Chapter 135 - The Foshan Trip (Part 1)

“One thousand doses of Zhuge’s marching powder, three thousand doses of plague-avoiding powder. All to be sold exclusively.” Liu San had already thought it through. This batch of medicine was mainly for their own use—after all, preventing heatstroke and epidemics in the summer was a major issue. Minister Shi had been asking about heatstroke prevention drugs all along.

Secondly, it was to be used as samples to be test-marketed in the surrounding areas and cities on the mainland to see how the natives of this time and space would accept it. Medicine was something that saved lives and helped the world. In terms of expanding the influence of the transmigrators, its power and penetration were far greater than luxury goods like glass.

Yang Shixiang was greatly surprised, “Isn’t that too much?”

“Not at all. How much summer medicine is needed in Bairen City alone? There are now ten thousand people there. Commissioner Wu inside said that they want as much of this medicine as they can get…” Liu San hinted to him not to forget that the transmigrator group was also a huge consumer group. Yang Shixiang’s business sense was a bit too dull. He also took the opportunity to boast about his so-called “connections”—of course, in reality, he didn’t need any connections. Wu De and Liu San were just acquaintances, but the Chinese people had always attached great importance to personal relationships. This was also to reassure him.

“In that case, we’ll have to go to the mainland,” Yang Shixiang made up his mind. “Although there are some medicinal materials in Qiongshan County, they are not enough for this amount. We still have to go to the large herbal medicine shops in Guangzhou to stock up. It’s just—” he hesitated. Liu San guessed that he was definitely short of capital. Although medicines like musk and bezoar were not as precious as ginseng, pilose antler, and rhinoceros horn, it would still be a huge expense to make so many doses of medicine.

“I can advance a portion of the payment for the medicine…”

“No, no, no, how can that be!” Yang Shixiang quickly stopped him. “There’s no such rule! The business hasn’t even started, and you’re already asking for an advance.”

“Why isn’t there such a rule?” Liu San said with a smile. “How about this, consider it as me taking a share! It can be the capital.”

“This—” Yang Shixiang hesitated, but the temptation of this business and the two prescriptions was too great. Although he had some of the habits of a profligate young master, he still hoped to make a name for himself with the family business he had in hand. After thinking about it, he nodded.

Liu San smiled to himself. This had already half-settled the matter of “taking a share.” In fact, you should be grateful to me, he thought to himself: the transmigrator group is a super potential stock now. By letting me take a share, you are also taking a share yourself—the price you pay is much cheaper than trying to take a share ten years from now—at that time, not only you, but your children and grandchildren, as well as your assistants and their children and grandchildren, will all thank you for your wise decision today.

“Alright, Manager Liu,” he called out. “Calculate how much medicinal materials we need to purchase based on the number of doses, and how much inventory we have in our shop. Check it. There’s no need to open my luggage. Send someone to Bopu to book a boat ticket.”

The Gao-Guang Shipping Company, which operated cargo ships on the Lin’gao-Guangzhou route, used the extra space on its ships to open a regular passenger service, carrying passengers and cargo between Guangzhou and Lin’gao. The fare was very cheap. Although the environment was simple, it also attracted some merchants traveling between Lin’gao and Guangzhou—but this business was not large, and the number of passengers traveling between the two places was quite limited.

Seeing his decisive and efficient way of handling things, it was a good sign. Liu San took the opportunity to suggest, “Since we are going to Guangzhou, why not go to Foshan once?”

“What for? That bunch of snobs!”

“As they say, times have changed. In the past, Runshitang’s performance was not good, and you were asking them for help. It’s natural that their attitude was cold. But now you have a big business in your hands, and you are buying their medicinal materials with real silver. They won’t turn down business that comes to their door, right? Besides, you are close relatives.”

“In terms of the variety and authenticity of the medicinal materials, the goods of my several uncles are also very good. It’s just,” Yang Shixiang’s face showed a look of indignation, probably from having seen a lot of cold faces in the past, “I really don’t want them to earn this money.”

“It’s better to let them earn the money,” Liu San said persuasively. “How big is Lin’gao, and how many people are there? Even if we can sell the medicine to the entire Qiongzhou Prefecture, how many households are there? To sell medicine, we still have to go to the mainland!”

This kind of summer medicine has a large market in Guangdong and Guangxi. Runshitang was confined to a corner of Lin’gao and had long lost contact with the mainland medicine merchants and peers, which meant that it was out of touch with the mainland’s medicinal material market. To enter the Guangdong market, they had to rely on the help of the local pharmacies. Yang Shixiang naturally understood what he meant—this was to use his relatives in Foshan to expand the market.

Thinking of this, he felt relieved. Yang Shixiang nodded deeply, “Thank you, Doctor Liu, for teaching me!” He then asked, “I wonder if Doctor Liu can get away. If it’s convenient, how about you accompany me on a trip to Foshan?”

Liu San had originally wanted to propose that he go to Foshan with him and was just thinking about how to bring it up. Now that he had taken the initiative to ask, it was more than he could ask for. He immediately agreed.

Liu San wanted to use this opportunity to enter the interior of the traditional Chinese medicine enterprises of this time and space and observe their business models and methods. He had heard some stories about hundred-year-old pharmacies from the old pharmacists of his generation, but they were basically materials from the mid-Qing Dynasty and later, which were more than a hundred years different from now and had little reference value.

Liu San returned to his residence and quickly rode his bicycle to Bairen City to report to Shi Niaoren first. Shi Niaoren praised him greatly, saying that his efficiency was really high, but a bit too high—his report requesting an appropriation had not yet been approved. If he were to leave tomorrow, he was afraid there would be no place to get the silver. In addition, this matter had to be reported to the Foreign Affairs and Trade Committee, which was responsible for trade. In theory, this was within their scope of authority.

Shi Niaoren was busy making phone calls and sending documents everywhere. Liu San sat alone in the office, bored, staring at the little nurses coming and going in the corridor. After an hour, Shi Niaoren returned.

“Everything is settled,” Shi Niaoren said with some excitement, putting the file bag in his hand on the table. “The Executive Committee and the Foreign Trade Committee both support your plan. In addition to allocating four hundred taels of silver to you as requested, they will also add another one hundred taels. In addition, you requested some medicines as samples, and the Planning Committee has also agreed—ten boxes of each.”

“Thank you for the leadership’s support…”

“Don’t be in a hurry. You’re not going alone. There’s a team.”

“Ah?”

“It’s like this. Foshan is a big town. The ceramics and textile industries are very developed. The Industrial and Energy Committee wants to send someone to Foshan to see the local industrial situation on the spot, and by the way, see if they can recruit some craftsmen to come back. The demand for ceramics is increasing now.”

“Alright, alright, let’s go together. But what identity will he use?”

“Just say he’s your friend. The Intelligence Committee will assign a servant to each of you—these are interns from the first intelligence training class. You have to pay more attention to them!”

“This, isn’t this team a bit too luxurious?” Liu San had originally planned to go with Yang Shixiang alone, light and easy. Now it seemed to be a big undertaking.

“This is a good opportunity for infiltration. The Executive Committee will naturally seize it,” Shi Niaoren said. “There aren’t many people. You should hurry up and prepare. We’ll meet at Bopu tomorrow.” With that, he handed him an envelope. “This is the fee allocated to you. Please sign for it.”

Liu San signed his name. In the envelope were a few mulberry paper bills, beautifully printed, with a format and pattern that imitated modern bank checks. The letterhead was Delong Bank, and below it was the denomination in capital letters, all fifty taels each, brand new bills.

“This is a bill from Delong Bank. It was just issued in Guangzhou not long ago,” Shi Niaoren said. “There aren’t many places where it can be exchanged yet. This is a list of the businesses and addresses that have agreed to accept the bills.” He then gave him a list. “Coincidentally, in Foshan Town, Delong’s accepting business is a pharmacy.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s run by Yang Shixiang’s relatives.”

“I don’t know about that. But with this bank note, it will be very convenient to do business outside. Otherwise, you would have to go to the Guangzhou station to get money first.”

After the idea of opening a bank was sparked during the Leizhou sugar war, Cheng Dong and Yan Ming acted quickly. It didn’t take them much time to come up with a complete set of bank organization and management systems, as well as systems for fund allocation and remittance. For this matter, they even specially summoned the main responsible persons of the Guangzhou station back to Lin’gao in turn to hold a meeting for discussion.

After discussion, the final plan was decided:

Delong Bank would be established separately in Guangzhou. On the surface, it would be an independent enterprise—because Meng Xian’s appearance was not very similar to that of the people of the Ming Dynasty, it was not easy to pretend to be a local. So the nominal owner was a relative of Shen Fan, a student who was not bad at writing and could also manage the documents in addition to being a figurehead. The actual manager was naturally Meng Xian.

The business of Delong Bank was similar to that of the money houses of later generations, rather than a modern bank. First, it did not engage in lending business, only in deposit and remittance business. Of course, it was difficult for Delong Bank in Guangzhou to attract deposits at the beginning of its establishment—it did not yet have a reputation and credit. So the deposit customers were actually only the three trading companies under the Guangzhou station. In addition to the capital, operating funds, and profits of these three companies, there were also deposits absorbed through Zizhenzhai and Zichengji.

Through the management of public accounts, Delong Bank effectively supervised the flow of funds of the Guangzhou station and also eliminated the transportation of large amounts of silver between Guangzhou and Lin’gao—it only needed to be transferred on the bank account and then notified by telegram.

In order to start the remittance business of Delong as soon as possible, Meng Xian first carried out a simple and primitive joint remittance business in the Pearl River Delta region. This was also a common operating method used by the Shanxi ticket houses in the Qing Dynasty: in places with a large flow of money, they would find powerful and frequently trading businesses with large brands as their accepting joint numbers. The drafts issued by Delong could be exchanged at these businesses at face value. Conversely, the drafts issued by these joint numbers would be accepted by Delong in Guangzhou. The joint numbers would clear their accounts once a month and settle the transactions between the two parties through remittance.