"Hiss!"
Looking at the excited merchants on the field, Boss's chubby face was flushed red. He could not help but take a deep breath.
Even the Crown Prince couldn't help but feel his heart race. It was too exciting.
A nautical certificate was worth 100,000 taels of silver, and he had sold more than 60 of them. In other words, he had earned more than 6 million taels of silver in the time for two incense sticks to burn.
To be honest, he had never seen so much money in one go in all his years of governing the country.
This was more than the annual tax revenue of the national treasury.
For some reason, Boss thought of what Zhu Gaojin had said previously.
"It turns out that the merchants of my Ming Dynasty are really so rich!”
Looking at the merchants, the boss smiled brightly. It was more intense than before, as if he was looking at pieces of fat meat and leeks.
"Ahem, is there anyone else who wants to buy?”
With a light cough, the boss quickly threw away the thoughts in his heart. After he finished speaking, no one below made a sound.
Although more than a hundred people had come and their assets had been checked, some of them were hooligans. Some of them had limited assets and were more conservative. They did not dare to gamble.
After all, the risk of going out to sea was not small. Once an accident happened, it would be beyond redemption.
Seeing this, the boss no longer hesitated and continued,"In that case, let's proceed to the second round!”
"Everyone knows that my Great Ming has an ocean treasure fleet. In the past few years, it has sailed three times on the sea and arrived at dozens of countries.”
"I don't think everyone can imagine how difficult it is to sail on the sea. It's not as simple as you think.”
At this point, the boss changed the topic and said with a smile," However, after several explorations by the voyage fleets and paying a huge price, they still found a safe sea passage.”
"The next item to be auctioned is this voyage chart.”
"Let me make it clear in advance that only three copies of the sea map will be auctioned this time. Those who buy the sea map will have to sign a contract and are not allowed to disclose it in private. Those who violate it will be punished by nine generations.”
The matter of the sea map was no small matter. It had great strategic value, especially in business and military.
Secondly, this was something that Da Ming had spent a huge amount of manpower, material, and financial resources to explore.
Naturally, they couldn't let outsiders get their hands on it easily, especially pirates.
Therefore, the sea map that was auctioned off was only a part of what Zheng He had explored, and not the complete one.
When the merchants below heard this, their expressions instantly froze. They were all smart people and naturally knew the value of the sea map.
In fact, even if Boss didn't warn them, no one would be so stupid as to share the map with outsiders.
After all, this was the true path of 'gold'.
"Alright, let's cut to the chase. Let the auction begin. The starting bid is five hundred thousand taels of silver, and each increment must not be lower than a thousand taels!”
When he said this, the hands in the boss's sleeves trembled. Even though he was the crown prince, he could not help but be shocked.
The starting price was 500,000 taels. It was too ruthless and exaggerated. How many people could this feed?
However, just as he finished speaking, someone began to bid.
"Five hundred and fifty thousand!"
The first to speak was Merchant Liu, whose family was in the water business. He raised the price by 50,000 yuan.
It was not a small amount, and it could be seen that he was determined to get it.
With him taking the lead, the others followed suit.
"Five hundred and sixty thousand!"
"570,000 taels!"
“……”
Not long after, the price was raised to 655,000 taels. No one was willing to continue raising the price.
Even a top-notch merchant would find it difficult to take out so much money at once.
"655,000 taels. Is there anyone else who wants to continue bidding?”
At this moment, the boss said, and the smile on his face almost froze.
He was the crown prince, and it was difficult for him to even take out ten thousand taels of silver. But here, others could casually add thousands or tens of thousands of taels of silver as if they were buying vegetables.
So he was the poorest prince in history!
Numb, completely numb.
Not only Boss, but Zhu Zhanji's expression had also become wooden. He suddenly realized that his family was so poor…
"660,000 taels!"
Below, Merchant Liu was expressionless as he called out the price again.
Many people around him frowned and looked at him. In the end, they gave up on competing.
Forget it, this was only the first sea map. There were still two more!
Many of them had such thoughts, and they were just hoping to get lucky.
Thus, the first sea map was bought by Merchant Liu at the price of 660,000 taels of silver. He couldn't help but heave a sigh of relief.
If someone else made a bid, he was prepared to give up this round.
On the high platform, the boss wiped the sweat off his forehead, his smile still on his face." Alright, let's continue with the auction of the second sea map.”
"580,000 taels!"
"610,000 taels!"
“……”
The second round of competition seemed to be more intense than the first round, but in the end, the second sea map was only auctioned for 656,000 taels.
But in the third round, the competition really became intense. The third sea map was finally auctioned for a high price of 740,000 taels.
The merchant's expression was a little ugly. After all, he had 80,000 more than the two people in front of him.
In the future, it would be about 50 to 60 million yuan. Just thinking about it made his heart ache.
……
"This is crazy!"
In the corridor on the third floor, Sun Ruowei's face was slightly red as she looked at the merchants below.
Listening to them bid, she felt her blood boil. She could not help but feel excited and wished she could join in.
Perhaps this was the nature of women who liked to shop.
"It's indeed a little crazy, but these people don't lack money. Moreover, they are the real smart people.”
Zhu Gaojin smiled faintly.
"What do you mean?"
Sun Ruowei was a little confused. How could someone be smart if they spent so much money on a map?
With this money, he could easily organize his own manpower and find a safe route!？
"Don't underestimate this nautical chart!"
Seeing through her thoughts, Zhu Gaojin smiled." For some people, time is money.”
"So, don't look at how they spent hundreds of thousands of taels today. They might be able to earn back double the amount when they go out to sea later.”
"The tea leaves, porcelain, and silk of the Ming Dynasty are almost as valuable as gold in the West.”
"Similarly, the western colored glaze, jewelry, spices, etc. are also very expensive in the Ming Dynasty.”
Nowadays, transportation was inconvenient, and the profits of ocean trade were at least tens or hundreds of times.
As long as he went back and forth, he could make a lot of money.
"I see!"
When Zhu Gaojin said this, Sun Ruowei suddenly understood. She felt as if she had learned something new.
However, today's auction had indeed broadened her horizons.
While the two of them were talking, the auction of the voyage ship had already begun.
There were a total of 15 treasure ships, and the starting price for each ship was 10,000 taels.
In the end, he sold a total of 400,000 taels of silver. It was neither too much nor too little. It was within the normal price.
……
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