Chapter 102: Opening the Door to Welcome Guests

The Crossing Faction's first General Assembly of Shareholders was held in Hangzhou, with 18 attendees at the time. This time the General Assembly had 88 people, making it seem a bit more formal. After the meeting ended, people suddenly discovered that the nightlife, which had previously been slightly dull because they could only access the local network, had instantly become rich and colorful.

All kinds of bizarre posts emerged endlessly on the forum, and all sorts of debates had become commonplace. If it weren't for the explicit rule that anyone who insulted others would be denied electricity for one week, the forum would have long been unreadable.

In order to strengthen the team's power base, all kinds of recruitment and promises emerged endlessly. You have to know, the Transmigrators' population base is currently small, so every single person is a heavy weight, capable of tipping the scales! Even if the number of Transmigrators slowly increases in the future, the initial framework is already in place, and it will just be scaled up proportionally.

The funniest were those lone operators — groups of only one or two people... these didn't even qualify as a group, three people were the minimum. These people couldn't even figure out what a political party was, thinking it was some game of taking disciples and becoming the boss, their political views comical and bizarre. Seeing they couldn't recruit any disciples, nonsense and ravings came out: Come, let's first divide up the national traitor Xia Xianze's stolen cigarettes and leather shoes from the country, my party is committed to doing this, professionally taking down the boss, whoever is on the stage, we take them down!

The people, afraid that this guy might get carried away and divide up their Miami beaches in the future, immediately scattered like birds and beasts.

Although the numbers were small and scattered, the atmosphere in Dayuan was very lively these days. Usually, people wouldn't gradually quiet down until after 10 p. m. — their laptops were out of power. Some party leaders shut down by 9:30; these people were busier.

Half a month later, the various major groups, having more or less stabilized, began to shift the focus of their struggles to discussions on the form of government.

Time flew swiftly, and it was already December 10th on the Gregorian calendar. The year 1627 would soon be over. On the dock of Dayuan Port, the salty, damp sea wind carried a thread of chill. Since the Transmigrators' occupation of this place, Dayuan had finally welcomed its first trade ship.

This ship was the Red Seal Ship Imoki, sailed from Nagasaki. The shipmaster was Lin Xun, a retainer of the great merchant Funaki Yaheiji. In the coming period, some of the Red Seal Ships sailing southward with the winter monsoon would also stop at Dayuan.

Historically, Dayuan Port did not welcome the Japanese, because these dwarves liked to pig rush into everything. The Dutch bought raw silk at 140 taels per picul, so the Japanese bought at 147 per picul. The Dutch went to 145, and the Japanese, without blinking, raised it to 155.

One catty of raw silk could be sold in Japan for 5 taels of silver. The raw silk the Japanese purchased in places like Pattani and Manila was all above 200 taels per picul, and even so, there was still enormous profit. In Japan, there was a shortfall of 200,000 catties of raw silk every year. The damn tycoons of this era had gold mines, silver mountains, and Japanese copper at home; their payment capability was off the charts. What did the Dutch have?

This was why the Red Hair wanted to levy taxes in Dayuan. If they wanted to stick a leg into the raw silk trade between China and Japan, they could only play dirty. The Dutch couldn't compete financially.

The Crossing Faction's approach was completely different from the Red Hair's. The Transmigrators bought raw silk from Hangzhou at an average price of 60 taels of silver per picul. If they could ship it to Japan, that would be direct from the manufacturer, and the profit could theoretically reach its highest point. However, the Transmigrators currently lacked that capability and could only ship the raw silk to Dayuan and then sell it to foreign merchants. Therefore, Dayuan now welcomed all foreign merchants. A bidding war was best; buy more, and maybe they'd even throw in some freebies.

The shipmaster of the Imoki, Lin Xun, was brought into the Shang Hall in astonishment.

After spotting changes to the Dutch flag atop the Shang Hall from the open sea, the Imoki stopped at the entrance of the channel. Fortunately, not long after, the merchants garrisoned in the Japanese village and Dongye Shangche boarded the Imoki on a sampan.

After this, the Imoki sailed smoothly into Dayuan Dock. Soon, some tall, short-haired men wielding strange weapons boarded the ship. After Dongye Shangche introduced both sides, Shipmaster Lin Xun took the cargo manifest and, together with Dongye, accompanied "Cai Sang" back to the Shang Hall.

Cai Feiming was in a very good mood. Damn it, these Japan mine bosses had finally sent a ship! You have to know, it was already mid-December. The two Sand Ships that had brought Cao Zong last time had already made another round trip from Hangzhou. The Warehouse was now piled high with raw silk, cotton cloth, and other miscellaneous goods, and they were just short of the mine bosses...

In a room next to the Great Office specifically assigned to the Foreign Liaison Department, Cai Feiming smiled as he poured Longjing tea for the several Japanese merchants.

After taking a sip of tea, Lin Xun raised the celadon tea bowl high, bowed his head in thanks, and then tactfully began to read the cargo manifest. The manifest was written in Japanese, so he had to read it aloud in Chinese for Cai Feiming to record. In the 17th century, there were really few Japanese upper-class individuals who couldn't read and write Chinese. An elite foreign trader like Lin Xun not only knew Chinese but also had to take elective languages like Thai and Vietnamese.

The several Japanese watched with strange expressions as Cai Feiming fiddled with something on an iron plate. The purplish-red iron plate on the desk blocked the Japanese people's line of sight. It wasn't until Lin Xun finished reading the manifest that Cai Feiming simultaneously raised his head.

As expected, there was nothing on the Japan ship's cargo that could pleasantly surprise anyone. As an island nation that even had to import daily sundries from the Great Ming, the mine bosses truly couldn't produce any goods. Lacquerware, samurai swords, armor, sulfur, painted silk screens, painted silk umbrellas, painted silk fans... oh, and some dried seafood, abalone and the like. That was it. One couldn't ask for too much.

No fear with the mine bosses; as long as the mine bosses had mines, it was fine.

After finishing reviewing the cargo manifest, Cai Feiming first stood up to refill the Japanese men's tea, then said with a face full of smiles: "The sulfur and abalone, as well as the gold bars, silver bars, and copper bars on the ship — we'll purchase all of these in bulk, paying in Silver Yuan Notes."

Lin Xun simply didn't understand. Dongye Shangche began to patiently explain it to him. During this process, Lin Xun's expression was extremely rich and varied. Once he understood, he glanced at Cai Feiming in surprise, then abruptly bowed his head and said: "Hai! Then I beg Cai Sang for your kind patronage!"

Cai Feiming laughed heartily, then said boldly: "Then let's first tally the goods and put them in the Warehouse, then issue you the receipt. Oh, right, Dongye, did you bring the White Slip we wrote for you?"

Dongye Shangche nodded: "I've kept it on me the whole time."

"Good. The Silver Yuan Notes arrived a few days ago. We'll exchange it for you today." At this point, Cai Feiming picked up the Huawei Porsche on the table and dialed a number: "Director, it's Cai Feiming. Did Cao Zong bring those Silver Yuan Notes?"

The other end of the phone was silent for a moment, perhaps Wang Liguo was recalling, then he replied with one simple sentence: "They've already been entered into the accounts."

"That's good, then. Hurry and bring the money over. I need to pay the Japanese for the goods here."

"Wait."

Not long after, Wang Liguo's plump figure appeared at the doorway. He didn't enter, but tossed a kraft paper envelope over from a distance.

Cai Feiming reached out, pulled a Silver Yuan Note from the envelope, and looked at it: Hmm, not bad. Color-register printing; no one in this plane could counterfeit it.

The design on the Silver Yuan Note was also somewhat familiar to him: on the far right were the red characters for Five Thousand Yuan, below that was an auspicious cloud base pattern, and in the middle was an emperor, wearing a 12-tassel jade crown, with a long beard and dragon robe, in red and yellow imperial garments, looking very majestic.

In the upper left corner was the issuing authority: Earth Bank.