"Sir, it's time to leave. （.）”

"Got it. Wang Qin responded, carefully put a stack of "Haihan Silver Bills" with a face value of 1,000 taels and the transaction documents of the two sides into a thick paper clip bag, and then put them into a small rosewood briefcase, and closed the lid of the box. This flat square box was a gift he received when he opened an account at the "Haihan Development Bank", and the back of the box was engraved with the name of the recipient.

According to the practice of the Haihan people, all kinds of documents and bills that need to be carried with them are placed in boxes of this shape to avoid being defaced. Wang Qin had seen Mr. Shi and Mr. He of Haihan's Guangzhou Office carrying boxes of similar shapes when they went out, which seemed to have an inexplicable style. However, the boxes of the Haihan people do not seem to be made of wood, but are shiny silver, a bit like silver, but the weight seems to be very light.

Of course, Wang Qin will not know where the aluminum-magnesium alloy briefcase of the rimowa brand comes from and how valuable it is, but even with his 17th-century vision, he can feel that the portable equipment of the Haihan people is very strong, so after getting this gift, Wang Qin also began to have the habit of carrying the briefcase with him.

Wang Qin walked out of the courtyard with the briefcase, turned around and told the housekeeper: "If someone visits, it will say that I have gone to the Haihan Office in Guangzhou." The butler nodded hurriedly.

Two months ago, Wang Qin, on behalf of the Huizhou "Haifeng" firm, negotiated with the Guangzhou Office to exchange ore for Haihan commodities, and the "Haifeng" quickly became the No. 1 commercial house in Huizhou in a short period of time. In accordance with the requirements of the Haihan people, the "Haifeng" organized the transportation capacity to transport two batches of four ships of ore, tin ingots and lead ingots to Shengli Port, and exchanged a large number of Haihan glassware, making a lot of money on the ground in Huizhou. According to Wang Qin's own estimates, the profits made by the "Haifeng" in these two transactions were at least nearly 10,000 taels of silver.

Wang Qin, who contributed the most to this process, was rewarded by the big boss and purchased a small courtyard in Guangzhou as his place to stay, so he no longer needed to have a private room in the inn for a long time. Wang Qin's personal treatment has also improved, and he even has the spare energy to hire a few subordinates in Guangzhou, and he also used a few hundred taels of silver to redeem a Qing man from the flower boat on the Pearl River, and his living standard has been greatly improved compared with before.

Of course, Wang Qin knows very well where his enjoyment comes from today, so he runs to the Guangzhou Office more frequently than before, even if there is nothing to do, at least every three or five days he will visit his door to contact his feelings. Wang Qin didn't know and was not interested in inquiring about why the Haihan people imported tin ore and lead ore from Huizhou every month, but as long as the Haihan people still needed this aspect, the "Haifeng" would continue to purchase more Haihan commodities from Shengli Port and obtain huge profits.

Since the Guangzhou Office launched the business of depositing and exchanging money between the two places in Shengli Port, Guangzhou, Wang Qin has become the first batch of people to eat crabs. When ordering in Guangzhou, the silver was directly handed over to the Haihan people, and then the silver ticket issued by the Haihan people was taken to Shengli Port to pick up the goods, so as to avoid the various risks that may occur in the cross-sea transportation of tens of thousands of taels of silver, and the silver ticket is registered and can be reported as lost, even if it is accidentally lost or even robbed, Wang Qin does not have to worry about suffering actual losses.

What makes Wang Qin feel most convenient is that since the transactions between the "Haifeng" and the Haihan people are settled in Guangzhou, there is usually a large amount of cash and silver turnover, and if you put it at home, I am afraid that you will not even be able to sleep well at night, but if you put it in the Haihan people, you feel much more at ease. The descendants of the nursing homes in the Guangzhou Office are all fierce dragons and tigers, and they all use muskets made by Haihan. Wang Qin heard an acquaintance boss say that the muskets of the Haihan people are said to be more powerful than the Lu Mi guns equipped by the official army, and only the "Fu Ruifeng" who has a close relationship with the Haihan people can buy the muskets made by the Haihan people on the ground in Guangzhou. With such a powerful guard, Wang Qin naturally confidently and boldly deposited all the cash in the name of the "Haifeng" in the Guangzhou Office.

Wang Qin's sedan chair left Guangzhou City from the Great East Gate, walked a short distance east along the main road, and arrived outside the Guangzhou Office.

Today's Guangzhou Office is not only crowded at the gate, but also has a large number of sedan chairs and carriages parked at the back door. Two months ago, the Haihan people built a courtyard behind the courtyard of the Guangzhou Office and hung up a signboard of "Haihan Development Bank". Since then, the back door of the Guangzhou Office has also become lively, not only with sedan chairmen and horse-drawn carriages here to collect customers, and there are laborers who come here to find work to do, but also some small stalls selling hot food have appeared nearby, and their business objects are of course not the rich old men in the Guangzhou Office, but the ordinary people waiting here for work.

After Wang Qin got off the sedan chair, he met an acquaintance: "Isn't this the horse shopkeeper?

Wang Qin has been in Guangzhou for a long time, and the ground contacts have gradually become familiar, and he naturally recognizes the shopkeeper of "Yongfeng Cloth Shop". It is said that "Yongfeng Cloth Company" is the number one cloth supplier of Haihan people, and more than eighty percent of the fabrics purchased by Haihan people from the mainland are supplied by "Yongfeng Cloth Company". Moreover, the Haihan people have a huge demand for fabrics, and Wang Qin doesn't quite understand why they buy so much cloth back to Shengli Port, is it impossible to make clothes and sell them back to Guangzhou?

The shopkeeper smiled and said, "Boss Wang, I'm here to get the silver again! Why don't you call a few laborers for you to wait first, and then I can help you carry the silver out." ”

Wang Qin also replied with a smile: "The shopkeeper really likes to joke! This little business is just to support the family, how can it be compared with the shopkeeper of the horse, see a smile and laugh!"

Outside the gate of this newly built courtyard, there are two one-person-high stone Pixiu, and above the door is hung a plaque with gold characters on a black background, and guards in black clothes and black pants stand on both sides of the gate. The guards guarding the door saw that the two men were carrying rosewood briefcases given by their own families, so they nodded and motioned for them to enter on their own.

The precincts are divided into three areas: north, east, and south, with a small patio in the middle. To the south is the "Business Office" that handles general money deposits and withdrawals, and can be used for deposits and withdrawals of less than 5,000 taels. To the south is the "senior business room", which is responsible for handling the deposit and withdrawal of more than 50,000 taels of silver, but Wang Qin has not entered it once. To the north is the "Special Affairs Office", which deals with all kinds of troubles encountered by customers, such as disputes over the fineness of silver coins, loss reports of silver tickets, and so on. In order to prevent first-time customers from getting confused, a special sign has been erected in the patio outlining the different functions of the three areas.

It was not the first time that they had come here to run errands, so they went to the "business office" due south to go through the formalities. The layout in the "business room" is also very simple, a black marble counter runs through the room, dividing the whole room into two parts, and behind the counter there are two Haihan staff are handling business for the merchants, one of the merchants has an open wooden box on the counter in front of them, which is full of silver ingots, at least two or three thousand taels, it seems that they are here to save money. In addition to the customers who were going through the formalities at the counter, there were several people waiting in the room, and it seemed that they would not be able to take their turn for a while.

As soon as the two entered, a servant came over and took them to the rest seat next to them, and then quickly brought hot tea and snacks, and gave them two number plates. Wang Qin picked up the number plate and looked at it, then turned his head and asked, "Shopkeeper Ma, what does the number marked on it mean? Why are you A7 and I am B4?"

"Boss Wang hasn't been here to do business recently, is it? This is a new rule set by the Haihan people. The shopkeeper explained to him: "This is to make it easier for everyone to line up, and when it is your turn to number the plate, someone will come to inform you." In this way, everyone can sit and wait slowly, and they are not afraid of messing up the order. ”

"I see. Wang Qin was thorough, nodded and praised: "Haihan people do pay attention to rules and regulations, and the details can be seen!"

Sure enough, after the previous customer at the "A" counter completed the formalities and left, a small servant sang loudly: "Guests of No. 5, please go to the counter of No. 1 Jiazi to go through the procedures!"

After waiting for about half a pillar of incense, it was Wang Qin's turn, Wang Qin got up and came to the counter, opened the briefcase, took out the silver ticket and handed it over: "I want to exchange eight thousand taels of silver in the next." ”

"Please wait. After the clerk took the silver ticket and checked it, he wrote a slip and asked Wang Qin to sign it.

After Wang Qin signed the slip, the clerk pulled a rope next to the seat, and soon someone came to take the slip, and a moment later someone came out with a flatbed cart pushing a few boxes.

"Haihan silver, one hundred taels per ingot, a total of eighty ingots, do you need to check the fineness?" the clerk asked.

"No need. Wang Qin was very relieved about the quality of the silver ingots issued here. At the beginning of the first few withdrawals of silver, he was still a little worried, asked for inspection, the clerk used silver scissors to randomly cut the silver ingots in person, and it turned out that the silver ingots of the Haihan people were better than most of the miscellaneous silver on the market, and belonged to the same grade as the official silver.

Of course, it is not so easy to deposit silver, and if the fineness of the silver is obviously insufficient, the Haihan people will ask for the color to be folded. In order to avoid this kind of dispute, the Haihan people have also been promoting bearer silver tickets to customers like Wang Qin, so that when they trade with other people, they no longer need to take the cash out of the Haihan people's warehouse, and just take the silver tickets to others. However, Wang Qin still has some doubts about this, and always feels that being anonymous seems to lack a sense of security.

"Do you need escort services?" the clerk continued.

"Yes. Wang Qin nodded. Eight thousand taels of silver is hundreds of catties, but it is not something he can carry around alone.

"Local or off-site?"

"Locally, just enter the city of Guangzhou. Wang Qin paused and asked, "Now you can still escort the silver to other places?"

Since the beginning of business, the "Haihan Development Bank" has been providing a local escort service in Guangzhou to the door, of course, this is not a free service, but to charge one-thousandth of the escort fee. Local merchants generally do not choose this service, and bring a few people to transport the silver back. However, foreign merchants like Wang Qin are generally willing to pay out of their pockets for Haihan people to send the silver directly to their homes when they are concerned about safety. But before that, Wang Qin had never heard of being able to send silver to other places.

"This is a new service that we have recently opened, which can be opened in Zhaoqing, Shaozhou, Nanxiong, Huizhou and Chaozhou within Guangzhou, and Zhangzhou, Tingzhou, Quanzhou, Yanping and Xinghua in Fujian, and Fuzhou is expected to be opened within two months. The clerk looked at Wen Jiàn on the table and introduced it to Wang Qin one by one.

Wang Qin asked in disbelief: "Is this ...... Are you even running a dart game now? Do you have a special dart team?"

The clerk shook his head and said, "I don't know who will escort it." ”

"Let me explain this problem to Boss Wang. ”

Wang Qin looked back when he heard the voice, and hurriedly arched his hand and said, "It turned out to be Mr. Shi!"

"Boss Wang, do you have time to talk alone?" Schneider also smiled and arched his hand.

"Yes, yes, since it is invited by Mr. Shi, no matter how busy you are, you have time!" Wang Qin replied repeatedly. Most of the dealings with Schneider are business talks, and it is rare to have the opportunity to chat privately with Schneider like some local businessmen. Now that all the wealth and nobility are tied to the Haihan people, Wang Qin naturally attaches great importance to this kind of invitation.

"Count Boss Wang's silver, and arrange for someone to send it to Boss Wang's house, there must be no mistake!" Schneider instructed the clerk behind the counter, and then said to Wang Qin: "Boss Wang, please!"

Feeling the gaze of everyone in the house, Wang Qin's vanity was greatly satisfied, and the regular customers all knew that the general manager Shi in the Guangzhou Office rarely appeared here to greet customers, he was generally responsible for trade negotiations, and rarely showed up on the bank's side, only the local "Fu Ruifeng", or the "Chenghai Bank" of Chaozhou Mansion such a large business to handle banking business, in order to be eligible for his personal reception.

Out of the courtyard of the bank, Schneider took Wang Qin directly to the inner courtyard and into a study. After Wang Qin entered the house, he saw that in addition to Schneider and He Xi, there was also a middle-aged man in Haihan costume.

"Let me introduce, this is our Tao Dong to Tao Zong. Schneider introduced the two to each other: "This is the boss of Wang Qinwang of Huizhou's 'Haifeng'. ”

The two saluted each other, and after a few long words of admiration, they took their respective seats. Wang Qin sensitively noticed that the two directors of the Guangzhou Office were sitting on either side of this Tao president, and he seemed to have heard of the leader of the Haihan people surnamed Tao before, so he had already expected the identity of the middle-aged man in front of him.

"I don't have any other meaning to invite Boss Wang over today, I just want to ask Boss Wang what thoughts and opinions he has during the use of our Haihan Bank's business. Tao Donglai went straight to the point: "Boss Wang doesn't have to shy away from anything, we understand that these are just to be able to provide better services to customers like 'Haifeng', if you think we have anything worth improving, you can say it, and we will refer to it in detail." ”

Wang Qin was stunned and said: "The service of this Haihan Bank is naturally ...... I think it's superb. ”

Schneider smiled: "Boss Wang, don't be nervous, we're not interrogating you, just asking for your opinion." If you can't find anything wrong, then you can also talk about what other services you would like our bank to have, or if there is anything else you don't understand about the business?"

Wang Qin suddenly remembered the conversation at the counter just now, so he casually asked, "I heard just now that you can escort the silver to a different place?"

Schneider explained: "This is also a new service we have launched according to the requirements of customers, such as foreign customers like Boss Wang, who need us to safely escort a large amount of cash to Huizhou, then we will send a professional armed escort team to complete this, and the fee charged will be much lower than the traditional dart game, and in order to give customers peace of mind, we will also provide the service of losing darts and paying all." ”

As the largest foreign trade port in Guangzhou, Guangzhou brings together a large number of merchants from Guangzhou, Guangzhou, and even other provinces. In recent years, piracy has been rampant along the coast of Fuguang, and the risk of transporting large quantities of silver from the sea is extremely high, and land transportation has begun to become a common choice for more and more merchants with this demand. However, in terms of the garrison strength of only one platoon after the two increases and adjustments of the Guangzhou Office, at most it can do the local armed escort business, which can be used as a military subsidy to some extent, but it is a bit beyond the reach of the whip to undertake the gold and silver escort in other places. Therefore, in the early days of the establishment of the "Haihan Development Bank", the GDETO did not provide relevant services.

However, recently, "Fu Ruifeng" saw the signs of the bank's development and took the initiative to come to the door to ask for a joint stock. Schneider naturally will not distribute the bank's shares to outsiders, you must know that the "Haihan Development Bank" is the prototype of the future central bank, and this share cannot be controlled by private individuals anyway, let alone a merchant of the Ming Dynasty. After rejecting Li Jifeng's offer, Schneider proposed another cooperation method to them, opening an organization in the nature of a dart bureau to undertake the foreign gold and silver escort task of the "Haihan Development Bank".

As a large-scale merchant with a number of chain stores in the two regions, the geographical layout of "Fu Ruifeng" does have the advantage that the group can not reach, and Schneider hopes that "Fu Ruifeng" can make more effective use of its early layout, and gradually transform the existing business model relying on terminal sales into a channel-based and logistics-based business model, of course, these terms are not understood by Li Jifeng or Li Nai, they only care about what Schneider said about this "new money-making model" How to operate, how to get more profits, and what does the dart game have to do with the new business model