Chapter 538: Liquidation of the Commercial Firm

There's a good saying: opportunity is reserved for those who are prepared.

When the great tide of the era comes, whoever puts in the work beforehand will seize the opportunity. Putting in the work doesn't guarantee success, but those who don't put in the work are certain never to succeed.

In later generations, during the early stage of reform and opening, whoever learned English in advance could change their life overnight. At best, they could study abroad for advanced degrees and, even if they couldn't make it as a foreigner over there, coming back at least got them returnee treatment; failing that, they could still be a translator, do foreign trade, do PR, arbitrage currency, run smuggling rings, or open classes to teach it — all kinds of slick moves.

In short, it was a breezy life that let you bid farewell to the teeming masses, farewell to layoffs and scratching a living from the earth.

The seventeenth century was exactly the same.

Take the historically successful Zheng Zhilong, for example. This man not only got on famously with the Portuguese, he even got baptized and joined the foreign religion, becoming a mouthpiece for Spanish and Portuguese power. Zheng Zhilong's conduct in this regard brought enormous benefits to his later development. Whether from a commercial or military struggle perspective, it was an extremely successful act of speculation.

The historically obscure figure Zong Ben was, in essence, no different from Zheng Zhilong. Both were wave-riders "answering the call of seventeenth-century internationalization." The only difference was the scale of the former's efforts. Zheng Zhilong did the full package; Zong Ben merely learned a foreign language.

In the ten-plus years since coming to Haojing'ao, Zong Ben went from greenhorn to a successful foreign trade merchant, and this was inseparable from his going with the tide. Macau was a city built by the Portuguese, and in practice the Portuguese called the shots, so Zong Ben had previously put in the work and learned Spanish.

In the colonies of this era, the nobility used Latin among themselves, while the common people all spoke Spanish, even in a city belonging to Portugal. The reason was simple: colonies were places where the dregs of every nation gathered, so the Spanish of the colonial overlords became the common tongue. As for Portuguese... in the seventeenth century, it was more of a dialect of the Catalonia region, not really a lingua franca.

Even though Zong Ben didn't go as far as Zheng Zhilong in selling himself out and surrendering to the court, merely learning a foreign language still brought him endless benefits. Over these years, relying on the convenience of communication and the commercial channels behind him, Zong Ben established a very solid business relationship with the Macau Jesus Branch, and the two sides cooperated extensively.

Of the three-man delegation that came to the commercial firm today to discuss business, never mind the translator Master Niu — among them, Brother Garcia was an important figure.

Garcia's title was Deacon of the Macau Jesus Branch. This man appeared to be of no high rank, but he was in fact the primary executor responsible for commercial assessment and concrete business plans for the Macau Jesuits, somewhat analogous to a later-generation regional factory manager.

For a merchant like Zong Ben, if he wanted to deal with the Society of Jesus — that colossal entity combining cultural invasion and commercial trade — Garcia was the key man.

"If the price is right, then my commercial firm is property you may dispose of at will. Of course, I can also accept a capital injection in the form of shares."

Time was pressing, and Zong Ben now had to leverage the advantage of information asymmetry to offload his commercial firm, so after a few pleasantries upon meeting, he got straight to the point.

The three-man acquisition group naturally understood the meaning behind Zong Ben's words; if it weren't so, they wouldn't have come. Truth be told, ever since receiving the information Zong Ben sent someone to deliver last night, Brother Garcia had taken it very seriously. This could be seen from his actions that very night in hiring Niu the Translator and contacting Captain Martinez.

Deacon Garcia, who had a head of brown hair, had eyes of a pure Blue. Although the high-bridged nose common to Southern Europeans made his features appear rather fierce, the moment he spoke, his professionally trained preacher's voice was quite gentle and sounded positively holy: "Zong, you are a long-term partner of the Church. Compared to acquiring your commercial firm, I am actually more concerned with the reason behind this."

Recently, the atmosphere in Macau City had been very oppressive. Both the City Council and the upper echelons of the Society of Jesus were extremely anxious and uneasy about the enormous pressure coming from the Ming Empire (in truth, the Crossing Faction).

Under such circumstances, any information concerning the Ming Empire would draw the attention of the Macau side. For Garcia, if a key supplier under his purview underwent a sudden change at this time point, the reason behind it absolutely had to be clarified.

Zong Ben chuckled at this. "It's good news."

The climate of East Asia did not suit Europeans. Or rather, any mid-to-low-latitude region crawling with mosquitoes did not suit Europeans. Even the Jesuit brothers, who followed God, suffered severe attrition here, so Garcia was already the third business manager Zong Ben had dealt with — he now understood very clearly what these white-skinned visitors from foreign lands were worried about, and he moved to reassure them at the first moment.

"Regarding this matter, there has been movement on my elder clansman's side."

Zong Ben began to explain: "My clan brother recently received word from Beijing. After this autumn's capital evaluation, he is expected to gain promotion. Hence he sent a family letter, instructing the household to raise some funds..."

These words of Zong Ben's were directed at Niu Xijian, Master Niu.

Master Niu, as a professional broker, was today without a doubt acting as a temporary employee of the Church, so Zong Ben had no need to explain much here. How to translate his words was the translator's job.

As a native-born merchant of the Ming Empire, Master Niu naturally grasped the information contained in Zong Ben's words instantly. So he turned his head and expressed the matter using foreign vocabulary the foreign guests could understand.

The foreign guests understood very quickly. Wasn't it just spending money to buy an official post? As if our Holy Roman Empire had no such tradition?

In fact, at this time point in the seventeenth century, and even across far more distant ages, buying official posts was a tradition to begin with, both in China and abroad, only the means of expression differed somewhat.

The Ming Empire had public donation ranks, and the Qing Dynasty that succeeded it goes without saying — donation ranks were everywhere. Meanwhile in Europe, noble houses spending money to secure a public office for a son, or a certain brother spending money to secure himself a Catholic Bishop's title in a wealthy region — these were everyday matters that could be openly discussed, never subject to any disciplinary inspection... The kings and grand dukes of Europe were themselves old hands at selling public offices. Where do you think the position of Tax Farmer came from?

So after Master Niu explained it this way, the foreign guests understood very quickly. Immediately after, Brother Garcia, believing he now grasped the situation, nodded, and a warm smile appeared on his face: "Dear Zong, first of all, please allow me to extend my congratulations to Lord Zong Mao. His promotion is good news for all of us."

Zong Ben's clan brother Zong Mao served as a circuit intendant in Shanxi. This was currently the highest public office held in the Zong Family, and the younger generation would put him forward as their banner. For Zong Ben to gain a firm foothold in a place as perilous as Macau, he naturally had not skimped on promoting this in normal times, so the Society of Jesus was aware of such a figure.

"I'm honored by your kind regard, many thanks, many thanks."

After a few polite words, Zong Ben added: "It's also not appropriate to say the matter is settled just yet. For one, this affair will take time, and for another, it will cost a considerable sum of silver. Hence, this is the reason for my actions today."

Brother Garcia nodded: "Then, let us discuss the price of the commodities."

At this point, today's meeting had entered the formal negotiation stage.

The formal negotiation process could be described as uneventful. The reason was simple: Zong Ben, the seller, adopted an attitude of needing money urgently and being willing to cooperate, and then set a reasonable price on the resources he held. In this way, the most difficult part of the negotiation simply did not exist.

And Zong Ben also quickly figured out the internal dynamics of this three-man group from the dialogue between both sides.

Within the three-man acquisition group, the one with the simplest objective was Captain Martinez. This Portuguese gentleman with a large beard was the owner of the three-masted sailing ship "Coimbra," currently anchored in the Macau Inner Harbour.

Martinez's objective was very simple: to acquire all the Ming Empire spot commodities in Zong Ben's hands, because he would soon set sail for India.

Zong Ben satisfied the captain's request without a hitch. Including the goods in the commercial firm and the stock in the port warehouse, Zong Ben offered the captain a reasonable price for all of it — since this bearded gentleman was specifically brought by Brother Garcia to "pick up bargains," then without a doubt, there was a deep personal relationship between them.

Zong Ben was an old hand; he had seen plenty of such situations where private matters were nested within public business, and he naturally wouldn't get the handling of it wrong.

When Zong Ben and Captain Martinez first reached an agreement, not only did the corners of the bearded captain's mouth turn up, but Brother Garcia also nodded repeatedly, all smiles.

Next was Boss Niu. By this point, Zong Ben realized that Niu the Translator was involved in this matter far more deeply than he had imagined. His original plan had been for the commercial firm to be acquired by the Society of Jesus, but now, judging by Brother Garcia's intent, he planned to have Master Niu act as a white glove to operate it on the surface.

This meant Niu Xijian would inevitably hold shares in the future commercial firm.

Zong Ben didn't care. Since he had thought it through and decided to offload this foundation he had painstakingly built up, who took the shares no longer had anything to do with him.

So he very naturally agreed to Master Niu's request to transfer the entirety of the commercial firm's storefront and the port warehouse.

However, at this moment, Brother Garcia raised an objection. In the brother's view, Zong Ben held not only these tangible assets; the Ming Empire purchasing and sales channels he had built over many years, as well as the intangible asset of the Zong Family name, were also very valuable.

So Garcia proposed retaining twenty percent of the shares for Zong Ben, to maintain the commercial channels behind him. The remaining eighty percent would be internally divided between the Society of Jesus and Master Niu.

Zong Ben laughed heartily and agreed to this proposal, and guaranteed that the commercial channels behind him would still play a role in the days to come.

Zong Ben had to guarantee this. Otherwise, if the other party sensed he was intent on just taking the money and leaving, then his earlier stated reason would seem a bit forced.

However, while nodding in agreement to everything, Zong Ben also put forward one request: his own twenty percent share had to be mortgaged on the spot to someone present, treating it as a loan from them.

Zong Ben's request was no major issue; neither the Society of Jesus nor Boss Niu was short of ready silver. Moreover, since he had just readily done Captain Martinez a favor, Brother Garcia took the initiative and used the Society of Jesus's public funds to mortgage those twenty percent of shares for Zong Ben.

At this point, in just half an hour, Old Master Zong had offloaded the commercial firm he had toiled bitterly to build over ten years, leaving not a scrap behind... oh, right — he still intended to take his crew of old hands with him.

Later that evening, when everything had been settled and handed over, Old Master Zong received a sum of nearly eighty thousand taels, composed of gold and silver coins from various nations. Combined with Zong Ben's own savings, he put together a total of one hundred thousand taels in ready silver.

Early the next morning, he took all his men, escorting the silver-laden boat, and arrived at the New District Pier.