"Okay, I'll ask them to build a special yard in the sugar factory for you to use."
"No," Bei Wei refused. "It's too eye-catching. We won't be here for a long time."
"Okay, Qiwei has inns in Haikang and Xuwen counties, where you can stay and rest. There are also South China Sugar Factory's industries in various places where you can stay. Even if the conditions are average, I will arrange for someone to notify you right away.
.”
"No need. We'll stay in an inn all the way. Try not to have anything to do with the South China Sugar Factory."
"Do we have any tasks?" Chang Shide was very excited.
"No." Bei Wei answered simply.
Chen Tianxiong said: "The sugar factory does not have specific tasks, as long as we cooperate with the actions. I will do the specific things. But I am still a technician at the sugar factory."
Wen Tong was very happy that there was no intelligence work. He was not interested in these things. There were still a lot of matters in the sugar factory that had not been dealt with.
"The Tang Monk Plan is a long-term action, and the last few years have been the preparation stage." Chen Tianxiong said, "How is our relationship with the local government?"
"The relationship is not bad, but the friendship is not deep," Wen Tong introduced several recent negotiations with the Yamen, including renovating the sugar factory and maintaining order. "... Generally speaking, there is not much contact."
"I think there will be more recently." Chen Tianxiong said with a smile, "Now even a blind person can see that you have made a fortune, and trouble will be inevitable in the future."
"Yeah, I'm worried about this too." Wen Tong said worriedly, "Although Qiwei's escort agency has prepared a certain foundation for us, their foundation is very shallow after all. I'm afraid they won't be able to handle some things."
"If it doesn't work, just spend money to buy Ping An." Chang Shide said, "How about giving some shares to the officials? Protective umbrella. Fortunately, Leizhou will be ours in two years."
"Try to bring local officials into the water and form a community of interests." This is the instruction given by the executive committee to all travelers entering the Ming District.
"That's okay," Wen Tong nodded, "but the details of how to do it have to be reported to the executive committee. Speaking of which, it's too inconvenient here. We don't even have a radio station. There is a 5w radio station in a place like Yanchang Village."
"The executive committee of the radio station will probably allocate one to you soon. Mass production of the radio station will soon be in sight. The glass factory has been experimenting with pulling glass tubes every day recently, and Dr. Zhong has already started to do it." Chen Tianxiong said.
"Build a radio station?" Wen Tong didn't believe it, "Isn't it too sophisticated?"
"He wants to build a lot of high-tech things: clocks, batteries, and water and gas airships. I don't think airships are very reliable, so let's just listen to him."
"His airship has argued with him in the past. It is not realistic at all. Dr. Zhong has read too much and takes it for granted." Chang Shide disagreed.
"If he can make it, he can give us a vacuum pot and a centrifuge first." Wen Tong only thought about his candy.
"It's probably not difficult for him. By the way, I heard that we are coming this time, and he wants me to bring you a message: Xuwen is very rich in diatomaceous earth, more than Lingao. You can make white sugar."
Use this filter."
"Really? Then I have to ask someone to look for it. The efficiency of getting yellow mud water is really bad now." Wen Tong perked up after hearing this, "If we continue like this, the labor cost of one ton of sugar is too high."
The price of brown sugar is much lower than that of white sugar. It is more profitable to process it into white sugar and then sell it. Wen Tong has recently been thinking hard about whether they can develop a white sugar process that is within their capabilities but has higher processing efficiency. In the warehouse
There are more and more brown sugar. In the past, when there were no steel rollers, the average output of brown sugar per mu of sugar cane field was about three shi. Now that the juice yield has been improved, the output per acre is more than five shi. Only the South China Factory
The sugar cane field under his name can produce 13,000 shi of brown sugar. Including the processing fee for processing by others, the brown sugar in the warehouse is piled up like a mountain, with a total amount of more than 20,000 shi. The white sugar workshop is open 24 hours a day.
The output of two shifts is only five or six stones.
While we were talking, Wenxiu suddenly came to report: Pigeons from Guangzhou have arrived and sent a secret letter.
Chang Shide asked him to go out, and he took out a code book from the room and started decoding. Several people looked at him eagerly. After a few minutes, Chang Shide said happily: "Zhang Xin said in the letter that he needs to go through
Quickly transport all the sugar in stock, including brown sugar. The market is quite good: the price in Guangzhou is thirty-two-eight yuan, and it looks like it will go up! He said that if he can buy it, he will buy it as much as possible. If he transports it to Guangzhou, he can exchange it for silver!"
"Great," Wen Tong said with great interest, "I heard from Liao Dahua that the purchase price on Hai'an Street is only twenty-two-five cents!"
Chang Shide said: "Then let's buy in pairs!" Everyone laughed, and it felt really good to make huge profits.
Wen Tong said with a smile: "If he hadn't written, I would have written to ask what to do with the candies. Several local candy shops have approached us and wanted to buy our candies, but I hesitated and didn't agree to sell them. Fortunately,
Don’t sell it, otherwise you will suffer a big loss!”
Chang Shide said: "In this case, we will have to look for him to acquire it!"
"You don't have to think about it. They only know the market conditions in Guangzhou better than us. Hum!" Wen Tong probably had little impression of these sugar shops.
"Whatever, this is our world from now on." Chang Shide said, opened the door and called Wenxiu, "Go and invite shopkeeper Liao."
This month they have been trying to find a local shopkeeper who is familiar with the sugar business to handle the sugar factory's external negotiations. They specially asked Liao Dahua to accompany them to Hai'an Street and the county to see if there was a shopkeeper who was willing to find another job, but found nothing.
.No one wants to change jobs, and more people express doubts: You are a candy store, do you need to be the shopkeeper of a candy shop?
In this way, Liao Dahua became their only external agent in the local area. For the convenience of doing things, Liao Dahua simply lived in the yard of the South China Factory. Fortunately, it was less than two or three miles away from the county seat.
If you have anything to take care of, you can go back right away.
Liao Dahua came to the study, and Bei Wei didn't want to show too much face, so he hid in the side room. Wen Tong told Liao Dahua about his plan to purchase sugar on a large scale and asked him to set up a team - even if there was no sugar store manager,
They also plan to do it themselves.
Liao Dahua shook his head repeatedly: "Master, this is inappropriate."
"What's wrong?"
"I don't know something," Liao Dahua said, "this Leizhou sugar has always been purchased by the sugar shop on Hai'an Street..."
"He takes what's his, and I take what's mine, it doesn't matter to anyone." Wen Tong felt strange.
Chang Shide understood: "They have the monopoly, right?"
"Exactly." Liao Dahua said. There are a total of twenty-one sugar shops on Hai'an Street, forming a sugar industry association "Hai Yi Tang". All the sugar produced in Leizhou must be exported, and it must go through their hands.
Sinotrans. The price of sugar purchased every year is determined by the public discussion in the hall. Outsiders cannot get involved in the purchase of sugar unless they join the "Hai Yi Tang".
"That's strange, why can't we get involved? Why?" Chang Shide was very unconvinced by this.
"This..." Liao Dahua didn't think about why it couldn't be done. The sugar shop on Hai'an Street has monopolized Leizhou's sugar exports for decades, and everyone regarded it as the norm. "The shopkeepers don't know something, and the sugarcane farmers
There were no big ships, so it was inconvenient to transport the sugar by ourselves. So we entrusted these sugar companies to transport the sugar to other places for sales. After the sales were completed, the sugar companies settled accounts with the sugarcane farmers for payment. The sugar companies settled the accounts at 98 and took two deductions as commissions. Over time,
, because there were concerns about theft and robbery in shipping, and sugar companies sometimes swallowed up money, it gradually became the current cash purchase. The sugar companies made more money, and the sugarcane farmers were also willing - after all, they took the risk.
The risk is high.”
"So that's it. It's nothing." Wen Tong said, "We can take these risks. We will prepare tomorrow and prepare to open the scale to collect sugar in a few days!"
Liao Dahua moved his lips, as if he wanted to dissuade him. Chang Shide said with a smile: "Just do some business, it's a big deal. In this way, we can also give Wei Escort two buckles for the purchased candy."
The second deduction is 2%, which is not a small number. Not only is it of great benefit to the escort agency, but he can also make a lot of money. Thinking of the wealth of these Australian businessmen, Liao Dahua became more courageous and said: "Now that the shopkeepers have made up their minds,
, I'll just go and get it done. I know a little bit about the sugar store's business, so I'll go get ready!" He said goodbye and went out.
Chen Tianxiong said: "Isn't it a bit risky to do this? Haven't you considered the other party's counterattack?"
"It doesn't matter." Wen Tong said, "I've been to Hai'an Street and met a few shopkeepers. The sugar shops are doing serious business. In fact, they manage the entire Hai'an Street, and the order is very good."
Chen Tianxiong shook his head: "Old Wen, I'm not too talkative - this is your jurisdiction, but you should know that interest groups have always done whatever they can to protect their own interests. Don't sell candy to anyone.
The sugar store shipped the sugar out by itself, which was already against their taboo, and now they are accepting the sugar. This conflict of interest has almost reached the point of life and death."
"Is it such an exaggeration?" Wen Tong expressed doubts.
"Thanks to you, you are still a good person in society." Chen Tianxiong said, "Do you really think that the people in the 17th century were simple and simple, and they did not close their homes at night if they did not pick up things on the road? Which of the various ugly things in society has not existed since ancient times? Businessmen tend to
Li, don’t you need me to recite Marx’s evaluation of capitalists?”
"What should you do?" Wen Tong thought about what he said and it made sense. The so-called simplicity of the ancients was not inevitable in this time and space: people in this time and space are the same as modern people: there are good people,
There are also bad people, but most of them are ordinary people who are silent, neither very good nor fundamentally bad.
Bei Wei rarely spoke: "Chen Tianxiong's statement should be considered. What if the other party counterattacks?"
"It's best not to touch this piece of cake until we are still young," Chen Tianxiong suggested.
"I don't think there's any need to be so nervous." Chang Shide thought about it for a long time and said, "The sugar shops on Hai'an Street are just ordinary merchants. How many tricks can they have? The worst thing is that we have a better relationship with the county and government offices. We
Nowadays, there is a way out in Guangzhou, and the county government offices in Leizhou, Haikang, and Xuwen can speak to each other. What can you do to me?"
After some discussion, Chen Tianxiong saw that they had made up their minds. He was not the decision-maker of the South China Factory. To say more would be to overshadow the guest and not be conducive to future work, so he no longer insisted on his opinion. He just reminded them to respond well.
Preparation for the situation. Bei Wei was not interested in these and did not speak. In boredom, he looked at the hills of bagasse piled higher and higher outside the courtyard wall and suddenly asked:
“What to do with the by-products from sugar production?”
"There are many uses, but equipment is needed. Speaking of which, I also want to report this to the executive committee, and some fermentation equipment and strains must be allocated." Wen Tong introduced the recycling of sugarcane by-products: Strictly speaking, the system
There is no waste in the sugar industry process, even waste water can be used to produce something.
Alcohol, glycerin, acetone, butanol, citric acid and yeast can be produced by diluting molasses and fermenting it with different strains of bacteria. Bagasse can be used to make paper and furfural, and sugarcane can be extracted from the precipitated filter mud.
Wax, and the rest can be used as fertilizer. As for the sugarcane leaves cleaned from the sugarcane itself, it can be used as feed. The sugarcane head and tail of the sugarcane have low sugar content and will be cut off before entering the press. However, although the sugar content is small, it is still
Can be used to make wine or extract alcohol.
"These are actually relatively simple recycling methods. Sugarcane bagasse can also recover aconitic acid," Wen Tong said. "The extent to which it can be utilized depends on how many bacterial strains and chemicals we have available. Secondly, we must have the necessary equipment.
.”
"What the South China factory can use on-site is probably molasses to make alcohol and sugarcane bagasse to make paper, right?" Chang Shide said.
"It's impossible to make paper." Wen Tong recently conducted an investigation into the fuel situation of the boiler. "It's almost enough to use all the bagasse for fire."
"Such a waste……"
"Then we have to buy coal to burn the boiler. To be honest, I still hope to use coal to burn the boiler. The water content of sugarcane bagasse is too great. If the manpower here is not valuable, the manpower spent on drying the bagasse every day would be enough for us.
It's bankrupt." Wen Tong said, "Industrialization is good, but it also consumes a lot. Now I doubt whether the sugarcane bagasse will be enough to burn until the end of the crushing season."
It is of course possible to buy coal. It is not far from Hongji, Vietnam to buy coal. Moreover, Gaozhou is not far from Leizhou, where there is a larger coal mining area in Guangdong Province, which is now the Maoming Mining Area. However, this mining area only existed in the Ming Dynasty.
Sporadic mining is not bad as a fuel supplement. At least the distance is much shorter than the coal shipped from Guangzhou.
"Then let's set up a coal shop." Chang Shide thought quickly, "There are few people here who use coal, and most of them still burn firewood. We can maybe do some business besides bringing in coal for our own use."
"Okay, it won't cost much anyway. Just leave it to Qiwei."