Chapter 382 Shipping and Insurance
Su Ze looked at Shen Shixing and said, "You are begging for food on Jinshan Mountain. There are so many wealthy households in Songjiang Prefecture, do you still want to ask for money from the Governor's Office?"
Shen Shixing frowned and said, "Big The governor also wants rich households to force donations?"
Su Ze shook his head and said: "Of course we in the southeast are not willing to do this kind of thing, but we can issue bonds." "Issuing
bonds?"
Su Ze nodded and said, "It's just like when Hu Zongxian did it in Zhejiang The anti-Japanese donation has been issued, but the anti-Japanese donation is collateralized by banknote customs revenue. You can use the profits of the iron factory as collateral to issue special bonds."
Shen Shixing thought for a while, and it seemed that this method was really feasible.
Everyone knows that the demand for steel is growing rapidly. Nowadays, setting up an iron factory is a sure-profit business.
Private individuals in Songjiang Prefecture have also begun to get involved in the steelmaking industry, but this industry is a typical capital- and technology-intensive industry. The larger the scale and the more advanced the technology, the higher the profits.
The Shanghai Steel Mill is definitely making money, and it seems feasible to issue bonds using the profits of the steel mill as collateral.
Su Ze changed the subject and said, "But this matter must be organized by the Governor's Office."
Shen Shixing said doubtfully: "The Governor doesn't trust his subordinates?"
Su Ze shook his head and said, "It's not that I don't trust you, but It’s because they don’t trust human nature.”
Su Ze stood up and said, “Nowadays, officials in the southeast have the idea of putting the economy first, which is very dangerous.” Shen
Shixing was a little confused, “Economy comes first”, this is what some Su Song officials slogan.
Because Xinxue is not ashamed to talk about profits, and when evaluating a local official, the development of the local people's livelihood and economy has become an important indicator, which has also led many officials to take the lead in pursuing profits.
Su Ze said: "If you have good money, if you borrow money for development, many problems will occur."
Su Ze seemed to have thought of something, shook his head and said: "In short, the right to issue bonds must be firmly controlled by the general public. It is in the hands of the Governor's Office, and the Shanghai Steel Factory is not a steel factory in Shanghai, but a steel factory owned by all the people in the Southeast, and it must issue bonds publicly to the entire Southeast region." Shen Shixing nodded, since the
Governor's Office is willing to issue bonds, he can Enjoy your leisure time.
After seeing Shen Shixing off, Su Ze looked at another official document on the desk.
This is an official document written by He Xinyin, the prefect of Suzhou, to Su Ze. This official document was also written by He Xinyin to Su Ze for help.
But He Xinyin didn't come here to ask for money, but to ask for policies.
He Xinyin said in the letter that because businessmen in Suzhou often go to sea, they will encounter various accidents while sailing on the sea, and accidents in the vast sea often lead to bankruptcy.
Especially now that maritime trade is booming, some people will use all their property to buy ships to sail, and the ships are their entire wealth.
In Suzhou Prefecture, there have been several shipwrecks that resulted in shipowners and cargo owners committing suicide.
Huge profits correspond to huge risks. He Xinyin knew this very well, and the Suzhou government did not get involved.
But soon such a contract emerged among shipowners.
The shipowners who sailed to the sea agreed to each contribute a sum of money. If all the ships sailed back to the sea safely, everyone would get their money back.
Once a ship is in distress, all the money will be compensated to the owner and cargo owner of the ship in distress.
In the beginning, this kind of contract only existed between a few shipowners who knew each other, and it was regarded as a mutual aid contract.
However, after the news of compensation for a shipwreck appeared in local newspapers in Suzhou, this kind of contract quickly became popular in Suzhou.
A businessman from Suzhou Prefecture named Yuan Wencai sensed business opportunities.
Yuan Wencai was selected as a scholar at the age of seventeen, but failed to pass the examination at the age of twenty-seven. Later, after Suzhou Prefecture returned to the southeast, he failed in the Imperial Examination.
Yuan Wencai simply gave up trying to take the imperial examination and started running the family business.
Yuan Wencai's family was also preparing to engage in the shipping business. He read the news about compensation for the shipwrecked ship in the newspaper, and then he came up with an idea.
Yuan Wencai found some shipowners who needed to go to sea and sold them a contract.
The shipowner only needs to pay him a sum of money, and if he encounters a shipwreck at sea, he will receive a corresponding amount of compensation, but if the ship returns safely, the money will not be returned.
Yuan Wencai is a smart man, and he did not set the amount of compensation casually.
Yuan Wencai visited shipowners and sailors throughout Taicang Port and calculated the probability of shipwrecks during sea voyages in the past six months.
Moreover, Yuan Wencai also distinguished the compensation ratio between offshore navigation and ocean navigation. The safety factor of offshore navigation is high and the probability of shipwreck is low.
There are more shipwrecks in ocean voyages, so the compensation ratio is also lower.
But to Yuan Wencai's expectation, shipowners showed little interest in his "product".
The reason is naturally very simple. Compared with the spontaneous joint and mutual aid contracts between shipowners, Yuan Wencai's contract will not refund the money when the fleet returns safely.
Why don't these smart businessmen sign mutual aid contracts with their friends?
But things quickly took a turn for the worse.
A fleet heading to Ryukyu unfortunately encountered a storm at sea, and all twelve ships in the fleet were killed.
This was the biggest shipwreck since the opening of Taicang Port. All the ships at Taicang Pier sounded their horns in mourning, and many people who thought about going to sea to make a fortune also had cold water poured on them.
What's even worse is that eleven of these twelve ships have signed mutual aid and joint guarantee contracts.
Money was spent on every ship, but now all ships are sinking.
The shipowner's family and cargo owners came to the Yamen with the contract, and everyone advocated that all the money should be paid to themselves.
Taicang County could not hear the case, so it could only pass it to Suzhou Prefecture.
For legal expert He Xinyin, this case is not a difficult one.
He Xinyin directly determined that the contract was invalid because of the inability to perform the contract, and returned all the money paid for the contract.
Although the shipowner's family and the cargo owner were dissatisfied with this result, there was nothing they could do about it.
Another ship in the fleet did not sign a mutual aid agreement with other ship owners, but purchased Yuan Wencai's insurance.
When he learned of the shipwreck, Yuan Wencai immediately came to the door and handed over the agreed compensation amount to the shipowner's family.
Yuan Wencai immediately spent money to place advertisements in Suzhou newspapers and widely reported the incident.
Now, Yuan Wencai's business is booming.
He named this kind of business "insurance", and more ship owners began to take out insurance with him, and Yuan Wencai's business grew bigger and bigger.
Originally, when things ended here, it should have been a satisfactory outcome.
Yuan Wencai made a fortune, and the shipowners and cargo owners were protected. This was a happy ending.
But after Yuan Wencai became rich, he was not satisfied with earning insurance premiums.
In order to compete with the shipowner's private contract, Yuan Wencai's insurance price was not high, and the probability of shipwrecks in this era was not small, so the profit of his insurance was actually not high.
But Yuan Wencai quickly saw another opportunity. Although the profit is not high, the insurance premiums for a large number of shipowners are high.
And what is the most lacking thing in the entire Southeast now? It’s money!
Yuan Wencai's mind was very active, and he quickly thought of another "game".
Yuan Wencai proposed a long-term insurance with a term of two to three years. This kind of insurance is much cheaper than insurance that has to be paid every time you go to sea. Moreover, there is no limit on the number of sea trips during the insurance period. It changes from pay-per-use insurance to With time-based insurance, as long as there is a shipwreck within the insurance time range, Yuan Wen will pay the full compensation.
This product is naturally loved by many small boat owners. Compared with paying every time, this kind of long-term insurance is cheaper.
Yuan Wencai soon received a large sum of insurance premiums, and then he began to use the insurance premiums as usury and began to lend money to businessmen in Suzhou Prefecture.
Herein lies the irony of the matter.
Insurance is originally a means for shipowners and cargo owners to unite to resist the fate of God.
Yuan Wencai, who sold this product, suffered God's revenge.
Yuan Wencai's career was originally in full swing, but another shipwreck caused the elaborate business empire he built to collapse.
Yuan Wencai borrowed money from Suzhou businessmen. Now Suzhou businessmen know that ocean shipping is the most profitable. Several businessmen borrowed money from Yuan Wencai to buy large ships and went to Nanyang to do business.
These ship owners don’t have much sailing experience. Those with high emotional intelligence would call them adventurers, while those with low emotional intelligence would call them speculators.
In order to save costs, they were reluctant to hire experienced captains and sailors, and set off with a full load of goods.
As a result, there was a big storm and all the ships of these shipowners were wrecked.
The cargo owners who entrusted these shipowners to transport the goods finally had some risk awareness. They took out insurance from Yuan Wencai before setting sail.
This time Yuan Wencai exploded.
The shipowner borrowed all his money from him. Now that the fleet is in distress, there is no chance of getting the loan back.
The owner of the cargo also took the insurance policy and asked him for money.
Yuan Wencai's vitality was severely damaged, so he did something that exploded the Suzhou businessman, and he ran away.
Yuan Wencai took away the remaining insurance premiums and fled to Nanyang with his family.
The businessmen who had taken out insurance were devastated, and they immediately filed a complaint with the government.
He Xinyin's side also exploded. He could only write down what happened and ask Su Ze for help.
Su Ze was amazed after reading the letter.
Su Ze once again lamented that there are too many smart people in this era, and Yuan Wencai's approach is really too slippery!
If he hadn't been so unlucky and encountered such a shipwreck, he might not have been able to build a financial empire.
However, this also reminded Su Ze that the economic system of the Southeast could no longer keep up with its booming economic development.
Su Ze picked up his pen and began to reply to He Xinyin.
"Yuan Wencai ran away with the money and ordered the navy on the southeast coast to arrest him." "
Yuan Wencai's short-term insurance policy can be continued to be underwritten by the Suzhou prefect and the full compensation will be paid." "The
long-term insurance policy will be funded by the Suzhou government and handed over to private funds for negotiation. Solve it."
"The problem in Yuan Wencai's case is not these insurance policies, but the legislation of a new business called insurance."
Su Ze thought for a while and continued to write: "Insurance is different from other contracts. Once something like Yuan Wencai's case appears, Misappropriation is a huge loss to all policyholders."
"The premiums collected are not the profits of the insurance seller, but the common assets of all policyholders." "The
Suzhou government can issue relevant regulations and force a certain amount of money to be transferred. A proportion of the premiums will be sealed in the treasury of the Suzhou Prefectural Government to prevent the Yuan Wencai case from happening again."
After writing the insurance reserve system, Su Ze continued:
"In addition to insurance, the issue of private loan sharking also needs attention. "
Usury has been banned repeatedly, but there are still more people who need to borrow money. They can't borrow money at low interest rates, so they can only borrow from loan sharks." " This is because
our economic laws and regulations and economic systems have not kept up."
When Wanghai issued banknotes for anti-Japanese donations in Nanzhili and Zhejiang, merchants in Nanzhili and Zhejiang enthusiastically bought them at first.
For many businessmen, anti-Japanese donations guaranteed by banknote duties are a stable investment.
Businessmen with money need stable and safe investment.
Businessmen who need to borrow money for development cannot borrow money at low interest rates.
Loan sharks can be said to be blood-sucking parasites that parasitize economic development, or they can be said to be bankers who mobilize resources.
As economic activities become more and more prosperous, the financial industry will naturally appear.
The same goes for insurance, and so does the banking industry. Since the emergence of these industries is inevitable, they can only be standardized as soon as possible, which will save them some detours.
Su Ze is now in the Nanjing Metropolitan Governor's Office. He is busy every day with liver skills, gaining experience and making various "inventions", but he entrusts most of the affairs to the people below him.
As the development of Southeast is getting faster and faster, he, the "prophet", can only provide some guidance in the general direction. To really solve the problem, we still have to rely on officials like Shen Shixing and He Xinyin.
Su Ze wrote back to He Xinyin, vaguely discussing his views on the banking industry, but did not put forward any specific plans.
With He Xinyin's level of governance, he must be able to see his intentions.
Su Ze picked up Tan Lun's letter again.
Tan Lun's letter was about a "new invention" that Su Ze sent him some time ago.
Glass.
At the end of the Qing Dynasty, Guangdong was the base of glass production. Near Guangzhou City, there was one of the best quartz sand mines in the country, which was an important raw material for making glass.
In fact, glass has appeared in China for a long time, but in ancient China, glass was made as "imitation jade".
Because of differences in mineral deposits and manufacturing methods, ancient Chinese glass is basically opaque colored glass, not the transparent glass of modern times.
The Chinese have recognized the existence of "lead poison" very early, and the Chinese like to eat hot food, so they have not developed glass containers like the West.
On the contrary, ceramics developed rapidly in this land, rolling glass in the ecological niche, and became a specialty of Chinese civilization.
There was nothing wrong with these originally, but after entering the industrial age, glass became a very important material.
Glass, steel, and concrete have all become important building materials.
Transparent glass is related to the manufacture of telescopes and microscopes, and is the basis for many optical instruments.
Highly transparent crystals in nature are expensive. Although Su Ze has invented microscopes and telescopes, not many people can afford them. Nowadays, just supplying them to hospitals and medical schools is not enough.
Tan Lun wrote to Su Ze a few years ago, asking Su Ze, the "god of wealth", to develop a wealth-generating industry in Guangdong.
Su Ze replied and proposed the process of firing glass.
(End of chapter)