Preton Merchant House This Chapter Is Brought to You by "Walking Beast" for an Additional Update 35

Looking at Simon, who resembled a local native, and at the question he posed, Lin Qi smiled and countered, "Do I need to know about this ' Preton Merchant House '?"

Simon paused for a moment, then laughed. He had a kind face, which was probably related to the fact that he was a little overweight now.

Most overweight people don't have the kind of menacing appearance that makes people feel uncomfortable. Their physique and puffy appearance give people a kind of honest and simple feeling. This is why people may dislike overweight people, but few people feel threatened by them.

"Mr. Lin Qi, if you're just here in Nagaril for tourism, then it doesn't matter whether you know about the ' Preton Merchant House ' or not. But if you plan to do business here, I think you'd better know about the ' Preton Merchant House ' and its connections!"

Simon's tone was no longer as calm as when the two had first met. Although his tone and manner of speaking had not changed much, one could still sense a sharp edge in his attitude.

He was warning Lin Qi, or at least reminding him of the importance of "Preton Merchant House".

Lin Qi is not someone who is easily threatened, regardless of who he is facing or whether he has the means to resist. He is not the kind of person who can be easily threatened or coerced.

The two looked at each other for a moment, Lin Qi nodded. "Then, Simon, could you please introduce this to me... what was it again?"

"Preton Merchant House!" Simon emphasized slightly to express his dissatisfaction with some of Lin Qi's actions. He didn't believe that Lin Qi would forget a word they had just discussed so quickly; he must have done it on purpose.

He then began to perform his duties, introducing the Preton Merchant House.

Strictly speaking, Preton Merchant House does not belong to any one person, nor does it act like a typical trading company; it is more like a chamber of commerce.

The firm holds a Shareholders Meeting every quarter, and a large portion of the foreign businessmen who invest in Nagaril are shareholders of the Preton Merchant House.

At this meeting, these people will discuss and allocate each person's business and quota for the next quarter in a relatively peaceful manner.

This sounds a bit exaggerated; a chamber of commerce shouldn't have such power, but it does.

This is also related to Mr. Preton, the largest shareholder of the Preton Chamber of Commerce. It is said that Mr. Preton was a naval officer before he went into business. He has a special fascination with the sea and is full of adventurous spirit.

In fact, Lin Qi was well aware of the significance of Simon's mention of Mr. Preton's time in the Navy: maritime transport, as the main mode of long-distance trade, is not as safe as people imagine.

Maritime accidents happen every day in this world, some are reported and some are ignored.

Mr. Preton earned people's trust in his own way. He established some very reasonable rules of the game that everyone, including himself, followed, and everyone hoped that other newcomers would join them as well.

"... That's the general situation, Mr. Lin Qi. Actually, what you gain from Preton Merchant House is much more than what I just mentioned!"

"For example!" Simon raised his voice slightly, "We share information like what's trending in Tiate right now, what's starting to drop in price in Metarik ... and so on, in a timely manner!"

"You don't need to deal with those hateful intelligence brokers. With just one phone call, you can know the most up-to-date commodity price trends all over the world, which brings several conveniences to our international trade."

"You know, sometimes we'd rather pay a penalty to leave our goods at the port for a while. Without these channels, we would lose even more!"

It might sound exaggerated to say that someone would rather break a contract than fulfill it, but this often happens in international trade, especially when commodity prices fluctuate rapidly and significantly during certain periods.

It's possible that a ship's worth of goods might only be worth 10,000 yuan in the morning, but become 1 million yuan by evening. Therefore, people are willing to pay three or five times the penalty for breach of contract in order to ensure that more profits don't slip through their fingers.

Especially during wartime, the prices of some ores and important industrial production materials can change daily.

Perhaps the price of certain materials plummets because a certain group conquers a certain region and discovers some Mineral Deposit, or perhaps the price of certain raw materials skyrockets because certain facilities, including mining areas, are bombarded, reducing or even temporarily shutting down production.

This change is happening every day, even now. The amount of raw materials needed for postwar reconstruction is not much less than what was needed during the war, and may even be more.

It's important to understand that the need for construction always outweighs the need for destruction.

Having a rich and stable source of information is very important. Relying on some less-than-honorable means and some intelligence sharing, Mr. Preton easily united many merchants operating in Nagaril, forming a very special interest group around him.

This is also why the local rulers disliked these people; once they united, they became difficult to deal with and increasingly greedy.

This is only natural. When there is competition, only a small number of top players will get rich, and then there will be scraps and broth for the rest. Now that the benefits are laid out for distribution, no one is really at a disadvantage. It seems like everyone is a winner, but that's not actually the case.

The income of the former top players has decreased, and the real beneficiaries are the numerous but uncompetitive small business owners. In order to satisfy the demands of some people for more profit, increasing the net profit margin has become the main means.

Higher prices and higher profit margins are naturally seen as greed by local rulers.

"Mr. Lin Qi, this is a great opportunity. I invite you to join us. Such an opportunity is rare!" Simon tried his best to persuade Lin Qi.

Besides Mr. Preton calling him personally, what happened to Lin Qi also terrified him.

It should be noted that within the territory divided by the Preton Merchant House, the Magulana Province was the main area where Simon operated, with spices, animal furs, jewelry, and gold being his primary business items.

Everything was peaceful, and he had no complaints about it. He also knew that Mishe Haye and certain others were making things difficult for Lin Qi.

Everyone had experienced something like this to some extent at first. Simon and some business friends even joked about how long Lin Qi could hold out against the local rulers and what methods he would use to resolve the situation.

When Lin Qi is driven to the brink of despair, Simon and others will appear before Lin Qi, inviting him to Preton Merchant House to help him through his difficulties, and then give him a quota so that he can taste a little sweetness.

The idea was good, but the reality was bizarre. No one knew how Lin Qi dealt with it. All people knew was that Lin Qi agreed to some of Mishe Haye's requests, and in return, Mishe Haye —actually the Provincial Governor —might agree to grant Lin Qi exclusive rights to sell certain goods and import/export rights.

Simon was now very concerned, as this had seriously affected his interests. Once Lin Qi and the Provincial Governor reached an agreement, the domestic and foreign trade patterns of Magulana Province would immediately change.

Merchants who had previously operated locally would face an even more awkward situation, as they would be forced to leave due to changes in the rulers' attitudes and Lin Qi's power.

Having operated here for so many years, they find it hard to give up their business and profits; it would be the death of them!

In addition, a phone call from Mr. Preton himself facilitated a meeting between him and Lin Qi.

Looking at Lin Qi's youthful face, Simon felt a mix of emotions and nervousness. He didn't know if Lin Qi would agree. He looked at Lin Qi, trying to find something in that young face.

Lin Qi remained silent for a while, weighing the pros and cons. In fact, he was quite interested in this Preton Merchant House. International trade information sharing was a remarkable thing.

Currently, worldwide, apart from a few countries that have telephone lines or relay lines between them, many countries do not have direct telephone lines between them.

For example, there was no direct telephone line Federal and Nagaril, and telegrams were not only expensive but also not necessarily reliable or secure, so people preferred to send messages by letter.

However, the delivery of letters was extremely slow. If you were lucky, it would take a week to arrive; if you were unlucky, it would take half a month or even longer. Trade opportunities often occurred in a very short period of time, and if you missed them, you missed them forever.

Wait until half a month later?

His ashes are cold! But he still didn't want to Preton Merchant House because of this. He was thinking about how to obtain the benefits that only those who joined the company could have without actually Preton Merchant House.

He turned his gaze back to Simon, a hint of amusement in his eyes. This made Simon feel inexplicably uneasy. He checked his clothes and touched his chin to make sure he was in the right place before bracing himself to meet Lin Qi's gaze. "What have you decided, Mr. Lin Qi?"

Lin Qi raised an eyebrow and shook his head. "I can't answer your question in a short time. I need time to think about it. I never pressure others, nor do I want to be pressured by others. Do you understand what I mean?"

Despite his displeasure, Simon forced a smile and nodded, "We should be more cautious..."