Chapter 154 Visitors from Guangzhou
Li Nai stood on the deck with his hands behind his back, silently looking at the lucky ship flying the "Haihan" flag in front of him, but he was thinking about other things.
The business name "Fu Ruifeng" was created by the Li family during the Hongwu period and has been passed down from generation to generation for more than 200 years. After the efforts of several generations of Li family members, "Fu Ruifeng" has gradually developed from a hawker and salesman who roamed the streets to a large trading house with 17 branches and business all over South China. In Guangzhou, today's "Fu Ruifeng" can be regarded as one of the few shopping mall giants.
Li Nai has a good life. It can be said that he was born with a golden spoon in his mouth. This is because his father is Li Jifeng, the big boss of "Furuifeng". From the day he was born, he has been living a life of being a master. . If there is any regret, it is that there are two older brothers above him. In terms of the order of succession, Li Nai can be ranked third at most.
If nothing unexpected happens in the future, what Li Nai will probably inherit is a local business name under "Fu Ruifeng". Just like shopkeeper Li of "Fu Ruifeng" in Yazhou, he and the big boss Li Jifeng are also cousins, but because they have no inheritance rights, they can only be assigned to serve as managers in local businesses.
Li Nai's father didn't really want him to continue on the path of business. After all, the entire social environment emphasized agriculture over business. Among the four classes of scholars, farmers, industry and commerce, businessmen were always ranked at the bottom. Although the Li family has been good at business from generation to generation and has continued to develop and expand "Fu Ruifeng" for more than two hundred years, in terms of social status, the Li family is still far from being a truly wealthy family.
The reason for this is actually very simple, because for eight generations, no one in the Li family has been an official. Suddenly they were all businessmen, so it was naturally difficult to achieve a higher social status. Li Jifeng learned from the painful experience, so he worked hard on Li Nai and spent a lot of money to hire famous teachers to attend prestigious schools. He hoped that he would soar through the imperial examinations in the future and that the old Li family could also produce a civil servant within the system.
Li Nai was quite successful. He was selected as a scholar at the age of fourteen, and passed the provincial examination at the age of eighteen and was elected as a civil servant. However, he participated in the two national examinations and failed both times. Although one can become an official as long as one becomes a civil servant, there are so many civil servants in the world that it would take at least ten years to be ranked as a county magistrate. This is obviously a deviation from Li Jifeng's original goal of hoping for a successful son.
Li Nai himself had been studying for more than ten years and was a little tired of taking exams year after year, so he tactfully proposed that he wanted to try to help his family run the business. Li Jifeng was also an open-minded person. He thought that since Li Nai had already passed the Juren Examination and had achieved fame, it would not be easy to take the next step to grab the three hundred tribute places, so he gave him a relatively easy job. ——Go to Qiongzhou Prefecture to discuss trade cooperation with a local maritime merchant. If Li Nai does well, there is nothing wrong with gradually handing over some business to him to take care of. If he does not go well, he can just go back to study and take the exam. Anyway, the family does not lack the money to support him to concentrate on his studies.
Li Nai had actually heard about the person who was going to visit him. In May, a business in Qiongzhou sent several pieces of glassware and silver mirrors. According to the guy who delivered the items, a new group of maritime merchants appeared near Yazhou in the south of Qiongzhou Island, claiming to be from thousands of miles away. The appearance and language of the "Haihan Kingdom" are the same as those of the Ming Dynasty, but their clothing and customs are unique. These Haihan people seem to have mastered some unique craftsmanship and can produce glassware that is no less good than that of Western merchants. As for the silver mirror, Li Nai had also seen it with his own eyes. It illuminated people very clearly, much better than a bronze mirror, and it was an extremely rare object on the market.
Li Jifeng has been doing business for many years, and he also knows that Western merchants have this kind of strange silver mirrors in their hands. However, because the quantity is extremely rare, they don't take them out at all, but keep them for their own use. These newly emerged Haihan people obviously mastered some kind of mirror-making technology. Among the mirrors they sold, there was even a square mirror with a length and width of one foot. Although the mirror was priced at 800 taels of silver, in Li Jifeng's eyes, this rare thing in the world, not to mention 800 taels, was worth double or triple the price.
Sure enough, this mirror was only displayed in the "Fu Ruifeng" head office for two days, and then someone from Guangzhou Prefecture sent someone to buy it for 1,500 taels of silver. The other few samples sent from Qiongzhou Prefecture were quickly sold out. Li Jifeng immediately asked people to buy the saltpeter, sulfur, coke and other commodities requested by the other party on the market, and shipped them to Qiongzhou Island.
After that, every half month or so, a batch of goods from "Haihan" would arrive in Guangzhou. Because of the shrewd performance of shopkeeper Li from Yazhou, "Fu Ruifeng" obtained the Guangzhou sales of Haihan glassware and silver mirrors. The exclusive rights to operate the business also allowed the head office to make a lot of money.
In mid-June, shopkeeper Li from the Yazhou branch of "Furuifeng" returned to Guangzhou to report on his work, and brought back the latest Haihan products and their requirements. Li Jifeng kept half of this newly released glass stationery for himself, and Li Nai, as the representative scholar in his family, was also lucky enough to be assigned a set.
In order to help his family promote this new product, Li Nai took the lead in holding a poetry meeting and invited many local cultural celebrities in Guangzhou to attend. As soon as this glass stationery appeared, the quality of the entire poetry meeting seemed to have been qualitatively improved. Just as Schneider expected, this crystal clear cultural product was immediately praised and sought after by scholars. Of course, the scholars who can pursue this thing are generally from relatively well-off families. After all, not every scholar has the financial resources. I can spend a hundred taels to buy a set of glass stationery. Yes, that’s right. The ex-factory price of glass stationery in Victory Port was only 10 taels per set. After arriving in Guangzhou, the price has already increased. In addition, the Li family has already digested five sets, so only five sets can flow into the market. Just a set. One hundred taels is not too expensive. If you are not closely related to Mr. Li San, the owner of "Fu Ruifeng", you will have nowhere to buy it even if you have money.
Li Nai told the local scholars "with great regret" at the poetry meeting that this kind of glass stationery came from thousands of miles away, and each set was custom-made. It was very difficult to get. The merchant house was trying to place an order, but as for when it would arrive. There is no comment on how much the goods will be available. Friends who are interested in buying can pay more attention to the stores of Jishang Company - the implication is that this thing is now priced but not available. If you want to buy it to show off, then prepare early. Good money!
Naturally, some quick-thinking people quietly found Li Nai after the poetry meeting and insisted on getting a deposit first to make a reservation. In view of the rising enthusiasm of consumers, Li Nai had no choice but to accept these reservations. In two or three days, more than 20 people had already placed deposits with Li Nai. The market prospect can be said to be bright.
According to shopkeeper Li who brought these samples back, these are just samples produced by the Haihan people, and the official products will definitely be more refined and complete. A shopkeeper Shi from Haihan has already said that a variety of products will be launched in the future, and the products in this category will be differentiated by brand and price. In the words of Haihan people, this is called " Develop products based on consumer needs.”
The Li family's father and son were all stunned when they heard it. The principles contained in these business strategies are not particularly profound. They have been doing business for many years. They can figure out the key points with a little effort, but they have never understood it. Some people have thought and done this. The remarks relayed by shopkeeper Li were like opening a new door in front of them, making them realize that business could still be done this way.
Of course, in addition to these, the thousand kilograms of refined salt also aroused Li Jifeng's great interest. Needless to say, there is no need to say much about the profits of the private salt business. Li Jifeng, who has been in the market for many years, naturally knows a lot about it. The refined salt provided by the Haihan people is not only of good quality, but also extremely cheap - the other party is willing to supply "Fu Ruifeng" for a long time at a price of fifty taels of silver per thousand catties. Compared with the current price of 350 to 400 taels of silver per kilogram in Guangzhou, the profit is simply frighteningly high. Even if "Furuifeng" does not sell directly but resells these private salts to several local salt merchants, the profits from this resale are still very considerable. But out of caution, Li Jifeng still told Shopkeeper Li that when he responded to the Haihan people, he needed to ask the other party to supply more than 10,000 kilograms per month. If there is no huge transaction volume as support, then the benefits that this business can bring will It’s not enough for “Furuifeng” to risk it.
Shopkeeper Li from Yazhou, who has had many dealings with the Haihan people, highly praised the Haihan people's attitude towards doing business. In his opinion, the Haihan people have several characteristics in doing business. One of them is trustworthiness and negotiating good prices for goods. , types and quantities will not be changed, and the settlement of accounts is also very clear, without any delay or repetition.
The second is flexibility. Haihan people rarely ask for cash payment when doing business. They usually use barter. Nowadays, "trading coupons" have been introduced to replace money in local transactions. It saves you the trouble of counting the numbers and checking the quality during the payment settlement.
The third is the method. The Haihan people have not only mastered advanced production technology, but their skills in selling goods are also worth learning. The poetry party organized by Li Nai this time was actually Schneider's idea for Shopkeeper Li in Yazhou. Of course, When Schneider described this method, he did not mention using the form of "poetry meeting", but used another word that is relatively unfamiliar to everyone-product promotion meeting. But no matter what, this method is obviously very effective. Li Jifeng has even thought about how to promote it in advance when something new comes on the market in the future.
These characteristics summarized by Shopkeeper Li of Yazhou became an important reference for Li Nai when he traveled to Qiongzhou Island to visit the Haihan people. Shopkeeper Li left Guangzhou in a few days with thousands of taels of cash and two ships purchased for the Haihan people. He will go to Victory Port to order the next batch of glassware, stationery, mirrors, and perhaps some other items from the Haihan people. There will be other new good stuff coming out.
(End of chapter)