Two thousand geun of Ginseng weighs a full ton.
Gu Cheon-baek and Park Yu-won began bringing the Ginseng in secret that night, and the brought Ginseng was covertly placed into spaces previously prepared at the bottom of Kerosene cans.
The Kerosene sold by Rockefeller’s Standard Oil is usually sold in five-gallon Kerosene cans.
This is approximately 19 liters and weighs close to 19kg.
There is no need to overthink it; even in the 21st century, items like paint, various large-capacity cooking oils, red pepper paste, and soybean paste are sold in these rectangular 18-liter containers.
I had these cans specially manufactured to have a large empty space at the bottom while only containing a small amount of Kerosene at the top.
This way, even if someone opened the lid, they would have no way of knowing there was another compartment inside.
Using these empty spaces, I smuggled the Ginseng out of Wonsan.
The Joseon Official monitoring Wonsan Port primarily focused on goods coming in from the outside; they never realized that large quantities of Ginseng were being smuggled out of Joseon.
After loading all the Ginseng onto the ship, I executed my final masterstroke.
I set the price for Joseon rice at 3 yen per seok.
If I buy it for 3 yen in Joseon and sell it for 7 or 8 yen in Japan, I am left with a profit of about 2 to 3 yen per seok after subtracting ship charter fees, coal costs, and crew wages.
However, other Japanese merchants cannot do the same.
If they buy it for as much as 3 yen per seok, they are left with barely 1 yen after paying other expenses, and if things go wrong, they might break even or suffer a loss.
Since I operate with my own capital rather than loans, I have no interest burden.
Furthermore, I can achieve an Economy of Scale by chartering an entire large ship for transport, whereas other Japanese merchants have to bear interest costs and other significant expenses.
Naturally, Japanese merchants erupted in protest.
They claimed I was violating business ethics by calling out an absurd price.
However, I had already raised the price, and there was no stopping the Joseon merchants, the Joseon farmers, and even the Joseon Officials from flocking to me.
Joseon merchants gave their word on how much harvested grain they could bring next year, Joseon farmers were frantic to contract every bit of grain to be harvested from their land next year, and Joseon Officials said they would hand over all the grain stored in the Wonsan Government Office warehouses.
Ultimately, the Japanese merchants, faced with the prospect of losing all the rice coming out of Wonsan, appealed to a Japanese official dispatched to Wonsan. However, Japanese officials always take the side of wealthy merchants, not poor ones.
The official, believing the hired President Sugiyama was the real boss and seeing me as merely an interpreter and errand boy, came to meet us.
I handed him an envelope containing 100 yen.
Surprised by the contents of the envelope, he showered Sugiyama with flattery and retreated.
In this era, 100 yen is the annual salary of a lower-level official.
No official who receives a bribe equivalent to their annual salary would take the side of petty merchants who offer no benefit.
Enough rice to fill the ship was gathered in no time, and we set sail for Yokohama.
As soon as the ship left Joseon waters, we took out the Ginseng hidden beneath the Kerosene cans and reorganized it.
Since it was high-quality Hongsam, there was no worry about it spoiling while hidden under the cans, but packaging was still important if we wanted to sell it at a high price.
One might worry about the scent of Kerosene seeping into the Ginseng, but the Kerosene in these cans was completely sealed, so no smell transferred at all.
Upon arriving in Yokohama, I immediately contacted the Misang. Last year, I had no choice but to hand over 8,000 seok of rice at 6 yen per seok, but that was not the case this year.
It had been confirmed that we had a regular rice supply capacity, and while we weren’t at the level of entering the Tokyo Rice Exchange yet, it was enough to get a proper price.
However, they were puzzled when I arrived with a man named Sugiyama instead of Yuli Briner.
“President Yuli Briner is so busy that it is difficult for him to always focus only on rice trading.
He is likely in Shanghai or Hong Kong right now.
Therefore, he has delegated everything to President Sugiyama here.”
Since it was common for Japanese merchants to hire people and delegate work, no one questioned it.
The important thing was the rice, not the person.
“Most of it was bought from Joseon farmers who harvested last year, but some of it was brought from Joseon’s Hwangok, so there’s quite a bit of old rice mixed in. Naturally, I will discount the price for the old rice. We don’t intend to do business for just a year or two, so why would we deceive you on such matters?”
The Misang were people who had grown old in the rice business since childhood, so there was no way they couldn’t distinguish the quality of rice.
If I used deception here, my credit would vanish.
One Misang asked.
“Can you bring more rice this autumn?”
“Of course. It looks like the harvest this year will be much larger than last year’s. Furthermore, I’ve already contracted for the rice to be harvested in Joseon this autumn. In total, it should be about three or four times more than last year.”
Having concluded that rice cultivation was sufficiently profitable last year, the rice cultivation area in Sidimi had expanded significantly, and farming methods had been improved quite a bit this year.
The biggest improvement was the increased application of Saltpeter Fertilizer.
We were able to bring in Saltpeter stably from India, and while we were confused about the exact application amount until last year, we were able to increase the application amount significantly this year based on last year’s experience.
Rice is a fertilizer-intensive plant, so production increases as fertilizer is increased, up to a certain point.
That doesn’t mean blindly increasing it is always good, but we didn’t have enough Saltpeter Fertilizer to increase the application blindly anyway.
The Joseon rice brought on the ship was unloaded in Yokohama. Even though the rice was high-quality new rice last year, the Misang only paid 6 yen. This year, however, excluding the old rice from the Wonsan Government Office, they paid 7 yen and 50 sen per seok for the rice harvested last year.
“Since we can trust you to some extent now, we will pay a proper price. However, you must continue to trade with us.”
“Understood. Is it not every merchant’s wish to trade with a reliable partner for a long time?”
After finishing the transaction in Yokohama, we did not return to Sidimi immediately but went to Shanghai to meet Archie and Lee Geom-min to hand over the Ginseng.
Even Archie was shocked by the massive volume of 2,000 geun. Despite Jardine Matheson being the largest trading company in Shanghai and Archie being a Grand Merchant himself, 2,000 geun of Ginseng was an enormous amount to him.
The amount the Joseon government trades at the border is much higher than this, but most of that is consumed near Beijing, and very little of that volume makes it down south. Because of that, the price of Ginseng in this region is much higher than in Beijing.
“I brought this because I trust Archie, so do not think of slashing the price because the quantity is large. If you do, I will take it to Hong Kong.”
Of course, this was a joke, and it was because I trusted Archie that much that I brought it. Archie likewise did not take my joke seriously.
“How much did you hand over to Lee Geom-min?”
“I gave 200 geun to Sister Geom-min. I thought that was about the amount she could handle.”
Archie nodded.
“Then you must have brought 2,000 geun in total.”
“Yes, it just so happened that my trading partner prepared 2,000 geun for me.”
“Is it possible to trade this volume every year?”
“I don’t know that myself. It depends on how much the Ginseng harvest is that year, and how strictly The Royal Court of Joseon cracks down on it.”
“The situation over there seems complicated as well.”
“You can see it just by looking at how limited Ginseng cultivation is despite the price being so high. Ginseng cultivation is truly no ordinary task. From the moment you start preparing the soil, it takes nearly ten years. Even for crops that finish in a year, the harvest varies annually and things often go wrong; imagine what it’s like for a crop that takes ten years.”
“I understand. However, we also have to sell it at a profit, so we can’t pay the same amount every time. This year, I’ll give you 230,000 Chinese Silver Taels for 1,800 geun.”
Since Lee Geom-min had suggested a similar price, I thought it was fair and handed it all over to Archie.
Since I had paid 20 Chinese Silver Taels per geun, a total of 40,000, when purchasing from Gu Cheon-baek and Park Yu-won, I made more than five times the profit in a single transaction.
“And there is one more favor I’d like to ask. Could you find me a Spinning Machine made near Shanghai?”
“What for? A man like you could easily obtain the latest British machines.”
“I tried having the Joseon people operate machines where I live, and it turned out that the latest machines are absolutely impossible for them. So, I intend to try using Chinese machines that are easier to use.”
“Indeed, Chinese machines are made to be easy to use even for those who don’t know machinery. Fine, I will send someone to find a few immediately. Is a Spinning Machine all you need?”
“A ginning machine is not difficult to use even if it’s the latest model, so I can use British or American ones, but I do need looms.
You know, those new-style looms made of wood. Please find me a few of those. About ten of each will do.”
Last year, I brought British looms and tried to have people operate them, but it was a disastrous failure.
Since they were people with no concept of machinery, no matter how much I taught them, they couldn’t learn.
Realizing they couldn’t understand even the most basic loom, I recognized how difficult it is to teach industry to people.
Therefore, instead of complex British looms, I wanted to try using Chinese looms currently in use around Shanghai.
These machines were much simpler, and I thought Joseon people, who were ignorant of machinery, could sufficiently learn them.
“And I also need some cotton. Please find about 500 bundles of Chinese cotton.”
“Do you not need tea and sugar?”
“I’ve become reluctant to do that now, as it involves encroaching on the business territory of someone close to me.”
Archie nodded at my words about not wanting to infringe on the business of Kunst and Albers.
“If it’s a close friend, it’s best to respect their territory whenever possible.”
“And I want to buy a ship. Can I get one?”
“These days, it’s as easy to find a ship in Shanghai as it is in Hong Kong. You can buy as many as you want through Jardine Matheson. What tonnage are you looking for?”
“I’ve been using a 1,200-ton ship and felt it was a bit small. It should be around 2,000 tons. However, anything too large won’t even be able to anchor where I live, so anything bigger would be problematic.”
“Ships are not my specialty in trading, so I will write you a letter of introduction. Go to the Huangpu River and decide.”
I couldn’t decide on a purchase without seeing the ship, so I took Archie’s letter of introduction and went to the Huangpu River port to look at ships.
The shipbroker initially looked at me as if asking why a child had come, but Archie’s letter of introduction worked wonders.
Also, seeing Bittu Singh and Chitt Singh, who always followed and guarded me, he became intimidated and treated me with great respect.
“Did you say you wanted a ship of about 2,000 tons?”
“That’s right. As long as it’s not too old, the year of manufacture doesn’t matter.”
As Archie said, the ship market in Shanghai was now no less than Hong Kong’s.
Seeing it change this much in just two or three years, I could see that the development of Shanghai was still dazzlingly fast.
In the ship market on the Huangpu River, there were already four or five ships of the size I wanted.
Even though several years had passed since I fell into this era, I was still ignorant about ships of this time.
So, this time, I brought an expert.
“Capitan Shevelev, do you see any ship you like?”
“Viktor, are you really going to buy a ship?”
“Of course, that’s why I asked to meet in Shanghai.”
“You know how expensive ships are, right?”
“Didn’t you know I’ve been doing business by ship all this time? It’s been several years now; how could I not know the price of a ship?”
Mikhail Grigoryevich Shevelev is a merchant living in Vladivostok.
He is a man with considerable friendship with the trio of Fridolf Gek, Mikhail Yankovsky, and Yuli Briner, and had even worked as a captain for a state-owned cargo ship.
However, as Fridolf Gek had said, he had been forced to work with incompetent Russian sailors, and his ship had sunk last year.
The ship itself was insured, so he didn’t suffer a huge loss, but the loss of the cargo was significant, and his reputation as both a merchant and a captain had taken a major blow.
I asked him, who was in despair, to be the captain of the ship I was going to buy, and he came to Shanghai and waited for me with an expression of disbelief.
And now he is in the middle of being shocked after realizing I really intend to buy a ship.
“You must be much better at inspecting ships than I am, Capitan. So, pick the one you like most among these ships. Don’t worry about the price; pick one that will last a long time.”
Capitan means captain, and just as people called Fridolf Gek Skipper to mean he was a sailor, Shevelev was called Capitan.