu Tao is not surprised by the new words in the new school of radical.

However, he was rather disdainful of his son's way of describing himself as too radical, and felt that his son was conservative.

After his son said a lot about the reasons and difficulties, Xu Tao only asked one sentence.

"Smuggling, smuggling. Your brother is also doing smuggling. What do you do when people don't allow smuggling?"

"I don't know what other people think. But our family has experienced this kind of thing and understands it better than them."

"Make smuggling legal, so that things like your brother being beaten to death won't happen. How did smuggling become legal?"

"Just look at Japan. After a war, it will be legal, and it will not be smuggling."

"Have you ever seen the Duke do something that likes to be pinched?"

After a moment of shortness of breath, Xu Tao calmed down again, and said slowly: "Now our family and the Duke of the state are both prosperous, and both are damaged."

"Guogong's route is to expand abroad and go out for trade. This route is destined to be very important to us. Whoever changes, as long as we continue to follow this route, we cannot be moved. Do you understand?"

Xu Heng nodded, this reason seems to be understandable.

"However, you have to know that once the route changes to closed-door trade and customs trade...you also know what the Duke often said, we are all useless, sitting at home to collect money, there are raw silk tea leaves that the common people get through their hard work Porcelain, fools can make money."

"Since fools can be businessmen, are we still irreplaceable?"

"Since it is irreplaceable, anyone can do it. If you beat the Duke and change the route of the Duke's external expansion, will it be your turn to be the businessman who collects money? Does he have no relatives or friends? No former officials? No A subordinate of the gatekeeper?"

"The Duke of the State is right. The tea silk porcelain obtained by the people's hard work, as long as the court retreats and opens trade, fools can make money. And fools can be replaced by others."

"Therefore, when I say that one loses and one wins and one prospers, I don't mean that one loses and one prospers. It's that one loses and one prospers, and one prospers."

"As long as we don't expand externally, we are all replaceable people."

"Whether the Duke's line can continue depends on whether the Duke can make the court earn more money than through business."

"Smuggling is tantamount to being pinched by someone. Don't mention the Duke, just talk about ourselves. Can we allow it? Can we accept it? Once it is pinched by others, it will be impossible to make money outside. At that time, the Duke We've been messed up, the route has changed, what are you and me?"

"At that time, whoever is in charge of the affairs here will send his confidants to do this business."

"Do you think the Duke has been calling us trash, what do you mean by sitting at home and fools can make money?"

"It's telling us that if we are just talking about trade, it's not our turn to make this money, understand?"

"Master Wang's relatives, Master Li's nephew, can you do this kind of port trade where fools can make money?"

"Are you a relative of Lord Wang, or a nephew of Lord Li?"

"Tell me, if the imperial court really engages in port trade and sits at home and waits for Westerners to pick up the goods, what is the difficulty of this business?"

"Nowadays, foreign expansion requires new students to understand nautical charts, ocean currents, economics, astronomy and geography, the situation in Europe, Western languages, and price laws."

"More importantly, it requires a huge amount of capital, not a few million taels, but tens of millions of taels, which is not something any adult can afford."

"If you want to engage in port trade, what do you need to know? Mr. Guo talked to you about the price of tea and the Ostend company incident today. I just want to ask you, when you were engaged in trade, did you not understand this, and did it affect your money? "

"Now that we are engaged in active trading, if we don't understand this, we can't make money. We are not fools anymore, so we must ensure that the kind of route that fools can make money, and Lord Li's nephew and relatives of Lord Wang can make money, can't go. "

"This means that we have to follow the policy of our country. Want to build a navy? Support money; want to build a supply station in Cape? Support money; want to engage in cruise fleet escort? Support money; want to start a war against Britain? Support money. money."

"Those who don't support paying money are fools. It's not your turn to be a businessman, or even the vast majority of the company's shareholders today. Do you understand?"

"Besides us, there is a group of gentry who took the imperial examination; there is also a group of good families from Wude Palace. We are farts, and we think it is a good thing to save costs by port trade? It is indeed cost-saving and makes a lot of money, but it is not your turn. What does it have to do with you?"

"It's a pity for some idiots. Even the Duke scolds us all day long, calling us trash, and saying that being a businessman can make money. I don't understand why they scold us like that. I still feel wronged... I don't even think about it, Duke What the hell are you talking about?"

The more Xu Tao said, the more excited he became. Xu Heng was in a cold sweat, and suddenly realized.

I thought to myself, so I always said that we are trash, that idiots can make money by sitting at home and collecting money... Is this what you mean?
Indeed, if you really don't take the initiative to go out and close your business to collect money, the only difficulty lies in winning the rest of the merchants.

And when it gets to that point, it doesn't rely on the company's policies, the skill of navigation, the understanding of economics, or even the amount of capital.

Whether you can win against the rest of the suppliers depends only on whether you are a relative of Mr. Wang, or a nephew of Mr. Li, whether you are Mr. Wang or Mr. Li...

Now among these shareholders, those who are opposed to external expansion and increased cost investment are indeed idiots.

Before objecting, we must examine ourselves three times:
Do I have any relatives who are ministers of the Six Governments?
Am I connected to the Temple of Heavenly Blessing?
Were my ancestors the nobles who followed Emperor Taizong to conquer the world?
If not, why should it be my turn for a business that a fool can do?

For external expansion, it is necessary to establish a joint-stock system, concentrate tens of millions of taels of capital, monopolize the supply of goods, cut off the strait, patrol smuggling, and support the fleet, so everyone has the opportunity to chat and laugh with the Duke.

And if you want to engage in port trade, where do you need tens of millions of capital? 1 taels to build a warehouse, get the commercial approval of the imperial court, first take the deposit from the Westerners, and the governor of the state pastoral festival over there will say hello and get the goods first and then pay the money.

Wiping the cold sweat from his brow, Xu Heng said repeatedly: "Father has seen and heard for decades, and we young people can't compare."

Xu Tao sighed and said: "That was a good time for you to catch up. Who knows how we became grandchildren back then. I'm afraid that in the past 20 years, many people think that everything now is taken for granted. What's more Sadly, those who have experienced it are also stupidly opposed to the Duke's line of expanding the army and increasing costs."

"Hey... the Duke often says that the ass decides the head. The sad thing is that among the current shareholders, many people don't know where their butts are sitting."

"Anyway, you just remember this sentence, the more capital the company needs, the more important we are; the company doesn't need a huge amount of capital to collect money on the ground, we are just stinky shit."

"The more we spend money, the more we need to invest, the more important we are; the less we need to spend money and save costs, the less important we are."

"If the company needs 4000 to 500 million taels of silver turnover, we can rest assured that the emperor's southern tour will not ask us to collect money; if the company needs [-] million taels of silver to build a ship, cruise and start a war supply, we are almost invincible and unshakable; but the company As long as three to five million taels can turn around and make a lot of money, we are not far from getting out."

(End of this chapter)