Chapter 2182
Ma Zhengping felt that his fortune must have turned out well. He originally thought that the trip to Zhoushan to move reinforcements would be quite troublesome, but the progress turned out to be far smoother than expected. Although Shi Diwen, the top governor of Zhoushan, has not yet been seen, the military has given a clear signal that it will provide military assistance to Huizhou salt merchants and support them to use necessary means to continue to fight against their competitors in Yangzhou. .
However, not even one-tenth of the funds that Ma Zhengping had planned to use to open the joints had been used so far. Of course, he does not think this is because Haihan officials are so honest and selfless, but because Haihan needs to really open the door to the Yangzhou salt market, and because it is inconvenient to use force for various reasons, he can only use Huizhou salt merchants as pawns. .
At present, the battle between the two factions of salt merchants in Yangzhou is becoming more and more fierce. Haihan chooses this time to intervene, and the cooperation conditions he can obtain from the Huizhou salt merchants will be more favorable to him. Otherwise, when the winner is determined in Yangzhou and the Shanshan Salt Merchants dominate, even if Haihan can reach cooperation with them, I am afraid that they will not be able to obtain more ideal conditions by then.
So why Haihan agreed to his request so quickly, the key factor should not be the small favor fee given to Duan Tiancheng, but because the timing was right and the Haihan people believed that doing so was in their best interests.
Ma Zhengping has received a notice from Duan Tiancheng, asking him to contact Yuan Tao, the big shopkeeper of Jindun's Zhoushan Branch, to arrange for Jindun personnel to be stationed in Yangzhou. As for the military training provided by the Zhoushan authorities to Huizhou salt merchants, Ma Zhengping was asked to discuss the specific implementation plan with Yuan Tao.
According to Ma Zhengping's understanding, this means that the Yuanda shopkeeper has taken over the subsequent cooperation matters, and is also the main person he needs to deal with next.
Compared with officials who hold privileges, Ma Zhengping prefers to negotiate cooperation with businessmen, because as long as there is a profit, businessmen can completely ignore factors such as positions, risks, and grudges, and only talk about interests and nothing else. Complex situations are handled simply. But officials have too many scruples, and they have to be secretive even when receiving benefits, which really makes people feel unhappy.
After meeting Duan Tiancheng before, Ma Zhengping also made a special trip to learn about the situation of Golden Shield, and then he understood the power of this special organization. Haihan people call it escort agency, but in fact it is very different from the folk escort agency in Ming Dynasty.
First of all, the operators behind the Golden Shield Escort are not civilians. Almost everyone knows that the backstage of Golden Shield is the Haihan government, and this so-called escort agency is actually a non-staff armed force. The leading escorts and stewards inside, Almost all of them are veterans who have retired from the military. The weapons and equipment are even more impressive. The standard weapon is the flintlock gun, which is more powerful than the ordinary Ming army.
In addition, this golden shield protector is very ruthless every time it encounters an enemy outside, and does not care about the opponent's identity at all. Therefore, there are many tragic stories in the world of short-sighted bandits who ran into the golden shield.
But these stories made Ma Zhengping even more excited about the addition of Golden Shield, because it just proved the strength of this armed force. If nothing unexpected happened, it should be enough to deal with the musketeers of the Shanshan and Shaanxi salt merchants.
Ma Zhengping didn't want Haihan to send a bunch of wine bags and rice bags to Yangzhou to deal with him. The more ruthless the character, the more he could prove Haihan's sincerity in cooperation. As for whether he can get along well with these ruthless people, Ma Zhengping doesn't think there is any problem. After all, the Golden Shield is paid to do things, and he can afford the price. The official has also said hello, and I believe that Golden Shield will provide due cooperation. .
Ma Zhengping wrote a greeting note, prepared a gift list, and then sent his men to Jindun escort to invite Yuan Tao to meet.
Ma Zhengping showed enough etiquette, and Jindun quickly replied and agreed, so that night there was a new visitor to the yard rented by Ma Zhengping.
Ma Zhengping received the notice from his subordinates and when he went to greet him at the gate of the yard, he happened to see Yuan Tao getting off the carriage. Ma Zhengping has seen this kind of black box carriage several times in Zhoushan. It is said that only high-ranking Haihan officials of a certain level can enjoy it, and Yuan Tao actually gets this treatment. Sure enough, the rumors from the outside are true. The Golden Shield Transport is actually Haihan government-run institution.
After the two greeted each other, Ma Zhengping welcomed Yuan Tao into the courtyard. He has already set up a banquet in the flower hall and is waiting to serve the dishes as soon as the guests arrive.
Considering that he might discuss some confidential information with Yuan Tao today, he did not invite any other guests, but the banquet was unambiguous. This large table of dishes was ordered from the most upscale restaurant on the island, and there were also special The hired silk and bamboo troupe was sitting in the yard, playing some soothing music. Although it seems a bit nondescript in an environment like an inn, it also shows Ma Zhengping's intentions.
Yuan Tao has been in Zhoushan for several years and has a lot of social activities. He is familiar with the restaurants of all sizes on the island. After sitting down, he praised: "Boss Ma must have ordered this banquet from Dafeng Tower, right? It is true." Judging from my taste, this restaurant is probably the best at cooking seafood. But as far as I know, the banquet at Dafenglou is quite expensive, and Boss Ma is really spending a lot of money!”
Ma Zhengping said: "Shopkeeper Yuan is very polite. I also heard from my friends on the island that this restaurant serves good banquets. Shopkeeper Yuan rated it so highly. It seems that the money was not wasted."
Compared with Ningbo across the sea, the consumption level on Zhoushan Island is indeed much higher. The price of a banquet like this is almost twice that of Ningbo. Even in Yangzhou City, where the consumption level is higher, the price of this table of food and wine is still very expensive.
At the moment, Ma Zhengping was not in a hurry to talk about business. He first invited Yuan Tao to drink and eat, and casually chatted about some local anecdotes. Yuan Tao has been traveling all over the country for many years, and has come into contact with people from all walks of life and various professions. He is very knowledgeable. He can chat with Ma Zhengping on any topic.
Ma Zhengping's original intention was to test Yuan Tao's quality through small talk, to see if the other person was a martial artist or a businessman like himself, so that he could judge the person's food and prescribe the right medicine in subsequent contacts. However, Yuan Tao's strength was obviously stronger than he expected. After chatting for a while, Ma Zhengping couldn't help but feel that his knowledge was obviously inferior to that of the other party.
Ma Zhengping became more and more interested in continuing the conversation. He wanted to see if he could find the other party's shortcomings in the fields he was familiar with.
"I heard that Jindun had previously taken on the task of transporting sea salt within the Ming Dynasty. I wonder what Shopkeeper Yuan thinks of the current trend of the salt industry in Jiangsu and Zhejiang?"
The scope of Ma Zhengping's question is very large, and there is no so-called standard answer.
When Yuan Tao saw that Ma Zhengping had finally brought the topic to the main topic, he put down his chopsticks and responded seriously: "Before my country started supplying sea salt to Jiangsu and Zhejiang, most of the local salt business was controlled by Yangzhou salt merchants. . However, most of the official salt farms under the Ming Dynasty have limited production capacity. Even if they can provide some private salt to the salt merchants, the output and quality may not satisfy you, right?" Ma Zhengping nodded slightly and agreed. For salt merchants, the profits from selling private salt actually account for the majority of operating income. Otherwise, how could they have accumulated a huge family fortune through the salt business. However, the official production capacity of the salt farm is limited and cannot meet the demand of many salt merchants. Haihan has a great advantage in this regard. The production capacity of the Xiangshan Salt Farm alone has squeezed out a lot of the market that originally belonged to Daming Official Salt, and it has a tendency to continue to expand.
As for the difference in quality, it would be fine if there is no comparison, but Ma Zhengping has seen with his own eyes that the sea salt produced by Haihan is indeed much finer than the official salt, and there are much fewer impurities in the salt. This is definitely a better way to make salt. The embodiment of more advanced craftsmanship. He has also heard that Haihan produces sea salt through a number of large and small salt ponds, but he has never had the opportunity to conduct an on-site investigation on how it is operated and what unknown secrets it contains.
The most terrible thing is that Haihan refined salt has a large output and a lower price, which makes it difficult for the official salt produced by Daming Salt Factory to effectively compete with it. If it were not for the fact that salt dealers need to purchase salt from the government to obtain the qualification to sell salt, and these salt quotas must be cashed and purchased at the Guanyan Salt Field, then the Guanyan Salt Field may soon be squeezed out by Haihan Refined Salt The salt industry market.
Yuan Tao continued: "In the long run, only the refined salt provided by our country can meet the needs of salt merchants. You use the sea salt purchased from Yanyin from the official salt field as a guarantee and buy it from us. The private salt should be used as the profit part, so as to most effectively ensure that you can obtain stable and high profits through operations.”
Ma Zhengping said: "But in theory, this practice is against the laws of the Ming Dynasty. If it is discovered by the government, it may affect our qualifications to engage in salt industry business."
Yuan Tao smiled and said: "You Yangzhou salt merchants have such a great influence on the local area, how can you be afraid of government interference? Besides, aren't those local officials all supported by you? After checking your private salt, isn't it just like following the government's interference?" Can’t you live with the money in your pocket? ”
When Ma Zhengping heard what he said, it was obvious that he was well aware of the tricky tactics in the salt industry. It seemed that trying to play a trick on the other party would not work.
Yuan Tao continued: "I heard that Boss Ma has reached an agreement with Mr. Yang from the Commercial Office. The amount of refined salt underwritten by you will be quite large in the future. You can tell Boss Ma in advance that you wish you good luck!"
The salt sales agreement negotiated with the Zhoushan Commercial Office is a prerequisite for Haihan to provide military assistance to Huizhou salt merchants. Therefore, whether Ma Zhengping admits it or not, Huizhou salt merchants will become an important distributor of Haihan salt in the future.
Seeing that the other party pointed it out directly, Ma Zhengping had no choice but to smile bitterly and replied: "It's hard to say whether we will make a fortune or not. I hope that with the good advice of Shopkeeper Yuan, I can handle this matter smoothly!"
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If there are no sworn enemies standing in the way, then this kind of cooperation will naturally be a great opportunity to make a fortune. However, the situation in Yangzhou is not stable, and Ma Zhengping is not sure whether he will encounter new troubles in his future operations, so even if he knows that this business is very profitable, at the moment I really can't be happy either.
Now that we have talked about the management of the salt industry, Ma Zhengping simply brought it to the main topic: "This time we are relying on Shopkeeper Yuan to send troops to Yangzhou. I wonder what needs Shopkeeper Yuan and the brothers have? As long as it is within my ability, I will do it." Do your best.”
Yuan Tao was waiting for this word, and immediately responded: "Boss Ma is a straightforward person, so I will open the skylight and speak frankly. I, Jindun, send out armed guards and always clarify the price and treatment before taking action to avoid execution. Disputes occurred over these trivial matters during the mission, which affected the main business.”
Ma Zhengping said: "This is what we should do. Please ask Shopkeeper Yuan for a quote!"
Yuan Tao said: "Our Golden Shield guards are divided into three levels: A, B, and C. The pay for performing missions is calculated on a daily basis. If settled in silver, the daily pay is five taels, two taels, and one tael respectively. . In addition, the employer needs to cover the food, accommodation and transportation expenses during the task. If the stay is long-term, a stable residence must be provided. ”
"If the escorts are killed or injured on duty during the operation, the employer will also need to bear part of the funeral expenses. In addition, before the mission begins, a deposit must be paid to us in case of emergencies. The settlement will be made after the mission is over. , more refunds and less compensation.”
"During the mission, if the escorts need to enter combat status, the command authority will automatically belong to us, and we can adjust our response tactics according to changes in the situation. In this state, the escorts will not accept the employer's command, but they will still try their best to ensure the employer's Personal safety. In addition, the cost of weapons, ammunition and other materials during the battle will also be included in the final settlement. "
"I understand, I understand." Ma Zhengping responded: "I have no objection to this. Just follow the rules of Golden Shield."
In fact, it was not that Ma Zhengping had no objections, but that he understood that he had no room for bargaining. Now I am holding money in my hands and begging others for help. I am not qualified to be picky at this time. I dislike the conditions offered by others that are too harsh. If you raise an objection and the other party sees that you are unwilling to cooperate and just break up, wouldn't all your previous efforts be wasted? So he simply agreed. After all, the other party was an expert in this area. As a layman, it was better not to speak randomly.
Yuan Tao was quite satisfied with Ma Zhengping's knowledge and interest, so he immediately asked: "How many manpower does Boss Ma think we need to dispatch this time?"
Ma Zhengping said: "If it is convenient, of course the more the better, even if there are 1,800 people. As for food, accommodation and transportation, I can bear all of them."
Ma Zhengping wished that Haihan could send an army to Yangzhou in the name of Golden Shield. Even if he had to pay a relatively large financial price for it, as long as he could defeat his opponent in one fell swoop, he could earn back the money by dominating the salt business in the future. .
Yuan Tao smiled and shook his head and said: "Boss Ma is joking. Our purpose is only to protect Boss Ma and other important people. We are not going to fight in Yangzhou, so we will not send so many manpower."
(End of chapter)