1635 Han style rises again

Chapter 366 The Civil and Commercial Affairs of Hanzhou

Xiang Guiquan had been looking at the oil mill on the corner of the street for a long time. From time to time, residents came to buy soybean oil with small wooden barrels or clay pots.Occasionally, there are also farmers outside the city who come here with a bag of soybeans or peanuts, pay a few cents, and entrust the oil mill to process it into food oil.

Roughly counting, in just half a morning, more than a dozen people came to buy soybean oil or extract oil, earning at least three to five silver dollars. After a month, they can earn more than 100 yuan.In addition, the leftovers such as oil residue and oil cake after oil extraction can also be sold on pig farms or cattle and horse farms, mixed with feed, and used for livestock consumption, which is another additional income.

Xiang Guiquan is the shopkeeper of the first private oil mill in Jianye City of Hanzhou. Two years ago, he came to Hanzhou with Chinese businessmen from Batavia and inspected the business environment of Jianye, Heishanhe Xinhuai'an Finally, he keenly grasped a business opportunity, that is, with the growth of Hanzhou immigrant population, the consumption level of its people will gradually increase.

He did not accept a loan from the Hanzhou People's Government, but decisively took part of the funds and personnel from the oil mill in Batavia, and established the first private oil mill in Jianye City.Perhaps it is to support private capital, or to provide more confidence to foreign capital.Official canteens, production villages and other institutions controlled by the Hanzhou People's Government handed over some orders for cooking oil to Xiang Guiquan, which greatly promoted the development of his oil mill.

After two years of development, "Guiquan Oil Factory" has successively established oil extraction workshops in Xinhuai'an, Kaiyuanbao (now Humpty Doo, Australia), and Yongxingbao (now Adelaide River Town, Northern Australia), occupying almost Forty percent of the market share in northern Hanzhou.Because grain and oil are not separated, Xiang Guiquan also opened a food processing plant to simply process and process various grains from Hanzhou.

Recently, Xiang Guiquan set his sights on the Jianye Canned Food Factory, and asked officials from the Works Office of the Hanzhou People's Government whether the technology of canning food is open to the people, and whether the production technology can be bought out or awarded for a certain period of time. .In the case of Hanzhou being blocked by the Dutch, thousands of people emigrated from Daming this year.That means that the immigration affairs that have been stagnant for more than half a year will be restarted again, so the numerous immigrant fleets will definitely need a large amount of this kind of canned food that can preserve food for a long time. In the long run, this must be a big business that lasts for many years.

Who would have thought that when Xiang Guiquan wanted to continue to expand into the food processing field, yesterday, he suddenly heard from his staff that there was a new oil extraction workshop in the west of Jianye City, and it was also privately run.

Out of curiosity, Xiang Guiquan had eaten early this morning, then wandered to the west of Jianye City, and then saw the oil press at a busy street corner.After inquiring about the surrounding residents, I learned that this oil mill was jointly established by three retired Marine Corps soldiers.In addition to a large sum of retirement subsidies, retired soldiers also have a lot of battlefield seizures in their pockets, so there is no shortage of money on their bodies.

As for customers, don't worry about it.Their first batch of accumulated buyers are many families of the Marine Corps and some families of naval officers and soldiers.

As we all know, the officers and soldiers of Hanzhou were treated very well, and during the war, not only were there combat subsidies, but also a large number of private seizures.Therefore, soldiers and their families have always been high-quality customers of various workshops and factories in Hanzhou.With generous spending and strong spending power, the purchasing power is definitely much higher than those hard-working immigrants who have just been allocated land.

"It seems that it is planned to expand the market to the east of Hanzhou." Xiang Guiquan murmured: "As the cotton spinning center planned by Hanzhou, Weihai's grain and oil consumption capacity will definitely have a relatively long period of time in the future. A big increase. I have to go ahead of others, otherwise, another rich leader will appear and steal my business."

"What is shopkeeper Xiang doing here? Could it be that there is nothing to do in the workshop?" A rough voice came from behind Xiang Gui's body.

"Hey, shopkeeper Zhu, I heard that you have been in Song Castle (now Catherine City, Australia) a few days ago." Xiang Guiquan turned around and saw a man in his forties standing behind him, and he smiled and cupped his hands at him: "Since You have returned to Jianye City, so you might as well let the little brother be the host, and invite you to drink a glass of honey wine (sugar cane wine) to welcome you."

Zhu Bingkun smiled, glanced at the oil mill on the opposite corner of the street, and said, "The shopkeeper is here to spy on competitors? How can a newly opened oil mill be with you for several years, with a large layout in many places?" The industry can be compared! We met today, just in time to ask for advice on business."

"Small business, how dare you." Xiang Guiquan waved his hands modestly, and then he and Zhu Bingkun went to a nearby restaurant.

Zhu Bingkun and Xiang Guiquan are both Chinese businessmen from Batavia. However, one is engaged in the grain and oil processing industry, and the other is engaged in the fur processing industry.But the two have a certain relationship, because they both came from Fuzhou in Daming more than ten years ago, and they belonged to relatively close fellow villagers in Fujian.

However, for Xiang Guiquan, doing fur business in Hanzhou is a very unpopular industry.If the relationship between Hanzhou and the Dutch had been normal before, the various kangaroo furs and crocodile skins from Hanzhou could be processed a little bit, and then transported to the market in Daming through the Chinese merchants in Batavia, which would also make a lot of money.

However, now that the Dutch have blocked Java Island, Hanzhou merchant ships cannot go to Batavia.The fur has been processed, except that the Hanzhou military will purchase some leather armor and backpacks, as well as some boats, the rest of the people do not have much demand.Who is to say that the climate in the northern part of Hanzhou is hot? Not only Hanzhou itself, but even a few key points occupied overseas seem to belong to tropical climate areas.

Therefore, Xiang Guiquan was very pessimistic about Zhu Bingkun's fur processing business, thinking that his hometown in Fuzhou would probably fail due to the small space in the Hanzhou market.

When I came to a restaurant not far from the military government building, the owner of the store greeted Xiang Guiquan warmly. The grain and oil in the store were basically ordered from his "Guiquan Oil Factory". He was a relatively familiar old man. client.

It was noon, and there were already six or seven tables of customers in the restaurant, basically officers and soldiers from the military government building. Suddenly seeing two ordinary residents enter the restaurant for dinner, everyone's eyes immediately swept over.

Xiang Guiquan and Zhu Bingkun smiled and bowed their hands to the officers at the tables to show their respect.In Hanzhou, although the soldiers have a high status and are well treated, their behavior is not domineering at all.It may be because the soldiers in Hanzhou, under the advocacy of the general manager at that time, had to read some books and recognize some characters.

Some military officers recognized Xiang Guiquan as a well-known grain and oil shopkeeper in Hanzhou, and immediately nodded their heads, and then continued to communicate with their companions in a low voice.

"It's great to do business with the shopkeeper!" After taking his seat, Zhu Bingkun said with a smile, "The supply of grain and oil to the tens of thousands of people in Hanzhou depends on you alone!"

"Shopkeeper Zhu, don't flatter me!" Xiang Guiquan waved his hand and said, "In Hanzhou, the Hanzhou Grain and Oil Company controls the supply of grain and oil for tens of thousands of people. My small workshop is at most to eat from others. It's just leftovers."

"You just eat other people's leftovers, and you belong to the second largest grain and oil merchant in Hanzhou. Unlike our fur business, all the county and town governments in Hanzhou have their own fur processing workshops, which makes us There is too much competitive pressure.”

"Yes, this Hanzhou seems to control a large area, but there are not many people, and the market is inherently small. In order to increase fiscal revenue, these counties and towns want to rush in and make a fortune in any industry they have seized." Xiang Guiquan said: "You said that they have to set up their own oil-pressing workshops in a small village, which is nothing... economical! I'm afraid your fur processing is even more difficult?"

"Yes, it is really difficult to do in the local market of Hanzhou." Zhu Bingkun shook his head and said, "Only relying on orders from the Hanzhou military is not enough to digest our production, and there is almost no demand in the Hanzhou civilian market."

"Then shopkeeper Zhu..." Xiang Guiquan asked worriedly, as a fellow countryman, he couldn't bear to see him die in Hanzhou.It is estimated that Batavia will not be able to return in a short time. If the money flow is not good, I might as well help him a little bit to get him through this difficulty.

"Don't worry about me." Zhu Bingkun smiled and said: "The Hanzhou People's Government has newly established a Hanzhou Export Corporation, which has purchased all the surplus products of all local workshops at market prices. Therefore, if I wait for private workers For the products of the workshop, looking at it now, there is no need to worry about the temporary sales."

"The Hanzhou Export Corporation paid you in cash?" Xiang Guiquan asked curiously.

"Of course, full Hanzhou silver dollars."

"This Hanzhou has collected the processed fur, where will they sell it?"

"I heard that they are going to sell to Ming Dynasty, Japan, and North Korea." Zhu Bingkun said: "Not only fur products, but also sorghum wine, honey wine, sugar, military weapons...etc, all things produced in Hanzhou , Said to be transported to Daming and surrounding areas with the immigrant fleet."

"Then the transportation distance is long enough, I'm afraid the goods won't be sold for much profit, right?" Xiang Guiquan said.

"The head of the Hanzhou Export Company also said that as long as the cost of the immigration fleet can be slightly balanced, it will be enough to pay off." Zhu Bingkun said: "They don't care about commercial profits at present, they just want to sell the goods, so that Hanzhou The factories and workshops can continue to operate. When that thing reaches an industrial scale, the cost of products will naturally be kept very low, and at the same time, it can occupy a part of the market around Daming in advance."

"Daming is rich in products, there are many workshops, and the products produced are countless. How can Hanzhou be allowed to come all the way to seize the market?"

"But isn't Daming causing thieves at the moment? It is said that there will be chaos in the future." Zhu Bingkun said with a serious face: "Some officials in Hanzhou said that Daming may die soon. At that time, let alone be able to What kind of goods and materials are produced, I am afraid that millions, or even tens of millions of people will die. In the future, there may be more Ming people pouring into Hanzhou."

The increase of immigrants pouring into Hanzhou means the expansion of Hanzhou's consumer market, that is to say, those merchants and factory owners who entered Hanzhou first will have a first-mover advantage, gain more profits and a larger market share .

"Then we have to speed up the layout of the Hanzhou market." Xiang Guiquan murmured: "Since Hanzhou can guarantee the sale of our goods, then what are we afraid of! Roll up your sleeves and work hard!"

(End of this chapter)