Chapter 373 Imperial Merchant
In Pingkangfang, several new shops have been opened in succession recently, each of which has built a guild hall and listed for business.
Chang'an Company, Luoyang Company, Guangzhou Company, Jiaozhou Company and Guizhou Company, five newly opened companies are adjacent to Fengzhou Company's Beijing office.
The five newly opened firms were all presided over by stewards sent by Qin Lang, and the firms also almost openly indicated that Donggong was behind the scenes.
Except for not directly adding an Eastern Palace in front of the business name, it didn’t hide it much. Anyway, even the emperor knew the details of it a long time ago, so he didn’t say much. And because this time the five firms have more or less absorbed some gentry officials as shareholders, so there are not many people who come to complain about pre-industry and business, and compete with the people for profit.
The five newly opened firms can tell from the names that each has its own focus. For example, the Fengzhou firm that Qin Lang opened before actually focused on operating in the Hetao Saibei area, mainly engaged in the purchase of cattle, horses, livestock, fur and herbal medicines, as well as leather and wool spinning processing.
Guangzhou firm mainly engaged in shipbuilding and nautical trade, Jiaozhou firm also engaged in maritime trade plus sugar and spices, and Guilin firm mainly engaged in land and inland river trade and transportation in the Central Plains and Lingnan, as well as mineral and slave trade.
Changan and Luoyang firms mainly focus on foreign trade production, such as Luoyang Gong County Porcelain Kiln and Luoyang Silk Textile. In addition, these two firms also correspond to two major projects.
The Changan firm corresponds to the Daming Palace construction project, and the Luoyang firm corresponds to the Luoyang Palace restoration preparation project.
At the beginning, Qin Lang talked to Lao Cheng and others about taking over the construction project of the Daming Palace. The Supreme Emperor and the emperor allocated him 490,000 guan in money and asked for three years to complete the construction. Lao Cheng thought he was joking.
490,000 yuan, three years, and no free civil servants, how can it be repaired well?
Even if the superintendent and the Ministry of Industry fully cooperate to remind technical support and assist in site management, it will not be possible.
Although there is a big age difference between Qin Lang and Lao Cheng, they have a very good relationship. The two are better than the father-in-law. Many things are said directly, and one has to say the other.
Qin Lang explained his plan to Lao Cheng in detail, and Lao Cheng's eyes lit up when he heard it, and he thought it seemed worth a try, so Chang'an Company came into being.
Similar to the establishment of a construction company for the transformation of Huaiyuan Sanfang before, this time it also brought in many companies together.
Qin Lang's reputation in Chang'an City is not bad now. Although many people are secretly jealous of Qin Lang, and many even curse Qin Lang secretly, but Qin Sanlang is popular, and everything goes smoothly, not to mention being an official. Yes, even doing business can always make a lot of money, so no one will have trouble with money.
Qin Lang doesn't care about bringing a few more people to make money, anyway, it's not a free charge and they share the money. When each family joins, they also want to use their influence, manpower and technology.
The first thing after the establishment of the Chang'an firm, Qin Lang sent someone to the supervisor to pull over the blueprints of the Daming Palace, and the second thing was to set up a separate project team.
Then there is the investment invitation and bidding.
The project team in charge of leveling the construction site, the project team in charge of digging channels and underground ditches········
Of course, the most important part of the entire Daming Palace project is actually the precious giant trees that are more than a hundred years old that need to be used as beams and columns, which need to be transported from far away.
Originally, according to the tradition, these timbers must be sent to central Shu to cut them down, but Qin Lang felt that if the old method was used, the construction period would be too late and the cost would be too high, so in the end he changed his plan and proposed to send people Go to Jiaozhou to log and transport them.
Jiaozhou is the Hanoi of Vietnam in later generations. The Hongshui River in its territory is an important inland waterway. Even long ago, it could lead to Yunnan and connect with Sichuan.
Its water transport can go directly from the seaside of Jiaozhou to Jianshui County, Honghe, Yunnan, and then to Kunming by land.
This water canal is very powerful, and the Red River waterway basin is rich in forestry resources, and the precious and huge trees needed to build the Daming Palace can be cut down from nearby.
After cutting down these trees near the river bank, they can go directly down the river to Jiaozhou Haikou, and then they are loaded on a sea ship along the coast to the Yangtze River Estuary or Hangzhou Port, transported to Luoyang via the Grand Canal, and then to Chang'an in Guanzhong.
This is a very bold proposal.
In fact, logging from central Shu is also carried by the Yangtze River, but because there are a lot of rare giant trees felled in Sichuan, there are few suitable trees in places where water can easily enter the river, which is no more convenient than Jiaozhou.
The Red River in Jiaozhou is navigable for 1,800 miles, and it can take a month to walk on the water. There are many undeveloped forests along the banks of the river, and there are a lot of wood that Qin Lang needs. It is easy to transport, although the journey is definitely farther than in the middle of Shu, but the difficulty of transportation is actually lower.
Red River, coast, canal, this whole water transportation will reduce the transportation time and cost of these giant trees exponentially.
And Qin Lang has another plan, which is to take this opportunity to cut down the wood in Jiaozhou, and after cutting the wood needed for the Daming Palace, he can continue to cut down the trees by the Red River in Jiaozhou and transport them back to Jiaozhou and Guangzhou for shipbuilding.
And if the logging and shipbuilding industry rises, it will inevitably bring about the prosperity of some other industries.
In the guild hall of Chang'an Company, Qin Lang called dozens of managers to discuss matters.
These experienced butlers, shopkeepers, and guys are not easily cultivated. Just like the generals and veterans in the army, they cannot be obtained overnight, but the Qin family also lacks sufficient background , there is no such a large number of management teams, so he needs to use the manpower of various companies to do things.
However, as the manager, Qin Lang still arranged for his own people.
In any case, the Qin family is the real core of the entire firm.
"The first group of one hundred people has already set off from Chang'an. The route is to leave Lantian Wuguan, arrive at Xiangyang, and then go to Changsha, then cross the Xiangjiang River, cross Wuling, enter Guilin via Lingqu, enter Yushui from the Lijiang River, and arrive at Guangzhou. The boat arrived at Jiaozhi, Jiaozhou, and then went up the Red River to inspect both sides of the river and look for the timber we need for the Daming Palace."
"We'll have the details in three months."
Qin Lang shook his head.
"As far as I know, there are rich forest resources on both sides of the Red River in Jiaozhou, and there are a lot of timber we need, so it doesn't take as long as three months. I will give them two months to determine the felling site, and then We are about to start mobilizing people into the mountains to cut trees. What you may not know is that in Jiaozhou, there are dry seasons and rainy seasons. In the dry season, there may be no rain for several months, but in the rainy season, there will be no rain for several months. How to stop, so hurry up."
"I have a task for you. The new year has just passed, so before the end of this year, the felling of the required wood must be completed and sent along the river to Cochin Port."
The total time is only three years, Qin Lang can't let them spend three years on logging and transportation, when the wood arrives in Chang'an, there are still many processes behind it.
"I know time is tight, let's work hard together."
"I have asked the supervisor to make a list of all the wood needed by the supervisor. The wood is of various specifications and shapes. We strive to complete the preliminary processing of these woods in Jiaozhou to facilitate transportation and save time and capacity. "
"I set the construction period before Zhengdan next year. As long as you complete the task ahead of schedule, I will give you a day's reward for every day in advance. If you can advance a month in advance, I will reward you a lot!"
"Of course, if there is ready-made suitable wood in Jiaozhou that can be purchased, we can also buy ready-made ones directly. If the construction period is ahead of schedule, I will continue to be rewarded!"
Qin Lang also wrote to Qiuhe in Jiaozhou, the Ning family in Qinzhou in the Beibu Gulf, and the Feng family and Xian family in Leizhou Peninsula, asking them to assist. However, Qin Lang didn't let them be responsible for cutting and transporting wood, he still prefers commercial operations.
More professional, more direct, and more efficient.
Although it costs more, the money is worth it.
Wood is the most important and troublesome pass. As for the others, it is not a problem. Whether it is glazed tiles or gold bricks, Qin Lang directly sent someone to notify Datang's most famous tile kiln brick yards. It is still privately owned, and Qin Lang directly invites investment and purchases.
Said it was a purchase, but Qin Lang didn't plan to pay the full amount.
He proposed a two-dimensional strategy to those businesses.
For these merchants who supply materials, Qin Lang will carefully select the merchants with the best craftsmanship, the highest efficiency, the best reputation, and the lowest quotation, and order their materials. Once selected, the imperial court will grant them the title of Emperor Merchant.
Huang Shang!
Specifically speaking, it is divided into several levels, such as exclusive suppliers and general suppliers. An exclusive supplier has only one supplier of the same category, while a general supplier can have two or more suppliers for one type of product.
A title of imperial merchant can allow merchants to supply materials for free?
Of course it’s not that simple, businessmen are not stupid, and they don’t hawk when they don’t see rabbits.
But Qin Lang is of course willing to give them some practical sweets in exchange for their things. For example, the merchants who are the exclusive suppliers of the royal family can enjoy the five-tier treatment, and the general suppliers are further divided into one to eight levels, and they respectively enjoy the four-tier treatment. The treatment from the first rank to the ninth rank.
These quality treatment are similar to the treatment of honored officers. There is no salary, but there are some privileges, such as increasing the amount of land occupied, enjoying the corresponding specifications such as housing, carriages, horses, clothing, cemetery, etc., and children can enter the Imperial College or prefectures and counties. They can directly submit suggestions and other rights to the prefectural and county government offices. If they are involved in the case, they must also report it to Dali Temple for review and review.
In short, there are still many practical benefits to be able to obtain the title of Emperor Merchant.
Of course, in addition to this, they are also allowed to engrave their business name, owner name, etc. on the materials they supply, and even after the Daming Palace is built in the future, there will be an inscription on it, which will record the official who presided over the construction , design officials, craftsmen, material suppliers, etc.
In addition, Qin Lang promised that the court newspaper would publish the good names of these royal suppliers and advertise their products.
If you are a brick maker and seller, if you become the exclusive supplier of roof tiles to the Royal Daming Palace, then you will become the number one in the tile industry with double certification from the royal court and the imperial court, and there will be official advertisements for you. You said this Isn't it worth your money?
The name of the royal tile merchant, are you afraid that you won’t be able to earn back the tile money you supplied?
No one has ever done this before. If the government and the court confiscate something from you, it is useless. Who will do any publicity for you and give you any title and treatment.
But now Qin Lang is doing it like this, publicly declaring to the merchants, and writing these in black and white, and signing his own name, and then handing it over to the merchants for them to think about it.
(end of this chapter)