Chapter 1578 Gains and losses
Luo Hong felt as if he was struck by lightning when he heard this. He really couldn't believe that the Dutch, who had been weak in the first five bidding projects, could actually defeat him in the last one without any ability to fight back. The other party only used one round of bidding opportunities before completely beating him to death. What kind of courage and determination to win!
Although Luo Hong has won the previous five projects and can be said to be the big winner in today's competition, he is not happy at all at this time. Luo Hong thought that the three million offer he had prepared was enough to make Su Keyi leave the venue in disgrace, and return to Batavia with a zero score to plead with his red-haired boss to admit his mistake, but it was obvious that the other party had already prepared a script, and waited. Only when this moment came did he finally take action and give himself a heavy blow. The words he had originally prepared to ridicule the other party were now stuck in his throat.
Bai Kesi stood up and opened the bidding sign belonging to the East India Company on the wall. Luo Hong finally saw the amount written on it: three hundred and fifty thousand yuan. Yes, Su Keyi's offer was half a million more than Luo Hong's final offer. This was only the first round of bidding. Luo Hong couldn't imagine how much money the other party had prepared for these Haihan warships. .
Of course, what Luo Hong couldn't imagine was that Haihan gave Su Keyi extremely favorable conditions. Among the 3.5 million quoted price, 2 million was a special loan belonging to Haihan, and the East India Company only needed Just pay back half of it, which is one million. If not, Su Keyi would not have been able to lend such a large amount to Haihan. If he borrows one million, he can still manage to explain it to the governor and council of Batavia. With two million, he may have to go back and plead guilty. After all, this amount even exceeds the total annual income of the East India Company. .
However, this shady story will probably never be made public. Both parties involved have benefited greatly from it, and no one will take the initiative to expose these shady tricks. All Luo Hong could see was Su Keyi sitting opposite with a calm face. He had no idea that he had been plotted by Haihan and the Dutch.
After the results are announced, the complicated procedures and settlement steps begin. Representatives from both sides returned to their respective lounges, and a dedicated person handled the relevant procedures for them. The gold bricks Luo Hong brought to Sanya this time could only be discounted by about 3 million, so even though he failed in the last round of bidding and spent no money, the first five bids cost 4 million. In the end, he still had to make a bid. Haihan needed a million-dollar loan to complete the procedure. The same goes for his opponent Su Keyi. In the end, he also owed Haihan a huge sum of money.
Judging from the results, both parties owed Haihan a debt of one million, and the ratio of the projects purchased by the two parties was five to one. It seemed that Matalan had a clear upper hand. But in fact, because it failed to seize this last key project, the role that Matalan had previously purchased in the military confrontation will be greatly reduced.
The East India Company spent a lot of money to buy a fleet without weapons, which seemed to have suffered a big loss. However, if you think about it the other way around, if this fleet was bought by the Ma Dalan Kingdom, then the East India Company would really only I can pack up and leave Batavia in advance. Spending this money actually buys insurance for Batavia's safety. As for whether these ships can form combat effectiveness in the short term, Su Keyi actually didn't think that much about it.
This is why Heihan confidently and boldly sells these equipment to them. Even if the Dutch get these ships, they will have to rely on their own understanding to digest these warships and prepare them for them in the absence of Heihan's guidance and training. What you have achieved is not achieved overnight. What's more, the Dutch didn't even buy the original weapons on the ship. If they equip some additional cannons on the ship, the combat effectiveness will naturally be greatly reduced.
Although the bidding has ended and both parties have obtained arms purchase contracts, the actual delivery period for these goods is still not short. Among them, the spot quantity of weapons and equipment has not reached the number in the contract, and weapons such as firearms and artillery require several months of delivery time to complete. Of the twenty-four warships purchased by Su Keyi on behalf of the East India Company, only two were in stock, and it would take one to one and a half years to complete all the orders. This is because Su Keyi failed to secure ship-borne weapons, otherwise the construction period would have been extended by at least more than a month to complete the deployment and installation of naval guns on the ship.
For such a long delivery time, the Matarans and the Dutch could not rush Haihan, because these details were clearly written in the contract shown to them in advance, and these goods needed to be shipped after the order was confirmed. Start organizing production and delivery. So although representatives from both parties were very eager to deliver the goods, their urging had no effect on Haihan, who worked at his own pace.
Of course, considering the principle of fairness, since Haihan cannot deliver the arms and equipment to the buyer at once, the buyer does not have to repay the entire million-dollar loan owed to Haihan immediately. Instead, it will be repaid in installments according to the delivery cycle. Principal and interest. The Netherlands and Haihan currently maintain relatively close trade relations, and Madalan will rely heavily on Haihan's technical support in the military field in the future, so there is no need to worry that they will maliciously default on the loan.
The representatives of the two countries had their own concerns and politely declined the dinner prepared by Haihan. They planned to go back and write a report as soon as possible and report the current situation to the rear as soon as possible so that they could start preparations for receiving weapons and equipment as soon as possible. They cannot wait until Haihan fully delivers the order before starting training of the troops. The sooner they can form combat effectiveness, the more threat they can pose to their opponents.
So the dinner became a celebration banquet for the Executive Committee. Haihan was pleased to place an arms order with a total amount of nearly 6.5 million yuan. The gross profit was at least 4 to 5 million yuan. It was indeed a happy event worth celebrating. . At this time, it had only been more than half a month since the Madalan mission came to Sanya to put forward arms purchase requirements. Haihan officials only played a role in this process. It can be said that this arms deal was a windfall. , which is simply a gain outside the official plan.
Being able to operate an arms sales project of this scale in such a short period of time is indispensable to the efficient collaboration and cooperation between various departments. Although Haihan's current functional division of labor and bureaucratic system are much more complicated than a few years ago, fortunately, when there is a major event, the executive committee, a special authority, can mobilize the resources of the entire country in the shortest time to achieve the goal. This is precisely the governance method that other countries of the same era lack.
For example, in this arms sales project, although the military, arsenal, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Commerce and other departments all have their own interests and political attitudes, under the coordination of the Executive Committee, various departments can be quickly integrated , exerting force in one direction, this is really the benefit brought by the system.
The game between countries does not seem to have a significant direct impact on the people. With the entire bidding meeting kept highly confidential, the people of Haihan did not even know about the money that was regarded as a hot topic in the past few days. The brick incident was actually resolved in such a secretive way. After the resumption of publication, "Sanya Express" did not conduct follow-up reports on this matter. The public's attention will not remain on the incident of foreigners showing off their wealth more than ten days ago. It has long been attracted by other new social news. Ran away. But the life of the person who originally caused this incident to attract social attention has undergone tremendous changes. Express editor-in-chief Xu Zhengye was interviewed alone the day after backstage boss Li Nai arrived in Sanya, and then was transferred from the newspaper, and his position was taken over by another editor. Li Nai had read the newspapers of those two days immediately, and did not blame Xu Zhengye for making such a big mistake. It was just that the matter aroused the attention of the executive committee. As the backstage boss of the newspaper, Li Nai always wanted to Just make a gesture of repentance to Haihan officials. Resigning the person in charge is probably the simplest and most effective method. And Li Nai has many businesses under his name, so it is not difficult to arrange another job for Xu Zhengye.
As for the other person involved in the incident, Xun Pengcheng, the reporter who was responsible for writing the article at the time, had already taken the initiative to go through the resignation procedures and left on his own. In the eyes of colleagues at the newspaper office, Xun Pengcheng took the initiative to leave because he did not want to be fired by his boss, which was considered a very courageous approach. And Li Nai didn't care much about the resignation of such a small employee. He was just a scholar who could write articles. It would not be difficult to recruit people with similar abilities from new immigrants to replace him. Editor-in-chief Xu Zhengye couldn't protect himself, so he naturally couldn't take care of Xun Pengcheng, who was implicated by him.
But the inside story of Xun Pengcheng's resignation was not what they thought. In fact, before and after the whole incident, the individual who benefited the most from it was probably Xun Pengcheng. When Ma Dalan envoy Luo Hong came to visit, Xun Pengcheng also gave some random advice for the sake of money, which accidentally contributed to the subsequent bidding activities. So Luo Hong fulfilled his promise and gave Xun Pengcheng a gift in private. Large sums of money as payment.
For Luo Hong, this was just a reward to an insider, but for Xun Pengcheng, this was a huge sum of money that was enough to change the trajectory of his life. After receiving the gold from Luo Hong, Xun Pengcheng did not dare to store the gold at home. Instead, he hurriedly sent it to Haihan Bank to exchange it into official currency that could be used freely in Haihan. This is because gold and silver transactions are rarely used directly in Haihan. The gold bricks and gold coins sent by Luo Hong cannot be used outside at all. However, after being converted into official currency, they can be conveniently deposited in a personal account in the bank and withdrawn at any time.
It is no exaggeration to say that the money sent by Luo Hong was enough for Xun Pengcheng to have enough food and clothing for the rest of his life, and he could also try to do some things that he had thought about but was unable to achieve. After completing the bank deposit procedures, the first thing Xun Pengcheng did was to quit his job as a reporter. He no longer wants to waste his life on such mediocre work. Now that he has become a rich man, he should enjoy the life of a rich man.
But Xun Pengcheng was also worried that his sudden wealth would attract unnecessary attention. People from the Ministry of Security came to visit him a few days ago. If those people knew that he had received a large amount of money from the Madalan people, , I’m afraid life will not be easy in the future. So Xun Pengcheng planned to leave Sanya and find another place to stay. He heard that Haikou, Danzhou and other places are also developing well now. If he could go to those places to buy property and land and become a plantation owner, it might be a good idea. arrange. Of course, it would be best if he could find opportunities to become an official elsewhere. Xun Pengcheng had never given up on his dream of becoming an official.
Xun Pengcheng's most important asset in Sanya is the small apartment he lives in now. Before leaving Sanya, he must sell this apartment first. Xun Pengcheng found a dental store to post the house sale information, but within two days, the dental store brought a buyer to negotiate the price.
Xun Pengcheng sold his house and moved into an inn in the port area temporarily. The next thing he had to do was to set a sailing date and leave, but it happened that the sea had been very windy and rough these days, and almost all the ships were taking shelter in the harbor. There were no passenger ships leaving the harbor at this time. Xun Pengcheng had no choice but to wait patiently at the inn for the weather to improve.
After staying at the inn for five days, the weather finally began to improve. Xun Pengcheng, who was already a little impatient with waiting, immediately went to the port, found the passenger ship he had contacted, and asked the captain when he could set off. After confirming that he could leave Sanya in three days, Xun Pengcheng finally let go of a big stone in his heart. Just as he was about to return to the inn, he heard someone greeting him: "Brother Xun, long time no see!"
Xun Pengcheng turned his head and looked at him in astonishment. He was wearing a green shirt and he looked like he was in his early thirties. He had a vague impression of his face, but he couldn't remember who it was. So he had to awkwardly raise his hands and say, "I'm sorry for my poor eyesight." , Your Excellency is..."
"Brother Xun is really a noble man who forgets things. When we were taking exams in the same department, we were scholars in Guangzhou together..." Seeing that Xun Pengcheng was still confused, the man had to introduce himself: "Brother Xun, I am Wang Hao, from Qingyuan. You and I also traveled to Guangzhou for three days, do you remember?”
Xun Pengcheng suddenly said: "I remember! Someone in Brother Wang's family worked as an official in Guangzhou, and later he left you in Guangzhou. After these years of separation, Brother Wang has become more and more impressive, and I don't dare to recognize you! ”
Wang Hao smiled and said: "Brother Xun, thank you! I never thought that I would meet an old friend when I come to Sanya. It's such a fate! If Brother Xun is free, why don't you and I find a place to sit down and talk about old times?"
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Xun Pengcheng is now a wealthy and idle man. Of course he is free and has plenty of money, so he doesn't mind inviting his old friends to have a casual meal. Immediately, he hailed a rickshaw on the dock and took Wang Hao to the city.
(End of chapter)