Chapter 1537
Take what you need
Chapter 1537 Take what you need
He Li never thought that such a good thing would happen. When he first competed for the qualification of the carrier of the northern route, he found a few partners to barely reach the entry threshold. Later, due to the shortage of funds, He also had to apply for financial assistance from his elder brother He Xiao.As for the plantation invested in the Liaodong area, he did not pay all the funds, and he did not have extra funds to expand the scale of the shipping company under his name.To put it more seriously, if Haihan plans to arrange a long-term transportation task on the northern route for him now, he may need to pay a part of the freight in advance to maintain the ship's material preparation and personnel costs.
But He Li also knew that the Haihan people had a very strong purpose in doing things, and it was absolutely impossible for them to help him out of sudden kindness, and there must be something hidden in it that he didn't know.And Shi Diwen will definitely not reveal his plan. After all, this involves the operation of Zhoushan Shipyard, which is information that needs to be kept secret.
He Li decided to be a little more cautious, and to inquire about the situation before making a decision, so he continued to ask: "Then if you order a cargo ship from Zhoushan Shipyard according to the general's arrangement, I don't know how long the construction period will be, and when will the ship be delivered?"
Shi Diwen asked back: "Have you seen our country's Yugong-class cargo ships in Zhoushan and Liaodong?"
He Li nodded. He did have a deep impression of this kind of heavy-duty cargo ship. At that time, when he went north from Zhoushan to Liaodong, there were several such cargo sailing ships named Yugong class by Haihan in the fleet.This kind of sailboat can carry hundreds of tons of cargo, which is far more than those sailboats whose maximum tonnage is less than [-] tons.Moreover, the ship has its own boom and grab, and the efficiency of loading and unloading dry bulk cargo at the terminal is far higher than that of ordinary cargo ships.The ship uses Haihan's unique rigging system, which can maintain a speed of more than five knots even with a full load, and the maximum speed can even reach ten knots. Its transportation efficiency is enough to make any Ming sea merchant covet.
Of course, the cost of this kind of heavy-duty cargo sailboat is much higher than that of the Guangzhou Ship Fuchuan commonly used by Daming maritime merchants. If only the load is used as a measure, the price-performance ratio of the Yugong-class sailboat is actually not as good as that of maritime merchants. boat.But if the transportation efficiency is considered, it is natural that the Yugong-class sailboat has the obvious upper hand.And the most important thing is that there are not many cargo ships produced by Haihan for export, and they are priceless goods in short supply. Maritime merchants with insufficient funds dare not spend money to wait for an extremely long shipbuilding period.
Of course, He Li wanted to get this kind of ship very much, but he knew that his own funds were limited, and it would be difficult to maintain the daily operation of the ship company from time to time. Too many unrealistic ideas.But now that Shi Diwen suddenly put such a great benefit in front of him, He Li's already settled mind couldn't help but become active again.
Then I heard Shi Diwen continue to say: "Currently, Zhoushan Shipyard can also build Yugong-class sailboats. If you are willing to accept our help, then you can start laying the keel tomorrow at the latest. If it goes well, you can receive it in forty days. Arriving at the first ship."
He Li asked in a strange way: "Then with the villain's situation, at most how many boats can be booked at one time?"
As soon as Shi Diwen heard his words, he knew that the previous persuasion had worked, and immediately responded: "I suggest ordering four to six ships at a time, so that the shipyard can prepare materials uniformly, and save a little on construction costs and time. .If you use these ships to run the northern route, you will pay back your capital in about a year at most, and the financial pressure will not be too great."
He Li nodded and said: "General Shi is right...but it's specific to the cost of each ship, so I ask the general to report the real number so that the villain can measure whether it is affordable or not."
Shi Diwen replied without hesitation: "The civilian version of the Yugong-class sailboat, the ex-factory price of each boat is only 800 taels of silver, and three months of marine accident insurance and free maintenance services are provided. We can also train the crew on behalf of you. Baojiabaohui. Boss He, you can buy such a boat at this price, but you can’t find a second one elsewhere.”
He Li thought that such a large sailing ship can only be built in Haihan's shipyard, and of course there is no other one.The cost of 800 taels of silver is indeed not cheap, and only 2000 taels of silver is enough to build a sea ship in Daming territory.If He Li had to pay for it out of his own pocket, he would definitely have given up, but now that Haihan is willing to advance the cost of building the ship with a low-interest loan, it seems worth a try.
He Li calculated silently in his heart. If according to the annual interest of five cents that Shi Diwen said, the annual interest of 800 taels is only more than 200 taels, which is really not a big amount, let alone forty days at the fastest You can pick up the ship, and the interest for these 20 days is only more than [-] taels of silver, which is almost negligible compared to the construction cost.If you can make five or six round trips on the northern route in a year, the surplus in freight costs will almost earn back the money for buying the ship.As for what Shi Diwen said about giving away such and such, He Li knew that it was just a commercial promotion method used by Haihan people, so he didn't pay much attention to it.
After some calculations, He Li thought that the business would definitely be profitable, so he decisively said to Shi Diwen: "General Shi, how about placing an order for six boats first?"
"Boss He is so straightforward!" Shi Diwen greatly appreciated He Li's statement: "I'll call someone to come to Boss He to go through the formalities."
When Shi Diwen entered Ningbo City this time, staff from various relevant departments brought them here, and he was about to get up and notify the people from the shipping department and the financial department to come over, so that He Li could go through the formalities of buying a ship with a loan.
Seeing this, He Li hurriedly said: "Wait a minute, General Shi, I order six ships at a time, but what other discounts are there?"
Shi Diwen understood that it was He Li who wanted to bargain with him again, and immediately asked: "Then what kind of discount does Boss He want?"
He Li blinked his eyes, and then said: "On the way to Liaodong last time, I noticed that this kind of cargo ship can also be equipped with artillery and other weapons for self-defense. I wonder if your country can sell a few small cannons so that Self-defense at sea from now on.”
"I'm afraid this is a bit difficult!" Shi Diwen explained: "The cargo ship that went to Liaodong with your fleet last time is actually a military model, while the one we sell is a civilian model. There is no design for deploying artillery on the deck. The body structure is not reinforced accordingly."
He Li couldn't help feeling a little disappointed when he heard this answer. Of course, he hoped that what he could buy with his money was a sailboat with armed self-defense capabilities, but he didn't expect to get such an answer.He Li still had a little luck and asked: "Then can we pay more for a military model?"
"Yes!" Shi Diwen nodded, but before a smile appeared on He Li's face, he went on to say, "But the military model is half as expensive, and you can't buy it with a loan, you can only accept cash transactions. In addition The sailing period is not [-] days, but three months."
As soon as He Li heard this, he knew that it was too impractical for him, so he had no choice but to give up the idea.Shi Diwen sneered secretly in his heart. Although the performance of Haihan's export military equipment is somewhat reduced compared with the self-use version, anyone can buy it with money.If private individuals want to make sporadic purchases, they will naturally have to wield a big stick and knock a fortune. Businessmen like He Li want to purchase military transport ships just to join in the fun, so Shi Diwen directly quoted a harsher price to persuade them to quit. In order to avoid having to report back and forth to the Ministry of National Defense and the Executive Committee for approval, it will take several days just to review the arms sales procedures.
He Li had no choice but to settle for the next best thing: "Then is there any discount on the price of the order for these six ships?"
Shi Diwen is well aware of the psychology of people like He Li. Now that he has persuaded the other party, he will not give any unnecessary small favors. He shook his head and said: "To be honest, selling ships with low-interest loans like this, our country's shipyards I can't make much money, and no matter how favorable the offer is, I can only pay back. The more I sell, the more I lose, so why should I do this deal? If Boss He feels that such conditions are still unsatisfactory, then it doesn't matter. It’s not about benevolence and righteousness. But I believe there will always be bosses who know the goods and are willing to accept such transaction conditions.”
He Li thought in his heart that if I refused, would I be ignorant?Although he was not very happy about such a run on words, He Li did not dare to show his displeasure on his face, and replied with an apologetic smile: "General Shi was joking, how can a villain be dissatisfied with such generous conditions! It's just a business habit." , don’t blame General Shi!”
Shi Diwen smiled and said, "They're all my own people, so it's easy to talk about."
The two of them had their own thoughts, and after going around for a while, they finally finalized the shipbuilding order.Shi Diwen even called the staff over to go through the formalities for He Li.
Although a verbal agreement has been reached, there are actually quite a lot of procedures to be completed. There are as many as seven or eight copies of various agreements alone.Although He Li trusted the Haihan people, he still had to read the content one by one before he dared to sign.As for the technical standards and relevant data of the ordered cargo ship, He Li did not understand many things, and he had to listen to the staff of the Ministry of Shipping explain it to him in detail.
When these agreements were finalized, it was almost midnight, and Shi Diwen had already ordered his servants to make supper, so the two had another casual meal in the study, and Shi Diwen sent He Li to him. Walk.
Being able to finish the Ningbo transportation industry talks in one day, this good start gave Shi Diwen a little more confidence in the mission of this trip.But starting from the grain industry on the second day, the negotiations did not go so smoothly.
As a land of fish and rice in the south of the Yangtze River, the grain output of Ningbo Prefecture has never been low. More than half of the grain purchased by Haihan in Zhejiang comes from Ningbo.It can be said that all the relatively powerful grain merchants in Ningbo have had more or less trade relations with Haihan.In the past period of time, most of the grain shipped by Haihan from Zhejiang to Shandong and Liaodong came from local purchases, and it also fattened up a group of grain merchants along the way.
But because of this, the grain merchants don't quite agree with Haihan's attempt to integrate the local grain industry, because Haihan's purpose is obviously to control the industry, and then control the pricing power of grain, which will obviously violate to the interests of the food people.Therefore, grain merchants all expressed inappropriateness to Shi Diwen's proposals such as "uniform grain purchase price" and "establishing an industry alliance".Although everyone dared not speak out against Shi Diwen's proposal out of face and intimidation, but they were also unwilling to let go of this so-called integration plan.
Shi Diwen really can't come up with many conditions that can threaten the grain merchants in the negotiations in this industry. After all, even if they don't sell the grain to Haihan, these grain merchants can sell the grain to other regions, at most The profit is a little less, but at least the pricing power is in their own hands.And if Haihan does not purchase grain from Zhejiang, it can only ship grain from the south to the distant northern colonies, which greatly exceeds the cost of purchasing grain in Zhejiang.
The only strategy that Haihan can adopt is to disperse the procurement, expand the grain procurement area to the entire Jiangsu and Zhejiang grain production areas, and reduce the share of local grain procurement from Ningbo.However, the result of doing so is only to reduce the profits of local grain merchants, and it cannot prompt them to give up confrontation.However, Shi Diwen's previously negotiated transportation industry will bring more benefits to practitioners after integration, which is fundamentally different from the situation in the grain industry.
After two days of talks with the grain merchants, Shi Diwen failed to reach a consensus. He also realized that the original plan of the Ministry of Commerce was not well thought out. He did not expect the reaction of the grain merchants to be so strong. He could only be decisive The original plan was temporarily abandoned.To solve the problem in grain procurement, the only way to go is to increase the grain supply.Fortunately, the agricultural area developed by Haihan on Taiwan Island has begun to harvest. In addition to meeting the needs of local immigrants, the food production has already been slightly surplus. In time, the farmland on the west coast of Taiwan will be produced, and it can be transported to the northern colonies by sea. to meet the needs of the local people.
This small setback did not affect Shi Diwen's emotions too much. He knew that the next financial industry was Haihan's strength, and he would no longer be controlled by others like the grain industry.There are quite a few private banks in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions, but no matter in terms of financial strength or operational strategies, the financial institutions of this era are far from being able to compete with the Haihan financial system led by Schneider.For this meeting, Schneider specially sent Cai Jinmei, one of his officers, to Zhejiang to assist Shi Diwen in the financial industry integration talks.
Shi Diwen had dealt with Cai Jinmei, who was a bank clerk in the early days of time travel, and knew that this tall and thin woman was quite professional in finance, so he had no objection to Schneider transferring her to Zhejiang to take charge of this matter.In fact, he is very grateful for Schneider's arrangement, so that he can be rescued from the cumbersome financial numbers game, and only needs to be responsible for making the final decision and signing.
(End of this chapter)
He Li never thought that such a good thing would happen. When he first competed for the qualification of the carrier of the northern route, he found a few partners to barely reach the entry threshold. Later, due to the shortage of funds, He also had to apply for financial assistance from his elder brother He Xiao.As for the plantation invested in the Liaodong area, he did not pay all the funds, and he did not have extra funds to expand the scale of the shipping company under his name.To put it more seriously, if Haihan plans to arrange a long-term transportation task on the northern route for him now, he may need to pay a part of the freight in advance to maintain the ship's material preparation and personnel costs.
But He Li also knew that the Haihan people had a very strong purpose in doing things, and it was absolutely impossible for them to help him out of sudden kindness, and there must be something hidden in it that he didn't know.And Shi Diwen will definitely not reveal his plan. After all, this involves the operation of Zhoushan Shipyard, which is information that needs to be kept secret.
He Li decided to be a little more cautious, and to inquire about the situation before making a decision, so he continued to ask: "Then if you order a cargo ship from Zhoushan Shipyard according to the general's arrangement, I don't know how long the construction period will be, and when will the ship be delivered?"
Shi Diwen asked back: "Have you seen our country's Yugong-class cargo ships in Zhoushan and Liaodong?"
He Li nodded. He did have a deep impression of this kind of heavy-duty cargo ship. At that time, when he went north from Zhoushan to Liaodong, there were several such cargo sailing ships named Yugong class by Haihan in the fleet.This kind of sailboat can carry hundreds of tons of cargo, which is far more than those sailboats whose maximum tonnage is less than [-] tons.Moreover, the ship has its own boom and grab, and the efficiency of loading and unloading dry bulk cargo at the terminal is far higher than that of ordinary cargo ships.The ship uses Haihan's unique rigging system, which can maintain a speed of more than five knots even with a full load, and the maximum speed can even reach ten knots. Its transportation efficiency is enough to make any Ming sea merchant covet.
Of course, the cost of this kind of heavy-duty cargo sailboat is much higher than that of the Guangzhou Ship Fuchuan commonly used by Daming maritime merchants. If only the load is used as a measure, the price-performance ratio of the Yugong-class sailboat is actually not as good as that of maritime merchants. boat.But if the transportation efficiency is considered, it is natural that the Yugong-class sailboat has the obvious upper hand.And the most important thing is that there are not many cargo ships produced by Haihan for export, and they are priceless goods in short supply. Maritime merchants with insufficient funds dare not spend money to wait for an extremely long shipbuilding period.
Of course, He Li wanted to get this kind of ship very much, but he knew that his own funds were limited, and it would be difficult to maintain the daily operation of the ship company from time to time. Too many unrealistic ideas.But now that Shi Diwen suddenly put such a great benefit in front of him, He Li's already settled mind couldn't help but become active again.
Then I heard Shi Diwen continue to say: "Currently, Zhoushan Shipyard can also build Yugong-class sailboats. If you are willing to accept our help, then you can start laying the keel tomorrow at the latest. If it goes well, you can receive it in forty days. Arriving at the first ship."
He Li asked in a strange way: "Then with the villain's situation, at most how many boats can be booked at one time?"
As soon as Shi Diwen heard his words, he knew that the previous persuasion had worked, and immediately responded: "I suggest ordering four to six ships at a time, so that the shipyard can prepare materials uniformly, and save a little on construction costs and time. .If you use these ships to run the northern route, you will pay back your capital in about a year at most, and the financial pressure will not be too great."
He Li nodded and said: "General Shi is right...but it's specific to the cost of each ship, so I ask the general to report the real number so that the villain can measure whether it is affordable or not."
Shi Diwen replied without hesitation: "The civilian version of the Yugong-class sailboat, the ex-factory price of each boat is only 800 taels of silver, and three months of marine accident insurance and free maintenance services are provided. We can also train the crew on behalf of you. Baojiabaohui. Boss He, you can buy such a boat at this price, but you can’t find a second one elsewhere.”
He Li thought that such a large sailing ship can only be built in Haihan's shipyard, and of course there is no other one.The cost of 800 taels of silver is indeed not cheap, and only 2000 taels of silver is enough to build a sea ship in Daming territory.If He Li had to pay for it out of his own pocket, he would definitely have given up, but now that Haihan is willing to advance the cost of building the ship with a low-interest loan, it seems worth a try.
He Li calculated silently in his heart. If according to the annual interest of five cents that Shi Diwen said, the annual interest of 800 taels is only more than 200 taels, which is really not a big amount, let alone forty days at the fastest You can pick up the ship, and the interest for these 20 days is only more than [-] taels of silver, which is almost negligible compared to the construction cost.If you can make five or six round trips on the northern route in a year, the surplus in freight costs will almost earn back the money for buying the ship.As for what Shi Diwen said about giving away such and such, He Li knew that it was just a commercial promotion method used by Haihan people, so he didn't pay much attention to it.
After some calculations, He Li thought that the business would definitely be profitable, so he decisively said to Shi Diwen: "General Shi, how about placing an order for six boats first?"
"Boss He is so straightforward!" Shi Diwen greatly appreciated He Li's statement: "I'll call someone to come to Boss He to go through the formalities."
When Shi Diwen entered Ningbo City this time, staff from various relevant departments brought them here, and he was about to get up and notify the people from the shipping department and the financial department to come over, so that He Li could go through the formalities of buying a ship with a loan.
Seeing this, He Li hurriedly said: "Wait a minute, General Shi, I order six ships at a time, but what other discounts are there?"
Shi Diwen understood that it was He Li who wanted to bargain with him again, and immediately asked: "Then what kind of discount does Boss He want?"
He Li blinked his eyes, and then said: "On the way to Liaodong last time, I noticed that this kind of cargo ship can also be equipped with artillery and other weapons for self-defense. I wonder if your country can sell a few small cannons so that Self-defense at sea from now on.”
"I'm afraid this is a bit difficult!" Shi Diwen explained: "The cargo ship that went to Liaodong with your fleet last time is actually a military model, while the one we sell is a civilian model. There is no design for deploying artillery on the deck. The body structure is not reinforced accordingly."
He Li couldn't help feeling a little disappointed when he heard this answer. Of course, he hoped that what he could buy with his money was a sailboat with armed self-defense capabilities, but he didn't expect to get such an answer.He Li still had a little luck and asked: "Then can we pay more for a military model?"
"Yes!" Shi Diwen nodded, but before a smile appeared on He Li's face, he went on to say, "But the military model is half as expensive, and you can't buy it with a loan, you can only accept cash transactions. In addition The sailing period is not [-] days, but three months."
As soon as He Li heard this, he knew that it was too impractical for him, so he had no choice but to give up the idea.Shi Diwen sneered secretly in his heart. Although the performance of Haihan's export military equipment is somewhat reduced compared with the self-use version, anyone can buy it with money.If private individuals want to make sporadic purchases, they will naturally have to wield a big stick and knock a fortune. Businessmen like He Li want to purchase military transport ships just to join in the fun, so Shi Diwen directly quoted a harsher price to persuade them to quit. In order to avoid having to report back and forth to the Ministry of National Defense and the Executive Committee for approval, it will take several days just to review the arms sales procedures.
He Li had no choice but to settle for the next best thing: "Then is there any discount on the price of the order for these six ships?"
Shi Diwen is well aware of the psychology of people like He Li. Now that he has persuaded the other party, he will not give any unnecessary small favors. He shook his head and said: "To be honest, selling ships with low-interest loans like this, our country's shipyards I can't make much money, and no matter how favorable the offer is, I can only pay back. The more I sell, the more I lose, so why should I do this deal? If Boss He feels that such conditions are still unsatisfactory, then it doesn't matter. It’s not about benevolence and righteousness. But I believe there will always be bosses who know the goods and are willing to accept such transaction conditions.”
He Li thought in his heart that if I refused, would I be ignorant?Although he was not very happy about such a run on words, He Li did not dare to show his displeasure on his face, and replied with an apologetic smile: "General Shi was joking, how can a villain be dissatisfied with such generous conditions! It's just a business habit." , don’t blame General Shi!”
Shi Diwen smiled and said, "They're all my own people, so it's easy to talk about."
The two of them had their own thoughts, and after going around for a while, they finally finalized the shipbuilding order.Shi Diwen even called the staff over to go through the formalities for He Li.
Although a verbal agreement has been reached, there are actually quite a lot of procedures to be completed. There are as many as seven or eight copies of various agreements alone.Although He Li trusted the Haihan people, he still had to read the content one by one before he dared to sign.As for the technical standards and relevant data of the ordered cargo ship, He Li did not understand many things, and he had to listen to the staff of the Ministry of Shipping explain it to him in detail.
When these agreements were finalized, it was almost midnight, and Shi Diwen had already ordered his servants to make supper, so the two had another casual meal in the study, and Shi Diwen sent He Li to him. Walk.
Being able to finish the Ningbo transportation industry talks in one day, this good start gave Shi Diwen a little more confidence in the mission of this trip.But starting from the grain industry on the second day, the negotiations did not go so smoothly.
As a land of fish and rice in the south of the Yangtze River, the grain output of Ningbo Prefecture has never been low. More than half of the grain purchased by Haihan in Zhejiang comes from Ningbo.It can be said that all the relatively powerful grain merchants in Ningbo have had more or less trade relations with Haihan.In the past period of time, most of the grain shipped by Haihan from Zhejiang to Shandong and Liaodong came from local purchases, and it also fattened up a group of grain merchants along the way.
But because of this, the grain merchants don't quite agree with Haihan's attempt to integrate the local grain industry, because Haihan's purpose is obviously to control the industry, and then control the pricing power of grain, which will obviously violate to the interests of the food people.Therefore, grain merchants all expressed inappropriateness to Shi Diwen's proposals such as "uniform grain purchase price" and "establishing an industry alliance".Although everyone dared not speak out against Shi Diwen's proposal out of face and intimidation, but they were also unwilling to let go of this so-called integration plan.
Shi Diwen really can't come up with many conditions that can threaten the grain merchants in the negotiations in this industry. After all, even if they don't sell the grain to Haihan, these grain merchants can sell the grain to other regions, at most The profit is a little less, but at least the pricing power is in their own hands.And if Haihan does not purchase grain from Zhejiang, it can only ship grain from the south to the distant northern colonies, which greatly exceeds the cost of purchasing grain in Zhejiang.
The only strategy that Haihan can adopt is to disperse the procurement, expand the grain procurement area to the entire Jiangsu and Zhejiang grain production areas, and reduce the share of local grain procurement from Ningbo.However, the result of doing so is only to reduce the profits of local grain merchants, and it cannot prompt them to give up confrontation.However, Shi Diwen's previously negotiated transportation industry will bring more benefits to practitioners after integration, which is fundamentally different from the situation in the grain industry.
After two days of talks with the grain merchants, Shi Diwen failed to reach a consensus. He also realized that the original plan of the Ministry of Commerce was not well thought out. He did not expect the reaction of the grain merchants to be so strong. He could only be decisive The original plan was temporarily abandoned.To solve the problem in grain procurement, the only way to go is to increase the grain supply.Fortunately, the agricultural area developed by Haihan on Taiwan Island has begun to harvest. In addition to meeting the needs of local immigrants, the food production has already been slightly surplus. In time, the farmland on the west coast of Taiwan will be produced, and it can be transported to the northern colonies by sea. to meet the needs of the local people.
This small setback did not affect Shi Diwen's emotions too much. He knew that the next financial industry was Haihan's strength, and he would no longer be controlled by others like the grain industry.There are quite a few private banks in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions, but no matter in terms of financial strength or operational strategies, the financial institutions of this era are far from being able to compete with the Haihan financial system led by Schneider.For this meeting, Schneider specially sent Cai Jinmei, one of his officers, to Zhejiang to assist Shi Diwen in the financial industry integration talks.
Shi Diwen had dealt with Cai Jinmei, who was a bank clerk in the early days of time travel, and knew that this tall and thin woman was quite professional in finance, so he had no objection to Schneider transferring her to Zhejiang to take charge of this matter.In fact, he is very grateful for Schneider's arrangement, so that he can be rescued from the cumbersome financial numbers game, and only needs to be responsible for making the final decision and signing.
(End of this chapter)