Massimo first sent Huang Xuan to a familiar hotel. After confirming his accommodation, he took him to shuttle through the warehouses in the inner harbor. The prosperity here was no less than that of the commercial street in the first century. If compared, The proportion of wealthy people here may be comparable only to Wall Street.
In the 15th century, Venice, as well as other commercial cities in Italy - Florence, Pisa, Genoa, Cyprus and Marseille in France, almost formed the main commercial circle in Europe. The credit system during this period was extremely extensive.
The credit system is indispensable in long-distance trade, especially international trade. Starting from about the 1st century, Venetian merchants no longer needed to use blood relatives as ship owners, because with credit, the cost of commercial transactions was reduced. Being greatly reduced, the 15th century Florentine humanist Poggio Bracciolini vividly told a story about business credit in his "Collection of Short Stories": A man named D'Nocella needed to pay in Florence Someone gave him a large sum of ducats, so he gave the money to the Medici Bank in Rome, exchanged it for a letter of credit, and then went to Florence with the letter of credit. On the way, he began to doubt whether he could receive it. This money, but as soon as he arrived at the bank in Florence, his money was immediately paid to him in full. So he came to Cosimo and said: "Your credit is your reputation." Cosimo replied: "Danocera, the trust of others is the wealth of a businessman. The more trust a businessman has, the more trust he has." , and he will become richer.
The last sentence is a classic explanation of the source of the Venetian merchant's wealth.
During the same period, around the middle of the Ming Dynasty in China, although banks had the same business as remote withdrawals, their functions were still too weak compared to the prototype of modern banks in Venice. When people in Genoa were able to use letter of credit endorsement, the trading pattern of Chinese banks did not fundamentally change.
Italian business skills provided an important impetus for later Western European commerce and capitalism.
Huang Xuan, on the other hand, adapted to this driving force easily and habitually.
For an ordinary businessman who has not received professional training in international trade, the financial services provided by Genoa and Venice are quite mature and sophisticated.
When Huang Xuan simply put more than 580 tons of wheat in the warehouse, he got 50 gold ducats almost immediately.
After inspecting the wheat, Dest shook hands with Huang Xuan enthusiastically and said: "When your fleet arrives next time, please be sure to notify the Perot Chamber of Commerce."
Huang Xuan smiled and nodded, like an Italian who had completed a transaction, hugged Deste, and then left the warehouse with the money.
…
Early the next morning, Huang Xuan came to Perot Trading Company again and said to the strange Dest, "Oh, please forgive me for being cautious, because this is my first time here."
Dest had a long, hooked nose. He maintained a professional smile and replied, "What do you mean?"
"I actually still have some wheat and rice that I need to sell."
"Same quality?"
"Of course, they come from the same area." Huang Xuan added secretly in his heart: "It's the same plane."
Dest immediately became energetic. He waved to Massimo and said, "If you don't mind, we need to confirm first and then prepare gold coins. How many bushels do you have?"
"A lot." Huang Xuan pouted. He brought 10,000 tons of grain, about 40,000 bushels, worth 5,000 gold ducats. This number is roughly equivalent to the wealth of the larger nobles in Venice - such a noble has There are about 00 families that can run for leadership.
Venetian merchants rarely doubt the credibility of another merchant subjectively, so Dest sent Huang Xuan out of the room with a smile. As a store manager, he had his own responsibilities.
However, Massimo soon returned to Perrault House. His red hair was covered with beads of sweat. He panted and said to Deste: "Sir, I think you should go and take a look."
"What?"
"Mr. Khosa has at least 100,000 bushels of wheat and rice in his warehouse, and the quality is very good."
Even the standard food from the R plane is of excellent quality.
After hearing 100,000 bushels, Davis immediately organized the work at hand and followed Massimo out of the door.
In fact, it was 40,000 bushels, which were placed by Huang Xuan in a rented dock warehouse on the outskirts of Venice. 00 workers counted all day long.
50,000 gold ducats is no longer something that can be lifted by human power. The boss of Perot Commercial Bank, Mesero, personally handed the letter of credit from Peruzzi Bank to Huang Xuan and said: "Mr. Cosa, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to you." The representative guild will invite you to join us, and of course, you will need to provide some personal information about yourself."
Huang Xuan did not refuse, but took a look at the letter of credit, put it in his pocket and said, "I have to wait until I return to France to get the information, but I am happy to do business with you."
"Me too." Meserro is a nobleman about 50 years old. He has a luxurious style that is rare among businessmen in this period. The buttons of his clothes are made of transparent glass, which is crystal clear. In this period, transparent glass The price is comparable to pearls of the same weight.
Mesero is a person who pays great attention to details. His nails are very clean, which is very different from ordinary Europeans. While shaking hands with Huang Xuan, he said: "Mr. Cosa needs to purchase something in Venice." What? Maybe I can help."
Huang Xuan really needs someone who can help, because he only has 4 days here, and if he wants to buy enough things, wandering around the square is not possible.
Every business bank wants to deal with a trustworthy business bank.
Huang Xuan patted the letter of credit tucked into his chest and said with a smile: "I personally prefer products from Africa, such as ivory, rhino horn, leather, wool..."
Africa during this period mainly refers to Egypt, the Almoravid Empire and the Almohad Empire (divided) established successively in southern Morocco, a small amount of areas in East and West Africa, and the islands of Zimbabwe and Madagascar in South Africa. It was rich in wool, leather, wax, alum, ivory, gold, rhinoceros horn, spices, and slaves exported by slave and non-slave countries.
Compared with spices such as musk and cloves, which are already expensive in Europe, the prices of commodities such as ivory and rhino horn that have been regulated or gradually disappeared in modern society have become more exciting.
Mesero smiled because of Huang Xuan's huge appetite. With 50,000 gold ducats, he could buy anything he wanted. The only difference was in quantity. He let the workers carrying the food pass, thought for a while and said: "One The price of ivory is about 100 gold ducats, and rhinoceros horn is half that price." He glanced at Huang Xuan and said, "Do you really want leather and wool from Africa?"
"Oh, of course not." Huang Xuan spread his hands and said: "As long as the quality is acceptable, the place of origin does not matter." This is exactly what Italians think. They don't care much about the quality and delivery time of goods that exceed the standard. , but are willing to save more money. This is the exact opposite of the Germans who would rather pay more and demand better treatment and strict delivery times.
Mesero smiled even brighter and said: "In fact, we have many trade relations with the Slavic region. If you like, we can provide a lot of leather from Eastern Europe and even further areas. As for wool, that is even better. Solved, we have a fleet of ships going to and from England every year, and the Peruzzi Bank that provides us with the letter of credit and the Bardi Bank jointly control all the English wool trading rights. However, I personally recommend that you buy the ones that have already been produced. For woolen fabrics, there are more than 100 woolen weaving factories in Florence, so you can buy enough woolen fabrics.”
The energy screen that Huang Xuan opened showed that Mesero was not lying at all. Analyzing it from a higher level of similarity, Florence should produce 70,000 to 80,000 pieces of wool each year, and the value of the wool produced in the city is as high as 100,000 euros. Luo Lin, almost a million gold ducats. Just to buy them, 800,000 tons of grain would be used. If all active U.S. aircraft carriers were converted into cargo ships, almost all of them could be filled with this food.
If it were normal times, Huang Xuan might let go of this kind of project with a high amount of exercise and low profit, but a lot of absolute profit. However, facing the threat of the Space-Time Management Bureau, he no longer dared to be lazy.
After clearing his throat, Huang Xuan made up the reason again and said: "My first fleet left Venice yesterday. They were originally going to Florence to load goods. If Perot Trading Company can provide all the supplies in a short time If so, I can recall the fleet."
"What is the short period of time you are referring to?" Meserro is a very cautious person and does not relax because of the huge transaction amount.
"Within three days." Huang Xuan said firmly.
Davis next to him took a deep breath. Venice was a global market in the 15th century. They often encountered fleets that strictly required time to catch up with the monsoon, but they had never encountered such an urgent situation as Huang Xuan.
"If you can do that, I can also call in fleets heading to other locations, which carry large amounts of food."
Meserro was a little confused at first about Huang Xuan's background. At this time, another Venetian hurriedly arrived and said loudly: "Are you Mr. Cosa?" (To be continued, if you want to know what happened, Please log in to .qidian. There are more chapters, support the author, and support genuine reading) (To be continued)