Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1957 Commercial Group ([-])

"Our country has suffered a lot from the business competition with the Eastern Dynasty. In all fairness, it is not because the merchants of the Eastern Dynasty are cunning and arrogant, but because we did not pay attention to the essence of business. Besides, the business competition of outsiders is changing rapidly. There is no time to wait, how can we resist the tide of this vast ocean with the resistance of one wall and one obstacle? Therefore, if we want to talk about competition, we should start with business, and this is the reason for the establishment of our library, that is, to promote business studies and research. Business. Master Chen, the essence of business can be summed up in one word. Learning is nothing more than learning. No learning is not enough to talk about business, and no learning is not enough to talk about business. Business has been mistakenly placed at the end of scholars, farmers, businessmen and commerce since ancient times. I don’t know that all the countries today use this to respond to the superior and the inferior.” After trying hard to persuade his young mentor to go back, Huang Bochao wiped the sweat from his forehead and returned to the hall.Here, more than [-] men of all ages stood there, their faces were not very good, some of them looked confused, and there was even a hint of shame, which made Huang Bochao even more depressed.

"Everyone, what Master Chen said is certainly not unreasonable, but now that the world has changed, the learning of saints should not remain the same, or else they have gone on an evil path and become a heresy. Everyone should have their own understanding. At this time of great changes in the world, if we still cling to the incomplete and do not think about making progress, why not let the brilliant Chinese civilization be buried with us?" Huang Bochao saw everyone's expressions in his eyes, so I made a statement to everyone: "Imagine that if the business is not prosperous and the court's financial plan is insufficient, the salaries of hundreds of officials will not be paid, the hundreds of thousands of soldiers will not be able to meet their salaries, and guns, armour, staff and other equipment will not be able to be raised. If things go on like this, the country will not be a country. What our business school has learned is something that China has never done before. The regulations and other documents are all based on the country's traditions and current situation, and we have adopted the achievements of foreign countries. Blame pot, you are all talented people who are interested in new learning, why do you care about this reputation?"

What Huang Bochao said made everyone nod their heads again and again, and then they all dispersed and went to their respective rooms to review their homework.

This is Yudachang Business School, an industry founded by Huang Bochao, the proprietor of Yudachang Clothing Company, mainly for the purpose of cultivating business professionals to prosper local commerce, increase productivity, and then enhance the overall national strength.The textbooks used in the teaching of the business school are all collected by Huang Bochao during his study tour and business in Ningbo, and many of them are the principles he has comprehended himself. It can be said that he has been in business for half his life.

But the problem is that this person opened the school with great fanfare, and then distributed a large number of printed teaching materials to students for learning, which caused a certain influence, which undoubtedly stabbed the hornet's nest.You must know that in today's Dashun, although the ideological and cultural fields are undergoing slow changes, and the number of workshops in society is increasing day by day, if you really want to look at the overall situation, the old ideas, old literati, and old order actually prevail Yes, the so-called new learning is still tenaciously surviving and developing with the support of some government officials, and has not yet reached the stage of recognition by the whole society.Therefore, it is conceivable how many people were angered when Huang Bochao opened this business school in Baling County!

Only three days after the listing of Yu Dachang Commercial College, a group of scholars blocked the door. Not to mention the plaque was smashed, the flower pots, trees, tables and chairs in the yard were also destroyed in a mess.Even that night, some people poured dung on the gate of the business school, which shows the depth of resentment.

Although the prefect of Yueyang and the magistrate of Baling County in the Dashun court were all officials who sympathized with the new learning (otherwise they would not have been sent to this Hunan gate, which is called a place of lock and key), but they are the chief officials of a county or even a prefecture. Naturally, it is necessary to take into account the local public opinion and the need to rely on the help of traditional gentry for a large number of affairs, so it is impossible to obviously protect the safety of the business school run by Huang Bochao through administrative means.They can only make peace with each other, and try to make people turn their attention to other places, so that Yu Dachang Commercial Institute will not be harmed too much - there is no way, even in a relatively enlightened place like Dashun, the vast majority of people are still Old-fashioned and conservative, especially among the elite class, the proportion of conservatives will only be higher. There is no other good solution to this, but to persist in the cultural improvement movement and slowly change people's ideas subtly.

But before people's ideas change, there is no doubt that Huang Bochao and Yu Dachang Business School will bear the strange eyes of many people and become the objects of contempt and spurn by many people.But Huang Bochao is a man of firm belief. Born in Nanchang, he was kicked out of the house by his eldest brother when he was young, and then he went to Huguang to join his uncle with what little floating money he had. In the end, he made his fortune slowly by relying on the wholesale cotton cloth business and became the Huguang area. An important businessman, Yu Dachang Cloth has also become a well-known name in Changsha, Hengyang, Baling, Wuchang and other places, and the business is extremely prosperous.

After earning a lot of money, Huang Bochao now has more pursuits, which is to help this society cultivate more business talents, improve the social status of businessmen, make business one of the prominent schools, and then use the development of business to force the whole world The improvement of social productivity level.There are quite a few people who hold the same idea as him, but most of them are concentrated in the bank and bank business. After making huge profits, those businessmen hope to invest in industries and build factories or workshops for the production of various materials, which is almost the same as that of later generations Two diametrically opposite trends.

The reason is probably related to some thoughts that will be popular in Dashun.These trends of thought are complex and come from various sources. They are not only promoted by the spread of knowledge, culture and ideas on the east coast, but also stimulated by local business groups under the government’s request for more money, food and materials. Of course, the awakened local elites are indispensable. The spontaneous efforts of the activists—they were very satisfied with the alien regime of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, but they were also not very satisfied with the East Coast people who often condescended with a sense of superiority, guidance, and charity, so they felt ashamed and brave, Work hard to be better.

According to these people's remarks, it is: "If business studies are flourishing, not only will the two lakes, Sichuan and Jiangxi be solidified, but also our compatriots will have a prosperous career that has never been seen in the ages." It's a pity that there are not enough understanding people in Dashun. There are many, and the power to respond to this kind of thinking is not strong enough. From the officials, gentry and generals, to the common people, they just move forward passively in a daze, and the people's wisdom is not yet developed. Therefore, this kind of thinking can only be spread and shared in a small range. Acceptance, at best, can only be a kind of restlessness before the storm.

Huang Bochao is now a sensible person in the Dashun regime.He spent many years studying and doing business in Ningbo, and later lived in Denglai for a year, until his old father in Nanchang passed away, and his elder brother inherited the family property, cutting off his expenses for studying abroad.Since then, Huang Bochao has started to run the cotton cloth business in Huguang. During this period, he has been dealing with the government, people from the East Coast, and even businessmen from the Ming Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty. His rich life experience is beyond the reach of ordinary people.In addition, he pays attention to observation and is good at thinking, so he made this amazing move.

Huang Bochao's Yu Dachang Business School now has two instructors, both of whom are experienced shopkeepers drawn from his own cotton cloth business. It is more than enough to teach these businessmen who are proficient in writing and ink.Therefore, after talking with the two professors and learning that the business school was running well, Huang Bochao hurriedly left here again, took a carriage to the cloth shop on the other side of the city, and dealt with some business matters.

Baling is located at the junction of the Xiangjiang River and the Yangtze River, with convenient transportation, developed economy and luxuriant population.The upper part accepts merchants from the Yangtze River and the Hanshui area (well, because of the war, more than half of the business in the Hanshui area has been abolished), and the lower part connects the business in the central and southern regions. The plains are fertile and the land of fish and rice. It is really hard not to be rich and prosperous. It can be said that it has partially replaced some of the original functions of Hankou, and it can be called a small "Hankou Town".

Among other things, the goods transported by people from the east coast to the Dashun area are usually unloaded in two places. One is the Madang Fortress, which is directly controlled by the east coast navy, and corresponds to the Jiangxi province of Dashun. First, the military supplies or production equipment that should be supplied to Jiangxi are all delivered here; the second is Baling County, and the big ships of the people from the east bank will not continue to move forward when they arrive here, but choose to unload at the Baling County Wharf , and then Shunguo will use its own ships to organize the transportation.

Therefore, Baling County can be said to be one of the two strongholds for goods trading between Shunguo and the East Bank. After changing into cash, they purchased rice, miscellaneous grains, medicinal materials, raw silk, tea, silk, tung oil, pig bristles, lead blocks, cotton yarn and other various commodities from local merchants. Not to mention all of them were spent, at least most of them were spent.It can be seen from this that after the taxes collected by the Dashun court from all over the country flowed into the pockets of the people on the east coast, most of them were thrown into the Baling market, so countless money circulated here. It is difficult for the business of Baling County not to prosper.

Another east coast ship called at Baling Port today.This is a 1200-ton big ship, which caused a burst of exclamation from the Baling merchants on the pier. Although they have seen it many times, they are still impressed by this large ship that represents the beauty of industry and power. Showed enough shock and respect.And this kind of large ships often appear in the territory of Shunguo, objectively, it has also played a role in fueling new learning and new ideas, because in the face of this absolute power, any "slight words and righteousness" and "sage teachings" will be ignored. It looks pale, but new learning is more marketable.

The goods carried by this large ship are very mixed. In addition to some weapons, ammunition and military supplies, there are also a lot of daily necessities and food, such as soap, biscuits, candy, condensed milk, lamps, candied fruit, jam, decorations, oil paintings, books, leather goods, etc. etc., and there are even matches and some medicines that are in short supply on the east coast. It can be seen that a group of wealthy and middle-class groups have indeed emerged in Shunguo in recent years, and the consumer demand for the above commodities has gradually increased.

After unloading the cargo, the Dongguo ship will stay in Baling Port for about a week, waiting for the cargo to be purchased and ready for loading before leaving.Huang Bochao was also aware of this, because a considerable part of the cotton yarn that the Dongguo people specified to buy was provided by their Yudachang cloth shop.No, Zhang Shaozong, the comprador of the Dongguo people, is already sitting in the reception room of Yu Dachang, chatting with Huang Bochao.

Huang Bochao still knows something about Zhang Shaozong.This gentleman, like Huang, is an old cousin from Jiangxi and was born in Jiujiang.When he was a teenager, he traveled in Ningbo. He was favored by others because of his cleverness. After he worked hard to train him, he came to Baling and acted as a comprador for the people on the east coast. He specialized in purchasing cotton and cotton yarn from Huguang, and then transported them to Ningbo for further processing. ——Ningbo prefecture has a lot of people and little land. The southern development team also has certain requirements for food self-sufficiency. For this reason, they even drew a red line for arable land and strictly prohibited counties from crossing it. Therefore, there is not much land available for growing cotton. The raw materials needed for textiles need to be imported in large quantities, and Shunguo is undoubtedly an important source of imports.

Huang Bochao and Zhang Shaozong have cooperated many times, and they already trust each other, so they quickly finished negotiating the purchase agreement of cotton yarn.Huang Bochao promised that the goods requested by the people on the east coast would be arranged within five days, and then loaded at Baling Port.For this, he will also pay the comprador Zhang Shaozong a considerable commission, almost as much as 3%.

It can also be seen from this that the emerging class of compradors is indeed incredible.Just like Zhang Shaozong, as the agent of Dinghai Textile Factory, the largest textile factory in Ningbo, in Baling, Zhang Shaozong can get about 5% commission for each business deal, of which Huang Bochao paid him 3%, Dinghai Textile Factory paid 2%, so although his monthly salary is only 20 yuan, relying on generous commissions, he can still easily accumulate a lot of money and become one of the upper class richest people in society.

There are as many as seven or eight East Coast compradors like Zhang Shaozong in Baling. They are employed by some large manufacturing companies or trading companies in Ningbo. While the owner saves the purchase cost, he also earns a generous commission for himself.Zhang Shaozong is actually not the most outstanding comprador among the compradors. He is only famous in the Baling area. In fact, the No. 20 comprador in the Huguang area on the east bank is Li Nanxian, a big comprador who buys tea in the Yangloudong area all the year round. , this person earns a lot of commissions, plus he can take care of the business, and now the family property is said to be more than [-] taels of silver, which is very amazing.

"Mr. Zhang has come to my Yu Dachang to buy cotton yarn many times, and Huang is really grateful. If there are other assignments in the future, but I, Huang, can do it, just say it." Huang Bochao cupped his hands and said sincerely: "Yu Dachang can’t be what it is today without the care of Mr. Zhang, this is something Huang deeply feels and dare not forget.”

"Hehe, Boss Huang is polite." Zhang Shaozong took a sip from his teacup, and said with a smile: "The cotton yarn or earthen cloth bought in Yudachang (the earthen cloth is of high quality and durable, is often purchased by the four feudal clans in the Far East, or For personal use or resale), there has never been a case of being reprimanded by the Dongguo people because of quality problems. Boss Huang, in fact, we are under a lot of pressure in our business. If the Dongguo people don’t like us one day, maybe If you kick it away, who can you ask for reasoning?"

"Mr. Zhang is so talented, no matter where he goes, he won't worry about food." Huang Bochao complimented.

In fact, what he said was right, this Zhang Shaozong was quite well-known, and even some high-ranking military officials in Shun Kingdom had heard of his name.This person even once helped Dashun's former battalion get a loan from the Bank of Taiwan to purchase some weapons and equipment. For this reason, he won the friendship of many Shunjun bosses, which undoubtedly has a huge impact on his business in the Huguang area. positive meaning.

"By the way, Boss Huang, I heard that you have set up a business school in the county, which is very fashionable. Even in Dongguo, there is no special business school, but there is a department in Yantai College. It’s just to train a small number of talents. Boss Huang’s move is not only the first time in Dashun, but even Ningbo and Denglai are far behind. Admire! Admire!” Zhang Shaozong didn’t know what he thought of, and suddenly changed the topic When I got to this point, I heard him say again: "This kind of pioneering move, even if it is unsatisfactory for a while, and you are criticized by others, as long as it takes a long time, there will always be a turning point. Huguang's business atmosphere, these years have been a year. It’s thicker than a year. I come to Lao Zhang many times a year, and I have new feelings every time. Emperor Li of Dashun has now won more than half of Sichuan, controlling a population of no less than 400 million and countless goods. In the future The business here will only get better and better, and there will be more and more businessmen. This is the general trend, the way of heaven, who can stop it? Those rotten scholars can't carry it on their shoulders. Emperor Li of Dashun doesn't like them very much, and businessmen all over the world don't like them. When the world changes in the future, these people will only be eliminated. Boss Huang doesn't care much, let them go."

"Mr. Zhang's words are right. But the one who came out to teach me this time is also my teacher who taught me when I was young. Somehow, he also went to Baling Kaimeng to teach, and then he was invited to scold me severely. Alas, in his eyes, I must have become a wolf-hearted dog who is always chasing profit." Huang Bochao sighed with some sighs: "But this has strengthened my determination to continue to do business. The world is changing now. No, the population of Dongguo people in Ningbo and Denglai is only 400 million, but the Qing court dare not act rashly. Fujian Zheng Jing and Guangdong Erli are also trembling. I was thinking, the Eastern Kingdom is far away thousands of miles away, why in China can rely on these 400 million people to fight and turn the clouds and rain? After thinking about it, it can only be said that the productivity is strong, and the power of the giant ships and cannons, other than that There is no other explanation. Dashun now has a population of 2000 million, and its territory is as large as several provinces, and most of them are elites. Why can’t it reach the level of Dongguo? Huang is not talented, and he is willing to practice this way of rejuvenating the country through business first. Can it go through? If not, try the road of rejuvenating the country through industry. Mr. Zhang is a great talent. If he is willing to invest in industry, Mr. Huang can also introduce some ways to make money, that is spinning mills and weaving The factory is closed, but I don’t know if Mr. Zhang is interested.”

"I'm somewhat interested in this. From a comprador to an industry, it's the right way. Li Nanxian from Yangloudong told me about it. He built a roasted tea factory there, specializing in the production of brick tea. The production and sales are booming. He said that now he wants to form a joint stock with others and set up a shipping company. The upstream and downstream business is indeed getting wider and wider. Brother Li is a role model for my generation. If he does this, I naturally have to learn a lesson. Boss Huang The spinning mill and weaving factory mentioned are excellent in my opinion. You may wish to visit them together when you have time. I dare not say anything else. If the project is suitable, Lao Zhang will give me more than [-] taels of silver. You can still get it out, don’t worry about it.” Zhang Shaozong’s eyes lit up when he heard this, obviously he has been planning to enter the upstream industry for a while, and Huang Bochao brought it up, which happened to hit him off.

And Huang Bochao is also quite satisfied with this.Bringing in a rich comprador like Zhang Shaozong, not only can he better bind his interests with himself, which is conducive to the future development of Yu Dachang Cloth, but also can enhance the energy of Dashun State's industrial and commercial power in a disguised form.And only when the strength of their industrial and commercial circles becomes stronger, and the social influence and voice of business groups are further enhanced, the future of this country will be better.

This is not only the dream of his Huang Bochao, but also the dream of many fellows.

(End of this chapter)