Everyone was either sitting or standing, or with their arms folded across their chests, or standing against the wall, and no one was speaking.
If Tian Chang were there, he would recognize that these people were basically famous tea merchants in Chengdu Fulu and Bianliang areas.
There was silence for a while. After a while, Zhou Yunsheng, who had gone to the dock to pick up Tian Chang, slowly said, "Everyone, once the arrow is shot, there is no turning back. Let's do it."
"Are you really going to do this? Isn't this a bit too risky? Do you want to discuss it further?"
Someone said.
Wang Min, another head of the Wang family, looked around at the crowd and said, "The imperial court has cut off our source of income. If we don't find a way to stop the implementation of the cash payment law, next year you won't even get any money, and you probably won't get much tea permits."
"That's true, but your Bianliang tea merchants have already had their tea permits cut off by the imperial court, and I heard that several have even been imprisoned. Even if you succeed this time, what if the imperial court comes to exact revenge later?"
A Chengdu tea merchant chimed in, "Besides, at this critical juncture, isn't it a bit rash to jump out so brazenly? We're here to make money, not to risk our lives... Why not wait a while and see what the court has to say?"
"Yes, doing this now is a bit too radical. If we anger the court, we will suffer."
"Let's wait a little longer, maybe there will be a turning point."
"Waiting for what?"
Zhou Yunsheng angrily scolded, "If we wait any longer, will you still be able to receive the rice and wheat this year? Will you still be able to get the tea permits? If we delay the income for a year, such a huge family business will collapse in an instant. If we don't fight hard, no one will have an easy life in the future."
When he said this, everyone looked at each other in surprise.
Although during the reign of Emperor Zhenzong of Song Dynasty, Prime Minister Wang Dan said that there were many wealthy merchants in Bianliang with property assets of more than 100,000 strings of cash, and there were also many with property assets of more than 1 million strings of cash.
But in fact, the merchants in the Song Dynasty were not that rich. At that time, being rich was considered a tycoon. It was no problem for them to be the richest man in an ordinary county, let alone a fortune of over one million.
In the entire Bianliang tea merchant industry, only Tian Chang achieved a net worth of one million.
He could transport 120,000 kilograms of tea from Hangzhou at a time, and at most 200,000 kilograms. Even if he sold it at the ordinary tea price of 100 to 200 coins per kilogram, he could still earn 10,000 to 20,000 strings of cash, or even 30,000 to 40,000 strings of cash.
If it is good tea, it often costs three to four hundred coins or even five to six hundred coins per catty, and the income will be even higher.
And this was just spring tea. At that time, there were summer tea, autumn tea, and winter tea. There was a tea market in all seasons. If things went well, seven or eight trips of goods could be made in a year, so Tian Chang's annual income was more than 100,000 strings of cash.
But please note that this is gross income, before costs are deducted.
After deducting all the costs, his actual net profit per trip was only a few thousand to 10,000 or 20,000 strings of cash, and his annual net profit was probably around 30,000 to 50,000 strings of cash.
But even so, including the stores, shops, other industries he opened in various places and the wealth accumulated over the years, he has already become a top tycoon with a fortune of millions.
As for the second-tier high-ranking businessmen, such as Zhou Yunsheng and Wang Min, although they were also big tea merchants in Bianliang, their total net worth was only a few hundred thousand strings of cash, and their usual working capital was generally only a few hundred thousand strings of cash.
Apart from them, most of the remaining people here have a net worth of only 200,000 to 300,000 guan, and only tens of thousands guan in liquid funds.
There are only two ways for tea merchants to make a living. One is to import tea and sell it, and the other is to rely on the grain transported to the border every year to obtain inflated currency.
However, the profit that tea permits can bring is extremely limited. First of all, tea permits are subject to government policy, and 120,000 kilograms is the upper limit. No matter how rich you are, you cannot get more tea permits.
Secondly, the price of tea is greatly affected by the market. The government can lower the profits of tea farmers by levying levies and purchasing at low prices, but they cannot do this. They must raise the price to get good tea.
In addition, the tea market is prone to fluctuations due to various factors. Sometimes, after working hard to transport tea from all over the country to Bianliang, the price of tea plummets, and you may not only fail to make money but may even lose money.
Therefore, compared with Tian Chang, these people actually rely more on making profits from the border, obtaining inflated values of goods, and sucking the blood of the court. Even the main source of profit for most tea merchants is making money from the border.
Now the imperial court has implemented the cash-on-demand law to put an end to the false valuation of goods, which is tantamount to cutting off an important source of livelihood for them.
Simply losing one's livelihood is one thing, but going against the imperial court and risking the confiscation of property and extermination of one's clan is another.
Historical records show that in addition to those with official and business backgrounds, the Song Dynasty was always ruthless towards big businessmen.
Many local officials like to impose heavy taxes and exploit merchants.
There are even records such as "hundreds of thousands of volumes were discarded overnight, one became a wealthy merchant in the morning and a beggar at night, some even committed suicide by drowning or hanging themselves", "all the family wealth was gone, some committed suicide by drowning, and died in a foreign land."
It can be seen that the Song Dynasty court basically treated merchants as leeks to be harvested.
That's why they were so hesitant when Zhou Yunsheng, Wang Min and others gathered everyone and called on them to resist the court together.
For a moment, the venue fell silent again.
After a while, someone said, "I think our power is still too small. The big tea merchants in Chengdu and Bianliang alone are not enough to shake the court. Why not wait until next year and unite tea merchants from all over the country to deposit money in Chengdu and then withdraw money in Bianliang? This will make it easier to cut off the court's funding. By then, we will have to abolish the cash payment system."
"Oh."
Zhou Yunsheng sneered, "Do you know what I heard from the government? After the implementation of the cash payment law, the court will save 6.5 million strings of cash a year. Even if tea merchants from all over the country run on the bank together by next year, they may not succeed. Now is our only chance."
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
