"You are so polite, Eunuch Cao, I will never take a penny from Emperor Mo." Han Du assured with a smile.
Eunuch Cao squinted his eyes, smiled, nodded and said, "That's the best, but the Marquis still has to let your slaves take a look at every payment made by Shibo Company."
"That's natural, please, Eunuch Cao!" Han Du waved his hand.
"Master Marquis, please come first."
Eunuch Cao has since settled in Shibosi, and he even appears in Shibosi's yamen early every day, but he is much more active in promotions than Han Du, the Shibosi.
As long as Han Du has a little leisure time, he will sleep until he wakes up naturally. At An Qing's urging, he will reluctantly go to the Shipping Department to be on duty.
On this day, Xiong Ting ran to Han Du's office out of breath.
"Master Hou."
"What's the matter?" Han Du lay lazily on the chair, holding a cup of hot tea in his hand and took a sip casually.
"A businessman wants to buy a boat..."
Before Xiong Ting finished speaking, Han Du casually interjected, "Then you take them to buy them. Anyway, there are many lucky ships in the Navy. As long as they give money, we can sell them as many as they want."
Xiong Ting smiled bitterly when he heard this and said, "They are all small businessmen. They just..." because they didn't have enough money to buy a boat.
"What kind of boat can I buy if I don't have money?" Han Du suddenly became impatient when he heard that there was no business.
Xiong Ting smiled flatteringly and asked tentatively: "Master Marquis, can you sell it to them cheaper?"
Han Duzheng glanced at Xiong Ting, pondered for a moment, and said, "It's impossible to be cheap."
Seeing that Han Du refused to let go, Xiong Ting had no choice but to resign.
"etc."
But Han Du stopped Xiong Ting.
Han Du looked thoughtful, and after a pause, he said: "It's impossible to be cheap, but if they really want to buy a boat, I have a way, but I don't know if they are willing. In this way, you will All the merchants were called, and I personally spoke to them."
"Yes, Lord Marquis."
Xiong Ting breathed a sigh of relief and walked out with relief.
After a while, a group of merchants came to Han Du. There were quite a few people there, twenty or thirty people bustling about.
"The common people are waiting to meet the Marquis."
"Get up and serve tea." Han Du nodded kindly to the merchants and then ordered the scribe beside him.
After everyone sat down, Han Du asked with a smile: "I heard that you want to buy a boat?"
"That's right. I would like to ask Lord Marquis to show his noble hands and help us make it happen." One of the leaders among the merchants immediately replied.
Han Du heard this and said: "I naturally want to fulfill your wish, otherwise I would not invite you here. However, the price of a lucky ship with four hundred materials and four thousand guan cannot be less." "
The merchant had just been taken to the clouds by the first half of Han Du's sentence, and the next moment he was knocked down by the second half. Hearing this, everyone began to whisper noisily.
When Han Du saw it, he didn't stop them and just let them talk.
After a while, a merchant raised his fists and saluted, and said: "Master Hou, the common people will tell you the truth. Even if the common people sell iron, they can only make up five or six thousand guan at most. If you want to use 4,000 guan to buy a boat, the common people will also buy it." We can afford it. But after buying the boat, the common people have no money to buy goods, let alone pay taxes. Even if we buy the boat, we still have no goods to go to sea. In this case, it is better not to buy the boat. If the Marquis can How about you show your kindness and let us buy the boat at a cheaper price, or lend us the boat temporarily, and then pay the boat fee in full when I come back?"
Lend you the boat first? So what if you run away and don’t admit your guilt?
After hearing what the merchant said, Han Du pondered for a while, looked at everyone and asked, "Are you all like this?"
"To be fair to Mr. Hou, our situations are similar."
"Yes, if we had enough money, we wouldn't bother Mr. Hou."
"It's just, it's just, I don't have enough capital, what can I do?"
Seeing everyone sighing and talking, Han Du suddenly smiled, waved his hand and said, "Everyone, be quiet."
Everyone stopped talking immediately and looked at Han Du.
Han Du said slowly: "It is impossible to reduce the price of a boat. Since you can't afford it alone, why don't several people work together to buy a boat?"
A few people working together to buy a boat, these merchants naturally thought about it. This seems simple and easy, but it is not very reliable. Because the interests involved in a ship are so great, even three or five of them can work together to buy a ship and conduct overseas trade. But the benefits of this ship are enough to make anyone jealous.
Businessmen are very profit-oriented. If any of them have other ideas, they can't imagine what will happen.
This is why they are unwilling to join forces with others.
"Master Marquis, I'll wait..." The businessman sighed and expressed his concerns.
Others were silent for a while, obviously they also had the same concerns. Neither can trust each other, so it is naturally difficult to work together.
After hearing this, Han Du changed his mind and said: "This is simple. Three or five people will have the problem of unfair dividends. But when the number of people increases, this problem will be solved. For example, a hundred people work together to buy a ship. , In this case, I’m afraid no one would dare to pay dividends unfairly, right?”
With fewer people interested, problems can naturally be solved more easily. Whether it is bribery of officials or false accusations, people can be malicious. But when there are more people, even if you are sure to kill three or five people, do you have the courage to kill a hundred people? This is the principle of strength in numbers.
After listening to Han Du's words, everyone was a little moved. Han Du's method was obviously feasible. But then everyone frowned. This method is feasible, but if a ship is divided into a hundred parts, wouldn't the profit of each part be too small?
For merchants like them, this is a bit useless, and it is a pity to throw it away if it is tasteless.
"Master Hou, this method is feasible, but in this case, we don't have a hundred people, how can we buy a boat?" A merchant asked boldly.
Han Du leaned back in his chair, took a sip of tea slowly, and then said with a smile: "Who said that you should all buy a boat together? What I mean is that each of you will take the lead in buying a boat, and then join together. The ship and its cargo are divided into one hundred parts, so each part is only a few hundred guan."
"There are so many people in the capital who can bring out hundreds of coins. I only need to sell these one hundred copies to one hundred people, wouldn't it be enough?"
"What a great idea! Mr. Hou is really talented and able to come up with such a way to get the best of both worlds." The merchants clapped their hands in admiration after hearing this, and were full of praise for Han Du.
