Bringing the Railway to Daming

Chapter 232 Blind Auction Competition, the Guan is worth it! [Subscription Request]

The establishment of a state-owned textile factory still requires a lot of preparatory work, and it cannot be built just like that. Therefore, Liu Kuan’s work focus for the next period of time will still be on the "Ming Dynasty First Railway Transportation Company."

On February , the dragon looked up.

Many wealthy gentry, landlords, and merchants from Zhili, Jiangxi, and Zhejiang rushed to the capital early, looking forward to this day, and now it has finally arrived.

The Railway Bureau under the Department of Science and Technology is located near the Beijing Railway Station. Now there is a new office next to it, which is named "Ming Dynasty First Railway Transportation Company", which is considered to be an office under the Railway Bureau.

This morning.

Many wealthy people from the Ming Dynasty who had registered through the Railway Bureau's official office to participate in the blind auction of the Railway Transport Company's shares came to the Railway Transport Company's office with invitations.

Gu Chongli, who obtained "inside information" from the Shen family in Suzhou, naturally arrived in the capital early and signed up to participate in the blind auction.

As a well-known gentry and landlord in Suzhou, Gu Chongli was quite famous among a large group of wealthy people in the south of the Yangtze River. Many people he knew greeted him and even asked him for advice.

"Brother Gu, is the imperial court really willing to sell some of the railway company's shares to us, so that we can profit from it together?"

Gu Chongli laughed and said, "The government has issued a notice, so this can't be false."

Someone whispered, "Could it be that they're trying to use this opportunity to gather all of us Jiangnan's wealthy people together, so they can capture us all in one fell swoop and seize our wealth?"

It turned out that the wealthy people from Jiangnan who came to the capital a few days ago had discussed this privately, and many people had such concerns - who made Zhu Yuanzhang always so harsh on gentry, big landlords and even wealthy businessmen?
Judging from the laws of the Zhao Song Dynasty or the Yuan Dynasty, during the first ten years after the founding of the Ming Dynasty, many gentry, landlords, and merchants had their properties confiscated and exiled for a "minor crime" or were simply implicated in other cases.

Smart people had long realized that Zhu Yuanzhang intended to take the opportunity to eliminate these people and seize their land, money and food.

Although the Ming Dynasty has been established for more than ten years and Zhu Yuanzhang has introduced many policies to benefit businesses and enrich the people in the past two years, there are still many wealthy families who are wary of it.

Gu Chongli actually had similar concerns, but later he figured it out.

Hearing this now, he couldn't help but sneer, "For the court, money and grain are certainly important, but the court's reputation and face are even more important. Think about it, everyone, if the court loses its reputation just to seize our wealth, is it worth it?"

"Besides, there are many noble relatives participating in the blind auction. Is the court planning to catch them all? If the court really does this, it will be making things difficult for us."

Gu Chongli stopped talking and didn't want to say more to these people. He walked into the railway company's compound.

There were already some minor officials in black who were in charge of welcoming and guiding them. After Gu Chongli and others handed in their invitations, they were taken to a courtyard where many tables and chairs were placed.

All the tables were covered with folded, stiff red paper, each with a name written on it. Perhaps because they wanted to write vertically, like a memorial tablet, the names were written horizontally.

"I believe all of you can read, so please take your seats according to your names. Once everyone is present, the blind auction will begin."

An official explained loudly a few words, and everyone understood what to do.

Gu Chongli looked around and saw that the seats were divided into three groups. On the south side, there was a large sign with the word "Zhili", and on the east and west sides, there were two large signs with the words "Zhejiang" and "Jiangxi" respectively.

The south side has the most seats, about 40 or so, while the east and west sides have only about a dozen seats each.

"It seems that there are still more wealthy families in Zhili."

Gu Chongli understood it at a glance.

This was not only because Zhili had more prefectures under its jurisdiction, but also because the Jiangnan region of Zhili was already the richest place in the world. Furthermore, Zhejiang and Jiangxi were relatively far from the capital, so naturally, fewer people participated in this blind auction.

After Gu Chongli found his seat and sat down, in about a cup of tea, the seats in the east, west and south directions of the yard were full.

Then three green-robed officials came out of the inner courtyard, accompanied by several clerks, and sat down in the two rows of seats on the north side.

The three green-robed officials in the front row were relatively young, the oldest no more than thirty years old. However, there were quite a few older clerks sitting in the back row.

"quiet!"

The clerk who had been maintaining order in the venue shouted loudly, and the yard became completely quiet.

The green-robed official sitting in the center stood up and said, "My name is Xu Zhen. I am the Director of the First Railway Transportation Company under the Railway Bureau of the Ministry of Industry and Technology. I am responsible for presiding over today's blind auction for the company's shares to be sold to the private sector."

"You are all gentry and wealthy merchants from Zhili, Zhejiang, and Jiangxi. I believe you are all sensible people. I hope that you can cooperate with our company and complete this blind auction of our company's shares."

"I have only two things to say about this meeting. First, you must think carefully when you write down your bid. Once you win, you cannot regret it."

"Secondly, our company has been ordered to sell a limited number of shares. Eighty-seven companies are participating in today's blind auction, so not everyone will be able to secure shares. Those interested in purchasing our shares should seize this opportunity."

"Now, I'd like Deputy Director Liu to explain the specific rules of this blind auction. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask them later."

After Xu Zhen finished speaking, he sat down with a serious expression.

This kind of "conference" was very new to officials like Xu Zhen and wealthy people like Gu Chongli who participated in the conference.

Whether it was the Zhao Song Dynasty or the Yuan Dynasty, local officials would not be so humble as to sit in the same room with gentry and wealthy businessmen to discuss matters. They would mostly send their staff and guests.

Xu Zhen was a second-class Jinshi in the 16th year of Hongwu. After observing politics in the Ministry of Works for three months, he was transferred to the Science and Technology Department.

This person had met Liu Kuan once in a restaurant. He was able to pass the imperial examination and become a second-class Jinshi thanks to his study of the knowledge in the journal "Natural Science", which gave him extra points in the spring examination.

Today's Ministry of Works of the Ming Dynasty is greatly influenced by Liu Kuan, so Xu Zhen has been accustomed to the various novel regulations and ways of doing things brought by Liu Kuan since he began observing politics in the Ministry of Works.

Although this blind auction format was unprecedented, as a young official, he did not feel uncomfortable.

As for the gentry and wealthy businessmen who attended the meeting, such as Gu Chongli, they naturally felt better - they had thought that they would be nervous as common people facing officials, but the atmosphere of the blind auction was far less solemn than they had expected.

After Xu Zhen sat down, Deputy Director Liu Renzhong stood up and announced the rules of the blind auction. "This time, our First Railway Transportation Company will sell 3,000 shares to the private sector to raise funds for the construction of a new railway."

"The base price per share is one hundred guan, and the three thousand shares will be auctioned in several lots, with each lot no less than thirty shares and no more than one hundred shares."

"During the auction, you may write your bids on paper, put them in an envelope, and the clerk will collect them. Also, bids must be in the amount of 100 guan (a whole hundred strings of cash), and no fractions below 100 guan (a whole hundred strings of cash) may appear."

"Afterwards, Xu Tiju and our two deputy Tijus will review the bids together, and the highest bidder will win. This blind auction is difficult to cheat, so all you need to do is keep your bids private."

"Finally, I'd like to remind you all: bid within your means. If, when our company starts distributing profits, anyone bids too high and struggles to recoup their investment, they'll only have themselves to blame."

"These are the rules for this blind auction. If you have any questions, please stand up and ask them now."

After Liu Renzhong finished explaining the rules, he looked around the venue, and no one spoke for a while.

This was the first time for everyone to experience such a novel conference, and since they were all smart people, naturally few of them were willing to stand out - although the proverb "the first bird to stick its head out gets shot" is a later proverb, similar ideas have existed for a long time.

After a while, a merchant named Hu, who was also a relative of Duke Xin, stood up and demonstrated.

"Excuse me, Deputy Director Liu, is this blind bidding only allowed once per person, or can it be bid multiple times?"

Liu Renzhong had made sufficient preparations for this event, and upon hearing this, he immediately replied, "One person can only take three shots."

Three shots?

That is, you can bid many times, but if you succeed three times, you will not have the opportunity to bid again.

Led by the relatives of Duke Xin, other gentry and wealthy businessmen also stood up and asked questions.

"May I ask Deputy Supervisor Liu, what will happen if two or more bidders are the same?"

"If the bids are the same, a small blind auction will be held for only those bidders until the shares are sold. However, the subsequent bids must not be lower than the previous bid."

"···"

After the gentry and wealthy businessmen were released, they asked questions for a long time and understood the process and details of the blind auction clearly before they gave up.

Then the blind shooting conference officially began.

"The first auction of the blind auction has begun. One hundred shares are for sale, with a base price of ten thousand guan."

"Please block your left and right and start writing your bids."

Many people were surprised. They didn't expect that the government would auction off 100 shares at the beginning. It was really a big deal, but it also tested their intelligence and decision-making.

There are pens, ink, paper and inkstone prepared on the table, but many people find it difficult to start writing.

Although they were all wealthy families with assets of hundreds of thousands or even millions of guan, they had to be extremely cautious when they wanted to spend tens of thousands of guan at once to buy shares in a railway company.

Gu Chongli also frowned and thought.

"This is the first auction, and I'm afraid many people aren't used to it yet, so they probably won't be willing to go too far above the base price."

"But as the auction progresses, as shares decrease and people become more familiar with the blind auction rules, the bidding will inevitably become more intense and the bids will be higher."

"Therefore, I might as well take this opportunity to write a bid that is much higher than the base price and grab these 100 shares first!"

'But how much should I write?'

"Will others also value these 100 shares and be determined to seize them?"

Gu Chongli hesitated for a long time, but when he heard the clerk's loud reminder that he would have to hand in the ballot soon, he gritted his teeth and wrote down a capital number.

Soon, the officials began to collect the ballots.

They worked efficiently and quickly collected all the ballots and handed them over to Xu Zhen and the other two.

There were a total of eighty-seven ballots, and Xu Zhen and the other two quickly checked them all.

Xu Zhen then stood up with a ticket in hand and announced loudly, "Gu Chongli from Suzhou made the highest bid in this blind auction, purchasing 100 shares of our railway company for 18,000 guan!"

After saying this, he handed the ballot in his hand to an official, who walked around the venue with the ballot and showed it to others.

Although there was no opportunity for cheating, some people were still convinced when they saw that the handwriting on the ballot was indeed Gu Chongli's and that it did say "18,000 strings of cash."

When the clerk returned, Xu Zhen smiled and said in a clear voice, "Please invite Mr. Gu from Suzhou to come up and collect these 100 shares of the railway transportation company!"

Under everyone's attention, Gu Chongli stood up from his seat and came to Xu Zhen and other officials.

Although other gentry and merchants present along the way just saluted, Gu Chongli still felt very honored and his face was flushed with joy. He felt that the 18,000 strings of cash were well worth it!
Among the crowd, several gentry and wealthy businessmen who had bid up to 15,000 strings of cash, or even 16,000 or 17,000 strings of cash, showed expressions of regret.

"It's only two or three thousand strings of cash short."

"Otherwise, I'd be the one to show off my dignity!"

"This time, Suzhou's Gu Chongli will probably be famous throughout the three provinces, and even spread to the Ming Dynasty. In the future, it will be much more convenient for the Suzhou Gu family to do business elsewhere..."

　First update.

　　
　　
　
(End of this chapter)