African Nationhood

Chapter 344 Investing in Nanhua
  Thinking of this, Li Hongzhang couldn't help but get excited. He smiled and said: "Brother Yunxian really woke up the dreamer with his words. I never thought of this before."

Guo Songtao waved his hand, "I am not only doing it for you, but also for my Guo family.

Previously, General Manager Shi wanted me to teach his youngest son. I am already old and have only a few years left to live. I originally hoped that my third son could form a master-disciple relationship with General Manager Shi's youngest son and protect the inheritance of the Guo family.

It's a pity that the traitor was stubborn, arrogant and incompetent, and was disliked by General Manager Shi and his wife.

I, the Guo family, have no hope and can only place my hope in you, my dear brother Jianfu.

Brother Jianfu Xian sent one of his sons to come to Southwest Africa with capital to invest and set up businesses, and he was closely tied to Nanhua Company.

No matter what happens to your Li family in the Qing Dynasty in the future, there will always be a branch that will be passed down and continued in Southwest Africa. "

Li Hongzhang raised his hand to Guo Songtao and said, "Brother Yunxian's advice, Hongzhang will keep it in mind, but I want to invest here, but I don't know where to invest it?"

Guo Songtao stroked his beard and smiled: "The matter is simple. My disciples gathered at all levels of Nanhua Company. Through them, I learned that Nanhua Company was suppressed by the British and unable to develop heavy industry.

I have seen all over Europe and the United States that strong countries must focus on developing heavy industry. Today, Southwest Africa is most lacking in this heavy industry!
  The Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau owned by Xian Di Ni is full of technicians from heavy industries. All they need to bring over is a group of core technicians, which will definitely arouse General Manager Shi's gratitude.

At that time, the nephew of the wise disciple invested in the establishment of enterprises and created a heavy industrial foundation.

No matter how Nanhua Company develops in the future, Li's Heavy Industries will have a first-mover advantage and will surely occupy a large share.

The Nanhua Company is about to gain momentum. As the saying goes, 'It is easy to add icing on the cake, but it is difficult to provide help when the time is right'. The time is right for our dear brother Jianfu, so we must not let him down! "

Hearing this, Li Hongzhang heard two meanings. One was that "the disciples are all over Nanhua Company" and the other was "it is difficult to provide help in times of need."

This old friend of mine is requesting an alliance with him. As long as his descendants of the Li family arrive, they must join forces with the Guo family, otherwise it will be difficult to gain a foothold in Nanhua.

Li Hongzhang twisted his beard and nodded, "In this case, we will have to rely on Brother Yunxian's legacy in the future."

Hearing what Li Hongzhang said, Guo Songtao smiled and said, "Why do we old people live, other than to make the family prosperous and pass on the legacy to our descendants for a long time?"

Li Hongzhang nodded in agreement, "What Brother Yunxian said is true."

……

Nanhua Company arranged for Li Hongzhang to take a "Crown" car to visit the large factories and gold mines in Jinling (Bulawayo), which took four days.

This trip strengthened Li Hongzhang's confidence in investing in Nanhua Company. At the same time, he also coveted Nanhua Company's gold mines.

After returning to Mapu Port again, he instructed his eldest son Li Jingfang and his staff Liu Xuexun to contact Shi Jinyong and others.

It was agreed upon that the Li family's descendants would come to establish artillery factories and machinery factories in the future.

Then Li Hongzhang and his party sailed to Europe, and Ouyang Geng followed Li Hongzhang and his party.

After passing through the Suez Canal, it was May 5 when they disembarked in Odessa on the Black Sea.

Then take the train to St. Petersburg to congratulate Tsar Nicholas II on his coronation.

Ouyang Geng replaced Boss Shi and presented the Tsar with a customized "Crown" car, as well as a 200-carat diamond for Queen Alexandra. The Tsar and the Queen were very happy to receive the gift.

The new diamond was directly named "Star of Tsarist Russia" by the Tsar, who bluntly stated that he would set this diamond in the Queen's crown.

……

Ouyang Geng then held secret discussions with Tsarist Russian officials.

During this confidential meeting, the two parties determined investment matters, including business plans for jointly mining diamonds and oil.

The Tsarist Russians attach great importance to Nanhua Company's oil mining technology and vision for finding oil fields, and hope to have more cooperation. In addition, Tsarist Russia hopes to import advanced weapons from the Herstal Arsenal, and also wants to introduce automobile production authorization.

Ouyang Geng naturally agreed and promised to give priority to Tsarist Russia with a batch of shell guns and Maxim heavy machine guns.

After the two parties agreed on a cooperation agreement, Ouyang Geng mentioned that he hoped to introduce some Slavic female immigrants to Tsarist Russia.

Tsarist Russia expressed support for this and would work hard to help Nanhua Company immigrate.

……

In September, Li Hongzhang's third son Li Jingmai set sail from the magical capital of the Qing Dynasty with a large number of craftsmen from the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau and the Jinling Gunpowder Bureau.

This move suddenly emptied the core craftsmen of Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau and Jinling Gunpowder Bureau, directly turning these two major Westernization factories into empty shells.

In early October, hundreds of craftsmen were settled on the banks of the Save River 10 kilometers south of Jianye City (now Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe) to build an artillery factory there.

This factory is a joint venture between Nanhua Company and Li's company. Nanhua Company owns 51% of the shares and Li's owns 49%. The operation is left to Li's responsibility.

Although this factory is located on the edge of Jianye City, it is still named "Jianye Metal Processing Factory".

The reason why the artillery factory was built here is because there are many dangerous shoals at the source of the Save River and abundant water power. Not only can hydropower stations be built, but the abundant water power can also be used to build giant water hammers to help forging.

In addition, there is an iron ore area (Mannheitz Iron Mine) more than 60 kilometers downstream here, and iron ore can be mined to build steel plants in the future.

These workers brought thousands of families, enough to support a small settlement.

All the artillery craftsmen originally trained by Nanhua Company have also moved there. At the same time, Nanhua Company also plans to plan this place into a future military industrial park.

In the future, some industrial clusters of mortars and artillery shells will be relocated from Harbin.

In addition, Nanhua Company also plans to develop some machine tool manufacturing industries in Jianye City. Some of the craftsmen brought by Li Jingmai from the Qing Dynasty are also in machine tool manufacturing. These workers, together with the Chinese and German craftsmen of Nanhua Company, formed a new of factory.

This factory is dominated by Nanhua Company, and the Li family only holds 2% of the shares.

This factory is named "Jianye Machine Tool Factory" and its address is between "Jianye Metal Processing Factory" and Jianye City.

In this way, we can not only gain the location advantage of Jianye City, but also enjoy the convenience brought by the hydropower station on the Save River.

Li Jingmai has a lot of friends. After meeting Boss Shi, he showered him with gifts and flattered him, making Boss Shi feel very comfortable.

Even when Boss Shi wants to hire a teacher who is well-educated in Chinese studies, he has guaranteed it and will never disappoint Boss Shi.

……

When Ouyang Geng brought back a boatload of Slavic women from Tsarist Russia, everyone in Nanhua Company became interested in these women with small faces and slender bodies.

Many company officials inquired about the situation of these Slavic women, which made Ouyang Geng and Fu Tong very annoyed for a while.

In the end, it was Shi Jintang who asked the General Affairs Section to issue a notice that female immigrants brought by the company should take the lead in filling the marriage gaps for free people. If those who are already married have such needs, they can solve them themselves and are not allowed to occupy the company's public resources.

This ban gave birth to another industry in Southwest Africa, that of private trafficking of concubines.

This industry is developing very rapidly. When Boss Shi heard the details, he was shocked.

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  (End of this chapter)