Both the Ming and Qing Dynasties knew that the source of power of the Zheng Group was the huge profits from sea trade. One of the main measures to combat the Zheng Group was to work hard on exporting goods from mainland China, especially after Zheng Zhilong came to the Qing Dynasty and was killed.
, the Manchu and Qing dynasties implemented strong sea bans on Zheng Chenggong's trade, implemented a sea ban, "nothing is allowed to enter the sea", and prohibited the export of goods. However, Zheng Chenggong relied on Taiwan and Jinxia to still obtain a steady stream of goods from the mainland.
A large number of commodities for overseas trade all rely on the business-intelligence network established by the Zheng Group in the mainland, which is the so-called Shanhai Road, Five Traders and Five Elements system.
The operation of this system was very successful. It not only provided the Zheng Group with a steady supply of various commodities on the mainland, but also provided intelligence and logistical support for Zheng Chenggong's military operations on the mainland. In 1659, Zheng's army attacked Zhenjiang.
The merchants of the Zheng Group stored a large amount of rice in the Jinshan Temple at the mouth of the river, so that they could supply military rations on the spot as soon as the Zheng army's ships arrived. Zheng Chenggong's Ministry betrayed Huang Wu and surrendered to the Manchu Dynasty, and then the system was exposed, but the entire Shunzhi
During the year, only twelve so-called Zheng spy cases were uncovered, most of which were in very unclear terms, and only five or six people were involved. Obviously, it did not cause much damage to the system.
Zheng Chenggong's system is based on mountain roads for business operations and sea routes for material distribution. Each road has five companies responsible for them, and they are not connected with each other.
The system Jiang Shan, Si Kaide and others want to establish now is basically to imitate its operating methods.
Shanlu is responsible for the mainland trade and procurement of materials across the group. The five merchants are codenamed according to "Jin, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth". Wanyou receives the "Gold" font name; the "Wood" font name is left to the Runshitang system, and the rest are for later use.
Several purple-branded enterprises in Guangzhou and the South China Sugar Industry in Leizhou were considered by the Intelligence Bureau and the Department of Colonial Trade to be too important to the Crossing Group and it was best to leave them as they were for the time being.
The sea route is established in the Five Elements, which operates cargo and population transportation, inns, and finance. It is equivalent to the logistics and financial service industry. It is codenamed "Ren Yi Li Zhi Xin". Among them, the "Ren" brand name is Qiwei Escort System, and the "Yi" brand name is Delong
banking system.
Shanhai Road, Five Merchants and Five Industries all adopt vertical management. They only have business contacts with each other and do not have intelligence contacts. Each other's actions are kept confidential. Except for a few key figures, most of the clerks and shopkeepers appointed in the stores do not know who they are.
of a secret mission.
The Five Businesses and Five Elements mainly collect local public intelligence and are also responsible for support in logistics, transportation and communications.
In addition to the two groups of Shanhai, there is the "Black Dragon Society" system directly under the Foreign Intelligence Service system. This system is composed entirely of intelligence personnel. They conduct reconnaissance in important locations in the form of a reconnaissance network. These personnel will use a variety of
To cover their identities, they include landlords, hawkers, small businessmen, pals, monks, Taoist priests, etc. When necessary, you can also use the model of occupying the mountain as the king or forming a village warrior to operate a small-scale local armed force as the future mainland armed task force.
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There is no horizontal connection between the Black Dragon Society and Shanhai Road. They mainly engage in dangerous illegal activities, perform undercover, infiltration and instigate rebellion. Members of the Black Dragon Society are not allowed to work in Shanhai Road stores to avoid being exposed.
When the other party is involved in arrest and requires cooperation or support from the other party, a special token or coded letter instructions must be presented.
Establishing a large-scale commercial network in mainland China is a large-scale investment project. Not only is the investment huge, but the number of people involved in this project is also quite large. It caused great controversy during the third reading of the Senate, and a hearing was held for this purpose.
meeting.
At the meeting, personnel from the finance, trade and industry departments each explained the current situation and problems faced.
At present, the scale of investment in industry, civil affairs, and infrastructure in Lingao is constantly expanding. The expansion of production capacity and increase in population have greatly stimulated imports. However, the self-sufficiency rate of raw materials in Lingao is very low. The result is that Lingao's foreign trade
The degree of dependence is deepening. Lingao's financial department finally began to encounter a problem: lack of foreign exchange.
The so-called foreign exchange is of course the most widely used hard currency in this time and space: silver.
The ever-expanding industrial and mining enterprises, administrative agencies, military and police employed a large number of personnel, and the huge administrative expenses and industrial investment caused the physical silver reserves of the Finance Committee to drop to a level close to the warning level by April 1630.
Judging from the book figures, Lingao's trade has always been in an outstanding position, and the number of silver reserves is more than sufficient. However, most of the reserves are only in the accounts receivable of Guangzhou Station. Similarly, Guangzhou Station has the payable column of imported materials.
The amount of liabilities is also quite large. If the first collection date of the Dragon Boat Festival in May is not approaching, and the silver reserve situation of the group through the end of the summer will become ugly.
Leizhou, the largest source of silver for the Cross Group, not only cannot contribute financial resources, but also requires a large amount of financial investment. Relying on the Leizhou Sugar Industry Association, South China Sugar Company is organizing a local "sugar industry combination", similar to the "rural cooperative medical cooperative" of Japan
"System. It adopts a model of unified supply of seeds, fertilizers and pesticides; unified planting guidance and unified procurement; the most critical thing in this system is to provide farmers with a large number of small low-interest loans to protect them from the control of local rural loan sharks. This
The system is currently only implemented in Xuwen, but the capital investment required is at least 50,000 taels, and in the autumn, another 200,000 to 300,000 taels of acquisition funds will be invested to meet the acquisition demand. This makes the financial situation in the second half of the year very serious.
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"Since the fiscal situation is so severe, why should we increase investment in the mainland?" Qian Shuixie, a member of the Standing Committee of the Senate, asked, "It is impossible to recover the principal of the funds invested now, let alone obtain sufficient profits, within that year.
."
"First of all, this system is a gradual construction process, not one step." Sitting on the lonely chair in the middle of the horseshoe-shaped table is Skade. Although this system is a dual system of business and intelligence, it mainly serves business. According to
According to the principle of whoever benefits the most, he can only answer the question.
"This system mainly uses existing mature industrial and commercial enterprises, and we take the lead in guiding them to make expansion investments." Si Kaide pointed out that whether it is the soon-to-be-established "Wanyou" or Runshitang, which is preparing to launch the "Ming Watsons"
Pharmacies are all private joint-stock companies, and the funds for external expansion are mainly borne by them.
"But we also have investment, don't we? And this investment is not a small amount."
"Of course. Although our nominal investment amount is large, the actual silver capital investment is limited..."
"Do you mean that our investment is just an accounting act?"
Skade was a little hesitant, and it took dozens of seconds before he returned: "If you are talking about the method of transferring funds, then yes." He then added, "But we also need to invest some physical silver. It's just the amount.
It’s just limited.”
"No matter what, the total investment from Wanyou and Runshitang will not be less than 50,000 taels, right? Just discount it in half according to your contracted investment amount. If you invest this money, how long will it take to recover the cost - I
Let’s not talk about profits.”
"I think even Buffett can't say when he will definitely make profits." Skade said, "But the time to pay back the capital is very fast. For example, Wanyou's North-South goods business."
According to historical data, calculations by the Navy and estimates by the commercial department: using traditional sand ships to transport north-south goods from Shanghai to Tianjin, a round-trip transaction can be completed in about two months. With a cost of 50,000 taels of silver, excluding expenses, the net profit is about three
Between one thousand and six thousand taels, the profit is very considerable.
"The profits cannot be withdrawn immediately and used in Lingao. Since we want to expand our operations, we need to accumulate capital."
"Yes, that's the case," Skade said, "but the investment is relatively large, and there will be no need for additional investment in the future - even if the additional investment is limited, the company can rely on its own profits to maintain operation and development. With our
It’s quite cost-effective in terms of investment.”
There was a commotion among the members of the Standing Committee, as if they were not satisfied with this answer.
Si Kaide continued: "As for funds, there is another channel that can be supplemented. Everyone knows where the deposits of Delong Bank in Guangzhou come from, right? It mainly relies on the deposits of local wealthy people absorbed by Zishi Enterprises. We
After the mainland business network system is formed, the same method can be used to absorb funds."
"In addition, the Directorate General of Colonization and Trade requested Comrade Yu Eshui, a first-level historical researcher of the Historical Materials Research Group of the Grand Library, to serve as our witness."
"agree."
Yu Eshui submitted a testimony. According to historical records, next year, the fourth year of Chongzhen, the Ming army will attack Guangzhou Bay and prohibit the Portuguese from entering and exiting trade. This allows the Portuguese, who have been doing so for many years, to visit Guangzhou twice a year.
The custom of coming to purchase goods was abolished.
"The Portuguese can no longer purchase Chinese goods directly. They will inevitably look for Chinese agents to purchase goods. Guangzhou Station can use this opportunity to sell a large amount of Chinese goods directly to the Portuguese, and we can obtain huge silver foreign exchange reserves. If we can
By establishing a mainland business network before next year, we can purchase goods cheaply through this network and then export them—whether directly to the Portuguese in Macau or shipped to Southeast Asia."
The main production area of raw silk, the Portuguese's favorite commodity, is in Jiangnan. The first-class variety of raw silk sold for export, "lankij n" (Nanjing), is produced in Jiangnan.
The proposal to establish a mainland business network finally passed the third reading of the Senate, but the Standing Committee added an additional condition to it, that is, additional funding for these enterprises must be approved by the Senate.
In addition, the Senate also approved the Department of Colonization and Trade to conduct one or two exploratory trade inspections to Southeast Asia and Liaodong to see if there was any possibility of setting up commercial offices or agencies there.
At the same time, the Senate also instructed the Manufacturing Directorate to develop more export products as soon as possible to ensure its leading position in the field of foreign trade. It also increased foreign exchange reserves and ensured the continuous import of production raw materials and population.
The Ministry of Colonization and Trade got all the authorizations they wanted. But the Director of Manufacturing seemed very unhappy - they didn't get any benefits from this hearing, but instead they were put under increased pressure. The development of new export goods was a matter of
It's easy to say, but it's actually very difficult.
Most of the products of the various departments and companies under the Manufacturing Directorate cannot be exported - even if they are willing to export, Lingao itself is not enough. Orders for the machinery and equipment that account for most of the production capacity of the Manufacturing Directorate have been queued up to 1633. These
All of them are to be supplied to various industrial, mining and agricultural uses in Lingao and Sanya in the future; the production capacity of the clothing factory has reached a figure of 5,000 sets of various clothing per month that the indigenous people find incredible, but they are still unable to cope with the increasing number of garments.
Large population. Sometimes, purified immigrants don’t even get the standard of two sets of clothing per person, so they have to use clothing coupons to owe them later. As for shoes, they have never really been able to meet the demand. The army relies on
The "high-end straw sandals" made by myself mixed with rags can barely prevent the soldiers from training barefoot - formal leather-soled cloth boots are only worn during inspections, exercises and when going out.
Even the production capacity of many light industrial products has been absorbed internally - for example, soap, its own production capacity is affected by insufficient oil, and the large internal demand for soap has caused most of the soap to be consumed directly in Lingao, with only a few high-end soaps and transparent soaps
Soap is exported as a luxury product.
"Mo Xiao'an, this matter is yours to consider." Zhan Wuya said, "As we all know, the only possibility for the heavy industry sector to export is arms and machinery. Now the Executive Committee does not agree with it, so the important task of exporting industrial products is
It falls on your Ministry of Light Industry."
He sighed: "I know you are in a difficult situation. The raw materials of many products are 'controlled' materials. Even if they can sell well in the market, you cannot put them into mass production. But you should try your best."
"I'll try my best to find a way." Mo Xiao'an said with a grimace, "Can you submit a report to the executive committee? Allow some grain exports? This way I can at least develop a large number of sweet potato products."
"It's basically impossible. If it's not enough, I'll try again. You'd better pray for a bumper harvest of sweet potatoes this year. There will be so many sweet potatoes that they'll rot. Maybe it's still possible."
Mo Xiao'an thought that the problem was that the food factory's comprehensive utilization of sweet potatoes was so powerful that there was almost no possibility of waste.
I went back to my office and thought about it for a long time, but still couldn't think of anything that could expand exports. He can now export quite a lot of products, from non-staple food, snacks, medicines, cosmetics, bathroom ceramics, paper... there are so many,
Excluding those varieties whose production capacity is too low and can only be consumed locally and those in the export control catalog of the Executive Committee, there are probably more than 40 varieties left.
Among them, the largest sales volume is MSG and pickles produced by Tianchu, as well as needles and paper products. These four account for half of Lingao's total bulk export commodities.
Runshitang's exports of Chinese patent medicines have increased very rapidly, but the production capacity of hand-made medicines is not high, and coupled with the large amount of local self-use in Lingao, the export output value is still relatively low. This situation will only change after a new mechanized pharmaceutical factory is put into operation.
Because MSG requires sweet potatoes as raw materials, the production quantity is greatly restricted; the production of pickles and the like can be expanded - the output of vegetables is always very considerable, especially in the climate conditions of Lingao, all vegetables
It can grow all year round.
It's a pity that his plan of dry rice noodles couldn't succeed - the rice noodles mixed with a lot of dried potato starch have been on the market in Lingao for a long time, and the tribesmen and indigenous people in China ate a lot of them. And he has always hoped to sell this stuff to the mainland.
went up, but the executive committee never agreed to export.
Mo Xiao'an couldn't come up with a new product after much thought. There were many ideas for new products, and the test sales results in Guangzhou were pretty good. But he needed new products that could be shipped in large quantities. In the end, he brought Xun Suji and
Zhou Dongtian came to find him.
Xun Suji has not paid much attention to work recently. Liu Youren has despaired of the possibility of him initiating marriage, so he simply asked Liu Guangbiao to propose marriage to him: he was willing to marry his "grandniece" Liu Meilan to him. Not only the Liu family was willing
If you marry your daughter to him, you will also give Liu Meilan a heavy dowry. As for Kim Hee Sun, the "person in the house" next to Chief Xun, Liu Guangbiao said that Liu Meilan is by no means a girl who cannot tolerate others.
This sudden good news made Xun Suji dizzy. This tall girl actually had some ideas, but it was just an idea and he never thought about how to implement it.
But the executive committee has never made a specific statement about marrying an indigenous woman. Now that I have a maid and secretary, I suddenly proposed that I want to marry a wife. I wonder if she will agree?
Xun Suji approached Wu Nanhai, who expressed his approval:
"We should have integrated into the local aborigines as soon as possible. If you marry Liu Youren's granddaughter, the Liu family will be on our boat, and they will become the basic masses from now on - Is this girl good-looking?"
"It's not bad, I have a good figure." Xun Suji said.
"Then seize the opportunity." Wu Nanhai said, "I will arrange several more agricultural technology promotion activities for the Liu family for you."
But Mo Xiaoan said something else:
"Suji, it's fine for you to make an indigenous woman a maid or something like that. Isn't it a bit too much to ask a daughter of the Liu family to be your wife?" Mo Xiao'an said, "It seems that many people in the Senate have a negative attitude toward indigenous people and women.
Personal collusion between elders is very taboo. If you get married to the Liu family, I'm afraid there will be many things that you won't be able to explain in the future."
Mo Xiaoan is not being alarmist. This is indeed the view of some elders - marrying local powerful indigenous people will inevitably create a new class of aristocrats who are dependent on the elders. If this aristocratic class uses this marriage relationship to commit lawlessness,
Dealing with time-traveling groups is much more difficult than in the past: everyone has a selfish desire to take care of their relatives, and sometimes it is purely out of face considerations.