Chapter 131
The Youngest Son of the Silver Sea Trading Company Chapter 131
Chapter 131. You Reap What You Sow (1)
The sunny month of May is a welcome month for warriors who are active.
This is because the heat and cold do not make outdoor training difficult.
However, for those like me who sit in front of a desk, it is a truly difficult time.
This is because of spring fatigue, an unwelcome guest in May.
But that doesn't matter to me.
I am practicing ice carving, so even if I have insomnia, I don't suffer from spring fatigue.
I looked up and glanced around.
It was already midday (1:00-3:00 p.m.).
Seeing them nodding off like sick chickens with brushes in their hands, I felt sorry for them.
“Sir, ink is dripping from your brush.”
“Huh! I'm sorry.”
“It's okay.”
I stood up and clapped my hands.
Clap, clap!
“Let's have some tea and then get back to work. Before that, stretch your legs a little.”
All the employees of Hyungpungguk stood up and stretched their arms and legs.
Then someone came looking for me.
It was Cho Yeong-yeong, one of my father's aides.
“Ah, Aide Cho.”
“The Captain is looking for you. Please go to Eunwolgak.”
“Ah! I see.”
A sudden meeting at Eunwolgak meant that something unexpected had happened.
And in such cases, it was almost always bad news.
.
.
.
A moment later
I entered Eunwolgak.
Jin-ho, who was already there, raised his right hand slightly to me.
“You came quickly.”
“You came first, and now you're saying that.”
Jin-ho had officially become a junior captain and was now allowed to enter Eunwol Hall.
As the son of the captain of the trading company, he was supposed to gain experience by managing a store, but Jin-ho was not doing that.
“What do you think about letting Jin-ho take charge of one of the shops?”
“The second sub-leader is my successor.”
“Still, he is a sub-leader, so shouldn't he try his hand at the business? That's why I'm thinking of letting him take charge of one of the shops...”
“Are you rolling in money?”
As a result of the Chief Administrator's active opinion, Jin-ho became one of the leaders of the Eunpungdae.
Even to me, Jin-ho seemed well suited to the Eunpungdae.
I sat down and said,
“By the way, why is there a sudden meeting?”
“I don't know. I was at the training ground when they called me, so I just came.”
Soon, people began to arrive one by one, and the meeting began.
*
The atmosphere inside Eunwolgak was heavy.
It was only natural.
The reason for the meeting called by Captain Eun Gil-sang was not good news.
“We received a letter from the captain of Eunjosan Trading Company in Gijoo today. He says that the situation is not good.”
Gijoo has been a place where forestry has been developed since ancient times.
It is an important place for Eunhae Trading Company, which has grown through the medicinal herb business, as it produces not only cedar but also various medicinal herbs.
There is a broker in Gijoo City that supplies medicinal herbs to Eunhae Trading Company.
The name of the broker is Miga Trading Company, and the head of the company is Eunjo-san.
As you can see from their same surname, they are related to Eunhae Trading Company.
After being pushed out of the competition for captain, Eun Gil-sang's uncle did not become the head of a branch, but instead received financial support to establish a new trading company in Gui Zhou Province.
He then earned money by acting as a herbal medicine broker with Eunhae Trading Company as his main customer, and paid back all the money he had borrowed.
When Eun Jo-san, Eun Gil-sang's cousin, became the captain of Mi-gwa Trading Company, the two companies' finances were completely separated.
As a result, Eunhaesang Trading Company and Migwasang Trading Company are now just two trading companies that are on good terms with each other, but they are strictly separate companies.
“That's why he's asking to borrow some money.”
“Are they asking for a loan?”
Eun Gil-sang nodded at Chief Administrator Yoo's words.
“If even the proud Eun Jo-san sent a letter like this, the situation must be really dire.”
The two chief administrators and the two provincial governors nodded in agreement.
They had known Eun Jo-san since he was young, so they knew his personality well.
Then Eun Jeong-ho asked, “Did the letter from your father, Eun Jo-san, the head of the Eunjo Trading Company, explain why they are in trouble?”
“No, it only said that competition with other trading companies has become fierce and that they are in a difficult situation.”
“No, there were no details, only that competition with other trading companies was fierce and that the situation was difficult.”
Eun Gil-sang continued.
“Then how much should we support them?”
“Didn't they ask how much they wanted to borrow?”
Eun Gil-sang nodded at Yoo So-ak's question.
“You're right.”
“Then I think we should lend him 1,000 nyang. Lending him more than that might hurt the pride of the Eunjo Trading Company.”
At that moment, they realized that Eun Seo-ho was strangely quiet today.
* *
I was thinking about what happened in my past life.
Captain of the Eunjo Trading Company... The suicide of my uncle.
At that time, I didn't know that the captain of the Eunjo Trading Company had sent a letter asking for a loan.
I hadn't become a junior captain yet.
And about a year later, my uncle, the captain of the Eunjo Trading Company, committed suicide.
In the letter, he mentioned that competition with other trading companies was fierce and that he was in a difficult situation, but that was an understatement due to his pride.
The reality was much worse than that.
I heard later that a latecomer to the market, a medicine broker, was prepared to engage in a price war, and most of the companies that had been doing business with Miga Trading Company switched to him.
In the end, even though the only customer left was Eunhae Trading Company, he hid this fact because of his pride.
And the reason why my uncle did not mention the amount of money he wanted to borrow in his letter is because the losses were enormous.
A thousand nyang?
That wouldn't even be enough.
In my previous life, I would have decided to lend him a thousand nyang.
And yet, my uncle committed suicide.
The news of my uncle's suicide came as a great shock to our family.
My grandfather was especially saddened.
First his younger brother, and now his nephew had passed away at such a young age.
It was also a significant loss for the Trading Company.
They had lost a reliable supplier of medicinal herbs.
But we couldn't do business with other middlemen in Guizhou because they were the ones who had killed my uncle.
In the end, we managed to solve the problem by investing a lot of money and time to establish a branch in Guizhou and buying more medicinal herbs from other places.
“Seo-ho.”
I looked up at my father's call.
“Yes.”
“You're very quiet today. It's not like you to be so quiet and not share your opinions. Are you feeling unwell?”
I shook my head at my father's question.
“No, I just had something on my mind.”
Then I turned to Captain Yeon.
“Captain Yeon.”
“Yes, Captain.”
“Have you heard anything about the Mi Trading Company?”
“Not really…”
“I want to hear what the envoys who went to Gijoo City had to say. It's better to ask those who saw and heard it themselves.”
My father nodded at my words.
“Something is bothering you, isn't it?”
“Yes.”
My father told Yeon Gak-ju to call the officials who had visited Giju Castle.
A moment later, one deputy chief official and four officials entered Eunwol Hall.
“You called?”
When they arrived, my father nodded at me.
It meant that he was entrusting me with the task.
“I have called you here because I have something to ask you. I understand that you have just returned from a trip to the Miga Trading Company in Guizhou City.”
“Yes, that is correct.”
“Is there anything that has changed from before, or anything that concerns you?”
“....”
“Even the smallest detail is fine.”
The acting head hesitated for a moment, then slowly opened his mouth.
“Come to think of it, the number of employees at the Trading Company has decreased significantly. Quite a few clerks are missing.”
As expected... They reduced the number of employees.
When under financial pressure, the first measure taken is to reduce labor costs.
Following the acting head clerk, the other clerks also reported what they had seen.
“The roof that was damaged last time I saw it still hasn't been repaired.”
“I saw the captain, and I noticed something about his belt. Usually, the decoration on his belt changes every time I see him, but recently, it's been the same.”
The atmosphere in the conference room grew increasingly heavy.
These testimonies meant that the situation at the Miga Trading Company was much worse than they had thought.
The officials left, and my father sighed deeply.
“Does that mean they are in such a desperate situation? Why are they trying to hide the truth?”
The chief advisor replied, “It must be because of their pride.
I am worried that something terrible will happen.”
The chief advisor, who had watched Eunhae Trading Company and its people for a long time, was right.
Something really bad did happen.
Thanks to my memories from my previous life, I know what happened.
But I couldn't tell him that, so I called the managers and confirmed the details.
The company that is currently causing trouble for the Miga Trading Company is Namho Trading Company, a fellow herbal medicine broker.
They used cowardly and despicable methods to destroy the Miga Trading Company.
But this time will be different.
I won't let things go on like this.
“Father. I think I need to go to Guizhou City.”
“Guizhou City?”
“Yes. I need to find out exactly what is going on. If the Mi-Gwa Trading Company collapses, how much damage will it cause to our company?”
I continued.
“Our trading company supplies medicinal herbs to many places. Palin Pharmacy also receives medicinal herbs from our trading company. In this situation, if there is a problem with the supply of medicinal herbs to our trading company, it will be very difficult.”
“I understand.”
“However, everyone else is busy right now, so I think it would be best if I went.”
Hyungpungguk was originally created to deal with sudden situations.
As I expected, my father nodded.
“All right. Go ahead.”
“Yes, Father.”
“Since you're going, take Jin-ho with you.”
“What? Me too?”
I didn't expect to be accompanied by Jin-ho.
.
.
.
Two days later, early in the morning.
I headed for the car.
“Are you here?”
Jin-ho was already at the car before me.
“You came early.”
“We have to hurry since we're going.”
Jin-ho was the leader of the Yungjoo Division of Eunpungdae, so he was taking the entire division with him.
It seemed that my father sent Jin-ho to train them, as the team leader and team members had to work well together.
“I'm sorry I'm late.”
At that moment, someone entered the car.
I knew him.
He was one of the drivers who specialized in transporting medicinal herbs for the Trading Company.
Was his name Jong-gil?
“Are you Mr. Jong-gil-dae?”
“Yes, I am. My rank is Jeong-guk (丁級).”
Dae-hangsu was a Byeong-guk, so this meant he was one rank below Dae-hangsu.
It seemed that my father had taken great care to assign a guide to me.
We finished our preparations and quickly set off.
There were no large rivers in Gui-ju, so we had to use the land route instead of the waterway.
On the way, we had to cross the Hyeongmun Mountain, and we encountered the Green Forest Bandits and had to pay a toll.
However
“Eunhaesangdan? Is that where Sunhyeom-rang is... Huh! It's Sunhyeom-rang!”
“What? Sunhyeom-rang?”
“I'm honored to meet Sunhyeom-rang in person!”
“Here's the toll...”
“Eh! Toll? Why are you saying such a disappointing thing?”
“You saved our lives because of Eunhae Trading Company.”
“Even though we are Green Forest Bandits living in the mountains, we are grateful for your kindness.”
“Just pass through.”
“What are you doing? Why aren't you clearing the road?”
They were able to pass through without paying the toll.
When an epidemic broke out in Uichang last time, Eunhaesang Trading Company provided relief here.
It seemed that the impact of that was still lingering.
It was worth staying in Hubei Province and working hard instead of fleeing to escape the epidemic.
We continued on our way without any further delays and finally arrived in Guizhou.
Since Mi-gwa Trading Company was run by my cousin, we could have stayed there, but we didn't.
Given our current situation, it would have been a burden.
Besides, we weren't here to do business, but to investigate Mi-gwa Trading Company.
So we unpacked our bags at an inn located far away from Mi-gwa Trading Company.
“Would you like to have dinner?”
I nodded in response to Pal-gap's question.
“Let's go downstairs.”
We went down to the first floor and finished our meal.
Then we called the waiter and asked him casually.
“We are here to trade medicinal herbs. Where is the most famous place here?”
The waiter glanced at our appearance and replied.
“You look like you're from a large trading company, so I recommend you go to Namho Trading Company.”
“Namho Trading Company...?”
“Yes. I'll tell you this in confidence, but Namho Trading Company is currently selling medicinal herbs at less than half the market price.”