Bronze cannons have a long service life, at least at sea for many years, so tin mines are indeed useful. But the embarrassing thing is that there are also a lot of tin mines in Guangdong, and the output is now very large. Previously, the tin used by the Jinghua Artillery Factory
Minerals are all from Guangdong, which are of high quality, low price and easy to transport. There is no need to look for a new place of origin.
Gao pragmatically discovered that the idea of relying on the province's mineral resources to develop Guangxi's industry was basically aborted.
But it doesn't matter, this will not make Gao pragmatic despair, because if minerals are not good, the deep processing industry of agriculture, forestry, fishery and animal husbandry products can also be considered.
After thinking about it, in addition to planting sugar cane and making sugar, Gao pragmatically focused his attention on the word "forest". In Guangxi, which is backed by mountains, if it wants to get rid of poverty and become rich in this era, the best way is to rely on the mountains.
This has been thought of before, and there is no need to think about it any more. The target is all kinds of marine wood and tung oil, plus sugar production. It should basically be able to raise Guangxi's economy by one or two levels - after all, the foundation is poor. These three major
When the industry improves, the results will be immediate.
But in this case, one thing becomes more urgent: Lianzhou Prefecture must be returned to Guangxi as soon as possible!
Without a seaport in hand, none of the above things would be easy to handle, or at least it would be one more trouble. What’s more, since timber utilization has now been determined to become one of the three major industries to improve Guangxi, Jinghua’s second shipyard will only be
We can settle in Lianzhou Prefecture.
Without further ado, Gao Pragmatic didn't have time to consider the opinions of Guangdong officials. He directly called Cao Ke to help him prepare paper and pen. He first wrote a memorial, and then wrote a dozen letters, and then explained to Cao Ke, these
The letter must be sent before the memorial.
Cao Ke said: "This is easy to handle. You are the patrol inspector of Guangxi. The letters you send can be sent by express delivery. I will send the private message in advance, and the memorial will be sent two days later."
Gao Gongshi ordered him to go and do it. After a while, Cao Ke hurried back again. Just when Gao Gongshi was a little confused, Cao Ke had already stepped forward to report: "Master, the second master of Xinzheng Dafang is here."
Gao Pragmatic was startled for a moment before he remembered that he was talking about Gao Mengnan. Gao Mengnan was the son of one of his uncle Gao Jie's subordinates. His father died at the hands of Japanese pirates and he had no relatives in the family. Gao Mengnan was adopted as his adopted son by Gao Jie.
Later, when Gao pragmatic returned to his hometown, he found that he was a relatively stable person, so he asked him to take charge of Tianjin Port affairs together with Shuai Jiamo. He did a very good job, so before Gao pragmatic went south this time, he was sent to Guangzhou Port to take charge of Guangzhou Port.
Side work.
Unexpectedly, not long after arriving in Guangzhou, he actually came to see me in person. It seemed that he had something important to report.
These days, the adopted son's status is relatively high, and Gao Pragmatic calls him second brother, so he immediately goes out to welcome him in personally.
Gao Mengnan was almost twenty years older than Gao Jingshi. He was thirty-five this year, which is the golden age of a man. When he saw Gao Jingshi coming out to greet him in person, he even said he didn't dare, and then he and Gao Jingshi went in hand in hand.
After exchanging pleasantries, the two of them went to Gao Pragmatic's study and started talking about business.
Gao Mengnan said: "To be honest, I believe that you respect me and let Brother Yu take charge of Guangzhou's affairs. I shouldn't come here to ask you about everything. However, the situation in Guangzhou is somewhat different from that in Tianjin. Brother Yu really doesn't dare to specialize in many things. I gave it to you before."
I sent a letter, but was told that you were not in Guilin, and then transferred to Liuzhou, and was told that you were not in Liuzhou... Alas, Brother Yu had no choice but to come in person."
Gao pragmatic smiled: "Brother, after all, he is on patrol now. It is difficult to stay in one place for a long time. Maybe he will have to go to Nanning or even elsewhere after a while... Okay, let's not talk about this anymore. What's the matter with my second brother? It's just right now
Let’s talk.”
Gao Mengnan also knew that Gao Mengnan had a pragmatic style in handling his own industrial affairs, and he never liked talking nonsense, so he said directly: "The current situation in Guangzhou Port is generally not bad, but there are several problems that need to be solved urgently."
Gao pragmatically nodded and said nothing.
Gao Mengnan said: "First of all, the local officials in Guangdong seem to be quite dissatisfied with us. They often cause some troubles for no reason. Originally, according to your explanation, Brother Yu was willing to take care of something, but it seems to have little effect. Even if they don't ask us in person,
Even though they are in trouble, they won’t speak for us, which makes things difficult to handle many times.”
Gao Pragmatic frowned slightly and asked, "For example?"
"For example, buying land." Gao Mengnan sighed and said, "Our Guangzhou private port was originally considered the Guangzhou official port. To be honest, the location is very good, but it is too cramped, so according to the plan and Jinghua's habits, we must continue
The nearby coastal land was purchased for expansion, but these things did not go well."
Gao Pragmatic asked: "Are the locals anti-foreign?"
Gao Mengnan complained: "If we talk about xenophobia, the locals are okay. They are not very xenophobic, but they are very smart and know that we must buy their land. They raise the price one by one. They are far different from the people in places like Tianjin, Kaiping, and Laizhou.
So honest."
Gao Pragmatic laughed. This evaluation was very pertinent, but it was also reasonable. Even in later generations, Cantonese people are known for their shrewdness. This is actually not a derogatory term. People who grow up in prosperous commercial places are not shrewd.
Already dead of poverty.
So he smiled and said: "We will inevitably face new situations in the new environment. As long as the problem is not caused by local people's xenophobia, it is not a big problem. Guangdong officials don't like us. This is actually reasonable. After all, Guangzhou Port is a
When they were in the official port, they were able to profit to some extent from it, but now that it's in our hands, they don't dare to be so explicit about many things. As for your management...
On the one hand, we still have to deal with things that need to be dealt with. On the other hand, we also need to deal with some stubborn people. Don’t be afraid of them. As long as we don’t engage in illegal business, it’s okay for the local officials in Guangdong to think that I am too pragmatic.
There’s a way.”
With these words, Gao Mengnan felt more at ease. He was just afraid of causing trouble to Gao Pragmatic.
However, after Gao Mengnan responded, he couldn't help but ask: "There should be people in the Gao family in Guangdong. Do you think we should let them help at certain times?"
Gao pragmatic pondered for a moment, shook his head and said: "Don't let it go for now. Although Liu Yaojie has never met me, I'm afraid it's difficult to talk about it. He is currently the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, and he might still be targeting us.
My idea is, don’t give anyone any leverage at this time. As for the official affairs in Guangdong... To be honest with the second brother, I am afraid that the brother will offend them again soon, and things may be more complicated by then.
But you don’t have to worry too much, I have already written to the teacher and uncle, asking them to look at and adjust it.”
Now that Guo Pu and Zhang Siwei have been mentioned, Gao Mengnan no longer dwells on this matter, but changes the topic and says: "As for the search for shipbuilding talents, it is relatively smooth at present. There are many relevant craftsmen in Guangdong. , but quite a few of them are craftsmen, so this matter is not easy to handle..."
Gao Pragmatic said simply: "Don't consider using official methods to solve this matter. There will be hidden dangers. Let's be direct and spend money. Let the local officials find a way. They have many ways to deal with these problems... Don't be afraid of spending money, what I lack now is not money, but time."
Gao Mengnan was a little surprised and asked: "Why are you so anxious all of a sudden? Is there anything unexpected?"
Gao pragmatic sighed and said: "I don't plan to place Jinghua's shipyard in the south in Guangzhou. It has to be moved to Lianzhou Prefecture. Specifically, it should be placed in Qinzhou."
Gao Mengnan said in surprise: "Is Qinzhou better than Guangzhou? I heard that Lianzhou has a sparse population, and there are many children and even Yao people there. It is very barren, and there may be a lot of troubles in public security..."
Gao pragmatically said: "You can talk to the second brother about this matter, but the second brother must keep it confidential."
Immediately, he briefly told Gao Mengnan his plans for the development of Guangxi.
