6th month, 24th day, Shanhai City.
The ripples from the Battle of Fei River slowly dissipated, and Ouyang Shuo started to get busy once more.
It was currently afternoon, and the blazing sun had just passed the middle of the sky. However, the temperature did not drop. The front courtyard of the Imperial Reading Room was filled with green trees and was really cool. Even the annoying sounds of cicadas in summer were gone.
At the corner of the Imperial Reading Room were basins of ice cubes that chased away the heat and brought a cooling sensation.
At 3 PM, the quiet Imperial Study suddenly welcomed a group of special guests. Vice Minister of Finance Cui Yingyu walked at the very front, and behind her were three famous merchants of Great Xia. They were the head shopkeeper of the [Bai Trading Company] Bai Xue, the head shopkeeper of the [Song Trading Company] Song Tianxiong, and the head shopkeeper of the [Cui Trading Company] Cui Shouren.
Without a doubt, this was a special meeting.
Based on the rules, although the three of them had some relationship with the royal family, they did not have the right to enter the Imperial Reading Room.
Walking into the solemn Imperial Reading Room, a thick aura of power surged toward them. The three of them were naturally people who could call the wind and summon the rain. Often, a small action from them could cause huge waves in the business world.
However, entering the Imperial Reading Room, this was the center of power of the Great Xia Dynasty. Not to mention Cui Shouren and Bai Xue, even Song Tianxiong, Ouyang Shuo's father-in-law, felt nervous.
This meeting was not planned on the spot, and they had already informed them yesterday.
Before coming, Cui Shouren had tried to find out what his sister was thinking. Who knew that she would keep her mouth shut and not reveal anything? On the contrary, when his father found out, he was scolded harshly.
Relatives interfering in politics was a huge taboo in the dynasty.
"My king, Mister Cui and the others have arrived." Tsing Yi reminded Ouyang Shuo, who was reading memorials.
Ouyang Shuo was stunned. He placed down his brush and raised his head, "They're here, sit!"
The smile on his face made one feel like they were bathed in the spring breeze.
"Thank you my king!"
Song Tianxiong and the others did not dare to be slow and respectfully bowed before sitting down.
Looking at the young emperor opposite him, Song Tianxiong was stunned. He found it hard to compare the emperor in front of him to the young man in real life. They were like two different people.
Besides the appearance, Song Tianxiong couldn't find any other similarity between them. It was obvious what kind of unforgettable tempering this young man had experienced in order to reach the high position he had today.
Song Tianxiong would be gratified if the Song family's disciples had even a tenth of his talent.
Song Tianxiong was not the only one who was deeply moved. Cui Shouren was also filled with a myriad of thoughts. He recalled the first time he came into contact with the king. That was three years ago when the Cui family had just received news of Cui Yingyu's survival.
As the representative of the Cui Family, Cui Shouren used the Super Trading Platform to complete his first transaction with Shanhai City.
At that time, when the Cui Family cooperated with Shanhai City, they did not think about earning any profits. They just wanted to repay Shanhai City for saving Cui Yingyu's life.
In a short span of three years, it was as if the seas had turned into mulberry fields.
In three years of time, Cui Shouren had slowly entered the core of the family from an ordinary disciple that the family didn't think highly of, and then he took control of the Cui Merchant Association. He could be said to be a winner in life.
For Cui Shouren to have such a fortuitous encounter and stand out from the rest of the family members, apart from his own ability, it was mostly because he played the role of the liaison between the family and Shanhai City.
Just this point alone gave Cui Shouren a lot of points.
The reason was none other than the fact that Cui Shouren was the only one in the family who was familiar with the king.
One could see how miraculous life was.
The Cui Merchant Association had also walked onto a path of fate because of that unassuming transaction. Like a rolling snowball, they developed and grew, becoming a giant in the business world.
Not long ago, the few Merchant Associations that were suppressing the Cui Merchant Association in Dali Imperial City specially rushed over to Shanhai City to send gifts to Cui Shouren. They wanted to take care of them in the voyage trading.
The difference between the two was like the difference between heaven and earth.
Out of the three imperial merchants, only Bai Xue's heart was as still as water.
There was a good saying, 'One can be strong without desires.'
Her husband, Wei Yang, was in the core, and her father, Bai Gui, was in charge of the business school. Bai Xue did not have much desire to chase after riches.
Not long ago, Bai Xue used the name of the Bai Trading Association to donate 500 thousand gold to the Imperial Court to build schools in the various prefectures and counties, becoming the largest donation since Great Xia was established.
This matter even shocked Ouyang Shuo, who personally gave the Bai Trading Association the plaque of 'Benevolent Merchant'.
The three imperial merchants all had different thoughts, but Ouyang Shuo saw through all of them. During these few days, he had started to cultivate the Huangting Internal Scripture. While trying to break through the middle dantian, his senses were also getting sharper.
Ouyang Shuo could roughly guess what normal people were thinking.
Luckily, Ouyang Shuo did not have a hobby of peeking into other people's thoughts, so he turned around and said to Cui Yingyu, "Lady Cui, explain in detail the establishment of the China Shipping Group."
"Yes, my king!" Cui Yingyu received the order and announced the reason for this meeting.
Along with the dynasty's voyage trading becoming more and more prosperous, the income from trade was becoming the main financial pillar of the dynasty. Ouyang Shuo had been thinking about how to upgrade the entire trading system.
Before this, he ordered the Four Seas Bank to push out the ocean insurance business, but that was just a small test.
The crux of voyage trading was the channel, and the channel was mainly made up of the port and the shipping route. The port was the point and was the key to importing and exporting goods, while the shipping route was the lifeline that connected the ports.
The focus of Ouyang Shuo's plan was on these two parts.
In terms of the port, Ouyang Shuo had already ordered the Financial Court to discuss setting up a Customs Division under the Tax Department to be in charge of managing the import and export of goods.
Of course, the role of the Customs Division was not as simple as that. Apart from that, it was also in charge of investigating smuggling, compiling statistics, collecting taxes, and the like.
To a dynasty like the Great Xia Dynasty that had a huge amount of voyage trading, the importance of the Customs Division was self-explanatory. Currently, it was just a new one. When the time was right, the Customs Division would be independent from the Tax Department.
In terms of shipping routes, Ouyang Shuo needed to consolidate them, and it was an unprecedented consolidation.
It was mentioned before that voyage trading had its risks, and the risks were not small. Apart from the rare war, there were also storms, tsunamis, pirates, and other unforeseen dangers.
No matter how strong the Great Xia Dynasty navy was, they could not clear out the entire route and ensure the safety of all the ships. Even the Federation Navy in reality could not guarantee that, much less the ancient times where navigation and communication technology were really backward.
To the three imperial chambers of commerce, their businesses were huge, and they could take one or two losses. Naturally, there was nothing to worry about. However, to the small and medium sized chambers of commerce, one shipwreck could bankrupt them.
Hence, the passion of the small and medium sized chambers of commerce was greatly restricted.
The current method of the small and medium sized chambers of commerce was to hitch a ride on the ships of the three imperial chambers of commerce or other super chambers of commerce and pay a certain amount of commission for the large chambers of commerce to help transport goods.
Alternatively, 10 squadrons could travel together to defend against the dangers of the ocean.
As the operation was not standardized, it greatly reduced the profits of the small and medium sized chambers of commerce. Furthermore, to gather up an alliance fleet, it would often take a period of time, which was also a cost.
As the ruler, Ouyang Shuo needed to reshape and reshuffle the cards. During this process, it would unavoidably hurt the interests of the three imperial chambers of commerce.
News had it that just collecting commission from the small and medium sized guilds allowed the three to earn a lot.
Ouyang Shuo was going to destroy this rice bowl. He was prepared to consolidate the squadrons of the three imperial chambers of commerce and the Business Department to build a super shipping group.
It was the Huaxia Shipping Group mentioned in the previous chapter.
The group had three main businesses: docks, shipping, and ship building and maintenance.
First, docks.
There were a total of 15 commercial docks in the territory of the dynasty, and they built dozens of docks to transfer goods. They were an important part of the ocean trading.
These docks were managed by the Business Department or the local offices based on their size.
During this consolidation, all the rights to use and manage the docks would be merged into the China Shipping Group to be managed and managed by the group.
As for the Business Department and the local offices, they would only have the right to manage and manage.
Just this alone was enough for the China Shipping Group to have a monopoly in the ocean trading industry.
Secondly, shipping.
The consolidation of the squadrons was not a simple matter of grouping them together. Instead, it was a systematic upgrade. After the consolidation, the entire squadron would be split up based on the route, and each squadron would travel on a fixed route.
Even the sailing time had to be fixed as much as possible.
For this, Ouyang Shuo asked the Navy Headquarters to provide professional navigators and captains for the squadrons. At the same time, they would build an ocean escort squadron with some combat strength equipped with handguns and cannons.
This would greatly increase the safety of the squadron and reduce the risk of the voyage.
The consolidated squadron would provide ocean trading services to all chambers of commerce, and the price would be transparent to activate the passion of the small and medium sized chambers of commerce.
Thirdly, ship building and maintenance.
A long time ago, the building of merchant ships and warships had been separated. During this consolidation, Ouyang Shuo was prepared to split the shipyards and related repair factories of the Shipbuilding Division into the China Shipping Group.
With that, the group would have the ability to build merchant ships. Ouyang Shuo was even prepared to move a batch of shipbuilders from the Shipbuilding Division to strengthen the research and development of merchant ships.
This divestiture was not only to slim down the Shipbuilding Division, but also to use the commercialization of the group to bring the profits of merchant ship manufacturing and maintenance to a new level.
With these three points, it was enough to let the newly established China Shipping Group become a giant shipping group with a scale exceeding five million. It was a true commercial aircraft carrier.
After the consolidation, the group would play an important role in the ocean trading of the imperial cities.
Even to say that Ouyang Shuo was even prepared to include the coal transportation business between the dynasty, West Chu, and Stone City under the China Shipping Corporation for them to run.
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