Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1953 Business Group ([-])

"...the establishment of modern transportation facilities represented by ships and railways, and the expansion of commerce in the three core cities of Yinxian, Dinghai, and Shangyu have constituted an unprecedented prosperity in Ningshao's commerce. If the light industry that has begun to take shape in Ningbo is A simple description of the local industrial image, then the commercial development of Ningshao is the return of Ningshao people's business traditions since ancient times."

"...Ningbo has been doing business very prosperously since ancient times. Tea, silk, cotton cloth, bambooware, and rice are sold all over the country. It has always been a place of wealth for the country. However, the traditional Ningbo merchants were not intimidated. With their inherent advantages and shrewd and capable business style, they actively engaged in foreign trade and used various channels to do business with the Qing Dynasty, the Shun Kingdom, Japan, North Korea and even the Netherlands. Business, while resisting the influx of foreign goods, has also greatly promoted the prosperity and modernization of Ningshao's local economy. During this process, Ningbo merchant groups began to gather and rise, and their economic strength has been greatly strengthened. became a significant force on the ground in the Far East, very similar to the Dutch in the European lowlands."

The above is the content of the second edition of "Ningbo Weekly", which is the leading newspaper in Ningbo and also a government organ newspaper.After in-depth interviews and consulting a lot of materials, the reporter of the newspaper described the development process of the Ningbo merchant group in the past few decades with a lot of pen and ink.

Unlike Shandong, which has experienced countless turmoil and turned into a piece of white land, Ningbo has not suffered any disasters since the end of Ming Dynasty. People's lives are stable and businesses are prosperous.Moreover, when the East Coast army entered Ningbo, the local gentry were also polarized, some resolutely resisted, and some cooperated with the East Coast people.Those who resist are naturally wiped out, and there is no place to die, but those who cooperate have really made a lot of money in the past few decades.Especially those businessmen who hitched a ride with the Bank of Taiwan and engaged in foreign trade with them, which one is not a wealthy businessman now?The series of houses in the countryside of Dinghai County, which occupy a large area and cost a lot of money, are the houses of these big businessmen, which are no worse than the big houses of those businessmen engaged in foreign trade inside and outside Guangzhou.

Today in the 80s, the political influence of the rising Ningbo merchant group has gradually increased, and it has exerted its influence in a series of affairs.Who made the government of the Southern Pioneering Team more burdened and often raised funds from these businessmen?As the saying goes, people are soft-spoken and short-handed. Businessmen pay money, and naturally they want fame and social status, and then there are some policies that favor them.

The successful integration of the Ningbo merchant group into the economic system of the east coast—of course, some people who hated them thought it was a successful whitewashing, because many merchants were secretly connected with the Qing Dynasty—should be regarded as a classic case of overseas colonial rule on the east coast, that is, What kind of method should the East Coast people use to rule the overseas colonies.The Ningshao colony with the same language and species can do this, so can the colonies in India and other places copy it in the future?Do we still need to break the original local social system?How to do it with the lowest cost and the highest profit?This is a question worthy of discussion by relevant departments of the East Coast government.

"Ningbo, it's becoming more and more obvious now." Jiang Yunfan, the general manager of the East Coast Japan Company, put down the newspaper in his hand and said with emotion after eating a drawer of steamed buns in Dinghaigang business district where land is expensive.

Jiang Yunfan has also worked in the Far East for a long time. After living in Yantai for a long time, he immediately felt a different atmosphere when he came to Ningbo.If the people of Denglei are the source of excellent soldiers and cadres because they are perseverant, resolute, and strict in doing things, then the flexible and changeable style of the local people in Ningshao made him almost think that he had gone to a different country.It can only be said that oranges grown in Huainan are oranges, and oranges grown in Huaibei are oranges. Different environments have indeed created different cultures.

"Let's go, let's go to the market and have a look. If East Coast Japan Company wants to better develop the Japanese market, then it must find a way to expand the product range and sell more things there. Otherwise, relying on the old three items alone, the prospects are not good. It’s not interesting if you can see the end.” After paying the bill, Jiang Yunfan waved his hands, took two or three entourages out of the teahouse, and walked to the street.

This is a typical commercial street, mainly engaged in foreign trade, and there are all kinds of people.This is not a joke. You can tell from the clothes and hairstyles. There are short-haired East Coasters, traditional Han Chinese with buns, Koreans, Japanese, Europeans, and even There are people from the Qing Dynasty with braids, which shows the prosperity of this port city.

There are almost no shops engaged in retail business on the main street, and they are all professional shops mainly engaged in wholesale business, such as salt shops, tea shops, leather shops, medicinal materials shops, grain shops, cotton shops, oil shops, paper shops, etc.These shops themselves do not have production bases, that is to say, they are all so-called tooth shops, but they have great energy and basically monopolize the trade of a certain commodity in a certain place or even the whole of Ningshao, and this is actually carried out by local Ningbo merchants. The most important way of primitive accumulation.

Jiang Yunfan has a very clear understanding of the capabilities of these dental shops. As the locals say, "Business without going through a flower shop is very difficult." It expands more economic functions.For example, Xingzhan can provide credit guarantee and transaction guarantee for foreign merchants, act as a notary, handle transportation and storage business, provide important business information, and even provide merchants with life services, tax payment services, etc. , in short, they have broken through the previous role of a single agent, and have developed in a more comprehensive direction.

When Jiang Yunfan worked in Yantai, he assisted the National Reserve Grain Depot, a giant grain enterprise on the east coast, to purchase grain in Ningbo. At that time, several local grain stores in Ningbo helped a lot, taking care of grain storage and transportation At the same time, the tax is paid on behalf of the State Grain Reserve, as long as it is responsible for signing the contract and paying the payment, it is simply not too worrying, and it is a fight with the Dutch captains who transported grain from Nanyang thousands of miles away.

"Why are there so many merchants from the Qing Dynasty coming to trade now?" Jiang Yunfan was also a little confused after seeing several business houses opened by Qing merchants with braids behind their heads. Although the East Bank and the Qing Dynasty have been at peace, the business relationship is so close now. up?

"They are all merchants from the Huizhou Gang!" said a entourage, "The main businesses are tea, oil, pen and ink, and now they have gradually developed into the pawn industry, and the business scale is still very large. Mr. Jiang, you may have forgotten, we A lot of pens and inks exported to Sendai were produced in Huizhou."

"Well, there is such a thing, I almost forgot." Jiang Yunfan patted his head, and said with some embarrassment: "Pawnshops are huge profits, what did the local businessmen in Ningbo do, and the Huizhou gang stepped in. Although These Huizhou merchants have been very strong in the financial business fields such as banks and pawns since the Ming Dynasty, but Ningbo has been reshuffled for decades, and they can still make them develop. Alas, the same is true for the Bank of Taiwan, just staring at it all day trade, and never considered serious development of financial business.”

"Mr. Jiang, it doesn't really matter much. Many of these Huizhou merchants plan to live in Dinghai because we can provide them with a very good business environment and a very broad market, which is difficult for the Qing people to give. Yes. They open stores here, do business here, and pay taxes here. After a long time, where do they count?" The entourage said with a smile: "I think, as long as the naturalization policy is implemented, the eligible Huizhou Gang merchants can join our nationality, so this is not a problem.”

"Hehe, let's not talk about naturalization. The huge profits in the financial industry should be heavily taxed. Isn't Ningbo also clamoring to build a railway now, and it happens to raise money from banks and pawnshops everywhere. There are also nearly 150 kilometers. Although the Southern Exploration Team is relatively well-off financially, they can't afford to build the railway on their own, so the businessmen and people in Ningshao need to raise funds." Jiang Yunfan also said with a smile.

It is said that with the development of Ningbo's economy and the prosperity of commerce, the combination and distribution of merchant groups with strong regional characteristics has become common practice over the years.The existence of these merchant groups not only strengthened market competition and activated the circulation of commodities, but also strengthened the trade links between Ningbo's economy and other regions, and promoted the large circulation of commodities in the entire Far East.As the "Ningbo Weekly" once lamented: "The prosperity of the market is not only gathered by local merchants, but also merchants from other prefectures, provinces, and even countries have set up their own stores or branches in it, because the government firmly implements the free trade policy. also……"

If we analyze it in detail, the foreign merchant groups active in the Ningbo market today include——

Denglai Gang: The main exports are donkey skins, dried fruits, and draft animals, and the main imports are Nanyang specialties, cotton cloth and other southern goods.

Heishui Gang: Exports are mainly mechanical parts, complete sets of equipment, ships, building materials, coal, horses, cattle and sheep, whale products, medicinal materials, wild goods, wax, honey, wood, and imports are grain, Nanyang specialty products, cloth and Other daily necessities.

Manchurian Gang: mainly wool, beef and mutton, and livestock, and the main imports are grain, southern goods and Nanyang specialties.

Japan Gang: Exports are mainly swords, screens, copper bars and precious metals, while imports are mainly silk and leather.

North Korean gang: The main export products are medicinal materials, dried fruits, tobacco, pepper, iron materials, and honey, and the main import products are silk, tea, books, bamboo wares and Nanyang specialties.

Hunan Gang: The shipping trade is very prosperous, and the trade volume is huge. The main export products are tea and rice, which are bulk products. Others include soybeans, lead, iron, tung oil, medicinal materials, umbrellas, gypsum and other commodities. Sea products, mechanical parts, weapons and ammunition, books and other commodities are mainly needed by the Li Shun regime.

Guangdong Gang: Many merchants from this province, which once dominated foreign trade, set up shops in Ningbo. The main exports are miscellaneous grains, medicinal materials, soybeans, oils, and Nanyang specialties. The main imports are weapons and ammunition, war horses, hardware products, medicinal materials, Tea, silk, leather and cattle and sheep.

Fujian Gang: The main exports are tea, sugar, medicinal materials, wood, raw lacquer, fruits, and Nanyang specialties, while the imports are leather, livestock, hardware products, war horses, weapons and ammunition, and machinery and equipment.

Others are not listed one by one.Such a huge number of merchant groups took root in Ningbo and imported countless foreign commodities to the local area, making Dinghai Port one of the best commodity distribution centers in the Far East.Countless money circulates here, a large number of ships dock here, businessmen who speak various languages ​​gather here, and the cadres on the east coast who have worked in Europe are a little confused. Is this damn going to create another Amsterdam?Although it is far inferior in terms of trade scale and amount, and the variety of commodities is not rich enough, but relying on such a huge population in the Far East (of course, most of them cannot be counted as "commercial population", the scope of small-scale peasant economy is still huge) , if it is managed well, it is actually hard to say where it will go in the future.

The only shortcoming of this commercial center is probably that it is thousands of miles away from the east coast. Except for a few high-profit special commodities, most of the industrial products from the east coast are unprofitable to transport here.Therefore, no matter how prosperous and developed the commercial center of Dinghai Port is, the promotion of local industry and commerce—especially the crucial manufacturing industry—is extremely limited, and the local people will not get much credit. It has to be said that this is an important Pity.Therefore, even the matter of building a railway in Ningbo was not very active, or even ignored, so that the Southern Railway Company could not get any subsidies from it. In the end, local businessmen in Ningbo had to find a way.

Fortunately, their economic strength is good, and their capital is abundant. If they really want to build the railway, they can get together to extend the deadline.It just so happened that the Southern Railway Company was also more interested in building the Shangding Railway (Shangyu-Yuyao-Yinxian-Dinghai) in the bustling business city of Ningbo, and decided that this was a railway that could make quick profits, so the two parties hit it off.And Liu Houfei, the captain of the Southern Exploration Team, who took office as a new official, also expressed his support for this, which removed the last obstacle to the construction of the Shangding Railway—and at the same time the biggest obstacle, that is, the political obstacle—now only the South Railway Company will send The technicians who came have completed the surveying and mapping, confirmed the final drawings, and then started to build.

And once the Shangding Railway, a railway that traverses the entire Ningshao east coast control area, is completed, the local business in Ningbo that originally relied on traditional river transportation can be further improved.Just as the local railway company on the east coast ran out of the Canal Affairs Office, sooner or later, the people of Ningbo will realize the great significance of the rapid transportation system such as railway to the economy.

(End of this chapter)