The two to three hundred people in the commercial expedition team were all famous businessmen along the coast of the Tang dynasty. Their identities and statuses were relatively high. No accidents could happen to these people. Otherwise, it would cause irreparable damage to the entire business system of the Tang dynasty, and the consequences would be very serious.
Business itself did not create any wealth, and businessmen never engaged in any production. However, business was a place that could stimulate the production of wealth, and it was extremely important for the growth of the wealth of the entire society. Without business, human beings would still be in a primitive society.
After all, business was an institution where different groups of people exchanged goods. If there was no exchange, people would not be able to get what they needed, and it would be impossible to promote the development of the whole society.
The Tang Empire had now entered the stage of industrialization, and the production of goods was very fast. If there were no businessmen to quickly sell these products to the people who needed them, the commercialization of the Tang dynasty could not be carried out effectively, and the development of the empire would stagnate. It might even cause a certain degree of collapse and economic depression, which would have a fatal impact on the prosperity of Ang Lee's Tang Empire.
Therefore, the lives of these businessmen were extremely important. Their existence was necessary for the prosperity of the Tang Empire. Nothing could happen to them.
When it came to business, anyone could do it, but it was not a skill to do it on a small scale. It was very simple to buy a radish for one copper coin and sell it for two copper coins, or grow vegetables and sell them on the street. Anyone could do it. Losing such businessmen would not be a loss to the empire.
However, many large-scale businesses required brains. The operation, sales, supervision, and so on were very complicated. If there was a problem in any of the links, it would lead to eternal damnation.
Therefore, it was very easy to set up a stall business, but it could not make much money. It was more difficult to do big business. It required a clear mind and wise experience, as well as the path that had been paved by the ancestors. Otherwise, it was impossible to do business with ease.
For example, if you didn't have your own channels, no matter how good or cheap your goods were, no one would buy them. You wouldn't be able to earn a single cent if your goods were left to rot in the warehouse. Therefore, sales were a very important issue. These big businessmen were basically all business elites who had been doing business for generations. They all had their own unique business methods that ordinary people couldn't easily grasp. They also wouldn't tell this secret to outsiders.
Supervision and control were also very important abilities. This ability could not be learned in a short time. If you set up a stall alone, you did not need to be supervised. You only needed to take care of yourself. However, if you wanted to expand your business, you would need to open many branches and have hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands of subordinates. How would you manage these subordinates? How would the financial personnel supervise these subordinates? Were so many subordinates working seriously? Were there any people who embezzled money and cheated him? Were there any parasites who did not work but only took money? These all required experience to judge. At the same time, a special organization had to be formed to supervise and optimize these subordinates to further reduce costs and create greater business value for himself. This was an ability that a layman would not have. If a layman suddenly took over such a big business, his subordinates would be turned upside down due to his lack of ability and experience. The final result would be that the business would become worse and worse until the day it closed down.
For example, the Hua Xia Empire in the future implemented a national enterprise system. The entire country was a large enterprise. All the large and small enterprises in the country were all owned by the country. This way, very high requirements were put forward for supervision.
In the beginning, the supervision was still strict. However, as time passed, many parasites began to breed on a large scale. They used various methods to embezzle the country's property, causing all the profits of the enterprise to be swallowed up by these parasites. As a result, the enterprise had no funds. In the end, it could only close down.
Where did the supervision go? Sorry, the government agencies were bribed by these parasites. They also got a share of the pie. They participated in the embezzlement of the country's property and left behind a lot of mess.
A successful businessman, in addition to having reliable sales channels and effective supervision, also had more necessary skills. These skills could ensure that they could make profits in the long run and pass them on to their children and grandchildren, allowing their children and grandchildren to become rich.
Business skills were formed through long-term exploration. It was definitely not something that could be learned in a short period of time. Therefore, the most famous businessmen of the Tang Dynasty could not have any personal accidents. Otherwise, the overseas trade industry of the Tang Dynasty would be paralyzed, which would seriously affect the sustainable development of the Tang Empire.
As a sea merchant, Zhang Batian naturally knew the tricks of doing business. However, he could not fully understand the market conditions of various places. He knew that if the Tang Empire wanted to develop better, it could not do without these businessmen. Although the participation of these businessmen would take part of his profits, it was extremely beneficial to the entire Tang Empire. He was now very rich. After Ang Lee's threats and appeasement, he no longer cared about losing some profits.
"Assistant Minister Li, don't worry. I have divided the team into ten groups. Each group has only 20 to 30 people. They are small and easy to manage. I have strictly ordered them not to get separated. I believe that there will be no problem."
Zhang Batian replied.
Hearing this, Ang Lee nodded with satisfaction. Zhang Batian's arrangement was very good. Dividing these businessmen into groups was very convenient for management. When two or three hundred people were in a messy group, it was easy to make mistakes when counting the number of people. After dividing into ten groups, it was much more convenient for different people to manage.
In this way, each group only had more than 20 businessmen, dozens of servants to serve them, and 50 soldiers to guard them. In total, there were more than 100 people in each group. It was a medium-sized group that could spread out well in various places. They could enjoy the scenery of various countries to their hearts' content and learn about the resources and customs policies of various countries. After a thorough investigation, they could open workshops in these countries.
After some simple preparations, the caravan began to set out for the inspection. In order to make them comfortable, Ang Lee prepared ten large ships for them and sent two steam gunboats to escort them.
For the sake of safety, they did not scatter for inspection. Instead, they moved as one and headed to the same country together. After landing, they could scatter slightly and head to different cities and towns for inspection according to their groups. After the inspection period was over, they would return to the port where they came from and take a ship to the next port.
This method of inspection could ensure the absolute safety of these businessmen. If there were any signs of trouble, the ten groups could quickly gather together and form a relatively strong force.
Moreover, inspection by inspection could also promote communication among the businessmen. These guys stayed together all day long, so it was impossible for them not to talk to each other. They would definitely communicate.
The most likely topic they would talk about was direct investment in workshops in the small countries along the way. Although they were rivals in the same trade, they were also direct competitors. The resources in the countries along the way were very high. This was not something that any one of them could swallow alone. Even if these 200 people all worked together, it would be impossible for them to extract all the resources in the small countries along the way. They would not be able to do it even if they were given ten thousand years.
In addition to competition, they could also cooperate with each other. For example, many industries had upstream raw materials and downstream finished products, and there might be more than one type of raw materials. This required more businessmen to cooperate with each other.
For example, one of the businessmen took a fancy to the climate of a certain place and planned to develop a fruit plantation. Another businessman planned to build a canning factory there, and another businessman wanted to make canned fruits.
The three of them could cooperate. One of them would be responsible for opening a plantation and providing fresh fruit raw materials to the two downstream merchants, while the other two merchants would open a canning factory and a canned fruit factory respectively.
This formed a very good cooperation. Some people felt that the three workshops could be opened by the same businessman. After all, they were all very similar industries.
However, the people who said this neglected a very important point. Every businessman had their own unique characteristics, which could also be said to be a secret ancestral recipe.
For example, the first businessman was very good at growing fruits. He had an incomparably effective technique to grow high-yielding and delicious fruits. However, he would not tell this technique to the other two businessmen, and the other two businessmen would not be able to learn it in a short period of time. If they forced him to grow them, the effect would not be as good as buying the fruits he grew.
The other two businessmen were in the same situation. One was very good at seasoning canned food, and the canned food he made was always better than others. The other was very good at making canned fruits. After adding the ancestral recipe, the canned fruits he made were always better than those made by ordinary people.
In this way, the three of them could only obtain the greatest benefits through cooperation. If they fought alone, their benefits would be greatly reduced. This was the advantage of using one's own advantages and complementing others.
Of course, there were more examples. For example, there were businessmen who made their fortune by logging for generations. The scale of their business grew bigger and bigger, and their status became higher and higher. However, other than logging, they did not know how to do anything else, so they could only engage in this industry.
There were also businessmen who were experts in making furniture for generations. No matter how others tried to imitate them, they would not be able to do so. Moreover, with each generation, they would become better and better, and become well-known furniture experts.
In this way, the businessmen who made their fortune from logging could cooperate with the furniture businessmen. One would set up a logging factory in the local area, and the other would set up a furniture factory nearby. From then on, they would rely on each other to promote their own business and continue to develop.
This was called specialization in a profession. Only by working hard in one direction could one make the best products. If one did everything, there might be a situation where one could not do anything well.
Of course, these examples were too simple. The mutual dependence between businessmen was far greater than these examples. There would be even greater dependence between them, and this was also the reason why there were so many businessmen in the world.
Watching the businessmen leave the port of Malacca on a merchant ship to inspect the nearby areas, Ang Lee began to imagine in his mind.
In this sea area, it was still a very backward era. However, as long as the businessmen of the Tang dynasty gradually poured in, there would soon be earth-shaking changes. Many tall buildings would gradually rise, and the lives of the people would gradually improve.
Of course, the Tang dynasty would gain greater benefits and become more glorious. In addition, some of the resources of these countries would be lost, and the environment would be slightly worse.
In short, the Tang Empire would only gain benefits, and there would be no harm. Although the small countries along the way had to pay a price, their living standards would be greatly improved. This was worth it. If one did not pay a little when they were poor, how could they let themselves develop faster?
In a poor small country, the people were so poor that they could not eat. How could they have the energy to consider environmental protection? Considering environmental protection at the expense of economic interests was not suitable for a poor small country.
In the later generations of Hua Xia, for the sake of environmental protection, they were unwilling to develop high-tech trains and insisted on using horse-drawn carriages for transportation. This was environmentally friendly, but the efficiency of horse-drawn carriages could not be compared with that of trains. The promotion of economic development was also very different. Therefore, insisting on using horse-drawn carriages for environmental protection was absolutely wrong. Even if the environment was sacrificed, trains should be built.
Later, Emperor Taizong learned his lesson and vigorously developed science and technology, and carried out industrialization. No matter the environment, as long as it could improve the economic level, it was all introduced into the country.
This had led to two consequences. First, the Huaxia Empire's economic development had advanced by leaps and bounds, and the people's standard of living had greatly improved. Second, the environment had been severely polluted. After various industrial and mining enterprises, as well as pesticides and fertilizers, the clear river had become a smelly ditch with overflowing sewage. The fish and prawns in the river had disappeared, and the flies and mosquitoes had covered the river.
Not only the country, but also the personal situation. Young people were in good health, but they had no money. In order to get money, the best way was to sacrifice their health and work hard to succeed. However, in the process of working hard, they would have to endure great hardships, and this would inevitably damage the young people's health.
Some people thought that they could combine work and rest, but many jobs did not give them the opportunity to do so. They worked more than ten hours a day and had to work overtime on weekends. If they wanted to take a break, they could only resign. If they left their jobs, they would not have any income.
For ambitious people, they could work hard and be their own boss, but there were many people who worked hard. Others worked 16 hours a day, but you worked 8 hours a day. How could you compete with others?
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