Chapter 3504
There was no way to enter the forum venue without an invitation letter, and the Haihan officials he wanted to see could not be seen. Masato Masuyama had no choice but to focus on other places first.
He believes that Haihan, which takes time and effort to organize an international event of this scale, will not limit all content to the venue. Sure enough, news soon reached him that there was a ship show held by many shipyards in Dinghai Port.
Although these shipyards are privately owned rather than government-run, they are still excellent purchasing opportunities for Masato Masuyama.
Masato Masuyama has long heard that Fujian's navigation and shipbuilding are very developed, and even many famous names in Kyushu have placed orders with local shipyards. But every time he comes to Haihan, he always goes to Hangzhou. He has no time to go to Fujian to inspect the shipyards, and it is difficult to grasp the specific situation of the local shipbuilding industry.
This time, the shipyard in Fujian took the initiative to come to Zhoushan to hold an exhibition. This made Zengshan Zhengli much less troublesome. He immediately ordered people to prepare carriages and horses to go and see the exhibition in person.
What makes Masato Masuyama slightly uneasy is that these shipyards in Fujian are obviously no strangers to Japanese customers, and they have even prepared translators in advance. The other party even unabashedly claimed that it had received many orders from Japan in the past year.
But when Masato Masuyama pressed for details, the other party shrewdly and deliberately changed the subject, avoiding talking about the specific whereabouts of these shipbuilding orders. Obviously, the shipyard also knew the identity of Masato Masuyama and knew what information needed to be kept secret from the Tokugawa shogunate behind him.
As for the model of converting civilian ships into warships that the shipyard intends to promote, Masato Masuyama is no stranger to this. During his previous visits to Haihan, he had already placed similar orders with Jiangsu and Zhejiang shipyards. After all, the production capacity of the Haihan official shipyard has long been unable to meet the needs of the Japanese market.
It's just that the production capacity of Jiangsu and Zhejiang shipyards is now saturated, so such orders will gradually be transferred to Fujian shipyards in the south.
Masato Masuyama doesn’t have much objection to the quotation given by Fujian Shipyard. Compared with last year’s orders from Jiangsu and Zhejiang Shipyards, Fujian’s shipbuilding prices are even lower. This is probably because the Fujian Shipyard’s production capacity is not yet saturated at this time. for the sake of.
But when Masato Masuyama proposed that the delivery date of the order should be as fast as possible, the shipyard's reply did not satisfy him.
"Are you saying that the delivery time of my order must be ranked behind other countries?"
Masuyama Masato shook his head repeatedly and said: "Today is the first day of the exhibition. Am I not your first customer? Why do I have to queue after others?"
The receptionist at the shipyard responded: "Master Masuyama, other customers have already placed orders before you."
Masato Masuyama said: "Then if my order quantity is larger, can it be arranged first?"
The receptionist responded: "That's natural. The shipyard will definitely adjust its shipbuilding plan and make special arrangements for major customers."
Masato Masuyama slapped the table and said: "Then let's build ten ships first! Four exploration-class ships, four expedition-class ships, and the remaining two will be built as Barracuda-class transport ships!"
The receptionist said: "Master Zengshan, your order... I'm afraid you won't be able to enjoy the special arrangement."
Masuyama Masato said in astonishment: "Aren't ten ships enough?"
Seeing the receptionist shaking his head slightly, Masuyama Masato had no choice but to bite the bullet and said: "Then add five more exploration-level ones!" However, the number he added still failed to exceed the previous order placed by Ma Daran Country, and naturally he could not Get the results he wants.
This is not because Masuyama Masato is searching, but because the Tokugawa shogunate does not have much military purchase funds left. However, the numbers reported twice in a row were rejected by the shipyard, which made Masato Masuyama very embarrassed.
Since the situation in Kyushu worsened last year, the Tokugawa shogunate, sensing something was wrong, has already allocated money and placed a large number of military purchase orders with Haihan, including dozens of warships of various types.
At the end of last year, most of the daimyo in Kyushu stopped paying local taxes to the shogunate, and some daimyo in the neighboring Shikoku and Honshu regions also followed suit to wait and see the reaction of the shogunate.
The cutoff of these financial resources also had a considerable impact on the shogunate's financial situation. In addition to issuing letters to reprimand these big names, the shogunate seems to be unable to come up with more effective punishment methods for the time being.
After all, it was winter, and it was difficult for the shogunate to send troops to conquer these local vassal states that did not obey the management. Everything could only wait until spring.
Facing the local forces in the country that are ready to move, the Tokugawa shogunate's most urgent task at present is to strengthen its own strength through arms purchases and be fully prepared for the civil war that may break out next.
Although the available funds are not too much, before Masuyama Masato's departure this time, Tokugawa Ietsuna still gave him the power to make his own decisions, and he could purchase some arms and equipment from Kaihan that could be delivered quickly as appropriate.
When Masuyama Masari came, he didn't meet the Ma Dalan people, so he didn't know who the person who placed the order before him was. He turned around in his mind, but he didn't know who it was that would place the order. Came here early in the morning to place an order.
But one thing Masato Masuyama can conclude is that the other party must also have a relatively strong demand for delivery time, and it seems that there are not many such customers.
The more Masuyama Masato thought about it, the more he felt something was wrong. He thought that this mysterious customer that the shipyard was unwilling to disclose information was most likely someone from Kyushu, or even some famous names.
After all, the financial resources of the Kyushu vassals are limited, and I am afraid that no vassal can purchase so many ships at one time. Maybe it is an order jointly placed by several daimyo.
It would be best if the shipyard could be put under pressure to reveal the true identity of the customer, or to cancel the order from the mysterious customer, but with Masato Masuyama's identity, it is obviously difficult to achieve such a goal.
If he had the patience to wait a few more days, the shipyard would most likely put out the order from Matalan Man to attract business. But since he was so eager at this time, the shipyard would of course assess the situation and make him continue to be suspicious, and then Force him to place a larger order.
Sure enough, after much thought, Masuyama Masari felt that he could only squeeze out the Fujian Shipyard's production capacity by increasing orders, thereby delaying the delivery of ships to the mysterious customer.
So he continued to add twenty-five ships, and then the receptionist finally said that the shipyard's production plan could be adjusted and part of the production capacity could be arranged to serve Masari Masuyama's orders.
As for Masato Masuyama's expectation that he would first complete his own order and then build the ship ordered by the mysterious customer, he was naturally rejected by the receptionist without any suspense.
You must know that if the shipyard cannot deliver on time, it will have to compensate the shipowner according to the contract. In any case, the shipyard cannot deliver the 20 ships ordered by another major customer on time without first completing the Masari Masuyama order. Ship, when the time comes, not only will these two orders make no money, but they may have to pay a large sum of money.