1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 2294
Before Zhang Jinbao came to Guangzhou, he also considered all kinds of uncontrollable factors that he might encounter in an unfamiliar environment, so he estimated that the branch project would take three to five months at the earliest, and a year or so at the slowest, and he might have to go back and forth to Guangzhou several times during the period Only in this way can the site selection really enter the implementation stage.

But the actual situation was indeed much better than he expected. Fu Ruifeng's participation really saved him a lot of time and energy. It only took a few days to basically implement the step of selecting the site of the academy.Moreover, the houses provided by the Li family are all ready-made. As long as the interior is slightly modified and the equipment needed for teaching is added, it can be quickly turned into a qualified academy.

Then, report to the government and go through the necessary registration procedures. The two parties have reached a consensus long ago, and Fu Ruifeng will handle it in person, so as not to be embarrassed because of the special relationship between this academy and Haihan.After all, opening an academy is different from doing business. For pure money transactions, the government can turn a blind eye and let the Haihan merchants engage in trading activities in Guangzhou, but the Haihan people want to open an academy in Guangzhou, and the teaching is not traditional. The Four Books and Five Classics are contrary to the ethos of Ming Dynasty.

According to Li Nai's suggestion, Zhang Jinbao took the initiative to visit Guo Huan at Haihan Bank the next day, and applied for a loan from him in the name of Jonesy Academy to prepare for the turnover of funds for the Guangzhou branch.Of course, Zhang Jinbao didn't need to borrow this money, the main purpose was to maintain this relationship.

Of course, during this period, Zhang Jinbao also inadvertently revealed that he and Li Nai had determined the location of the academy together, and would continue to cooperate according to the original plan.Guo Huan knew it after hearing the string song, and understood that Zhang Jinbao came to borrow money to help himself, and immediately expressed that he owed Zhang Jinbao the favor first, and he would definitely repay him when he had the opportunity in the future.

Although the matter of selecting the site of the academy has been settled, it is actually only the first step in the preparation of an academy, and there is still a lot of work to be done in the follow-up.

Zhang Jinbao originally expected that the progress was not so fast, so the two subordinates he brought to Guangzhou seemed a bit insufficient.In the future, it will be necessary to arrange various affairs of the academy and establish disciplines, and it will also need to mobilize some teachers from Danzhou.

Zhang Jinbao went to the Guangzhou Office again, spent money and sent a telegram back to Danzhou, arranging the mobilization of personnel and teaching materials.Fortunately, he had already made a corresponding plan before he set off, otherwise, if he had to rely on the word-by-word telegram to clarify the matter, it would really be bloody.Even so, the expense was considered a lot of money for Zhang Jinbao, and it was painful to hold the receipt after completing the formalities.

However, before he could leave the gate of the Guangzhou Office after finishing this matter, someone stopped him and asked him to go to the backyard to have a talk with the Lord.

Zhang Jinbao wasn't nervous at all, Haihan had the final say in the Guangzhou Office, he believed that the person who wanted to see him would not harm him, so he followed that person to a secluded courtyard behind.

The man took Zhang Jinbao to a study room, and sitting behind the writing desk opposite was Chen Tianqi, the person in charge of the Guangzhou Office that Zhang Jinbao had only met a few days ago.

Chen Tianqi asked Zhang Jinbao to sit down, and ordered his subordinates to serve tea. Seeing this, Zhang Jinbao felt a lot more relaxed, knowing that the other party probably had something to ask him.

"Just now I heard that Dean Zhang came here to send a telegram back to Danzhou. Is the matter of running the academy settled?" Chen Tianqi didn't exchange greetings with him, and directly cut to the point.

Zhang Jinbao replied respectfully: "I am sorry for Mr. Chen's concern. The villain has already negotiated cooperation matters with Mr. Li San from Furuifeng, so I specially came to the Guangzhou Office to send a telegram, asking Danzhou to send the second batch of people as soon as possible." Come and prepare for the follow-up matters.”

From what Zhang Jinbao heard from Chen Tianqi, it was obvious that just after he handed in the drafted telegram and the fee, someone reported the news to Chen Tianqi who was sitting in the backyard.But Chen Tianqi felt that it was necessary to ask about the details of this matter, so he was stopped and taken to the study for questioning.

Zhang Jinbao didn't expect Chen Tianqi to be so concerned about the Guangzhou branch. When he met with him a few days ago, the other party only asked a few questions and didn't show much interest.At that time, Zhang Jinbao still felt that Chen Tianqi's project could not catch his eyes, but he never thought that the other party actually paid attention to this matter secretly, and was called in for questioning as soon as he showed up.

Chen Tianqi said: "Then how did the site selection of the academy be solved?"

Zhang Jinbao knew that the other party was well-informed, so he didn't dare to hide anything. He honestly said that he had inspected many real estates in and out of Guangzhou these days, but in the end it was the manor that the Li family took the initiative to take out that was the most suitable for setting up an academy. , so the address was finalized.The next step is to start preparing teaching materials, mobilize the teachers of Jonesy College to come to Guangzhou, then publicize the enrollment, set the start date, and implement it step by step.

After hearing this, Chen Tianqi nodded and said: "Dean Zhang is indeed a person who does practical things. He has only been in Guangzhou for a few days, and he has already handled so many things properly."

Zhang Jinbao hurriedly said modestly: "It is thanks to the care of all the adults, and Fu Ruifeng has helped a lot, so this matter can go so smoothly."

Chen Tianqi said: "The Dean Zhang feels that there is still something that the Guangzhou Office can help with. Although it's okay to be frank, as long as it is within the scope of my ability, I will try my best to arrange it."

Zhang Jinbao didn't know the reason for Chen Tianqi's change of attitude, but thinking about it, it was definitely not his fault, so he quickly thanked Chen Tianqi for his concern, saying that he would try his best to do what he should do first, if there is a real need When I seek help from the authorities, I will definitely come to the Guangzhou Office to bother me again.

Chen Tianqi was very satisfied with Zhang Jinbao's informed and interesting response, and now said that when the Guangzhou branch is established, he will also be there in person to stand for the academy.Zhang Jinbao was flattered and quickly thanked Chen Tianqi again.

When Zhang Jinbao left, he still didn't know why Chen Tianqi's attitude became so enthusiastic, but in fact, it was only because Chen Tianqi just received an official document from Sanya yesterday, which was about the work arrangement of the Guangzhou Office for the next year.

Among them, one of the key tasks requested by the Executive Committee is to ask the Guangzhou Office to further increase the intensity of introducing professional talents from Daming, mainly referring to skilled craftsmen from all walks of life, so that these people can be further relaxed. The conditions for settlement in areas under Han rule, such as retaining the right to choose whether to become a Haihan nationality, giving better settlement conditions in terms of living conditions, and so on.

In fact, the executive committee's requirements for the introduction of talents did not start to be raised this year, but a repertoire that will be mentioned every year.Although the executive committee will not set requirements on the specific number of professionals successfully introduced, it is obvious that at least it must ensure that the performance will not decline compared with the previous year. Onerous task again.

The total number of folk craftsmen in Guangzhou is limited. Considering that the training cycle of traditional skills is generally very long, the speed at which these trades generate new blood may not be as fast as that of Haihan.It is not easy to achieve year-on-year increases in this task. Although Chen Tianqi is not small, he has to suffer from headaches every year to complete this task.

According to the traditional method, the only way to recruit people is to give generous treatment, but now there are fewer and fewer skilled craftsmen every year, and the number of people recruited by this method alone is not as good as one batch.

However, the appearance of Zhang Jinbao gave Chen Tianqi a new idea.He believes that the teaching mode of Jonesey College can enable local students in Guangzhou to learn production skills and at the same time gradually yearn for Haihan, and to persuade these people to go to Haihan to settle or further study after completing the corresponding courses, the probability of success Obviously it will be much higher than ordinary civilians.

In fact, Chen Tianqi's thoughts were not much different from those of other high-ranking Haihan officials who knew about the establishment of the branch of Johnsey Academy. Most of them believed that the opening of this academy would help Haihan's cultural output and personnel introduction.It's just that the executive committee didn't directly communicate with him about this aspect, so Chen Tianqi thought that the timing of this session was much later than that of Sanya.

The Executive Committee is also very concerned about the development of this matter whether the social power of running schools can gain a foothold overseas. The school running plan of Jonesy College can be regarded as an experiment in the eyes of high-level officials. If it fails, there will be no loss for the official, but if it succeeds, That will certainly yield long-term benefits for Haihan.

Therefore, although the Executive Committee did not ask the Guangzhou Office to give Zhang Jinbao special treatment in this project, after Chen Tianqi realized the significance of this matter to Haihan, he still decided to give Jonesy Academy a certain amount within his scope of authority. support.He invited Zhang Jinbao for an interview. First, he wanted to confirm whether the other party had the heart to serve the country. Second, he wanted to make the other party clear about his attitude. In the future, he must try to meet the official requirements, especially the demand for talent training, and must give priority to supplying the country.

In this way, Zhang Jinbao got the support from the person in charge of Guangzhou Office, and now with the double support of Furuifeng Li's family and Haihan Office in Guangzhou, the success of Jonesy College's opening of a branch in Guangzhou has been assured. The sudden increase.

"Last year, the fortune teller said that I will be lucky in the coming year. Everything will go well and I will have a big breakthrough in my career. It seems that it is not a lie!" Zhang Jinbao was so excited, he didn't care if the fortune teller he found at the beginning said casually The auspicious words are very rewarding, I just feel that everything I have encountered in Guangzhou this time has gone smoothly, and it is probably time for me to develop.

Compared with Zhang Jinbao, who was going smoothly, Zheng Zuo, who also came to Guangzhou to expand his career, did not go so smoothly.Although the relationships he entrusted in Guangzhou were all willing to help, but in practice, he found that he was stumbling and not as smooth as he expected.

The first thing I encountered was the problem of land acquisition. The area that Zheng Zuo was interested in was not far from the Guangzhou Office. In name, it was indeed the property of the Li family, but the actual situation was not a piece of vacant land, but some private houses and shops. .If Zheng Zuo wants to build the Annan Guild Hall here, he must first try to complete the demolition of the existing houses on the land.

Usually in this case, you only need to pay some money to buy these houses, but this process is not smooth. According to the information reported, some of the owners of these houses have official backgrounds. This is not something that can be dismissed by just giving some money The situation is gone.

As Zheng Zuo, naturally he couldn't personally deal with these matters, so he could only continue to entrust the Li family to communicate with these homeowners on their behalf, and win these properties under suitable conditions.

While Li Nai agreed to the matter, he was also explaining the inconvenience to Zheng Zuo.The Li family bought the land, but kept the real estate here, because these homeowners with backgrounds are not easy to provoke.If we want to persuade them to accept the purchase price proposed by Zheng Zuo one by one, it will take some more time to deal with it properly-this time may be three to five months, or it may be longer.

Zheng Zuo was naturally upset when he heard such a response. He felt that it was because the Li family hadn't explained the situation of these places to him before, and now that they had decided to start construction on the place, these inexplicable problems came up.But he chose the place himself, and now the Li family needs to mediate, so this complaint can only be buried in his heart.

But what Zheng Zuo didn't know was that in fact, as long as the Li family spoke, these houses could be moved within seven days.The purpose of doing this is to delay the Annan people, so that the Annan Guild Hall planned by Zheng Zuo will not appear in Guangzhou so soon.And Zheng Zuo, who didn't know it, would inevitably owe the Li family favors because of these mediation work in the process, and more than half of the money spent would flow into the Li family's pocket.

In terms of being a business planner, it is estimated that ten Zheng Zuo are not worth one Li Jifeng. The dual identities of the old fox and the local snake allow Li Jifeng to calculate Zheng Zuo effortlessly, but Zheng Zuo can only play the role of being sold or not. The unlucky character who counts the money.

Of course, this drama will not continue endlessly. Maybe after a year and a half, Zheng Zuo gradually loses patience with this project, and Fu Ruifeng and Guangzhou Office in Guangzhou will join forces Advise Zheng Zuo to move the Annan Guild Hall southward to near Lijiazhuang in the lower reaches of the Pearl River, or simply set it up in Hong Kong.

As long as there is no direct competition with Fu Ruifeng and Haihan Guangzhou Office in Guangzhou, then Li Jifeng and Chen Tianqi will not mind the existence of an institution like Annan Guild Hall.But Zheng Zuo was good at diplomacy, but he was not good at understanding these conflicts of interest hidden under the trade relationship. After arriving in Guangzhou, he did not realize that he had been calculated. The so-called Annan Hall plan was difficult to implement as he thought.

In late September, from the Hong Kong Wharf at the mouth of the Pearl River to the Pearl River Wharf outside Guangzhou, almost all the wharf warehouses under the name of Fu Ruifeng have erected advertising signs for Jonesy Academy in the most conspicuous places, and the wharf The admissions notices of the Guangzhou Branch were posted everywhere on the Internet, and a round of large-scale publicity campaigns had already started quietly.

(End of this chapter)