Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 283 Trust?
Zhou Anmin didn't know much about trade, so he couldn't handle it on his own. Moreover, Zhou Anmin knew more about the Tenger tribe than anyone else, so it was impossible to accomplish this without Zhu Shenzhui's cooperation.

Zhu Shenzhui already had an idea about how to plan this matter. He planned to hand Kang Youfu over to Zhou Anmin and let Kang Youfu build a new organization responsible for trade for Zhou Anmin based on the structure of Hengtong Trading Company.

To put it bluntly, it is equivalent to transforming a private company into a government-owned enterprise, and then conducting business with this enterprise as the core, with the support of the imperial court, and with the East Factory and the Embroidered Uniform Guard as the front. The nature is completely different from before.

Of course, Zhu Shenzhui did not want to completely shut down Hengtong Commercial Bank, but just lent Kang Youfu and Hengtong's people to Zhou Anmin. This formed a structure of two brands with one set of people, the institution was the institution, the commercial bank was the commercial bank, but the people who actually operated it did not change.

The benefits of this are enormous. It can not only use the name of the government but also continue the previous trade. To put it bluntly, it is both a player and a referee, transferring money from the left hand to the right hand. In the early 20th century, it was called a "trust", and in the 21st century it is called a "unicorn" or "designated enterprise". In addition, it has a natural suppression of other businesses. This alone gives it an innate advantage.

Listening to Zhu Shenzhu's story, Zhou Anmin's eyes gradually lit up. Pondering over his words carefully, Zhou Anmin couldn't help but admire his brother-in-law for having so many tricks up his sleeve. Putting aside other ideas, this idea alone was extremely feasible, and once it was implemented, he would be able to truly take the initiative in trade.

"Sure, how did you figure this out?"

Zhu Shenzhui picked up a piece of dried tofu with his fingers, threw it into his mouth, chewed and laughed: "How can I figure it out? Isn't this what the court officials do? It's just that this method is more covert. If you are shameless and rough, you can also let the East Factory and your Jinyiwei come forward to find merchants to share the cost. But if you do it this way, it will only be a one-time deal and it will be more likely to be criticized. After all, this is not a trivial matter. The emperor and eunuch Wei are watching, and the officials in the court are not blind. Those merchants are not easy to deal with. They have people behind them. If the matter gets out of hand and they are impeached by the censors, it will be troublesome."

Zhou Anmin thought carefully and nodded silently. What Zhu Shenzhui said was right. Although he had never done business, he had been a post station chief and knew a thing or two about business. The government did operate in this way, but the consequences of doing so were too serious. On the contrary, the method proposed by Zhu Shenzhui was safer.

Then Zhou Anmin asked Zhu Shenzhui about the details of the operation. He did not hide anything from his brother-in-law Zhu Shenzhui and explained it in detail, including not only the entire structure and operation mode, but also some other issues. As Zhu Shenzhui spoke, Zhou Anmin's eyes became brighter and brighter. The more he thought about it, the more he felt that what Zhu Shenzhui said was reliable.

When Zhu Shenzhui talked about how to gather merchants in Shanxi and how to use the power in his hands to integrate resources, Zhou Anmin seemed to be thinking about something.

Zhou Anmin knew about the previous caravan attack on the grassland. This time the tribal strife also revealed half of the inside story of the attack. Unfortunately, with the death of Xurigan and Galiba, the final truth was buried. Although they were related to this incident, there was someone else behind the scenes besides them.

It seems that Zhu Shenzhui has never given up investigating this matter, even after he has quelled the internal strife in the tribe. There is no way to continue investigating the tribe. Judging from all aspects, the person who colluded with Xu Rigan and Galiba to attack the caravan is on the Ming side.

With the Dongchang and Jinyiwei leading the Tengger tribe's trade this time, Zhu Shenzhui plans to take this opportunity to conduct a thorough investigation. It would be best if he could find the mastermind behind the scenes. Even if he can't find it for the time being, with the background of the court, the business company will no longer need to worry about someone secretly acting, thus playing a deterrent role.

On the second day after Zhu Shenzhui and Zhou Anmin talked, Hengtong Trading Company started to connect with the Jinyiwei. In order to facilitate the operation, Zhou Anmin also got Kang Youfu an official identity of Jinyiwei. Although this identity was just ordinary, Kang Youfu was very excited.

Before this, Zhu Shencui had helped Kang Youfu to get an official position, but to put it bluntly, this official position was just an honorary title. There was no actual official position at all. It was just for the convenience of business and to sound better.

But now it was different. Zhou Anmin was responsible for the subsequent trade with the Tengger tribe. With the authorization of the emperor and Wei Zhongxian, he had to work with the East Factory to set up an agency similar to the government office for the subsequent operations. This agency was temporarily named the Trade Department at the suggestion of Zhu Shenzhui to distinguish it from the Maritime Customs Office on the southeast coast. Its internal organizational structure was also slightly different.

Zhou Anmin, as a captain of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, directly served as the director of the Trade Department. The East Depot sent the head of the department and Kang Youfu to serve as his deputies. He had all the subordinates, such as supervisors, officials, gatekeepers, and clerks. The main positions were all held by people from the East Depot and the Embroidered Uniform Guard, while the deputy positions were actually held by people from the Hengtong Trading Company. In this way, the actual power of this "yamen" was ostensibly controlled by the East Depot and the Embroidered Uniform Guard, but in reality it fell into the hands of Zhou Anmin and Zhu Shenzhui.

The establishment and operation of the Trade Department takes time. It is not difficult to build an organization, but the subsequent operation is difficult. However, there is no need to worry too much. Hengtong Commercial Bank has already monopolized the trade of the Tengger Tribe. Now it is nothing more than expanding on the original basis, and changing smuggling to legitimate trade, giving part of the profits to the East Factory and Jinyiwei. With the full support of Hengtong Commercial Bank, there will be no problems in the initial operation of the Trade Department, and the scope and amount of trade will be much larger than before. As for the rest, it is to integrate resources and cooperate with Shanxi and inland commercial banks. This is not too difficult to say. With the East Factory and Jinyiwei coming forward, and the permission of the emperor and Eunuch Wei, it is very easy for those businessmen to control it.

Even if these merchants pretended to obey but secretly disobeyed for their own interests, Zhu Shenzhui did not need to take action, Kang Youfu alone could deal with them. Kang Youfu was extremely talented in doing business, and he had been the head of Hengtong for several years, so he knew the ins and outs of business very well. It was impossible for these merchants to fool him. In addition, the Trade Department had never intended to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs since its establishment. The integration of these resources was just to make the pie bigger and gain more benefits from it.

Even if those businessmen suffer a little loss at the beginning, long-term cooperation will actually bring many benefits. Any smart person can understand this if they think about it carefully. Of course, what the final situation will be after a few years is another story.

All subsequent operations were handed over to Zhou Anmin and Kang Youfu, and Zhu Shenzhui did not show up again. His identity did not allow him to show up in public, and in order to avoid trouble, the first thing he did after returning from the grassland was to completely cut off ties with Hengtong Commercial Bank. On the surface, he no longer had any contact with Hengtong.

After making all these arrangements, Zhu Shenzui took the opportunity to go to Zhaowuling before the weather really got cold. Although Lao Jin stayed in the grassland temporarily in Zhaowuling, and Wang Jinwu and Li You did not come back, Lu Yishen, Lou Laoer, Yan Laosi and others were still there, and the training work assigned before was still continuing.

The last time the troops were taken to the grassland for training, the effect was remarkable, especially the two victories in two battles greatly boosted the morale of the new army. Zhu Shenzui was not a stingy person. In addition to the already high salary, he also gave a lot of rewards to the new army. With the heavy silver in hand, the morale of the new army was even higher. The mental outlook of those who came back was completely different from before. Not only did they show the tough appearance of elite soldiers, but everyone was excited and proud.

The two battles strengthened the new army's confidence and gave all the new soldiers hope and motivation. Under their encouragement, the newly recruited soldiers were full of enthusiasm and expectation. When Zhu Shenzhui arrived at Zhaowuling, the training ground was filled with shouts of killing. The veterans were training the new soldiers attentively. Although nearly half of them were new soldiers, they were training well, which made Zhu Shenzhui secretly happy.

Now there is a sentry left in the tribe, and a new sentry is being trained here, which means that soon the original sentry under Zhu Shenzhui's command will be doubled and become two new sentries.

According to the plan, after these two new posts are trained, the number will be doubled and officially formed into one officer. After having one officer of the new army, they will be gradually trained on this basis to form a battalion of four officers.

According to the organization of Qi's army, one battalion consisted of about 800 people, but Zhu Shencui made adjustments on this basis. In addition to the basic four officers in one battalion, he added another officer, that is, four sentries as the battalion's direct troops. The battalion's direct troops included guards (personal soldiers), gunners, protectors (messengers, messengers), supervisors, logistics (fire warriors), etc. In this way, the total number of people in the battalion reached 960, plus the battalion officer (battalion commander), deputy battalion officer, military officer (staff officer), chief clerk, etc.

By this time, Zhu Shenzui's initial military training had real effects. As long as he had this battalion of troops, he would have a real military force capable of fighting.

Although the previous victories on the grassland were easy, except for the final cavalry surprise attack, the main forces in the two battles were the new army. But in fact, Zhu Shenzhu knew very well that the victories in these two battles were due to tricks and great luck.

Just as he said to Xu Jingqiu, if there had been a little bit of an accident, or if the Mongols had reacted faster and adjusted their tactics more decisively, these two battles would not have been so easy to win. Moreover, the Mongols in the tribe and the elite of the Mongolian cavalry are two completely different things. The former are just ordinary herdsmen, while the latter are the real army. In this case, winning the battle is not a real skill. If Zhu Shenzhui can lead his army to directly defeat the same elite Mongolian cavalry, then his new army can be considered a truly strong army.

After the war, Lao Jin and Zhu Shenzhu talked about this matter and specifically pointed out this point.

Zhu Shencui was not angry at Lao Jin's "pour cold water" but was very happy instead. This also proved that he was right to invite Lao Jin and others. If Lao Jin and other veterans only knew how to flatter their superiors and talk big, how could Zhu Shencui reuse them?

(End of this chapter)