1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 211 Best Price Treatment

Schneider continued: "Looking at the current profit margin, glass products are undoubtedly the highest, and the gross profit rate is at least a hundred times higher. But there is also a problem with glass products, that is, our current production capacity is still very limited, and we cannot meet the needs of mainland China. The huge consumer market in the region."

The issue of production capacity of glass products has long attracted the attention of the Executive Committee, and a large area has been planned in the mountain depression between the Shengli Port barracks and the farm commune to build a special glass product base.However, because the glass manufacturing site is under high-temperature open flames for a long time, flammable bamboo and wood structures must not be used for safety reasons, and the production capacity of building materials such as masonry and cement is far behind the construction needs of many infrastructure projects. , so the construction speed of the glass product base is also very slow.Next, the executive committee will probably give priority to the development plan of the new saltworks. In terms of building materials, it must first supply the saltworks to projects that expand the site, just like the black soil port project was given priority to all materials.As a result, the production capacity of glass products is unlikely to increase significantly, at least this year.

"It is not only glass products that will have limited production capacity in the future, but also soap." For the hidden problems under the current good trade conditions, Schneider can see more clearly than these people here: "The problem of soap is mainly raw materials. , Whether it is animal fats, vegetable fats or soda ash, we have no way to mass-produce them now. If we want to increase production capacity at the current level, importing raw materials from Guangzhou is not enough, we must wait until the production of soda ash in the chemical sector increases.”

"Regarding trade, the general situation is like this." After Schneider pointed out the potential problems, he did not discuss it further. After all, these people here are not members of the material production department, and it is not easy to discuss the production capacity of goods with them. What are the results.

"Old He, tell me about the work you are doing!" Schneider handed the topic to He Xi.

After He Xi arrived in Guangzhou, on the one hand, he was in charge of intelligence collection, and on the other hand, he was also organizing immigration.After the arrival of the second echelon, some of the work on hand will be handed over to his new colleagues. It is definitely necessary to give a briefing first.He Xi cleared his throat and began to talk about some work progress after coming to Guangzhou.

The first is the immigration work, because Sha Xi will be responsible for the subsequent immigration affairs, so He Xi also gave more detailed information about this aspect.Immigration affairs have always been the top priority of the Time Travel Group's external work, and Sha Xi is not the only one who is interested in this matter, and everyone present is listening very carefully.

After He Xi came to Guangzhou, he first reached an agreement with "Furuifeng" to form a charity organization in the name of Guangzhou Office.Funded by the Guangzhou Office, "Fu Ruifeng" came forward and bought a small yard outside Dongcheng to set up an organization called "Yishantang", which specializes in adopting homeless orphans.Naturally, this kind of charity will not encounter any obstacles, and soon more than 20 children were admitted, ranging from toddlers to teenagers aged [-] or [-].The five or six servants currently working in the Guangzhou Office are all selected from these children taken in by the "Yishantang".

Taking in orphans is only one aspect of the work of setting up such a charity organization. In the future, it will be the focus of work to organize immigrants to relocate in the name of this organization.The local government and secret service agencies of Ming Dynasty would not pay too much attention to a charity organization. With this layer of cover, the immigration work of the Guangzhou Office in the Guangzhou area will not be particularly conspicuous.

Of course, in addition to this kind of underground means, open employment is still one of the important ways of immigration, but this means is mainly for some craftsmen with special skills or personnel who are more urgently needed by the Executive Committee, such as sailors and boatmen.As long as the turnover of such people is not too large, they will generally not attract special attention.The source of these people is mainly introduced by various local dental shops or local snakes like "Furuifeng", and they usually relocate directly with their families, and some families have as many as 30 to [-] people.

Before the arrival of the second echelon, He Xi had organized a group of immigrants through various means, mainly carpenters, blacksmiths, paper-making, carving and other craftsmen urgently needed in Shengli Port, plus more than a hundred orphans collected earlier, These migrants will all set off with the returning fleet.

What He Xi wants to hand over to Sha Xi is mainly the various business relationships established in the early stage.Although Sha Xi is not well-educated, he is a ghost when dealing with people. He quickly understood the meaning behind what He Xi said, and took the matter with his chest.

In addition to the immigration work, there is also the security work of the Guangzhou Office, which was mainly in charge of by He Xi before.After Xiao Liang, Yu Yao and others came to the Guangzhou Office, He Xi could leave these matters to them and concentrate on his own job in intelligence.

In terms of security, the location of the Guangzhou Office has eased the difficulty of this work a lot. To the east is a reed marsh, to the south is the Pearl River, to the west is the east wall of Guangzhou City, and to the north is the east gate to enter and exit Guangzhou City. If necessary, you can use a telescope on the roof to monitor the conditions of the water and land roads in Guangzhou City.The compound of the Guangzhou Office itself has a solid high wall, and ordinary thieves can't get in at all.And in order to be safe, the ship that came this time also brought a batch of glass slag and cement, and later built a row of glass slag on the top of the wall, even if the burglars came here, they would get their way.In addition, a dog is kept in the inverted house in the front yard and the back room in the back yard for night warning.

The two new members of the military and police department listened very carefully, and asked He Xi for the floor plan of the yard, planning to further refine the security measures of the Guangzhou Office.He Xi doesn't have any grudges about this. Although he works in the military and police department, his specialty is intelligence work, and security is not his strong point. It is better to leave this kind of professional work to professional people.

After talking about the handover of work, it was already midnight before they knew it. Everyone was exhausted all the way, and they drank a lot, so they were also sleepy at this time.Seeing this, Schneider announced that today was over, and each of them went back to their rooms to rest.All the transmigrated people live in the third entrance courtyard. This courtyard has five main rooms and three wing rooms on the east and west. They have already been tidied up and ready to go, while the naturalized people who follow are placed in the inverted room and the back room respectively. In the two courtyards of the cover room.

Early the next morning, although the Guangzhou Office did not have a wake-up service with loudspeakers, most people woke up spontaneously as soon as the time came.But at this time, Guangzhou’s breakfast was not as rich as in later generations. Because the Guangzhou Office was located outside the city, it was impossible to go to the city so early to buy breakfast, so there were no good things, only noodles and porridge.

After breakfast, Schneider led a large group of people out of the Guangzhou Office and rushed to the pier.There are still a lot of materials on the ship that need to be unloaded and transported to the Guangzhou Office. In addition, there are some goods that need to wait for "Fu Ruifeng" to send a car to ship them. Some of them are not convenient to show up in public. Such as arms, private salt and so on.

Hurry up, Schneider and others arrived at the pier a little too late, and the people from the Shipbuilding Department were already guarding the shore of the "Haixun 02" ship, waiting to board the ship to inspect the goods and collect taxes .

There are still a few cross-border personnel from the Ministry of Shipping on board. They know that the goods in the cabin cannot be seen by the people of the Maritime Department, so the crew did not cooperate with the request of the Maritime Department and removed the springboard. , not allowing the other party to board the ship, the two sides were at a stalemate for a while.

Schneider cursed inwardly, and hurried forward to pull the Shiboshi aside, took 20 taels of silver and stuffed it over: "It's convenient, there's nothing valuable on board."

Unexpectedly, the little official pushed back the money: "It's not convenient, I'm just doing business! You are the owner of the ship? Why don't you let the boatman put down the gangway?"

Schneider couldn't decide whether this guy was looking for faults with peace of mind or just because he thought the bribes were too little. When he was hesitating, someone called out loudly: "My 'Furuifeng' merchant ships have always paid fixed quotas and taxes, and paid them to the government on time. Why? Is there another act of private collection?"

The person who spoke was He Qiang, the steward of "Furuifeng". He was notified by the Guangzhou Office last night, asking him to go to the pier here to unload the goods early in the morning.It’s better to catch up now, and I happened to see the scene where the small official of the Shipbuilding Department wanted to inspect the ship to collect taxes. He Qiang also knew that the goods traded must not be seen by the people of the Shipbuilding Department, so he hurried forward to rescue Schneider. .

The tax collector also recognized He Qiang, cupped his hands and said, "So it's Manager He! It's not that he's doing too many things, and this ship didn't carry the banner of your firm, it looks very strange."

"This ship is a ship that despises the Qiongzhou branch. It rarely comes to Guangzhou on weekdays. It's normal if you don't recognize it." He Qiang nodded at Schneider, and Schneider understood and stuffed the ingot of silver over: "Your Excellency came out so early If you do something, you must have not eaten breakfast, and a little heart is not a respect!"

This time the little official didn't push back any more, put the silver into his sleeve, cupped his hands and left.After watching him leave, Schneider sighed: "It's dangerous, but fortunately you arrived in time, otherwise this would be a big trouble."

"It's not too much trouble, it's just the Secretary of the Municipal Bureau. Besides, these tax collectors are not official officials, but just hired by the dental office." He Qiang looked at the back of the little official leaving, and said with disdain.

Schneider was surprised: "There is such a thing?"

He Qiang explained: "Nowadays, Guangzhou's maritime merchants come and go frequently, and the Shibo Department has limited manpower, so it has contracted a large section of the Jiang'an wharf to some dental firms, and these dental firms have fixed quotas to cover taxes, and collect taxes for the Shibo Department in these areas. .”

What a shrewd person Schneider is, he understood it immediately: "Guangzhou's maritime trade business is so prosperous, the tax money collected is not a small amount, only part of it needs to be handed over to the Shipping Department, and the rest is sent to the dental office. It’s okay to have a personal pocket!”

"That's right." He Qiang nodded and said, "There are a lot of seagoing ships in the shoal, so I have always paid the tax package at the Yahang, which can save some expenses. Your ships coming to Guangzhou in the future can be sold at the shovel." This will save you a lot of trouble.”

Although He Qiang didn't explain it very clearly, Schneider has already fully understood the tricks.It should be an excuse to say that the Department of Shipbuilding is understaffed. Most of these dental agencies responsible for collecting tariffs are collusion between the government and businessmen to fill their pockets.

And for a big customer like "Furuifeng", the tax package paid every year must not be a small amount, so no matter whether it is the shipping company or the agent's dealer, they will not easily trouble them, and they will not even go on the ship at all. , not to mention inspecting the goods on board to determine taxes.

Of course, this kind of blatant corruption is a good thing for the Time Travel Group.Among the products sold by the Crossing Group to the mainland, illegal salt and ammunition are two things that must never be discovered by the government. However, the attitude of the Guangzhou Bureau of Shipbuilding, which only takes money and does nothing, just meets the requirements of smuggling activities.

Now that the carriages and horses of "Fu Ruifeng" have arrived, Schneider decided to unload the goods ordered by the other party first.But before that, Schneider still needs to seek He Qiang's opinion: "At this time, will it be no problem to unload the salt and guns from the ship?"

He Qiang twisted his beard and said with a smile: "Mr. Shi, don't worry, he is quite famous on the Pearl River Wharf, and no one will interfere."

With He Qiang's guarantee, Schneider felt much more at ease. Immediately, Sun Changmi returned to the ship and immediately directed the crew to start unloading.This time, in addition to delivering the last batch of matchlock guns to "Furuifeng", five tons of refined salt totaling [-] jin, and a batch of newly ordered glass products were also shipped.

This has to mention the information advantage of the Guangzhou Office. As long as "Furuifeng" needs any products, you can place an order directly at the Guangzhou Office, and the delivery method has become more flexible and diverse. If there is a ship coming from Shengli Port in the near future, then the place of delivery will be in Guangzhou, and the payment can also be completed in Guangzhou. Port Victory.With the radio station as a bridge for information communication between the two places, "Fu Ruifeng" originally worried that the troubles caused by poor information between the two places will be solved.

Taking advantage of the unloading time, the two chatted again.Schneider asked: "Most of the trade between your bank and Fujian is by sea, but I heard that there seem to be a lot of pirates between the west of the Pearl River Estuary and Quanzhou. I wonder how you deal with it?"

In fact, Schneider had inquired about this question in the past, but at that time the cooperation between the two parties was not as extensive and in-depth as it is now, so every time Li Nai and He Qiang dealt with it in a haha, and refused to elaborate.According to the deduction of the executive committee, "Fu Ruifeng" probably had some contact with the pirates in this sea area, either to help sell stolen goods, or to pay protection fees.The Executive Committee believes that if we want to build a military bridgehead at the Pearl River Estuary in the future, we must first understand the distribution of maritime forces in the nearby waters. Since "Fu Ruifeng" has been sailing on this route for a long time, it should be more familiar with this area. The sea conditions in their hands should be relatively high in reliability.

He Qiang turned his head and glanced at Schneider, and said with a smile: "Mr. Shi has always been keen to find out information about this. It seems that you are very interested in the Fujian business!"

Schneider was told by He Qiang, but he didn't even feel ashamed. He nodded and admitted: "Don't talk about Fujian, we are also interested in doing business all the way to Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and even further north... It's just that there are many places along the coast of Fujian. There are so many pirates that it is not easy to pass safely.”

He Qiang was silent for a long time before he said: "If you take your business to the north, what good will it do for the poor?"

When Schneider heard that there was a door, he immediately cheered up and started to talk: "He Guanshi, since a business like your bank has been engaged in maritime trade for many years, would it be satisfied with only being in Fuguang? Development within the province? We can join hands to expand our business further north. Think about it, as long as you pass through Fujian, Songjiang, Hangzhou, Suzhou, Yingtian, Yangzhou, Huai'an in the north, which one? It’s not a rich place? If your bank can open commercial branches in these places, how much money can you earn in that year? As long as your bank is willing to cooperate with us to open up the northern route, I can represent Haihan The committee will give you a promise that in the future, 'Fu Ruifeng' will enjoy the most favorable price treatment of Haihan products."

"Best price treatment?" He Qiang grasped this new word very keenly.

"The so-called most favorable price treatment means that all the preferential conditions that we will give to third parties in the future will be unconditionally applied to 'Furuifeng'." Schneider explained to him patiently: "For example, in a certain northern province in the future, because Your bank does not have a semicolon in the local area, so we have to find another agent to sell our products, so if we give the local agent a very low price, your bank can automatically get the same price treatment."

He Qiang is also an old businessman, Schneider explained a little bit, and he understood the effect of this treatment.Judging from the expansion speed of the Haihan people's business, it is probably only a matter of time before they take their business to the north. Even if they don't have "Fu Ruifeng" as a partner, after a long time, the Haihan people will eventually find other forces to cooperate with.Moreover, in those areas where "Furuifeng" tentacles have not yet reached, it is almost certain for Haihan people to find other agents to distribute the goods. "Furuifeng" will inevitably face competition from other agents in the future.

As a product of Haihan that is not worried about selling at all, it can be said that Haihan people have fully grasped the pricing power. Of course, the prices given to agents in each region will not be the same, and the guarantee of the most favorable price treatment can undoubtedly greatly increase the "Furui" price. The competitiveness of "Furuifeng", especially in those areas where the business has not yet entered, this treatment ensures that "Furuifeng" has the same market competitiveness as local agents.

(End of this chapter)