Chapter 1537: Each takes what he needs
He Li had never thought that such a good thing would happen. When he first went to compete for the qualification of the northern route carrier, he still managed to find a few partnerships here and there to barely reach the entry threshold. Later, due to financial constraints, He also had to apply for financial assistance from his brother He Xiao. As for the plantations invested in the Liaodong region, he did not pay all the funds from his own pocket, and he did not have any extra funds to expand the scale of the shipping company under his name. To put it more seriously, if Haihan now plans to arrange a long-term northern route transportation task for him, he may also need to advance part of the freight to maintain the shipping line's material preparation and personnel expenses.
But He Li also knew that the Haihan people were very purposeful in doing things, and would never be kind-hearted to help him. There must be some hidden secret that he didn't know about. And Shi Diwen will definitely not tell the whole story about his plans. After all, this involves the operation of Zhoushan Shipyard, which is information that needs to be kept confidential.
He Li decided to be a little more cautious and inquire about the situation before making a decision, so he continued to ask: "If we follow the general's arrangement and order a cargo ship from Zhoushan Shipyard, I don't know how long the construction period will be and when will the ship be delivered?"
Shi Diwen asked: "Have you seen our country's Yugong-class cargo ships in Zhoushan and Liaodong?"
He Li nodded. He was indeed quite impressed by this type of heavy-duty cargo ship. At that time, heading north from Zhoushan to Liaodong, there were several such cargo sailing ships named Yugong class by Haihan in the fleet. This kind of sailing ship can carry hundreds of tons of cargo, far exceeding the sailing ships whose maximum tonnage is only a hundred tons. Moreover, the ship is equipped with its own boom and grab, so the efficiency of loading and unloading dry bulk cargo at the terminal is far beyond that of ordinary cargo ships. The ship uses Haihan's unique sail system, which can maintain a speed of more than five knots even when fully loaded, and the maximum speed can even reach ten knots. Its transportation efficiency is enough to make any Ming maritime merchant covet.
Of course, the cost of building this kind of heavy-duty cargo sailing ship is much higher than that of the Guangzhou Fu ship commonly used by the Ming Dynasty maritime merchants. If the load capacity is used as a criterion only, the price-performance ratio of the Yugong-class sailing ship is actually not as good as that of the maritime merchants. ship. But if transportation efficiency is taken into consideration, then the Yugong-class sailboat naturally has the clear upper hand. And the most important thing is that the cargo ships produced by Haihan are not exported much. They are in short supply and are priceless. Maritime merchants with insufficient funds simply do not dare to spend money to wait for a long shipbuilding period.
Of course, He Li was no exception and wanted to get this kind of ship, but he knew that his own funds were limited, and it would be difficult to maintain the daily operation of the shipyard from time to time. He was temporarily unable to allocate more funds to invest in shipbuilding and expand the scale of operations, so he did not Too many unrealistic ideas. But now that Shi Diwen suddenly placed such a big benefit in front of him, He Li's mind that had already settled down couldn't help but start to move again.
Then I heard Shi Diwen continue: "Currently, Zhoushan Shipyard can also build Yugong-class sailing ships. If you are willing to accept our help, then the keel can be laid tomorrow at the latest. If everything goes well, you can receive it in forty days." Arriving at the first ship.”
He Li asked out of nowhere: "Then with a villain's situation, how many ships can he order at most at one time?"
As soon as Shi Diwen heard what he said, he knew that the previous persuasion had worked, and immediately responded: "I suggest ordering four to six ships at a time, so that the shipyard can prepare materials uniformly, and it can also save a little bit on construction costs and time. . If you use these ships to run the northern route, you can get your money back in about a year at most, and the financial pressure will not be too great.”
He Li nodded and said: "General Shi is right...but this is specific to the cost of each ship. Please give a real figure so that the villain can weigh whether it is affordable."
Shi Diwen responded without hesitation: "The civilian version of the Yugong-class sailboat, the ex-factory price of each ship is only 4,800 taels of silver, and comes with three months of marine accident insurance and free maintenance services. We can also train the crew on your behalf. , teaching and skills included. Boss He, you can’t find a boat like this anywhere else at this price.”
He Lixin said that only Haihan's shipyard could build such a large sailing ship, and of course there was no other shipyard. The cost of 4,800 taels of silver is indeed not cheap. It only costs one or two thousand taels of silver to build a sea-going ship in the Ming Dynasty. If He Li had to pay for it out of his own pocket, he would definitely give up, but now that Haihan is willing to advance the shipbuilding costs with a low-interest loan, it seems worth a try.
He Li silently calculated in his mind that if Shi Diwen's annual interest rate was five cents, the annual interest of 4,800 taels of silver would be just over 200 taels. It was not really a big sum, let alone the fastest four The ship can be picked up in ten days, and the interest for these forty days is only more than twenty taels of silver, which is negligible compared to the cost. If we can make five or six round trips on the northern route a year, the surplus in freight will almost make up for the money we paid to buy the ship. As for what Shi Diwen said about giving away this or that, He Li knew that it was just a business promotion method commonly used by Haihan people, so he didn't particularly care.
After some calculation, He Li thought that this business would definitely be profitable, so he decisively said to Shi Diwen: "General Shi, how about I just place an order for six ships first?"
"Boss He is so refreshing!" Shi Diwen greatly appreciated He Li's statement: "I will call someone to come and handle the procedures for Boss He."
When Shi Diwen entered Ningbo City this time, staff from various relevant departments were brought over. He was immediately ready to get up and notify people from the shipping department and financial department to come over for Heli to handle the loan and ship purchase procedures.
Seeing this, He Li hurriedly said: "General Shi, wait a minute. I am ordering six ships at a time. Are there any other discounts?"
Shi Diwen understood that He Li wanted to bargain with him again, and immediately asked: "Then I wonder what kind of discount Boss He wants?"
He Li blinked his eyes, and then said: "On my last trip to Liaodong, I noticed that this kind of cargo ship can also be equipped with weapons such as artillery for self-defense. I wonder if your country can sell a few small cannons for self-defense. We will defend ourselves at sea in the future.”
"I'm afraid this is a bit difficult!" Shi Diwen explained: "The cargo ship that went to Liaodong with your fleet last time was actually a military model, and what we sold was a civilian model. There was no design for deploying artillery on the deck. The body structure is not reinforced accordingly." He Li couldn't help but feel a little disappointed when he heard this answer. Of course, he hoped that what he spent money to buy was a sailboat with armed self-defense capabilities, but he didn't expect to get such an answer. He Li still had a hint of luck and asked: "Can I add more money to exchange for a military model?"
"Yes!" Shi Diwen nodded, but before a smile appeared on He Li's face, he continued: "But the military model is half as expensive, and it cannot be purchased with a loan. Only cash transactions are accepted. In addition, it is necessary to pay The shipping date is no longer forty days, but three months.”
Upon hearing this, He Li knew that this matter was too unrealistic for him, so he had to give up the idea. Shi Diwen sneered secretly in his heart. Although the military equipment exported by Haihan had reduced performance compared to the self-use version, how could anyone buy it with money? If a private person wanted to make sporadic purchases, he would naturally have to wield a big stick and strike hard. Businessmen like He Li wanted to purchase military transport ships just for fun, so Shi Diwen simply quoted a relatively harsh price to persuade him to quit. Without having to go back and forth to the Ministry of National Defense and the Executive Committee for approval, it would take several days just to review the arms sales procedures.
He Li could only settle for the next best thing: "Can the price of these six ship orders be discounted?"
Shi Diwen is well aware of the psychology of people like He Li. Now that he has persuaded the other party, he will not give any extra small favors. He immediately shook his head and said: "To be honest, selling ships with low-interest loans like this, our country's shipyards I can't make much money. No matter how good the deal is, I can only give it back. The more I sell, the more I will lose. So why should I do this deal? If Boss He still feels that such conditions are not satisfactory, then it doesn't matter. But I believe there will always be wise bosses who are willing to accept such trading conditions.”
He Li thought to himself that if I refused, would that mean I was ignorant? Although he was not happy with such a verbal attack, He Li did not dare to show any displeasure on his face and responded with an apologetic smile: "General Shi is joking. With such generous conditions, how can a villain have any dissatisfaction! It's just a business habit." , I hope General Shi will not blame you!”
Shi Diwen smiled and said: "We are all our own people, easy to talk to."
The two of them had their own thoughts, and after going around and around for a while, they finally finalized the shipbuilding order. Shi Diwen immediately called the staff to come over and handle the procedures for He Li.
Although a verbal agreement has been reached, there are still a lot of formalities to be completed. There are as many as seven or eight different agreements in a thick stack. Although He Li trusted the Haihan people, he still had to read the contents one by one before he dared to sign. As for the technical standards and related data of the cargo ships ordered, He Li did not understand many aspects, and had to listen to the staff of the Shipping Department to explain them to him in detail.
By the time these agreements were finalized, it was already almost midnight. Shi Diwen had already ordered his servants to prepare supper, so the two of them had a makeshift meal in the study room. Only then did Shi Diwen give He Li a gift. Walk.
Being able to complete the Ningbo transportation industry talks in one day was a good start, which gave Shi Diwen a little more confidence in the mission of the trip. But starting from the grain industry on the second day, the negotiations did not go so smoothly.
As the land of fish and rice in the south of the Yangtze River, Ningbo's grain output has always been high. More than half of the grain purchased by Haihan in Zhejiang comes from Ningbo itself. It can be said that all the relatively powerful grain merchants in Ningbo have had more or less trade dealings with Haihan. In the past period of time, most of the grain Haihan transported from Zhejiang to Shandong and Liaodong was purchased locally, and by the way, it also enriched a group of grain merchants.
But precisely because of this, grain merchants do not agree very much with Haihan's intention to integrate the local grain industry, because Haihan's purpose is obviously to control this industry and then control the pricing power of grain, which will obviously violate the law. To the benefit of the food people. Therefore, grain merchants have expressed disapproval of Shi Diwen's proposals such as "unifying grain purchase prices" and "establishing industry alliances". Although no one dared to directly oppose Shi Diwen's proposal due to face and fear, they were unwilling to agree to the so-called integration plan.
Shi Diwen really can't come up with many conditions that can threaten the grain merchants in the negotiations in this industry. After all, even if they don't sell the grain to Haihan, these grain merchants can still sell the grain to other areas. At most, The profit is a little less, but at least the pricing power is in your own hands. If Haihan does not purchase grain from Zhejiang, it will have to ship grain from the south to the distant northern colonies, which greatly exceeds the cost of purchasing grain in Zhejiang.
The only strategy Haihan can adopt is to decentralize procurement, expand the grain purchasing area to the entire Jiangsu and Zhejiang grain-producing areas, and reduce the share of grain purchased locally in Ningbo. However, the result of this is only to reduce the profits of local grain merchants, but it does not prompt them to give up the confrontation. The transportation industry that Shi Diwen previously negotiated will bring more benefits to practitioners after integration. This is fundamentally different from the situation in the grain industry.
Shi Diwen failed to reach a consensus after two days of talks with the grain merchants. He also realized that the original plan of the Ministry of Commerce was not comprehensive enough. He did not expect that the reaction of the grain merchants would be so strong. He could only act decisively. The original plan was temporarily abandoned. To solve the problem of food procurement, the only way left is to increase the supply of food. Fortunately, the agricultural area developed by Haihan on the island of Taiwan has begun to harvest. In addition to meeting the survival needs of local immigrants, there is already a slight surplus in grain production. In time, the farmland on the plains of Taiwan's west coast can be produced and can be transported to the northern colonies by sea. , to meet the needs of local people.
This small setback did not affect Shi Diwen's mood too much. He knew that the next financial industry was Haihan's strength and would no longer be as controlled by others as the food industry. There are many private banks in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, but no matter in terms of financial strength or operational strategies, the financial institutions of this era are far from being able to compete with the Haihan financial system led by Schneider. For this meeting, Schneider specially sent his general Cai Jinmei to Zhejiang to assist Shi Diwen in the financial industry integration talks.
Shi Diwen had dealt with Cai Jinmei, a bank clerk, in the early days of time travel. He knew that this tall and thin woman was highly professional in finance, so he had no objection to Schneider transferring her to Zhejiang to take charge of this matter. In fact, he was grateful for Schneider's arrangement, which freed him from the tedious financial numbers game and only had to be responsible for making the final decision and signing.
(End of chapter)