Chapter 108 Developing New Products
If it only requires tens of thousands of taels of silver to buy coal every year, then the business department in charge of Schneider is confident that it can earn back the money. After all, the coal required by the Cross Group is basically treated as a production cost rather than a living cost. use. How much coal is consumed will definitely be calculated into the price of the goods sold, so there is no need to worry about making a loss-making transaction.
What the Executive Committee is concerned about is not just the huge cost of buying coal, but also the reliability and stability of relying on others to supply coal. Now that the civil war in the mainland is tense, more than half of Yazhou's coal supply has been cut off. Even if coal can be purchased from Guangzhou or other places now, it may be suddenly interrupted due to force majeure from the outside world one day.
"You still have to buy a boat and run Hongji to pull the coal yourself!" Tao Donglai once again confirmed his idea in his heart. He nodded towards Schneider, indicating that Schneider could discuss buying a boat with him.
Schneider understood, cleared his throat and said: "Two shopkeepers, we recently wanted to buy a few larger ships, but we have been struggling with no way..."
The two shopkeepers Zhang and Li looked at each other, both a little surprised by what Schneider said. Shopkeeper Zhang asked: "Look, there are many large ships parked in Victory Harbor. Why do you need to buy another ship?"
Schneider responded: "You two don't know. In fact, the life of the ships docked in the harbor has expired. Now there is no way to go out to sea. Moreover, such large ships are extremely expensive to build, and our local manpower and material resources cannot support them. To build this kind of ship, there is no decent shipyard in Yazhou, so we can only try to buy a ship.”
Schneider's statement was quite reasonable, and the two shopkeepers did not have any doubts about it. Shopkeeper Li then asked: "I wonder how big a ship you want to buy and what is the quantity?"
Schneider also knew that the current legal private commercial ships can only be built with a maximum weight of 400 tons. However, these 400-ton ships actually have a large gap in displacement and tonnage based on different hull structures, shipbuilding processes, and displacement, ranging from over 100 tons to nearly 100 tons. There are all two hundred tons, and there is no very unified standard. But now that the Crossing Group is eager to use ships, Schneider can only try his best to go big and say: "It is best to have a sea-going ship with a material of 400 materials. In terms of quantity, a dozen or so ships will probably be enough."
"You can't buy a ship with 400 materials in Yazhou." Shopkeeper Li blocked all the words Schneider said: "The largest ship in Yazhou does have 400 materials, but that's They are warships from Yazhou Water Village. Most of them cost around 200 yuan, and they are about the same size as the two ships from Bihang and Anfuxing.”
The two merchant ships coming from the two trading houses this time are Guangzhou ships. They are similar in size to the Guangzhou ship that the Crossing Group captured pirates last time, and their displacement is less than 100 tons. Buying such ships is a big deal for the Executive Committee. It can only be better than nothing, and at most it exists as an alternative.
Just when Tao Donglai and Schneider were disappointed, shopkeeper Zhang said: "There are no ships with four hundred materials in Yazhou, but there are in Danzhou and Qiongzhou in the north. I am not talented, so I am willing to do it for you. Find a seller ”
Shopkeeper Li also rushed to not be outdone and said: "I will take a boat back to Guangzhou to handle the accounts this time. I can buy the 400 materials for the ship you need in Guangzhou on your behalf."
Tao Donglai said happily: "Thank you very much! But buying a ship is one thing. You also need to hire a group of sailors on the ship..."
"Of course I'll do it for you!" Shopkeeper Zhang never wanted to lose out in front of his competitors, and immediately responded before Tao Donglai could finish his words.
"When the two hired boatmen and sailors on our behalf, they can explain that anyone who is willing to move their whole family to settle here with us will receive settling-in allowance." Schneider added with a smile.
As for the standards for payment of settlement allowance, Schneider did not elaborate. Anyway, circulation vouchers are now being implemented in the control area of the Crossing Group. Even if a settlement allowance is required, it is just a circulation voucher. For the Executive Committee, the cost of this settlement allowance is actually extremely low.
After finishing their performance, the shopkeepers showed their true nature as businessmen, and they all said that they hoped to buy some products produced by Haihan this time, such as glass products and silver mirrors that are currently in short supply on the market. Even if they didn't mention it, Schneider would bring it up. Only three or four days after the Cliff Office sent information about the shortage of glass products, the glass kiln built by the Executive Committee in a mountain depression on the west bank of Tiandu River was put into operation. This place is actually right next to the cultivated land originally opened by the labor camp. Compared with the location of Victory Port, it is inland and relatively hidden. You have to take a boat from Victory Port to cross the Tiandu River estuary to reach it. here.
Such a relatively closed location was chosen because glass manufacturing in this era, especially the manufacturing process of mirrors, was still a very advanced technology. Only Venetian craftsmen in the whole of Europe could make exquisite stained glass and mastered mirrors. Its manufacturing and inlay technology is unparalleled in the world. It was not until the second half of the 17th century that French King Louis XIV asked Finance Minister Colbert to send commercial spies and smuggled several craftsmen from Venice to Paris, and the mirror-making technology spread around the world.
The Venetian's mirror-making technology is considered by the Executive Committee to be backward and inefficient, and cannot be compared with the craftsmanship mastered by the Travelers. Although it is currently limited by material and process conditions, it is temporarily impossible to produce mirrors according to modern technology. , but it is only a matter of time before Chuan Chuanzhong rises in this industry. The Executive Committee does not want commercial spies from certain forces to sneak into the glass workshop and steal the craftsmanship in the future. When the conditions are ripe, the executive committee also plans to open a flat glass production workshop here. Once this thing becomes popular as a door and window decoration, the market will be astonishingly large, and compared with its low cost, this business will The profits are also astonishingly high.
Of course, the investment in this glass workshop was also very large before it was put into production. According to estimates by relevant departments, melting kilns, calcining kilns, and annealing kilns need to be built in the factory. If a certain production capacity is to be achieved, multiple constructions of these kilns with different functions will have to be carried out. In addition, in order to use the "flat plate casting method" with relatively high production efficiency to manufacture flat glass, at least one driving system must be installed in the factory to lift and move the crucible containing molten glass. This in turn will involve the span and clearance of the factory building, and the fire protection function must also be taken into consideration, which puts forward higher requirements for the design and construction of the factory building. As for the most important giant iron workbench for casting flat glass, the executive committee decided to leave this troublesome matter to the metallurgical workshop.
With the current strength of the Chuanchuan Group, it is not yet able to carry out such a "large" industrial project, so most of the plans are still on paper. The glass kilns currently in operation can produce very limited glass products, and the technical level of novices is far from the level of craftsmanship of later generations of glass products. The shapes of the cups and dishes produced are often not regular enough. Therefore, in order to overcome this dilemma, the relevant departments have specially developed some relatively alternative glass products for the business department to promote externally.
"Look, you two, this is our new glass paperweight." Schneider introduced it while secretly cursing the shamelessness of the product development department - this is clearly just a rectangular glass rod, with the corners simply polished. It won't cut your hands, and it looks crystal clear, but that's all.
Originally, he thought the idea was good after hearing about it, and even suggested that the production department engrave some poems on the raw materials to increase the added value of the product. However, the production department said that glass engraving must wait until the chemical department produces hydrofluoric acid. However, the chemical industry department stated that it must first build a dedicated reactor, crude distillation tower and rectifying tower. Without a dedicated production line, it is impossible to mass-produce the hydrofluoric acid required for the glass kiln, and this is obviously not possible in the short term. The project was completed, so Schneider's plan had no choice but to be shelved.
"Here's our newly developed glass-stem brush." The glass-stem brush doesn't have much technical content. It's just a brush holder cast from a mold. Its shape and size are the same as those of common bamboo pen holders. The production department is obviously more concerned about this product, because they actually produced eight samples of different sizes for this display.
"This is a glass inkstone..." Schneider's eyes twitched when he saw this sample - isn't this thing just a shallow, flat-bottomed ashtray? Do you really think that the shopkeepers have little education and use this kind of thing to fool people?
Schneider, who has always been a good talker, felt a little guilty for the first time. Is it really okay to promote something like this? Schneider secretly decided to talk to someone in the product development department after this matter was over. As long as the other party was willing to admit his mistake, Schneider promised that he would not kill him.
"This thing is very good!" Schneider, who was distracted, heard the praise from shopkeeper Zhang. When he turned around, he saw him holding a glass brush and exclaimed: "I have also seen a jade-carved pen barrel. It's flashy. More than elegant but lacking in elegance, this glass pen holder is clear and dignified, just suitable for people who read! ”
Shopkeeper Li also held the glass inkstone and praised: "In the past, the glass products purchased from Folangjiren were mostly ornaments for playing with. Even cups, dishes and dishes were rarely used and were mostly reduced to decoration. They are just decorations. These items are quite ingenious, and they are very good!”
Tao Donglai was watching dumbfounded. He didn't speak the whole time, just thinking about what kind of rhetoric he should make up to persuade the other party if he was not satisfied with the products. He never thought that the two shopkeepers would talk about it as soon as they came up. He stole all the lines. Looking at it like this, it seems that my previous worries were a bit unnecessary.
(End of chapter)