Chapter 198 Private salt turns into official salt
Li Jifeng saw that this road was dead, so he immediately changed direction and changed the topic: "You two are in Guangzhou this time, and I don't know what you need to buy. Maybe I can provide some convenience."
Schneider has no intention of hiding this. He does still need some help from "Fruifeng" in terms of material procurement. Before departure, each production department put forward their own material purchase list. After the executive committee put it together, it was three feet long. If so many materials had to be purchased one by one by the two of them, then the last one or two There is basically no need to do anything else for a month. Entrusting it to "Furuifeng" may allow the other party to earn another handling fee, but the time and energy saved are hard to buy with money. Moreover, now that Chuanchuan Group has taken the initiative in bilateral trade, Schneider believes that "Furuifeng" will not play any tricks in material procurement under the current situation.
"We need to purchase a lot of materials, but there is one thing that we need urgently." Schneider smiled and answered Li Jifeng: "Ship. A big ship with 400 materials, whether it is a Fuzhou ship or a Guangzhou ship."
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"You want to order a large number of ships from Guangzhou, is it because you want to use the Guangzhou route?" Li Jifeng was very sensitive to this and asked immediately. Prior to this, "Furuifeng" had purchased two 400-material sea-going ships for the other party, and Li Nai took them to Victory Port. However, if the purpose of the crossing group's large-scale purchase of ships was to open up this route on its own, then This may not be a good thing for "Fu Ruifeng", which is also engaged in maritime trade.
Schneider shook his head and said: "Of course we didn't buy the ship to open up this route..."
Li Jifeng felt a little relieved, but then he heard Schneider continue: "...We have many shipping routes to open, so we need a large number of ships and sailors."
What a loud tone! Li Jifeng thought that it was not easy to open a new sea route in the South China Sea. It took sailors many years to figure it out. Even if an experienced maritime merchant wanted to open a new sea route, it would not be something that could be accomplished in a short time.
However, Li Jifeng suddenly remembered that Li Nai had mentioned that the Haihan people came from thousands of miles away from the East, and there were many strange-shaped iron ships anchored in Victory Port. Since the other party can sail across the ocean in such a big iron ship, he must be very capable of sailing. It is not necessarily bragging to open a sea route.
Schneider seemed to have understood what Li Jifeng was thinking, and continued with a smile: "Master, don't worry too much. Even if we open a route to Guangzhou, it will not affect our trade with you. The increase in transportation capacity will only increase Increasing the trade volume between us will allow us to make more money. For example, if your bank sells salt in Fuzhou and Guangdong provinces, how many millions of salt will be consumed by these two provinces in a year? There are always jins, right? Due to insufficient transportation capacity, we only have an order volume of 10,000 jins per month, but in the future we can increase the transaction volume to 50,000 jins, 100,000 jins, or even more per month by expanding the transportation capacity. The salt can be sold to places farther away such as Guangxi, Huguang, Jiangxi, and Zhejiang. What we need is not a unilateral increase in shipping capacity. We also hope that your bank can organize more ships to join the route. ”
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"Even if you have enough transportation capacity, can you really produce so much salt?" Li Jifeng asked with some disbelief.
Schneider pointed at Li Nai and said: "Your Majesty has also visited our salt farm. It has a scale of three to four hundred people and produces more than 100,000 kilograms of salt. By the end of the year, the production will increase. For us, as long as the labor force is enough, , the production of salt is not a problem at all, the only thing that needs to be considered is how to transport the salt from Qiongzhou to Guangzhou. ”
Li Jifeng immediately made a calculation in his mind. The current price for Haihan people to supply him with salt is fifty taels of silver per thousand kilograms. Excluding the freight and losses during transportation, he can still earn at least twice as much if he sells it locally at half the market price. The above income is a profit of at least one hundred taels. If one hundred thousand jins of salt can be sold in one month, that will be ten thousand taels of silver. One hundred thousand kilograms of salt can be easily transported by a 400-pound ship. Since the Haihan people's salt supply is guaranteed, if there is a dedicated fleet to transport salt from Qiongzhou Island to Guangzhou, one trip will cost tens of thousands of taels. With the money coming in, how much money will you make this year? I'm afraid it's not so easy for those big salt merchants in Yangzhou to make money.
The calculations in Li Jifeng's mind now had already been made by Navy Chief Luo Shengdong. The difference is that the market faced by Luo Shengdong is still relatively limited. After all, the entire Qiongzhou Island has a population of just over 200,000, which is far less than the conditions in the mainland. Moreover, although Luo Shengdong has an official identity cover, no one will check it. But after all, he didn't dare to be too showy about his ship. He secretly transported two to three thousand kilograms of salt every time and made a little money.
The scale of operation and the area covered by "Fu Ruifeng" are unmatched by Luo Shengdong. It is obviously a business that can make a lot of money, so Li Jifeng will certainly not be satisfied with a small business. However, he was not dazzled by the sudden happiness. He still remained calm enough and continued to ask Schneider: "In addition to Guangzhou, what other ports and routes do you plan to open up? Mr. Shi, can you tell me something?" ?”
Schneider said frankly: "Port cities along the mainland's coast are our goals, but that should be at least one or two years later. In terms of business goals, we and your bank should be consistent, and we should take our business further." place to make more money.”
Schneider's words were vague and untrue. Li Jifeng naturally understood that the other party was on guard, so he did not pursue the question without knowing what he was talking about. After the banquet that night, the Li family's father and son returned home and did not rest separately. Instead, they went to the study to continue discussing the unfinished topics at the previous banquet.
Li Jifeng said: "This Mr. Shi is indeed a veteran of shopping malls and speaks very tactfully. It's no wonder that you, Third Brother, negotiated such an unfavorable agreement with him. What a sales agent. Did you know that if another business firm took advantage of them? If we offer better conditions, they will easily kick us out!”
Li Nai quickly bowed and said: "My child doesn't realize the power of this. He only thinks about how to make more money from it, but he ignores these details..."
"Forget it, it's your first time to deal with such a large deal. It's not easy to negotiate like this." Li Jifeng had already figured out the joints while eating. At this time, he just raised it to warn Li Nai, but did not continue. Blaming his plan: "Listen to Mr. Na Shi, they intend to expand the private salt business. What do you think? Brother, please tell me first."
Li Po thought for a while before answering: "Although the Haihan people are very capable of making salt, their transportation capacity is insufficient, and they have no way to sell private salt along the coast, so they must rely on our business name in this regard. This The private salt business has a small profit, and I think it is worth a try, but we must first pave the way to prevent any trouble from being raised by the salt class.”
Li Jifeng nodded noncommittally and said, "Third brother, tell me too."
Li Nai said: "Second brother is right. If this business is done well, it will be easy to earn tens of thousands of taels a month from now on. However, I feel that in addition to being careful about the salt class and filing a lawsuit, I also need to be careful about other salt merchants." . This colleague is an enemy. What’s more, if we traffic in large quantities of illegal salt for sale, it will definitely impact the market price of salt, and this matter of ruining people’s wealth will definitely lead to controversy and retaliation.”
"Then do you have any solution?" Li Jifeng continued to ask.
Li Nai said: "My child once heard the Haihan people talk about our salt fields in the Ming Dynasty during a chat. It is said that many of the more than 20 salt fields in Fujian and Guangzhou provinces are abandoned, and most of the salt on the market now comes from Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Zhejiang. In the salt fields in Huaiyang, the price of salt remains high. If we supply directly to salt merchants from various places, the price can be lower than that of salt shipped from the north. In this way, we make our money and the salt merchants make theirs. Just get what you need, and we can save the time of selling one by one.”
"Do you mean to turn private salt into official salt and sell it?" Li Jifeng tapped his fingers lightly on the desk, thinking about the feasibility of Li Nai's idea.
"Furuifeng" has many branches in Fuzhou and Guangzhou. It is not impossible to sell salt through its own channels, but it will still face a legality issue. The so-called official salt means that the salt merchant must first go to the salt class to pay the certificate, and then take the salt guide to the salt field to buy salt. However, the qualifications of this salt merchant are not just paid, and are often ignored by a few in an area. Controlled by several wealthy families. "Furuifeng" did not have the identity of a salt merchant before. Even if it sells salt, it only sells official salt wholesaled from salt merchants in small quantities on a retail basis. In this way, it is obvious that it wants to sell tens of thousands of kilograms of private salt every month. It is very difficult, and if the shipment volume is large, it will easily attract the attention of peers and competent authorities.
It is easy for those salt merchants who ship large quantities of salt to mix in some illegal salt. They can get the salt guide, and it is difficult for the competent authorities to determine whether the salt they sell contains illegal salt. In fact, because the cost of private salt is lower, many salt merchants will sell it together with private salt to obtain more profits. The private salt of the Haihan people is undoubtedly extremely competitive - their prices have been extremely low, and there is no competitor that can even compete with them in the Ming Dynasty's salt market. Even if "Furuifeng" raises the price to 150 taels of silver per kilogram, it will still have a greater price advantage than the current supply of salt merchants.
Selling the salt of the Haihan people to salt merchants from various places, and then these salt merchants selling it to the market as official salt, seems to be a good way to solve the problem. After Li Jifeng considered the key points clearly, he quickly made a decision.
(End of chapter)