1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 108 Developing New Products
If it only needs tens of thousands of taels of silver to buy coal every year, then the business department in charge of Schneider has the confidence to earn back the money. After all, the coal needed by the Transit Group is basically used as production costs rather than living costs. use.How much coal is consumed will definitely be calculated into the price of the commodity sold, so there is no need to worry about making a loss-making transaction.

What the Executive Committee is worried about is not just the huge cost of buying coal, but more about the reliability and stability of relying on others to supply coal.Now that the civil war in the mainland is tense, more than half of the coal supply in Yazhou has been cut off. Even if coal can be bought from Guangzhou or other places now, it may be suddenly interrupted due to force majeure from the outside world.

"I still have to buy a boat and go to Hongji to pull coal by myself!" Tao Donglai once again affirmed his idea in his heart.He nodded to Schneider, indicating that Schneider could discuss with the other party about buying a boat.

Schneider understood, cleared his throat and said: "Two shopkeepers, we want to buy a few larger sea ships recently, but we have been suffering from no way..."

The two shopkeepers, Zhang and Li, looked at each other, both a little surprised by what Schneider said.Shopkeeper Zhang asked: "Let's see how many large ships are moored in Shengli Harbor. Why do you need to buy another ship?"

Schneider responded: "You two don't know, in fact, those ships docked in the harbor have reached the end of their lifespan, and now there is no way to sail to the sea, and this kind of big ship is very expensive to build, and our local manpower and material resources can't support it. Build this kind of boat. And there is no decent shipyard in Yazhou, so we can only try to buy a boat.”

Schneider's statement is reasonable, and the two shopkeepers did not have any doubts about it.Shopkeeper Li asked, "I wonder how big a ship you want to buy, and how much?"

Schneider also knows that the current private legal merchant ships can only be built with a maximum of [-] materials, but the sea-going ships of these [-] materials vary according to the hull structure and shipbuilding process, and the displacement tonnage actually has a large gap, from a few hundred tons to nearly There are two hundred tons, and there is no very uniform standard.But now that the Transit Group is in a hurry to use the ship, Schneider can only go all out and say, "It's best to use a sea-going ship of [-] materials. As for the quantity, a dozen or so ships will be enough."

"The sea-going ship with [-] materials cannot be bought in Yazhou." Shopkeeper Li blocked all the words that Schneider had brought to his lips in one sentence: "The largest sea-going ship in Yazhou does have [-] materials, but that It is a warship from Yazhou Shuizhai. Most sea-going ships are around [-] materials, and they are about the same size as the two ships from this trip and the 'An Fuxing'."

This time, the two merchant ships from the two trading firms are both Guangzhou Ships, which are about the same size as the Guangzhou Ships that the Crossing Group captured pirates last time, and the displacement is less than [-] tons. Buying such a ship is very important for the Executive Committee. It can only be that little is better than nothing, and at most it exists as the most alternative solution.

Just when Tao Donglai and Schneider were disappointed, shopkeeper Zhang said: "Yazhou does not have sea-going ships of [-] materials, but there are Danzhou and Qiongzhou prefectural cities in the north. I am not talented, and I would like to do it for you Find a seller."

Shopkeeper Li also hurriedly said, not to be outdone, "Next time, I will take a boat back to Guangzhou to handle the bills. I can buy the [-] sea-going ships you need in Guangzhou."

Tao Donglai said happily: "Then I really thank you two! But buying a boat is one thing, and the sailors on the boat also need to hire a group of..."

"Naturally, I will do it for you!" Shopkeeper Zhang never wanted to lose out in front of his competitors, and rushed to answer before Tao Donglai finished speaking.

"When the two hired boatmen and sailors on our behalf, they can explain that anyone who is willing to move the whole family to our place will have a settlement fee." Schneider added with a smile.

As for the distribution standard of the settlement allowance, Schneider did not elaborate.Anyway, circulating coupons are being implemented in the control area of ​​the Traversing Group. Even if they want to pay settlement fees, they are just issuing circulation coupons. To the executive committee, the cost of this settlement fee is actually extremely low.

After earning the performance, the shopkeepers showed their true colors as businessmen, and they all expressed that they hoped to buy some products produced by Haihan by the way, such as glass products and silver mirrors that are currently in short supply in the market.

Even if they don't, Schneider will take the initiative to bring it up.Only three or four days after the Cliff Office sent the news that glass products were in short supply, the glass kiln built by the executive committee in a mountain depression on the west bank of the Tiandu River was put into operation.This place is actually next to the cultivated land originally opened up by the labor camp. Compared with the location of Shengli Port, it is an inland area, and it is relatively hidden. It can only be reached by taking a boat from Shengli Port to the mouth of the Tiandu River. here.

The reason for choosing such a relatively closed location is that glass manufacturing in this era, especially the mirror manufacturing process, is still a very advanced technology. In the whole of Europe, only Venetian craftsmen can make exquisite stained glass and master mirrors. Its manufacturing and inlay technology can be described as unique in the world.It wasn't until the second half of the 17th century that King Louis XIV of France asked the Minister of Finance Colbert to send commercial spies to smuggle several craftsmen from Venice to Paris, and the mirror-making technology spread throughout the world.

In the eyes of the executive committee, the mirror-making technology of the Venetian is backward and inefficient, and cannot be compared with the technology mastered by the people of the time traveler. Although it is still limited by the conditions of materials and technology, it is temporarily impossible to produce mirrors according to modern technology. , but it is only a matter of time before the rise of Travelers in this industry.The Executive Committee does not want commercial spies from certain forces to sneak into the glass workshop in the future and steal the craftsmanship.When the conditions are ripe, the executive committee also intends to open a flat glass production workshop here. Once this thing becomes popular as a door and window decoration, the market will be astonishingly large, and compared to its low cost, the business Profits are also surprisingly high.

Of course, before putting into production, the investment of this glass workshop is also very large.According to the estimates of relevant departments, melting kilns, calcining kilns, and annealing kilns need to be built in the plant. If a certain production capacity is to be achieved, then multiple kilns with different functions must be constructed.In addition, in order to use the "slab casting method" with relatively high production efficiency to manufacture flat glass, at least one driving system must be installed in the factory building to lift and move the crucible containing the glass liquid.And this will involve the span and clearance of the factory building, and the fire protection function must also be considered, which puts forward higher requirements for the design and construction of the factory building.As for the most important huge iron workbench for casting flat glass, the executive committee decided to leave this troublesome matter to the metallurgical workshop.

With the current strength of the Transit Group, it is not possible to handle such a "large" industrial project for the time being, so most of the plans are still on paper.The glass kilns currently in production can produce very limited glass products, and the technical level of the beginners is far from the level of craftsmanship of later glass products, and the shapes of the cups, dishes and dishes produced are often not regular.Therefore, in order to overcome this dilemma, the relevant departments have specially developed some more alternative glass products for the commercial department to sell to the outside world.

"Look, both of you, this is our new glass paperweight." Schneider introduced it and scolded the shamelessness of the product development department. It can't cut hands, and it looks crystal clear, but that's all.

Originally, he thought it was a good idea after hearing about it, and even suggested that the production department engrave some poems on the raw materials to increase the added value of the product, but the production department said that glass engraving must wait until the chemical department produces hydrofluoric acid. However, the chemical industry department said that special reaction furnaces, crude distillation towers and rectification towers should be built first. Without a special production line, there is no way to mass-produce the hydrofluoric acid needed for glass kilns, and this is obviously not possible in the short term. The completed project, so Schneider's plan had no choice but to run aground.

"There is also our newly developed brush with a glass stem." The brush with a glass stem does not have much technical content, it is just a brush barrel cast out of a mold, and its shape and size are the same as those of common bamboo pen barrels.The production department obviously paid more attention to this product, because they actually produced eight samples in different sizes for this demonstration.

"This is a glass inkstone..." Schneider couldn't help but twitched his eyes when he saw this sample—isn't this thing just a shallow flat-bottomed ashtray?Do you really think that shopkeepers don't read much and use this kind of thing to fool people?

For the first time, Schneider, who has always been a powerful talker, felt a little guilty. Is it really okay to sell this kind of thing?Schneider secretly decided to talk to someone in the product development department after this matter was over, as long as the other party was willing to admit his mistake, Schneider promised that he would not kill him.

"This is very good!" Schneider, who was distracted, heard Zhang's praise from the shopkeeper, and when he turned around, he was holding a writing brush with a glass stem and sighed: "I have also seen a pen barrel carved from jade. There is more than enough but elegance is not enough, this glass pen holder is clear and dignified, just suitable for people who read books!"

The shopkeeper Li also held a glass inkstone and praised: "In the past, most of the glass products purchased from Folang Jiren were ornaments for play. It's just decorations. These items from your side are quite ingenious, and simplicity is better than complexity, very good! Very good!"

Tao Donglai was stunned by the sidelines. He kept silent and was just thinking about what kind of rhetoric he should make up to persuade the other party if the other party was dissatisfied with these products. Snatched all the lines.Looking at it like this, it seems that my previous worries were a bit unnecessary.

(End of this chapter)