Tianguang Port was originally an inconspicuous small port along the coast of the Pyu Empire. Because it was not a major port, it had a small population and a small number of businessmen, not to mention rich and powerful ones. Almost no big businessmen would pay attention to such an inconspicuous place. However, after Ang Lee arrived here, the situation changed a lot. It was no longer a port of the Pyu Empire, but had been ceded to the Tang Empire. Moreover, the port had begun to expand, and various facilities around the port had begun to be built. Under such circumstances, businessmen were naturally attracted to the port. After the news that the Tang Empire had obtained the port and was expanding it spread out, many big businessmen keenly discovered the business opportunity here and came here regardless of the cost, so as not to be late and let others seize the opportunity.
After arriving at Tianguang Port, these big businessmen mainly investigated the expansion of the port, the construction of various infrastructures around the port, and whether it would really become a large-scale port in the future. If it could really become a prosperous port in the future, they naturally didn't mind investing in Tianguang Port immediately so as to seize this great opportunity to make money.
In the past few days, more than a dozen big businessmen had made major decisions to invest near Tianguang Port. They had contacted the officials under Ang Lee's command and proposed to purchase the land near the port. Some of them even planned to get involved in the construction of the port. As for the various demands put forward by these big businessmen, some of them could be granted, while some of them could not be granted. Even if the speed of construction of the port and infrastructure had to be slowed down, the controlled area could not be given to these big businessmen. Otherwise, once these guys formed a monopoly, they would form an oligarchy in Tianguang Port, and other businessmen would not be able to establish a foothold here, which would be very detrimental to the prosperity of the port in the future. Therefore, these kinds of demands could not be granted. However, the officials under Ang Lee were still willing to accept some of the reasonable demands put forward by the big businessmen, as long as the businessmen were not too greedy. A large amount of capital was needed to build a port. Although Ang Lee had plundered a lot of property through fighting pirates, which made the development of Tianguang Port much smoother, there was still a lot of speculation in building a large port. Obviously, this was not enough. Moreover, Ang Lee had to set aside a considerable part of the wealth he gained through fighting pirates to reward the soldiers under his command. He could not use all of it to build Tianguang Port. If he wanted to build the port better and faster, it was naturally a good way to borrow the wealth in the hands of the businessmen.
Of course, there were also a few unlucky fellows who encountered hurricanes and pirates and suffered heavy losses, but generally speaking, the majority of merchants were making money, and only a small portion of them were unlucky. The powerful warships deployed by the Great Tang along the Silk Road could deter the pirates and prevent their activities from becoming too rampant, thus ensuring that the majority of merchants could make money and the prosperity of commerce could continue. In addition, some merchants also had their own private guards. The fighting strength and equipment of these guards were not necessarily weaker than that of the pirates. They might not be as tough as the pirates in a fair environment, but when defending a ship, they could deal a heavy blow to the pirates. There were examples of pirates who had been heavily injured during a robbery. Otherwise, the pirates would not have thought of building armored ships. This was because they would also encounter a tough opponent during a robbery. If they encountered a merchant ship with a powerful guard, the pirates would inevitably pay a heavy price. Thus, when the pirates discovered that a merchant ship was heavily guarded, they would give up on robbing it. Pirates would only decide whether to rob it or not based on whether they could take down the target.
Of course, if a merchant wanted to hire guards with sufficient strength, they would have to pay a corresponding price. The stronger the guards, the better their equipment, and the more the number of guards, the more money they would have to pay. Not all merchants could afford such a high price. In order to reduce the cost of the guards as much as possible, many merchants would cooperate with other merchants when they needed to transport goods over long distances. A merchant fleet could easily have dozens of merchant ships. In this way, when the guards of multiple merchants were added together, their strength would be strong enough. The cost of maintaining the guards was also borne by multiple merchants, so the cost of each merchant would naturally be lower.
Of course, in order to reduce the cost, some merchants would choose not to hire guards and risk transporting goods. However, the consequence of doing so was that they might be robbed by pirates. For example, the Wang family's huge wealth was robbed because they did not bring any guards. However, they were attacked by pirates when they were not far away. Not only did all their wealth disappear, but they also lost their lives.
On the sea of the Silk Road, there were a large number of unescorted merchant ships drifting on the sea every day. This phenomenon would continue, and no one could change it. After all, it cost a lot of money to hire guards, which would raise the cost of goods and make merchants earn less money. The existence of the Tang warships had indeed deterred pirates to a certain extent, making pirate activities along the Silk Road less frequent. At least a small number of merchants would be robbed by pirates. This kind of small probability naturally wouldn't attract the attention of merchants. In order to make a little more money, merchants would always have a fluke mentality.
In addition, some merchants were not sure how many guards they should hire, so they simply did not hire them. After all, the strength of pirates was also divided into strong and weak ones. For weak pirates, hiring 30 guards was enough to deter them. For strong pirates, they might need 50 or even 100 guards. For stronger pirates, they might even need 200 or 300 guards to deter them. For many merchants, if they wanted to pursue absolute safety, hiring 200 or 300 guards was unacceptable. The cost of hiring guards would consume a lot of the merchants' profits. They could not afford such a large expense, so they simply did not hire guards. After all, they might not encounter pirates anyway.
"Assistant Minister Li, recently many big merchants have come to Tianguang Port. They have proposed to buy the nearby land and build their own houses. Some have proposed to open workshops nearby. Some have even asked to join in the construction of the port, but they want the shares of the port."
A subordinate official put the record book in Ang Lee's hand. These were the various requests put forward by the merchants. Ang Lee had to make the final decision.
"A canned fish workshop. This is pretty good. It covers an area of 50 mu. The area is not very large, but it's quite reasonable. I can agree."
Ang Lee looked at the requests put forward by the merchants. He found one of them to be very good, so he agreed on the spot.
"A whale oil workshop is also good. There are already whaling ships here. There is nothing more suitable than setting up a whale oil workshop near this port. I must support it!"
Soon, Ang Lee found another workshop that he could agree on. Of course, these workshops were all beneficial to the future development of Tianguang Harbor. In order to make this harbor prosperous, it was necessary to support these merchants to set up these workshops.
Of course, there were also some unreasonable requests that Li An could not agree to easily. For example, those who wanted to participate in the construction of the port, but they wanted to take over the shares of the port, and some even wanted to participate in the management of the port. Li An could not easily agree to this. There were also some who wanted to take over a large area of the core area of the port and build several complete commercial streets in this large area. The businessman who made this request was very smart. Before the port was developed, he would not pay too much to buy a large area of the core area. Once he took over this land and the port developed, the value of this land would greatly increase. This was the appreciation of the land itself. The businessman would definitely not leave the land idle. He would build a large number of shops on this large piece of land, and after a few years, the rent of these shops would become a large source of income. The businessman who obtained this land could even decide the fate of other businessmen. He could decide which businessman could do business in the area he occupied in the most advantageous way. This would undoubtedly form a great monopoly in this port. In the future, if this person stamped his feet, the entire port would be shaken, which was naturally very disadvantageous to the future development of the port. In the future, if the port wanted to prosper, there must be many businessmen doing business together. These businessmen must be able to compete fairly, and these businessmen must not give in to the giant businessman, which would force other businessmen to die, which was very disadvantageous to the prosperity of the entire port.
After making the decision, Ang Lee asked his officials to deal with these matters immediately. At the same time, the large amount of treasures from the sea had to be dealt with as soon as possible. These treasures belonged to the merchant surnamed Wang. They were obtained by the soldiers of the Tang dynasty from the pirates. Since the merchant Wang had been killed, these treasures would naturally be kept as a reward for the soldiers. The surplus would be left for the development of the harbor. However, these treasures could not be used to buy goods directly. They had to be exchanged for currency, which had to be done as soon as possible.
There were a lot of goods in the three merchant ships. It would be very difficult to deal with so many goods as soon as possible. Ang Lee planned to stay in the harbor for a few days to deal with this matter. He wanted to exchange more money as soon as possible, even if he had to lower the price.
The goods in these merchant ships were in high demand on the market. Although the price was high, the nobles and the rich liked these things, especially the nobles near the Mediterranean Sea. Therefore, it was absolutely profitable for the merchants to buy these goods from Tianguang Port and sell them in the Mediterranean Sea.
In order to save time, Li An wanted to directly sell the entire merchant ship and the goods inside. However, this seemed to be a little too unreasonable. These goods were stolen goods that the pirates had robbed. It seemed really inappropriate for the officers and soldiers to directly package and sell these stolen goods. Such a large combination set might not be able to sell. Therefore, it was more appropriate to sell the goods inside alone. There were quite a lot of merchants at the port. If each merchant bought a little, all the goods would be sold.
Ang Lee's officials directly set up shops in the busiest part of the harbor. According to the different goods in the merchant ships, they set up silk shops, porcelain shops, spice shops, and grocery shops. These shops sold the goods looted from the pirates together.
In a silk shop, several merchants entered the shop to look at the silk. The officials in charge of sales naturally didn't wear official uniforms, which would scare the merchants away. They also wore the clothes of merchants, so they didn't have to worry about scaring the merchants away.
"The price of these silk goods is cheaper than the source. Could it be that they came from illegal sources?"
A shrewd merchant said uneasily after asking about the price of several kinds of silk goods.
"Illegal sources? Who said so? These were all seized by the soldiers from the pirates' lair. They are already normal goods. "
The official didn't hide anything and answered truthfully.
"They are looted by the pirates. No wonder they are so cheap. How can you call these goods from the pirates' lair 'normal' sources?"
The merchant said unconvinced.
The official said angrily, "Why is it abnormal? When the pirates robbed, they killed the merchants and took these goods. The soldiers killed the pirates and took back the goods. They planned to return them to the merchants, but the merchants were gone. These goods naturally belong to the imperial court. It's reasonable to sell them."
"Since they were looted from the pirates' lair, let's make it cheaper! At least half the price! "
The merchant opened his mouth to bargain.
"Half the price? What are you thinking? A 20% discount from the source is already very cheap. According to the prices here, it can already be regarded as half the price. It's impossible to get any cheaper. If you want to buy, then buy. If you don't want to buy, then forget it. I won't force you. "
The official said. Because he had been an official for a long time, his character and temper had been cultivated. It was obviously impossible to make an official talk to a merchant who bought silk goods in a humble tone. The official absolutely couldn't do this. He couldn't do it even if he was beaten to death.
"If the price is cheaper, I will buy more. I will buy all of these."
The merchant continued to bargain.
"Bargaining is declined. Come, hang the sign at the door."
The official simply asked his subordinates to mark the price clearly and then hang a sign in the shop to decline bargaining.
At this time, the merchants who entered the shop to buy silk goods were a little depressed. They really wanted to buy. After all, these silk goods didn't have any problems at first glance and the price was relatively low. Naturally, they were very suitable to buy. However, the merchants naturally wanted to lower the price to the lowest. Since they knew that these silk goods were obtained by the soldiers from the pirates, they felt that the price could be lower. This was the nature of merchants. It couldn't be changed for ten thousand years. It was impossible to get merchants to change this habit.
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