industrial lord

Chapter 542 Good things fall from the sky
Frederick stayed in Lugang for a few more days, discussing with Professor Habib, who was invited by the Kingdom of Gaul, the matter of raising the land around the town, and studying some matters with the appointed administrator.

There were about two thousand aboriginal residents of Lukang, and more than a thousand outsiders who came to develop the swamp, and some conflicts began to arise between the two sides.

Frederick held a grand open-air banquet for the common people, allowing these people to get closer together through alcohol.

Before leaving, he distributed 20 kilograms of bread, five cans of meat and a barrel of soybean oil to each person. On the day of unloading, the fleet from the Principality of Wessen filled the river.

Many landlords and idle people from the surrounding areas came to watch the fun, and they were all amazed at the financial resources of the Duke of Lukang.

The next day, a two-meter-high sign was erected on the edge of the central square, with a white cloth hanging on it with a map of Lugang's construction plan.

As shown in the picture, in a few years, Lugang will become a huge fishing port and fish processing base.

Just when Frederick was about to leave, a flood of wealth came crashing down upon him.

In the living room, the maid put the tea on the tea table and stepped aside. Frederick said to the guest without even looking up: "Mr. Dreyer, please help yourself."

Frederick was looking carefully at the letter of introduction brought by the visitor named Nilis Dreyer. The letter was written by Lulu after the tulip bubble, allowing Dreyer to ask Frederick for help when he encountered difficulties.

Nellis Dreyer, a man in his early forties with curly hair, is a famous ship designer in the city of Amstel.

Lulu also mentioned in the letter that Dreyer seemed to have some special ideas about shipbuilding.

After reading the letter, Frederick waited until Dreyer finished drinking his tea and put down his cup before asking, "Are you coming to me to seek a position, or do you want me to invest in you?"

Now no one wants to seek a job from him because the senior positions are full and those at the lower levels have all gone to the Principality of Wessen to take the government civil service examination.

Those seeking investment basically go to the city of Weissenburg and apply for loans directly from Weissen Bank.

But since there is a letter of introduction, it is not impossible to give him some leniency.

Dreyer said to Frederick: "Sir, I am asking for help on behalf of the thirteen shipyards in Amstel."

Frederick was a little confused. Although the tulip incident and the fire caused considerable losses, he had placed many orders with those shipyards in the past two years and had already brought them all back.

Dreyer saw his confusion and asked, "We heard that you are planning to build a shipyard in Hanma City. Is that true?"

Frederick nodded and confirmed it.

Now the shipyard of the Principality of Wessen has reached its limit after expansion. If it wants to expand its scale, it can only go out and build a factory in a wider area.

He had already arranged two locations. According to the established plan, the one in the North Sea was going to be Hamma City, and the one in the Inland Sea was originally going to be in Constantinople, but now it has been put on hold to see if the United Fruit Company can find a good place.

Negotiations with the city of Hammer began last year. Frederick hopes that all shipyards will unite to form large-scale operations and grab at least half of the shipbuilding share in the entire North Sea region.

These things are not kept secret, and people in the circle can find out if they ask around.

Seeing that Frederick did not deny it, Dreyer continued, "During last year's World Expo, the owners, designers, and master craftsmen of our thirteen shipyards also went to Weissenburg and visited your shipyard."

"Everyone is pessimistic. If you build another shipyard in Hammar, the shipbuilding industry in Amstel will disappear completely because it is uncompetitive."

Frederick picked up the teacup and drank the tea slowly, thinking that this was exactly the case.

In the field of shipbuilding, there is not much difference between Hamburg and Amstel in terms of raw materials, hydraulic processing equipment, talents and technology.

The decline of Hammersmith's shipbuilding industry was caused by external political reasons. Now that Frederick has risen and is willing to lend a helping hand, no one will doubt that this once glorious city will regain its former glory.

Dreyer and others only watched for one minute the steam-driven circular saw cutting wood at Frederick's shipyard and realized that the shipyard in Amstel was doomed because they were using hydraulic saws, which had a huge difference in efficiency.

Now the city of Amstel can still survive by building hulls. When the railway from the Principality of Wessen to the city of Hammar is opened, Frederick can quickly transport the steam engine to the city of Hammar's own shipyard by rail. By then, there will be no more hulls to build.

Dreyer said to Frederick seriously, "After discussion, we unanimously decided that if we can't defeat them, we will join them. I hope that you will build a new large shipyard together, just like we did in Hanma City."

Frederick did not respond immediately, but put down the teacup, leaned back on the sofa, closed his eyes and began to think.

It was not surprising that the shipyard owners in Amstel came to cooperate. This was determined by the reputation and numerous examples that Frederick had accumulated over the years. Everyone knew that there was money to be made by being friends with him.

Not to mention that these people firsthand experienced Frederick's superior business insights, as well as his willingness to take out loans to pay the insurance money after the fire, which gave him a high reputation today.

From Frederick's point of view, building another shipyard is not a problem. He can first use the resources of the shipyard to be built in the inland sea here. If the two shipyards work together, they can monopolize the shipbuilding industry in the northern seas.

But then came political problems. The Low Countries could be said to be a colony of the Kingdom of Gaul, and Frederick was ultimately an outsider.

Now he doesn't want to arouse the vigilance of the Kingdom of Gaul, so the political account of this shipyard takes precedence over the economic account.

Frederick weighed the matter over and over again in his mind and finally made a decision. When he opened his eyes, he saw that Dreyer was a little anxious.

"I can agree to your proposal for cooperation."

Frederick's words made Dreyer feel relieved.

"But I have a condition."

Dreyer was already prepared mentally. They had discussed it before and knew that Frederick would definitely have some conditions, some of which could be agreed to.

He took the initiative to say to Frederick: "We agree to build the new shipyard in Lugang."

In their view, Frederick would invest a lot of manpower and material resources, so he would definitely put the shipyard on his own territory, so he could take the initiative to propose this. Frederick had never thought of building the shipyard somewhere else, so it would save them trouble if the other party took the initiative to propose it.

"I don't have that much cash."

Frederick's words stunned Dreyer.

Legend has it that the richest man in the world said he had no money, but who would believe him? Isn't it enough to just scratch the floor in the golden palace under the castle?

Frederick continued, "My investment is planned. Although I have some mobile funds, the situation in Hanma City is not peaceful this year, so I have to keep some for the war."

Dreyer knew that the Danma Kingdom was badly beaten by the pagans across the sea. He also heard that many merchant ships had been robbed and that the city of Hanma was in danger.

It was for this reason that they had the confidence to lobby Frederick to build the new shipyard in a lowland area away from the war.

Frederick really had no liquidity. No one knew how the situation in Hammer City would develop, so he had to keep a large sum of money for emergencies.

So he used this as an excuse to turn the shipyard into a political project.

The so-called politics is to make as many friends as possible. The best friends are naturally those who share money with you.

Frederick asked Dreyer: "Let me ask you a question. Do you think this shipyard can make money?"

Dreyer answered without thinking: "When I was six years old, I helped wash beans in the kitchen of the shipyard where my father worked. When I was ten years old, I helped carpenters deliver nails. At the age of fourteen, I began to be an apprentice to a master craftsman. At the age of eighteen, I was fortunate to follow a teacher to learn ship design. At the age of twenty-nine, I designed my first boat."

"I have been dealing with shipbuilding all my life. To be honest, I can tell you how much cargo a ship can carry, how fast it can run, and how much it costs just by looking at it."

"Half the cost of a boat is labor, and the largest portion of that labor is cutting the wood into shape."

"If the new shipyard uses the same equipment as the shipyard in the Principality of Wessen, the labor cost can be reduced by at least half, and the cost of a ship will be less than 75% of the previous cost. Combined with the cost reduction in other aspects, it can even be reduced to about 65%."

"A large number of ships are retired and sunk every year at sea, and ship owners need new ships to fill the vacancies."

"According to incomplete statistics, there are about 20,000 ships on the sea, not counting inland rivers."

"The maximum lifespan of a ship is twenty years. If we don't count the losses caused by accidents, we need at least a thousand new ships a year."

"We hope that the new shipyard will eventually be able to build about 300 seagoing vessels a year."

At first, Frederick thought he was familiar with the business and answered the question of whether it could make money from a cost analysis perspective, but in the end the expected output gave him a headache.

A cargo ship of more than 500 tons at sea is much more complicated than an inland ship of 100 or 200 tons. The construction period is at least two years. Now a cargo ship of 700 or 800 tons will take a year even if the wood is cut quickly.

If you want to launch 300 ships a year, it means building 300 dry docks. Each dry dock is 30 meters wide and can be lined up for nine kilometers along the river.

This is the plan for Hanma City, and it is expected to take at least five years to build to this scale. Apparently, industry insiders here have also inquired about it and are directly benchmarking against it.

Frederick continued to ask: "If I ask you to invest money in this shipyard, would you be willing to do so?"

This time Dreyer answered as quickly as possible: "Of course I will!"

Frederick asked again, "Do you think others would be willing?"

Dreyer replied with certainty: "Everyone in this world has confidence in you."

His meaning was very clear. As long as Frederick was involved, others would believe that they could make money.

Frederick nodded and began to put forward conditions: "I can jointly build a shipyard with you in Lugang, but I have two basic conditions."

"First, I will only provide the machinery and plant, which will account for 30% of the shares. The remaining 70% of the shares will be your responsibility. You can bear it yourself or sell it in the lowland areas, but you cannot exceed this geographical range."

"There is one thing I want to make clear first. We all contribute a little bit of the annual profit, some dividends will be given to the Gaul royal family, and the rest will be distributed to the shareholders."

"I'll leave the specific operations to you. I'll send someone to connect with you."

Since ancient times, collusion between officials and businessmen has been the most profitable business. Dreyer had no objection to paying dividends to the Gallic royal family, and regarded it as protection money.

They are very familiar with raising funds publicly by selling shares. They did it a lot when they were playing with tulips.

"I think everyone will agree to this condition," he said to Frederick.

Frederick nodded and continued, "The second condition is that I can only send financial personnel to supervise the financial management of the shipyard, but all managers and workers need to study in the training school affiliated with my shipyard and pass the exam."

"When that shipyard first started, they were losing forty fingers a month, and now it's down to one a month, I think you know what I mean."

Dreyer said seriously: "I understand. This is also one of our requests."

He grew up in a shipyard and had seen many injured and dead people, including his own father. He couldn't sleep all night after seeing the various safety regulations and rules in the shipyard of the Principality of Wessen.

Frederick said, "These are my two requests. Go back and discuss it. I will send a special person in charge to Amstel City, and you can discuss the specific matters."

He was about to leave for the Kingdom of Sardinia, and on the way he had to go back to the city of Weissemburg to deal with accumulated government affairs, so he didn't have much time.

(End of this chapter)