Chapter 1472 Northern Route (5)
Majiazhuang used to be just a small village in Fushan County. Not many people in Dengzhou knew about it, let alone the whole of Shandong. But today's Majiazhuang has been rumored to be the "No. 1 Village in Dengzhou". The prosperity of this town alone is comparable to that of a big city.
Of course, the superficial glamor cannot fully explain the development here. To verify whether the prosperity of a place has reached a relatively high standard, the easiest way is to look at the level of commercial catering here. The guests and hosts hosted this time are all business people, so they naturally know all about these things. As soon as the banquet started, it was basically clear what the current level of Majiazhuang was.
Shandong cuisine is originally one of the four traditional Chinese cuisines. In the "Essentials of Qi Min" written by Jia Sixie in the late Northern Wei Dynasty, he described the "steaming, boiling, roasting, stuffing, frying, stir-frying, boiling, and cooking" of the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River. ", fried" and other cooking techniques are summarized, which can be said to have laid the framework of Chinese cooking techniques. In the Ming Dynasty, a large number of Shandong chefs and dishes were selected into the palace, which made the upright, peaceful and health-preserving style characteristics of Shandong cuisine more prominent.
The chefs in the Majiazhuang restaurant are all chefs hired from Jinan Prefecture with huge sums of money, so the banquet prepared is naturally a standard Shandong cuisine banquet. On the table are first-grade tofu, braised sea cucumber with green onions, chicken nuggets with sugar sauce, elephant-eye pigeon eggs, Xishi tongue in clear soup, shredded yam, braised prawns, musu pork, fish with vinegar and pepper... Dozens of dishes are served one after another, all of which are delicious. A masterpiece in Shandong cuisine. Even several well-informed gourmets in the visiting team couldn't help but praise the authentic taste of Shandong cuisine here after trying it.
Even people who have not studied food know that this level of feast is certainly not something that can be enjoyed in ordinary towns. The chefs who can make these dishes will definitely not use ingredients that come from Zhejiang. The team only started preparations temporarily after arriving at Zhifu Port. At most, they could only start preparations one day in advance. If there is such a level in normal times, it is conceivable that the local consumer group is not all ordinary people. There must be a group of upper-class people with strong economic strength who often come to spend money to support this high-end restaurant.
Since Majiazhuang has such a high-end restaurant, it must not exist in isolation. There must be many supporting facilities of comparable quality, such as inns, carriage houses, brothels, etc. And when the service industry in a region develops to a certain extent, the social wealth gathered here will naturally be quite astonishing. They don't need to travel throughout Majiazhuang. From this place alone, they can roughly deduce the level of economic development here.
Of course, He Li and others would never believe that so much wealth could be gathered into Majiazhuang from the outside. This was just driven by the private sector. The local government in Shandong probably not only acquiesced in private trade, but also probably Only by secretly adding fuel to the flames could this originally unknown Zhuangzi turn into a prosperous town in such a short period of time. Haihan displayed these situations intentionally or unintentionally, naturally so that He Li and others could realize how influential and effective Haihan was in the local area.
During the dinner, Ma Dongqiang was also half drunk and half awake and roughly revealed some of Haihan's long-term plans in the local area. First of all, the land on Zhifu Island will definitely not be let go and returned to Ming Dynasty. Haihan is considering seeking a legal settlement. He took this land from Daming in a certain way, even if he had to spend some money for it. As for these lands in Fushan County, what Haihan wants to focus on protecting are the last two places that the Zhejiang businessmen visited today. One is the Fushan Copper Mine, and the other is Majiazhuang. These two places, including their surrounding areas, will definitely It will not be returned to Daming again.
In addition to these key protection areas, Haihan has currently developed and constructed plantations within the jurisdiction of Fushan County. Of course, Haihan will not give up easily. Therefore, the overall plan is to at least retain the existing control areas. The process can be negotiated with Daming. The solution is to take your time. In the future, this area will serve as Haihan's base in Shandong Peninsula, echoing the area it occupies in Liaodong across the sea.
At this time, He Li slowly came back to his senses, and was even more impressed by Haihan's arrangement of the whole day's visit. After watching this day, they at least knew that the resources and development efforts Haihan invested in Shandong were not a joke, and Haihan hiring them to operate the northern route was indeed profitable, not just to satisfy their hunger.
After seeing Majiazhuang, He Li also had more expectations for the Liaodong region that he had not yet contacted. He heard that Haihan had already been in such a situation in Shandong for less than two years, while Liaodong occupied a larger area, and there was no external resistance like local government, so it had more room to operate than Fushan County. Only big, not small. If it is operated properly, it is possible to become a major trading port in the Bohai Bay in a few years, and starting early will obviously bring many conveniences in the future.
Everyone had a banquet in the restaurant, and most of them were already drunk. In addition, they had been running around for a whole day and were exhausted. Everyone had no interest in the "sideshow" prepared by Ma Dongqiang and just wanted to go to bed early. Take a nap. Seeing this, Ma Dongqiang didn't force himself. It was getting dark now, so he asked someone to send them to the inn they had contacted in advance to rest, and then return to Zhifu Island tomorrow.
After everyone arrived at the inn, a waiter ushered them in. They shared a room with each other. Hot water and towels were already prepared. They quickly cleaned up and took a rest.
Early the next morning, everyone had breakfast at the inn, and then took the bus back to Zhifu Island. With yesterday's experience as a source of conversation, everyone started talking about Haihan's business situation in Shandong on the way. In addition to profits from trade, what these maritime merchants care most about is the safety of the destination, including the political situation, public security conditions, port supporting facilities, etc. Judging from yesterday’s visit, Haihan There is obviously no doubt about their professionalism in this area. The degree of perfection of their measures in this field far exceeds the scope of businessmen's worries. Haihan has even made full preparations for some details that they have not considered at all.
If it is an investment target, these Zhejiang businessmen will be happy to invest some money in Shandong and run businesses such as stores. Anyway, they have a ready-made fleet on hand, and they will definitely have certain advantages in terms of freight. After walking around yesterday, Haihan did not mention any projects for them to invest in, and even plantations, an investment project with the lowest threshold, did not make a formal promotion to them.
He Li had been listening to the discussion of several other people without expressing his opinion. When he heard this, he interrupted: "Fushan is too small. I guess the Haihan people don't want to make the situation too complicated, so they have no plans to attract large-scale investment. If they want to If you want to spend money and do some business locally, I think Majiazhuang is probably the only place where you can start.”
After everyone heard this, they thought about what they saw and heard yesterday, and it seemed that this was indeed the case. The ownership rights of the plantations they went to early in the morning seemed to be in the hands of Haihan officials, and they had not heard of any land being developed privately. The county is full of local traditional large households, and Haihan specially left this area untouched. As for the copper mine, it is protected by the army like an iron barrel array, and it is impossible for private investors to participate in the operation. After much calculation, it seems that only the prosperous town of Majiazhuang still has some investment space.
"In Brother He's opinion, is Majiazhuang worth a try?" Someone felt that He Li was right and continued to ask questions.
He Li pondered: "Haihan arranged for us to visit the local area, and naturally used Majiazhuang as a demonstration. And what we have seen is that there are indeed many foreign merchants running businesses in the local area. If I am not mistaken, we are not The first group of people to visit Majiazhuang will certainly not be the last. If Haihan wants the Shandong Control Area to continue to prosper, he will probably need more businessmen to join in. It's worth a try!" Of course, this kind of chatting on the way will not lead to any definite conclusion. Everyone is just asking each other for their opinions. The real decision needs to be made after careful consideration. After all, this place is too far away from Zhejiang, and large investments must consider daily supervision and operation issues.
However, He Li has already made up his mind. Regardless of whether others invest or not, he has planned to open a business store here. If he invests several thousand taels of silver, he should be able to get his money back soon. When he visited, he paid special attention to the shops in the town. There were only a few selling southern goods. The varieties were few and expensive. Apparently, the problem of supply and supply was not solved well. For a maritime businessman like him from the south, this is naturally an excellent business opportunity, and there is no reason to let it go easily.
Of course, he believed that he was not the only one to notice such details, so the sooner he started, the more advantage he would have first. Others may have to spend time considering various issues before starting to make plans and implement them, but he plans to finalize the matter with the relevant departments of Haihan as soon as possible and notify his brother He Xiao to make preparations in Zhejiang as soon as possible.
He Li is not worried that his affirmation of the investment environment in Majiazhuang will bring too many competitors to him. Even if he does not say this, others are not stupid and will naturally infer Haihan from what they see and hear. intention and sincerity. But he believed that he would be able to put this plan into action faster than others, because he knew from his brother that the Haihan people had the ability to communicate across thousands of miles, and this technology was something that outsiders could pay to enjoy the service.
Of course, maybe there are others in the team who also know this secret that is not a secret, so he planned to contact officials from the Haihan Ministry of Commerce as soon as he returned to Zhifu Island and spend money to send the news back to Zhejiang. One step is faster, each step is faster. He Li believes that as long as He Xiao receives the news, he will naturally understand his plan and cooperate with it.
After returning to Zhifu Island without incident, He Li took a chance and went to find the official from the Ministry of Commerce who was responsible for receiving them and informed him of his request. The official kindly reminded him: "This method is very expensive. If Boss He wants to understand the content clearly, it is best to be as concise and concise as possible."
When He Li asked about the price, he was shocked. It was as high as three taels of silver per word. Officials' explanation is that the civilian telegraph network is still in the debugging stage, and for the time being it can only follow the military's path. The military has rare goods and has set such a high price, and the Ministry of Commerce cannot make the decision. After a period of time when civilian telegraphs are put into use, this fee will be greatly reduced-to about one tael of silver per word.
He Li didn't know much about debugging, but he knew that whether it was the military method or the civilian method mentioned by the official, the price of this communication was far beyond what ordinary people could afford. But the other party also said that the message sent from here to Zhoushan Island can be sent to Ningbo by speedboat on the same day, directly to He Xiao. This efficiency is already impeccable in He Li's opinion.
Since the military was willing to sacrifice a lot of money, He Li had no choice but to grit his teeth and accept the offer. He worked with the official on deleting and revising it, and it took a long time to reduce the original manuscript of more than a hundred words to more than thirty. And the general idea remains unchanged. In the end, it took a hundred taels of silver to finally get the telegram finished.
However, He Li did not see how the text message was sent in the end. The officials took away the manuscript of his letter and his money, and later the receipt only contained the words "content has been sent" and a The seal of the Shandong Garrison Communications Liaison Office.
"So... the letter has been sent out?" He Li asked in disbelief. He always felt as if he had been defrauded of a sum of money by the other party. How could he send the letter away so quickly and without any movement?
The official didn't take it seriously, nodded and said: "Don't worry, this receipt is stamped with the seal of the army and cannot be faked. The letter will be received over there within today."
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He Li frowned and said, "Then how do I know whether I received it or not?"
The official smiled and said: "If your brother knows your thoughts, he will definitely send a reply as soon as possible to reassure you."
He Li couldn't help but smile when he heard this: "Doesn't this mean we have to keep replying to each other so that the other party can feel at ease?"
However, there is one thing that makes He Li feel a little relieved, that is, except for him, no one in the entire team seems to have thought of using telegrams to transmit the information they obtained in Shandong back, so that Zhejiang can do it first. It is good to prepare for the early stage of investment in Shandong. This made He Li feel proud of his foresight. If this plan could be implemented smoothly in the end, it would be worth spending one hundred taels of silver to summon him.
The next morning, as the fleet was getting ready for departure, a horse went directly to the dock and sent a telegram from Zhejiang to He Li, who was about to board the ship. The content was exactly his brother He Xiao's reply to the previous telegram. . However, He Xiao is obviously much smarter than He Li. This reply has only one word: OK.
(End of chapter)