Chapter 2281
From Li Nai's point of view, the daily operations of Qiongxi Academy seemed to be doing well, the teaching environment was orderly, and the lecturers of various majors he met did not seem to have the kind of Mr. Nanguo who was just messing around. After all, Dean Zhang seems to know a little bit about all aspects of knowledge, and the minimum level of teaching here must be passed him first.
Li Nai also boasted of being knowledgeable in the past, but when he visited Qiongxi Academy this time, he was quite surprised by the erudition displayed by this unassuming dean of the academy, although his level may not be enough to be a master in a certain field. Although Zhang Jinbao has become an expert, his understanding of these subjects offered by the academy is far beyond ordinary people. Among the people Li Nai has come into contact with, there are only a few people with Zhang Jinbao's level, and even the omniscient high-ranking officials of Haihan may not understand some partial knowledge.
However, based on the contact with Zhang Jinbao these days, Li Nai can confirm that the other party is not a "born knower" like the senior officials of Haihan, but has mastered this knowledge through continuous study and accumulation. With Zhang Jinbao's ability, even if he doesn't open an academy, he will definitely be able to make some achievements in other fields.
Of course, everyone has their own ambitions. Li Nai does not arbitrarily believe that being in business or becoming an official is superior to running an academy, and he can clearly feel that Zhang Jinbao has really devoted a lot to this cause. His hard work can definitely be regarded as a partner worthy of respect.
However, business is business, and some issues that need to be clarified must be explained clearly at this stage. This will not only show responsibility for one's own work, but also respect for partners.
"Dean Zhang, when you were in Sanya, you mentioned to me that you planned to open a branch of Qiongxi Academy in Guangzhou. Can you tell me more about your detailed plans?" After sitting down, Li Nai took the initiative to mention Get down to business.
Zhang Jinbao responded: "Then let me first talk about the current idea. If there are any inappropriate omissions, please give me some advice, Third Young Master!"
Zhang Jinbao took the time to sort out his ideas in the past few days and roughly listed some items in order to respond to Li Nai's inquiry. He cleared his throat and began to spell out his plans.
According to Zhang Jinbao’s plan, there will be some differences in the direction of running schools between the branch in Guangzhou and the main school in Danzhou. Because the Guangzhou branch will cooperate with Furifeng in running schools, Furifeng's employment needs will be more considered in the setting of disciplines, such as focusing more on business, navigation and other fields.
In addition, some majors that are only relatively marketable in Haihan or have certain technical confidentiality requirements will also be cut from the Guangzhou branch. Zhang Jinbao does not need to explain this. Li Nai has been dealing with senior figures in Haihan for many years, so he naturally understands how closely these people guard their technical secrets. Although the skills taught to students by Qiongxi Academy may not be very advanced, Haihan would definitely not be happy to see some of Haihan's proprietary technologies spread to the Ming Dynasty in this way.
Under such circumstances, the scale of the branch school will definitely be reduced. Zhang Jinbao predicts that the initial number of majors will be limited to less than ten. As for the method of recruiting students, Qiongxi Academy has a ready-made plan that can be applied. By advertising widely, conducting publicity tours, and conducting some training activities for large employers like Fulifeng, it should be no problem to recruit three to five hundred students in the first phase. big.
"But with such an enrollment volume, can the tuition collected cover the daily operating expenses of the college?" Even if Li Nai does not look at the income and expenditure account books of Qiongxi College, he can roughly deduce the daily expenses of such an institution based on experience. How big. Although he does not have high expectations for the profitability of this project, if long-term losses require additional money to be continuously subsidized, then he must carefully weigh whether it is worthwhile to invest in this project.
Zhang Jinbao responded calmly: "If we only rely on tuition fees, it will probably be difficult. The academy will definitely need to obtain income through other channels, such as sponsorship from Fulifeng. But I can guarantee that in one or two years, the academy will be able to We can get on the right track and start making profits based on our own operations. This can be based on our actual operating conditions. Once the number of enrollment increases, the teaching costs will be diluted and profits will be achieved.”
"How to arrange the teaching staff required for teaching?" Li Nai continued to ask.
Zhang Jinbao responded: "All the teachers needed in the early stage will be selected from Danzhou. If we can gain a foothold in Guangzhou, we will try to hire some lecturers from China as supplements."
Regarding the teaching staff, Zhang Jinbao actually does not have much confidence. At present, almost all lecturers at Qiongxi Academy are from Hainan. These people live a good life in Danzhou, but they may not be willing to accept assignments to work in Guangzhou. If Zhang Jinbao wants to achieve such a goal, the only way to do it is to pay him a lot of money, but doing so will inevitably increase the initial expenditure significantly.
Of course, he would not take the initiative to mention this kind of issue, otherwise Li Nai would mistakenly think that he was intentionally increasing the amount of initial investment, which might affect the prospects of cooperation between the two parties.
Li Nai continued to ask: "Has Dean Zhang carefully calculated the cost and construction period of opening a branch in Guangzhou?"
Zhang Jinbao said: "I'm not afraid of the third young master's jokes. I don't know much about labor and land prices in Guangzhou. Therefore, I haven't been able to calculate a more accurate estimate of how much it will cost to purchase land and hire craftsmen to build houses." This is one of the reasons why I hope to cooperate with Fulifeng. Your company is familiar with the business in Guangzhou. I believe that it will be much easier to handle these things and it will save a lot of money. ”
Li Nai said: "Back then, when the Haihan Kingdom set up its office in Guangzhou outside Guangzhou, you could buy a large piece of land for a few thousand taels of silver, and then level the ground to build a commercial warehouse. It took more than half a year to achieve initial results. Later, It has been expanded year by year, and the annual construction investment is not a small amount. As far as I know, the amount spent by the Guangdong Office on construction is probably only one third of the 300,000 taels. The size of Qiongxi Academy, maybe Dean Zhang can use this as a reference.”
"Three...three hundred thousand taels!" Zhang Jinbao could only be speechless after hearing this.
If Qiongxi Academy is included in the real estate, it is probably worth three to four hundred thousand taels of silver. However, Zhang Jinbao's working capital is far less than this amount. It must be managed according to the standards of the Guangdong Office. It doesn’t make sense.
But in fact, there is some water in Li Nai's description. The long construction project of the Guangdong Office did cost a lot, but a large part of it was actually because the construction standards of the Office were too high.
When Haihan established the Liaison Office in Guangzhou, he had not even fully occupied the Qiongnan area, and war might break out with the Ming Dynasty officials at any time due to territorial disputes. Therefore, the Liaison Office in Guangzhou had to take relatively high risks to operate in Guangzhou. If there is any abnormality, it will be difficult for Sanya to provide support through force.
Therefore, when the Executive Committee was planning the Guangdong Office, out of safety considerations, it intended to build the Guangdong Office into a fortress with certain protective capabilities, and its construction standards were much higher than ordinary private houses. The Garrison Office in Guangzhou used more than 2,000 pieces of green strips of 300 kilograms each to build the foundation of the wall facing the city of Guangzhou. It can be said that artillery with smaller calibers may not be able to hit the Garrison Office in Guangzhou. The front wall of the office is high.
With such construction standards, the cost is naturally not low. In order to allow several senior Haihan officials stationed in Guangzhou to better adapt to the local environment, a lot of living facilities were subsequently transported from Sanya to the Guangdong Office, including bathtubs and toilet furniture. Things like this are almost always transported across the sea to Guangzhou, which is another huge expense.
Therefore, the construction costs mentioned by Li Nai are not universal, and the Guangzhou Guangdong Office is a special case. If it is really just to build an ordinary store and office, then maybe five to sixty thousand taels of silver will be more than enough. But the reason why Li Nai wanted to use the Guangdong Office as an example was to test Zhang Jinbao's background, to see how determined and powerful he was to operate this project, and to leave a bargaining opportunity for himself. capital.
Zhang Jinbao quickly thought about it in his mind, then shook his head and said: "If it costs so much money to open an academy in Guangzhou, then I can only give up this idea. For such a large sum of money, unless we sell Qiongxi Academy Only then is it possible to raise..."
Li Nai smiled and said: "It's okay for Dean Zhang to cry because he is poor, but the academy cannot be sold. Let's talk about money. If we two cooperate, then we will not let the academy alone fund it."
After hearing about Li Nai's safety, the worry on Zhang Jinbao's face still remained: "But even if one family contributes half... this is an unbearable amount for the academy."
Li Nai said: "I have an alternative, but I don't know if Dean Zhang can approve it."
Zhang Jinbao responded quickly: "I would like to hear the details."
Li Nai said: "If you buy land to build an academy near Guangzhou City, firstly, the upfront cost will be high, and secondly, the construction period will be long, which will waste a lot of money. If you can find a suitable ready-made building, can Dean Zhang consider using it?" Come and open a branch?”
Zhang Jinbao said: "What's wrong with this? If the third young master can find a suitable place, spend money to buy it or rent it for a long time, it can be discussed."
Li Nai said: "In that case, I'll tell you straight. My family has an idle manor near Guangzhou, covering an area of about a hundred acres. Nearly half of the area is composed of already built houses, and the other half is the surrounding fields. If it is to be converted into an academy, I believe the project will not be too large. Furifeng will use the manor as a fund to jointly establish the Guangzhou branch of Qiongxi Academy. What do you think of it?"
Zhang Jinbao is also a shrewd person. When Li Nai told him about this situation, he immediately understood that the situations he just mentioned were just to support this condition. After listening to the story just now and then hearing Li Nai's conditions, you will probably subconsciously think that this manor is worth at least hundreds of thousands of taels of silver.
But the opportunity was rare, and it was impossible for Zhang Jinbao to refuse Li Nai's suggestion. If he could really get Furifeng to donate this manor to set up a branch, a lot of time and money would be saved in the early stage. Moreover, this manor is under the name of Fulifeng, which can avoid many unnecessary disputes in the future.
Zhang Jinbao was very moved, but he also felt that Li Nai wanted to take advantage of the academy under this condition, so he felt a bit sorry for himself if he didn't bargain with him.
Li Nai continued: "If Dean Zhang can't make up his mind, why not go to Guangzhou with me in two days? Seeing is believing, and see for yourself whether this manor is suitable. If Dean Zhang likes us, we can discuss the details. If you are not interested in the cooperation method, you can also learn about the local market in Guangzhou to see if it is more cost-effective to buy a piece of land and build your own academy.”
This proposal made Zhang Jinbao feel that it was acceptable. When the preparations for the branch reached a certain stage, he would definitely have to go to Guangzhou in person to finalize important matters such as the location of the branch. Li Nai has also shown obvious interest in this cooperation. Perhaps this is the right time to push this matter into the implementation stage.
However, Zhang Jinbao still has some doubts: "The third young master's suggestion is good, but I am not familiar with the local situation in Guangzhou, so I probably need more help from the third young master."
Li Nai said: "This matter is easy to handle. You should take my boat in two days and go to Guangzhou together. When we get there, we will arrange someone to take Dean Zhang to inspect the school environment."
"If this happens, won't we have to bother the third young master for several days again?" Zhang Jinbao felt that it was feasible, but he still had to hesitate.
Li Nai said: "I would like to invite Dean Zhang to go to Guangzhou for inspection. I can't say it's disturbing. If this project is completed, you and I will be partners from now on, and there will be many more trips to and from Guangzhou."
When the two talked about this, they basically reached an intention to cooperate. The next step was to ask Zhang Jinbao to go to Guangzhou for an on-site inspection. However, because the location has not yet been decided, the initial school expenses cannot be budgeted in advance at this time, so the funding issue does not need to be discussed in depth for the time being.
Seeing that the matter was almost settled, Zhang Jinbao said that he would treat Li Nai to a big dinner in Danzhou City in the evening to thank him for his previous care and his enthusiasm for taking the trouble to come to Danzhou to inspect the academy.
However, Li Nai advised: "Dean Zhang, there is no need to rush to be the host today. Someone has already made an appointment to hold a banquet in the evening to welcome me. You can come with me."
Zhang Jinbao said: "There are actually people snatching up this reception banquet. The third young master is really popular. I don't know which boss invited me, and asked Zhang to come forward to discuss it, and give today's meal to me first." ”
Li Nai just looked at Zhang Jinbao and smiled without saying a word, and did not immediately say the name of the proprietor. However, Zhang Jinbao immediately came back to his senses and said in shock: "How dare you be invited by the mayor as a host? Then I really can't compete with you, so I can only accept the defeat!"
Li Nai said: "I met Mayor Zhang when I went to the Yamen to do business today. He made an appointment to treat me to dinner in the evening. He didn't allow me to refuse, so I had to agree to him. But I also told Mayor Zhang that he was coming to Danzhou this time. purpose, so he specially asked you, Dean Zhang, to attend the banquet as well.”
(End of chapter)