industrial lord

Chapter 217 Business at Sea

The first task Shu Paiya, the president of the Lixiao Chamber of Commerce, received was to recruit people to clean up the reference room of the former guild hall alliance and sort out all the materials.

On the first day of December, Shupeia came to Frederick's home to report on work, and there happened to be other people there.

It was a scholar with burgundy hair, chatting happily with Frederick, and Christian, the foreign minister, set up the atmosphere group and helped pour tea with a smile on his face.

Frederick introduced the two with a smile, and Shupeiya felt a little bitter because the person in front of him was Professor Adam, the new Minister of Commerce of Wessen State.

Professor Adam didn't know that the person in front of him had once thought of his own position, and when he saw that it was the new boss's subordinate, he smiled and said, "So it's Your Excellency Shupeiya. I've heard about you before."

"Now you are the president of the Lixiao Chamber of Commerce. I just heard about the arrangement of the adults for you. It really opened my eyes."

"I believe that in the near future, your name will spread throughout every port along with Duke Wesson."

Shu Paiya is also a person who has seen strong winds and waves. He has already adjusted his mentality, and said kindly: "For your auspicious words, I am just a soldier under Duke Wesson's command to charge into battle at sea."

Frederick said to Shupeia after they finished their courtesies: "I heard that many businessmen in Hanma City want to invest in Wessen State. I will entrust Professor Adam to take charge of this matter, and you and Christian will assist."

Shupeiya suddenly became depressed, but still took the order.

Frederick picked up the teacup and took a sip of hot tea, then said, "Next dawn, the chamber of commerce will have new business."

"Supaya, I remember that collecting and selling the prices of important goods in various ports and sending letters used to be one of the businesses of the Guild Hall Alliance?"

Shupeiya immediately replied: "Yes, this business is still going on. The Guild Hall Alliance used to provide mail delivery services between more than 100 cities and monthly commodity price updates. Now we can provide Rhine River Valley, Han Business between Macheng and several ports in Northland."

Frederick nodded, and asked him again: "Have you heard of the Wessen state radio?"

Shu Paiya's eyes lit up, and he immediately replied: "I heard from many businessmen that you plan to let the chamber of commerce operate this business?"

Frederick nodded and said, "That's right, I plan to establish radio stations in major ports in the North Sea first and cooperate with the local area. At sea, broadcasts can be used to determine the direction of ships."

He went on to talk about the broadcast positioning system that he had discussed with Professor Heinrich.

Shupeiya's eyes were straightened, and he asked in disbelief, "Is this true?"

Frederick said angrily: "Why should I lie to you, you are not a beautiful woman."

"When Heinrich comes next spring with a few sets of equipment, then you will need to assist him in setting up radio stations in the three port cities of Hanma City, Bremen City and Swan City, and at the same time test the positioning system. Local radios will be sold by you."

Shupeiya has inquired about the working style of senior officials in Wessen State, and has learned to wear a suit and run around with a thermos, and now he will record it in his notebook.

Seeing that he was still using a dip pen, Frederick thought to himself that no one had made pens and pencils yet, so he would "invent" them someday.

Shupeiya said after recording: "If the positioning at sea can really be realized, I believe that every ship on the sea will buy it."

Frederick said: "That's natural. Professor Heinrich and I are waiting to make money from this."

"After the broadcasting system is improved, it can transmit information. Professor Heinrich has already researched the equipment that can transmit the message. This time, he also brought it together to set up stations in Hanma City and Bremen City, so that the two cities can communicate with each other. Fast communication."

"If this system can be used, a person sends a message in Hanma City in the morning, Bremen City can receive it immediately, and the message can be sent to the designated person the next day. Similarly, commodity price information It can also be transmitted in this way."

"When the experiment is successful, it's up to you how to build a communication network that spreads across the North Sea or even a wider area."

Shu Paiya's expression gradually changed from surprise to excitement, and he said excitedly: "If it's true...if the experiment is successful, there are so many things we can do!"

Frederick said calmly: "Don't be too happy, there are many difficulties, when Professor Heinrich comes next year, you can study with him slowly, he will be busy here for the next few years. "

"The initial investment cost of this project is very huge. I will send someone to send the money, and remember to clean the money bank."

Shu Paiya replied solemnly: "The advantage of the alliance's money bank in the past is that it is clean."

At this time, Professor Adam said: "Too full a bank is not a good thing, money needs to be circulated to be money."

Frederick echoed a few words, and then asked Shupeiya, "Are you familiar with insurance?"

Shupeiya said in a panic: "You want to get involved in insurance? It's too dangerous. It's like gambling. If something happens, you will lose everything!"

Frederick curled his lips and said disdainfully: "You think I don't know how you get insurance. It's just that you are too stupid to gamble on whether the boat will come back safely."

Insurance these days is very primitive. The captain finds a rich man and deposits a sum of money with the rich man before going to sea. If he returns safely, the money will belong to the rich man.

As Shupeiya said, it's the same as gambling, you get money if you win, and lose money if you lose.

Frederick picked up his teacup and took a sip slowly, and said confidently, "That's because they don't know how to do it, and I'm different."

"Let me ask you, among the several fixed routes between Hanma City and the north, how many ships are there every year, how many ships are involved in accidents, and how many shipwrecks will there be on average every 100 trips to sea?"

Shu Paiya thought for a while before answering: "These fixed routes are already very mature, less than one time out of 100 times."

Frederick said seriously: "Assume that there are 100 ships, each of which is worth 1000 florins with its cargo. We charge 3% insurance premium for each ship. If one ship sinks, we will pay for it. How much did we end up earning?"

Shupeiya figured it out quickly, and the answer made his face twitch.

"But..." He still hesitated, "This just changed from a one-on-one bet to a one-on-one hundred."

Frederick shook his head and said: "This is not a blind bet, but a conclusion based on data analysis. That's why I say that the information of the Guild Hall Alliance is a gold mine."

"You can calculate the proportion of shipwrecks, as well as several important factors that lead to shipwrecks and their proportions, especially the data in recent years. Based on these data, you can determine the insurance rates in different situations."

"There is no need to rush this matter, you can try it little by little."

"Also, some scholars who study mathematics can be recruited with high salaries to work in the chamber of commerce. Our decisions are based on data, not taken for granted."

His knowledge of the insurance industry is limited, mainly due to his ignorance of probability theory and the law of large numbers as the basis of mathematics. At most, he knows that the Poisson distribution seems to be related to the law of large numbers. This is the same person who created the Poisson bright spots.

All we can do now is to explore a little bit, hoping to promote the development of related mathematical research.

Shupeiya said hesitantly, "I have to think about it seriously."

He thought about it seriously for almost half an hour. Professor Frederick and Adam did not disturb him, and continued to discuss the relationship between market size and division of labor in a low voice.

In the end Shupeia decided to test the waters with a few routes, and Frederick let him make his own decision.

"By the way." Shupeia was stopped by Frederick before leaving, "Do you think that if you dig a canal around the Simbrika Peninsula to the north of Hanma City to collect tolls, will this business be profitable? ?”

Shu Paiya was taken aback, thought for a while and said: "If there is such a canal, there must be many ships passing through it."

After hearing this, Frederick asked someone to bring a map to Shupeia, and said, "Go and discuss with the sea merchants, hurry up, and if it is feasible, I will add it to the negotiation content."

(End of this chapter)