Chapter 197 Shopkeeper Li
For the Guangzhou Liaison Office, which currently has only two members, they still have a lot to do and have no time to stop and rest. The first task is to become familiar with the geographical environment of Guangzhou City in this era in order to prepare for future work.
Including the area outside the city wall, the area of Guangzhou City is only ten square kilometers above the sky. There is a huge gap with the Greater Guangzhou of more than 7,000 square kilometers in later generations. But despite this, it is not easy for an outsider to get familiar with and understand this territory in a short period of time.
In order to solve this problem, the historical research team at the base camp spent several days sorting out the data and drew a simplified map of Guangzhou City based on satellite maps and gave it to the two advance teams. This simple map is mainly based on various historical records, and there are definitely some discrepancies with the actual situation, but at least the accuracy is much better than the level of graffiti on contemporary maps.
This simple map marks some of the main streets in Guangzhou City, such as Huai Street, the main east-west road, the main streets running north to south, such as Chengxuan Street, which leads directly from the Chief Secretary's Office to the south gate, and the Great North Gate, which leads south to Guide. Dabeimen Straight Street at the gate, Dezheng Street from Panyu County Government Office leading to Dinghaimen, as well as several Xiaonanmen Straight Street and Xiaoshi Street in the new city that lead directly to the riverside pier, etc.
With the streets as a reference, the layout of the entire city becomes easier to distinguish. The entire city of Guangzhou basically has Chengxuan Street as its central axis. The northern area of the city north of Huai'ai Street is mainly the government office area. To the east of Chengxuan Street are Panyu County Government Office, Panyu County School, Qing Military Road, Fu Xue, Salt Class Department, etc. Government offices, and to the west are Guangzhou Government Office, Dusi, Nanhai County Government, General Military Office, Chaoyuan, Ti Xuedao, Yancasi and so on.
The new city in the south, which was expanded in the mid-to-late Ming Dynasty, was mainly responsible for trade. There were various workshops, shops, and warehouses here, and it could be regarded as the business district of Guangzhou City at this time.
Having such a simple diagram for comparison can greatly speed up Schneider and He Xi's familiarity with the local environment, and also facilitate them to carry out more targeted activities and collect local military, political and commercial intelligence.
It was getting dark, and He Qiang came to invite him at the appointed time. Calculating the time, Li Nai's work report should be almost done. The goods ordered from Victory Port this time are enough to attract the attention of the "Furuifeng" shopkeeper. Schneider estimates that the other party also wants to seize this opportunity to strike while the iron is hot and further expand the scale of bilateral trade.
Sitting in a swaying sedan chair, the two came to the place where the other party was hosting a banquet, a restaurant called "Zui Nanhai". However, He Qiang, who was leading the way, did not go upstairs after entering the store. Instead, he led the two of them directly through the busy store and toward the backyard. There were two servants standing outside the courtyard door. When they saw He Qiang coming, they quickly opened the door to let them in. After the two entered the courtyard, they discovered that there was only one big room in the front of the courtyard, which was already brightly lit. A banquet was set up in the room, and everyone at the banquet stood up one after another.
Shi and He exchanged glances, and both of them had the same thought: "There is also a dedicated VIP private room, which is very high-end!"
A man in his fifties was the first to greet him, saying repeatedly: "A distinguished guest is here, and it would be a shame to welcome him from afar!"
Schneider saw that this man was wearing a blue brocade robe with a pattern of entwined branches and treasures, and a square scarf on his head. His chest was straight and his belly was full of nobility. Li Po and Li Nai were following him. He guessed that this man was probably the real owner.
Sure enough, He Qiang introduced from the side: "You two, this is the big shopkeeper of your luggage."
"I have admired you for a long time." Schneider greeted Li Jifeng with a smile. However, he was still a little unaccustomed to the Ming-style brocade robe he was wearing, and his movements were somewhat awkward. On the other hand, He Xi, because he often walked around in Ming-style clothes when he was in Yazhou, his reaction was much more natural.
"Please, please, please take your seats first." Li Jifeng greeted the two of them warmly, and then ordered: "Serve the dishes and let the table begin!"
Later generations said that food was in Guangdong, but the Cantonese cuisine at this time was not that rich, and there were not as many choices for various seasonings and spices as in later generations. According to the two knowledgeable people, this was just a farmhouse at best. level - and it's still on the low side. But the advantage is that the ingredients are natural and pollution-free. There is no need to worry about waste oil or suspicion of genetic modification. You can eat it with peace of mind.
The only people present were Li Jifeng, his two sons and He Qiang. Schneider secretly thought to himself that there was not even an outsider at the table. It seemed that the other party probably wanted to talk about business matters. Sure enough, after three rounds of wine and five delicious dishes, Li Jifeng took the initiative to bring up business matters after completing the polite ceremony: "I heard that Quanzi said that you two are planning to set up a business store here when you come to Guangzhou this time?"
"Yes, we have a lot of supplies that need to be purchased from Guangzhou. Setting up a store will make it easier to do business in the future." Schneider nodded and responded. Crossing Group's establishment of a business store in Guangzhou is mutually beneficial to both parties, and Schneider is not worried that the other party will have negative thoughts about it.
Li Jifeng continued to ask: "I have seen samples of the goods that Quanzi brought back from Port of Victory this time. They are indeed excellent goods. But I don't know how the sales of these goods will be after you set up the store..."< br>
Li Jifeng just prolonged his tone and did not continue, but Schneider understood the meaning of his words and immediately continued: "Shopkeeper Li can rest assured that the agreement we reached before will continue to be implemented. Now Your bank is responsible for the agency sales of glass products, soaps, and matches in Guangdong Province. Your bank is responsible for the agency sales of firearms and ammunition and refined salt in Fuzhou and Guangdong provinces. Within the framework of this agreement, we will not sell related products. The goods are sold to other merchants until the agreement expires. In addition, after that, your bank also has the right to renew under the same conditions, and we can continue to extend these agency sales agreements through negotiation.”
Although there were many unfamiliar words in Schneider's words, Li Jifeng probably understood 70% to 80% of it. He nodded and said solemnly: "This is the best."
In fact, regarding the series of trade agreements reached by the two parties, Li Nai has already repeated it to Li Jifeng in full today, and also presented the written agreement signed by both parties. However, out of caution, Li Jifeng still had to confirm in person to ensure that "Fu Ruifeng" would not be attacked by other competitors during the sales process of these products.
A large part of the reason why Li Nai has not made significant price reductions on the goods crossing the group during the trade negotiations in Victory Port is because of Li Jifeng's instructions. In his opinion, as long as he can ensure that the profits he obtains are large enough, it doesn't matter if the purchase price of the goods is higher. Anyway, he can earn back exponentially as soon as he changes hands. If the price is lowered, the Haihan people may find another way out. Find another agent.
Although the two parties signed a written agreement for agency sales, it has no legal effect at all. What Li Nai saw and heard on the territory of the Haihan people had already made Li Jifeng understand that the "Da Ming Law" would not work at all in that place. If the Haihan people unilaterally broke the agreement, they would not even have a place to file a lawsuit. And in Li Jifeng's view, the agreement itself also has many loopholes, such as time limits on agency rights and restrictions on product types. Li Jifeng noticed that the other party specifically specified that the products sold by "Furuifeng" only include "existing" products. This means that the new products from Haihan in the future, even if it is just a change of style of glass products or a change of soap. Taste, according to the Haihan people's interpretation, is something outside of agency rights. If the cooperation between the two parties is not pleasant enough, Haihan can easily abandon "Furuifeng" in a very "reasonable" way and find another way out.
Li Jifeng felt that this was because Li Nai was young and ignorant, and the other party took advantage of these loopholes when signing the agreement. If he had gone on this trip in person, he would definitely not have reached only such conditions. However, Li Nai's performance has been remarkable. In addition to expanding the original trade scale and increasing the types of trade goods, this visit also found out the inside story of many Haihan people. His credit cannot be ignored. Besides, these agreements did not cause any actual losses to "Fu Ruifeng", but only made it more difficult to control the market in the future. Li Jifeng could not blame Li Nai for this.
At this point, Li Jifeng could only maintain the status quo and look at the needs of the Haihan people, and then try to deepen the cooperative relationship between the two parties. Li Jifeng has been in the shopping mall for decades and has much more experience than Li Nai. He will know that he has found a treasure when he sees the things sold by Haihan people. If he can tie up this God of Wealth, "Fu Ruifeng" will be in the next few years. You can really make a lot of money. But if it can't be tied down, competitors will soon appear on the market and push "Furuifeng" aside.
But to do this, Li Jifeng first had to find out the origins of the Haihan people, especially the two Haihan people who came to Guangzhou for inspection this time. Li Naike specifically emphasized Schneider's status among the Haihan people - all import and export trade was controlled by this seemingly elegant Mr. Shi. As for business matters, as long as Schneider nods, it's basically done.
Schneider was actually aware of Li Jifeng's temptation. The original agency sales agreement was the terms he drafted himself. How could he not know all the details involved? It is easy for "Furuifeng" to maintain trade relations with Chuan Chuan Group. It just needs to be an agent honestly and do its own business well. But if it wants to tie Chuan Chuan Group, that is not what Schneider wants to see. situation.
After that, Li Jifeng tried to test his words several times, but Schneider dealt with it flawlessly. It was easy to say anything. If you want to renegotiate the agency agreement, then I'm sorry.
(End of chapter)