Chapter 2818
After leaving Longkou Town, the next stop is the gold mine located in Zhaoyuan County.
Longkou Town is about seventy miles away from Zhaoyuan County, and it takes most of a day by horse-drawn carriage. Fortunately, the road is flat throughout the journey, so there is no need to climb over mountains and ridges, so it is not too strenuous.
On the way, Chen Yixin briefly introduced the current situation of Zhaoyuan Gold Mine to Bai Kesi and his son.
The Zhaoyuan gold mine did not start mining after Haihan took control of the Denglai area. In fact, the recorded history of gold mining here can be traced back to at least the Song Dynasty. In the "Song History Shihuo Zhi", it is recorded that "Denglai gold mining "Thousands of taels are gained every year." From then until the Ming Dynasty, this place has always been a very important gold producing area.
However, compared with the previous mining model, Haihan has introduced more mechanical equipment and smelting technology in mining operations, and its production capacity and efficiency have far exceeded those of its predecessors. In the past few years, this place has been the main gold producing area in the area under Haihan's rule, and it is also a very important source of financial revenue for the Northern Region.
We drove slowly and hurriedly all the way, and it was already evening when we arrived at Zhaoyuan County. However, local officials were notified in advance that Chen Yixin and senior officials from Sanya were coming to inspect the area, so they did not go home to rest, but greeted their superiors at the city gate.
That night, everyone rested in the county town for the night. The next day, accompanied by local officials, they took a bus to the mining area for inspection.
The situation in Zhaoyuan County is somewhat similar to that in Fushan County. The regional center of the old county has declined, and has been replaced by a new urban area based on the area where gold mining workers live, vaguely turning into a town similar to Majiazhuang.
This town called Linglong Town is built on the mountain. According to local officials, it already has tens of thousands of residents, far exceeding the population who have settled in the county seat. Most of them work in industries related to gold mining, and this population with stable income has given rise to local business services and other industries. Bai Letong even saw some familiar southern business names in the town.
The most eye-catching buildings here are the two houses located at the foot of the mountain.
Both buildings are four-story structures. Their square and concise shapes and gray-white exterior walls make them look like typical Haihan style. The one on the east side is the office building of Zhaoyuan Gold Mine, and the one on the west side is the office of Haihan Bank in Zhaoyuan County.
Bai Letong grew up in Sanya. He has seen office buildings like this many times, so he is not surprised. However, as far as he knew, Haihan Bank's overseas offices were generally in Chinese-style courtyards, but it was rare to see such standard square buildings.
This question was quickly answered. Accompanied by local officials, everyone entered the bank office building and walked through the business area to the back of the building. There is actually a cave hidden here. The entrance of the cave is separated from the outside world by an iron fence as thick as a child's arm, and armed personnel with live ammunition are on duty inside.
There is an eye-catching signboard hanging on the iron gate, which reads "Treasury Powerful Place" in four big red characters. Local officials said that the contents of this vault are gold produced in local gold mines.
After opening the iron gate and entering the cave, after walking a while, there was actually a large iron door inside. There was a complicated lock on the door, which showed that the security measures were very strict.
After opening the iron door, there was a dark space inside. The staff entered first and lit the oil lamp before inviting Chen Yixin and others inside.
Bai Letong was originally worried that the air in this confined space was turbid, which would lead to difficulty breathing, but after walking in, this did not happen. He looked up and could vaguely see a ventilation duct grille. It looked like there was a ventilation duct grille in the vault. There should be a special ventilation system. At first glance, there was no golden scene in the warehouse as expected. There were only piles of things covered with oilcloths and several iron flat carts.
Chen Yixin raised his hand to signal, and Chen Pingliao quickly stepped forward and lifted one of the oilcloths, revealing a pile of neatly stacked gold bricks underneath. Each piece was slightly smaller than ordinary bricks. .
Chen Yixin said: "Old Bai, let's check."
Bai Kesi stepped forward and reached out to touch the seal of Haihan Bank engraved on the gold brick. Bai Letong reached out to pick it up. Although he knew that gold was heavy, he was still not prepared enough to pick it up at once.
Chen Pingliao said with a smile: "Brother Bai, don't be fooled by the size of these bricks. Each of these bricks weighs fifty kilograms. Grab it with one hand, be careful if it slips and hits your foot!"
Bai Letong smiled, stretched out his hands, and lifted the small gold brick with force. He usually uses banknotes, but rarely touches gold. Even if you need to carry some gold bars with you when you go out, they are usually carried by your entourage. Such a large gold brick was new to him.
This gold brick was really heavy, so Bai Letong reluctantly picked it up, weighed it, and quickly put it back.
The person in charge of the bank introduced the inventory situation of this vault. In fact, the main job of the office opened by Haihan Bank in Linglong Town, Zhaoyuan County is to connect with the gold mines and store the refined gold bricks and gold bars.
The gold produced by the entire Zhaoyuan Gold Mine is received here, and then a proportion of it is allocated to the Northern Region as local fiscal revenue, and most of the rest is transported to Haihan in Sanya once a year. The bank headquarters is sealed and its value is recorded in the state treasury. The part kept locally as a circulation reserve actually only accounts for about one-tenth of the output.
The currency value of Haihan banknotes is linked to gold and silver to ensure the stability of the currency value and to facilitate trade activities with other countries. The issuance amount of Haihan banknotes is also determined based on the gold reserves in the national treasury. Therefore, gold is directly related to the credit and value of Haihan banknotes, which is of great significance to Haihan.
Although gold is a good thing, to people like Chen Yixin and Bai Kesi, it is just a dead thing. In terms of value, it cannot compare with the power they hold. So after walking around the vault and briefly checking the inventory status, the group left the cave vault and returned to the bank office building.
The person in charge of the bank had already prepared various statements for inspection, and Bai Letong also took a copy of last year's annual report to look at the statistics. He is not engaged in the financial industry, so he can probably only understand the surface. However, there is a dedicated person responsible for auditing this kind of information, so there is no need for him to worry about the accuracy of the content.
While Bai Letong was flipping through the information, he was thinking to himself that the Northern Region is rich in resources and even has gold mines with considerable production capacity. It can be said that it is rich and rich. It is no wonder that the Executive Committee has been worried that the Northern Region will establish its own business. .
(End of chapter)