1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 210 Trade Progress
Seeing You Yihan's familiarity with these numbers, He Xi immediately labeled him a "keyboard strategist" in his heart.This is not because there is any big discrepancy in the numbers You Yihan listed, but because his understanding of the US national policy is still too superficial.At the national level, whether it is military means or economic means, their purpose is to serve politics and national interests. Perhaps foreign means will affect political decision-making to a certain extent, but that is not what You Yihan understands. "yield".

Clausewitz said in "On War", "War is nothing but the continuation of politics through another means", which fully illustrates the substantive role of military means in foreign policy.Waging wars abroad or purely exporting arms, these means are not just for the military-industrial complex behind it to obtain massive benefits, but mainly to achieve certain political goals.The ruling policy of the executive committee can be said to be very close to this theory. Whether it is economic or military means, they are all aimed at the long-term interests of the crossing group, rather than simply making money or expanding their territory.

If, as You Yihan understands, the country's foreign policy will "succumb" to the interests of the military-industrial complex, then the U.S. arms ban on a certain major country may have long since become a dead letter.

But there is one thing that You Yihan is right. If there are more interests in front of each unit, it will indeed prompt the Crossing Group to establish a military-industrial complex to coordinate and manage military projects.The current chaos in the development of the military industry is essentially caused by the lack of clear and perfect internal management systems and distribution of responsibilities and powers, and it is not just the mistakes of certain units or decision-makers.Fortunately, everyone's starting point is to do a good job and promote development. Among these people, there is no public knowledge that wants to rely on spraying high-level officials to gain a sense of existence-such people will definitely jump out and accuse "all this is a system. problem", and the only solution they could propose was to "overthrow the system".

Of course, if there are such people in the time-traveling group, then the most likely thing that will happen is not that this kind of talker becomes a leader of public opinion, a grassroots big V, but will quickly disappear from public view and be sent to the Heitu Port or the exploration team in the deep mountains to do things.Everyone has seen the tricks of street politicians before time-traveling. The time-traveling group does not need clown-like characters to guide public opinion. We all have a bottom line in our hearts.Even the Ministry of Information Industry, which holds the mouthpiece of public opinion, must obey the decision-making opinions of the Executive Committee.

But even if He Xi doesn't agree with You Yihan's point of view, he will not immediately refute the other party's statement.Before the second echelon came to Guangzhou, Schneider and He Xi had fully communicated and believed that the people selected by the executive committee to come to Guangzhou must have certain working ability, but other aspects, especially ideological understanding, may not They have kept the same pace with the Executive Committee. It remains to be seen whether and how these people can be used after they arrive at the Guangzhou Office.Both Schneider and He Xi are good at observing words and expressions, and after a short contact, they can naturally have a general understanding of the thoughts and concepts of these people.

Today's induction banquet just provided such an opportunity. After drinking for three rounds, everyone had already relaxed, and there was nothing reserved in the chat. He Xi also had a preliminary impression of these newcomers.

Everyone chatted while eating and drinking, but Chen Tianqi couldn't drink enough, and soon fell into a semi-comatose state. He Xi called two servants over and sent him back to his room to rest.It didn't take long for Ma Yu to leave the meeting. She was used to going to bed early and getting up early, so it was almost time to go to rest at this time.

After the two left, the topic slowly shifted from the military-industrial complex to the expansion policy of the Crossing Group towards the mainland.At the request of everyone, Schneider first introduced the progress of the current business activities in Guangzhou.

Because the previous export products have signed an exclusive agency agreement with "Fu Ruifeng", so after Schneider came to Guangzhou, there are no other products to sell outside, so the current business activities are mainly raw material procurement. .Compared with the limited commodity supply in Yazhou and Qiongzhou, the market here in Guangzhou is undoubtedly much larger. Many raw materials that are difficult to buy in Hainan Island in large quantities, such as mercury, tin, copper, etc., as long as they can be produced here If you can afford the money, you will naturally be able to find a business to sell it. Even if there is not enough quantity to meet Schneider's procurement needs for a while, the business will quickly organize another source of goods.

And some civilian supplies that are relatively expensive in Hainan Island, such as Songjiang cloth, tung oil, etc., will be purchased at a relatively lower price in Guangzhou.Most of these purchased materials have already been loaded on the newly purchased second-hand blessing boat, and they can be taken back directly when Sun Changmi and the others return to Shengli Port.

It is said that the glass products of "Furuifeng" shipped back from Shengli Port in the early stage have been sold in several branches in Guangdong, and because of the limited number of purchases, most of them are sold directly in the first wave of sales. sold out.Especially in the areas of Shaozhou, Nanxiong, Huizhou, and Chaozhou to the east of Guangzhou, they have received rave reviews for the newly-appeared glass stationery, and many people have even paid a deposit in advance to Semicolon to book the next batch. Goods of goods.In Guangzhou, there is even a trend of collecting Haihan stationery - this is naturally Schneider's idea to Li Nai at the beginning, as long as he sponsors a few poetry meetings and pays some public figures to do publicity on such occasions. Of course, it is appropriate to be sought after by consumers in the market.

As for the glass mirrors, there is no need for any official publicity by "Fu Ruifeng". It would be unimaginable if the back houses of wealthy businessmen and gentry did not have one or two silver mirrors produced by Haihan.Although the price of "Furuifeng" is very high, a two-inch silver mirror costs more than 50 taels of silver, but this can't stop the rich people's desire to buy, even a one-foot square mirror priced at 2000 taels of silver has already been sold It's over. He Qiang from "Furuifeng" visited Schneider two days ago and asked if Schneider could sell a larger mirror. It is said that wealthy businessmen from Jiangsu and Zhejiang liked the Haihan silver mirror very much and expressed their willingness to pay a lot of money to buy it. For larger mirrors, the specific price is not disclosed in detail - for some truly wealthy businessmen, money is really just a number, no matter in this era or hundreds of years later.

The new products, matches and soap, are only sold in the "Furuifeng" general store in Guangzhou City because of the limited production.Of course, businessmen like Li Jifeng will not forget to use those sales methods that the Shanghai Han people call.This is the first OEM product of "Furuifeng" in the true sense. According to the original agreement, all the outer packaging of the soap will be printed in Guangzhou and will be sold under the name of "Furuifeng". In order to ensure this new The product can become an instant hit, and Li Jifeng paid a lot of money for it.

The latest product from Haihan, Moisturizing and Nourishing Soap, can be purchased only after paying a deposit. As for how good this product is, "Furuifeng" publicized it among the people through various channels half a month before its release.Although a lot of publicity expenses were spent, the marketing of the new product "Furuifeng Soap" was unusually smooth due to the reputation of silver mirrors and glass stationery.However, Li Jifeng also came up with another promotion method without a teacher. For customers who paid a deposit in advance, a box of another new product "Haihan Match" will be presented as a gift.

For the soap that has been hyped up by folk hype, and the pre-sale price is as high as five taels of silver, it will not lose money if the purchase price of a box of matches is only a few tens of pennies a box, but it will make customers feel a little fresh. feel.And these customers who spend five taels of silver on soap all have strong spending power. After these people have used matches, they will definitely like this kind of convenient daily necessities, and they will definitely come to buy them after they are used up. As for The price of two hundred texts per box is really just a drop in the bucket for the rich.While selling soap, he also promoted matches together, which can be said to kill two birds with one stone. Even Schneider, after hearing the news, praised Li Jifeng for having a certain business acumen. He actually knew how to use this method to target Customers launch commercial promotion.

The sales of table salt, an export fast-moving consumer product that Timetravel Group attaches the most importance to, have also been relatively smooth.Although "Furuifeng" brought more than 1 catties of salt from Shengli Port back to Guangzhou, "Furuifeng" was not so stupid as to only sell these private salts in Guangzhou, but shipped them to various places to cooperate with Li. Po and Li Nai went to lobby salt merchants in various places to show their supply ability.After these private salts are distributed to all parts of the province, the amount distributed to each town is only about a hundred catties, which will not cause a significant impact on the market at all.At present, Li Po and Li Nai are still doing marketing promotion in other places, and it is estimated that it will take at least one or two months before they can return to Guangzhou.However, "Fu Ruifeng" has already placed an order with Schneider in advance, hoping that the next ship to Shengli Port will be able to bring back at least [-] catties of refined salt. Judging from this move, the marketing promotion done by the Li family in Guangdong should have achieved success. made some progress.

Finally, there is another major export of arms. After visiting the military base in Shengli Port last time, Li Nai ordered two hundred 6-style matchlock guns at one go under the strong promotion of Tao Donglai and others. The large order of 12-pound guns and five 3000-pound guns totaling more than [-] taels of silver can be regarded as a good start for the military industry department.Last time, because the stock of matchlock guns was not enough, only [-] guns were delivered at that time. Later, Li Nai was delayed for some time in Victory Port, and when he left, he handed over another [-] guns. The remaining [-] guns were used this time. The shipment has arrived in Guangzhou, and the last order can be completed tomorrow.

According to Li Nai's original plan, this batch of arms was going to be shipped to Fujian and sold to the "Eighteen Zhi", a big pirate gang that was at war with the Ming army.However, regarding this sales direction, the executive committee directly intervened, requiring "Furuifeng" to only sell this batch of arms to armed forces other than "Eighteen Zhi" in Fujian—for example, Zheng Zhilong, the leader of "Eighteen Zhi". Xu Xinsu, the opponent who is currently trying to get rid of.

The reason why the Executive Committee intervened in this matter was also for long-term considerations.Xu Xinsu inherited his property in Xiamen, Fujian after the death of the great sea merchant Li Dan, and thus became Zheng Zhilong's thorn in the side. In 1626, under external pressure, Xu Xinsu took refuge in Yu Zigao, the general soldier of Fujian, and sent all the pirates under his command to the navy, and he also held a general title in the navy.Of course, one leader is not the other leader. Xu Xinsu, as the largest maritime merchant in Fujian at this time, wants money and people, but there are hundreds of ships going to sea to fight, and the strength is stronger than that of his colleagues in Yazhou. Luo, a senior officer, is much stronger.

After becoming an official businessman, Xu Xinsu was the only trade intermediary between the Fujian local government and the Dutch, and he also seized this opportunity to take over almost all the business of the Dutch East India Company on the southeast coast in the form of a contract. It greatly blocked the "Eighteen Zhis" who wanted to control the entire waters of the Taiwan Strait.Zheng Zhilong wanted to eliminate Xu Xinsu in order to take full control of the maritime trade business along the southeast coast, and Xu Xinsu also wanted to destroy Zheng Zhilong's pirate gang and regain the part of Taiwan's industry that was "illegally occupied" by Zheng Zhilong after the death of his friend Li Dan.Under such circumstances, the two sides have been fighting in the waters of the Taiwan Strait since 1626, with each winning and losing.

According to "Fu Ruifeng", it is obviously more realistic to sell arms to "Eighteen Zhi", because the Ming army purchases arms is very troublesome. First, it has to report to the Ministry of War, and then several departments go back and forth over the budget. It may be the year of the monkey when it is approved.Buyers like "Eighteen Zhi" can pay in cash as soon as they look at it, and the efficiency is more than ten times higher than that of the Ming army.

However, the executive committee, who is aware of the historical development trend, knows very well that Xu Xinsu will be defeated in Xiamen next year, and he himself will be killed by Zheng Zhilong. His boss Yu Zigao was also defeated by the "Eighteen Zhi". The Taiwan Strait will completely fall into the hands of Zheng Zhilong.After that, Zheng Zhilong accepted the recruiting of Fujian Governor Xiong Wencan, and also transformed into an officer of the Daming Navy.

The Taiwan Strait is an important channel leading to the north from the South China Sea. If the Crossing Group wants to expand its influence to East China, North China, and even Northeast Asia in the future, it must pass through the Taiwan Strait. If such a place is controlled by Zheng Zhilong In the hands of a pirate leader with expansion ambitions, it is not a good thing for the Time Traveling Group.Among other things, the seagoing ships passing there need to pay Zheng Zhilin thousands of taels of silver protection fees every year, which is impossible for the Transit Group to accept easily.Moreover, Zheng Zhilong has always been good at playing tricks of annexation. His entire history of fortune has been accompanied by the uninterrupted routine of big fish eating small fish. It is hard to say whether he will covet the time-traveling group in Hainan in the future.

From a historical point of view, no one in the southeast coast can stop the rise of Zheng Zhilong, but this historical development trend is not a good thing for the Time Travel Group, so the Executive Committee is determined to reverse this trend, at least not to let Zheng Zhilong's power expand too much so easy.The current crossing group doesn't even have enough merchant ships for its own use, so there is no need to mention organizing an expeditionary force to deal with the [-] pirates entrenched in the Taiwan Strait.If he wanted to cause trouble for Zheng Zhilong, the most effective way would be to subsidize his opponent.

Although the Ming army had no money to buy arms, Xu Xinsu, as a big merchant, did not lack the money to buy high-end equipment.Moreover, backed by such a large market in the mainland, Xu Xinsu's source of income can be said to be endless, and the situation is much better than that of the "Eighteen Zhi" who still has to rely partly on maritime plunder to maintain its operation.In the eyes of the executive committee, the sales target of "Eighteen Zhi" can only be regarded as ordinary consumers at best, while Xu Xinsu is an officially certified "RMB warrior", a proper VIP player, and of course he must earn money first. The wealthier Lord.

Arm Xu Xinsu first, and gradually reverse his decline in the struggle between the two sides, so as to prevent the trend of the "Eighteen Zhi" family from continuing to grow.After Xu Xinsu gained a clear upper hand, the executive committee would consider opening up arms sales to "Eighteen Zhi" - the harder the two fight, the more beneficial it will be to the Transit Group.If a few years later, both sides will suffer from both sides, then it will be easier for the full-fledged Crossing Group to go to the Taiwan Strait to clean up the mess.

At present, through some channels, "Fu Ruifeng" has reached a preliminary arms transaction agreement with Xu Xinsu.The first batch of artillery and matchlock guns have been shipped from Guangzhou to Xiamen by sea, and the delivery is expected to be completed by the end of September and the beginning of October at the latest.Although it is not clear about the actual price of the transaction between "Furuifeng" and Xu Xinsu, Schneider discovered from the recent contacts with Li Jifeng that the other party has been intentionally or unintentionally trying to inquire about the arms production capacity of the Crossing Group. A good price has been paid, and a follow-up long-term sale is already being planned.

After finishing the briefing, Schneider concluded with a smile: "As far as the current trade situation is concerned, although our export commodities are not many in variety, we are more profitable than others, and we have initially opened a trade window in mainland China, and there are also some products in Guangzhou. A certain brand effect. Even in terms of the current export volume, it is more than enough to rely on export profits to support these people in Victory Port."

Everyone was excited when they heard it. After obtaining a stable income through trade means, the time-traveling group can do more things.Through the Group imports raw materials and labor from the mainland at a relatively low cost, and after making industrial products, sells them back to the mainland at a high price to earn high profits. This business model will help the Through Group to accumulate capital quickly, and is expected to Obtain explosive development speed for a period of time.

(End of this chapter)