December 25, 4359 (1662 AD).

There are only five days until New Year's Eve, even if the economic crisis comes and all industries in the empire are depressed.

But the current life of the empire is still better than that of any previous dynasty.

The New Year atmosphere was not greatly affected.

What the Chinese New Year seeks is happy family reunion. Rich families have their own ways of being rich, and poor families have their own ways of being poor.

Even the imperial relief food distribution point distributed two chicken legs, five pounds of pork, and two meters of cotton cloth to every family receiving relief food at this time, so that they could have a warm New Year.

Du Baonian, president of the Shanxi Chamber of Commerce, parked his car in the underground parking room of the Empire State Building. He stepped out of the car and followed the stairs to the private room on the fifth floor.

He looked at the most prosperous commercial street in the capital through the glass wall of the Empire State Building.

It was more depressed than in previous years. Du Baonian felt the same and kept sighing in his heart.

Most people are clamoring that an economic crisis is coming.

Du Baonian could not imagine what would happen in the economic crisis.

When the economic crisis really comes, a large number of companies that had been developing well before went bankrupt.

Especially borrowing bank loans to expand the company's business.

Banks either go bankrupt or liquidate, or withdraw loans to protect themselves.

Without external funds, these companies immediately went bankrupt and closed down, with no possibility of self-rescue.

Du Baonian looked at some young businessmen and lamented that the empire was about to end.

He just wanted to say one thing to young people: "You are too young."

These people have lived in a stable environment since childhood.

As long as they can remember, they have lived in a boarding elementary school and watched the empire grow and develop step by step.

In their impression, the empire's business environment was thriving, and they had never seen the empire decline.

These people's reaction was so great, that is, the illusion in their hearts was broken.

For a person of Du Baonian's age, he had experienced the dark environment in the late Ming Dynasty since childhood.

Businessmen in the Ming Dynasty, unless they were princes or Jinshi masters, had white gloves.

Otherwise, any county magistrate can destroy his family.

When doing business in an environment like the Ming Dynasty, businessmen had to be versatile and take care of people in the officialdom at any time.

Without identity and background, it is impossible to grow your business and you can only earn some hard-earned money.

Du Baonian was able to survive in this harsh environment.

He was truly surprised to see the damage caused by the economic crisis to business and industry.

But this situation did not make him panic.

The prosperous company he created with so much effort has shrunk to less than one-fifth of its heyday.

But Xingsheng Company's core business, the food industry, can still be maintained.

This is also closely related to the fact that Du Baonian was a big landowner in Nanyang.

Most of the raw material supplies for Xingsheng Company are provided by farms under his name.

This results in Xingsheng's products being cheaper than similar products.

During economic downturns, price wars are the most effective means.

This will reduce the company's profits, but the most critical issue now is survival.

Half a year since the economic crisis broke out, at least tens of thousands of companies have gone bankrupt.

The current market is not very good, but Du Baonian believes that the market will recover sooner or later.

Which company can survive the economic crisis will surely occupy a huge market and earn astonishing profits after the crisis is over.

Most businessmen know this truth, but it is extremely difficult to do it.

Du Baonian came to the private room reserved by Li Gong, the president of the Empire Chamber of Commerce, and stepped into the private room of the Empire State Building.

This is a large private room, and some businessmen have already arrived.

Familiar people were sitting on the seats, and they were discussing the recent affairs of the empire.

Du Baonian walked in, and President Li Gong immediately greeted him.

"President Du, welcome to your arrival.

When the New Year is approaching, I call everyone for a meeting. This is my fault. Please bear with me."

Chairman Li Gong is very polite. The president of the Imperial Chamber of Commerce has a high status, but he is not an official.

The merchants did not want to cooperate with the Imperial Chamber of Commerce, and Chairman Lee Gong had no choice.

He and Du Baonian have been friends for many years, but he didn't want Du Baonian to think that he was using chicken feathers as arrows to order him to do things.

He and his friends were able to resolve the misunderstanding, but many people who were invited could not explain it one by one.

President Li Gong could not see anyone, so he stepped forward to explain.

If he does this, he will not be able to maintain his position.

President Li Gong has been waiting for someone who has a high status and can cooperate with his friends.

Du Baonian has been in the shopping mall for so many years, and he is also a good person.

He heard something was wrong in Li Gong's tone, and saw that the atmosphere at the scene was a bit depressing.

After thinking about it for a moment, he immediately understood Li Gong's intention.

He smiled and said: "President Li, among all of us, you are the most well-informed.

The Chinese New Year time is extremely important to us businessmen.

Many people in the family just took this opportunity to go home.

The current market environment is so bad that the family needs to discuss which company to abandon and which company to focus on maintaining.

It’s impossible that President Li Gong doesn’t know about this situation, but you still call us here, that means you have something important to inform us, and we can’t help but ask for it.”

When President Li Gong heard what Du Baonian said, a smile appeared on his face. Du Baonian understood him, and this friend was not in vain.

President Li Gong nodded and said: "I have summoned everyone here today. There is indeed important news that I want to share with you.

People haven't arrived yet, but when everyone does, I will share this news so that everyone will never regret coming here."

Jiang Jinxiu, president of the Zhejiang Chamber of Commerce, said with a smile: "A private room in the Empire State Building costs five thousand taels of silver a day.

Even if President Li Gong is rich, he cannot use five thousand taels of silver to play with it.

I believe that President Li Gong will definitely have important news to share with you.

After the economic crisis came, all of us were affected to a certain extent.

At this time, we should unite sincerely and overcome difficulties together.

This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! Instead of tearing each other down because of the previous grudges."

Jiang Jinxiu spoke on behalf of the businessmen in Jiangnan, which was supporting Chairman Li Gong.

As one of the largest textile industry families in the empire, Jiang Jinxiu is also very well-informed.

He doesn’t know the policies that the empire will introduce, what are their specific contents?

But he knows that the empire has decided to introduce relevant policies to solve the current economic crisis.

Chairman Li Gong has a special status, and when the empire is about to announce relevant policies, he summons everyone to the banquet in the name of the president of the Empire Chamber of Commerce.

What he said may not be his true thoughts, but the people behind him instructed him to say it to the businessmen.

It was because Jiang Jinxiu learned about this situation that he spoke out to rescue President Li Gong.

As a businessman, he knows what timely and accurate information means.

He didn't want Chairman Li Gong to choose to hide some important information because he was resented by some people.

President Jiang Jinxiu expressed support for Li Gong. Some businessmen who were fairly well-informed, or who were good at observing people's words and thinking, all agreed with Jiang Jinxiu's approach and supported Li Gong.

Some smart people also choose to play off the yin and yang sound just now.

Most businessmen are thick-skinned and completely ignore these squeezes.

There were only some businessmen who had to come here for the sake of face. They were bullied and chose to leave.

Du Baonian saw these people leaving because they had deep conflicts with the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce.

They are mainly Fujian and Cantonese businessmen.

The industries of the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce are in conflict with them, and the accumulated conflicts cannot be alleviated by just saying a few words.

Even now, the chambers of commerce in the southern part of the empire still have extremely serious competition.

This kind of industrial competition is too fierce, which is also one of the reasons why the empire's current economic crisis has been so severe.
To be continued...