Chapter 13 Jiangnan Commercial Bank

Next time, Hu Chuyuan sent Yan Shizhang to the river port. When the ship had left, he returned to the Hu family compound.

I have discussed with several shopkeepers yesterday, and they have also stated that if Lord Zuo Zongtang and Hu Chuyuan have the same idea, then do it according to Hu Chuyuan's intention.

Therefore, Hu Chuyuan returned to the Hu family compound and went directly to the Rongdong courtyard.

Zuo Zongtang has the habit of going to bed early and getting up early. He is practicing boxing in the garden. He plays very slowly and looks like Tai Chi. He wears a pair of golden crystal glasses on his nose frame. These are his presbyopia glasses.

Zuo Zongtang's eyesight was very good when he was young, but in recent years it has become worse and worse. In addition to the problem of his age, it also has something to do with his love for reading in his later years.

This time, he returned to the governor of Liangjiang. The reason why he has been staying in the Hu family compound is to recuperate in Hangzhou - he has a serious eye disease and it is difficult to deal with government affairs.

Hu Chuyuan waited by the garden for a long time. After a whole set of punches, Zuo Zongtang stopped to stop and asked Hu Chuyuan, "Has the foreign military debt been completed?"

Hu Chuyuan replied, "In return to Zhongtang, my shopkeeper has sent someone to inform that the foreign bank is willing to mortgage debts with each other, and it will take a few days to process them properly."

Zuo Zongtang took a wet and hot towel from Xiao Shen's general who served him, wiped his sweat, and let Hu Chuyuan sit down in the corridor with him. He said, "So, the Xiang army owes your family's military pay more than 13 million taels of silver. Don't you worry about the Xiang army?"

Hu Chuyuan smiled and said, "Why are you worried? Even if Liangjiang Yamen has no money at present, they will eventually have money in the future!"

Zuo Zongtang took a meaningful look at Hu Chuyuan, hiding a trace of disdain, and said, "Money is not so easy to make. I have secretly spent a lot of energy on the salt business of the two rivers, and the progress I have made is also limited. Besides, your father's silk industry is so big now, accounting for half of Jiangsu and Zhejiang silk exports. The annual profit is only two million taels of silver, which is not equal to the consumption of my 60,000 army for half a year.

After a pause, he sighed again: "Money has always been like drawing silk, and spending is like running water. Your father's ability to make money can't support my military horse first in the world. He borrows everywhere and spends like a year."

Hu Chuyuan said, and there was not too much echo.

Zuo Zongtang asked him again, "Have you ever thought that if so much debt is pressed in your home, you can't raise money to buy raw silk. In case you fail to get the Jianghuai salt industry, what will you rely on to make money in the future? How can you raise the military pay of the Xiang army?"

Hu Chuyuan said, "In fact, I have also calculated that once my father dies, the silk merchants in the south of the Yangtze River will definitely compete with me for the territory of silk collection. Not to mention others, there are two large traditional silk merchants in Hangzhou alone, Song and Huang. The Huang family is also engaged in the salt industry, and the family is rich. In addition, the four elephants and eight cows in Huzhou, Su Xichang's Yan, Wan, Cheng, Qian and Wu can't be underestimated. As for Tang Yanshu, Xu Run, Ningbo Shangbang and Shaoxing Shangbang in Shanghai, who is not eyeing? This year's acquisition of Xia Si will definitely have a war for silk. I'm afraid that next year's spring silk will be more fierce, but not everyone may be able to make money!"

Zuo Zongtang meditated and said after a while, "Your father once told me that he fought hard with the Song family for two years in order to seize the Hangzhou silk market. Later, he also spent a lot of energy to acquire Huzhou silk and Wuxi silk, and he didn't make much money for two or three years. It's not appropriate for your father to fight the country. Don't give up easily. The ancients said that the filial piety has not changed his father for three years. This is your own property. It's not convenient for me to say more, and I can only say these for your reference!"

Hu Chuyuan smiled bitterly in his heart and said secretly: You let me carry so many debts, and you want me to adhere to my father's business and continue to buy raw silk. What kind of joke is this?

He can only answer: "If you don't break it, you won't stand up." At present, except for Hangsi, I will give up the acquisition of raw silk in other prefectures. There are reasons and goals for me to do so, because my way to make raw silk is different from my father's. I want to take advantage of others to rush to buy raw silk, and secretly set up a business firm to operate tea shredded rice, tobacco, sugar and salt, distribute goods in Shanghai and market them in the south of the Yangtze River. There are branches in all prefectures and counties. When my business firm has a firm, I will plan to build a silk reeling factory. The scale does not need to be large, specializing in domestic sales, and then steadily expand outwards.

Zuo Zongtang's eyes lit up slightly and said, "That's okay. Are you sure you can make money?"

Hu Chuyuan insisted and said, "Yes. Shopping malls are like battlefields, and they pay attention to strange harmony. On the right track, I have a large amount of goods and a large amount of goods, so I can lower the freight price; one of my clerk is worth five, as long as I do a large amount of goods. Other clerks only know silk, and my clerk is proficient in everything, which is equivalent to reducing labor costs and salaries. In this way, my goods are both good and cheap. When my business is stable, I will expand to the upstream. I want to make black tea in Fujian, southern Zhejiang and Huizhou, silk in Hangzhou and Huzhou, cotton in Jianghuai, sugar cane in Taiwan, and rubber trees in Hainan. The larger the production and sales volume, the lower the cost, and the cheaper the price. How can others compete with me?

Zuo Zongtang couldn't help praising: "The two armies are against each other, and it is easy to win. It's really the right way. What about your Qidao?

Hu Chuyuan said, "The official office. The governor of Liangjiang Yamen invested 20% of the shares, but the pure profit was transferred to Zhongtang for 20% of the military pay, and the other 5% of the pure profit was used for public welfare charity, the opening of the school, the opening of the National Academy and the agronomy Academy, but the commercial banks in various places of the miscellaneous taxes, please also ask the Zhongtang to cancel it. In this way, the business is less profitable than other people's taxes. As for other tricks, I won't go into details.

"Is that so?"

Zuo Zongtang can't help but have some doubts. The exemption of miscellaneous taxes is of great importance. It is not easy to decide, but it is not impossible. Shanghai Shipping Merchants Bureau has been exempted from a lot of miscellaneous taxes.

If Hu Chuyuan can really make this business firm bigger, the annual net profit dividend will be very amazing, and there will be a lot of dividends that can be drawn by the governor's office of Liangjiang. At that time, the army's military pay will not be a problem.

After ponding for a long time, Zuo Zongtang asked, "Have you thought about the name of this firm?"

As soon as Hu Chuyuan heard it, he knew that Zuo Zongtang agreed. At least he was willing to support him to do it for a period of time to see the effect. He immediately said, "If you have thought about it, it will be called Jiangnan Commercial Bank. When the commercial bank is very profitable, I will open the Jiangnan Agricultural Museum to recruit talents to study the study of mulberry tea and cotton animals, which will be widely promoted in the south of the Yangtze River. Open the Jiangnan National Academy again, invite Confucianism to give a lecture, continue to open the Jiangnan West Academy to study Western academics, open the Jiangnan Medical Museum to combine Chinese and Western medicine, and then open the Jiangnan Engineering Museum to hire Western technicians to teach foreign skills and train craftsmen.

Bang.

Zuo Zongtang high-fiveed hard and said, "Okay, okay, okay. You are very good at this method. Well, Ben Zhongtang will support you to plan to build this Jiangnan business. Whether you can compete with foreigners in the future depends on your ability.

Hu Chuyuan smiled happily and said, "Thank you, Lord Zhongtang. I will definitely do it with all my strength!"

Zuo Zongtang said again, "The best thing about your method is to let Ben Zhongtang find a way to solve the mystery of the salt industry. We will build this Jiangnan commercial bank, which is run by official stock merchants and sells the salt industry. Isn't this better than the salt ticket method? In this case, how can the court disagree?

Hu Chuyuan thought about it and thought it was the truth.

Among the various enterprises opened by the Westernization Movement, the official stock business is the easiest to succeed. As long as the government does not manage it and gives good policy benefits, and the businessmen themselves have the ability, they will definitely do it well.

In addition, once Zuo Zongtang and the court decide to support the development of Jiangnan Commercial Bank, it will gradually become a huge chaebol.

It can be said that the road that Hu Chuyuan wants to take is the road of the Mitsui family, the first chaebol.

During this period, the four chaebol families of Japan have transitioned from privileged merchants of the Tokugawa shogunate to capitalist chaebols. It was their defection that made the political axe army loyal to the Japanese emperor finally defeat the shogunate army, and they also gained more privileges in the new economy of Japan.

Seeing that the time was ripe, Hu Chuyuan seized the opportunity and said to Zuo Zongtang, "Zhongtang, in fact, there is another thing to open up the market of the business!"

Finding that Hu Chuyuan was still very powerful, Zuo Zongtang couldn't help asking with some interest, "Then you can talk about it!"

Hu Chuyuan said, "The wilderness in the north, even if the climate improves next year, the fields have been abandoned for so long, and the people do not even grow grain, this famine is likely to spread to next year. I want to use the signboard of Jiangnan Commercial Bank first, buy rice along the river in Huguang, Jiangxi and Anhui, transport it all the way to Yantai and Tianjin, and then find a way to escort it to Jiangxi, Hebei, Shaanxi and Xinjiang Province. The commercial bank can not only make some money, but also solve the local famine.

Zuo Zongtang quietly frowned and sighed, "Although you have some abilities and ideas, you still don't have real business experience after all. Chu Yuan, think about it carefully. People who really have money to buy rice are not short of rice. How can those hungry people who want to buy rice have money? In fact, the north has long been in chaos, and it is difficult to pass through all places. If not, I would not have been able to recruit the imperial court back to the capital, let alone suspend the war in Xinjiang to return to the two rivers.

Hu Chuyuan had a countermeasure and immediately said, "I have a way. If I can transport rice to all counties and towns, and let the hungry people exchange rice for rice in the locality, the contract stipulates that the land rent will not be collected within three years, and the tenant will not be changed within ten years, but the tenant can only grow grain and can only be sold to commercial banks. Of course, the price of my land deed will never be lower than the land price of previous years.

Well...!

Zuo Zongtang has been meditating for a long time and has been weighing it in his heart.

He knew that Hu Chuyuan's method was good, but the risk was also very high. Of course, it was not a danger of transportation. As long as he reported to the court, he could send the Xiang army to escort him all the way.

The question is that if it is exchanged like this, the amount of land that the commercial firm can control is very amazing. Can the court tolerate it?

In case it occupies half of Shanxi Province, the court is afraid that it will be difficult to sleep and eat.

Zuo Zongtang thought silently for a long time before saying to Hu Chuyuan, "The method is good, which is enough to prove that your business is not worse than your father's. The problem is... If the number of purchases is too large, I'm afraid you will be suspected.

Hu Chuyuan said, "Then I still have a way. I buy a certain amount of land in the local area to open a grain club. I choose those farmers who are slightly fluent and good at household work, and let them jointly run the grain cooperatives. Few people know how many grain cooperatives belong to the commercial bank. Even if you know one of them, you may not know the other one. In addition, I turned it into zero, and the commercial bank was responsible for shipping it to the county and town, selecting rich gentry to cooperate in the local area, and they were responsible for the exchange.

Zuo Zongtang couldn't help but feel a sense of horror.

He also met a lot of powerful businessmen, Hu Xueyan, Qiao Zhiyong, Xu Run, Ye Wenlan... He has never seen it, but there is really no one who is more flexible, more innovative and bold than Hu Chuyuan.

After a moment of meditation, Zuo Zongtang finally nodded and said, "Ouch, let's do it. The Hunan army has 32 battalions, and I have 21 in my hands, most of which are in Xinjiang Province. At present, I can only transfer out three battalions, and the soldiers are divided into three ways, going all the way and selling all the way. I reported to the imperial court again, and asked the green camps in various places to prevent the famine on the grounds of transporting grain to the local area to suppress the famine.

Hu Chuyuan smiled happily and said, "Thank you, Lord Zhongtang. I'm going back to do the details. While handling the rice transportation, I have recruited all the facades and clerks from all over the country in the past few months!"

Zuo Zongtang nodded calmly and said, "Yes. It's a pity that most of your silk industry will be destroyed in the past two years. This is all your father's hard work. It has been handed over for many years. Seeing this situation, I really can't stand it. It's hard to tell. It's still unknown whether you can rely on this Jiangnan merchant to recover the lost land of the Jiangsu and Zhejiang silk industry in the future. You should be prepared.

Hu Chuyuan nodded silently, so he said goodbye to Zuo Zongtang and went back to prepare for Jiangnan Commercial Bank.