Chapter 1553 Official merchants and imperial merchants
As the saying goes, there is no first in literature and no second in martial arts, but there are at least certain comparison standards in those two fields. However, medical diagnosis and treatment are different. Even famous doctors with outstanding reputations do not dare to ensure that every patient they treat All diseases can be cured by medicine. Moreover, everyone has different diagnosis and treatment techniques and judgment of the condition. Although the prescriptions prescribed are similar, the dosage of medication is obviously different. The doctors invited here for consultation are all famous doctors with outstanding medical skills in their respective places. Naturally, they will not easily agree with other people's opinions on diagnosis and treatment. How much each medicinal material should cost and how to mix it all must be determined. A fight.
Shi Diwen said to his heart that I was just overtired, and I would just rest for a day or two and be fine. If I really had any serious illness, I would wait for the doctors to hold a meeting to discuss and come up with an answer. I'm afraid it would be time to prepare for the funeral. . Therefore, having more people may not make things easier. Although each family hired so many doctors out of good intentions, the effect they achieved was not what they expected. In fact, of course Shi Diwen was accompanied by knowledgeable doctors, who only gave him two doses of medicine to remove fire and calm the nerves. After drinking it two or three times, his physical condition improved significantly. As for the various tonics sent by various companies, Shi Diwen has not touched them for the time being. His physical condition is better than most people in this era. This kind of physical discomfort caused by fatigue does not require taking tonics at all.
This short-lived emergency did not affect the enthusiasm of Zhejiang businessmen to seek cooperation. Haihan's outstanding strength and business reputation in international trade, as well as its shipping capabilities in the southern waters of Ming Dynasty and Southeast Asia, can be said to be the best of any businessman. The partner we all dream of. Even during the two days when Shi Diwen claimed to be ill and recuperating, although few people were able to visit him, businessmen from all over Zhejiang continued to pour into Ningbo City, trying to seek an opportunity to meet with senior officials from Haihan.
In addition to the tonic medicines sold out in pharmacies in Ningbo city in a short period of time, high-end restaurants and inns were suddenly overcrowded due to the influx of business people. Some businessmen who arrived late could not find a place to live, and even rented private houses at high prices. As a result, the accommodation in Ningbo city soon ushered in a second wave of climax. Seeing the profits, many people in the city simply vacated one or two rooms in their houses and rented them to these foreign businessmen for temporary residence.
Within a few days, even those with the least information knew that the reason why Ningbo City became so lively was because a high-ranking Haihan official in the city was holding talks with Ming Dynasty on trade matters. Many of the foreigners who poured into Ningbo in large numbers were businessmen who hoped to take this opportunity to establish a relationship with Haihan.
Of course, it is not just businessmen who want to establish a relationship with Haihan. In fact, if divided by occupation, there are people from all walks of life who come to Ningbo with this idea. For example, among the doctors who consulted with Shi Diwen at his residence, there were also some who wanted to take this opportunity to earn some performance and gain more capital for joining Haihan in the future.
And in this bustle, the number of people who are as numerous as the businessmen is the scholars. Before the founding of the People's Republic of China, Haihan was very concerned about recruiting educated immigrants. It even set up a special resettlement subsidy for scholars with a good reputation. Not only can they immediately obtain Haihan nationality, but they can also settle and naturalize their family members. Solve them together. Under Haihan's rule, the only new immigrants who received such treatment were those who took the military route and exchanged for naturalization by joining the army, but the treatment was still far inferior to that of the recruited scholars.
This is not because Haihan values culture over martial arts, but rather because of helplessness. The rapid development of the country will inevitably require a large number of high-quality talents to enter the officialdom to support the bureaucracy. However, Haihan’s own education system has a relatively limited training capacity. Cultivating high-level intellectuals is not something that can be accomplished overnight. And time waits for no one. The large number of job vacancies in many departments forced Haihan to face up to this situation. At that time, Haihan did not have the strength it has today. To attract scholars from the Ming Dynasty or other countries to join Haihan, we could only use high salaries and excellent benefits as conditions.
As time passed, most scholars in the coastal provinces of the Ming Dynasty had heard of Haihan's special recruitment. Some down-and-out scholars felt that there was no hope for the imperial examination, so they simply went to Haihan and were quickly appointed to various positions. Some even He was soon promoted to a formal official. After such an example appeared, scholars in the southern part of the Ming Dynasty began to realize that this was indeed a feasible way, so more and more Ming scholars who were disillusioned with the imperial examinations chose Haihan as a new place to go.
Most of those who voluntarily left their hometowns to join Haihan were poor scholars who lived in relatively poor conditions and could not survive unless they found a new home. However, those scholars who have a certain degree of real talent and academic reputation in the imperial court tend to cherish their feathers more and are less likely to take the initiative to go to Haihan to find errands. Of course, these people who cherish feathers are not necessarily very loyal to Ming Dynasty. Many of them are also waiting for a price, hoping to get a better offer at the right time.
If you go directly to the Immigration Bureau to apply for naturalization in the territory occupied by Haihan, and then get a recommendation letter after interviewing with senior officials of Haihan and then apply for naturalization, there will definitely be a gap in the final treatment. So when the news of Shi Diwen's personal visit to Ningbo and the news of the establishment of trade links between the two countries came out, many scholars with a keen sense of smell realized that this was a rare opportunity. Businessmen are good at talking, and scholars are even better at talking. If you can meet Shi Diwen and show your knowledge and conversational skills to this high-ranking Haihan official, he might be attracted by him and hire him back to be a county magistrate. Like that, wouldn't it be nice? Of course, there are also many people who come here just to try their luck, hoping to take advantage of this trend.
There are quite a few scholars with this kind of mentality. Among the scholars who come to Ningbo, five or six out of ten have this mentality. Seeing the fierce competition, some people had other ideas, trying to find local connections and try to introduce them directly to Shi Diwen. This gave rise to new business, and the guys at the local tooth shop took action one after another to explore various ways to enter Shi Diwen's residence.
As the intermediary structure of this era, Yaxing would not have much difficulty in getting a few people to work in the house where Shi Diwen settled. But the problem is that the house where Shi Diwen lives this time has been fully occupied by Haihan. All the staff in the house are Haihan nationals, and outsiders who want to sneak in will definitely be exposed.
But even if this approach doesn't work, Yaxing has also thought of another solution for its customers, which is to first pretend to be a businessman to get the qualification to meet, and then rely on personal performance to win Shi Diwen's favor.
If you just pretend to be an ordinary businessman, you will probably have to do the same as everyone else, first go to the concierge to submit a greeting card, and then slowly wait in line for a day or two, and in the end you may not even see a hair. The Yahang shop that made this suggestion has already taken this into account for its customers and suggested that they pretend to be businessmen with official backgrounds. The choice of this official background should preferably be one that the Haihan people cannot verify in a short period of time. , for example, somewhere far away from Ningbo. In this way, the parties involved can pretend to discuss business first, and then wait for opportunities to promote themselves.
Of course, there is a certain risk in doing this. Once exposed, you will definitely not want to take refuge in Haihan, and you may have to suffer some hardships. But if you can get yourself a good job, the risk may be worth taking. The dental shop that came up with such an idea is naturally keen on money. As long as the customers can afford the price, they are willing to provide comprehensive packages and pretend that these dissatisfied scholars are officials and businessmen from a certain inland state. As for the script, it can only be compiled and performed by these scholars themselves.
Driven by interests, there are really brave people who don't take the usual path and choose this seemingly unfeasible path. With the help of an unscrupulous dental shop, a scholar disguised himself as a businessman from Jinhua Mansion. This scholar also had some wealth. When he came to Ningbo, he brought five or six servants with him and rented a house. Otherwise, he would not dare to pretend to be an official or businessman. Ya Xing identified him, prepared a new greeting card, and sent it to Shi Diwen's residence early in the morning. The concierge here has long since been replaced by someone from the Ministry of Commerce. All invitations delivered here will be filtered by him first, and then valuable objects will be selected from them, and then the specific meeting time will be notified. Even if someone wants to stuff the concierge with money, it is useless, because the businessman Shi Diwen wants to meet must have certain commercial value or special status. This has certain rigid standards, such as business scale, location of business premises, and whether he has a government background. Whether there were trade relations with Haihan in the past, etc. If the concierge dares to let slip in this check-in process, Shi Diwen will definitely find out later, which is equivalent to destroying his own job.
This scholar named Zhang Qu pretended to be the nephew of the prefect of Jinhua Prefecture in his invitation. He came here to discuss with Haihan about jointly opening a silk workshop in Jinhua Prefecture. The gift list he prepared was also quite generous, and the person in charge of the review was After seeing it, the concierge did not doubt that he was there, so he informed the other party to come over in the afternoon and wait for Shi Diwen to receive him.
Zhang Qu was naturally overjoyed after hearing the servant's reward, knowing that the chance of being interviewed was half the battle. He himself is not bad in knowledge and has assets in his family, but he has no official backing, so he has always been a bit unable to achieve high or low levels. He thought that if he could rely on Haihan as a backer, he could at least get an official position with his own abilities. Even if he was not an official, it would be good to cooperate with Haihan to do some business. Of course, the silk workshop mentioned in the greeting card is unlikely. His family's property is only hundreds of acres of farmland. To engage in such a high-end industry as a silk workshop, it is impossible without a government background. He is just from the Hangzhou Weaving Bureau. The joints are difficult to open.
Zhang Qu had lunch early and rushed to the place where Shi Diwen stayed. Outside the gate, there were several other groups of businessmen waiting to be received in the afternoon, including those on horseback and in sedan chairs. Zhang Qu relied on his status as an official and businessman, so he took the initiative to keep a distance from these people and only greeted them with a distant hand.
However, Zhang Qu was not as arrogant as he appeared on the surface. Although he did not take the initiative to approach other businessmen, he was still listening to their conversations with sharp ears, hoping to obtain some valuable information from them. Soon he discovered that these groups of businessmen had special respect for a middle-aged man named Cao sitting among them, and they all nodded and bowed and called him Master Cao.
Zhang Qu looked at Mr. Cao from a distance. He looked about forty years old, with fair complexion and no beard on his face. He seemed to be a pampered man. But as soon as Mr. Cao opened his mouth, Zhang Qu knew why these businessmen were so humble to him.
This Master Cao's voice was very sharp, like a woman's, and he was holding a brocade handkerchief in his hand. His posture made Zhang Qu's body get goosebumps. Needless to say, this Master Cao must be an eunuch, but I don’t know where he came from.
Zhang Qu became curious and continued to listen to Mr. Cao's words. After a while, he roughly had an idea. This Mr. Cao came from Nanjing. Judging from his tone, he should be working under a certain prince. And when he came to Ningbo this time, he probably had some business to discuss with the Haihan people. However, when Shi Diwen complained of illness two days ago, even if the King of Heaven came, he could not see him, so he could only wait patiently in Ningbo. Now that Shi Diwen recovered from his illness and started working, Mr. Cao hurried over to wait, hoping to meet Shi Diwen earlier and settle the formalities in advance.
It was normal for the royal family members of the Ming Dynasty to run some industries privately, but Zhang Qu didn't have any opinions on this. However, this was the first time he encountered such a eunuch who was out on business, and he couldn't help but be a little curious about what kind of scene it would be like for this eunuch to discuss business with the Haihan people.
Not long after, the afternoon reception time began, and the first person called by the concierge was indeed the eunuch named Cao: "Mr. Cao Lu, you can come in."
Cao Lu stood up, nodded to everyone, and walked into the courtyard with square steps. Zhang Qu saw that after Cao Lu left, the groups of businessmen who had been with him just now had expressions of relief, and he immediately asked them: "Did you come with this Mr. Cao?"
"I would like to, but I can't get into this relationship!" The person closest to Zhang Qu responded: "This Mr. Cao came from Nanjing and is a serious imperial businessman. Compared with me and other people who rely on the government to make a living, he is It’s much more powerful. I don’t know how big the deal he went to negotiate with the Haihan people is, but we will definitely not be able to eat it.”
Zhang Qu thought to himself that the title of Imperial Merchant sounded really powerful, but he didn't know if Cao knew how to do business. It would be interesting if he relied on his extraordinary status and failed to negotiate terms with the Haihan people. Immediately, he asked one more question, what kind of business did Cao Lu come to Shi Diwen to discuss.
"I heard it's salt." The man lowered his voice and said with a mysterious face: "The Haihan people built a new salt farm in Xiangshan County. Before the construction was completed, the big households from Nanjing came to visit. Maybe the salt farm is just for them. It’s just a pretense of using Haihan’s name.”
(End of chapter)