Chapter 542 Good things falling from the sky
Frederick stayed in Lukang for a few more days and discussed with Professor Habib, who was invited by the Kingdom of Gaul, about raising the land around the town. The administrator studies some matters.
There are about 2,000 aborigines in Lukang, and there are more than 1,000 people who come to develop the swamps. The two sides began to have some conflicts.
Frederick held a grand open-air banquet for civilians to let these people get closer through alcohol.
Before leaving, he distributed another twenty kilograms of bread, five canned meats and a barrel of soybean oil to everyone. On the day of unloading, the fleet from the Principality of Wesson crowded the river.
Many surrounding landowners and leisurely people came over to watch the excitement, and they all marveled 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. The white cloth hanging on it showed the Lugang construction plan.
As shown in the picture, Lukang will become a huge fishing port and fish processing base in a few years.
Just when Frederick was about to leave, the wealth fell from the sky.
In the living room, the maid put the tea on the coffee table and stepped aside. Frederick said to the guest without raising his head: "Mr. Dreher, please help yourself."
Frederick was carefully looking at the letter of introduction brought by the visitor named Nilis Dreher. The letter was written by Lilu after the tulip bubble, so that Dreher could rely on the letter to contact Philip when encountering difficulties. Terry helped.
Nilis Dreyer is in his early forties, has curly hair, and is a famous ship designer in Amstel City.
Lilu also mentioned in the letter that Dreher seemed to have some special idea of building a ship.
After reading the letter, Frederick waited for Dreyer to drink 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 there are no more people looking for him to apply for a job. The high-level positions are full, and the lower-level people have gone to the Principality of Wesson to take the government employee examination.
Those looking for investment basically go to the city of Weissenburg and seek direct loans from Wesson Bank.
But since there is a letter of introduction, it is not impossible to be open to the Internet.
Dreher said to Frederick: "Sir, I am asking you for help on behalf of the thirteen shipyards in Amstel."
Frederick was a little confused. , although the Tulip incident and the fire caused a lot of losses, I have placed many orders with those shipyards in the past two years and have already brought them back.
Dreher saw his confusion and asked: "We heard that your Excellency is planning to build a shipyard in Hanma City. Is this true?"
Frederick nodded and confirmed the matter.
Now the shipyard of the Principality of Wesson has reached its limit after expansion. If you want to expand the scale, you can only go out and build factories in a wider world.
He has arranged two places. The North Sea is Hanma City according to the established plan, and the Inland Sea is originally planned to be in Constantbul. Now it is put on hold to see if the United Fruit Company can find a good place. .
Hanma City started negotiations last year. Frederick hoped that various shipyards would join forces to form a large-scale operation and capture at least half of the shipbuilding share in the entire North Sea region.
These things are not kept secret. People in the circle will find out after a little inquiry.
Seeing that Frederick did not deny the matter, Dreyer continued: "During the World Exposition last year, the owners, designers and master craftsmen of our thirteen shipyards also went to Weissenburg City and visited your shipyard. . ”
“Everyone is pessimistic. If you build another similar shipyard in Hanma City, the shipbuilding industry in Amstel City will completely disappear because it is uncompetitive.”< br>
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 gap between Hanma City and Amstel in terms of raw materials, hydraulic processing equipment, talents and technology.
The decline of the shipbuilding industry in Hanma City was caused by external political reasons. Now that Frederick has risen and is willing to help, no one will doubt that this once prominent city will restore its former glory.
Dreyer and others only watched the circular saw driven by the steam engine cutting wood for one minute in Friedrich's shipyard and knew that the shipyard in Amstel was finished, because they used a hydraulic saw and the efficiency difference was too big.
Now the city of Amstel can survive by building ship hulls. When the railway from the Principality of Wesson to Hanma City is opened, Frederick can quickly transport the steam engine to Hanma City's own shipyard by rail. , at that time there was no need to even build the hull.
Dreher said to Frederick seriously: "After discussion, we unanimously decided to join if we can't beat him. I hope that you can build a new large shipyard together like we did in Hanma City."< br>
Frederick did not respond immediately, but put down the teacup, leaned on the sofa and closed his eyes to think.
It is not surprising that the shipyard owners in Amstel City come to cooperate. This is determined by the reputation and numerous examples that Frederick has accumulated over the years. Everyone knows that being a friend with him can make money.
Not to mention that these people first personally experienced Frederick's superior views on business, and that he did not hesitate to take out loans to compensate for the insurance money after the fire. These actions gave him a high reputation now.
From Frederick's point of view, building another shipyard is not a problem. The resources of the shipyard to be built in the inland sea can be used here first. The two shipyards working at the same time can monopolize the northern sea. of the shipbuilding industry.
But what followed was a political problem. The lowlands could be said to be a colony of the Kingdom of Gaul, and Frederick was an outsider after all.
Now he does not want to arouse the alarm of the Kingdom of Gaul. In this way, the political accounts of this shipyard take precedence over the economic accounts.
Frederick weighed it 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 of cooperation."
Dreher breathed a sigh of relief at Frederick's words.
“But, I have a condition.”
Dreher was already prepared. They had discussed before that Frederick would definitely have some conditions, and some conditions could be agreed to. .
He took the initiative and said to Frederick: "We agree to build the new shipyard in Lugang."
In their view, Frederick would invest a lot of manpower and material resources, and the shipyard would only rest assured if it was placed on their own territory, so this could be brought forward proactively. Frederick had never thought of building the shipyard elsewhere, and it would save him trouble if the other party took the initiative.
“I don’t have that much cash.”
Dreher was stunned by Frederick’s words.
It is said that the richest man in the world said that he had no money. Who would believe it? Scratching the floor in the golden palace under the castle would be enough.
Frederick continued: "My investment is planned. Although I have mobile funds, it is not peaceful in Hanma City this year and must be reserved to deal with the war."
Dreher knows that the Danma Kingdom I was beaten to pieces by the pagans on the other side of the sea. I heard that many merchant ships were robbed and Hanma City was also in danger.
It was precisely because of this that they had the confidence to lobby Frederick to build the new shipyard in the lowlands away from the war.
Frederick indeed had no liquidity. Who knows how the situation in Hanma City would develop, so he had to keep a large sum of money for emergencies.
So he used this reason to turn the shipyard into a political project.
The so-called politics is to make many friends, and the best friends are naturally the friends who share money with you.
Frederick asked Dreher: "Let me ask you a question, do you think this shipyard can make money?"
Dreher replied without thinking: "I'm six When he was 18 years old, he helped wash beans in the kitchen of the shipyard where his father worked. When he was 10 years old, he helped carpenters deliver nails. My first boat.”
“I have been involved in shipbuilding all my life. To be honest, I can tell how much cargo it can carry and how fast it can run just by looking at it. How much does it cost?”
“Labor costs account for half of the cost of a ship, and the largest proportion of labor costs is cutting and shaping the wood.”
"If the new shipyard uses the same equipment as the shipyard in the Principality of Wesson, the labor cost can be reduced by at least half. The cost of a ship is less than 75% of the previous one. Taking into account the cost reduction in other aspects, it can even be reduced to about 65%."
“A large number of ships are retired and sunk at sea every year, and shipowners need new ships to fill the vacancies.”
“According to incomplete statistics, there are about 20,000 ships on the sea, not including inland rivers. Ship."
"The maximum lifespan of a ship is twenty years. If we do not count the losses caused by accidents, at least a thousand new ships are needed every year."
"We hope. , the new shipyard will eventually be able to build about 300 sea-going ships a year.”
At first, Frederick thought he was familiar with the business and answered whether he could make money from a cost analysis perspective, but in the end the expected output was a headache.
Cargo ships of more than 500 tons at sea are much more complicated than river ships of 100 or 200 tons. The construction period is at least two years. Nowadays, it takes a year for a cargo ship of 700 to 800 tons even to cut wood quickly.
If you want to launch 300 ships a year, it means building 300 dry docks. Each dry dock is 30 meters wide, which can stretch nine kilometers along the river.
This is the plan in Hanma City. It is expected to take at least five years to build this scale. Apparently people in the industry here have also heard about it and directly benchmarked it.
Frederick continued to ask: "If you were asked to invest money in this shipyard, would you be willing?"
At this time, Dreher replied as quickly as possible: "Of course I am willing!"
Frederick asked again: "Do you think others are willing?"
Dreher was very sure. He replied: "Everyone in the world has confidence in you."
His meaning is obvious. As long as Frederick participates, others will believe that they can make money.
Frederick nodded and began to make conditions: "I can jointly build a shipyard with you in Lukang, but I have two basic conditions."
"First of all, I only provide machinery and equipment and factories, accounting for 30% of the shares. You are responsible for the remaining 70% of the shares. You can bear it yourself or sell it in lowland areas, but it cannot exceed this geographical range."
" One thing I have to say first is that we all contribute a little of our annual profits to the Gallic royal family, and the rest will be distributed to the shareholders.”
“I’ll leave it to you to be responsible for the specific operations. , I will send someone to contact you.”
Since ancient times, collusion between officials and businessmen has been the most profitable business, and Dreher has no objection to paying dividends to the Gallic royal family, treating it as protection money.
Publicly raising funds by selling shares is very familiar to them. They did it a lot when they were playing Tulip.
He said to Frederick: "I think everyone will agree to this condition."
After nodding, Frederick continued: "The second condition is that I can only send financial personnel to the shipyard to supervise the financial management, but All managers and workers need to study in the training school affiliated with my shipyard and pass the exam."
"When the shipyard first started, forty fingers would be broken in a month, but now. Down to one per month, I think you will understand what I mean."
Dreher said seriously: "I understand, this is also one of our requests."
He. Growing up in a shipyard, I saw many injuries and deaths, including my own father, who stayed up all night after seeing various safety rules and regulations in the shipyard of the Principality of Wesson.
Frederick said: "My requirements are these two points. You go back and discuss it. I will send a special person in charge to the city of Amstel to discuss the specific matters."
He is about to leave, After a trip to the Kingdom of Sardinia, I have to go back to Weisenberg City to deal with the accumulated government affairs, so I don’t have that much time.
(End of this chapter)