Traveling through the late Ming Dynasty to promote Chinese civilization

Chapter 251 Liang Xiaoming's "New Invention"

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After listening to Liu Ye's words, everyone understood that when you have enough capital and a large enough scale, as long as you don't buy high and sell low, you can make money no matter what. The only difference is the profit per unit. But no matter what, the money you make is something that ordinary businessmen can't even dream of.

Li Fei sighed in admiration, "Your subordinate was too short-sighted and didn't understand the calculations before. Usually, a merchant would only take a few hundred or a thousand dan of raw silk at most, which would be considered a remarkable feat. If we can acquire 100,000 dan of raw silk in one fell swoop and sell it to Japan at four times the net profit, why bother with such a small cost price?"

Liu Ye laughed and said, "This is the power of capital. It's something that small-time merchants can't compare to. In the face of absolute capital advantage, any business tricks are not worth mentioning."

Li Fu asked cautiously, "Such a large undertaking, I'm afraid no one but General himself could make the decision..." He had made up his mind that if the General were to entrust the managers and employees of the Qiongzhou Trading Company with the entire responsibility for handling such a large transaction, he would not accept the task, even if he feigned illness. The reason was simple: a deal worth millions of taels of silver—if anything went wrong, he couldn't afford to lose his life. He would rather forgo the credit; the risk was simply too great.

Upon hearing this, Liu Ye looked around and, as expected, no one volunteered to take on the job. It seemed the enormous sum of money involved had stunned everyone, and no one was willing to volunteer. He sighed; it looked like he would have to do as Li Fu suggested and take matters into his own hands.

He asked Li Fei, "Is it appropriate to buy raw silk at this time? How long will it take to sell all the raw silk from Jiangnan to Japan and convert it into silver?" His biggest concern was that it would take too long. If the three-month period came and Zheng Zhilong failed to expedite the delivery, he would become enraged and turn against Li Fei. Li Fei would be in Jiangnan or Japan and unable to stay in Lingao to oversee the situation.

"Please rest assured, General. This is the harvest season for silkworm farmers in Jiangnan. We can go there right in time for the peak season. The journey from Jiangnan to Japan usually takes a long time, several months round trip. However, our 'Voyage' is different. It is estimated that from Lingao to Jiangnan, and then back to Lingao via Japan, including the time spent on purchasing and selling raw silk, it should not take more than two months."

Upon hearing this, Liu Ye realized the timing was perfect and shouldn't cause any delays, so he nodded: "Whether it's dealing with silk merchants in Jiangnan or expanding into the Japanese market, I'm afraid I can't do it without personally taking charge. I'll make the trip myself. Li Fei, you're familiar with Japan, so you can come with me."

"I obey my orders."

"As for the rest of the people... Li Fu is the manager of the Qiongzhou Merchant Guild. Once he's become familiar with these things, he'll eventually hand them over to you. You can go along and get familiar with them too."

Li Fusong breathed a sigh of relief. Running errands was fine, as long as he didn't have to shoulder the main responsibility on this first trip to Jiangnan and Japan. He readily agreed, "Your subordinate obeys."

Liu Ye instructed, "This matter should be handled as soon as possible. I will set off in the next few days. I entrust the affairs of Lingao to you all, especially Mr. Yan and Mr. Sun. You must keep track of the news from Zhongzuo Institute, and keep a close eye on the production of the shipyard and arsenal."