Chapter 906: Make a fortune
In the months after Haihan occupied Jilong Port, the place has been under military control. The military is the local master. Even a new recruit like Wu Jun has a relatively high social status. However, if he hadn't had the status of a clerk and often needed to handle matters outside the military camp, it would have been difficult for him to have a chance to sit at a roadside stall with these people and eat together.
Wu Jun was praised by these three people, and he responded with some embarrassment: "You are all being disrespectful, you are just working for the executive committee. Leaders don't often say that there are only different divisions of labor, and there is no hierarchy. Difference.”
"Educated people are good at talking!" Li Maozi continued to praise: "If I were as knowledgeable and sensible as little Angkor, I could probably be promoted to a higher level, and I wouldn't have to spend time on the construction site every day."
Master Qi responded: "Old Li, this is too modest. Among the supervisors in Jilong Port, who has more qualifications than you? You arrived in Sanya in the second year of Chongzhen, much earlier than us! From now on! If the chief wants to promote someone, he must first take care of someone with seniority like you, right?”
Li Maozi couldn't help but blush. Fortunately, he had been in the sun too much recently, and his skin color had become so dark that the change in his face could not be seen. When he first went to Sanya, he did not go there as an immigrant, but as a captured person in the Lijiazhuang Battle. After arriving in Sanya, he stayed in a hard labor camp for a long time before regaining his freedom. This was not worth it. boastful qualifications. Fortunately, the three people here joined Haihan's camp much later than he did, and they don't know about his dark history.
Li Maozi did not answer Master Qi's words. He coughed and quickly changed the subject: "By the way, Mr. Liu Qi, I have seen you come and go to the Penghu Chicken Coop a lot more recently. Business must be very good, right?"
Liu Qiye chuckled and said: "I've been a little busy recently, but I haven't made much money. They're all selling goods to the military men, so I just charge some fees to protect the capital."
Master Qi responded: "There have been a lot of things going on here in the boat house recently. The ships are still the same, but the spare parts required are several times more than usual. This probably means something needs to be done."
Li Maozi looked at Wu Jun and said: "Is there any news about little Angkor?"
Wu Jun responded seriously: "Military matters should not be discussed outside casually."
Li Maozi was also a good person, and pushed the food just served by the store in front of Wu Jun: "I don't know why, my stomach is very bloated today, and I have no appetite at all. Little Brother Ang eats some for me to avoid wasting it. ”
Wu Jun looked at his bean curd rice, and then at the two meat and two vegetables that Li Maozai pushed in front of him. He was not polite at the moment and thanked Li Maozai with his fists.
Li Maozi was about to bring the wine to Wu Jun, but the other party blocked him and said, "I have a mission later, but I can't drink this wine."
Li Maozi knew that alcohol was prohibited in the army, so he didn't insist on persuading him, so he took it back and poured himself a glass. He also asked the store owner to bring a plate of pork head meat and a plate of salted peanuts, and invited Master Qi and Liu Qiye to drink together. But he kept silent about what he just asked.
After Wu Jun finished eating, he took out the money from his pocket and came out to settle the bill. Li Maozi said: "You have a mission, go and get down to business. I'll settle the bill for you first."
Wu Jun smiled and said: "Thank you, Foreman Li. There has been some unrest on the east coast recently. If you go out to sea, be sure to pay attention to the weather. Take a step first!"
After Wu Jun left, Master Qi touched his chin and thought: "Eastern sea? Is that the Shibazhi?"
It is not a secret that the Shiba Shiyu Party is hiding on Miyako Island in the east. Most of the naturalized people working in Jilong Port know this. However, because there are both navy and army stationed locally, as well as forts and warships, no one is worried that Shibazhi will attack Jilong Port. And everyone knows that the military will definitely not let Shibazhi go. After all, Miyako Island is only two hundred nautical miles away from Jilong Port, and Jilong Port has extremely valuable gold mines. This is completely for Haihan. It's a hidden danger right under your nose. If you don't remove it completely, you won't be able to rest assured.
Some of the recent mobilizations of the Haihan Militia give the impression that they are preparing for war, and Wu Jun's vague statement just now basically confirms this speculation, which can well explain the reason why soldiers and materials have been frequently imported into Jilong Port recently. After all, there is no other place near Jilong Port that can make Haihan feel uneasy except Shibazhi.
This kind of military intelligence is actually of little significance to Li Maozi. After all, he is just a small supervisor under the Ministry of Construction and has no direct relationship with the war. On the other hand, Master Qi and Liu Qiye both have business dealings with the military, so this news has a much more direct impact on them.
Sure enough, Liu Qiye said in deep thought: "It seems that we have to find a few more boats. If a fight breaks out, we will be very busy."
Li Maozi said: "There are still many navy ships in Penghu. If we really want to take action, we probably won't recruit too many civilian ships to participate, right?"
Liu Qiye glared at Li Maozi, shook his head and said: "Of course not during the war, but what about after the war? There are thousands of people on the island at least, and the navy's ships are very expensive. They won't take them. To transport prisoners, we will still have to mobilize civilian ships and sailors to help.”
Master Qi echoed: "The cabin space of the warship is limited. Except for those special troop transport ships, other warships cannot transport many people. Besides, the conditions on the warship are all military secrets. How can we easily accommodate irrelevant people?" Go in and take a look." Li Maozi said: "Master Qi, this is a great opportunity to make money from heaven. If you make money in the future, don't forget to treat us to a meal."
Master Liu Qi was very happy, and immediately responded: "If you two were not present today, then Xiao Wu might not be willing to reveal this information. How could I take advantage of this all by myself? Otherwise, the three of us would join forces. , rent a few more boats from Fujian and prepare them. When the war starts, this Jilong Port will be the first to get the moon near the water. "
Li Maozi frowned and said, "Well... I'll be honest with Master Qi, I don't have much money left over from this salary. I can afford a few meals, but I'm afraid it won't be enough to rent a boat."< br>
Master Qi also said: "My situation is similar to that of Foreman Li. My annual income is only about two hundred yuan, and I'm afraid I don't have enough savings on hand."
Liu Qiye sighed: "It's a shame that you two were naturalized before me. You are considered half a public servant. How come you are so unfamiliar with the government's policies!"
Li Maozi didn't know what he meant, so he could only clasp his fists and say: "Please give me some advice from Master Qi!"
Liu Qiye said: "Both of you are in public office. With your status, you can borrow money from Haihan Bank. The interest rate is also very low. Why not just borrow a sum?"
"I forgot about this problem!" Li Maozi clapped his thigh and sighed: "Having said that, this matter is not easy to handle!"
Among the financial projects operated by Haihan Bank, it is true that low-interest loans are provided to public officials within Haihan, and there is no need for collateral. You can get the money by just going to the bank and signing a written agreement with proof of identity. However, Li Maozi didn't have any big expenses, and his salary was basically enough, so he never thought about needing a loan. If Mr. Liu Qi hadn't brought it up on his own initiative, he would never have thought of this happening. However, this kind of loan will have different upper limit of loan amount depending on the position of the target. You have to go to the bank to find out how much money can be loaned.
The problem now is that because Jilong Port currently has no foreign trade function, all the people living there except Haihan nationals are hard labor prisoners. Therefore, the currency in circulation in the local area is vouchers issued by Haihan himself-today's The official name is already Haihan Coin. Because there were no silver and copper coins circulating in the market, and there was no settlement of large amounts of money, Haihan Bank did not open a branch in Jilong Port. The Haihan Bank closest to Jilong Port is in Magong Port, Penghu. It takes several days to get there. Li Maozai currently has a full schedule of work every day, and it is unlikely that he will get time off to go to Penghu. Go through the formalities.
Li Maozi explained the whole story, and now Liu Qiye was stumped. If Li Maozi couldn't leave, there would be no way to talk about the loan. Even if he had the intention to win over Li Maozai and Master Qi through this matter, it would be impossible for them to advance the cost of renting a ship and hiring manpower. Although the vision of this matter was good, the conditions were difficult to achieve. The three of them couldn't come up with a feasible solution and could only give up the plan with regret.
But things soon took a turn for the better. Another boatload of guests came to Jilong Port the next day, led by Cai Jinmei, deputy minister of finance and director of banking affairs. As a deputy ministerial-level senior official, her purpose in coming to Jilong Port was very clear, which was to personally guide and establish the local branch of Haihan Bank. The reason why we have chosen this moment because we have not taken any action before is because the gold mine production in Jinguashi Mining Area has begun to get on track, and the first batch of gold was refined more than ten days ago. The storage of precious metals such as gold ingots and bars must be the responsibility of the Ministry of Finance and its affiliated Haihan Bank, so the branch office in Jilong Port was put on the agenda.
Of course, this matter should have been carried out earlier, rather than having to worry about it at the last minute, but the problem is that the banking system also faces the shortcoming that the number of professionals cannot keep up with the expansion speed of the Shanghai-Han Control Zone. Previously, practitioners from Fuzhou and Guangzhou transferred a group of key personnel to Zhejiang and established Haihan Bank Zhejiang Branch before the Zhoushan Investment Promotion Conference. Therefore, places like Jilong Port where the demand for banking institutions was not so urgent were Put it aside for now. It wasn't until Tian Yeyou sent back the news that the gold mine was put into operation that the Ministry of Finance sent personnel to rush to Jilong Port.
As Cai Jinmei, who is in charge of banking affairs, personally leads the team, which can be regarded as attaching great importance to this. However, her appearance is indeed just to show the Ministry of Finance's attitude towards this matter, and she will not stay here for too long. There are still a large number of accounts and business matters that need to be handled by her in both Penghu and Zhoushan. If she is delayed for one more day here, she may cause financial losses elsewhere. Cai Jinmei's main task in going to Jilong Port was to negotiate with Tian Yeyou on the gold quality inspection and handover procedures, and to set up a local bank branch, but the latter actually didn't need her to supervise the work here. In the past few years, Haihan Bank has established many offices in Hainan Island, Fuzhou and Guangzhou provinces, as well as in Annan, Champa and other places overseas. It has a relatively complete set of operating procedures for setting up new offices. The following economics To manage people, you just need to follow the instructions of the gourd.
Although the establishment of a branch office in Jilong Port has been delayed for several months, when the Ministry of Finance really took action, it was still very efficient. On the afternoon when Cai Jinmei arrived at Jilong Port, Li Maozai saw staff hanging a plaque with the words "Haihan Bank" outside a courtyard door in the port town after work. Li Maozai's first reaction was that his loan was secured.
Of course, he didn't forget to inform Master Qi. After all, Master Qi, as a shipwright, could probably tell at a glance whether the rented boat was useful or not, which could save a lot of trouble.
Li Maozai and Qi Chuanjiang also became the first two guests of the Jilonggang branch. Cai Jinmei personally handled the loan procedures for them. The two took the loaned hundreds of Haihan coins and went straight to Liu Qi Master, and then the three of them had a discussion on how to seize the opportunity to make war fortune.
The final decision was to rent a boat and hire people. After the Haihan militia attacked Miyako Island, they would join the fleet transporting the loot and earn a fortune in freight. According to Liu Qiye's estimation, one trip would be enough to recoup most of the money, and two trips would be enough to make a profit. If they could make more trips, Li Maozi and Qi Chuanjiang could still earn at least a three-digit income after repaying the bank loan. This was already considered a good deal for the two people who only contributed money and no effort to the Jilong Port. Very good short-term returns.
The only remaining problem is to confirm the time when the Haihan militia will attack Miyako Island, so that Liu Qiye can grasp the opportunity to rent a boat and hire people, so as not to waste time and money. But the information given by Wu Jun before was too vague, so they had no choice but to look for other sources.
It took them another two days to finally find out a more reliable statement. The Haihan Militia would gather heavy troops next month at the latest to conquer Miyako Island, and planned to annihilate the remaining bandits on the island in one fell swoop, leaving no chance for them. opportunity to escape again.
In this way, there was not much time left before the operation. Liu Qiye immediately took a boat to Fuzhou. It would take some time to select ships and sailors from the local area. He had to prepare these matters in advance.
After entering late August, the combat supplies shipped from Penghu obviously increased a lot. Li Maozi looked at the mountains of combat supplies piled up on the Sheliao Island pier, and he was already thinking about how he could make a fortune from the many war dividends after the war. Maritime shipping was not a field he was familiar with, and the business projects Liu Qiye suggested were only short-term operations. If possible, Li Maozi would actually like to find some projects that he was familiar with. If the prospects are promising, then he wouldn't mind resigning from his current public position and changing to a job with a better salary.
(End of chapter)