C63

Chapter 63 - Businesses Fighting for Wealth

It had only been four years since the Second Opium War, and most of the new businesses and ports were monopolized by the English and French. Although the United States could also join in, due to the war in the country, they had not been able to interfere too deeply.

Under these circumstances, the merchants of the English and French naturally grouped together and formed a price alliance. For example, the Pig Mane Trade this time might seem like a rather high price for one kilogram of silver. However, as long as they were shipped back to Europe, they would earn at least four times the profit or even more.

This was the typical beauty of distance. The distant sea not only caused the inconvenience of transportation, but also the extremely high profits of the goods. To merchants, this was a painful but happy occasion.

It was not like the merchants of Great Qing could not see through this point. No one could underestimate the cleverness of the Chinese. However, due to various reasons, the merchants of the Qing Dynasty could only be sitting merchants. They did not have their own Ocean trade, so they were naturally controlled by others everywhere.

Now, Xiao Letian actually said that he wanted to break the English and French's price alliance, and introduce a new face into the business world, this was definitely beneficial for the business people of Tanggu Hong Kong. Furthermore, with Xiao Letian's reputation as the Second Demon Lord, he might actually succeed.

Xiao Letian was too familiar with this kind of expression, he knew what these merchants truly wanted, as long as he treated them correctly, it would not be a big deal.

The weird atmosphere made the High Scholar Huang and the Xiao Pi Sun extremely uneasy. The dog-like smell made them smell a smell of betrayal, and they knew that these merchants must have been moved by Xiao Letian's words. The greed and hesitation in their eyes couldn't be deceived.

Xiao Pi Sun held his hand on the steel dart with the braid on his head and looked at his allies with a cold and sinister gaze.

"Hahaha, what you say sounds better than singing. Don't forget that this Tanggu is the territory of the Great Qing, even if the foreigners come, they have to follow the rules of the treaty. You think a new foreign businessman can come? Where did you put the court and the emperor? Where did you put Lord Pingzhi and Lord Pingdeng? "You sure are arrogant …" High Scholar Huang had no choice but to speak, he emphasized the words' Acknowledge and Alliances'.

On the surface, they were questioning Xiao Letian, but in reality, they were threatening those merchants. The subtext was that no one was to be a traitor, and they had to be careful or else they wouldn't be able to take the consequences.

How could Xiao Letian care about such a despicable threat? He didn't even bother to reply and just turned to ask Fan Lian, "Is the auspicious time coming soon?" Fan Lian took out his pocket watch and looked at it, "In another fifteen minutes, it will be the auspicious hour …"

Just then, an embarrassed voice sounded out from behind Xiao Letian. "Mr. Xiao, Manager Fan's, your honorary name is open for business, us colleagues do not have much expression, according to old logic, all of us must take care of your business, opening for business today is a must."

"I have some pig's hair. I know that you have discussed it with the French, so I won't trouble you. I'll pass it to you today." Not much. According to the foreigners' algorithm, it was more than seven tons, more than seven thousand kilograms … "Thanks for your help. If you don't count, let's settle the accounts at the price of seven thousand …"

The one who opened his mouth was a merchant surnamed Wang, but in Tanggu, he was only a third-rate boss. He opened a small trading station and took over a few pieces of business from the various Big Merchant s.

Xiao Letian and Fan Lian knew that there would be merchants discussing the pig mane business today, because this was something that they had decided on with a lot of merchants before the competition started. It was a good fortune for them, but aside from being happy, why did they realise that Boss Wang had such an awkward expression?

"Boss Wang is a noble person. This humble one owes you a debt of gratitude. In a while, I will definitely toast to you in three great cups …" Before Fan Lian could even finish being courteous, Boss Wang's face suddenly turned red, and said softly: I dare not … However, my business is not that big, and I still have to eat a lot today. I hope that Manager Fan can first reward me with some goods … "

At that time, Fan Lian's face suddenly froze, and thought to himself, what kind of rule was that, no one does business like that? But then, Xiao Letian suddenly laughed, and said: "Does Boss Wang want silver or silver?"

"A silver coin is a silver coin. I only recognize silver coins as a silver coin. I am truly ashamed. I am truly ashamed …" This time, Boss Wang's face was completely red. He knew that she was the smallest merchant, and Yellow Lord was not someone they could offend, while Xiao Letian and the rest were not able to offend him. However, the High Scholar Huang had the advantage of numbers, and was even forcing him to take the lead.

"Someone come!" Send seven thousand great ocean to Boss Wang … " With a roar, two burly men walked out from the accounting room. They were holding a large lacquer plate that was filled with red foreign currency scrolls, and a hundred of them were rolled up into a ball with red paper.

Xiao Letian grabbed a condor Yang, gently pulled it apart, and the bright silver elemental energy fell onto the lacquer plate. The double-headed eagle's symbol was distinct, and this was one of the most famous currencies that had an impact on the financial markets of Qing Province, the Mexican eagle s.

"Boss Wang, look carefully. Do you need to go through each of the seven thousand Mexican eagle s one by one to count them?" At this time, how could Boss Wang still have the face to open them one by one?

Boss Wang wiped the sweat off his forehead, bowed and said, "I am truly sorry, for this small business of mine, you, Sir, should not blame me for this …" Xiao Letian saw through the problem long ago, he patted Boss Wang's shoulders and said honestly, "It's fine, you have your own difficulties too. We will work together for a long time in the future, you should know about it by now, right?"

Just at this time, another head storekeeper stood up and bowed towards Xiao Letian, "Mr. Xiao is indeed magnanimous, it is impossible not to buy and sell you today. This humble one also has 8000 kilograms of pig's hair and wants to transfer it to Mr. Xiao … "However, you still need to make some money. I'm really sorry about the fact that we need to make some money, I'm sorry about that. I've let you down …"

Xiao Letian laughed domineering as he said, "What are you saying? Those who come are guests, and since you are taking my business, how can I not appreciate your kindness? "Serve the accountant and prepare the contract. We will eat all the pig hair that we have today …"

In an instant, it was as if the entire bank exploded. The merchants who had long colluded with each other all stood up and started shouting non-stop.

"Mr. Xiao is magnanimous, I have 12,000 kilograms in my storage. I have thirty thousand pounds... Sixty thousand... Eighty thousand … One by one, the numbers flipped upwards while Xiao Letian maintained a calm demeanor, not showing any signs of emotion at all.

After writing the contracts, they immediately went into action. Xiao Letian was not worried that these people would go back on their words, if these small fry merchants dared to cheat him, that meant they did not want to live.

Today, the citizens of Tanggu were truly enlightened. They had never seen people doing business like this before. The most peculiar thing was that the Letian Firm only traded Mexican eagle in one currency.

"Ah, Yellow Lord … This, this, this was not right, where did Xiao Letian get so much foreign money? Is he really backed by a foreigner? " The Xiao Pi Sun didn't have the slightest bit of arrogance left, and even his words were weak.

Although he was the big landlord of Tanggu, most of his assets were real items like land. In fact, the top of the Silver family was only about 100,000 taels of silver, he had never seen people spending money like this. In just the time it took to make a cup of tea, the Letian Firm had already raised 100,000 ocean.

"Look again, look again …" Anyway, if we don't suffer a loss, I don't believe that Xiao Letian, the God of Fortune, has possessed us! It's only been half a year since I returned to Great Qing Dynasty and I can gather that much money? Out of it? " High Scholar Huang's forehead was also covered in sweat.

At this time, the people outside the door were all dumbfounded, all the shop assistants were carrying the red cloth ocean and walking towards their own homes, in the end even the foreigners were shocked, many westerner s looked at the wealth feast from afar, and sighed in their hearts at the wealth of Great Qing.

Just then, Manager Fan Lian dragged Xiao Letian to the side and whispered, "This won't do, we won't be able to hold on for long? "This is obviously because they are joining forces to fight against us for wealth. The silver warehouse behind us only has over 400,000 eagles. If we continue to spend like this, we'll be able to see the bottom in a day …"

Xiao Letian flipped his eyelids and calculated the price, "Four hundred thousand pills, four hundred thousand kilograms, that is four hundred tons of pig's hair... "F * ck, there's already a mountain piled up. These merchants shouldn't have more than this number in their hands, right?"

"Aiya, my good Master Xiao, don't be rash, ah, you should know the throughput of goods in the sea business, just the lucky ship alone can carry more than 1000 tons of pig mane, and now Tanggu's warehouse is filled with pig mane gathered from Li, Henan, Shandong and Shanxi, let alone a lucky ship, as long as there is sufficient time, it wouldn't even be a problem to fill up two of them …"

Xiao Letian sucked in a deep breath of cold air. He had still underestimated the scale of the trade in the ocean, this era was precisely when the sail merchant ship was at its most flourishing, a huge merchant ship that could be seen everywhere on the ocean with cargo exceeding a few hundred tons or even over a thousand tons. His own estimate of the trade volume of several hundred tons of pig hair really belittled the merchants of that time.

When Fan Lian saw Xiao Letian's strange expression, he understood immediately. He frowned and said softly, "It looks like these merchants want to fight with us for wealth. They are joining forces to pressure us. "There's no other way, we can only do it today. We must persevere until the opening ceremony, then start the banquet as soon as possible, and suspend the collection of pig manes in the afternoon. From tomorrow onwards, we must limit the amount every day until the transfer of silver from Taibai Top …"

Xiao Letian laughed bitterly: "I am afraid it isn't that simple, this is not just a simple business battle for wealth, it is something that the Huang family did. They are forcing me to lower my head here, and they want me to lose face in front of everyone, even to the point of making foreigners look down on us …"

"Those two devils who are renowned in the capital and the head of the Jin Shang, if they can't even afford a million silver taels, who would dare to do business with us in the future? "Damn, I hate this kind of scheme the most. It's the hardest to deal with …"

What Xiao Letian said was right, a million silver was not a lot to Xiao Letian and Fan Lian. In these few months, Taibai Top had already deposited more than a million silver, and Fan Lian had even hidden a million worth of silver in the capital.

Money was not a problem, but time was a big problem. If one had money, they could not bring it up. Furthermore, these grandsons did not want any money.

Just as Manager Fan was frowning, a voice rang out, "Letian Firm is indeed extraordinary. The Four Seas Trading Company is extremely impressed. "If you want to find silver, don't give me banknotes …"

At the most critical moment, Keeper Niu finally made his move, and used Strangle. If Xiao Letian had eaten this business, then the foreign banks' silver reserves would immediately run low, and the line of merchants would not have been able to get even a silver dregs. But if they did not take this business, then they would completely give in in front of all the merchants. In the future, perhaps even the foreigners would look down on this Letian Firm.

"Keeper Niu is indeed rich, this one dares not compare to you, but I have a hundred thousand kilograms in the warehouse, I hope Letian Firm can eat it …"

"I have one hundred and twenty thousand catties …" I have a hundred and fifty thousand pounds... I have a hundred and thirty thousand... "I have two hundred and ten thousand …"

When Keeper Niu made his move, it meant that the first-tier merchants of Tanggu began to fight. This group of people were not like those second-rate or third-rate merchants, they had at least a hundred thousand kilograms of pig hair. Once this group of people joined the battle, their transaction volume would reach a terrifying seven hundred thousand silver coins.

High Scholar Huang sneered as he looked at Xiao Letian, thinking in his heart, "You're awesome! I think you're still the best? The Tanggu has an inventory of 1.4m kg of pig mane, do you think we would tell you about a foreigner? If you brat can take out one million and four hundred thousand silver, I will immediately flee Tanggu and hide from you for the rest of my life … "