Chapter 1462 Competitive Relationship
Because his brother He Xiao has close contacts with the Haihan people, the level of information He Li possesses is far superior to that of these outsiders. Just letting some rumors out is enough to overwhelm them. Of course, He Li also understood that the Haihan people deliberately revealed this information to his brother, and then spread the news through himself, in order to make the situation in Liaodong public to the world through this channel, so that the court could not cover it up even if it wanted to. When Dongjiang Town asks for credit from the court in the future, the court must take public opinion into consideration and not embarrass Dongjiang Town, who is too close to Haihan, in this matter.
Haihan has already established a foothold in Liaodong, and routes in this direction will have huge demand for maritime transport capacity within the year. These two points are what He Li wants businessmen to know. If they are smart enough, they should know what to do next to please the Haihan people. If they don't realize it after hinting like this, they will not be able to get on the big ship of Haihan.
To be honest, if it hadn't been for his brother He Xiao's instruction, He Li actually had the intention to take over the business of the Liaodong route by himself, and he wouldn't mind using a little more strength to hold on to this thigh. But after all, he is not as rich as those maritime merchant families. He only has seven or eight cargo ships on hand. He is just too busy transporting goods in the coastal waters of Zhejiang. He really doesn't have the extra energy to take care of the northern route. Although a deposit was placed last year to build several large ships that can run long-distance routes, there is still some time before the ships are picked up, and we can only watch others compete for this recruitment of carriers.
These businessmen were all relatively close to the He brothers and had a lot of business dealings with them, so it was just a favor for He Li to instruct these people to compete for the qualifications of carriers. The most important thing is that he knows very well that Haihan’s demand for shipping capacity on the northern route is huge, and it cannot be met by just a few small shrimps with 20 or 30 ships. He doesn’t have to worry that it will be gone when he wants to enter this market in the future. Location. Let these people run the northern route first so that if there are any problems, they can take precautions early. This was He Li's plan.
Unexpectedly, the three people exchanged glances with each other, but there was not much joy on their faces. Finally, the fat man said: "If it is really what Mr. He said, I'm afraid we will have to fight hard for this deal!"
He Li thought that this long-distance route was a hard job with low profits. Few shipping companies were willing to undertake it. They were doing it as a charity. How could there be fierce competition? He shook his head and said: "In my opinion, it's just from the south." Zhenguo Shipyard, Zhan's Shipyard, and the local Lin brothers from Liuheng Island are interested in the northern route. Don't worry too much about how many people will compete for it, right?"
Maritime merchants such as Liu Zhenguo, Zhan Gui, and the Lin brothers have long been determined to join the Haihan camp. Even if the northern route is a loss-making business, they will bite the bullet and continue. This has nothing to do with the level of income, it is purely due to status. Of course, it is impossible for large-scale merchants like them to make a fortune from Haihan. Moreover, Haihan’s early actions in the north also need to be kept secret. Only by letting them Businessmen who had already made their stance clear were tasked with taking on the transportation tasks of the Northern Route. Now that the situation in the north has gradually stabilized, and the volume of cargo transportation to the north has also increased significantly than before, Haihan has begun to recruit new carriers to join.
If you want to compete with these large merchants, there is really no hope. Not to mention these guys in front of you, even Zhejiang cannot find a few competitors with comparable strength to them. However, it is unlikely that these large companies will take over all the transportation business of the Northern Route, because if Haihan wants them to take over the Northern Route, they will not conduct any public recruitment activities for carriers. So He Li didn't quite understand where the competition the fat businessman mentioned came from.
"Master He, if what you just said about the situation in Liaodong is true, then you may not be the only one who got the news." Seeing that He Li hadn't come to his senses yet, Yangxu quickly reminded him.
He Li was suddenly startled, thinking that this was indeed the case, but he had been too negligent. He just relied on his brother to work beside the prefect and had many opportunities to contact Haihan's senior officials, so he was able to grasp the news that had not yet spread. In this small circle, He Li must be considered a well-informed person, but if we look at the circle in a larger scale, his status is actually not very powerful. He is at most a peripheral person, with better information than him, and his background is more important. He is so tough that there are many people he can't even afford to offend.
Since the people in front of me had such a big reaction to this, they must have heard something outside. He Li said calmly: "The Haihan people came to Zhejiang three years ago, and then they hold several investment promotion activities every year. During the activities, there will always be various rumors. You must distinguish them carefully. That’s it.”
"Master He, we heard before that several commanders and important figures in Hangzhou are very interested in this carrier recruitment activity. Maybe they will send people to Zhoushan Island to participate in the activity, and we don't have any government officials. How can a little person from this background win over them?" The dark-skinned man finally revealed their true intention.
When He Li heard this, he understood completely. It turned out that there had been some rumors outside, and these people had too little information. They wanted to seize this opportunity, but they were not sure whether they should pay attention. I wanted to bet on this, so I approached my brothers to inquire about the news, hoping to get some reliable advice from here. But after all, He Li didn't mention the information about those competitors, so these three people couldn't sit still.
He Li secretly cursed a few curse words in his heart. Although he had his own information channels, his background was definitely not as good as those businessmen who were backed by high-ranking officials, and he even lived in a different circle than those people. This was the first time he heard the news mentioned by these three people. He didn't know whether it was true or false, so he couldn't give any effective suggestions. Besides, even if he had some ideas, how could he talk so freely about these three people when so many official figures were involved? If these people turned around and sold it, then it would not be a big deal if he himself was unlucky, and he might even drag his brother down with him. He Li couldn't help but feel a little resentful at the moment, thinking that his brother was always smart, how could he let such unreliable guys pass.
This is actually due to the fact that He Li's own social circle is smaller and lower-level, and he cannot make friends with official figures. The top leaders of the Coast Guard, such as Guanhai Guard Commander Huang Tao, Linshan Guard Commander Wei Shan, and Changguo Guard Commander Yan Guowei, have had an interest-transfer relationship with Haihan since two years ago. General Xu Shaohua is simply a thorn in the Fujian Xu family's lurking in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang areas. He basically takes orders directly from Zhoushan.
In addition to these military attachés trying to gain their own benefits, the civil servants of the coastal states are not much better. Qu Yu, the prefect of Ningbo, is not the only state official who has secretly communicated with Haihan. Shaoxing, Jiaxing, and Hangzhou have also There are senior officials in the government secretly siding with Haihan. For example, in the Hangzhou fire case last year, Wang Yuan, who was trying hard to reconcile with the Hangzhou government, had many shady dealings with Haihan.
These senior officials basically have agents on the surface, and these people are no less well-informed than He Li, or even worse. What He Li knew about the war situation in Liaodong, perhaps those agents had received the news earlier. It was easy for He Li to fool the people in front of him, but if his opponents were the people mentioned by the dark-skinned man just now, then his weight would be a bit insufficient.
But as the saying goes, losers don't lose. He Li would not admit that his rank was too low in front of these people. He thought about it for a moment, already had an idea in his mind, and said to the anxious three people: "You don't want to It's one thing to have an intention, but it's another thing to actually decide to take over the business. The northern route is long, the sea conditions are complicated, and there is little oil and water on the return trip, so many big shipping companies are unwilling to take it. The high-ranking officials mentioned are indeed closely related to Haihan. Because of this, the Haihan people have also provided them with many ways to make money. They can make money while staying at home, so why do they have to do such laborious and laborious work? An unfinished job?" With the social level of these three people, it is already the limit to hear just a few words. Who knows whether those high-ranking officials will really interfere in the Northern Route, but He Li's words sounded strange. It makes so much sense that people can’t help but believe it. The three of them murmured to each other, and then the fat businessman spoke up: "Master He, according to your opinion, we can still compete for the job of the Northern Route Carrier?"
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He Li nodded and said: "Although your three families have limited strength, you can still put together twenty ships. If you want to compete for this job, it is best for the three families to work together as one, so that the competitiveness will be stronger. After all, you can gather together A shipping company that operates twenty ships on the northern route is more likely to attract the attention of the Haihan people. As for the government agents, I don't think there is any need to make excuses for the time being. They may just go to see the market, and they may not really take action. .”
He Li spent a lot of time to finally calm down the three people's emotions, and then the three people left with a lot of gratitude. As soon as the three people left, He Li poured the half-cooled tea in the cup into his stomach, and then ordered his servants to prepare the sedan to go out.
Whether the big shots were interested in getting involved in the operation of the Northern Route, in fact, there was no direct conflict of interest with He Li, and he had no intention of participating in the bidding, so he instructed the three businessmen to work together to fight for it. But the information he just obtained from these three people made He Li wary, because he found that there was a big deviation in the information he had, and he didn't even get the relevant information at all. What if it was those three people? The businessman made it up to defraud himself, or there was a serious problem with his brother He Xiao's intelligence collection. No matter what the situation was, he had to figure it out as soon as possible.
He Xiao's residence is near the residence of the prefect Qu Yutong, so that he can be called upon at any time. But the courtyard where He Xiao lived was far less luxurious than the fourth courtyard of He Li's family. It was just an extremely ordinary small courtyard with only five or six people including the housekeeper, cook, maids, etc. This courtyard looks unremarkable, and an outsider who doesn't know it would never guess that the person living here is the prefect's number one think tank.
However, He Li knew that his brother's life was not as simple as it seemed. He Xiao had already sent his family to settle in Penghu two years ago, and had set up plantations on nearly a thousand acres of land in the north and south of Taiwan Island. , also purchased real estate on Zhoushan Island, and the assets he owned were still higher than those of He Li, but they were never obvious.
He Li also asked his brother why he made such an arrangement, and He Xiao's answer was that if one day he was convicted for getting too close to Haihan, then at least his family and property would have been sent outside the Ming Dynasty, and he would not be punished for it. implicated. This idea seems extremely pessimistic to He Li. He does not think that the imperial court can change the situation in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, because the Haihan people are not only related to the living conditions of ordinary people along the coast, but more importantly, the size of the coastal states. Small officials almost all benefited from it, and it was so intricate that it was hard to shake.
If the imperial court wanted to change this situation, it would have to involve the entire Jiangnan officialdom. It would be useless even if the capital sent ten or eight imperial ministers down. Of course, He Li would not dare to say such rebellious words in front of his brother, otherwise he would have to be taught a lesson.
He Li got off the sedan at the door. After calling the door, he walked in and asked the steward He Xiao if he was at home. Only then did he know that He Xiao had gone to the magistrate's house to discuss matters, and he didn't know when he would be back. He Lilai was already here, and he didn't want to go back, so he went into the study and waited. After waiting for almost two hours, He Xiao came back and saw him sitting at the desk, sleeping soundly with his upper body bent on several poetry books published by Haihan. He couldn't laugh or cry at the moment, so he hurriedly woke him up.
He Li woke up and saw his brother. He quickly rubbed his eyes and cheered up. He told him about the visit of the three businessmen today, especially the situation related to the Northern Route Carrier mentioned by the three. He Li was almost He recited it word for word to He Xiao.
After He Li finished speaking, he drank the cold tea on the table, and then asked He Xiao: "Brother always has a plan, how come there is such a big movement this time, but there is no news beforehand?" < br>
He Xiao responded: "You all know that you can't talk about uncertain things to outsiders, so I don't dare to tell you things that are not confirmed! I have asked the prefect about this matter, and the commanders of the various guards intend to compete for the northern route. There is no conclusive evidence about the carrier, but somehow there are rumors, and the source of this news has not been confirmed.”
He Li asked tentatively: "Could it be that a certain commander deliberately spread the news to see the reaction of all parties in the market?"
"It's not impossible. But as long as Haihan doesn't nod, no matter how hard you try, it will be in vain." He Xiao responded calmly.
(End of chapter)