At noon, more than a hundred maritime merchants from all over the southeast entered the main courtyard of the Yinghai Ambassador's residence.

The spacious Mingyuan Hall couldn't accommodate it, so some people could only stand outside the door and listen. Fortunately, the side doors of Mingyuan Hall were fully open today, so there was no need to worry about not being able to hear the sound.

There was only Zhu Yuan in the main seat, sitting on the right side of the large conference table. After all, he couldn't block his ancestor's sword, right?

Hua Gao and Wu Zhen have left.

The two of them understood that today was Zhu Yuan's home court. They came over in advance to understand his thoughts and took the initiative to leave.

After all, there are too many things to be busy with.

When everyone was standing or sitting, actively or passively finding their seats, Zhu Yuan clapped his hands habitually, glanced around, and said, "Then, let's start now."

All the merchants immediately gave up their hands or responded, and some people who were lucky enough to be seated due to their age or reputation even subconsciously stood up.

Zhu Yuan had to press his hands and wait for everyone to be quiet before he said: "I have bothered everyone to travel all the way and wait for these days in Dinghai. I will not talk nonsense and go straight to the topic. First of all, what everyone is most concerned about is the future of the sea."

Trade Rules.”

With that said, Zhu Yuan picked out a piece of information from a pile of information at hand, pushed it toward the center of the long table, and said: "Let me talk about what everyone is most concerned about first. This is the recent draft made by the Yinghai Division based on the laws and regulations related to shipping in the past dynasties.

The new Daming City Shipping Ordinance, however, is a temporary regulation, that is, it will be implemented temporarily. It is planned to revise some of the regulations that may not be appropriate, such as tax rates, restrictions on the entry and exit of goods, etc., according to the specific implementation conditions one year later.

Wait, and then we will locate the final law.”

At this point, Zhu Yuan paused for a moment before continuing: "The emperor of the Han Dynasty made three chapters of the law, and the Han Dynasty prospered because of it. This shows the importance of rules and the key to law. Once the shipping law is finalized, it will not be changed in the next ten years."

Therefore, everyone can rest assured to follow the rules and continue their business in the future. At that time, as long as you do business within the scope of the law, you will no longer have to worry about anything else."

What concerns?

Orders change in the morning and evening, morning and evening, morning and evening, morning and evening, morning and evening, morning and evening, morning and evening, morning and evening, morning and evening, morning and evening.

After Zhu Yuan finished speaking, more than a hundred pairs of eyes inside and outside the hall were eagerly staring at the book, which was not too thick.

Since they were merchants, even without the corresponding insights of a later generation like Zhu Yuan, all maritime merchants understood the significance of a law that everyone could refer to.

"You can take this draft by yourself later and circulate it to each other. If you have any opinions, you can also submit them to Yinghai Division. However, there are only three days. After three days, I will send it to Jinling for my ancestors to review. I will wait for my ancestors to review it.

With permission, this decree will be implemented on a trial basis. At the same time, the Maritime Affairs Department will also set up Municipal Shipping Divisions in Mingzhou and Quanzhou respectively. When Guangdong is pacified, there will be a Guangzhou Municipal Shipping Division."

After giving everyone a little time to digest, Zhu Yuan continued: "Then, let's start the next topic."

Opening another document, Zhu Yuan raised his head and glanced at everyone, and then said: "Since we have called everyone to Mingzhou, we will not simply announce a new municipal shipping law. Everyone should also know that the imperial army is currently on the Northern Expedition.

, the Northern Expedition needs food and wages. The decay of the Yuan Dynasty has caused the inland canals to fall into disrepair, so we can only consider transporting food by sea. I, the sea envoy of the battalion, and the naval governor's office next door have been taking care of this matter recently."

As soon as these words were said, someone was already rushing to say: "Expelling the barbarians and restoring China has been the wish of the sons of the Han family for hundreds of years. My lord, if the court has dispatches, the Shen family of Changzhou is willing to spend all his family wealth to support the army. There is no doubt about it."

.”

Zhu Yuan looked over and saw that it was the third son of the Shen family whom he had met once before at the dock.

The question is, why are you so excited?

Everyone else inside and outside Mingyuan Hall understood the difficulties Shen had encountered recently, and could understand Shen Mao's statement. While they all agreed with it, they also complained in their hearts.

The Shen family is willing to spend all their wealth, so tell it in private!

Isn't it embarrassing for everyone in such a large crowd?

Zhu Yuan listened to the buzzing of voices expressing loyalty around him, and had to press his hand again and push forward another document in front of him: "It is not necessary to spend all your wealth, but it does require everyone's efforts, but we will not let everyone

For free, here is a plan for setting up a sea trading company that I recently conceived."

Facing another group of jealous people, Zhu Yuan continued: "Let me first briefly explain that the so-called 'company' can be understood as a business entity that cooperates with each other to engage in certain production or trading activities. If you change the name, such as 'business name', you may

I understand. However, 'company' is also different."

At this point, Zhu Yuan looked for his own memo next to him, flipped through it, and then continued: "To put it simply, Yinghai Division plans to publicly release 10 company licenses. I won't go around too much. Each license is priced at 200,000 taels.

Silver. Moreover, I also want to explain that this money is not meant to be put into my personal pocket, nor is it put into the pocket of the court. It is also used to open up the ocean. The Yinghai Division plans to build a navigation lighthouse in the near future, which is better than the beacon on Zhaobaoshan.

The kind of lanterns that cover the offshore islands. In the future, when merchant ships enter the Daming Sea, they can follow the lanterns all the way home. Think about that scene. In addition, there are also the construction of various docks, the opening of maritime schools, and the development of better maritime systems.

Boats, etc."

"10 licenses have been obtained. You can continue your maritime trade business in the future. Those who do not have licenses, unfortunately, you can only change careers. If you continue forcibly, it will be regarded as smuggling. I hope you will not make a mistake and lead to the disaster of confiscating your family and exterminating your family."

.”

Buzz…

Discussions resumed.

Two hundred thousand taels of silver per license is not unacceptable to many maritime merchants, not to mention the promise of using it at sea. However, there are more than a hundred people inside and outside this hall, and ten licenses, this...how?

Enough points!

Zhu Yuan pressed his hands again, but seeing that it was no use, he had to clapped his palms: "Everyone, listen to me."

When the hall became quiet again, Zhu Yuan continued: "I just said, the premise of a company license is a company, which is also a business entity that cooperates with each other. It does not mean that each license can only be given to one of you, but to each of your companies.

We can join forces to obtain a license, establish a company, and operate together.”

call……

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

This little adult... really almost scared people to death.

Zhu Yuan waited for everyone to calm down and continued: "I hope you won't interrupt me again and wait for me to finish."

"I generally understand the risks of maritime trade. Therefore, I believe that adopting a company system and sharing risks with each other will be more sustainable."

"I have to remind you that you must be careful when choosing your partners. If someone does something illegal, you will all be implicated. In the most serious case, your license will be revoked."

When Zhu Yuan said these words, some people in the hall couldn't help but look at a certain sea merchant named Zhang.

Zhang Jia was not qualified to sit down, so he just stood in the crowd on the right. When he heard Zhu Yuan say these words, he suddenly felt that his face didn't matter anymore, but... his legs were a little weak.

Is there anyone around here who is willing to cooperate with him?

Zhu Yuan did not notice this small detail and continued: "The specific company model adopts a shareholding system. The initial share capital I set for everyone is 10,000 shares. First, I will take 2,000 of the shares and hand them over to the court.

, let His Majesty dispose of it, or keep it as a court asset, or reward meritorious officials in the future."

"Everyone invests 200,000 taels, and can only get the remaining 8,000 shares. Don't think that I am taking advantage of you. Let's just say openly that the benefits of sea trade are too great. If I don't take this part, you will also be coveted in the future. How about

Putting the matter on the table, if His Majesty rewards the heroes with licenses, it will be like directly finding a backer for you. In addition, of the 10 publicly issued sea trading company licenses, 7 will be given to you in the first batch, and the remaining 3 will be reserved for the future of the South.

Pingding the area. At the same time, in addition to these 10 license plates, I will also reserve two more, which are also exclusive to the imperial court, for participating in maritime trade."

"I promise you here that within 10 years, the Yinghai Division will only issue a total of 12 licenses and no more."

"As for the benefits, these 12 licenses will completely monopolize Ming Dynasty's maritime trade in the next 10 years. Even after 10 years, according to my personal assumptions, no more will be issued. So, to what extent will the monopoly be achieved? In the future,

Even if overseas merchants ship goods to the Ming Dynasty, they can no longer trade on their own, and can only bid for their goods from these 12 companies. When overseas merchants leave, they must also purchase goods through these 12 companies at increased prices."

Seeing that everyone was about to discuss again, Zhu Yuan had to restrain his expression, glanced around, interrupted Jiang Qi's whispers, and continued: "This is everyone's benefit."

"Then, after benefits, comes obligations."

"In addition to the previous 200,000 taels of silver, we also talked about this food shipment."

"Because this year is the beginning, the court lacks shipping talents and needs everyone's help. My requirement is that each company that bids for a license must provide 500 people, and they must be your 500 most outstanding sailing experts. I will take responsibility

The production method is tied to which ships each company is responsible for. If you fool me and just send people over, if something happens in the future, you can imagine what the consequences will be."

All maritime merchants began to express their stance again.

Zhu Yuan waited for a while and then said: "Finally, it's the ships. I don't ask for much for each license. I'll collect a share of the ships carrying 20,000 shi of grain. Of course, the grain will be provided by the court. You only need to supply the ships."

"I would like to assure you that this matter will be limited to this year only, because the imperial court is short of manpower. When the imperial court's own grain transportation team develops next year, no matter whether it is ships or manpower, I will not bother you anymore."

Having said this, Zhu Yuan took a breath.

He glanced around again.

After I finish speaking, who is in favor and who is against?!

All right.

Forget it, the rude ancient people couldn't handle it.
Chapter completed!