Chapter 1465 Investment Promotion Conference
He Li paid extra money to buy out the news, with the intention of not letting the broker sell it to others. However, he didn't expect that this guy knew so much about the situation of He Li and his group that he actually found three other people to sell it alone. To say that he sold it to another family doesn't seem to be the case. After all, the four of them are from the same family, so this doesn't count as a violation of the agreement. But after being plotted like this, even if the news was genuine, I was not in a good mood at all.
Being fooled like this undoubtedly exposed the shortcomings of several of them in terms of IQ. If this happened in Ningbo Prefecture, He Li would definitely dig this guy out and clean it up. If he couldn't help it, he would put a sack in it and throw it into Dongqian Lake in the east of the city to feed the fish. However, the brokers on Zhoushan Island often have extraordinary status, which does not mean that they can be dealt with. Moreover, if they resort to violence privately in the Haihan-controlled area, once they are discovered, the consequences will not be something that He Li can afford. His identity is only of some use in Ningbo Mansion, but in the land of Haihan people, it will be the same even if He Xiao's boss Qu Yutong comes.
"Business matters are important! Let's put this matter aside for now and look at it later when we find an opportunity!" He Li weighed the pros and cons and decided to endure it. He would attend the investment fair first and finish the business matters later.
As for small things like money, although he lost a sum of money, He Xiao often told him that money is something external to the body, so don't worry about gains and losses. He Li has always regarded it as one of his principles for doing things, so even though he was deceived, Money, but he just thought it was money to buy a lesson. However, the other three people might not be able to bear this tone. Of course, he would have to give some good words to prevent these three people from doing anything irrational in their passion.
However, He Li was a little worried now. This was the first time for these three people to officially deal with Haihan, and they did not want to cause any trouble. Now they regard He Li as the temporary leader, and everything will be based on his attitude. shall prevail. Since He Li had already said to let this matter go, they naturally wouldn't bother with it anymore. They now understood how complicated the society on Zhoushan Island was. Even a well-known figure like He Li in Ningbo would still be slandered and speechless when he arrived in Zhoushan.
The four of them learned a lesson and decided not to run out any more during the period before the opening of the investment fair, lest they fall into any weird charlatanism again. Fortunately, the officially arranged accommodation has complete conditions. You don't have to go out to eat, drink or have sex. Just give an order and someone will take care of it for you. This may be more convenient than when they live at home.
The four of them stayed on the island for two nights before the opening day of the investment fair. Haihan official holds at least seven or eight investment fairs of various sizes on Zhoushan Island every year. In addition to the unbeatable Spring Fair and Autumn Fair, some industries with larger scale of operations will also hold corresponding trade negotiations according to the seasons. Various industries, such as finance, catering, transportation, culture, education, health, etc., will have special investment activities. This recruitment event for maritime carriers is just one of many investment fairs a year, and its scale is relatively small, with only a dozen merchants participating. It cannot be compared with large-scale trade fairs where thousands of people participate.
On the morning of the meeting, the four of them had breakfast at their residence, and someone from the Ministry of Commerce came to lead them to the meeting venue. In fact, the venue is very close to my residence, less than half a mile away, and is only separated by a high wall. It doesn't take long to walk there slowly.
This venue is a large conference room under the Zhoushan Garrison Headquarters, and is occasionally lent to other departments, including the Ministry of Commerce. There were not many attendees at this investment fair, so this place was more than enough as a venue.
Although He Li and others were accompanied by entourage, their registration number plates only allowed four people to enter, so the rest were blocked from the venue, and each family could only be represented by the registered ones. Decision-makers enter. They were among the first to enter the venue. After sitting down and waiting for about a cup of tea, other participants entered the venue one after another.
He Li noticed that most of these businessmen were familiar faces who could keep their faces, but could not remember their names for the time being. Most of them were local businessmen from Ningbo. He Li usually didn't pay much attention to these unknown businessmen, but now that this occasion had come, he had of course thought that more than half of these people had the background of local officials in the Ming Dynasty, and he thought that he had been mistaken before and failed to do so. See the true identity of these people early.
There are more than a dozen tables in the conference room, and on each table there is a sign with a registration number so that the business representatives can sit down. The number plate He Li and others got was No. B-3, so they found their location accordingly. After the four of them sat down, someone brought hot tea, and a glass-lined thermos was placed nearby for them to take on their own. Among the four of them, only He Li had used this high-end gadget and knew that it was used to hold hot water, otherwise they would have stared at each other.
After all registered participants arrived, the Haihan official responsible for presiding over the meeting announced that the senior official attending the meeting on behalf of Haihan today was Sun Changmi from the Ministry of Shipping. People who are more familiar with the official situation of Haihan know that this is a senior official in charge of maritime affairs in Haihan's Ministry of Transportation. His status is on the same level as Shi Diwen, Haihan's top official in Zhoushan, which shows that Haihan officials are very concerned about this incident. The importance attached to the meeting.
However, for a meeting of this level, Sun Changmi was only present to check on the situation and would not personally preside over the work. After Sun Changmi took his seat, he nodded to the official presiding over the meeting, indicating that he could start.
The purpose of this investment conference is to attract investment for the maritime transportation outsourcing business in the Haihan East China Sea Colonial Zone from 1636 to 1637. The routes are mainly divided into three major areas: North, Central and South. The central region refers to the coastal areas of Zhejiang and Jiangsu. The south of Zhejiang from Fujian to Hainan Island is classified as the southern region, while the northern region specifically refers to the Yellow Sea, Bohai Sea and coastal areas surrounding Shandong and Liaodong.
The carrier's tasks are directly assigned by the Shipping Department. After completing the specified tasks, the carrier will receive corresponding income and point rewards. Needless to say, the carrier's income is of course not very generous, but at least it can maintain its capital without losing money. The function of points is similar to the national labor grade points system established by Haihan. Carriers are upgraded through accumulation of points. They can contract higher-grade goods with higher freight charges and sell some relatively in-demand Haihan goods to designated areas. After reaching a certain level, you can even apply for the Haihan warship to provide escort when performing special missions.
And these are just the obvious benefits. After the level of the carrier increases, the level of people and information that can be accessed will also increase. You can live a prosperous life by selling information. This is not something that only professional brokers can do. live.
Of course, a businessman with pursuits like He Li would definitely disdain to go through all kinds of hardships just to be an information dealer, let alone be interested in being a broker who deceives everyone from the east to the west. Now that he is sitting here, he has decided to compete for the qualification of this carrier. In He Xiao's words, even if some businesses do not make money or even suffer small losses, as long as there is a prospect of profit, they can be started first.
He Li is not sure whether he can make a profit from the northern route, but since his brother He Xiao thinks he can give it a try, he will try his best to give it a try. He Li had done a lot of homework before landing on the island, so he came prepared. He also wanted to take this opportunity to see how big the gap in strength was between himself and those so-called officials and businessmen. According to the process that was informed to the attendees in advance, He Li knew that the carrier qualifications for the next year would be determined in the order of South, Central and North, so he did not need to worry. He could first take a look at Haihan's investment process as a spectator. a situation.
However, this investment promotion activity was more boring than He Li imagined. There were no fierce quotations or arguments during the process. Instead, each company submitted a prepared written information to Haihan Official, which was reviewed on-site by Haihan Official's professionals. , and finally identify three to five winning bidders to become the official carrier of the southern route in the next year. The reason why there are more winning bidders is of course due to the risk diversification considerations of not putting all eggs in the same basket.
He Li also prepared such written materials in advance in accordance with Haihan official requirements. Seeing that the competition for carrier qualifications was in this way, He Li felt much calmer. What he is most worried about is that other competitors will overwhelm others, but since it is such a relatively peaceful format, the scene he is worried about will probably not happen.
Soon the evaluators sitting in front of the conference room began to call the names according to the registered number plates. The merchants who were called had to go to the front to receive consultation from Haihan officials and answer some relevant questions. Upon seeing this, He Li quickly took out the written information he had prepared, and took the time to read it over again, so as not to be unable to answer when asked questions later.
After more than an hour of this, the Haihan official who presided over the meeting announced the results. As expected, the three strongest shipping companies, Zhenguo, Zhan's and Lin's brothers, which He Li was most familiar with, won the bid without any surprise. In addition, Two Zhejiang shipping companies were also lucky enough to win two quotas. He Li knew that these two families must be agents of some high-ranking local officials, but he did not know their exact identities for the time being.
What he didn't know was that only one of the two Zhejiang shipping companies was actually run by an authentic Zhejiang person, while the other was owned by the Xu family in Fujian and was just a shell to facilitate entry and exit in Zhejiang waters. Four of the five shipping companies that won the bid are Haihan's business partners, which for Haihan has minimized the risk.
The bidding in the central region was relatively more intense, and the review was not completed by lunch, so the official presiding over the meeting announced that the bid would be temporarily closed and would continue after lunch. However, due to confidentiality requirements, all participants were not allowed to leave the venue, and lunches were all brought in from outside.
After the evaluation in the central region, the local maritime merchants in Zhejiang finally made a comeback, but this was due to the stipulation that each company could only invest in one of the three regions in the north, middle and south, and after winning the bid, they could also invest in Other areas are only available as alternate selections. As long as Haihan's evaluators believe that the bidders in the area have met the qualification standards, the alternate selection will not be initiated.
This, of course, weakens the strength of several large shipping companies in disguise, but it is not a bad thing for those involved. These major shipping companies also have limited shipping capacity. Of course, they are more willing to put their limited shipping capacity on the most profitable routes. In the past, they deployed ships to maintain routes from the south to Zhejiang and even to Shandong and Liaodong. More factors In fact, it is completing a political mission, and the profit cannot compare with the prosperous southern route. Now that they can withdraw from the north, their burden has been relieved.
As for the development process in the north, these boat lines will not completely miss it. In terms of being well-informed, the heads of these big shipping companies are much better than small figures like the He brothers. Their development trajectories basically follow the expansion of Haihan. Today, the distant Liaodong Port Arthur There are also offices of these major shipping companies, and they even have a share in local investment and development.
For a large merchant like Zhan Gui, who had his whole family become a Haihan citizen a few years ago, the shipping business is just one of his businesses, and he is not that sensitive to profits. Participating in this kind of investment fair is completely in line with Haihan officials. Just an arrangement. And upstarts like the Lin brothers, who have only joined the Haihan camp for two or three years, still want to seize every opportunity to prove their value to Haihan in the hope of gaining more benefits.
And newcomers like He Li and others who have just entered this circle can only compete for the relatively deserted northern route. Although the profits are not much, at least the prospects are promising.
When He Li was about to fall asleep after waiting, the number of the people at their table was finally called. The companions next to him quickly pushed him awake and asked him to go and be questioned by Official Haihan. He Li pinched the tiger's mouth hard and used the pain to wake him up. Then he walked slowly to the front and bowed to the evaluation officials.
The evaluation officials did not ask him any tricky questions. They mainly asked about the condition of the ships that He Li could provide, the composition of the sailors, the captain's sailing experience, and He Li's familiarity with the maritime industry, etc. He Li was prepared for this in advance, and after waiting for a long time today, his nervousness had already worn off. He was able to answer questions fluently and completed the test smoothly.
After returning to his seat, the three companions quickly asked him how he was doing. He Li thought about the question and answer just now, and felt that there should be no omissions in his answer, so he responded: "There is no big mistake. Now that everyone has done everything, let's just follow the destiny!"
After the companies participating in the competition for the Northern Route answered their questions one by one, after waiting for about half an hour, the Haihan official who presided over the meeting finally came out to announce the results.
(End of chapter)