Chapter 2232
If one were to make a list of Haihan's business partners over the years based on their level of profit, the Li family, the operators of Guangzhou Furifeng Trading Company, would most likely be at the top.
As the first large businessman to launch commercial cooperation with Haihan in the Ming Dynasty, Furifeng has reaped many benefits from it over the years. I am afraid that even Li Jifeng, the patriarch of the Li family, cannot tell clearly, and the scale of the industry he operates is here It has been developing rapidly during this period.
Nowadays, the commercial sites under the name of Furifeng are not just in Guangzhou, but also all over the coastal states of Guangdong and Guangxi. With the expansion of Haihan, the industry has been extended overseas. As long as it is a place with the double-color flag of Haihan, There will almost always be Li family properties.
As long as it is an area newly occupied by Haihan overseas, Fulifeng will definitely be among the first batch of merchants arriving there to undertake infrastructure projects. Most of the colonial infrastructure supporting facilities such as farms, shipping, transportation, etc. will have Fulifeng involved in the construction. and operations. Because of this, although Fulifeng is a business name of the Ming Dynasty, many people outside the Ming Dynasty who do not know the inside story will subconsciously think that Fulifeng is an official businessman with an official background from Haihan.
Although this is a misunderstanding, such an image can bring a lot of convenience to Furifeng's overseas operations. Therefore, the Li family has never denied these rumors and has acquiesced in its semi-official status in the eyes of the public. After all, this is special treatment that no other family can ask for. It is beneficial and harmless to the Li family, so they are naturally happy to see it happen.
A large part of the reason why the Li family and Fu Ruifeng were able to receive such high-standard treatment was because the Li family had a third young master, Li Nai, who was very close to the top management of Haihan.
From the moment Furifeng first started dealing with Haihan, Li Nai was directly involved. After the initial contact, Li Nai was attracted by the talents of these overseas Han descendants, and quickly became a supporter of Haihan culture.
At that time, Haihan had not yet established a stable foothold in Sanya, and needed to open a trade window in the Ming Dynasty. The emergence of Furifeng and Li Nai just met Haihan's needs. However, Li Nai was also interested in the various benefits brought by the Crossing Group. New things are full of curiosity, and Haihan also happens to use him to try the effect of instilling consciousness and concepts, so the distance between the two parties quickly narrows. In the process, Li Nai also gains the friendship of Haihan's senior management and wins for Furifeng. status of trading partners.
Later, in the various large-scale transnational business groups established under the leadership of Haihan officials, such as Qiong Lianfa, Nanhai Business Group, Guangdong and Guangxi Business Group, etc., Furifeng played the role of major shareholder in all of them, and also acted as Haihan's spokesperson for Haihan's interests and firmly stood on Haihan's side when making some important decisions.
As trading partners, the two parties have been cooperating very happily over the years, and each has gained huge benefits from this relationship. Li Nai has probably visited Sanya more times than any other businessman in the Ming Dynasty. He even once lived in Sanya. More than half a year.
It is worth mentioning that the Golden Shield Escort, which is now quite famous in the coastal areas of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian and Guangdong, was originally a cooperation project led by Haihan executives and Li Nai. At first, both parties did not treat this as a long-term industry. They just wanted to add some armed guards to the Haihan Office in Guangdong and help the Li family train some armed personnel so that Li Nai, who was "idle" in the Li family at the time, could have a job. Working on it now.
However, the business grew bigger and bigger later on, and now Golden Shield Transport has become a big business across many countries. Haihan has also used this industry to place many retired soldiers who have returned to work. But few outsiders know that Li Nai is also a senior figure in charge of the management rights of Golden Shield.
In recent years, because Furifeng's industry has grown bigger and bigger, and its fields and regions involved have become wider and wider, Li Nai, who is in charge of these affairs, does not have as much time to visit Sanya as he did in the early years. Therefore, Li Zhen has been studying in Sanya for a long time. It has been more than half a year, but I have only seen the famous Young Master Li San once or twice.
In Li Xie's eyes, although Li Nai is a businessman, his social status and influence are far beyond that of ordinary businessmen. If he can interact more with such people, it will definitely be beneficial to his future development. Tian Zheng was willing to take the initiative to make connections and arrange meetings, which was a good thing that Li Xie could only hope for.
Li Zhen responded: "Then I would like to thank Mr. Tian for his kindness! But before Mr. Li San comes to Sanya, do he have to say hello to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs?"
"It's such a trivial matter, it doesn't matter. As for Young Master Li San's itinerary, I don't always inform him in advance. It's just that this time the situation is special, so I sent a call to report the itinerary." Tian Zheng did not take credit for this. It was indeed a trivial matter in his opinion. Li Nai likes to make friends with people from all walks of life, and coming to Sanya is just like going back to his own home. He has no scruples about meeting guests. With Tian Zheng's friendship with him, it is not difficult to arrange such a meeting.
Regarding Li Nai's itinerary, Tian Zheng already has relatively accurate information. Before Li Nai came to Sanya this time, the Li Nai Guangdong Office had already sent a telegram informing him of his itinerary, so Tian Zheng estimated that he would arrive in Hong Kong in the past two days.
The reason why Li Nai sent a message to inform him of the itinerary in advance was not to ask Sanya to prepare a welcome ceremony, but because he was escorting a batch of important cargo when he was going south from Guangzhou this time, and he would arrange for immediate transfer after arriving in Sanya. We are going to Nanyang, so we sent a telegram first to ask them to prepare ships and manpower for the trip to Nanyang, so as not to waste too much unnecessary time in the transshipment process.
The reason why this telegram was copied to the Foreign Affairs Department was because the owner of the cargo Li Nai escorted was a Dutch person, and the Dutch would also be involved in the transshipment process in Sanya. Therefore, Li Nai still followed the rules and sent the telegram first. Report it to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to avoid misunderstanding.
Re-export trade like this is actually not uncommon in Sanya, but some countries have always been on the official supervision list, and the Netherlands is one of them.
Due to the many armed conflicts with Haihan in the early years, the relationship between the Netherlands and Haihan has always been relatively delicate. The Dutch also know that it is difficult for the East India Company's armed fleet alone to compete with Haihan's growing navy, so in recent years they have slowly begun to try to accept and join Haihan's trading system, becoming a key player in the trade circle dominated by Haihan. One member.
Of course, such a transformation process is not easy for both parties. The Dutch East India Company cannot take the initiative to give up part of its existing interests like the Portuguese in exchange for the supply of goods and markets provided by Haihan. Therefore, they are within Haihan's sphere of influence. All trading activities must be subject to official supervision by Haihan.
The Dutch have also thought of many ways to try to change this situation, such as seeking powerful third-party merchants to act as agents to purchase some restricted goods on their behalf, and then transport them to Batavia for trading. However, this plan still has drawbacks. Third-party merchants who are truly capable of operating this kind of re-export trade basically tend to favor Haihan, and will not side with the Dutch simply for economic gains. Therefore, the Dutch can only acquiesce to this status quo and agree with the agent's practice of reporting trade content to Haihan. Anyway, if you can buy a little bit of the in-demand goods, it will be much better than having nothing to gain by yourself.
The special items purchased by the Dutch from Guangzhou this time were a batch of fine steel produced in Foshan. Although the smelting workshops in Foshan are not Haihan's industry, Haihan has already warned several Western countries not to allow them to purchase large quantities of steel directly from Foshan. This is to allow Haihan to monopolize the steel market for a long time. Secondly, it is to consider security factors to prevent these foreign devils from secretly mass-producing weapons in the colonies.
Originally, the Dutch East India Company had no such demand. There were also iron mines and smelting workshops near Batavia, which could produce the various iron products it needed. However, during the war with the Matalan Kingdom a few years ago, these facilities located in the outskirts of Batavia were either destroyed or simply occupied by the Matalan Kingdom, which basically completely cut off Batavia's self-produced products. The power of steel.
This is also one of the reasons why the Dutch came to Sanya to bid for weapons with Madalan in the past two years. On the one hand, they could not let their opponents purchase too many Haihan weapons and change the strength comparison between the two sides. On the other hand, Bada Via also needs to supplement weapons to ensure his own safety, and Haihan is basically the only source of weapons during this period.
After all, it takes too long to transport weapons from distant Europe, and at this time, Europe is undergoing the Thirty Years War. Countries including the Netherlands are in a mess, and it is difficult to transport many weapons to the East to reinforce it. The colonial arm of the Indian Company. The East India Company could only try to find resources nearby to solve the problem of weapons shortage.
Of course, due to Haihan's shrewd calculations, the process of bidding for weapons by Madalan and the East India Company in Haihan did not go smoothly, and they failed to achieve the results they expected. The East India Company also knew that it was extremely difficult to order weapons in Haihan, so it still had to try to collect steel from the outside world and manufacture weapons on its own.
Because of the rules set by Haihan, the Dutch could not directly purchase large quantities of steel from Foshan, so they had to turn to agents to handle it. In the process, they had to bear transaction prices that were much higher than the market price. Naturally, most of the premium was taken away by the black-hearted Haihan people.
Therefore, the Dutch's procurement process not only has to bear high prices, but also is supervised by Haihan throughout the process, and there are still clear limits on the purchase volume. But even so, they can't be too picky. Even if there are all kinds of troubles in the process, it is still much easier than ordering weapons from Haihan.
The person who handled this matter for the Dutch was Furifeng. Although Haihan did not specify it directly, he clearly informed the Dutch that if the carrier was not Furifeng, then the steel products shipped to Sanya could not be guaranteed. Can it be allowed to be transferred out?
As a result, another strange chain of interests was formed. Haihan handed over the transaction to Furifeng, and obtained a benefit through a hard price increase. While making money, Furifeng also helped Haihan supervise the Dutch purchase of iron in Foshan. The condition of the product ensures that it does not exceed the limits specified by Haihan.
It’s not like the Dutch haven’t thought about buying steel produced in Changhua on nearby Hainan Island. The quality is far better than that of Foshan. But unfortunately, even if they are willing to give money, Haihan officials will not agree to sell them in large quantities. Steel produced in Changhua.
You can buy finished products such as iron pots, shovels, and kitchen knives, but if you want to buy back the molten iron to make other weapons, the cost will be higher than buying Foshan goods from an agent. Moreover, these products are openly sold on the market. If someone purchases them in large quantities, it will certainly be easier for Haihan officials to discover them.
Tian Zheng had nothing to do, so he explained to Li Nai the reason why Li Nai called to report the trip. In fact, these things are not confidential. They are basically semi-public information. However, people like Li Zhen who are not involved in this industry do not know the inside story at all.
Li Zhi's recent diplomacy course included an introduction to the international relations of the Nanyang countries, including the feud between Haihan and the Netherlands. Now that there were specific examples for analysis, he listened with interest.
"Master Tian, your country's methods are cruel! I saw on the chart that Batavia City is thousands of miles away from Sanya. They are forced to travel so far to buy high-priced iron. This business ability is really amazing. I admire you!" Li Xie couldn't help but sigh after hearing the ending.
Tian Zheng smiled and shook his head and said: "The Dutch are not that stupid. They just had no choice but to do so. The waters around Batavia were surrounded by powerful enemies. They had no way to purchase a large amount of steel nearby, so they took advantage of the opportunity to engage in trading activities near the Ming coast. By the way, they will purchase some through such special channels. They have not placed all their bets here. Southern countries such as Annam, Siam, Champa, and Johor are also their targets for purchasing steel production capacity. Smaller, the quantity available is far from enough to meet their needs, so they give us a discount.”
Li Zhen said thoughtfully: "But the Dutch must not be willing to be controlled by your country for a long time. If they one day produce enough weapons, they may still challenge your country's authority!"
"It's difficult!" Tian Zheng shook his head and said: "If they provoke our country, we don't have to go south to conquer Batavia. We only need to cut off their northern trade routes to make them surrender. These Dutch are just looking for gold at sea. Customers, what they want is trade opportunities, not a life-and-death fight with my country, not to mention that they know very well that they have no chance of winning.”
Li Zhi recalled the courses he had studied, and mentioned several armed conflicts between Haihan and the Netherlands, but the instructor mentioned them all in one sentence, and he had not had time to go to the library to check the relevant war history reports. He must have taught the Dutch a hard lesson at that time, so they obeyed the arrangements so obediently now.
(End of chapter)