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The ultimate solution is to use a tin-zinc alloy solder seal.When he was soldering, he welded in a copper strip with a handle at the end, which could be used to pull open the weld, and then use a knife to pry off the lid of the can.

After everything was settled, a steam engine was brought in.Jiang Liu knew about machinery himself, and made a self-made canned copper shell stamping equipment that is equipped with a steam engine.

However, the raw materials of copper sheets have to be supplied by other companies, which can be solved by finding a copper basin factory.

Copper basins are something that ordinary people really can't afford.In the past, they were all hand-knocked. In the past two years, they have been stamped by steam engines. The cost has dropped a lot, and families with a little money can buy them to save face.

There must be a stove, so it’s not easy to be cold.

Fortunately, his father ran a smelter, and he quickly built a furnace.

Workers were recruited for production. The first batch was only canned soybeans and canned cabbage, and the prices were skyrocketing.

At this time, two and a half years have passed since Jiang Liu resigned from office.

Because it was too expensive, I asked several sea merchants in a row, but no one was willing to buy this thing.

Jiang Liu could only change his mind and divided the pricing of cans into two types: selling price and deposit.

The selling price is not too high, but the deposit is expensive.

The deposit is refundable as long as the customer returns the copper pot.The copper cans are in good condition and the deposit will be refunded in full.If the appearance of the copper can is damaged, the deposit will be deducted according to the degree of damage.

Finally, a sea merchant tried to order a batch.

Li Quan and another sea merchant traveling to the Americas were also willing to order after hearing the news.

In the first year, you will lose money properly.

Even excluding the cost of equipment such as factory buildings and steam engines, copper can processing, can welding and worker wages alone cannot be earned back.Because the purchase volume is too small and there is a backlog of cans, he must find another way.

For example, dedicated to the emperor!

Jiang Liu had friends in Qintianyuan, so it was relatively easy to dedicate the canned food to the emperor.

When Zhao Han got the copper cans, he had forgotten that more than three years ago, a young man volunteered to improve the cans.

The backlog of canned food produced by Jiang Liu was quickly purchased by the military.

Before the military grain factory produced it by itself, it was all purchased from Jiang Liu.Jiang Liu was also very discerning. He sold the patent of copper cans to the imperial court, and only charged one or two taels of silver for the patent fee every year.

He needs the court's help to open up the market. As long as the navy purchases in large quantities, maritime merchants will come to him by themselves.

At that time, even if the canned food of the military grain factory is put into production, Jiang Liu will be able to make money from the maritime merchants even if he loses the military procurement.

The advent of copper cans had a very profound impact on Datong China.

Especially after canned meat (luncheon meat) was developed, a lot of flour and leftover meat were used to make delicious canned meat.After the sales volume goes up, the cost can come down, and the copper pot can be returned to get back the deposit. The price is cheaper than buying fresh meat, and ordinary people can often eat meat.

In addition, in the grassland area, the flocks of sheep rushed to Shanxi to sell, and the price has risen a lot, and they can't be sold in the grassland.A canning factory can be built in Zhangjiakou, and cheap coal can be used to drive steam engines, and cheap mutton can be purchased nearby for processing, and canned meat can be shipped to Shanxi and Hebei.

This makes the grassland and the hinterland more tightly bound up economically.

It even occupied Australia in the future, where there are grasslands everywhere.Wool can be used as textile raw material, and mutton and beef can be processed into canned food, which can be transported by sea to earn profits.

Chapter 1026 [China's "India Company"]

Tin-zinc alloys are used to weld cans. Naturally, some people thought of inventing white iron, that is, galvanized iron.

Maybe one day in the future, copper cans will be replaced by tin cans.

But that’s something for later, let’s pull the timeline of this book back to before Jiang Liu developed copper cans.At this moment, Zhao Han returned to the Forbidden City after finishing the five-day autumn hunting.

Zheng Sen, the left chief minister of Guangdong, suddenly sent a secret letter: In Guangzhou, a private stock exchange has appeared!

The big merchants along the coast are not short of money, and even have too much silver.

Due to the inability to freely buy land and inflation, wealthy merchants are reluctant to depreciate their silver in the cellar.The most common way is to open money houses, pawnshops, etc., which are allowed by the imperial court.There are also some businessmen who deposit their silver in banks or banks to earn interest.

But there are also some ruthless characters, relying on their wealth and strength, to start playing mergers and monopolies.

They often use their hometowns as a link to form fellowship chambers of commerce for maritime trade.A few or more than a dozen large companies in a province jointly manipulate the market, forcing their counterparts in the same province to go bankrupt, and take the opportunity to brandish banknotes for mergers.

Or they are making trouble overseas, for example, a number of commercial firms have teamed up to bribe Wenlai Sudan to jointly obtain the right to purchase spices across the country.The rest of the maritime merchants are all excluded, and there are often weak maritime trading companies that are forced to go bankrupt due to various reasons.

Where there is oppression, there is resistance, and so is business competition.

A Chenghai businessman named Huang Qichong secretly contacted eighteen small and medium-sized maritime merchants in Guangdong to form a business alliance in Guangzhou...

a year ago.

A certain theater in Guangzhou was taken over, and after only two plays were sung, the actors were driven away.

Huang Qichong stepped onto the stage by himself, and Kang said passionately: "My colleagues, those big trading companies are too deceitful. They drive up the supply prices of the land merchants, so that the land merchants sell them all the goods. They have plenty of money, even if the goods are backlogged in the warehouse , would rather lose money than crush us! They are still in Coconut City and Palembang, lowering the shipping price at will, so that foreign businessmen buy their things. Everyone here, do you often run out of stock? Do you ship the goods out? , but rotted in Yecheng and Palembang and couldn’t get rid of it?”

As soon as this remark came out, more than a dozen maritime merchants felt the same way.

"Who says no? I have four ships under my name, but I only bought goods for three ships last year. The remaining ship is vacant for a year, and ordinary sailors can be temporarily dismissed. But sailors and senior bosuns can't be changed. Even if they don't run the ship, they have to be well supported. No matter where the empty ship is parked, there is a berthing fee. The maintenance of the ship also requires money. How can our small business be delayed? rise?"

"My five boats are all full. But half of them are cotton cloth, and now only cotton cloth is not out of stock. But after transporting to Coconut City, there are too many cotton cloths sold there, and the price is pressed down by foreign merchants. !"

"I used to receive goods in Siam, but those damn big trading companies paid off Siam officials. They were some kind of Greeks who were in charge of Siam's sea trade business. They have colluded with officials and businessmen and have manipulated several commodities. Ordinary merchants can’t even buy it.”

"Ji Mie (Cambodia) is similar, with dozens of local products, more than half of which are controlled by big trading companies."

"..."

The stage was humming and humming, chattering endlessly filled with righteous indignation.

Huang Qichong stood on the stage, and waited for the scene to calm down before continuing: "Maritime business today is not as easy as it used to be. We small maritime merchants can no longer fight alone, we have to stick together to have a way out."

A sea merchant named Chen Fujun said, "What can Boss Huang do?"

Huang Qichong stated: "I often come into contact with the Dutch and the British. They are all employees of the East India Trading Company. These two East India Trading Companies are both formed by joint ventures of many businessmen. Why can't we form a partnership?"

"When you do business in partnership, you have to make a good charter," said another sea merchant named Tao Chengbi. "In recent years, there have been many joint-stock trading companies that have done well in business, but they broke up in a mess and ran to the government. A shit lawsuit."

Huang Qichong said: "The articles of association must be determined. According to the number of shares, each company will send representatives to form a meeting. What rules to change and what decisions to make need to be discussed at the meeting. The big shopkeeper, accountant, manager, etc. are also discussed by the meeting. will be voted on.”

"We hold a general meeting of shareholders every three years, and the board of directors is also voted by the general meeting of shareholders. Whoever does not do well will be replaced. Part of the annual profit will be used for dividends, and part of it will be put in the business company to strengthen its power."

"The ships, shops, and personnel of all trading companies will be managed in a unified manner after the joint stock. Anyone who has an objection can raise it at the general meeting of shareholders. Once the general meeting of shareholders and the meeting pass, no one can change their minds, nor can they arbitrarily install cronies."

"All of us are losing money, and we can't afford much money. We can learn from the Dutch and issue stocks to the people. Those ordinary people who have spare money in their hands will always have a few courageous people who will take risks to buy our stocks. One tael for you, two taels for him, the accumulation of small amount becomes more, that is tens of thousands of taels of silver..."

The sea merchants nodded repeatedly, and another person asked: "Our difficulties now are that it is not easy to receive goods in China, and it is difficult to sell goods overseas. Can these problems be solved after the joint venture?"

"It can't be solved, but it can be bypassed," Huang Qi said with a confident smile, "I would like to ask everyone, what is the most indispensable commodity now?"

"Of course it's cotton!"

Everyone answered in unison.

Huang Qichong clapped his hands and said: "Then we are mainly engaged in the cotton cloth trade! The cotton cloth business is highly competitive in the east of Malacca, and we can ship it directly to India. I have already inquired about it. Cotton cloth is very easy to sell in India. We sell it in Palembang, The lower prices in Coconut City were deliberately provoked by those big trading companies. The British, Dutch, Persians, Indians, and Han Chinese in Palembang and Coconut City transshipped cotton cloth to India, but they made a lot of money. Full."

"When we sell cotton cloth to India, we are competing with those transshipment companies you mentioned," Chen Fujun asked. "How can we guarantee that we can survive the competition if we don't know the place well?"

"Of course cooperate with the Portuguese!"

Huang Qichong said with a smile: "The east coast of India has been occupied by the Netherlands. As long as the Portuguese merchant ships dare to cross the east coast, they will be robbed by the Dutch if they encounter them. Nowadays, Portuguese merchant ships almost no longer come here. They can only take India The goods from the west coast are shipped back to Europe. We simply run away and ship the cotton cloth to the west coast, sell some to Indian land merchants, and sell some to Portugal for shipment back to Europe.”

"It's too far away." Everyone was quite worried.

They were small sea merchants with only a few ships, some with only one.Even on the east coast of India, they feel that it is too risky to go too far, let alone go to the west coast for trade.

Huang Qichong said: "This is the benefit of partnerships. In the past, we didn't dare to go too far, because we couldn't afford it in case the ship sank. In the future, we will do business together. There will be dozens of sea-going ships, and a few will sink in a storm." I can hold it too."

"In addition, our joint-stock trading company can also go to the Americas to do business. Two-thirds of the ships go to India, and one-third of the ships go to the Americas. The main business is cotton cloth, and it also deals in other goods. I have also inquired about American trade, Li Mister has been running for many years and only sank one boat, so it is not as dangerous as we thought."

"My colleagues, if you are willing to join forces, please stand on the stage. Let's sing a good show and show it to those big trading companies!"

A few sea merchants walked onto the stage without thinking too much.

The rest were hesitant, but most of them agreed in the end. Only one sea merchant quietly withdrew from the theater.

Including Huang Qichong, there are exactly [-] shareholders, named "India Trading Company".

It took them two months to integrate the original funds, ships, goods, manpower, and shops.Organized more than 30 sea-going ships, sailed away from Guangzhou, stopped for supplies along the way, and crossed the Strait of Malacca to India.

Among the fleet, 60% of the cargo is cotton.

The output of cotton cloth is too large, no one can control the market, as long as you want to buy it, you can definitely buy it.Another 20% are iron products. Guangzhou is backed by Foshan, using steam engines to smelt, and the steel output is huge, so there is no need to worry about the supply of goods.

They sailed around the southern tip of India and sailed to the Portuguese port of Cochin.

Because the Netherlands blocked the shipping lanes, the Portuguese in Cochin Port could only buy Chinese goods through Indian merchants.And Indian merchants buy and transship goods in Yecheng and Palembang, where the goods are sold by merchants from Guangdong.In the middle of handover, entering and leaving the port, loading and unloading, the cost increases rapidly.

Huang Qichong's "India Business Company" now opens a direct route, which makes the Portuguese very happy.

Cochin Port couldn't hold dozens of shipments of goods, so they continued to go north, and finally sold out all the goods in Goa.

In addition to selling to the Portuguese, many were also sold to the Indians.

It was the site of the insurgent Sivaji, whose strength had expanded rapidly in recent years, and he was fighting against Mughal and Bijapur at the same time.

Hearing that the Chinese brought in a large amount of goods, Sivaji personally met them and asked, "Can you get guns and cannons? As long as it is firearms, I will buy as much as you bring. If there is not enough gold and silver, I will exchange goods. "

The person in charge of this trade is Chen Shichun, with a look of embarrassment on his face: "Unfortunately, muskets and cannons are contraband in China."

Sivaji was quite disappointed, and asked again: "Where are the swords and armor?"

Chen Shichun said: "The trade of swords and armor needs to be reported to the government, and a small amount can be shipped to India."

The Datong court strictly prohibited the private manufacture, transportation, and sale of firearms, but the management of swords and armor was less strict.

First of all, the standard weapons and armor of the Datong Army are absolutely prohibited among the people. Even when farmers and soldiers practice, they can only use approximate substitutes.

Secondly, the manufacture and sales of scribe swords, leather armor, etc. can be opened.

Third, cotton armor, iron armor, bows and crossbows, as well as some powerful swords, can apply to the government for manufacturing, transportation and sales.Moreover, it is divided into north and south, and the north is explicitly prohibited to prevent the flow of soldiers to the grassland.The South can apply to ship overseas, but there are regulations on the quantity, and every shipment must be reported, and the end of illegal trade will be miserable.

Sivaji took out a machete: "Can this kind of knife be customized?"

Chen Shichun nodded and said, "Yes, but only [-] can be shipped every year. No matter how many there are, I'm afraid they won't be able to go to sea."

"Only three hundred?" Sivaji thought it was too little.

Chen Shichun glanced at Shivaji's soldiers, and found that a few soldiers were still wearing leather armor. He immediately had an idea: "That kind of leather armor can be sold open, and there will also be a breastplate on the chest. The tip of the spear , sell you [-] sticks every year."

"Great!" Sivaji rejoiced.

Chen Shichun said, "I need cotton."

Sivaji said: "The cotton in my field will be sold to you in the future, as long as you can provide me with armor!"

One-third of Sivaji's land belongs to the cotton-producing area, and it is the highest-quality cotton-producing area in India.

Chapter 1027 [King Han who speculates in stocks]

In Guangzhou, a warship docked.

Zhao Kuangbai disembarked with many naval soldiers. They had a one-month long vacation and waited for the battleship to be repaired before returning to cruise.

Zhao Kuangbai is the fourth prince, born of Liu Rushi, who has been named King of Han.

He didn't like the atmosphere in Nanjing very much, and he was fully capable of taking the entrance exam to Jinling University, but he went straight to the Naval Academy.Moreover, he did not study at the Chongming Island Military Academy, because it was too close to Nanjing, and he preferred to live in Guangdong and Fujian.

Zhao Kuangbai had a palace in Nanjing, but within a few days, it remained vacant.After he joined the army, he was transferred to Guangzhou, so he took Concubine Han with him.

King Han and King Chu have had a bad relationship since childhood.

Both of them have excellent academic performance and are of the same age, so they are often compared by teachers.But King Chu's biological mother is the Queen, and King Han's biological mother is Liu Rushi, so teachers and classmates inevitably favor King Chu.

As things went on like this, Han Wang became more and more depressed, and he always looked melancholy when he was alone.But when there are many people, he has to pretend nothing happened.

Zhao Kuangbai, the king of Han, always felt that his knowledge and literary talent far surpassed that of Zhao Kuangping, the king of Chu.

But except for the father and the biological mother, no one else recognized it.So after graduating from high school, he didn't bother to study anymore, and instead went to the Naval Academy to hang out.When he graduated from the military academy, his grades at the Fuzhou Naval Academy were No.2 among graduates of the same class.

Now, Zhao Kuangbo is an officer, and he is in charge of sixty sailors.

Zhao Kuangbai was smoking a cigar at a young age.

A wealthy car came to solicit business, but Zhao Kuangbai refused to sit in it, and insisted on walking home - after cruising the sea for many days, now he just wants to step on the ground more.

"Stocks, stocks, you can buy shares with a tael of silver!"

"The Indian trading company made a huge profit in one trip, and also won the order for the armor of the Indian King Sivaji. Now it is eager to raise capital to build armor for the Indian king. If you buy shares in the Indian trading company, you can go to... every year All pay dividends!"

"..."

stock?

India?