In a conference room on the second floor of this hall where public scales are displayed, the first meeting of the Dongmen City Industrial and Commercial Administration Office is being held. [No pop-up novel website] The conditions in the conference room are difficult. The walls are only painted with limestone. Because the construction was in a hurry, the limestone has not completely dried. The floor slabs are original wooden boards, the industrial sector has not found lacquer yet, and modern paint is in the very distant future. There is no such thing as a suspended ceiling. The only modern equipment is a light bulb hanging high under the roof. However, tables and chairs are very luxurious, costing at least several million in the 21st century. The large mahogany painting table, red sandalwood official hat chair, and rosewood round stools were arranged in a messy manner to look like a conference room - these were all trophies brought from the Gou family.
There were seven or eight people in attendance. They were all people who wanted to work in business. Some had experience, and some were just out of interest. For a young man who claimed to have worked as an assistant administrator in an industrial and commercial office, his name had not been tested, but when he learned that he was going to be the manager of Dongmen City, he gave himself a brand new name: "Dongmen Blow the rain”.
Next to him is his deputy: wearing an iron-gray uniform-style shirt, black trousers, and a black hat. The armband has the words "Administrative Law Enforcement Coordination" written on it. With a murderous look on his face, he looked like a hawker terminator. Like Dongmen Chuiyu, this person's real name is unknown. In the history books of the future Republic, he appears with the weird name of "Dugu Proposal". These two will create a new business model in this time and space in Lingao County, Ming Dynasty.
In the not-too-distant future, the business of time-travelers will eventually spread all over the world, and the trade network of overseas companies extends all over Europe, Asia, and Africa. But at this moment, all the business of time-travelers is on the dirt floor below them that does not even have cement. . Fortunately, Wen Desi has already said that business is a project fully supported by the Executive Committee. It requires money and material.
Where the flag points, trade opens the way. All colonial expansions in history used commercial and trade methods as a breakthrough. Trade not only brought profits, but also became an important means for colonists to gain a foothold in the local area. For the travelers, they have already used violent means to occupy the land. The next step is to increase their contact with the local indigenous people and transform themselves from green-faced, fanged, murderous pirates into merchants with a large number of novel goods. The attraction of wealth will draw more and more wary locals to them, eventually aligning their own interests with theirs.
Of course, the travelers themselves also need support from trade, especially basic necessities such as food and non-staple food. All must be supplemented from local farmers. Relying on external input has great instability. Many people are familiar with the history of the political instability of the ancient Romans because the food shipped from Egypt did not arrive in time - this situation must be avoided at all costs.
The meeting first reviewed yesterday's grain purchase situation. Since the reconnaissance teams sent in all directions were continuously reported that farmers had begun to hand over grain to the landlords, the traversers began to set up points in Dongmen City to purchase grain. The local rice price is one, two, three, and one shi of silver. Calculated based on the general rice production ratio, it is about 70%. The purchase price of rice is set at 8 qian per shi. This price does not take into account transportation and profit costs in the price of rice - the business department estimates that the local grain purchase price for rice is no more than five yuan per shi. Using eight dollars to purchase it is already a rare high price.
The purchase went very smoothly, and the people nearby, from ordinary people to big grain farmers, were all tempted to see that they were willing to use their free money to buy grain. At first, there were only a few or twenty people here and there, but recently there have been one or two every day. Hundreds of people carried bags and buckets of grain on their shoulders or on carts. The seven or eight people in the commercial department were simply too busy, so they had to call in the people in the agricultural department to help.
There was some confusion at first, because the locals were accustomed to using dou as the unit of measurement for grain, with ten dou and one stone. There are also official and private fights in this bucket, with different capacities. The top of the bucket is open. Should the rice on the bucket be flat or piled at the top? How high should the pile be? These questions made them all dumbfounded. . After a period of confusion, it was decided to implement new weights and measures, and purchase by weight. The purchase price was set at eight silver coins per one hundred kilograms, which was called "gongshi". The weight was measured using a floor scale removed from the ship. Unexpectedly, this change in weights and measures did not arouse resentment or protest from the grain sellers. In their view, since the travelers were willing to pay for grain, they were free to use whatever unit of measurement they wanted. This surprised Dongmen Chuiyu - no wonder the ancient landowners used small expenditures to make large profits - the common people did not understand the importance of weights and measures at all.
In contrast, ordinary people are very interested in how to increase weight without using rice. At first, everyone was inexperienced and in a hurry. The rice they purchased was mixed with a lot of grains, even chaff and sand, and they suffered a lot. At this time, someone came up with an idea and hurriedly made a group of grain spies to sign grain and look at the samples. Wu Nanhai also provided emergency training to teach everyone how to distinguish the quality and moisture content of rice, so as to avoid shoddy rice. Somewhat restrained.
"...As of today, we have purchased 90 tons of rice and 2100 kilograms of peanuts." Dongmen Chuiyu reported the purchase situation to several executive committee members who attended the meeting.
"How much more do you think we can acquire?" Wen Desi asked. 90 tons of rice, but only 70 tons of brown rice, seems like a lot, but now more and more people are eating, and we have to provide relief to the people, which makes me a little nervous.
Yu Eshui opened a book he carried with him: "There is still room for acquisitions. According to the county annals, during the Wanli period, Lingao's autumn grain harvest amounted to 7,646 stones, nine buckets, two liters and seven combined, and six stones were collected for newly reclaimed land. Seven liters and nine combined, a total of 7,686 stone, seven liters and nine combined. This is just the main item, plus miscellaneous fire expenses, additional levies, and layer upon layer of exploitation by officials, the grain farmers actually handed over will not Less than 10,000 shi. This is the end of the Ming Dynasty, when it was most serious for wealthy families to hide their fields. There should be a considerable part of the fields without grain. So I estimate that the total autumn grain output in Lingao is between 50,000 shi and 70,000 shi. Between. We have no problem acquiring three to five thousand stones."
Some people raised doubts: "Is it necessary to reserve so much grain? Didn't more than a thousand stones be taken from Gou's house? Moreover, Yanchang Village has begun to sell salt to the mainland, using salt to exchange for grain from Guangdong. In the future, it can also be purchased from Vietnam Just buy food."
Wu Nanhai took the food issue very seriously and immediately argued: "The more food, the better. Don't panic if you have food in your hands. Whether it's Guangdong or Vietnam, they are both far away. If they are cut off, it will be detrimental to the peace of the people." .”
Wen Desi continued: "At this stage, food is more valuable than money. When there is a famine, food prices will skyrocket, and money will depreciate. Don't forget that we are still in the Little Ice Age, and natural disasters are very frequent. We are not a few There are hundreds of people on board, so we need to look at the overall situation of the county. Be fully prepared."
"I also draw the Executive Committee's attention to the trade situation and silver reserves," Cheng Dong said on behalf of the financial department. "The current trade balance is serious, and silver is losing rapidly. After the attack on Goujiazhuang, our silver reserves increased From the 15,000 taels under the old two systems, almost a thousand taels have flowed out in the past few days. Continuing like this is not an option, after all, there is demand for currency in circulation."
"Xiao Zishan has gone to Guangzhou. How about letting him withdraw tens of thousands of taels of goods deposited with the Gao family?"
"There is no need." Wen Desi said, "Lingao is a small place, and it is not a good thing for too much silver to flow in. We have another thing that can replace silver-salt." Salt has played the role of currency for a long time in history. He prepared it to pay part of the food and labor costs.
However, some people object to this approach: for ordinary people, between silver and table salt, the former is obviously more attractive, and it is also easier to carry and use. The common people have already tasted the benefits of cash acquisitions and will not like such sudden forced barter.
"Let's open a salt shop." Dongmen Chuiyu suddenly thought, "Specialize in selling salt. He took the money from selling grain with his left hand, and he has to return it to us with his right hand. Hahaha, I am really a profiteer -"
"This is a good idea. Using grain and salt as equivalents is not the direction of development after all. We control the salt production in the county now, so it is very suitable to use it to withdraw currency." Cheng Dong nodded in agreement.
Dongmen Chui Chui struck while the iron was hot and quickly handed over a document: "This is our business group's business plan for Dongmen City. I hope the executive committee will approve it as soon as possible!"
"Planning plan?" Several executive committee members were stunned. Although they set up a free market outside Bairen City, the purpose was only to promote the circulation of goods and enhance the relationship between the travelers and the local indigenous people. Few people have thought carefully about how to operate and manage the market. Everyone thinks of this market as the free market found in many cities in China: farmers and small vendors come to set up stalls to sell goods. At most, some people think of free stall fees.
"Yes, planning plan." Dongmen took the opportunity to stand up, "Fellow executive committee members, let me now introduce the following overall planning plan. I believe that with this plan, under the correct leadership of the executive committee, under the leadership of the executive committee, Under the guidance of Mr. Wen, and with the strong support of Commissioner Cheng——"
"Stop talking nonsense! Even in Ming Dynasty, you are still doing this!" Dugu was impatient when he proposed.
"--Our Dongmen City will become the most prosperous commercial market in Lingao, no, in Hainan!"
After all, Dongmen Chuiyu had been through the officialdom informally, so he didn't care about the complaints about the proposal. After finishing his opening remarks, he quickly hung up a newly drawn plan on the blackboard behind him. He got this after he went to the construction engineering team to say nice things and gave him a few packs of cigarettes.
