Ming Zuo

Chapter 294 Election
There are two major events in Songjiang Mansion in spring.

One is the wedding of the third lady of the Xu family.

It is said that there are a lot of new gadgets at the wedding, which are not earthy or foreign.

Some content came out from the mouths of the guests attending the wedding one after another, sparking gossip among the people of Songjiang Prefecture.

But in the final analysis, Miss Xu San's wedding was just for talking after dinner.

But another incident caused an uproar in Songjiang Mansion, involving everyone.

That is the establishment of Songjiang Cotton Textile Chamber of Commerce.

Most of the population in Songjiang Mansion depended on cotton spinning for a living. Such a big event affected everyone's nerves.

Moreover, people from various towns and families have been walking through the streets and alleys these days, constantly looking for someone to talk to, and the occasional crazy words made the whole Songjiang Mansion uneasy.

It is under such attention that the Songjiang Cotton Textile Chamber of Commerce ushered in the day when it was formally established.

On this day, more than [-] representatives of the cotton spinning industry in Songjiang gathered together, and everyone was very serious.

Although compared with the millions of people in Songjiang Mansion, these people seem to be just a drop in the ocean.But these people are all in every link of the cotton spinning industry, either the representatives of the major families, or the best in every process.

It can be said that these [-] people have already mastered the entire voice of Songjiang Cotton Spinning.

Seeing this situation, all the participants understood that from now on, the Songjiang Cotton Textile Chamber of Commerce will have unimaginable energy.

The Chamber of Commerce is a novelty.

Although these people have all decided to get involved, none of them have any experience in how the chamber of commerce should proceed.

At this time, Zuo Menggeng was required to host.

He first had people distribute the manuscript to the delegates.

"Everyone, this is the regulations of the Songjiang Cotton Textile Chamber of Commerce drafted by the juniors. Of course, this is just to attract ideas. The truly effective regulations have to be discussed and decided by the big guys at our general meeting."

Looking at the thick manuscript, Shen Youtian said with a smile: "Who doesn't know how powerful Zhongheng is, naturally what you say shall prevail."

Many people followed suit.

They all felt that they didn't understand what was going on anyway, so they just followed Zuo Menggeng.

But facing the big guy's compliment, Zuo Menggeng was not happy, on the contrary he was very serious.

"Everyone, the original intention of the establishment of the Chamber of Commerce is to unite everyone's strength and seek the well-being of everyone. The charter is the basis for the Chamber of Commerce to act. If you ignore this, there will be no place to appeal for grievances when your interests are damaged in the future."

Hearing what he said, everyone immediately became nervous.

For a moment, the venue was filled with the sound of flipping through manuscripts.

There are also many craftsmen present here, who are illiterate and at a loss with manuscripts.And Zuo Menggeng had already made preparations, and immediately a staff member walked over to explain the content of the manuscript to these craftsmen in a low voice.

This method made the craftsmen very excited.

They are all outstanding in all aspects of the cotton spinning industry, and all of them have special skills.

When the Chamber of Commerce came to visit and asked them to join the association, it took a lot of work to succeed.

But when they really attended the meeting as representatives, the craftsmen seemed very inferior, and didn't feel that they could sit on an equal footing with those gentlemen.

Each of them seemed to have needles under their buttocks, making them almost want to escape.

When they really started to review the manuscripts, they felt that they were out of place because of their illiteracy, as if they had become clowns.

But with the patient explanation of the staff, these craftsmen were integrated into it at once, and at the same time understood what the manuscript was talking about.

Zuo Menggeng's articles of association for the chamber of commerce, adhering to his usual style, are crisp and neat, full of dry goods.

After the big guys reviewed it, they discovered that this matter really cannot be ignored.

What surprised everyone the most was that the chairman of the chamber of commerce was going to be elected.

"Zhongheng, what is an election?"

Pan Yunlong asked instead of the big guy.

Zuo Menggeng answered.

"The chairman, vice-chairman, and committee members of this association are all voted by all members of the chamber of commerce, and the one with the highest number of votes can be elected."

Those who have been officials immediately thought that this method is similar to Ting Tui.

This measure belongs to Zuo Menggeng's own thinking, and the reason is the same as before.

Although it has not been tested in practice, everyone has discussed it and agreed with these measures.

It is also from these rules that the big guys finally realized that this chamber of commerce is really a good thing to unite the entire industry.

From these conversations, it is the craftsmen like Chen Acai who feel the most inspiration.

Facing the major families, they are undoubtedly vulnerable groups.

Even if they joined the Chamber of Commerce this time, many of them did not want to offend the wealthy merchants.

Now that the chamber of commerce has such a rule that even the most powerful people can't act arbitrarily here, doesn't that mean that they can also speak out?
And the following structure of the chamber of commerce is even more refreshing for everyone.

The chamber of commerce structure designed by Zuo Menggeng is almost the same as various committees in later generations.

After all, he inherited the memory of later generations, and this is the most reasonable power structure that can be imagined.

Let him go a step further, and he can't do it in terms of knowledge.

If so, these alone are enough to open the eyes of people in this era.

Everyone studied carefully and praised him one after another. They really couldn't fault him, so they could only bow to his opinion.

There are several other agencies under the Standing Committee.

For example, the foreign committee is mainly responsible for negotiating, signing contracts and bargaining on behalf of the Songjiang cotton spinning industry.

In this way, the current situation of Songjiang cotton spinning industry fighting among themselves has been changed, and the dilemma of being defeated by outsiders and wantonly lowering prices has been avoided.

In the future, foreign businessmen want to buy and sell Songjiang cotton cloth, so they can only negotiate prices with the merchants.

Without the approval of the Chamber of Commerce, members are not allowed to sell to the outside world at will, let alone sell at low prices.

To everyone's surprise, the chamber of commerce has also set up a technical committee.

The responsibility of this department is to discover and summarize the technological advantages of the cotton spinning industry, cultivate technical talents, and protect the technology at the same time.

Take Chen Acai's unique needle embroidery technology as an example. Through the operation of the technical committee, all companies in the Songjiang cotton spinning industry can use his technology in the future, and he will also be in charge of worker training.

And no matter who uses his technology, he needs to pay a patent fee of thirty taels of silver every year.

The patent is valid for fifty years.

In other words, relying on this technology alone, Chen Acai can do nothing and collect fifty years of fees for nothing.

Is it expensive?

Of course not cheap.

But before the establishment of the Chamber of Commerce, this technology was unique to Chen A Cai, and he would rather die than spread it to the outside world.Every household has nothing to do but be jealous.

Now you only need to pay [-] taels of silver per year to use such a technology, and cloth merchants will wake up from their dreams with laughter.

Moreover, the Chamber of Commerce has formulated strict regulations. If someone dares to use Chen A Cai's patent without authorization, he will not only be expelled from the Chamber of Commerce, but will also be cut off from his cotton supply and business contacts.

This is patent protection.

With this regulation, skilled craftsmen have new ways to make a fortune, and suddenly become the most staunch supporters of the chamber of commerce.

After the regulations of the chamber of commerce were promulgated, [-] cloth merchants approached Chen Acai on the spot to discuss patent authorization.

If the negotiation is successful, then Chen Acai's annual income from patents alone will reach as much as four hundred and fifty taels.

This is an income that Chen Acai never dared to think about before.

Moreover, once the patent fee is collected, it will last for [-] years, so that he no longer has to worry about the lives of future generations.

In addition, the Chamber of Commerce also has more than ten departments such as the Dispute Resolution Committee, Product Evaluation Committee, Transportation Coordination Committee, Mutual Aid Committee, and Commodity Exchange, covering almost all fields of the entire Songjiang cotton spinning industry.

It has really achieved the purpose of integrating Songjiang cotton spinning industry and strengthening its strength.

With the size of Songjiang Cotton Spinning, as long as they are really united, they are enough to fight against any force in the world.

Seeing the big guy's enthusiasm, Zuo Menggeng secretly smiled.

He already had a premonition that in the near future, the Songjiang Cotton Spinning Chamber of Commerce would lead merchants and workers to rise up against the tyranny of the Ming Dynasty.

No one knew his true thoughts. After the Chamber of Commerce was established, the most important link came.

That is the election of the Chamber of Commerce management.

(End of this chapter)