Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 2095 Yellow Crane Tower ([-])

"When did Mianhou become interested in this water business?" Li Nan first turned to look at Zhang Shaozong and asked softly.

To be honest, Li Nanxian is very conflicted now.His name Dafa Yonghang has complicated sources of shareholders. Although he himself is the major shareholder and the actual operator of the company, he only holds [-]% of the shares.In addition, some merchants and shipowners along the river also invested in ships and personnel, accounting for [-]% of the shares, and the rest were mostly Dashun local officials, generals, and nobles.

That is to say, there is a fixed number of shares for everyone here, and it was also determined through a fierce game at the beginning. How can you change it just by saying it?But the problem is that Yuan Bao is not an ordinary person, he is one of the group of people who stand at the top of Dashun's pyramid of power.As General Quan of Youying, Yuan Bao controlled a population of 10 in nine counties in Wuchang Prefecture (Xingguo Prefecture). At the same time, he had more than 5 elite troops who were used to fighting with the Qing army all the year round.

Although he is only a marquis, the weight of this marquis is much more powerful than the newly conferred marquis in Changsha.For those individuals, their personal future, the honor and disgrace of the whole family are all tied to the emperor Li Laiheng's favor and trust in him, and if something goes wrong, it may lead to major troubles and family fortunes.Compared with them, Yuan Bao, who holds [-] soldiers in his hands, is much tougher. As long as his territory is not lost and his troops are not scattered, no one can do anything to him. .Therefore, Li Nan first really didn't want to offend such a powerful figure as Yuan Bao, but now that he has taken a fancy to his own Dafa Yongzi brand and wants to buy shares forcibly, it is very difficult for him to refuse.

Speaking of Dafa Yonghang Shipping, there are currently more than 2000 large and small ships, with a total capacity of only more than [-] tons, which is equivalent to the tonnage of the two large ships on the east coast.Moreover, most of these ships are old ships, and their condition is also very suspicious. The only important assets are the boatmen.They have made a living in the shipping industry for generations, and they are highly skilled, familiar with the route, and also very proficient in hydrology and climate. Without them, this ship would never be able to operate.

However, these people are also very clumsy and exclusive, which is very troublesome.The folks in the village have not only the ties of clan relations, but also the shadow of gangs. The leader has a certain amount of capital, and comes forward to negotiate conditions on behalf of everyone, bringing benefits to himself and everyone.When Li Nanxian was negotiating with them to buy a share, it was a headache and took a lot of energy. At the same time, he also borrowed the influence of the government to negotiate, and finally gave them [-]% of the shares.

It is not impossible to move the shares of these people, but they need to think carefully and spend a lot of money to divide and win over those shipowners and boatmen, sacrificing the interests of some people.However, considering that Yuan Bao's appetite may not be too small, it is definitely not enough to just sacrifice these people. It really pushed him into a hurry. What can you do if you leave?Therefore, I also have to transfer a part of the shares, so that I am afraid that I can finally satisfy Yuan Bao's appetite.

"This is really a person sitting at home, the disaster comes from the sky!" Li Nanxian sighed secretly in his heart.

In fact, he understood why Yuan Bao wanted to invest in Dafa Yonghang Shipping Co., Ltd.The first large-scale shipping company in Dashun, strictly speaking, entered the fast lane of development after apparently negotiating peace with the Qing Dynasty.At the beginning, Dafayong mainly operated the route from Wuchang to Shatou City. It dumped goods on the long riverside line between the two places. During this period, even Qing Dynasty businessmen from Jiangbei secretly participated in it, making a lot of money.

Here is one more thing to mention here. Although Hubei is located on the front line, because of its superiority in defense of the river (with the assistance of gunboats on the east bank, and the Shunguo navy also has a certain combat effectiveness), it is difficult for the Qing army to rush to the south bank. On the contrary, the Shun army has retained a lot in the north of the river. Zhaibao, because the half of Hubei in the hands of Shun Guo is still developing well.Although heavy taxes were levied because of the war, it is still not the same as the miserable situation of supporting the old and the young and fleeing the whole family.In particular, Wuchang City is Yuan Bao's fundamental base and his biggest source of income. Over the years, in order to obtain enough funds to support the army, he has been very supportive of business development.Wuchang has a good foundation in this regard. During the war, many merchants or handicraftsmen from Hankou and Hanyang flooded in. They brought funds, technology and management to continue the development of Wuchang, which made the city start an explosive development. Industrial and commercial growth history.

Later, the frequent trade with the east coast led to the export of a large number of relatively cheap daily necessities in Wuchang to Ningshao and other places, and the money earned in turn further promoted the prosperity of local businesses.Yuan Baona, who was based in Wuchang, was elated. In that golden age, he basically satisfied all the demands of the merchants. There was only one premise, which was to ask the merchants to produce more military supplies for them and pay more. tax dollars, so that they can better maintain the army.

As for Shatou City, needless to say, it is an old commercial port in Hubei.Located at the hub of the Jingjiang River and Dongting Lake, the two major water systems, nearby merchants and common people like to come here for trade, not only from the Qing Dynasty, but also from the Shun Kingdom, not to mention the Eastern Dynasty merchants from Ningbo and Denglai. .These Dongguo merchants brought in many special products from outside, including rare Nanyang specialties such as ambergris, agarwood, pearls, tortoiseshell, etc., as well as northern specialties such as old mountain ginseng, Dongzhu, leather Wait, there are many overseas rare treasures, such as clocks, dyes, spices, blankets, etc., which are very popular, so Shatou City is still quite attractive, and the business is also very prosperous. It is true that it is the end of the route very suitable.

Li Nan first assigned his trusted brother-in-law to be in charge of the daily management of Dafa Yongship, and managed this golden waterway steadily for three years.In the past three years, after excluding various expenses and the heavy taxes paid to the court, Dafa Yongship still earned more than 40 taels of silver.Li Nan first took 5% of the shares. Even though he only took out [-]% to [-]% of the profits for dividends, he still pocketed a full [-] taels of silver, and he felt very comfortable.

However, although this golden waterway makes money, there is still one thing that Li Nanxian has been worrying about, that is, the utilization rate of his fleet is too low.Especially when the westerly wind prevails, many sailing ships cannot set sail and can only berth in the port in a daze, which is very helpless.When Dafayong was formed, Li Nanxian bought an old warship from the people on the east coast through his connections (the equipment was dismantled, and only the hull was left), which looked like [-] tons, but it could only be used when the southeast wind prevailed in summer. set sail.In winter, it depends on luck. The northwest wind is definitely not good, and the northeast wind can make do. It depends too much on the weather.After all, they didn't have the conditions of the British who broke into the Yangtze River during the Opium War, using steamboats to drag sailing warships forward!

Therefore, Li Nanxian is really jealous of the steam engine sailboats of the people on the east coast. He thinks that this kind of boat can use sail power at ordinary times to save fuel costs.And all do not need to advance at full speed, just can at low speed, to save the consumption of fuel.

Such a good boat, why doesn't my Daihatsu ever have one?Li Nanxian is very sorry.What he values ​​most is actually the "Yaksa" class armed transport ship that is said to be developed and designed by the Blackwater Shipyard.This kind of ship is slender, very beautiful, and the utilization rate of the cabin volume is also very high. In addition, there is a place for installing artillery positions. It is simply the perfect ship in his ideal.

Moreover, this kind of ship has a displacement of 250 tons, and there is no problem at all when sailing in the Yangtze River, Xiangjiang River and other places, and the speed is extremely fast, and few sailors are needed. In actual operation, the timeliness, economy, and reliability are excellent. It is really a very good ship model, no wonder Dongguo people mass-produce and use it.

Li Nanxian once had a slight thought of buying this boat, but before he could speak, he lost his courage again, because he knew that it was impossible for people on the east coast to sell steam-powered boats, so he could only ask Bring shame on yourself.Therefore, he revised his goal later, and instead wanted to order the export version of the "Yaksa" class produced by the Blackwater Shipyard, that is, the pure sail power version.People from the East Coast of this version have already exported four ships from the Zheng family in Fujian, four ships from the North Korean family, and one ship from the Li family in Guangdong. If Li Nanxian wants to buy them, he can still buy them.

And it's pretty much the same.After repeated contact with Ningbo, the Heishui shipyard far away in the Sea of ​​Okhotsk replied and agreed to build the "Yaksa" sail-powered version. This made Li Nanxian very happy, and felt that his shipping business was about to enter a new chapter.But there was an unforeseen event. Just as Li Nan was waiting for the two new ships he had ordered to return, Shunguo launched a campaign to conquer the Ming Dynasty. The relationship between the two countries quickly deteriorated. The east coast immediately imposed sanctions on him and froze all personnel exchanges. And technical assistance, which naturally includes these two ships.The last time Li Nanxian got the news was in the second half of last year, Heishui Shipyard entrusted Madang Fortress to contact and returned the shipbuilding deposit paid by Li Nanxian.As for the two ships, it is said that they are trying to sell them to the Portuguese in Macau so that they can digest them.

Li Nanxian was naturally very disappointed by this.The effort to make a career through Dafa Yongship was hit hard.He himself has lived in Ningbo for many years and has seen the most advanced ships in the world, so he is naturally quite dissatisfied with those old Chinese ships in Dafa Yong Shipyard.These old ships, although it is not a big problem to travel the Yangtze River and the Han River, but they also have disadvantages such as small cargo capacity, slow speed, and low safety, which are not as good as the "Jacques" class.

Moreover, the most critical point is that even the pure sail version of the "Yaksa" class can sail in the ocean, and its reliability is quite good (later Russians used it to travel around the world in the 19th century, that is, from Kronstadt Get Kamchatka), this is especially important to Li Nanxian and some bosses behind him.

You must know that although Shun Country is a landlocked country with only some ports along the Yangtze River, this does not mean that they do not yearn for the sea.In fact, they are able to fully realize the importance of sea trade and understand its great financial help. This can be seen from the previous storm of Guangxi by the army. They really want to get an outlet to the sea so that they can directly Meet foreigners outside the East Coast.

It's a pity that this dream was ruthlessly shattered by the East Coast people.They seized Lianzhou, Wuzhou, Mianzhou and other places in Guangxi with lightning speed, and completely occupied the mouth of the sea.As long as Dashun didn't make up his mind to turn against them, it would be impossible to get it back through military or political means. He could only watch helplessly as he was so close to the sea, yet still out of reach. understand?

The only way for Shunguo to contact foreign merchants was to sail downstream along the Yangtze River, and then all the way to sea.But this first requires them to have merchant ships suitable for oceangoing, and the forces along the way not to make things difficult for their ships. This was almost impossible in the past, but in the case of peace talks between Qing and Shun, the confidence has greatly increased.Moreover, although Dongan and Shunguo are at odds now, they are not so frenzied as to blockade their ships going out along the Yangtze River (of course, this is hard to say), so the only obstacle is how to get the ships. ——Originally, he was almost on the verge of success, but God made a joke with him, and the depression in it can be imagined.

Now Li Nanxian has basically given up the idea of ​​going to sea.His only idea now is to take advantage of the favorable situation in Dafayong to open up more routes as soon as possible, such as routes to Xiangjiang, Ganjiang, Hanshui and other places, in order to expand profits and influence.Of course, this first requires investment in shipyards and related industrial workers. This is Dashun's weakness. Without the help of Dong'an, it would be impossible to do it. There are problems in both technology and equipment, which is really worrying.

"Brother Li, let's make it clear that people don't talk dark words. Mianhou is a little tight now. He didn't invest in Dafayong before. It was a mistake. Now I want to make up for this situation. How about it? Let me know if it works. , so I can go back and return.” Zhang Shaozong said with some embarrassment: “Mianhou said, I won’t let you help me for nothing. He also knows some people in Ningbo, so he can introduce some shipbuilders to you. Although Dongguo people are not in Ningbo Shipbuilding, but there are many ship repairers, so there are some talents, as long as you are willing to pay a high price, are you afraid that you will not be hired?"

"Oh? Mianhou is sure?" Li Nanxian's eyes lit up when he heard the words, and said, "If you can introduce some talents to help me improve the shipbuilding technology, it will be a trivial matter to invest in Dafayong."

"How can we be sure about this matter, we can only try it first." Zhang Shaozong smiled awkwardly and said: "The so-called great rewards must have brave men, so it should be possible. Our Dashun really needs to be able to create some It’s a decent ship, whether it’s a warship or a merchant ship, not only will it not need to rely on the east coast navy in future battles, but it’s also very good for trade in normal times.”

(End of this chapter)