Chapter 2531
Although Qiong Lianfa is a commercial organization that originated in the South China Sea and its business activities are mainly in the area south of the Fujian Strait, because Haihan officials were involved when it was established and had a certain official background, it has also been closely involved in these years. With the development momentum of Haihan, it continues to expand its external trade scope.
Originally, Qiong Lianfa's offices in Jiangsu and Zhejiang were first deployed on Zhoushan Island. Later, after the Donghai Region annexed Ningbo Prefecture, an additional office was established in Ningbo City. After the Ming Dynasty surrendered to Haihan last year, Shi Diwen directly moved the administrative seat of Donghai Region to Hangzhou, and there was news that Haihan would move its capital to Hangzhou in the future, so Qiong Lianfa, who has a keen sense of smell, also followed suit. A large amount of land was purchased near Hangzhou City to build a new large-scale trade hub to meet the needs of future development.
Ning Zijing has never been to Hangzhou, and he didn't pay much attention to Qiong Lianfa's operations and plans in Hangzhou before, and he didn't know much information. In fact, what Qiong Lianfa plans in Hangzhou is not just a business store. Considering that Hangzhou may become the capital of Haihan in the future, Qiong Lianfa will at least build a headquarters here even if it does not move its headquarters here. The scale of the trade hub that can radiate to the entire East China Sea region will definitely far exceed that of ordinary shops and stores on the market.
For commercial giants like Qiong Lianfa who are not short of money, the priority is not the construction cost and difficulty, but the long-term benefits. And because Qiong Lianfa has always maintained a good personal relationship with Haihan's senior management, some key information obtained from this also shows that Haihan is extremely optimistic about the development prospects of Hangzhou, so Qiong Lianfa will naturally not hesitate to invest heavily in Hangzhou to build His own base camp in the East China Sea region.
Tao Hongfang and others arrived at their destination quickly in a carriage. After they got off the carriage, they couldn't help but be a little confused about what they saw.
This is a crossroads, and several shops located at the crossroads look almost identical in appearance, and there is a large parking area for carriages and horses outside each shop. Together, they form a small square at this crossroads. . The strangest thing is that the signboards hanging above the doors of these stores are actually exactly the same, all with the word "Qiong Lianfa" in gold letters on a black background.
"Zijing, you Qiong Lianfa are very creative in opening your shop. You opened four of them right next to each other!" Bai Letong couldn't help but joke when he saw this.
Ning Zijing smiled bitterly and said: "I don't quite understand what they mean... first go find someone to ask and see where we can arrange a stay."
At that moment, some followers went to inquire about the situation, and soon a steward came out with someone. Ning Zijing asked the steward a question. After the steward explained, everyone understood why there were four Qiong Lianfa shops next to each other at this intersection.
"Master Ning, the four shops you see are goods yards, shops, inns and restaurants. Each has its own division of labor. However, the custom-made signboards have not been completed yet, so now they are hanging up the standard signboards. Wait. The signboards have been changed for a while, so they can be distinguished." The steward explained the situation here to Ning Zijing in a concise and concise manner.
Ning Zijing suddenly said: "So, the area around the intersection is our Qiong Lianfa industry?"
"Well...actually that's not the case..."
"What's that like?" Ning Zijing asked curiously.
The steward responded: "Not only around this intersection, but also the four roads extending from this intersection, within a radius of one mile, are all our properties. However, because the project is too large, most places are still under construction, and all must be completed and put into use. , I’m afraid it will take another year or two.” Everyone couldn’t help but be shocked after hearing the steward’s introduction. They also thought that Qiong Lianfa might build a large-scale and high-end office in Hangzhou, but they did not expect that Qiong Lianfa would be so ambitious that it would build such a large office not far from the city of Hangzhou. A piece of land for construction. If you compare it with the Dutch business store that you saw in Dinghai Port before, it really pales in comparison.
Although Ning Zijing himself worked for Qiong Lianfa, he had never heard of an office of this scale being built before. This project in Hangzhou cannot be said to be unprecedented, but at least it is unprecedented.
The steward immediately took the group of them to the inn to settle down. The inn was not as simple as it looked from the outside. There were actually several independent courtyards inside. According to the manager, these courtyards are decorated according to the standards of the Haihan Guesthouse, and almost all the furniture and living facilities are transported long distances from Hainan Island, so they are generally not used to attract guests from outside, only senior internal staff. Or only dignitaries who have close relations with Qiong Lianfa are eligible to move in.
Of course, when designing these high-end courtyards, we obviously drew on the architectural styles of Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions, cleverly combining pavilions, pavilions, springs, stones, flowers and trees. The landscaping is very different from the simple and clear Haihan style. Several young people saw such a courtyard for the first time and found it eye-opening. It was hard to imagine that such an environment was actually an inn owned by a business.
Ning Zi admired the crystal clear, rounded shape of the rockery in the courtyard, and took the initiative to ask: "The stone used in this rockery is Taihu stone, right?"
The steward quickly responded: "Master Ning is really discerning. The stones displayed in this courtyard are all carefully selected and transported by experts from the Taihu area in the north. Although I don't know the specific price, look at this rockery. It’s a whole piece of stone, weighing several thousand kilograms. The shipping cost alone is huge.”
Taihu Stone is actually limestone that has been eroded by the natural environment for a long time. It has become a famous garden stone since the Tang Dynasty. There must be several Taihu Stones with unique shapes in high-end Jiangnan gardens. In the early years, some time travelers spared no expense in transporting Taihu stone from Jiangsu and Zhejiang when building private houses. However, later, some people used ordinary limestone to process it and were able to imitate similar shapes, and the processing cost was much lower than buying stone from Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Due to the expense of transporting it all the way back to Hainan Island, this Taihu stone gradually became less popular.
Hangzhou is more than a hundred miles away from Taihu Lake. Although this area has a developed shipping water system, it is still not easy to transport such huge Taihu stones to Hangzhou. It can be seen that when Qiong Lianfa built these yards, it was indeed It's a big investment. And such a method is probably only used by an owner like Qiong Lianfa who is not short of money.
According to the steward, in addition to the ordinary guest rooms facing the street, there are four high-end residences built here. Because these residences are not open to the public, they have rarely received guests since they were built. Ning Zijing and others, plus their entourage, occupied two courtyards at once.
Of course, given their status, it made sense to occupy all four courtyards. However, considering that there might be a need to receive other distinguished guests here, Ning Zijing still consciously only took up two of the courtyards.
(End of chapter)