Hearing Ai Qian's suggestion, Ma Xiangdong did not have a trace of excitement, as an old bureaucrat, he knows very well that there is no free lunch in the world, and even more so between countries, if there is a country that is suddenly full of goodwill to you, willing to be anxious about what you are anxious about, and think about what you think, then what they want must be much more than they pay.

He looked at Ai Qian warily.

"I wonder what advice Master Ai has?"

Ai Qian smiled and said: "There are a lot of good things in Chu State, such as your silk, tea, porcelain, these things, we just don't have much, and they are not as good as Chu State, Chu State can use these things to top the account." Lord Shoufu, you buy it in the name of the state, and then sell it to us, there must be a price difference in the middle, and the Chu State can also make a profit from small and medium-sized enterprises, right? ”

Hearing Ai Qian say this, Ma Xiangdong immediately understood that this was to ask the Chu State to come out in the name of the country to buy these things from those merchants, and the price would naturally be pushed to the lowest, and even white strips could be made, and then given to the Ming people. This seems to be the way to go, after all, doing so is much better on face than a naked tax increase. Even if the people of Chu can't get the money for the time being, there is still hope.

"It's a viable way." He groaned.

"And table salt!" Ai Qian said: "To be honest, our Ming salt, is really expensive and unpalatable, and Chu salt, but it is unique, if the Chu court can let our Ming Department of Commerce get an unlimited amount of salt, so that we can sell salt to the Ming Dynasty, then we are willing to pay for it, of course, this price, we have to discuss it well." ”

Ma Xiangdong took a breath and became a little excited: "This can be had." "Salt itself is a state monopoly, and the Ming Kingdom is willing to use real money to buy the salt of the Chu State, so naturally it is impossible to ask for it.

"However, there is still a big gap between these and our previous transactions. But Lord Shousuke, we have a Changlong Bank in Daming, do you know? After making a series of foreshadowing, Ai Qian finally slowly showed his sharp claws.

"Changlong Bank? I naturally know that it is a money bank, I heard that it is a joint venture of dozens of big businessmen in the Ming Dynasty, and in the Ming Dynasty, it can compete with the Taiping Bank opened by the imperial court. Ma nodded to the east.

"By the way, it's them." Ai Qian said with a smile: "Actually, this time I came over, their big boss came to me, I am not afraid that Ma Shoufu will know, they have given me some benefits, and want to ask me to do something, as soon as I heard it, this matter is very helpful to my errand this time, so I boldly agreed." ”

"I don't know what kind of thing it is?" Ma Xiangdong asked.

"They want to open a branch in Chu State, hoping to get the support of the Chu State court." Ai Qiandao.

"A money bank wants to open a branch, this is not a big deal, our Da Chu and Da Ming are the country of in-laws, and now they are in the same breath, so if they want to open a branch, there is naturally no problem." Ma Xiangdong generously agreed, "But then again, what benefits can they give us when they come to open a branch?" ”

"They can provide you with a loan to the court of the Chu State!" Ai Qian smiled and said, "Aren't you without money?" But Changlong Bank has money. They are willing to lend you money, and the money is negotiable. It will definitely not be higher than the interest rate of the money put by those money banks in your country, I can guarantee it, only low. ”

"Is there such a good thing?" Ma Xiangdong was a little puzzled.

"Of course, they need to guarantee their loans to the Great Chu Imperial Court. And the most trustworthy thing in the state of Chu is the treasury, so they require that the state of Chu must use a part of the annual tax as a guarantee, and when the principal and interest are repaid every year, the money will be directly allocated to them from the state's taxes. Of course, they will have a special person to talk to your experts about these business matters. As long as Shoufu agrees to this matter, they are willing to lend money to the Chu State, and this money is enough for you to afford our weapons. Ai Qian continued to play quietly and quietly.

"If that's the case, Ma can be the master." Ma Xiangdong thought for a while, but he really didn't feel that there was anything unsavory here, so he agreed immediately.

"Great!" Ai Qianxi was overjoyed, "In this way, your country has obtained weapons and can effectively resist the attack of Qi State, and I have also completed the task of this trip, and I have learned a lot." ”

He deliberately showed a greedy look, as if he was complacent about getting the benefits of Changlong Bank.

For such an official who takes the opportunity of a business trip to enrich his pockets, Ma Xiangdong has seen too much, but he doesn't think it's strange at all, but thinks that this is the norm in officialdom, who doesn't find an opportunity to get a little benefit for himself? I heard that the management of officials in the country is extremely strict, and this Ai Qian took the opportunity of becoming a special envoy to seek some benefits for himself, but I am afraid that the country will not find out at all. Thinking of this, Ma Xiangdong's heart felt that it was appropriate.

Ai Qianxi smiled and took out a thick stack of files from his arms: "Ma Shoufu, this is the contract of all the contents I just said, please take it for review, if there is no problem, we can officially sign the contract, and then, all kinds of weapons and equipment that have been loaded in my Daming Baoqing Port will be shipped to Quanzhou, and then sent to Jinghu and handed over to Cheng Shuai." ”

"Give it to Cheng Wuben? It's not okay. The horse blurted out to the east.

"Ma Shoufu, the first priority of the Chu State is to resist the attack of the Qi State, so this first batch of weapons should naturally be sent to Cheng Wuben's hands, as for the weapons in the future, where you want to send them, we will naturally send them, then it's none of our business." Ai Qian Zhengse said: "If Cheng Wuben can't resist the attack of the Qi people in Jinghu, then the Chu State is afraid that it will not exist, and where can we still have business to do?" Do you think that's the truth? ”

Ma Xiangdong was silent for a long time, and finally nodded: "You are right, I will fight for this from His Majesty the Emperor, and the first batch of weapons and equipment will be given to Cheng Wuben." ”

"Great." Ai Qian nodded.

At night, Ai Qian walked out of the Shoufu Mansion with a smile, this trip was simply too perfect, it seems that this Ma Shoufu is not a little worse than the Changyang Ma County Shou of the Ming Dynasty, and these tricks of his own, I want to play in front of Ma Xiangnan, but I am afraid that I will be sprayed all over his face.

The Ming Dynasty is now preparing to open up the sea trade, and the silk, tea, and porcelain of the Chu State are some of the most profitable things overseas, but these things are biased, but the Ming Dynasty does not, even if there are some, compared with the Chu State, it is impossible to compete with it in terms of quality. Now, with this contract with the Chu State, Da Ming can get a large number of goods at a very low price, and then ship them overseas to make huge profits.

There is also a side effect of this matter, that is, in order to get more silk, tea, porcelain, etc., the Chu State will inevitably increase the exploitation of these producing areas, and these places are precisely the richest places in the Chu State.

Salt, on the other hand, is related to the internal affairs of the Ming Dynasty. His Majesty the Emperor is ready to rectify the salt business, and once it starts, the price of salt in the country will inevitably fluctuate greatly, salt, although it looks inconspicuous, but it is eaten by everyone every day, looking at the amount of each person is very small, but the whole sum is an extremely terrifying number. Getting low-priced salt from Chu and putting it on the market at the right time to stabilize the price of salt in the Ming Dynasty will make the rectification of domestic salt affairs affect a lesser extent.

As a high-ranking official of the Department of Commerce, Ai Qian knew that His Majesty the Emperor had decided to return the matter of salt affairs to the imperial court and prohibit private reselling, and it would be the Commerce Department that would take over the salt stall.

And the highlight of this negotiation is naturally that Changlong Bank can enter the Chu State and start operating in a grand manner. This was an important beginning of the Ming Dynasty's economic sweep of the Chu State. The reason why Taiping Bank is not used is that Taiping Bank's state-owned background is too eye-catching, while Changlong Bank, as a private share, is not so conspicuous.

Changlong will take a part of the tax of Chu every year with the guarantee of Chu finance, and this is just an introduction, when the real money and silver of Chu are transported into Changlong every year, it will make Changlong's status in Chu State above any other private bank, and Chu State does not have a state-owned bank. This is a kind of credit, a kind of endorsement that can reassure the people.

And Changlong issued the banknotes of the Ming State in the Chu State.

In other words, what was brought in was white silver and yellow gold, but what Changlong took out was a piece of colorful paper.

Let the Daming banknotes circulate in the Chu State, so as to quietly let the wealth of the Chu State flow to the Ming Dynasty, is the real purpose of this business.

Of course, selling weapons is indeed profitable, and although these special products produced by Daming specifically for export are very useful, their quality is much worse than that for personal use. The masters of the Taiping Fang are very ghostly, some of the weapons they make such as repeater crossbows can go through two or three battles, some may only fight one battle and have to be reimbursed, and some will take longer, so that the people of Chu will not notice the quality problems at all, and when they are used to these weapons of the Ming Kingdom, they will ask for a steady stream of the same weapons.

The reason is like this, a person is used to eating delicacies from the mountains and seas, and suddenly asks him to eat pig food, he naturally can't eat it.