1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 198

Li Jifeng saw that this road was not going to work, so he changed the direction and changed the subject: "The two of you are in Guangzhou this time, and I don't know what you need to buy. Maybe this can provide some convenience."

Schneider has no intention of concealing this. In terms of material procurement, he does need some help from "Fu Ruifeng".Before departure, each production department put forward their own material procurement lists. After the executive committee put them together, they were three feet long. There is basically nothing else to do for a month.Entrusting to "Furuifeng" may allow the other party to earn another handling fee, but the time and energy saved are hard to buy with money.Moreover, now that the Crossing Group has taken the initiative in the bilateral trade, Schneider believes that "Fu Ruifeng" will not play tricks in the procurement of materials under the current situation.

"We need to purchase a lot of materials, but there is one thing that is urgent." Schneider smiled and replied to Li Jifeng: "Ship. A big ship with [-] materials, whether it is Fuchuan or Guangzhou Ship."

"You want to order a large number of ships from Guangzhou, is it because you want to go to Guangzhou?" Li Jifeng was very sensitive to this, and immediately asked.Prior to this, "Furuifeng" had already bought two sea-going ships of [-] materials for the other party, and Li Nai had taken them to Shengli Port. It may not be a good thing for "Fu Ruifeng", which is also engaged in maritime trade.

Schneider shook his head and said, "Of course we didn't buy the ship to open up this route..."

Li Jifeng felt relieved a little, but at this time Schneider continued to say: "...there are many shipping routes we need to open up, so we need a lot of ships and sailors."

What a big tone!Li Jifeng thought to himself that it was not easy to open up the South China Sea route, which one was not discovered by the sailors after years of groping, even if an old sea merchant wants to open up a new route, it is not something that can be achieved in a short time.

However, Li Jifeng suddenly remembered that Li Nai had mentioned that the Haihan people came from thousands of miles away in the east, and there were many strange-shaped large iron ships moored in Shengli Port.Since the other party was able to sail across the ocean in such a large iron boat, his sailing skills might be very good, so talking about opening up a sea route is not necessarily bragging.

Schneider seemed to have seen through Li Jifeng's thoughts, and continued with a smile: "Don't worry too much, big shopkeeper. Even if we open up a sea route to Guangzhou, it will not affect the trade with you. The increase in shipping capacity will only increase Increase the volume of trade between us, so that we can all earn more money. For example, for example, salt, your bank is the sales agent in Fuzhou and Guangxi provinces. How much salt will these two provinces consume in a year? Several million There are always catties, right? Right now, due to insufficient shipping capacity, there is only an order volume of [-] catties per month, but in the future, we can increase the transaction volume to [-] catties, [-] catties, or even more per month by expanding our transport capacity. Salt can be sold to farther places such as Guangxi, Huguang, Jiangxi, and Zhejiang. What we need is not a unilateral increase in transport capacity, and we hope that your bank can organize more ships to join the route.”

"Even if you have enough capacity, can you really produce so much salt?" Li Jifeng asked in disbelief.

Schneider pointed to Li Nai and said, "Your Majesty, you have also visited our salt field. It has a scale of three to four hundred people and produces more than 400 catties of salt. By the end of the year, this output will increase. For us, as long as the labor force is sufficient, The production of table salt is not a problem at all, the only thing that needs to be considered is how to transport the salt from Qiongzhou to Guangzhou."

Li Jifeng immediately made a calculation in his mind. At present, the Haihan people supply themselves with salt at a price of 50 taels of silver per thousand catties. After excluding the freight and loss during transshipment, they can still get at least twice the price after selling it locally at half the market price. If you can sell 100 catties of salt in a month, you will get 1 taels of silver.And [-] catties of salt can be easily shipped by a sea-going ship with [-] materials. Since the supply of salt to the Haihan people is guaranteed, if there is a special fleet to transport salt from Qiongzhou Island to Guangzhou, it will cost tens of thousands of taels Money comes into the account, how much money do you have to earn this year?I'm afraid it's not so easy for those big salt merchants in Yangzhou to make money.

The calculations that are now in Li Jifeng's mind have already been calculated by the navy commander Luo Shengdong once.The difference is that the market that Luo Shengdong faces is relatively limited. After all, the entire Qiongzhou Island has only a population of more than 20, which is far less than the conditions in the mainland. Moreover, although Luo Shengdong has an official identity cover, no one will check him. But after all, he didn’t dare to make too much publicity, and every time he secretly transported two or three thousand catties of salt to make a little money.

However, the scale of operation and the area covered by "Furuifeng" are unmatched by Luo Shengdong. Obviously, it is a business that can make a lot of money, so of course Li Jifeng will not be satisfied with making small troubles.However, he was not dazzled by the sudden happiness, and he still maintained enough calmness, and continued to ask Schneider: "Then besides Guangzhou, what other sea routes are you planning to open up, Mr. Shi, can you tell me a little bit?" ?”

Schneider said frankly: "The port cities along the coast of the mainland are our goals, but that should be at least one or two years later. In terms of business goals, we should be consistent with your bank, and we should do business further place and make more money.”

What Schneider said was vague and untrue, Li Jifeng naturally understood that the other party was on guard, so he didn't ask any more ignorant questions.

After the banquet that night, the father and son of the Li family returned home and did not rest separately, but went to the study to continue discussing the unfinished topics at the previous banquet.

Li Jifeng said: "This Mr. Shi is indeed a veteran in the mall, and he speaks very smoothly. It's no wonder that you negotiated such an unfavorable agreement with him. What a consignment agent, you know if other firms get on their way Line, give better conditions, then they will easily kick us out!"

Li Nai hurriedly bowed and said: "My child doesn't know how powerful it is, and only thinks about how to make more money from it, but ignores these details..."

"Forget it, it's the first time you've dealt with such a big deal, and it's not easy to negotiate it like this." Li Jifeng had already figured out the joints when he was eating, and he just raised it to warn Li Nai at this time, but he didn't continue. Blame his plan: "Listen to what Mr. Na Shi said, they intend to expand the private salt business, what do you think? Brother, tell me first."

Li Po thought for a while before answering: "Although the Haihan people are good at making salt, they don't have enough transportation capacity, and they don't have a way to sell private salt along the coast, so we have to rely on our business name for this. The private salt business is small and profitable, and my child thinks it is worth a shot, but the way must be paved first, so as not to be caught by the salt department's promotion officer."

Li Jifeng nodded noncommittally, "Let's talk about the third one too."

Li Nai said: "Second brother is right, this business is doing well, and it will be easy to earn tens of thousands of taels a month from now on. But my boy thinks that besides the salt department, you have to be wary of other salt merchants This colleague is an enemy, not to mention that if we traffic in a large amount of illegal salt for sale, it will definitely hit the market price of salt, and this matter of cutting off people's wealth will definitely arouse controversy and retaliation."

"Then what solution do you have?" Li Jifeng continued to ask.

Li Naidao: "My boy once heard Haihan people talk about my salt farms in Daming. It is said that many of the more than 20 salt farms in Fuguang and Guangxi provinces are deserted, and most of the salt on the market now comes from Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Huaihe. Therefore, the price of salt remains high. If we directly supply salt merchants from all over the country, the price can be lower than that of salt shipped from the north. In this way, we earn what we earn, and the salt merchants earn what the salt merchants earn. Just take what you need, and we can save the time of selling one by one.”

"That is to say, the private salt has been turned into official salt for sale?" Li Jifeng tapped his fingers on the desk, thinking about the feasibility of Li Nai's idea.

"Furuifeng" has many branches in Fuzhou and Guangzhou. It is not impossible to sell salt through its own channels, but it will still face a legal problem.The so-called official salt means that salt merchants have to go to the salt department to pay the money first, and then take the salt to the salt farm to buy salt. However, the qualifications of the salt merchants do not come with money. Controlled by several wealthy families. "Furuifeng" did not have the identity of a salt merchant before, and even if it sold salt, it only sold a small amount of official salt wholesaled from salt merchants in a retail manner. In this way, it wanted to sell tens of thousands of catties of private salt every month, obviously. It is very difficult, and it is easy to attract the attention of peers and competent authorities when the shipment volume is large.

And it is very easy for those salt merchants who ship a large amount of salt to mix some illegal salt in it. They can get the salt quotations, and it is difficult for the competent authorities to determine whether there is illegal salt in the salt they sell.In fact, because the cost of private salt is relatively low, many salt merchants will sell it with private salt in order to obtain more benefits.The Haihan people's private salt is undoubtedly extremely competitive—their price has been extremely low, and there is no rival in the salt industry market of Daming.Even if "Furuifeng" raises the price to 150 taels of silver per kilogram, it still has a greater price advantage than the existing supply of salt merchants.

Selling the salt of the Haihan people to salt merchants from all over the country, and then selling it to the market as official salt, seems to be a good solution to the problem.After Li Jifeng considered the main points clearly, he quickly made a decision.

(End of this chapter)