Chapter 303 Business Discussion
The executive committee is willing to give relatively large discounts and concessions to "Furuifeng" in the cooperation agreement of "Qiong Lianfa". In addition to taking into account the previous friendship, it also takes into account the future operation of the "Golden Shield Security" organization. .
Schneider and others encouraged the Li family and his son to set up the "Golden Shield Security", an armed escort agency, not just to transport illegal contraband through legal channels. On the one hand, He Xi's intelligence agency needs to use the information channels established by "Golden Shield Security" to expand outward. On the other hand, the Military and Police Department also plans to use this layer to deploy small-scale armed forces near Guangzhou.
With the increase in business projects of the Guangdong Office, it is foreseeable that the scale of the entire Guangdong Office will expand. After the land is purchased and expanded within the year, the staffing of the Office will definitely increase a lot, and due to various With the development of trade and financial services, the cash flow of the Guangdong Office will become very large, and security issues will inevitably be put on the agenda of the Guangdong Office.
Although the Garrison Office in Guangzhou now has a platoon of security guards, in the eyes of the Military and Police Department, the more armed forces the better. In a regional important place like Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong and Guangxi, the Military and Police Department wishes it could set up a military base by the Pearl River - of course, this is just a wish that is unlikely to come true at present.
Directly deploying armed forces in Guangzhou will inevitably arouse Ming Dynasty's vigilance. After all, the Jin Yiwei, whose reputation has been spread for hundreds of years, is not a vegetarian. If he moves too much, he will soon be targeted by these "court eagle dogs". The "Golden Shield Security" can take a curved route to save the country and give the military and police department's plans a layer of legitimacy. The Military and Police Department has long had a plan to control the Pearl River Estuary, and plans to do something in the Wanshan Islands at the Pearl River Estuary. In terms of distance, Guangzhou, which is very close at hand, is undoubtedly a better logistics base than Victory Port. Only in After Guangzhou is well laid out, the Military and Police Department can confidently and boldly plan to establish a military stronghold at the Pearl River Estuary to realize its strategic intention of monitoring Guangzhou's sea channels.
In the more than half a year since the Guangdong Office was opened, this is the first time it has received so many guests at the same time. As noon approached, the more than 20 banquet tables set up in the courtyard were almost full, and the people watching the fun outside gradually dispersed. After all, ordinary people would not be able to participate in the subsequent games.
Schneider delivered a passionate toast on behalf of the Guangdong Office, highly affirming the strength of "Golden Shield Security", and said that in the future, "Haihan Development Bank" and other industries under the Haihan name will cooperate with "Golden Shield Security" Through in-depth cooperation, all the escort work of Haihan's various products in the mainland will be completed by "Golden Shield Security". At the same time, Schneider also said that as long as he is a long-term fixed customer of "Haihan Development Bank", he can enjoy the escort service of "Golden Shield Security" at a 20% discount.
Schneider's statement was actually an endorsement of the newly established "Golden Shield Security" in Guangzhou's business district. The economic strength of Haihan people has been well known in the Guangzhou business district in the past six months. With the statement of the Guangdong Office in Guangdong, "Golden Shield Security" can't even receive a single business from outside, and it will starve to death just relying on Haihan for food. . Moreover, the merchants present can also detect another relatively obscure message from Schneider's words - Haihan people should be preparing to establish their own sales channels and networks with the help of "Golden Shield Security".
In fact, many people had already guessed the intention of Haihan people when they learned that Haihan and "Furuifeng" cooperated to establish the "Golden Shield Security" agency, and the evaluations of various merchants were naturally mixed. Some people think that by doing this, the Haihan people are competing for the market with Daming distributors. If the Haihan people established their own sales network, it can be said that businessmen like Daming will not have even the slightest competitive advantage. But there is another opinion that the Haihan people did not do this to drive away the distributors, because the Haihan people have never shown the bad habit of eating alone when doing business - those who hold this opinion basically get "Qiong" "Lianfa" is a large merchant invited to invest in the company.
These merchants have relatively close trade relations with Haihan and are relatively familiar with the behavior of Haihan people. After learning the information about the two organizations "Golden Shield Security" and "Qiong Lianfa", some of them are smarter. People have guessed a bit about the intentions of the Haihan people - the Haihan people probably hope that the Ming merchants will divert some of their attention from Haihan's fancy products to bigger businesses.
As long as the business owners were individually interviewed by the Guangdong Office in Guangzhou about the content of "Qiong Lianfa", they were all shocked by the Haihan people's idea. Those projects in the "Qiong Lianfa" plan, if you pick any one at random, they are all big things that ordinary businesses cannot control. However, the Haihan people seem not to be satisfied with letting these ideas stay on paper, and they also plan to carry out multi-line operations. , run several projects at the same time.
How big the “money prospects” of these projects are, some are relatively obvious, such as mining and iron smelting, planting large-scale sugarcane fields, building large ships for the shipping industry, etc. There are also some projects that are hard to understand, such as rail tracks. transportation, infrastructure construction, etc. But no matter what kind of project it is, Haihan people have shown full confidence in its profitability. For some of the projects, Haihan people even gave a guaranteed profit margin.
Compared with the huge profits from the distribution of Haihan products in the mainland, these big projects of Haihan people do not seem so attractive, but everyone has to admit that with the increasing number of distributors of Haihan products in the mainland, the sales profits It is no longer as lucrative as it was in the first few months. Even established agents such as "Furuifeng" have to face the emergence of more and more competitors in the same industry. If distributors want to ensure huge profits, they must spend more time and energy transporting Haihan products to areas far away from Guangzhou for sale. However, in this era of inconvenient transportation, it is not easy to sell bulk goods to other places. thing.
Under such market trends, for large businessmen, the "Qiong Lianfa" operating model proposed by Haihan people seems very attractive. Although it does not seem to be very profitable, it is better because there is less worry and less trouble. Projects The whole process is implemented by Haihan people. In addition to providing the necessary human, material and financial resources, shareholders basically do not need to worry about problems in the operation process, as long as they wait for the money to be distributed. Another extremely important point is that Haihan has promised that all shareholders' income can be cashed in cash or bank notes from "Haihan Development Bank", which means that this income can achieve complete tax avoidance. , which is much simpler than doing sea trade.
Although they still have various doubts, the merchants who received the invitation from "Qiong Lianfa" to invest in shares were still invited to come here to see what the Haihan people have to say at today's meeting. After all, no one wants to miss such an opportunity to earn stable long-term profits.
Today's banquet still adheres to the principle of "building a stage with culture and singing with economy". After Schneider's toast, Li Jifeng also said a few words briefly, and then the temporary stage set up in the yard began to babble. Started singing. This is the "Guangfu Opera" performed by the Qionghua Guild Hall specially invited by the Guangdong Office from Foshan, which is the prototype of Cantonese Opera.
After singing a play, Schneider went on stage in person to preside over the auction and lottery ceremony. Before the auction began, Schneider gave a brief explanation of the auction, saying that the Guangdong Office will donate all the proceeds from today's auction of twenty sets of commemorative stationery, regardless of the amount. Half of the money will be used as funds for Haihan Shantang to provide relief and assistance to local refugees and orphans in Guangzhou, and will send those uncared-for street children to Shengli Port to receive unified education and management. The other half of the funds will be used to establish a special "Haihan Scholarship Foundation" to support poor scholars in Guangzhou. Scholars from poor families can apply for subsidies from the foundation, and this financial subsidy will It's free and comes with no additional requirements.
Relieving refugees, donating culture, and promoting philanthropic deeds are the best ways for businessmen in this era to gain a good social reputation after making a fortune. Schneider's statement also received applause. Of course, although this money is in the name of charity, it is not intended to be spent in vain. Most of the refugee orphans rescued by Yizhuang Shantang will be sent to Shengli Port to enter the naturalized citizen system after screening, which is also one of the legal channels for obtaining immigrants from the Ming Dynasty.
As for the support for poor lower-class literati, the Guangdong Office in Guangzhou has actually been engaged in related work before, but it has not been made public. Considering the current population size of Victory Port, the literacy rate of ordinary people is still far from the expectations of the Executive Committee, and the existing teaching staff is too thin to carry out universal literacy education. A shortcut to solve this contradiction Probably all that is left is to introduce intellectuals from the Ming Dynasty and gradually increase the literacy rate of the people through popularizing basic education. As of the end of February, the Liaison Office in Guangdong Province had recruited more than 30 down-and-out literati from the mainland. Most of them have been sent to Shengli Port to receive training from relevant departments. Their future destinations will be through various primary education institutions under the control of the group. Organizations, as well as some positions in various units that require a basic level of education to be competent. This kind of recruitment will be more convenient after being put on the cloak of a "foundation", and the scale of recruitment will gradually increase.
The Executive Committee set a very low threshold for recruiting intellectuals from the Ming Dynasty. As long as they could read through basic reading materials such as "Three Character Classic", "Hundred Family Surnames", "Thousand Character Classic", and "Young School Qionglin", they would be considered qualified. . As for the knowledge content of the Four Books, Five Classics and Classics and History, there are no rigid requirements. Of course, it is better if you have learned it. If you are a scholar or above and voluntarily move to Shengli Port to settle down, you will also receive a special settling-in allowance.
After the items have been displayed, the auction begins. The most active people at this kind of auction are not the top figures in Guangzhou's business district, but rather some medium-sized merchants with the strongest desire to buy. The reason for this is also very simple. Almost all the top merchants have their own channels to order goods from Haihan people, and there is no need to compete for a limited number of sets of auction items on such occasions. Moreover, the Haihan people had clearly told them at the beginning that these so-called collector's editions, limited editions, and commemorative editions were all just gimmicks to hype up goods, and limiting their quantity was purely to increase market value. If you really want to collect them, you usually place an individual order for them to be made. For example, Li Jifeng’s home has several sets of unique custom-made glass stationery.
On the contrary, those merchants with medium strength, because they cannot obtain the first-hand source of Haihan products, attach great importance to Haihan products flowing out through such abnormal channels. Twenty sets of limited collector's editions were sold for more than thirteen thousand taels of silver. Schneider, who was presiding over the auction on stage, never closed his mouth from beginning to end. The cost of these things and the cost of today's big reception have been earned back with a fraction of this money. It is so easy to make money from the pockets of Ming merchants in Guangzhou.
After that, there were various lottery activities, which basically copied all the methods used by later companies to hold annual meetings. However, the businessmen of the Ming Dynasty obviously liked this method very much, and they yelled and laughed during the lottery. What a joy. About 30% of the attendees won prizes of different levels, and for those who were unlucky and didn't even win a hair, the Guangdong Office also thoughtfully prepared a consolation prize - two pieces of the new Haihan soap. .
After eating, drinking and having fun, a large group of spectators left the General Office with their trophies satisfied. Of course, some people quietly took a detour to the "Haihan Development Bank" on the other side of the yard after leaving the gate, and went through the account opening procedures - you never know when you will use the escort service of "Golden Shield Security", so you can get a discount first. Let’s talk about qualifications.
A few scheming people noticed that some big local businessmen did not leave immediately after the banquet, but outsiders could not imagine the scale of the business these people were discussing at this time. To put it a bit exaggeratedly, the total net worth of the people who are now in the Guangzhou Liaison Office can buy almost half of Guangzhou city.
The influence of this group of people on the entire Guangzhou business district and even local society has been carefully evaluated and screened by the Guangzhou Liaison Office, and some people who have always been inconsistent with Haihan or whose work concepts are not in sync with each other have been eliminated. At least those who are left behind have relatively neutral political attitudes and have not shown any obvious hostility or rejection towards Haihan. This way, when they learn about some of Haihan's methods that harm Ming's interests in the future, they won't react too violently.
The participants staying here today have all gone through individual interviews with the China Guangdong Office, and have a certain level of understanding of the business content and direction of "Qiong Lianfa". As the last symposium before the listing of "Qiong Lianfa", Schneider specially prepared a speech for this purpose to encourage these businessmen's investment enthusiasm.
"Dear bosses, since ancient times, scholars, farmers, industry and commerce have always been ranked at the bottom of the four people. No matter how much money a businessman can make, it is difficult to obtain a corresponding social status. The imperial court and the government have always regarded businessmen as As a money tree, shake it when necessary. If the tree is too big to be shaken, just cut it down. Even if he is as rich as Shen Wansan, the court can bankrupt him and exile him to the frontier. All the bosses now hire the best teachers for their children, that is, so that their children can get a good name and get rid of this social status of the last among the four people. But what I want to tell you today is that there is actually another way. , you can get rid of this situation that you feel unwilling to change but cannot change. ”
Schneider pulled down a curtain on the wall, revealing a five-foot-square map of the South China Sea, centered on Hainan Island.
"Dear bosses, I believe everyone is familiar with Qiongzhou Island. Nine out of ten of you here should have been to Qiongzhou Island, and almost half of you have visited Victory Port. I believe that anyone who has been to Victory Port can You can feel the difference between that place and the Ming Dynasty. You can think about it, why does Victory Port attract everyone together and have to transport goods to Victory Port for delivery even though they have traveled thousands of miles?”
"Because it's tax-free!" someone replied. Of course, the attraction of Victory Port now is not just the local tax-free policy. Victory Port’s good port conditions, complete armed defense means, and the current money deposit and exchange business with Guangzhou are all very popular among merchants. A temptation hard to refuse.
Schneider nodded and continued: "That's right. Some people may say that doing so is against the 'Great Ming Law', but what I want to tell you is that the financial situation of the Yazhou region has not been adversely affected by the tax-free policy of Shengli Port. On the contrary, under our operations, Yazhou's fiscal and tax revenue turned over to Qiongzhou Prefecture was more than before. This fact can be found in Yazhou's official office. Various problems, including refugees, pirates, prisoners, high unemployment, and high prices, have now been gradually solved by us. I can boldly tell you that the various policies we implemented in Victory Port have all been achieved. If you don’t believe me, the next time you visit Shengli Port, I can show you how many of the people serving in Shengli Port are prisoners who should be imprisoned in Yazhou Prison!”
"As long as we can create more wealth for the local government, let the officials pay taxes higher than the previous year's figures, and make their political performance during their reign look better, who else can become our golden light?" What are the stumbling blocks on the road? What we have done in Shengli Port and Yazhou can be replicated in other places on Qiongzhou Island. You no longer have to worry about being weak and your hard-earned money becomes the government's money. Chinese food, as long as we unite under the sign of "Qiong Lianfa", I will definitely let you see the true power of capital! Look at how those officials who are either self-righteous or greedy bow their heads in front of capital. ! ”
(End of chapter)