New Shun 1730

"I'll remind you again."

"Western trade and the development of Ezo are all about money. It's okay if you have it, but if you don't have it, life will be tight. It didn't happen before, and hasn't it been like this in all dynasties? But have you ever heard that water transportation can be done without water in all dynasties? ?”

"This rice is different."

"This is similar to the Dutch East India Company and the British East India Company, which both have armies, the power to wage war, and administrative powers. But our Western Trading Company must not have an army or have the power to wage war. It is the same principle. "

"This is different, special."

"It's true that when three people travel together, they must have my teacher, and it's also true that they can learn from foreigners and learn skills. But it's the same as learning from history, you have to learn it thoroughly, and you don't just copy it, like learning to walk in Handan, carving a boat, looking for a sword, and waiting for the rabbit."

"The Western Trading Company can spend military funds to 'please' the imperial court to send troops to fight, which is the biggest concession."

"For this rice trade to become a comprador deal between the government and merchants, it is already the biggest concession."

"The more important the matter, the more conservative the court will choose."

"Don't let you think that is better, let the court think that is better. The court has been exposed to the comprador system, but the joint-stock system is still a new thing, especially when it comes to the issue of rice production that is related to the national economy and people's livelihood, it can only choose the most conservative method."

After that, Liu Yu said again: "Moreover, if it is a joint-stock system, do you think you shareholders will have a say when it comes to rice? Then what is the difference between this and government-run farmland?"

"You guys, I'm not humiliating you. You businessmen always think that good things are yours. You want to make money but don't want to take responsibility. How can there be such a good thing in the world?"

"Are you going to do it or not? If you don't do it, I'll find someone else. Don't think I'm just saying that funds are not a problem at all. No one is willing to lend to small farmers, but there are plenty of people to build large plantations with stable prices. Willing to borrow money.”

These big businessmen just wanted to bargain and see if they could get better terms.

Or perhaps, as Liu Yu said, the business atmosphere and environment in Songjiang Mansion over the past decade or so have really made these businessmen forget their last names.

Seeing that Liu Yu was a little dissatisfied, Lin Yunwen hurriedly came out to smooth things over.

"My lord, calm down your anger. Calm down your anger. It will give us less to think about."

"There are many nephews and sons in the family present. It is also a good thing to ask them to take care of Nanyang's property. As for farming, I don't know how. If there are those who are willing to be the head of the farm, they will know how."

"But, will the imperial court force us to be victims of the disaster?"

"For example, there was a disaster in the Yellow River one year, with millions of victims. Will the court let us share some of the victims? Even if we are not short of people now, will the court force them on us?"

Liu Yu stretched out two fingers, his face as serious as ever.

"First of all, this won't happen. I guarantee you."

"Secondly, as Nanyang gradually develops, it will only resent the small number of people, but not the large number of people. When Western trade develops, instead of growing food, growing coffee, cotton, and indigo all require people."

"At that time, you will only find it difficult to understand why the Yellow River flooded once this year, and why there was a severe drought in the Huaihe River this year."

What these businessmen are waiting for are the words "I protect you" from Liu Yu.

Hearing these four words, they all felt relieved, thinking that Liu Yu was now in his prime, and it was the time when the emperor's grace was great. No matter how you look at it, it's still thirty or fifty years.

It is impossible for the imperial court to come forward to guarantee anything. The imperial court has no habit of guaranteeing anything. However, Liu Yu's personal statement is still acceptable. With many years of credibility, the businessmen are relieved.

As for looking forward to disaster, that is a heart-breaking statement, but in fact, if Nanyang really develops, it is impossible to say whether you think so in your heart.

In order to make them feel more at ease, Liu Yu cupped his hands and said: "Now that the Holy Emperor is in power, he is extremely wise and can distinguish between good and bad, loyal and traitorous. Moreover, he has also experienced the Ceylon emigration, so he is not the one who does not know the truth among the people. "

"Dead people are bound to die. You don't have to be afraid that someone will use the dead to talk things over. Judging from the colonization of Taiwan and the migration of people to Ceylon, some people from the Huanghuai Central Plains are not accustomed to the acclimatization... half and half."

"But when it comes to it, this matter is not about how much subsidy each citizen is given, but how much money you spend to hire people to do the work."

"If we were to give people a certain amount of subsidies for cultivating each one, you would probably be able to kill them all at sea to defraud the subsidies. But hiring people to do the work is different."

"So, you can rest assured that the court will not punish you just because half of the people died in the resettlement."

"Other than that, if you have any concerns, just ask."

Hearing that Liu Yulian had taken this into consideration, the businessmen had nothing to worry about.

Although the specific details have not yet been discussed, they have roughly considered what to do based on their years of experience.

Land cannot be cultivated in the first year.

Reclamation costs money.

This all requires investment.

Including buying cattle, ironware, farm tools, and seeds. When building a house to live in, although Nanyang is not cold, at least it must be protected from rain.

As for how to make money, that's simple.

Rice is expensive, so workers don’t eat rice.

Plant some cassava, sweet potatoes, potatoes, jackfruit and other things for the workers to eat.

Isn’t that what Japan does too? They have to sell the rice and then buy cheap grain to eat.

As for finding someone, they don’t have to do it themselves.

As long as the industry is developed, people will buy people in disaster areas or various places.

For example, if a tenant farmer owes a loan shark, ten taels of silver is completely unaffordable. At that time, he would pay off the debt with ten taels of silver, give the traffickers some agency fees, and go to Nanyang to work and pay off the debt.

Of course, in Dashun, this is not called slavery. This is called contract labor.

Or, if a coastal area is hit by a disaster, there will definitely be a special industrial chain in the future. Traffickers bring food and go to the disaster area to pick people, just like visiting a cattle and horse market. After picking the right people, they prepare food along the way, send these people to the ship, collect money and leave; the ship sends them to Nanyang, and they just take over there.

At this cost, it is definitely profitable, and it is a lot of money.

Think about it again, it is indeed as Liu Yu said, if Nanyang really develops in the future, I am really afraid that the Yellow River will not flood.

Even if cotton and indigo are grown in the future, the food problem must be guaranteed first. If the food is guaranteed, the cost of transporting people there in the future will be lower.

If we calculate again, assuming the average cost is 20 to 30 taels of silver per person, and the fixed price of the imperial court's rice is 1 tael and 21 shi, it should be possible to recover the investment in one or two years.

All the profits will be earned in the future.

They also know in their hearts that they are different from small farmers.

The so-called crops are not harvested, but they are planted every year.

But for small farmers, not harvesting this year means bankruptcy, which means selling the only land they have, or borrowing usury.

For them, if they don't harvest this year, they will lose money at most, and will not be forced to sell land to raise money; if they harvest next year, the money they lost last year will be earned back.

Moreover, according to the normal rice price in Nanyang, the profit from growing rice may be lower; according to the comprador price set by the court, it is not low.

But this is imperial rice, and you may lose your head if you don't do it well. So let's ensure the output of imperial rice first, and after that, plant whatever makes money in the future.

I think the court will allocate some land to them, and the profit will definitely not be small. As long as the grain can be guaranteed, the tax-free land allocated will be used, and the court will turn a blind eye to what can be planted in the future.

Some people even thought of some ways to deal with possible escape of farmhands from the experience of sugarcane plantations and sugar factories in the past.

The sugarcane plantations in Nanyang relied on the Dutch to capture those without residence permits and force them to accept low wages.

Now that Dashun has gone to Nanyang, and the policy is obviously to encourage going to Nanyang to ease the contradiction between people and land, this is not acceptable.

But this businessman thought of what Liu Yu said about learning from history is not learning from others, but grasping the essence, and he thought of the essence.

I just hate that I can't have weapons like Westerners, otherwise, if I have guns and cannons in my hands, I will attack those Nanyang people specifically, burn and rob.

In this way, the two sides will have a great hatred. In this way, even if the farmhand wants to run, there is nowhere to run - if he runs outside and is caught by the Nanyang locals who have a great hatred, he will die.

Isn't this the essence of using sugarcane plantations to do hard labor by the Dutch? When doing business, you should learn and apply it flexibly and grasp the essence.

This is also the normal thinking of businessmen. They will not first consider how to increase wages to prevent others from fleeing; instead, they will first preset low wages for profit, and then consider how to make people have to accept it.

Liu Yu also knew their virtues very well.

It's just that the premise of controlling Nanyang is population.

In economics, there is an invisible hand. It is said that with the development of Nanyang, more people will naturally go underground to Nanyang, and various plantation economies will develop.

However, the invisible hand has a lag.

In addition, the transportation and trade of this era are often calculated in years.

Then we can only intervene artificially, use the issue of grain transport, quickly enrich the population of Nanyang, and prepare for the demand for economic crops such as plantation economy, cotton dyeing, etc. under the guidance of the upcoming Western trade.

Grain transport is also the only feasible "state intervention" method that Dashun can use.

Although life in Nanyang may be hard, it is better than the fate of starving to death, disasters, uprisings and massacres in the Huanghuai area.

The main reason is that several densely populated poor areas are in an awkward position.

Going to Meng, the Northeast, and the Western Regions are not close, so they can only go to Nanyang. And this is not Fujian or Guangdong, so it is impossible to go to Nanyang spontaneously, so capital can only take the lead.

Although it is cruel, there is no other way.

Under the current conditions, there is only one kind of real benevolence that can save them, that is, the wages of working in factories can support them without having to go to Nanyang. And even if the initial industrialization reaches the steam textile era, it is estimated that it will not be much better. There are many bonded women workers who are bound for three or four years with ten taels of silver.

In the future, only they can save them, and industrialization only creates a material basis for them to save themselves.

But the first step of Dashun's industrialization must take Nanyang as an opportunity to open up external markets. Otherwise, without an external market, domestic dumping would impact the small peasant economy, and Dashun would inevitably quickly and comprehensively react.

The court and the emperor were not stupid at all. They knew what the foundation of the stability of the country was.

The issue of the grain transport was a huge concession made by the emperor because of the Huai River control, considering many issues such as the resettlement of the people, reducing burdens and increasing taxes.

This matter must be accomplished by taking advantage of the situation. If it is missed, it will be gone.

Seeing that most of these merchants had accepted it, Liu Yu said: "It's better to settle this matter quickly. Once it is done, it must be done first and beautifully."

"What do you mean by beautiful? Once the money is in place, the rice can be sent to the capital very quickly. You must buy it in the first year. Since you want to do this, you should prepare for it this year."

"This is also the reason why I look for you first. The money in your hands can be turned over. Don't worry, the Western Trade Company has such a small space. It is impossible to eat alone and share shares for others to grab. So don't worry about the issue of the Western Trade Company's shareholding. The pit left for you is far worse than your net worth. Even if you deposit more cash in advance, you will not have the opportunity to invest it all."

"Not to mention that those people in the capital are also eagerly waiting to invest, I also left a large share for the Dutch. A total of tens of millions of taels, a share, not much."