Nanming Yiming

Chapter 112

The sky-high price shop rental on Yuhuang Street is naturally the biggest news in Hangzhou now. Many people rushed to Yuhuang Street at dawn, just to find a good location, so that they can witness with their own eyes the rich man who rented the next shop.

The happiest thing is the vendors in the food street. The flow of people has increased several times, and many merchants have sold out of stock.

They rushed to recruit workers overnight to make all kinds of delicacies, so as to take the opportunity to make more money.

Even the major inns in the city of Hangzhou are fully booked, and now it is hard to find a room.

Fortunately, there are still many unused former Eight Banners residences in the whole city. After the chief envoy cleaned them up, they temporarily leased them to those outside vendors. Otherwise, many people would have to sleep on the streets.

This rental activity can be said to directly stimulate the economy of Hangzhou City, attracting merchants from all over the world, goods and funds to gather in Hangzhou.

The goods brought in by the merchant will definitely find a way to sell, and they will definitely rent a store; and even if the silver brought in is not rented to a Tianzihao store, it is unlikely to be transported back the same way, and the merchant must think of a way to exchange it for other commodities. make money.

It can be said that the entire Hangzhou Mall, and even the economy of Hangzhou, has been fully activated. Of course, the side effect that followed is that the prices of Hangzhou City have been invisibly raised a lot, and the living costs of ordinary people have become higher!
But now that a large number of stores are opening in Hangzhou, they are urgently recruiting workers, and wages have risen accordingly; the increase in income can offset the impact of rising prices, and the pressure on ordinary people's lives will not be so great.

Thinking about the climax of the first day, today is really boring. It's already high in the sun, and it hasn't opened yet.

The melon eaters on the side of the road said one after another: "After all, it is nearly 20 a year, and no one is willing to rent the shop behind."

Qian Mo, who was drinking tea on the opposite side of the shop, was quite calm. Qian Mo said to Xia Wanchun, "Separate the formerly full city area of ​​Hangzhou City from the jurisdiction of the Hangzhou government, and establish a separate Hangzhou commercial district. The management of the commercial district is directly under the jurisdiction of the governor's office. .”

"Personnel in the commercial area must be strictly supervised to prevent extortion and other acts, and must ensure a good business environment. In addition, the commercial area has a special clerical agency to facilitate businessmen to change the lease."

"I can guarantee that those businessmen who have rented shops cheaply in the future may not be able to withstand the temptation and sublet their shops directly to others. The commercial district issued an announcement that the shops rented out by the government can be sublet to others, but they must pay ten taxes One transfer fee."

Then he said to Qian Buer: "In the future, the expenses of my Uncle Zhongyong's mansion will be separated from the governor's mansion of Jiangsu and Zhejiang. I will only receive a fixed salary every month, and the 5 taels of silver that Huang Sanpang gave me will be used as my personal internal treasury." The overspend of the Bofu government will be directly withdrawn from my internal treasury, and should not be counted in the account of the governor's government."

Xia Wanchun asked: "Will the rent be too high? At present, the fifth shop is still unoccupied."

Qian Mo said: "Don't be impatient, Xiaoyin. It is really difficult for merchants near Hangzhou to rent the remaining shops. However, three days are enough for merchants from Suzhou, Huizhou and Ningbo to transport their money to Hangzhou. "

"I have already sent people from the intelligence department to spread the news in advance, and they will get the news not much later than Hangzhou!"

If a radiation circle with a radius of 180 kilometers is drawn with Hangzhou as the center, then Suzhou, Ningbo and Huizhou are all within this radiation circle.Therefore, the merchants in these three places are also the targets that Qian Mo wants to recruit this time, and the personnel of the intelligence department have been tracking the merchants in these three places and the silver shipped to Hangzhou.

Sure enough, the information was sent to Qian Mo not long after. Seeing Qian Mo's solemn expression, Xia Wanchun hurriedly asked, "Is there something wrong?"

Qian Mo said: "Many businessmen from Ningbo have colluded with Huang Binqing to do sea trade. At present, only some small businessmen have come to Hangzhou, and there is no trace of a large amount of money being transferred."

"A large amount of silver has already been shipped out from Huizhou, and it has already passed Qianqiu Ridge. It should be shipped to Hangzhou tomorrow."

"There are a lot of silver from Suzhou flowing to Hangzhou. It is strange that the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, 20 miles south of the Wujiang River, has been blocked by a large number of sunken ships."

Xia Wanchun sighed: "It's true that soldiers never tire of deceit, and shopping malls are like battlefields. It seems that these businessmen are not simple!"

After waiting for a long time, the wooden boards in front of the fifth shop were finally removed.

The bored crowd finally cheered up and asked, "Which rich man rented the fifth shop?"

Liu Ziheng, a famous silk merchant in Suzhou, owns a large number of silk and weaving workshops in Suzhou and Songjiang, and controls more than 4% of the silk and cloth in Suzhou and Songjiang.

At this time, he, who has a lot of money, is worried. His two sons are arguing about the sky-high price of the bunk in Hangzhou.

The eldest son Liu Wenhua said: "I admit that Hangzhou is an opportunity this time, but the rent of this shop is too high. If you can spend 10 taels to get on the overseas business line of Qianmo, it is really worth taking a risk. No matter how many risks It's just too big.

"After all, I heard that the main force of the Eight Banners has gone south. Who knows that Qian Mo can occupy Hangzhou for a few days? If the Ming army is driven away by the Qing army like before, our investment will be in vain!"

The second son, Liu Wentong, said: "Since the eldest brother has seen the opportunity, why don't you simply take a bigger step. Glass is only available in the West, and it is very valuable, and you can't buy it if you have money. This is what my father wears. The pair of glasses cost 500 taels of silver and got it from a businessman in Macau through a lot of connections. Now that Governor Qian can make it, if we can get the agency right of the glass, we will definitely make a lot of money."

"My Liu family controls a large amount of silk and cloth, and these things also need to open up overseas trade routes."

"My Liu family can get 80 taels of silver. Boyer suggests renting the most expensive shop directly and getting the glass agent right. Besides, it doesn't necessarily cost 80 taels. If there are fewer people competing, it may be less than 40 taels." Take it too!"

Liu Wenhua said: "Second brother, I know you are eager to prove yourself in front of your father, but when doing business, you must not only consider profits, but also risks!"

"What if Governor Qian's glass isn't of high quality and doesn't sell as well as you think?"

Liu Wentong said: "Father, don't worry, the child will only rent the shop after seeing the glass; if it really doesn't work, I will naturally not throw the money into the water!"

"As for the big brother's concern, Governor Qian has been invincible since he started his army. The Eight Banners of Hangzhou, the Zhenghuang Banner of the Han Army, and the Zhejiang Governor under Tian Xiong are all elite troops of the Qing Dynasty, and they were all wiped out by the Ming Army without exception."

"One has no long-term considerations, but there must be near-term worries! Big brother should consider that if Governor Qian takes down Suzhou Mansion and our opponent rents these shops, will our Liu family still be able to maintain their current position in Suzhou City?"

In fact, the two sons are very good. The eldest son is capable and calm; the second son has a unique vision and dares to take risks.He himself also thinks that renting a shop in Hangzhou is an opportunity, but he is not willing to spend 80 taels to take the risk.

So he said: "Wen Tong, you can go to Hangzhou once with 20 taels of silver. I don't force you to be the agent of this glass, but my Liu family still has to set up the line for Governor Qian. If you can get The opportunity to participate in overseas business is also good, and I am also optimistic about the Hangzhou mall!"

The helpless Liu Wentong had to take 20 taels of silver on the road.

However, he heard that several other big households in Suzhou also had the idea of ​​visiting Hangzhou and were preparing to deliver silver.So Xinyi directly bribed the Qing army, and sank more than a dozen of his own cargo ships on the Grand Canal in one go, blocking the waterway and delaying the time for other merchants to transport silver.

But I took the waterway from Taihu Lake to Huzhou, and then all the way down the river to Yuhang, and finally rented the fifth shop before other Suzhou businessmen.

At this time, Liu Wentong didn't pay attention to the cheers of passers-by around him. When he saw the glass pavement, he realized how big a business opportunity he had missed.

According to his father's wishes, he spent nearly 20 taels of silver to rent a berth, and just register with Qian Mo, but now it seems that it was a big miscalculation.

Of course, he still had a little fantasy in his heart at this time, as long as no one rented the sixth shop for 384000 taels, he still had a chance to win the agency right of glass.

Entering the third day, the finale of this sky-high price shop competition is finally about to be announced. People are anxiously waiting for the result, wondering who will win the last two shops?

Due to the overnight journey, the whole person was very tired, Liu Wentong fell asleep early, and he was awakened by the noise of the crowd on the street early in the morning.

I thought it was the sensation caused by the renting of the sixth shop, but it turned out that there were several blond and blue-eyed Thai-Western businessmen on the street.

There are Portuguese from Macao who come to Suzhou for trade all the year round, and it doesn’t cause too much commotion. Liu Wentong thought that the people in Hangzhou are too fussy. How could a few Thai and Westerners make such a big commotion?

But soon he realized that the cause of the commotion in Hangzhou was not because he saw a few Taixi people, but because those people appeared on Yuhuang Street. Could it be that these businessmen also came to rent shops?
In 1522 AD, the Portuguese fleet provoked at the mouth of the Pearl River and was defeated by the Ming army. More than 20 Frang machine guns on board were seized.

The Portuguese who had suffered a loss found that force could not break the situation, and began to bribe Ming Dynasty officials, and finally obtained the right of residence in Macau in 1553 AD at the cost of paying 2 taels of silver tax every year.

The Portuguese not only built a fort in Macau, but also built an arsenal. This arsenal mainly made cannons, and it was called the Bugarao Cannon Factory.

Franco is the representative of Bugarao Cannon Factory. This time, at the invitation of his old friend Father Philip, he came to Hangzhou to buy a magical item of "fairy lime". It is said that this fairy lime can quickly build a strong fortress road.

At this time, East Asia was dominated by the Dutch. With their huge fleet, they not only drove away the Spaniards to monopolize Taiwan, but also coveted Macau in the hands of the Portuguese.

So Franco urgently needs this "fairy lime" to strengthen Macau's defense.However, he did not intend to spend money to buy it. On the contrary, he learned that after the fierce battle between the Ming and Qing Dynasties, he brought a large number of muskets and artillery, and prepared to make a fortune.

But when he saw the glass shop on Yuhuang Street, he was immediately attracted by the scene in front of him.

Franco exclaimed: "My God, it is amazing that someone can make such a transparent large piece of glass!"

Glass that can be used for decoration appeared in Europe in the 13th century, but most of them have their own colors.Although this kind of transparent glass was also manufactured at this time, this technology was firmly controlled by the Italians.

In order to prevent the leakage of this technology, the Italians placed the glass manufacturing site on a small island in the Mediterranean Sea. The craftsmen who inherited this skill could not leave the island for the rest of their lives.

Moreover, the Italians could not produce such a large piece of high-quality glass at this time, and glass was still regarded as a luxury by the Europeans and could not be used for civilian use.

At this time, Franco was shocked by the dazzling light from the glass, as if the glass in front of him was not glass but precious gems.

After seeing the prosperity of Hangzhou Mall and the dazzling array of commodities in the commercial street, he decided to rent a shop here to sell European commodities.The eyes of the businessman told him that this place will definitely become a great commercial city, even surpassing Suzhou!
When he heard the shop rental rules, he was shocked again and exclaimed: "Who on earth came up with this rule? It's incredible. Could it be a hateful Jew?"

So he said to the official in charge of the reception: "Take me to see your governor, I want to rent a shop!"

Hearing that Franco wanted to rent a shop, Qian Mo naturally raised his hands to welcome him.

Qian Mo said: "Mr. Franco really has a discerning eye. The annual rent of 384000 taels is really nothing compared to the value of glass!"

Franco said: "Dear Governor, I really want to get the agency right of glass, but I didn't bring so much silver with me when I came to Hangzhou this time. Can I use my goods to directly convert them into equivalent value?"

This request was expected by Qian Mo. It was impossible for him as a businessman to carry so much silver from Macau to the north. After all, the journey was not peaceful. Without the escort of warships, he would not even be able to reach Hangzhou.

Qian Mo said: "You can sell the goods you brought to me, so that you can directly deduct the silver taels, but I have to see how the quality of the goods you brought is, if it doesn't meet my requirements, I can't do it for you. You converted it into taels of silver."

Franco said confidently: "This time I brought 2000 Tessie's most advanced flintlock muskets and 20 powerful 12-pound heavy artillery. I believe the Governor will be very satisfied!"

Qian Mo said: "We Chinese have a saying that 'hearing is believing, seeing is believing', let's go to the Phoenix Mountain Shooting Range outside the city to test the quality of your guns, so that I can give a reasonable price .”

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