Years of the Republic of China 1913

Volume 110 Troubled Times Chapter [-] [-] Outage

Tianjin is the second largest commercial city in China, second only to Beijing, the capital, and Shanghai, the largest commercial city in China. Similarly, like Shanghai, Tianjin also has concessions from various countries. It is the most important city in Tianjin In the bustling financial district, there are dozens of banks from various countries, and nearly ten of them have their headquarters in China in Tianjin, which is also known as Tianjin in the south and Shanghai in the north.Moreover, the geographical location of Tianjin is also very prominent. Tianjin is located at the mouth of the sea in the north, with convenient railway transportation and prosperous water transportation. Large ships can directly enter Haikou to the Sancha River Estuary, and then transfer to Beijing or go directly to Jiangnan.Although the prosperous water transport in the late Qing Dynasty has gradually declined, the shipping industry in Tianjin is still developed. Therefore, the branch of China Merchants in Tianjin occupies an important position, which is also the main reason why Fang Zida came here on purpose.

After a day's rest, Fang Zida and his party, accompanied by Li Xinkai, went to China Merchants first, and then went to the pier.When he arrived at the pier and looked around gradually, he finally understood the meaning of what Li Xinkai said to him yesterday.

The business of China Merchants in Tianjin is mainly steamship business. The routes are divided into internal branch and near ocean. The internal branch refers to Tianjin to Beijing*Beijing or transships through the canal to go south, and the other is what Li Xinkai said to the northeast. The lines of several small ports in the area.As for the near-ocean routes, there are several routes to Japan. Due to the restrictions on the waterway of the inner branch canal, the business of the inner branch lines is far inferior to that of the near-ocean routes. , In fact, it is on the Japanese route.

But there is a problem. China Merchants, which takes the Japanese route, has been suppressed by the Japanese business, and is far inferior to several Japanese shipping companies in terms of ship size, facilities and transportation capacity.Over the years, it has become more and more difficult for China Merchants Tianjin to do near-ocean business, and the transportation of the internal feeder lines is limited by the lack of congenital conditions. After repeated visits, China Merchants’ shipping business in Tianjin has become more and more sluggish, and now it can only be said to be barely maintain.

On the pier, at a glance, there are large ships from various countries, among which Japanese freighters and passenger ships occupy the vast majority.Look at the two China Merchants ships moored on the other side. The ships are old, short, and equipped with backward equipment. The guests on the big ship looked well-dressed.

"How old is this boat?" Fang Zida asked, frowning.

"It's been nearly 25 years. I worked on this ship not long after I first joined China Merchants." Li Xinkai sighed looking at the old ship that was loading and unloading passengers.

Shaking his head, Fang Zida didn't have the desire to get on the boat and take a look.Just looking at the rusty hull and these refugee-like passengers, he could guess what it would be like on board.How can this kind of old-fashioned thousand-ton passenger ship that still uses old-fashioned steam engines compare with the new large ships of various countries?Coupled with the pressure and competition from the Japanese business community on China Merchants' airlines, Fang Zida certainly knew that the business would not be much better.

"Aren't there still a few big boats? Why didn't you see them?"

"Yes, there are several large ships, but they are all cargo ships. Although they also have passenger cabins, the space is limited and they can only be used as passenger ships during special occasions. These ships are currently loading in Nagasaki, and it is estimated that they will not return to Hong Kong until a week later."

Nodding his head, Fang Zida expressed his understanding.He has a good idea of ​​the basic situation, and he is also deeply impressed by the word "terrible" that Li Xinkai refers to.

Compared with Shanghai*Shanghai, Tianjin* is indeed much more difficult.Because although Shanghai * Shanghai is also subject to competition from shipping companies of various countries, as the mouth of the Yangtze River, Shanghai * Shanghai has a superior geographical location.China Merchants cannot compete with its foreign counterparts on the near-ocean and ocean-going routes, but it can make up for it on the Yangtze River route.But Tianjin is different. The transport capacity of the canal is far less than that of the vast Yangtze River. China Merchants, which only relies on ocean-going ships, lacks advantages and is suppressed by its Japanese counterparts, cannot fight at all.

In fact, when he was in Shanghai, Fang Zida made adjustments to the work of China Merchants, and invested in the name of Zhongyang Bank to increase the shipping capacity of China Merchants.But he didn't expect that the difficulties in Tianjin would be even more serious. It is completely impossible to change in a short period of time, not to mention that now that the war in Europe has broken out, the possibility of directly buying ships from abroad is extremely slim. The only option is Japan. Book.

But will Ri himself sell the ship to China?The answer is of course no.Therefore, Fang Zida could only rely on his own manufacturing bureau to solve this problem.Although the ordnance factory has been restructured, the shipyard of the Manufacturing Bureau has also begun to reform. According to the news from Shanghai * Shanghai some time ago, the restructuring of several factories in the Manufacturing Bureau, including the shipyard, is going smoothly, but shipbuilding is not a day. In two days, there is no such thing as placing an order today and building a boat tomorrow.

Back at the China Merchants Office, Fang Zida invited the principals in Tianjin to have a meeting to discuss.At the meeting, he first said that he had a general understanding of the situation, and hoped that everyone could speak freely about the development of Tianjin * China Merchants Group and how to solve the difficulties they are facing now.

Everyone looked at each other in blank dismay, and there was no sound for a while.However, after calming down for a while, the manager Li Xinkai spoke first.

"Chairman, the current situation in Tianjin cannot be changed in a short time. If we want to start shipping, it is necessary to buy new ships and replace old ones. For example, because our ships are too old It is old and the speed is slow. Many people with money will not take it at all, and can only rely on ordinary passenger flow to support it. You also know that the quality of the cabin determines the class of the cabin, and also determines the fare and income. Take ri For several passenger ships in Japan, the price of a third-class ticket for them is ten times or even more than that of our general ticket, but this is still in short supply. Some passengers would rather wait for the next flight than go Take our boat."

"Yes, that's the situation. Not only that, our ships are often made things difficult after they arrive in Japan. We must give priority to ships from other companies for berthing, loading, etc. In this way, not only the passengers of the passenger ships will be affected, Even the loading and unloading of cargo ships was very inconvenient, which caused us to lose many customers." After Li Xinkai, Zhang Ze, who was in charge of shipping, spoke with frowns and sighed.

Fang Zida took a small notebook and memorized it carefully, nodding slightly while listening.Seeing Fang Zida's easy-going attitude, everyone present was encouraged and began to talk about it one by one.

The meeting lasted the whole afternoon and ended in the evening.

"Ruiyuan, what do you think about the situation of Tianjin Merchants Group?" Back at the hotel, Fang Zida summoned Jiang Zhiqing and asked him to sit down first.

Today, Jiang Zhiqing accompanied Fang Zida to the China Merchants Bureau and the pier as an entourage, and he also attended the meeting, just as a routine.On the one hand, Fang Zida wanted to ask Jiang Zhiqing for his views and opinions on China Merchants, and on the other hand, he also wanted to get a good feel for Jiang Zhiqing's real ability.

"President, Zhiqing doesn't know anything about shipping, so it doesn't matter?" Jiang Zhiqing sat upright and replied immediately.

Fang Zida laughed and said, "Of course I know that Rui Yuan doesn't know much about shipping. To put it bluntly, I don't know much about shipping either. It doesn't matter, just treat yourself as an outsider and talk casually. It doesn't matter if you are right or wrong."

After a little hesitation, Jiang Zhiqing said: "I won't talk about anything else, just the ships of China Merchants. Zhiqing has traveled back and forth between China and Japan many times, and every time he took a foreign passenger ship, and among these passenger ships Most of them are Japanese ships. It’s not that we don’t know that our own China Merchants also takes the Japanese route, but the conditions of China Merchants’ ships are really bad, not to mention the slow speed, and the smell in the cabin is really unbearable What's more inconvenient is that after arriving in Japan, the customs are very picky about the inspection and release of the guests of the China Merchants Ship, which is not as convenient as the foreign and Japanese ships. In order to avoid trouble, they usually spend more money to change Take a foreign ship, unless there is no other way..."

Fang Zida nodded, these were similar to what Li Xinkai and the others said, except that Jiang Zhiqing looked at the problem from the perspective of passengers.

"What do you think should be done?"

Jiang Zhiqing smiled wryly and said: "If you want to talk big, of course you have to buy a new ship. It doesn't have to be as luxurious as a foreign cruise ship, at least it has to be passable? But as for the customs, there is nothing to do. After all, it is someone else's territory. They deliberately want to make things difficult for us. It's no use negotiating."

What Jiang Zhiqing said is true. The country wins the weak and the great powers make things difficult. This cannot be changed in a day or two. What if it is replaced with a new ship?Did the other party sell your account?Fang Zida thought quietly, and fell into deep thought for a while.

After staying in Tianjin for a few days, Fang Zida not only went to the China Merchants Bureau, but also visited several agencies under the China Merchants Bureau.He has also been thinking about the difficulties faced by China Merchants.On the last day when he was about to leave Tianjin, he specially recruited everyone and revealed his decision.

"Chairman, is this... is this appropriate?" Li Xinkai was shocked when he heard this, and asked in astonishment.

"This is not a discussion with you, this is my decision!" Fang Zida said firmly.

"This..." Several people in charge in Tianjin exchanged opinions, and Li Xinkai said on behalf of them: "Chairman, according to the company's regulations, if such a decision is to be made, the board of directors must formally issue a decision, I don't know...? "

"Yes!" Fang Zida nodded. After all, China Merchants is now a joint stock company, and everything must be done according to the rules.Immediately he promised: "I will go to the Shanghai * Shanghai headquarters to hold a board meeting in the near future to make a formal proposal on this matter, but please make preparations first, once the document is formed, it must be followed!"

"Understood...Understood...." Li Xinkai wiped the sweat from his brow, and nodded repeatedly, but he muttered in his heart: "Stopping all the routes to Japan, isn't that the same as throwing all the business to Japan? How could the chairman make such a decision looking at Jing Ming? This is simply outrageous!"