"Come on, pick two ripe apricots!" Wu Qinghou was so angry that he cried and said, "Please take a few more pieces of my last year's apricots and soak them in water for you!"
Then he said apologetically, "Ordinarily, we should have left some food for you, but there's nothing on this construction site, so we can't entertain you, young master."
"I see that the Marquis has a lot of chickens and ducks outside, and there are even old geese in the pond." The Duke of England teased him deliberately.
"No one here would give a shit. My father and I looked at these chickens and ducks and imagined them to be roast chickens and ducks eating dry food." Li Wei blinked. He had a thousand reasons not to treat everyone.
"If I look at it for two more seconds, my father will hit me with chopsticks and scold me for being greedy!" Li Wengui said angrily.
"Go away and get mixed up in the dust!" Li Wei glared at his son, then smiled at Zhao Hao and said, "When the company goes public, I'll invite you to my house for a feast."
"I'm sure to eat this meal hosted by Grandfather-in-law!" Zhao Hao thought to himself, "Okay," and they started to make promises to each other.
"Young Minister, please tell us what we should do with our Northeast Company?" Li Wei asked impatiently.
"Well, why worry about it, Grandfather-in-law? The biggest feature of a joint-stock company is that the owner and the operator can be different people." Zhao Hao smiled and glanced at Yinggong and said, "If you don't believe me, ask Yinggong. Take me for example. I haven't been back to the capital for a few years, but Xishan Group is still doing well?"
"Haha, that's right. We are just a bunch of guys who keep the pressure on and wave the flag. Who knows how to run a company?" The British prince hurriedly agreed with a smile.
"Just sit there and collect the money?" Li Wei said with his eyes wide open.
"Of course not. Professional matters should be left to professionals. If we try to steal the jobs of the subordinates, it would be disgraceful and difficult to handle." Duke Ying laughed and said, "Just sit back, eat, drink and have fun, and wait for the stock to soar."
"That's great. It won't delay my building the garden!" Li Wei said happily, "I absolutely want it!"
As he said this, he asked Zhao Hao expectantly, "By the way, how much can our stock price increase?"
"It depends on two aspects. One is whether the financial statements are good, that is, whether it makes money. The other is how well the story is told, that is, whether investors feel there is room for growth in the future." Zhao Hao explained with a smile:
"The first one is easy. We are setting up a trading company. We operate with light assets and can make any amount of profit. As for the second one, that is even more of my strength. When the time comes, let the three major groups help promote it. It will be like a piece of cake if the price increases by a hundred or eighty times!"
"Wow, if I invest 100,000 taels, wouldn't it become 10 million taels?" Li Wei drooled when he heard this.
"Ten million taels is just the starting price. As long as the business is good, it's not uncommon to double in three years and increase fivefold in ten years." Zhao Hao fully demonstrated the characteristics of the Northeast Company, which is that it relies entirely on deception. He described the infinitely bright prospects to Li Wei with great joy.
If someone else said this, Li Wei would definitely spit in his face and scold him, "Why don't you go to heaven?"
But Zhao Hao couldn't help but believe what he said. Because ten years ago, Xishan Group, which was still called Xishan Company, had a total share capital of only one million taels. Now its market value has reached 600 million taels. It has increased by a full 600 times!
There is also the Jiangnan Group, whose value is unknown, and the Nanhai Group, which is definitely more valuable than the Xishan Group.
There is absolutely no reason why this Northeastern company can't succeed...
"Don't leave at noon today. Let's prepare nine dishes and a soup, and I'll serve them to you!" Li Wei was so excited that he wanted to treat everyone to a meal.
"Obedience is worse than respect." The Duke of England agreed without hesitation. If for no other reason, he had to eat this meal just so that he could brag about it when he got back.
~~
Soon, the food was served, a bowl of leek and egg soup, a bowl of coarse grain noodles for each person, and a pot of wine.
"Come on, let's eat. You're welcome." Li Wei first scooped a large spoonful of leek and egg and added it to his bowl of noodles.
Zhao Hao and Zhang Rong looked at the soup bowl with only chive leaves left and not even any oil visible, and their mouths twitched.
"Is this nine dishes and one soup?" The Duke of England was dumbfounded.
"You must have heard it wrong. I was talking about leek leaf soup." Li Wei's eyes widened as he said, "There are meat, vegetables and noodles. Is that enough?"
"Uh..." The Duke of England was choked and almost rolled his eyes, "Drink, drink."
So they each poured a glass of wine, the three of them clinked their glasses, and the Duke of England tasted it and said, "Oh my god, how much wine is mixed in this water?"
But Li Wei was still asking, "How is it, young minister?"
"Not bad, not bad. It's really delicious." Zhao Hao spoke more tactfully. "If you taste it carefully, you can still taste the good taste of the wine. I can drink this wine to my heart's content."
"I can't get drunk, but I pee a lot." The Duke of England laughed.
"I can't work in the afternoon because I'm drunk." Li Wei smiled embarrassedly.
"Haha, that's right!" Zhao Hao slapped his head and said, "I almost forgot. I have to go to the Ministry of Rites to reconcile the accounts in the afternoon. This time I came to ask the Grand Father-in-law to take a look first."
As he said this, he took out a budget sheet from his sleeve and handed it to Li Wei.
Don't look down on this bricklayer. He has undertaken many large projects over the years and knows everything about the accounts.
Li Wei took it and looked at it, frowning and said, "The last time Lu Wang's coronation ceremony cost one million taels, but this time the emperor's wedding only cost one million taels?"
"Firstly, it's an engagement, not a wedding; secondly, my father-in-law has only given me this little budget." Zhao Hao smiled bitterly and said, "I can't pay for it with my own money, can I?"
"Haha, of course not." Li Wei smiled awkwardly, thinking that this was the emperor, so he had to pay more. But the conversation was so heated, if he upset Mr. Zhao, wouldn't it delay the important matter?
Weighing the two options, the dream of going public is more attractive.
But he still had to ask for clarification, so he put down the budget sheet and asked, "When will our Northeast Company start?"
"It's better to do it today than to wait for a day. We can decide on the shares today. I will send someone to Liaodong to take charge of it next month." Zhao Hao said readily.
"Then how much should I pay and what share will I get?" Li Wei asked nervously. Asking him to pay was like killing him.
"How about this, Grandfather-in-law, you don't need to show up the money. How about converting your import and export business in Liaodong into 20% of the shares and injecting them into the company?" Zhao Hao said with a smile, "Let the three major groups each take 20%. Firstly, the Northeast Company has to rely on their personnel and transportation capacity. Secondly, letting them take the majority will help boost investor confidence!"
"That's a company jointly created by three major groups. Just thinking about it is exciting!" Even the British public was excited and said, "Once it goes public, it will definitely be very popular!"
"Yes, yes, no problem!" Li Wei was also overjoyed. He knew that those nobles only held a small amount of shares in Xishan Group, and he could use the Liaodong business to exchange for 20% of the shares, which was really not a small amount.
"And what about the rest?"
"Everyone who sees it gets a share." Zhao Hao said with a smile, "Take out 10% and share it with everyone in Beijing. The sedan chair will be carried by everyone."
"That's great." The Duke of England was immediately delighted, knowing that he would have to take part in it.
"What about the remaining 10%?" Li Wei asked again.
"The last 10%," Zhao Hao picked up the wine glass, hesitated for a moment and then put it down, "How about leaving it to your godson Li Chengliang?"
"Hehe, it turns out that nothing can be hidden from the young minister." Li Wei smiled embarrassedly and handed the budget sheet back to Zhao Hao.
"Okay, that's it!"
~~
The military commanders of the Ming Dynasty could not succeed in the court without a backer. Even General Qi was a pet of Prime Minister Zhang. General Li of Tieling was much more cunning than Qi Jiguang. In addition to clinging to the thigh of Zhang Juzheng, he also used a large sum of money to open the way for Wuqing Hou, and recognized his eldest son as his godfather.
It was precisely because of the support of this Liaodong general that Li Wei was able to monopolize the trade in and out of Liaodong. If the Northeast Company wanted to gain a foothold outside the Great Wall, it also needed Li Chengliang's approval.
Zhao Hao asked Li Wei to set up this Northeastern company and extend its tentacles beyond the Great Wall, to a large extent, in order to control the King of the Northeast.
Because Liaodong was the cause of the sudden death of the Ming Dynasty, and Li Chengliang was the culprit who burned the stove.
Yes, the demise of the Ming Dynasty was caused by both internal and external factors, and the most fundamental one was the internal factor. For example, the land was annexed severely, the people were devastated, and the people had no place to live. The small government had no control over the country and could not take away the surplus and make up for the shortage, etc.
But we cannot deny that external factors are catalysts and fuses. Therefore, the issues of Liaodong, Jurchen and Li Chengliang must be taken seriously.
First of all, the area that Ming Dynasty effectively ruled in Liaodong was the Liaohe Plain. Most of the area was a military fortress, and the only truly prosperous area was Liaoyang, Liaozhong, and Haicheng. After two hundred years of reproduction, the Han people in Liaodong were only about two to three million.
The chaos and turmoil here is secondary. The biggest problem is that it is too cold. The area outside the Great Wall is bitterly cold, and it became even worse after the Little Ice Age. There are only a few short months of spring and blooming flowers from April to August every year, and most of the rest of the time is extremely cold with ice and snow.
In addition to seriously threatening the lives of the people, the long and severe winter also resulted in Liaodong having fertile land but unable to be self-sufficient in food. Millions of soldiers and civilians had to rely on food transported from within the country.
Actually, it’s not so bad now, at least we can grow one season of crops. In another twenty years or so, we will enter the Little Ice Age and it will be almost as cold as Siberia.
Therefore, it is unrealistic to rely on large-scale immigration to the Northeast to consolidate the Ming Dynasty's rule over the areas outside the Great Wall.
Fortunately, the Ming Dynasty is now in its last period of strength in Liaodong, and can use clever means to achieve the same goal.
This period of strength was closely linked to Li Chengliang. After defeating the Tuman, the world outside the Great Wall was already ruled by this great warlord.
As for the Jurchens, they are still in a fragmented and totally inadequate state.
Especially in the second year of Wanli, after Li Chengliang led his army to eliminate Wang Gao, the leader of the Jiannu army who had been causing rebellion for a long time, and sent Wang Gao to the capital to be executed by slow slicing, the Jurchens became even more obedient.
Also captured by Li Chengliang were Wang Gao's two grandsons, Ye Zhupi and Jierhalang. He used the two young men as his young men and sent them to fight in the army. They are still the top soldiers in the Ming army today...
Master Zhao only needs to say one word to make them lose their heads. But he has to deal with the entire Jurchens. As I said before, killing them will not solve the problem.
The Northeast Company is used to solve this problem.
ps. I will continue writing, but I probably won’t be able to finish it. I will post it tomorrow morning.