Ming Dynasty: Traveling through the harem, Zhu Yuanzhang was dumbfounded

Chapter 182 State-Owned Enterprises
At this moment, everyone was glad that they did not turn around and leave the moment the other party made unreasonable demands.

Otherwise he wouldn't even know what he was missing.

Although they are businessmen, far away from the capital, and completely ignorant of some rules in officialdom, it does not mean that they know nothing!

The token in Yang Chen's hand can well prove his identity.

Ordinary people have no right to take out treasures made by royal craftsmanship.

Originally they suspected that the other party was lying, but now it seems that even if Lan Yu appeared here, he would not be able to say anything.

The shock brought by this token took them a long time to react.

Shopkeeper Qian swallowed his saliva and came back to his senses after a long time. He stammered:

"Master Yang! We were so blind that we dared to doubt your identity. We were so ignorant!

Now we still need Lord Yang to take out this holy object. It’s a pity for Lord Yang to take out this holy object.

From now on, Qian will not doubt Lord Yang in the slightest!
I hope Mr. Yang can agree to Qian's request!"

After saying that, Mr. Qian was about to kneel down, and Yang Chen immediately raised his hand to stop him.

This guy is already very old. If Yang Chen asked him to kneel down, he would feel extremely embarrassed.

"Alright, alright, stop it. I know why you suspected me before. It's human nature. I don't mind it.

But I want to make it clear in advance that I can let it go even if you doubt me just now. From now on, we are all business partners. If someone doubts me again, don't blame me for being rude. "

As the saying goes, only by setting rules can things be done more easily. If you don't set rules, it will be difficult to deal with any incidents in the future.

"Yes, yes, yes! Lord Yang is right. We were rude to you before. From now on, we will not do that again."

Yang Chen said nothing, just nodded.

Then the four of them quickly found pen and ink on the table and signed their names on the contract, fearing that the other party would regret it later.

In addition to signing, you also need to seal your name by pressing your finger on the red seal made of cinnabar, and then pressing it on the paper.

At this moment, this contract is officially effective.

After taking the contract and examining it carefully to make sure there were no problems, Mr. Cui handed it to Yang Chen and said:

"Master Yang, I have checked everything carefully and confirmed that there are no problems. Sign and it will take effect. From now on, they will be ours.

Then should we tell them about the Chamber of Commerce we are in?"

Mr. Cui asked cautiously, fearing that Yang Chen would feel dissatisfied or have other emotions appear.

When he finished speaking, Yang Chen did not react at all, but just nodded.

The others were completely confused and had no idea what this meant.
In the end, it was Mr. Qian who looked at Mr. Cui and asked:
"Old Cui? What on earth is going on?"

The rest were all confused.

Because Mr. Cui's reaction was really unexpected, they always felt that something was being hidden from them, and it was only now that the clues began to show up.

This did make them feel a little uneasy, but they didn't know how to express it.

Cui Yuanwai waved his hand and said:
"I know you have a lot of questions in your mind, but it's not too late to ask after I finish speaking."

Hearing this, the others realized that it shouldn't be a big problem, so they all sat quietly and waited for Mr. Cui's explanation.

After straining his throat, Mr. Cui finally spoke:

"You all know that I am the president of the Chamber of Commerce, but do you know what the name of my Chamber of Commerce is?"

Everyone frowned, confusion on their faces.

"Lao Cui, don't keep me in suspense. Explain it to them right away, so they don't get scared."

Mr. Cui is used to staying with Yang Chen.

To be precise, he was originally very open-minded, and just happened to meet Yang Chen's personality, so he became particularly fond of making trouble.

He has been preparing since he agreed to work with the four people.

This was mainly because Mr. Cui had previously gone to Jiangnan as a merchant to look for business, but other people looked down upon him and said that he came from a remote and poor village and was not worthy of doing business with merchants from such a beautiful water town.

From then on, Mr. Cui became disheartened and focused all his business energy on the north.

Now that he finally has the opportunity to show off in front of this group of southern businessmen, Mr. Cui certainly cherishes it very much.

Unfortunately, before he could even start showing off, he was interrupted by Yang Chen.

Cui Yuanwai felt very disappointed, but he couldn't do anything. He could only adjust his mentality and say:

"Since Lord Yang doesn't allow me to talk too much, then I'll just stop talking.

Ever since Lord Yang and His Royal Highness Prince Qin were stationed at Zhenjiang Prefecture, the fate of Zhenjiang Prefecture has changed.

First of all, most of the planning of Zhenjiang Prefecture is very different from that of the former Ming Dynasty, take the Chamber of Commerce as an example.

In the past, the Shanxi merchants, Zhejiang merchants, micro-businesses, and other organizations that you operated in the south were all established by yourselves and were not subject to the constraints of the imperial court.

By joining a chamber of commerce, everyone can share and use the resources of friends in the same chamber of commerce.

And the chamber of commerce I belong to is called “State-Owned!”

"State-owned? Is this the name of the Chamber of Commerce? Why does it sound so domineering!"

"The names of the other chambers of commerce are all abbreviations of their respective provincial governments. The Chamber of Commerce in Zhenjiang Prefecture is named after the country. Is it because..."

Since the Han Dynasty, each place has had its own chamber of commerce name, no matter how the chamber of commerce was formed and cohesive.

The names are all chosen based on local characteristics, and no chamber of commerce has ever dared to name it after a dynasty.

It was hard for them to imagine that Zhenjiang Prefecture was actually named after a country.

"I know you must be curious about why Zhenjiang Prefecture dared to name the Chamber of Commerce after the word 'country'.

Let me tell you the truth, the state-owned enterprise actually represents the imperial court!

His Majesty arranged for Lord Yang and His Royal Highness the Prince of Qin to come to Zhenjiang Prefecture in order to test whether the state-owned enterprise can continue to operate.

In the past, the imperial court was only responsible for collecting taxes and did not have the concept of state-owned enterprises in business. State-owned enterprises referred to the chamber of commerce organizations planted by the imperial court among the people.

Of course, this does not mean that you are all members of the imperial court. His Majesty will not allow anyone to be both an official and a businessman. This state-owned enterprise will allow you to better pool resources within a certain range and serve the imperial court.

For example, Mr. Qian owns many ships, but sometimes due to accidents, he does not have enough ships. At this time, Mr. Qian can summon the nearest Ming navy for help.

This favor is not for free. It requires you to be loyal to Ming Dynasty in your daily life and pass the test before you can get help.

At the same time, you can also get involved in some of the court's businesses, such as salt and iron, which are items that can only be sold by state-owned enterprises.

Normally, a chamber of commerce needs a salt permit to be eligible to sell salt. I believe you all know how difficult it is to obtain this thing. But once you join the state-owned enterprise, it will be completely different.

In the state-owned enterprises, you can get free salt permits just by looking at your daily achievements. With salt permits, you can do business as much as you want, right?"

After Mr. Cui's introduction, the four men understood that this so-called state-owned enterprise was an organization that concentrated its resources to accomplish major tasks.

Here, they can gain benefits from the imperial organization without any additional contacts!
Previously, if they wanted to obtain salt permits, the first thing they had to do was to prepare exquisite gifts and then entrust them to present them to local officials.

Only by bribing local officials could they be eligible to obtain salt permits and sell salt.

You know, some officials are greedy and in order to gain more profits, they begin to exploit these businessmen madly.

This is why corrupt officials always appear. Without a fair platform, how can officials guarantee their loyalty?
How can businessmen obtain profits fairly and justly?

In addition to what Mr. Cui introduced, economic disputes can also be handled within the state-owned enterprise.

The court will make adjustments based on different conflicts and provide reasonable solutions.

For example, if conflicts broke out among businessmen over a certain project, the imperial court would send people to conduct a fair and reasonable bidding process between the two parties.

Whoever has the greatest ability will get the project.

All in all, the state-owned approach was completely different from what these businessmen had seen in the Chamber of Commerce before, and it could even be said to be an eye-opener.

In an ordinary chamber of commerce, at most everyone discusses things together. If there are any problems, they need to wait for the president to appear so that they can be solved in time.

But the president of the Chamber of Commerce always has his own selfish desires. Once the Chamber of Commerce decides to favor someone, fairness will no longer exist.

State-owned enterprises can solve problems in this area very well. If anyone has any questions, they can go to the president of the state-owned chamber of commerce.

If the president of a state-owned chamber of commerce uses his private power to make profits for him, then the businessman can report it to the court and ask the court to investigate the president of the state-owned chamber of commerce.

It is many times better than the private chambers of commerce of the past.

After learning about the benefits of joining the state-owned enterprise, everyone's eyes suddenly lit up.

"Master Yang! You really know how to give us surprises! With this state-owned enterprise, we will feel more at ease when doing business in the future!"

"Yes! In the past, when we encountered pirates in Southeast Asia, we could only let them kidnap our lives. Now that we have this state-owned enterprise, I wonder which pirates dare to attack us!"

"If they don't know what's good for them, the Ming navy will flatten their islands! Let them know that the people of Ming are inviolable!"

"Yes."

Just when everyone was happy, Yang Chen's words made them feel embarrassed.

"Hey! Who told you that you can be satisfied if you join the state-owned enterprise?"

Yang Chen paused and said:

"The state-owned enterprise has given you benefits, so you must pay a price. First, as businessmen, from now on, you are not allowed to do anything illegal in the territory of Ming Dynasty.

The law I am talking about is the business management law.

As the saying goes, every country has its own laws and every family has its own rules. The Ming Dynasty laws have unique insights into punishing people, and this business management bill was proposed by me.

You all know clearly how you made your first pot of gold. I will not pursue the past, but starting from joining the state-owned enterprise, I do not want you to violate the business management law.

I will give each of you a copy later.

The above content is actually nothing, it mainly tells you about business matters.

It is forbidden to sell Xiaoyao Powder, to force women of good families into prostitution, to raise prices by monopolizing the market, and to openly violate the laws of the Ming Dynasty.
There are many similar things, so I won’t go into details.

Remember to check for yourself. If you have violated the above laws, I will let His Majesty punish you with the most severe punishment!

I guess you don’t want to be the chicken that is killed to scare the monkeys, right?”

Everyone looked up and found that Yang Chen was staring at them with a calm gaze, as deep as an ancient well without ripples.

Although they were obviously much older than the other, they could not look directly into those dark eyes.

At this moment, they finally understood why businessmen could never defeat officials. This was the reason.

Mr. Qian was the first to recover. He moved his eyes away and looked in the direction of Mr. Cui and said:

"Master Yang, please rest assured. We all take your teachings to heart. As for matters concerning business management law, I, Qian, will definitely keep them in mind. From now on, this booklet will become the family law of my Qian family.

If anyone dares to violate the law in business, I, Qian, will be the first one to not let that person go, without the need for the court to take action!

Qian definitely does not have any personal feelings about this!"

Seeing Mr. Qian speak, the others expressed their opinions one after another and raised three fingers to the sky and swore. Each oath they made was more cruel than the last.

"Alright! Stop it!" Yang Chen smiled faintly, looking at them with eyes as calm as autumn water and said:

"I never believe in swearing or anything like that. I only trust the people around me. Once there is any news, I will investigate it myself. Once I confirm it is correct, I will inform you and tell you what to do."

Faced with repeated warnings, everyone nodded in affirmation, and they did not dare to say a word.

They only know that if they can satisfy this gentleman, they will be safe, otherwise they will probably live a life worse than death.

They have been pampered for too long, how could they possibly endure such torture.

"Master Yang, I wonder how we should divide this business?"

"This is not difficult. I can create an exquisite jewelry craft, which will definitely attract many women in this world.

As the saying goes, if a person can have a perfect love in his life, then his life will be complete.

In this case, let's add something to this beautiful love, and that something is a ring."

As he spoke, Yang Chen placed a ring inlaid with colorful glass in front of everyone and said in a very bewitching voice:
“I used a slogan for this one.

"I will only give it to one person in my life. I will put it on your finger in my name. It will accompany you for your whole life. It is specially customized and only given to the one you love."

I wonder what you think, with these words combined with such a beautiful colorful matchmaking, what woman in this world can resist such temptation?"

In an instant, everyone looked at Yang Chen as if he were a monster.

They never thought that Yang Chen could combine such an expensive thing with love.

You know, so far the essence of their business is still based on monopoly, and they will never try other methods.

Most of the time, merchants relied on monopolizing grain to annex land and make money at the same time.

But I never thought that business could be tied together with love.

Which woman in the world can refuse this personally customized love token for her beloved one?
Even though they are old, they celebrate how crazy girls are in their longing for beautiful love.

(End of this chapter)