Chongzhen Daming: Starting from Coal Mountain

Chapter 492 Export Quotas
The Ministry of Internal Affairs took over the old courtyard.

For seven consecutive days, more than 300 merchants, large and small, from all provinces of Ming Dynasty gathered in the old courtyard for meetings.

This meeting is destined to be recorded in the annals of history, because after this meeting, the business rules of Ming Dynasty will be greatly rewritten, especially the foreign trade rules will be completely rewritten.

After this meeting, disorderly competition will be a thing of the past.

Instead, there are export quotas for various industries.

At this moment, Chongzhen was sitting in the attic of Meixiang Building, listening to the discussions of the silk merchants.

It was Shi Jiuke who was speaking on the rostrum at this time. Shi Jiuke was not used to speaking publicly on such occasions, so he seemed a little stuttering.

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty the Emperor."

"There are also business colleagues, good evening everyone."

"There is only one question I want to talk about today."

At the very beginning, Shi Jiuke couldn't speak very well, but when he really got to the point, Shi Jiuke's articulation gradually became clearer.

"I have only one question to say."

"That's why it's best for us not to fight each other."

"Our own people are fighting each other to the death, and in the end we can only let Xi Yi take advantage of it."

While Shi Jiuke was talking, Gao Qiqian quietly came over and whispered in Chongzhen's ear, "Long live Lord, urgent report from Sichuan."

Chongzhen immediately got up when he heard the words, and then took Zhu Cihong to the private room next door, only to see that it was written in the Tang newspaper that Qin Liangyu had failed in the battle in Syria and had returned to Luzhou.

After Zhu Cilang finished reading the Tang newspaper, his expression was also solemn.

"This is really unexpected." Zhu Cihong frowned, "Yuan Tao, Wu Dading, Cao Xun and other rebels would collude with Zhang Xianzhong, so that Marquis Zhongzhen was caught off guard and suffered a loss."

"This is actually predictable." Chongzhen shook his head and said, "What my father didn't expect was that Li Zicheng personally led an army of 10,000+ to fight Sichuan, but was blocked by a mere [-] Western troops on Yinping Road."

"What Emperor Father said is true." Zhu Cihong said with deep conviction.

"If it weren't for Li Zicheng's 10,000+ army being blocked by a mere 10,000 Western troops on Yinping Road, Zhang Xianzhong would not have been able to easily mobilize the main force of the [-]+ Great Western army to fight Zhongzhenhou in Syria, and Zhongzhenhou would not have suffered such a small defeat."

"But it's not a big problem." Chongzhen said flatly, "Marquis Zhongzhen's army is pressing too hard, so Yuan Tao, Wu Dading, Cao Xun and other rebels will fight against Zhang Xianzhong. Now Marquis Zhongzhen retreats to Luzhou and chooses to avoid the edge temporarily. The conflict between the bandits and the Western Army will soon become irreconcilable, and when they start killing each other, the Marquis of Zhongzhen will kill the carbine again, and the alliance between the bandits will be easily broken."

After a pause, Chongzhen ordered Gao Qiqian to say: "Gao Banban, ask the Ministry of War to send a reply letter to Marquis Zhongzhen immediately, saying that there is no need to enter the army again a year ago, as long as Luzhou, Zunyi, Chongqing and Kuizhou are well guarded." That's it."

"The old slave takes the edict." Gao Qiqian received Chongzhen's edict, and went to the imperial city in a brazen manner.

When Chongzhen, Zhu Cihong and his son returned to the hall, Shi Jiuke was still speaking on the rostrum.

"In view of this, we have to form an offensive and defensive alliance, and then agree on a minimum selling price every year."

"All my merchants in the Ming Dynasty are not allowed to sell silk or raw silk at a price lower than the reserve price. Anyone who violates the offensive and defensive alliance must be expelled from the Daming General Chamber of Commerce. From now on, all members of our Daming General Chamber of Commerce will not be allowed to Have any business dealings with such treacherous profiteers."

Chongzhen's eyes lit up when he heard the words, isn't this the export quota?

free trade?Free trade is impossible to free trade, and there will never be free trade.

Almost all the producers agreed with Shi Jiuke's proposal, because they also suffered from the lower prices of the sea merchants or Xiyi. They often contribute the most in all aspects of the silk trade, but the bulk of the profits go to them instead. Sea merchants or Xiyi, they have long wanted to change this situation.

However, channel businessmen, especially maritime businessmen, react more ambiguously.

To put it bluntly, the most profitable link in the silk trade now is the channel.

Channel merchants are further divided into three categories, one is local silk traffickers in Daming, the other is maritime merchants, and the third is large maritime trade companies represented by the Dutch East India Company.

Among them, the most profitable ones are maritime merchants and large maritime trade companies.

Therefore, maritime merchants do not have much enthusiasm for signing offensive and defensive alliances.

Of course, maritime merchants will not strongly oppose it, it does not matter whether it is successful or not.

So in the end, Shi Jiuke's proposal was passed smoothly, and the next step was to negotiate the detailed rules of the covenant.

The punishment details are clear, that is, if any member violates the covenant and sells silk or raw silk at a price lower than the reserve price in private, he will be expelled from the general chamber of commerce. This is still very powerful.

Because the tentacles of the Daming General Chamber of Commerce have extended to almost every industry.

Once you are targeted by the Great Ming General Chamber of Commerce, you don't have to do anything.

You can't recruit workers, you can't buy raw silk, you don't want to transport your goods when you travel around, and even the bank is unwilling to open an account for you to withdraw money. What else can you do?
In a word, if you are expelled from the General Chamber of Commerce, you should lie flat and wait for bankruptcy.

But there was a disagreement on how to set the reserve price, because the silk merchants in Huguang hoped that the reserve price in Huguang could be set lower because their shipping costs were higher, but the silk merchants in Jiangnan hoped that a bowl of water would be flat.

When it comes to interests, they are not willing to give in easily, and soon they quarreled.

In the end, Kou Baimen, who was serving tea next to him, couldn't stand it any longer, and suggested, "What's the point of you guys arguing for the bottom price here? You might as well think about how to sell it at a high price to be serious."

Kou Baimen's words awakened the dreamer, and the silk merchant was speechless for a while.

Yes, what's the point of us fighting for the bottom price?Fighting for a long time just to sell silk to sea merchants or Xiyi at the lowest reserve price?Can't you be a little promising and set a high price?
But the problem is, if a high price is really set, who will abide by it?
After a long while, Shi Jiuke cupped his hands and asked, "But I don't know what advice Kou Nvxia has?"

"I don't have a high opinion here, but I do have a humble opinion." Kou Baimen said, "Why don't you first check how many workshops there are in total under the Ming Dynasty, and how much raw silk can be produced every year? How many bolts of silk? Then use this For the quota, if the quota is not enough for any family, they can only buy from other houses, so can’t they avoid each other’s lower prices?”

Chongzhen was about to applaud, and Kou Baimen's proposal was very similar to export quotas.

However, the real export quota needs to be refined, because silk is also different from silk.

However, Kou Baimen's words have already opened up the thinking of Shi Jiuke and other silk merchants. There are many things that are unexpected or unexpected, but as long as you understand a little bit, you can understand everything.

At present, Shi Jiuke and other silk merchants estimated a total amount for each of the fourteen major categories of silk.

Then, according to the total amount, quotas were allocated to more than 100 large and small silk merchants participating in the meeting.

The silk merchants also agreed with each other to hold a quota meeting every year in the future to discuss and determine the production quotas of each silk merchant and the pricing of various silks.

Each type of silk is divided into upper, middle and lower grades according to the quality, and the price is also divided into the corresponding three grades. In the future, if maritime merchants or western merchants want to buy silk from Daming, they can only pay this price. Is it okay to bargain? It may be necessary to bargain again. If you are unlucky and encounter a poor silk harvest, the price may increase.

The silk merchants also agreed to implement an offensive and defensive alliance before the end of this year.

According to the usual practice in previous years, there will be a group of foreign merchants coming to Daming before the end of the year. When these foreign merchants arrive in Daming, they will be horrified to find that the prices of silk, porcelain, tea, jewelry and other commodities in Daming have all increased.

But even if the price is raised, foreign merchants can only obediently pay more real money.

Because the silk, porcelain, and tea of ​​Ming Dynasty are a seller's market and cannot be replaced.

Thinking of this, a slight smile appeared on the corner of Chongzhen's mouth, and then he got up and left.

The reason why he participated in this discussion tonight is to achieve such an intention.

Now that his intention has been achieved, there is no need for him to stay upstairs and stare at Meixiang.

Seeing Chongzhen get up to leave, Zhu Cihong also got up and left. The father and son went downstairs, and Wang Chengen and Lu Jiude immediately came forward to put on their armor for them.

It's still the Shanwenjia with a visor.

Chongzhen has always attached great importance to personal safety.

Because he knows very well how many people want him to die.

After a while, the father and son put on the mountain armor, and followed Yi Ding out of Meixiang Tower.

Lu Jiude was wearing a golden mountain armor and a ghost mask on his face as usual, and rode in the front on horseback.

It's just that now, almost everyone in Nanjing knows that Lu Jiude is just a false target used as a cover, so no assassin will be stupid enough to assassinate Lu Jiude again.

The group of armored soldiers from the Ming Army that came out of Meixiang Tower quickly attracted the attention of passers-by on Chaoku Street.

After a while, someone recognized "Chongzhen", and then cheers of "Long live" sounded.

Lu Jiude has long been used to this kind of scene, and immediately raised his right hand from the horse's back to salute.

"Long live! Long live!" The pedestrians on Chaoku Street suddenly cheered even more enthusiastically.

More pedestrians swarmed from a distance, but no one blocked the way. Wherever the Yi Dingjia soldiers passed, the pedestrians blocking the street split like waves and gave way to both sides of the street.

……

Luo Yi and Luo Hu were hidden in the crowd at this time.

They even had handguns hidden in their sleeves.

At this time, the straight-line distance between the two of them was only a dozen steps from "Chongzhen".

If one can determine who Chongzhen is, it only takes a small lead to send Chongzhen to meet his ancestors with ease.

Unfortunately, however, they were unable to determine which was the real Chongzhen.

Anyway, the one at the front must be a fake, and any of the more than 100 Yidings in the back may be Chongzhen. They can't go forward and open the Yiding masks one by one to identify them, right?

"This dog emperor is really cautious."

Luo Chen scolded in a low voice.

(End of this chapter)