At this time, not only Wei Zhongxian, but also Li Huaishu and the guards saw an outrageously beautiful white sailboat sailing into Nagasaki Port.
"Wei Gong, this is the master's ship. This is the Star, the ship you came to Nagasaki on." Li Huaishu said excitedly.
This was the boat that Yang Fan took when he sent Wei Zhongxian to Nagasaki. Wei Zhongxian sat in the VIP cabin, and Li Huaishu and his guards sat in the bottom cabin.
Wei Zhongxian was also deeply impressed by this luxurious sailing ship because it was so fast and it reached Nagasaki in one and a half days. He was shocked beyond measure at that time.
The Star slowly approached the pier and docked slowly.
The Japanese people in the port were not too surprised, because this ship had come many times, but Wei Zhongxian didn't come out often, so he didn't see it.
The Star came to Nagasaki basically once a week, mainly to transport soap.
Because Mrs. Masuda represents many Yang Fan products, the best-selling ones are soaps and soaps. In Japan, supply is basically in short supply.
Beginning in the early 17th century, it was the last samurai family to rule the shogunate in Japanese history. Also known as the Tokugawa Shogunate (March 24, 1603 - April 21, 1868).
In 1603, Tokugawa Ieyasu established the shogunate in Edo (today's Tokyo). By the time Edo opened the city in 1868, the Edo shogunate had a total of fifteen generations of generals who conquered barbarians, which lasted 265 years.
When the Tokugawa family established shogunate rule, according to statistics in 1603, there were about 250 daimyo in the country, and the number of samurai was 400,000. If family members are included, the number exceeded 1.6 million. The total population at that time was about 15 million.
Now is the first year of Chongzhen (1628). The total population of Japan is estimated to be around 16 million. In Yang Fan's view, this is a very huge market. At least the daimyo and samurai classes were an effective population with spending power. Including merchants, craftsmen, and wealthy landowners, there are at least 300 people in Japan who have the ability to purchase Yang Fan's products.
As daily necessities, soap and toilet soap are in greatest demand. These are consumables and must be used up before buying new ones. After the upper class of Japan used soap and soap, they could no longer do without this kind of cleaning supplies.
The invention of soap is of great significance to mankind. Because 99.99% of bacteria in the world do not have cell membranes.
The composition of bacteria is relatively simple, and the most basic components are composed of genetic material and proteins. Lipids form an envelope on the outermost layer of the virus structure, which not only protects the inside of the virus, but also participates in the process of invading cells.
The bactericidal effect of ordinary soap is to destroy the lipid component of the virus shell. The soap and oil react, causing the outer lipid membrane of the bacteria to dissolve and break, causing the bacteria to die. Losing the ability to infect normal cells.
Therefore, when washing hands and bathing, as long as you hold the foam for fifteen seconds, you can kill 99.99% of bacteria. It can greatly reduce the possibility of human infection with bacteria.
Yang Fan's letter to Mrs. Yitian explained in detail the unique effect of soap in preventing illness. And this was later proven by users.
Especially after babies are bathed with soap, the probability of getting sick is greatly reduced. This resulted in a sharp decline in the infant mortality rate among the upper classes.
Soon, this magical item that can drastically reduce the rate of illness became popular in Japan.
As long as the product is good, there will never be a shortage of buyers. There are many rich people in this world.
The Etoile delivers 10 tons of soap and 1 ton of toilet soap every week. According to the current packaging specifications, each bar of soap and toilet soap weighs approximately 100 grams. Each wax carton can hold 100 pieces.
About every month, Yang Fan can provide 40 tons of soap and 4 tons of toilet soap. About 400,000 pieces of soap and 40,000 pieces of toilet soap. This amount is not enough even for the upper wealthy classes. Moreover, after learning about the benefits of soap in reducing diseases, middle and lower class craftsmen, small traders, and middle-class farmers were also willing to buy it. In this way, the supply exceeds the demand even more.
Yang Fan gave Mrs. Yitian one tael of silver for each piece of soap and two taels of silver for the soap. In this way, Yang Fan can get 480,000 taels of silver from Japan every month. After taking into account the cost of raw materials, labor, and transportation, Yang Fan earned at least 400,000 taels of silver.
Because the grease used to make soap is extracted by Yang Fan from modern kitchen waste, the factory in the neighboring province no longer delivers the kitchen waste. Instead, the grease is separated and delivered here. The rest is used to feed the pigs.
Yang Fan's cost is very low, because the main cost of soap is oil. Oil is not cheap in this era, and there is not enough to eat. How can it be used for luxury toiletries. The second raw material, caustic soda, is very cheap. There were a lot of caustic soda mines in the Ming Dynasty, and one ton of alkali powder cost only ten taels of silver.
As for the heinous act of using gutter oil to make soap and soap, Yang Fan didn't have any psychological burden, since he didn't use it anyway. There is no 315 to investigate him in this era, so what is he afraid of?
Mrs. Masuda, on the other hand, sold the soap at twice the price. She sold the soap for two taels of silver a piece, while the soap was sold for five taels of silver.
In this way, Mrs. Yitian can earn 650,000 taels of silver every month. However, as a sales terminal, Mrs. Masuda needs to transport, rent stores, hire personnel, and hire samurai to protect the entire chain. Her cost is not low.
Although the cost is high, half of the gross profit margin is still available. In this era, if a business makes a 10% profit, people are guaranteed to do it everywhere. Half of the profit is a huge profit, and there are people who dare to commit murder and arson.
The most important thing is that this thing is not a one-time deal. It is a daily chemical product. It is simply an endless gold mine.
From this moment on, the strength of the Nagasaki Order began to expand without being known to anyone.
More and more people began to hope to join the religious order and become believers, because as long as they became a believer, they would get a job to support their family in Hukou.
Thanks to Japan's urbanization rate, which was the world's leading at that time, business began to develop unprecedentedly. Mrs. Masuda learned a lot of leading business knowledge through correspondence with Yang Fan.
Mrs. Masuda opened department stores according to neighborhoods and markets in the city, grocery stores in small neighborhoods, and small shops in the countryside.
Believers can apply to open small shops in the countryside as a family unit.
In this form of opening a store, you can get goods from the religious group on credit, then sell them within a designated range, and then settle the accounts with the religious group after the sales. At the same time, it also operates loan and pawnshop businesses.
The lending business mainly provides small loans to residents in the area. Funds may be applied for from the Order. The competitors are rural loan sharks.
The pawnshop business in the countryside is equivalent to the small pawn shop in the Ming Dynasty, which collects useful tools, clothing, linens, livestock and poultry, wine and meat, grain, raw silk, etc. If it is not redeemed upon expiration, it will be sold in the store. Equivalent to the circulation business of second-hand items.
Because soap's huge profits have brought a lot of cash flow.
Mrs. Masuda was very happy at first, but was soon replaced by fear. She was worried that too much cash would bring disaster.
Under Yang Fan's guidance, she turned to business operations. Invest the money.
Her sect was originally an inconspicuous one, because she took the low-level route and was not taken seriously at all.
When no one was paying attention, she asked the believers to adopt a secret membership system, maintain single-line contact, and disguise themselves as a business organization. It developed rapidly in secret.
For many believers who take refuge in her, their family has a livelihood.
Many families at the bottom of the society who are living a difficult life will be awarded the title of priest after joining. After studying and training, the whole family has strengthened their faith. After passing the promotion assessment, they will be awarded the title of priest. The family would then be assigned to set up shop in the countryside while secretly preaching the gospel.
This changed social status and economic status almost overnight.
At this time, the Warring States Period had just ended. After Toyotomi Hideyoshi died of illness in the third year of Keicho (1598), the Toyotomi family split into two factions: Omi (Western Army) and Owari (Eastern Army).
As one of the five elders of the Toyotomi regime, Tokugawa Ieyasu launched the Sekigahara War in the fifth year of Keicho (1600) and defeated the Western Army.
In the eighth year of Keicho (1603), the Tokugawa shogunate was established. The Toyotomi clan was gradually eliminated in the two battles of Osaka in 1614 and 1615. In the following years, Japan was gradually unified, and the Warring States Period ended.
It is now 1628, just over ten years since the war ended. The defeat of Toyotomi's line caused a large number of samurai to lose their lords. Thus becoming a wandering rogue.
Mrs. Masuda began to secretly recruit these warriors with combat experience into the religion. And began to follow what Yang Fan taught her, forming them into separate security departments.
In cities, department stores in main streets and grocery stores in communities are directly under the jurisdiction of religious groups.
At this time, Japan's urban development level was the first in the world. The urbanization rate actually reached 10% in the 17th century. Edo in Japan has a population of more than 1 million, Kyoto has a population of more than 500,000, and Osaka has a population of more than 350,000. These three places are known as the three capitals of Japan, and at the same time, London and Paris were only about the same size as the three capitals with the smallest number of people.
The development of these metropolises and commerce greatly facilitated the rise of Mrs. Masuda's business empire.
She is like a poisonous spider hiding in the darkness, weaving her network bit by bit, reaching every corner of the empire.
No one noticed her, and she openly broke away from various religious orders. She washed her hands and became a businessman. In the eyes of the government and businessmen, she was just a widow who inherited her husband's small territory.
But behind the scenes, he uses his strong financial resources and secret private cults to control the situation.
In the increasingly sharp conflicts between various religious groups and the Tokugawa generals, they broke away and watched with cold eyes. Driving changes behind the scenes.
A few days before the Star came to Nagasaki again, a big event happened in the Order. Mrs. Masuda’s son left them forever because of cholera.
In another place in Kitakyushu, a new religious sect emerged. A handsome boy unlike any other in the world, as a messenger of God, gathered a large number of believers.
Other religious sects also gradually moved closer to him. The momentum of various factions gradually beginning to unite has gradually formed a trend.
At this time, in Edo City, on the castle tower, a young man was also silently paying attention to the chaos in Kyushu.
He is the third generation general, Iemitsu. He came to power five years ago and is only 24 years old this year.
In recent decades, since Toyotomi Hideyoshi's sudden change of attitude towards believers, his father and ancestors have continued to persecute believers of these Western religions. However, they had already grown big during the Warring States Period. There are millions of believers across the country.
"Three feet of ice is not as cold as a day," the young general murmured to himself at the highest point of the castle tower. His young face seemed to be full of sadness.
His fingers tapped lightly on the railing, wondering how to deal with them.
