The plan to convince Gao Mengnan was simpler than expected, and Gao Mengnan quickly accepted Gao Pragmatic's invitation.
Looking back, Gao Pragmatic estimated that Gao Mengnan was also a little restless in Xinzheng. In addition, there may be another reason, that is, his relationship with Gao Wuzi was not very harmonious.
This is not unexpected. After all, Gao Mengnan is not a dandy like Gao Wuzi, and because Gao Wuzi is the eldest son, even if he is sitting on nothing, at least the "mountain" is not small, and it seems that it will be enough for a while.
But Gao Mengnan was different. Although he was adopted by Gao Jie as his adopted son, his adopted son could not be compared with his legitimate son. Gao Jie was a little better off when he was alive. After Gao Jie passed away, his life began with Wang Xiaoer's New Year, one year
It’s not as good as a year. If things continue like this, one day we will have to drink the northwest wind!
Although Gao Jingshi's performance in the capital is not well known in his hometown in Xinzheng, he still has a general understanding. At least his Jinghua soap is enough to make him rich with six houses. Gao Jingshi can make such a big deal, and
Is this a person with a false reputation?
Following Gao Pragmatic is at least ten times better than following Gao Wuzi. This is the basic judgment in Gao Mengnan's mind.
Of course, there is no rush to invest in Tianjin Port, and Gao Pragmatic does not intend to let Gao Mengnan go to Tianjin immediately to handle it.
I’m not in a hurry because opening a port is different from opening a mine. After the mine is mined, whether it is selling finished products after deep processing or selling raw ore directly, it can quickly enter normal operating conditions and start to recover costs and make profits. As long as one of these is met
The condition is the sales network.
The Gao family's official name is placed here, and the Zhang family of Puzhou serves as a hidden business backing. In addition, Gao pragmatically puts the golden rooster of Jinghua soap on the table. Few people will doubt Gao's family.
The industries under his command will open today and close tomorrow, so the establishment of his sales network has always been relatively smooth.
But port operations are completely different from mining and even ironmaking.
First of all, the port itself must have relatively good natural conditions, such as the shape of the port, the size of the water area in the port, the depth of the water in the port, whether it is sheltered from the wind, etc. There are innate requirements. Tianjin Port in later generations is an international port, and it stands to reason that the innate conditions should also be
OK, but you must know that the Tianjin Port in later generations was formed after many large-scale artificial transformations, and the current Gao Pragmatic does not have that kind of transformation capability.
Of course, Gao Pragmatic did not dare to expect to build a port as large as Tianjin Port in later generations, but he still needed to send people to conduct detailed inspections and comprehensively consider various factors before making a final decision to avoid becoming a second-month port.
Although Yuegang in Fujian is the first port to open sea in Longqing and is currently the only port to open sea, the natural conditions of Yuegang are actually quite average. It was originally a port that sprang up spontaneously due to the prevalence of smuggling.
The advantage of taking action is actually quite amusing: it is located in a remote area and is not easily discovered by the government, let alone seized by the government.
Precisely because of this advantage of Yuegang, "small problems" such as the small water area and the presence of reefs under the channel entering and exiting the port are ignored.
But Gao pragmatically treats Tianjin Port as his own industry, and it is not an ordinary industry. He also plans to undertake big business such as the imperial court's "South-to-North Grain Diversion" in the future. Of course, he cannot just do it casually. Today he talks about building a port, but tomorrow
So I went to buy a piece of land and started construction.
Building a port is no different from building a wharf. It is not just a matter of building a few trestles. In addition to finding the most suitable natural haven, we also need to plan and carry out large-scale construction in the port area.
Planning is relatively easy to handle. Gao pragmatically visited the port when he followed the leader to inspect the coast and had a general understanding of the layout and planning of the port. Although the knowledge here is actually very deep, Gao pragmatically only knew a few superficial things, but he estimated that he
This level is barely enough in this era.
At least, he also knew that according to the differences in blowing currents, tidal currents, and wave currents, the port's channel, breakwater axis, gate orientation, etc. must have corresponding measures to deal with it. As for the functional layout of the port's land area, anyone who has been to later ports
Everyone can talk about one, two, three, four, so he can do it...well, even if he does it reluctantly.
But the third point is powerful, and it is even the most fundamental factor why Gaowu Real Estate is not anxious now: Once there is a port, it will have no effect, because the port itself cannot generate any value, and the value of the port comes from the ships entering and leaving the port.
In other words, the port itself needs to have a location advantage, and then attract ships to dock, and realize its value through the port's throughput.
If there are no ships to dock, load and unload cargo, no matter how good the port is, it will be useless and it will be a junk asset.
Therefore, before building the port, Gao Jingshi must first contact a group of willing shippers and merchants to let them be interested in using Tianjin Port as an unloading or shipping place in the future. Otherwise, Gao Jingshi will lose as much as he invests in this port.
And it has to continue to lose money - in order to ensure the operation of the port, someone must manage and maintain it, and this costs money!
In addition to these hard conditions, Gao Pragmatic also needs to figure out whether such a thing as a private commercial port can be done, and if so, what procedures need to be completed.
According to Gao Pragmatic's current understanding of the Ming Dynasty court and local yamen, merchants build any commercial facilities on their own, and as long as the form does not violate the rules, the government will not interfere at all. This is why Gao Pragmatically opens coal mines to make briquettes and iron mines to make steel every time.
The reason why the local government just checked whether he had the title deeds for those plots of land and then directly released the project.
If this point can only be said that the Ming government was very tolerant, then the next point is even more amazing.
For example, a businessman built a large warehouse by himself in an important transportation area. Since the local area is a thoroughfare for several provinces or prefectures, the business prospered after the warehouse was built, and he made a lot of money every day!
What will happen to the government at this time?
Congratulations to this businessman, because the Ming Dynasty officials will still pretend they didn’t see it and won’t even think of going to this businessman to collect taxes!
You read that right, as long as the land where the businessman builds the warehouse is owned by the businessman, the officials at all levels in the Ming Dynasty will consider any legitimate business you conduct on this land to be reasonable and legal, and - again
Let me stress it once - we will not collect taxes from you.
At least, there is no regular tax. At most, when the government faces some big troubles, it will send someone to come to you to apportion a fee. In fact, there are not many such big troubles. For example, if bandits attack the city, the government wants to recruit people to strengthen the people.
You are righteous and brave, but the yamen is relatively poor, so you have to find local gentry and big businessmen to "complement your salary". Only then will the government think of asking you, a big businessman, to donate a sum.
The reason why Gao pragmatism still needs to confirm is mainly because of the special nature of the port - after all, although Emperor Longqing opened the sea, he has only approved Yuegang as an export port (Note: Imports are also allowed, but both import and export are
There are restrictions.) Although the Tianjin Port that Gao Pragmatic plans to build has no plans to engage in overseas trade yet and is just testing the waters of north-south shipping first, he and Sanbo Gao Gong are both at the forefront of the limelight, so it is always good to be careful.