Chapter 775: Lobbying top executives
Of course, in addition to inferring Haihan's new trends through accounting information, the main purpose of auditing the accounts is to understand the recent operating conditions. Since Li Nai has always checked the accounts of the branch in Sanya on a regular basis, the situation is relatively familiar, and he can easily find out if there are any abnormalities by just looking at it. And these shopkeepers and managers all know that their third young master has a very close relationship with the Haihan people. If they find any discrepancy in the accounts, they can ask the Haihan people to reconcile the accounts at any time, so they do not dare to play tricks in the account books.
When looking through the records of goods entering and leaving the warehouse at his own terminal, Li Nai noticed that the data seemed to be somewhat different from his past impressions, so he asked: "Why have so many spices been imported from Nanyang recently?"
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The steward in charge of the warehousing affairs at the dock is called Li Bing, who is also a member of the Li clan and can be considered a peer of Li Nai in terms of seniority. However, he did not dare to put on any airs in front of Li Nai. After hearing this, he hurriedly bowed and responded: "Third Young Master, these extra Nanyang spices are not from Xifan, but from Haihan."
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"Why are Haihan's goods recorded under Nanyang's entry?" Li Nai asked with some dissatisfaction.
"Third Young Master, the records of these spices always only record the place of origin. As for the owner of the spices, they are recorded separately in the accounts of the merchant store. Therefore, the records of the dock warehouse only say that they come from Nanyang." Li Bing reminded carefully.
Li Nai patted his head lightly and said: "I have been looking at the account book for so long that my mind has become confused and I have even forgotten this."
Li Bing responded: "The third young master has many affairs. It is reasonable not to remember these trivial things."
"However, the spices sold by the Haihan people used to be grown at home. Why are they still importing them from Nanyang now?" Li Naiqi asked: "Is it possible that they have already received more orders for spices than they can supply?"
"No, no, they didn't buy this spice in Nanyang and resell it to us." Li Bing waved his hand and said, "This is goods produced in Jinlan Port."
"Oh? The spices from Camlan Port have already started to be shipped?" This news surprised Li Nai a little.
"This is the first year the local plantation has produced. The quantity is not large. It is said that next year will be at least twice as much as this year." Li Bing answered Li Nai's question in a positive tone.
Cam Ranh Port on the southern coastline of Annan was assigned to Haihan as a concession area after the Annan Civil War. Although Li Nai has not been there personally, he has heard that the local port conditions are very good, and even as far away as Above Sanya, Haihan intends to build the area into a large comprehensive port. Of course, in the development of ancillary projects in surrounding areas, some of Haihan's flagship products are naturally indispensable, such as tropical cash crops with extremely high returns.
As an investor with a keen sense of smell, "Furuifeng" will naturally not easily let go of investment projects endorsed by the Haihan Executive Committee. Therefore, there are also "Furuifeng" and other investments in the local plantation park in Cam Ranh Port. The business's shares are among them. The return method chosen when signing the agreement is to obtain a certain share in kind from local output in the future. These Nanyang spices recently arrived at Sanya Port and sent to the warehouse of "Furuifeng" are "Furuifeng's" share of the local output of Cam Ranh Port.
"Haihan people... move really fast!" Li Nai had nothing to comment on except sighing.
Haihan's speed in developing overseas colonies is indeed astonishing. It has only been more than two years since the Annan Civil War ended, but colonial areas like Cam Ranh Port that have not been developed for too long have already begun to produce output. Li Nai believes This is enough to put Haihan's competitors in the South China Sea to shame.
Before going south this time, Li Nai had heard that the Dutch suffered a huge defeat in Batavia, and almost even his hometown was taken to task. And this battle is bound to affect the influence of the Dutch in the South China Sea. As Haihan's main opponent in the South China Sea, it is probably difficult for the Dutch to get out of the pit. After all, the Haihan people are not merciful masters. This opportunity will definitely hurt the Dutch.
However, Li Nai's judgment is that Haihan will probably not go south immediately. After all, Ambona Island has only been in the hands for less than half a year, and the scale of local development is not estimated to be able to support the supplies needed for the Hainan Fleet to go south in a large scale. Therefore, Li Nai's judgment was that Haihan would cause trouble for the Dutch elsewhere - such as the officials across the sea from Fujian. The local Dutch were alone overseas and weak, and Batavia was also in trouble. They would definitely not be able to reach such a far place. If the Haihan people, who were close to Taiyuan Port, had not taken advantage of If he takes this opportunity to suppress the Dutch, Li Nai will look down on them. Li Nai's previous speculations on the changes in the situation in the Strait were partly due to this consideration.
Of course, no matter what, Cam Ranh Port now has output, which is definitely a good thing worth celebrating for investors like the Li family. Li Nai re-read the warehousing statistics of spices, silently estimated the current corresponding market prices in Guangzhou, and already had a rough idea of the return on this investment. Although it is not an astronomical figure, it is reasonable to earn several thousand taels of silver by transporting it back to Guangzhou and selling it.
Li Nai couldn't blame Li Bing for not being detailed enough because of his previous negligence. Although he had the authority to check the accounts here, the spice business was indeed not within the scope of his responsibility, and Li Bing had no obligation to take the initiative to report this to him. change.
After checking only half of the accounts, it was already noon, so Li Nai took advantage of the situation and invited all the shopkeepers and stewards to stay for lunch. It took almost two more hours in the afternoon before I finally finished the work in a daze.
After sending away his subordinates, Li Nai washed his face and then ordered his entourage to prepare a sedan to go to the station. He planned to visit Fort Victory today, continue to brief Schneider, and casually ask if it would be feasible to co-run a newspaper in Guangzhou.
But Li Nai's luck didn't seem to be very good today. When he arrived at Fort Victory, he learned that Schneider had made an impromptu trip today and went to Yinggehai to inspect the work - it was said that he was going to cut the ribbon for the fourth phase expansion project of the local salt farm that had just been completed. .
Originally, it should have been Tao Dong's turn to do this job. After all, he was the head of the construction department. But unfortunately, the new port reconstruction project outside Haikou was also completed today. Tao Donglai had no other choice but to do it. Schneider was asked to take care of a nearby place, and he himself went to Haikou City in the north one day in advance.
Neither of the two visiting targets was at Fort Victory, so Li Nai had no choice but to make the third option, to talk to Ning Qi. After all, he knew that in addition to education and civil affairs, Ning Qi was also supervising cultural and publicity affairs. It was okay to talk to him about running a newspaper.
Ning Qi was in his office, but when Li Nai found him, there were four or five visitors lined up outside. They were all naturalized cadres, but he was the only one who stood out in his scholar's uniform.
However, Li Nai would not wait stupidly at the end of the line. After all, he often traveled to and from the offices of various high-level personnel in Haihan, and the staff around these big shots had become familiar to them.
Ning Qi's secretary was a scholar who was recruited from Yazhou two years ago and was wrongly imprisoned. After being rescued by Haihan, he became a naturalized citizen with all his heart and has been working under Ning Qi ever since. Li Nai often came to visit Ning Qi in the past, and he knew the secretary. After taking the initiative to say hello, the secretary asked him to wait for a moment and went into the room to inform Ning Qi.
It has to be said that it is easy to get things done with familiar people. After a while, the secretary came out and asked Li Nai to go in first to meet with Ning Qi. Li Naichao had to continue queuing, but he bowed his hands to the others and went in on his own. Ning Qi was leaning on the desk and writing furiously. When he saw him coming in, he just nodded slightly to indicate that Li Nai didn't rush him and sat down on the chair next to him. After Ning Qi spent a few minutes writing the instructions, he handed the document to his waiting subordinate and signaled that he could leave.
"Boss Li is so anxious to find me, what's the big deal?" Ning Qi and Li Nai are also very familiar with each other, so they don't need to make polite greetings and get to the point directly.
"I'm here to do business in Victory Port and take a look at all my old friends!" Li Nai put the small jar in his hand on Ning Qi's table: "I know you like to drink tea. This is Phoenix Dancong produced in Chaozhou. Come back later. Try it, and if you like it, I’ll get you more later.”
"Boss Li, you're showing off your courtesy for nothing!" Ning Qi picked up the jar and weighed it in his hands. He looked at Li Nai and joked with a smile: "Tell me, what do you need my help with?"
Li Nai said seriously: "Mr. Ning's words are obvious. You and I are gentlemen, how can I seduce you with small profits?"
"I didn't expect you to have such a strong sense of justice. I misjudged you." Ning Qi could not believe his words and continued to joke: "Then if you have nothing urgent, I will have to see you off first. You see Here we are, there are still a bunch of people waiting for me to do something.”
"Wait a minute!" Seeing that Ning Qi was really planning to serve tea to see the guests off, Li Nai quickly gave up his plan to continue arguing and revealed the reason for his visit: "I do have something to ask you. You answer my question first. After that, Just withdraw, I won’t delay you too long.”
"You tell me first and listen." Ning Qi nodded.
"Yesterday, when I was reading the newspapers at home, I suddenly thought why this practice should be limited to the areas under your jurisdiction. For example, Guangzhou Prefecture can also follow the same instructions and open one or two newspaper offices. What do you think, Mr. Ning?" Li Nye asked tentatively.
Ning Qi glanced at Li Nai: "Are you going to pay for the newspaper?"
Li Nai said seriously: "If Haihan thinks it is possible, I am indeed willing to invest and give it a try."
"Newspaper offices don't make money as quickly as sea trade." Ning Qi reminded.
"I understand this." Li Nai nodded and responded: "I am not bringing this up to you just to make money. Even if this business is not profitable, I am still interested in trying the water."
"It seems that you have considered the causes and consequences very clearly." Ning Qi smiled and said: "Then do you think your Lao Li family's influence in Guangzhou is not strong enough?"
"Isn't the influence of Lao Li's family equal to that of Haihan?" Li Nai responded: "After all, this newspaper operation cannot be done without your help."
Li Nai had already considered this matter clearly last night. When running a newspaper in Guangzhou, the Li family's connections and financial resources are not a big problem. The key is to have knowledgeable people to take charge of this matter. Otherwise, he can only rely on his own half-knowledge. A layman would be damned if he could run a newspaper well. If this matter is completed, as Ning Qi mentioned, the influence and voice of the Li family in Guangzhou will definitely increase, but the corresponding benefits will certainly not be exclusive to the Li family. , Haihan will definitely get a lot of benefits from it. Things that Li Nai could think of even with his toes, Ning Qi must have already thought of.
Li Nai doesn't intend to go back and forth with Ning Qi on this matter, because this matter is not very urgent for both parties, but if it is done, both parties will benefit. He knows Ning Qi will definitely not reject his suggestion. The only uncertainty is what kind of request Ning Qi will make for this kind of cooperation.
"I personally don't object to your proposal." Sure enough, Ning Qi's answer was just as Li Nai expected: "If you can handle the government's emotions on your behalf, I think this is indeed a feasible project."
It would be a lie to say that Haihan has never thought about publishing newspapers in Guangzhou. But this kind of thing is indeed very sensitive. As long as local officials are not stupid enough to explode, they will naturally be aware of how much damage this kind of propaganda method has to the Ming Dynasty's ruling authority. If the Liaison Office in Guangdong and Guangdong took the lead in doing this, 99% of the time it would be banned by the government. Even if they didn't dare to offend Haihan too much, they would definitely try their best to prevent the publication of this kind of publication in Guangzhou.
But if the main body handling this matter changes its role, the effect may be somewhat different. Even though everyone in Guangzhou knew that the Li family had a close relationship with Haihan, no one in charge of the Li family had openly defected to Haihan, and they were still subjects of the Ming Dynasty. And the Li family's local connections are enough to make the government turn a blind eye, as long as they don't go too far with their remarks.
"As for the government, I can go out and lobby, so there is no need to worry." Li Nai said with confidence: "The prefects, notices, general magistrates, and officials of Guangzhou Prefecture, as well as the commanders, colleagues, and officials of Guangzhou Prefecture are all here. It’s not a problem, we will bear all the costs of opening the joints.”
"So generous? Boss Li really impresses me!" Ning Qi praised.
Li Nai waved his hand and said: "Whether or not you do this, you have to burn incense for your yamen every year. Anyway, you have to burn incense, so you don't have to ask them to do one more thing. The money you spend will be spent later." Earn it through revenue such as advertising.”
"It's very thoughtful!" Ning Qi gave a thumbs up this time. He could see that Li Nai had already considered the future profit methods and was indeed not joking.
(End of chapter)