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Volume 1: Fierce Battle in Changsha Chapter 576: Federation of Industry and Commerce

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    The headquarters of the Shanghai Federation of Industry and Commerce is located next to the Xujiahui Holy Public School. Several two-story Western-style buildings were built by Chinese businessmen with funds collected. The first floor is used as a store, and the second floor is the office of the Shanghai Federation of Industry and Commerce.

    Those who came out to greet Xiao Yungui were Tao Enpei, deputy director of Shanghai's Naval Administration Department, Yu Songnian of the Federation of Industry and Commerce, Fang Runzhai, owner of Ningbo company Fangzhenji, Zhao Puzhai, the boss of Shanghai Shachuan Shipping, Li Yeting, the boss of Shanghai's tea silk specialty, and  Shen Daben, the king of the cloth industry, and Wei Hexiang, a Guiyun merchant, and others.  Wei Hexiang is Wei Helin's younger brother. After Wei Helin came to Tianjing to take charge of the Financial Department, Wei Hexiang took over his brother's Guiyun business, and the big boss behind the Guiyun business was actually the King of the West.

    There were dozens of industrial and commercial people, crowded at the door. When many people saw the Xiwang's more than ten luxurious carriages, they wanted to kneel down and salute them. However, they were reminded by several accompanying military and political officials.  They all performed Han rituals.

    Xiao Yungui smiled, got off the carriage and greeted everyone one by one, then he and Yu Songnian entered the general office building together.

    In the lobby of the general office building, everyone sat down separately. Xiao Yungui naturally took the seat of honor, Tao Enpei took the seat on the left, and Yu Songnian sat on the seat on the right. After Yu Songnian sat down on the right, Yu Songnian first said politely: "Your Highness, can you be here?"  It is extremely rare for Yu to condescend to sit down and talk with me and other merchants in the midst of a busy schedule."

    Xiao Yungui smiled and said: "The Kingdom of Heaven treats people from all walks of life equally. Earlier it was said that merchants do not engage in production and just enjoy the benefits. In fact, I don't know that merchants have always been an indispensable part. Since ancient times, merchants have traveled far and near,  Adjusting surplus and shortages, transporting goods, and benefiting the people. Are they people who get something for nothing? How much tax do merchants like me pay every year and how many people they provide jobs for? This achievement is not small."

    Yu Songnian and others all looked happy.  Although the Kingdom of Heaven has issued decrees to support industry and commerce, the King of the West has never praised merchants in public, and he always praises them in public.  Xiao Yungui continued: "Everyone here is a wealthy and wealthy businessman who is famous in Shanghai. I meet you today. Firstly, I want to get acquainted with you, get to know the gentlemen, and secondly, we are also talking about business. Here.  I¡¯m here to discuss a deal with you, Mr. Yu can introduce each one to me one by one.¡±

    After a few polite words, Yu Songnian stood up and introduced everyone present to Xiao Yungui one by one.  Every businessman introduced stood up to salute, and Xiao Yungui also stood up to return the salute.  Everyone saw that Xiao Yungui's appearance and speech were rough and arrogant, but his actions were polite and without the airs of a prince.  Everyone was amazed.

    After the introduction, Yu Songnian raised his hand and said: "His Royal Highness the King of the West, I have waited for the merchants in Shanghai to know that Your Highness is coming, so we specially prepared some small gifts to honor Your Highness, and please accept them." After saying this, he ordered his entourage to send the gift list.

    Xiao Yungui took it with a smile, looked at it, stood up and thanked him: "Everyone is interested. Since it is your sincere thought, I will accept it without being respectful." Then he turned to Tao Enpei and said: "Mr. Tao, these are  The value of the gift is more than one hundred thousand taels. Isn¡¯t the Shanghai Administrative Department planning to set up a civil affairs shelter recently? These gifts have been donated, and I will remember to engrave the names of all the bosses in the list of benevolent persons."

    The Civil Affairs Shelter was founded by Tao Enpei, mainly to take care of and support some disabled and helpless people in society.  It is also a joint upgrade of the original Celestial Home for the Elderly, the Salesian Bureau and other charity departments, aiming to provide food, clothing and care for people who are unable to work in society.

    At that moment, Tao Enpei stood up with a smile and took it, and then thanked Yu Songnian and others. Yu Songnian stood up hurriedly and said: "Your Highness, there is no need for this. I will raise money to donate to Tao Gong's charity later. These gifts  Please accept it, Your Highness."

    Xiao Yungui waved his hand and said with a smile: "Officials in the Kingdom of Heaven are governed by laws and regulations and are not allowed to accept bribes. Although these gifts are not considered bribes, they are still additional income. If you don't accept them, you will look bad. If you accept them, I will be ruined.  According to the law, it is best to donate it. You don¡¯t need to persuade me any more. As long as you have spare capacity for charity, I welcome it, but the Kingdom of Heaven will not force donations like the Manchu Qing Dynasty did, so you can rest assured.¡±

    After listening to Xi Wang's words, the owners of some small businesses smiled brightly and felt a huge shock in their hearts. Originally, they were only making small profits, so they had no choice but to contribute to Xi Wang. If they were asked to donate money to the civil affairs shelter, it would be too much for them.  , This is the good thing about the Taiping Army. They will never force donations like the Manchu Qing Dynasty. This is what the Taiping Army says.  For example, before the expedition to Guangdong and Guangxi last year, the Heavenly Kingdom's court made extensive loans to private merchants and sold war bonds. At the end of last year, the first batch of interest was returned, and the companies that purchased more businesses also made a lot of money. Heavenly Kingdom's reputation is excellent.  There is no need to mobilize this year's war bonds. Many businesses are rushing to buy them, and even many civilians are rushing to buy them.

    Yu Songnian praised a few words and then asked: "His Highness said before that he had a big deal to discuss with us. What kind of deal is it?"

    Xiao Yungui took a sipAfter drinking, he slowly said: "I heard that many business owners have not invested money to expand the scale of business after making money recently. I have also inquired in private. First, it is because the bosses feel that after expanding business,  The things produced are difficult to sell, for example, boss Shen Shen¡¯s several cloth factories and silk reeling factories, I heard that no more new factories were built because of limited sales channels.¡±

    When Shen Daben heard his name, he hurriedly stood up and saluted: "Your Highness, there is really nothing we can do about this. I also want to build more factories, but the consumption of fabrics in Jiangsu and Zhejiang is limited, and many retail stores  There are only so many orders, and the villain¡¯s fabrics and silk reeling cannot be sold overseas, so we don¡¯t dare to build new factories.¡±

    Xiao Yungui smiled and pressed a few times before saying: "Boss Shen, don't worry, I am not blaming you. We business people are just worried that the goods cannot be sold. There are so many people in the country who need goods, foreign goods,  There are so many local products that they have almost carved up the entire market in coastal areas such as Jiangsu and Zhejiang, so there are indeed concerns about expanding the scale."

    "The first point is not your fault, so let's not mention it for now, but the second point is that after all the bosses made money, they still only want to buy land on a large scale." At this point, Xiao Yungui looked at Yu Songnian,  He said calmly: "I heard that the Yu family recently bought another 300 acres of fertile land in Baoshan. Isn't it enough to have tens of thousands of acres of fertile land in Mr. Yu's family?"

    Yu Songnian was shocked. The Kingdom of Heaven has laws that strictly prohibit private land sales, especially farmland used for farming. The three hundred acres of fertile land were taken away by Yu Songnian and turned into wasteland for land sales.  , but I don¡¯t know how the King of the West learned about it.

    At that moment, Yu Songnian stood up with a pale face and said: "Your Highness, I, this"

    Xiao Yungui waved his hand and said, "Mr. Yu, sit down and talk. I know that those fields of yours were bought for your two newborn sons. Last year, your third and sixth concubines gave birth to a child for your Yu family.  What a happy event. We Chinese people always regard land as our heart and soul. We always feel that our family is rich and has only a few acres of land, but our hearts are not at ease."

    Yu Songnian was even more surprised. King Xi even knew the reason why he bought the land. He had two more sons last year and was always worried that his land would not be enough in the future, so he took the risk and bought three  Hundred acres of land.

    Xiao Yungui continued: "Actually, it's not just Yu Gong, all the bosses here have done large-scale land sales. In the past few years, each company has bought at least three thousand acres of land." The bosses of each business were shocked.  Many people had sweat on their foreheads.

    Xiao Yungui said calmly: "Now that the situation in the country has finally stabilized, it is because many farmers who have no land to cultivate are working in the factories and workshops you have set up to make a living. Now you no longer invest in expanding factories, but have begun to purchase land.  , this will cause more people to lose their land, and won¡¯t these people rise up to rebel again in the future?¡±

    Seeing that everyone was speechless, Xiao Yungui sighed softly and said: "I have also inquired about it. Fortunately, the land purchased by the bosses is a fair transaction, and the sellers are mostly family members of soldiers who died in battle. Most of these military family members have families.  Although the old, young, women and children received pensions and allocated fields based on military merit, some families really did not have the labor force to cultivate the land. The law of the Kingdom of Heaven stipulates that fields that have been idle for more than one year can be taken over as state property, so they had no choice but to sell their fields. Everyone.  When the boss made the acquisition, it was considered a fair transaction, and he did not take anything by force. The amount was only a few dozen or a hundred acres each time, and the quantity was not large, so I turned a blind eye. But if things go on like this,  It¡¯s not a big deal, if every wealthy businessman does this, sooner or later the landless peasants will rise up in rebellion.¡±

    "Actually, I don't blame the bosses at all. There is still a loophole in the decree issued by our Kingdom of Heaven. After the land is divided, whether the people who are allocated are capable of farming are not considered. The Kingdom of Heaven will soon issue a decree to re-regulate the law of land distribution and continue to restrict it.  Land transaction. I hope all the bosses can redeem the land they acquired to the Heavenly Court, and the Court will distribute it to those in need."

    Yu Songnian and others only stood up and verbally agreed. Xiao Yungui continued: "I know that you are not willing to do so. Since there is no market for expanding production and we cannot buy land, should the money you earn just sit there and mold?  In fact, I am here this time to discuss this solution with everyone, and let¡¯s do big business together.¡±

    When Yu Songnian and others heard this, they finally brightened up. Since the King of the West blocked the road to buy land, there must be another way for everyone to take. At that moment, Yu Songnian hurriedly asked: "What's the big deal, Your Highness?"  You can talk to me clearly about buying and selling."

    Xiao Yungui smiled slightly and said, "Do you know about the Netherlands?" Everyone nodded. The Netherlands has been trading with China since the late Ming Dynasty, how could you not know?

    Xiao Yungui continued: "This Dutch country is ruled by merchants. Although the country has only a few million people, it has been able to run rampant for more than a hundred years because all the people in the country are merchants. And they are like thisAre you doing business together?  Domestic businessmen and even ordinary people have invested in a company formed by the Netherlands, which is called the Dutch East India Company" (To be continued)
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