Chapter 2789
Under the guidance of the dock staff, the huge fleet of cargo ships filed into the berths and immediately occupied the coast of Dalish. It is probably rare for a fleet of this size to visit Qingdao Port. It attracted a lot of people to watch, most of whom were laborers who came to look for work after hearing the news.
After the cargo ship docked, the stewards on the ship immediately disembarked and contacted the terminal regarding cargo loading and unloading and supply supplies. According to the sailing plan, the fleet will only stay here for one day and will leave at this time tomorrow, so it must seize the time to complete the task.
Several inns near the pier also immediately experienced a peak in occupancy. There are hundreds of passengers in the fleet destined for Qingdao Port. Among them are government officials who come to perform their duties and businessmen who come here to do business. The first thing after getting off the ship is naturally to find temporary passengers. A place to stay.
There are also some local Shandong people returning to their hometown from the south. After disembarking at Qingdao Port, they transfer to small boats and go to inland places such as Jimo and Laixi via Dagu River, Mo River and other inland waterways.
Naturally, Baikes and his party did not need to consider the issue of food and accommodation. Immediately after docking at the port, several local officials took the initiative to board the ship to greet them.
The official in charge of Qingdao Port is named Jiang Jianzhang. He is over forty years old. His manner, conversation, and dress make him look like a standard Haihan official. He is completely different from the local officials who were naturalized from the Ming Dynasty that he had seen in Hangzhou before. Bai Letong and Ning Zijing agreed that he should be an official sent from the south.
But Bai Kesi seemed to know the details of Jiang Jianzhang very well, and even asked about his family situation during the greetings, which was rare when meeting local officials.
Jiang Jianzhang did not seem overjoyed because of this, and responded calmly: "Xiaguan went back to Dengzhou to visit relatives at the end of last year. Everything is well at home, and I thank you for your concern. If you are going to Fushan County next, please be sure to pay more attention." Stay here for a few days so that my family can be treated like landlords.”
Bai Letong and Ning Zijing looked at each other and realized that this person had a special relationship with Bai Kesi. But when it comes to the famous people in Fushan County, Dengzhou, the only one who is married to Chen Yixin is the Ma family.
What they expected was good. Although Jiang Jianzhang was not named Ma, he had a close relationship with the Ma family. Jiang Jianzhang's father, Jiang Sheng, is the brother-in-law of Chen Yixin's father-in-law, Ma Dongqiang, and Ma Yuling's biological uncle. When Chen Yixin and Ma Yuling got married, Jiang Sheng was also one of the promoters.
Later, the Ma family prospered rapidly because of the recruitment of this son-in-law, and became the leading local powerful in Dengzhou. As Ma Yuling's cousin, Jiang Jianzhang naturally got the opportunity to become an official in Haihan.
But being responsible for the management of a large project like Qingdao Port is not a position that can be secured based on connections alone. Jiang Jianzhang was sent to Sanya by Chen Yixin to study abroad for three years in his early years. With his status and background, and Chen Yixin's recommendation, he was selected as a reserve magistrate of the colonial area for training. He learned a lot of real skills in three years.
After completing his studies, Jiang Jianzhang also worked in Danzhou, Hainan, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, and other places until he was transferred back to Shandong more than ten years ago. Based on his ability and qualifications, he was naturally put in high regard by Chen Yixin after returning to Shandong, so he became the official in charge of Qingdao Port.
During his training in Sanya, Bai Kesi also gave Jiang Jianzhang several lessons. Strictly speaking, the two had a master-disciple relationship. The appointment letter for the transfer of the official in charge of Qingdao Port was issued by the Executive Committee. The person who signed the appointment letter at that time happened to be Bai Kesi, and the two of them were quite related. After the two exchanged pleasantries, Jiang Jianzhang introduced several other local officials who had come with him to Bai Kesi. It was probably the first time for these officials to meet a high-ranking official from Haihan other than Chen Yixin. Their performance was not as relaxed as that of Jiang Jianzhang. They were all trembling with fear, fearing to behave rudely in front of Bai Kesi.
Jiang Jianzhang had already prepared an evening banquet for Bai Kesi and others at his official residence. However, it was still early, so Jiang Jianzhang proposed to get off the ship and go to the dock to inspect the construction status of Qingdao Port.
The inspection of Qingdao Port was part of this trip, and Baikes naturally agreed happily. After everyone got off the boat, they found that Jiang Jianzhang had prepared an open carriage in advance and acted very thoughtfully.
Bai Kesi and his two juniors rode in a carriage with Jiang Jianzhang, accompanied by armed cavalry escorts at the front and rear. They marched slowly in the dock area, watching and listening to Jiang Jianzhang's introduction.
Bai Letong had already had questions, so he took this opportunity to raise them: "Mr. Jiang, I heard that the construction of Qingdao Port only started last year, but looking at the progress of the port construction, it doesn't look like the amount of work can be completed in a few months. ! Is it possible that Qingdao Port has some secret or that it has invested a huge amount of manpower? ”
Jiang Jianzhang explained: “The official announcement of the start of construction of Qingdao Port was in the second half of last year, but in the two years before that, the land boundary had been demarcated in advance, and the local government organized civilians to move in, complete the foundation leveling, and build new roads. These preliminary works, so the progress seems to be pretty good at present.”
Jiang Jianzhang pointed to the warehouse buildings that were rising next to the road and said: "For warehouse buildings like this, the land is owned by the government, but the projects are all subcontracted, and some powerful merchants work according to the unified plans provided by the government. After completion, they will own half of the property, which can be used for their own use or rented out. In this way, more funds will be invested in the construction of the port area, and the progress will be faster than the construction organized by the government.”
The development process of Qingdao Port also has obvious Haihan characteristics. Private funds have been introduced to speed up the construction, and the settlement of these capitals will further promote local business development. This has been tried and tested in port development in the past, and Qingdao Port naturally followed this plan.
Ning Zijing asked: "I have a question, Mr. Jiang, whether more private funds invested in the development of Qingdao Port come from the local area or from the south?"
Jiang Jianzhang said: "In the early years of Shandong, there were constant natural and man-made disasters, and only the situation in Dengzhou was slightly better. The two states of Denglai and Hainan had earlier contact with Haihan, and the trust of the people was higher. Therefore, local funds in Shandong Most of them come from the Jiaodong Peninsula, but the total number is indeed not as good as those from the south. ”
Jiang Jianzhang's statement is actually very conservative. In fact, almost all investors in Shandong are concentrated in Dengzhou, especially the gentry group centered on the Ma family. Although the wealth of this group is also very rich, compared with those business giants in the south who operate larger scales, it is indeed not enough.
If it weren't for Chen Yixin's restriction on the proportion of private capital invested in Qingdao Port out of consideration for protecting the development of local businesses, then perhaps the outsourcing projects here would have been rounded out by southern businesses.
(End of chapter)