Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1749 Big Inspection ([-])

Qi Wangping stayed in Daxing Port for less than a week.During the period, in addition to listening to the government's work report as usual, I also had a conversation with Sun Zhengyi, the current head of Sun Chunyang Nanhuo Store who came here to inspect, and encouraged him a lot.

Sun Chunyang Nanhuopu, a small company that originated in Suzhou, has grown in size from the past after entering Ningbo and then developing on the east coast, as evidenced by the total of about 20 stores distributed across the country on the east coast and overseas colonies. .In this large syndicate, although the Sun family's shares have been diluted repeatedly after several rounds of capital increase and share expansion, they have remained stable at 30%-[-]% for so many years, and the right to speak is still not small.In addition, most of the investors are enterprises founded by state-owned department stores, Dongan Company, Bank of Taiwan and some traversers, and they are not very interested in actually controlling and operating Sun Chunyang South Store. Under the actual control of the company, the grand strategy of the company's expansion and development was formulated by the Sun family. Sun Zhengyi, who is only in his forties this year, is the head of the current generation.

Compared with the leading state-owned department stores in the department store industry (which have branches in almost every county), Sun Chunyang Nanhuo Shop is smaller in scale and has higher financing costs. Therefore, in order to compete, with the approval of the Ministry of Communications, their own Established a shipping company called Sun Chunyang Shipping Company. Currently there are about 5-6 ships. Although it looks old, it is also a leader among private owners in the ocean shipping industry. It should not be underestimated. .

Qi Wangping knew that the ships of the Sun family mainly took the Pacific route. So far, only two large-scale shipping companies are operating this route, and the others are retail captains, which are not large-scale.Therefore, even the Ministry of War sometimes entrusts the ships of the Sun Chunyang Transportation Company to pick up cargo, especially after the ships of the Navy's Third Fleet have already set off.

The Sun family is naturally very happy with this official entrusted transportation task, one is because the freight price they give is good, and the other is that it shows the official affirmation of their fleet.After all, engaging in a circular route in the South Pacific, which has always been rough and rough, really tests the performance of ships and the skills of navigators.

Qi Wangping had a conversation with Sun Zhengyi and learned that the fleet of the Sun family has established solid ties with the East Coast Korea Company, the East Coast Japan Company, the Bank of Taiwan, and local businessmen in Denglai and Ningbo. The super-large-scale triangular trade between the mainland, Australia (including Rabaul) and the mainland on the east coast, after two years of back and forth, seems very happy.He even said with some self-deprecation that he was afraid of the high accident rate of sailing, and he didn't even have the courage to sail to South Africa, let alone cross half the world to the Far East. Therefore, he admired the Sun family who opened up the South Pacific route. If there is any need for financing, he can ask the United Industrial Credit Bank or the Northwest Reclamation Bank to provide a certain degree of support.

Sun Zhengyi was a little happy about this, because he had planned to collect part of the accounts from various branches before, and pooled 10 yuan to order a few new ships to replace those old ones. Now it seems that things may be much simpler Well, because of the support of Chairman Qi Da, several state-owned banks have to grit their teeth and lend money no matter how tight their money is.

But Qi Wangping is not helping people for nothing. He also asked the company to develop business in the Caribbean Sea, especially Huaiyuan Island, Mobile Port, North American Free State, etc. controlled by people on the east coast, and at the same time open up roads leading to those places from the mainland. fixed route.It doesn’t need much, 2-3 ships a year is enough to supplement the lack of national maritime transport capabilities. Sun Zhengyi also responded to this, saying that he will hold a board of directors after returning to discuss the actual operation.

After "grinding teeth" with Sun Zhengyi in Daxing Port, Qi Wangping also said that his special train returned the same way. After arriving in the capital, he spent some time dealing with some government affairs and attending some meetings, and then drove north again, and In the port of Meilin, it was changed to an inland river transport ship, entered the Lianghu Canal through Milin Lake, and then passed through the vast and misty Duck Lake, and finally arrived at Ping'an County, an important northern town, on March 1677, 3.

What I have to mention here is that excavating a waterway (with a draft of more than 3 meters) suitable for large ships in Duck Lake has been an important task of the east coast government over the years.For this reason, the Ministry of Communications has dispatched more than 6 steam dredgers here to dredge the lake bottom all year round, which costs a lot of money.It's a pity that their efforts have not yet fully yielded results. The deep water channel on the east side of the lake (Duck Lake is deep in the west, shallow in the east and deep in the east) has not yet been fully opened. How many years will it take for this deep water channel to be dredged.

Therefore, Qi Wangping and others still arrived at Ping An Port this time by a shallow-draft inland river vessel.Here, they just chatted with the local officials for a while, and then went directly to the Chemical Institute of the Academy of Natural Sciences in the suburbs. Next door to the Chemical Institute is the famous Northern Chemical Factory. It is a chemical trust enterprise that has been developed for more than ten years through the merger of soda making and other enterprises.

The streetcar of the Ping An Streetcar Company took them to the Chemical Institute of the Academy of Natural Sciences, but because the person they were looking for was not there, they went to the northern chemical factory next door, and found Liu Xuefei and Weng Guangan, the principal and deputy directors of the factory. .It is said that since the old factory manager, the traversers Song Qiang, Wu Jun and others passed away one after another, the huge northern chemical factory has become increasingly hideous and led by a team of two young people.

In addition to being responsible for the daily management of workers, the two also focus on the division of labor.Among them, Liu Xuefei is mainly responsible for the new industry of the plant—or more accurately, the future industry—that is, the original version of chlor-alkali chemical industry on the east coast, while Weng Guangan is responsible for the operation and management of the old production line (mainly three acids and two alkalis), Of course, he will occasionally do some research himself.

The Northern Chemical Factory is located in the western suburbs of Ping'an County. It has its own exclusive dock and small railway, and the transportation is relatively convenient.In fact, if it was placed 20 years ago, the factory would not be as beautiful as it is now, but now it has begun to transfer. The reason is that over the past ten years they have produced bleaching powder, liquid bleach, chlorine water (used to bleach cotton and Paper, which is in great demand), chlorate (the dye factory has a great demand, and is used as a strong oxidant), and calcium chlorate is in great demand in the market, bringing back a turnover of more than 35 yuan per year, which is very amazing.

And what's even more amazing is that these things are made from the by-products of their soda production line as raw materials.For example, a large amount of hydrochloric acid, a by-product produced in the process of making alkali by the Lublin method, used to be narrowly used in the east coast, and was once used to flush public toilets, but now no one wastes things like this, because the northern chemical plant transported a large amount of pyrolusite from Tieling County , and then react with hydrochloric acid to produce chlorine gas, chlorine water, bleaching powder and other things, so that almost all textile mills, paper mills and water supply companies have become their customers.

In addition, calcium chlorate has also become one of the main raw materials for the production of the Duck Lake Match Factory; the waste calcium sulfide has also been fully utilized. The East Coast people tried their best to design a new production line to convert calcium sulfide into Hydrogen sulfide is produced, and then solid sulfur is obtained after oxidation, which produces tens of thousands of yuan in benefits every year.

These benefits plus the benefits of traditional sulfuric acid, hydrochloric acid, soda ash, caustic soda, and nitric acid (the demand for the latter two is relatively small, and the production scale is mainly semi-laboratory and semi-factory production), making the North Chemical Plant become one of the few in the country. of large enterprises.In the industrial field, the annual turnover and profit almost catch up with Pingan Iron and Steel Works, Tieling Special Steel Works, South Vehicle Factory, Pingan Weaving Factory, Machine Textile Factory and two arsenals. Key enterprises such as Tieling Boiler Factory, several shipyards, and dye factories are all behind, and the speed of development can be described as jaw-dropping.

As a leader, Qi Wangping is also very concerned about the development of the northern chemical plant. He knows the whole process of their rocket-like rise in the past ten years, and it is thanks to the leapfrog development of the chemical industry.It can be said that without the explosive market demand for chemical products in the East Coast Republic, it is impossible for the Northern Chemical Plant to get to where it is today.And this also proves from the side that the coming century is the century of the chemical industry. It seems biased that the country has focused on investment in machinery and metal materials industries for many years (it has improved a lot in recent years, and the investment in the chemical industry has increased sharply. growth), although everything must be market-oriented, the government must be more forward-looking, especially in the long-term stable system on the east coast, the government should not blindly follow the market demand, but jump to a higher height, Invest in advance in some industries that seem to be laborious and costly and not very profitable. Of course, the premise of all this is to master the degree well.

"I heard that Xuefei is not very interested in the chlor-alkali industry that you have perfected by yourself. You have invested most of your energy in the dye industry. If you do this, I'm afraid you will be scolded by the people in the factory for not doing your job properly." Sitting in the luxuriously decorated room In the factory director's office, Qi Wangping said with a smile while drinking the yerba mate tea brewed by Liu Xuefei himself.

"Who dares them!" Liu Xuefei, who is known as the director of the strong woman factory, immediately widened her eyes when she heard the words, and said with full of personality: "Chairman, don't talk nonsense. Although I can't say that I established this factory, I haven't done it for so many years." Credit also has hard work. The by-product pollution caused by the chlor-alkali industry was originally solved by me and created benefits. If anyone dares to grin in front of me, I will just spit him in the face. Besides, I have the Deputy As for the job of the director, isn’t it my job to study dye chemical industry, and dyes make so much money, the market is not even smaller than the few blockbuster products in the factory, so what’s there to say?”

Liu Xuefei is the daughter of the ex-communist Liu Weimin, and everyone knows her very well. Qi Wangping even hugged her when she was a child, so the two of them talked more easily and casually.This meeting only heard Qi Wangping continue to ask with a smile: "But I also heard that you handed over the industrial preparation of some important dyes to your subordinates for research, while you are engaged in diazotization and sulfonation reactions. Is there such a thing?" What's the matter? Didn't you focus on the application of industrial technology before, and determined to build an aniline production line?"

"Isn't it because I didn't get the scientific research funding, and I couldn't continue the experiment halfway through. The old antique director of the Chemical Institute approved a pitifully small amount of funding, but asked me to focus on the sulfonation reaction and find something with a bactericidal effect. Dye, isn’t this whimsical? How about, Chairman Qi, Uncle Qi, you can help me dismiss the old and confused director of the Chemical Institute and let me take over? I don't think he's very good at it." Liu Xuefei said in a helpless tone, and she was quite dissatisfied with the collapse of her "dye queen" career in the middle of her words.

"So that's the reason." Qi Wangping was a little hesitant when he heard the words, but he seemed to think it over very quickly. He straightened his face and said to Liu Xuefei: "Xuefei, after hearing what you said, I want to Support your old director. In fact, he did the right thing. The research on sulfonation reaction is a very serious topic, worthy of the highest research funding, so you should stop complaining, but Continue to devote yourself to this work with full enthusiasm, even if it seems to be clueless and looking for a needle in a haystack. Don't ask why, in fact, I don't know much about these technical things, I just know that there are some dyes that are Those with bactericidal effect, whether it is natural raw plant dyes such as madder, indigo, safflower or some artificially created dyes in our industrial production, all have an inhibitory effect on bacteria. Since your director has determined that it is produced through sulfonation reaction If the dye you take has a strong bactericidal ability, then you have to implement it without any emotion, because this is also the decision of the superior, do you understand?"

"Although I don't see how great the research value of sulfonation reaction is in medical and health care, since this is the decision of the superior, I think I will abide by it. Who can't let the arm fail the thigh, and the funds are all stuck , I can’t do without research. Taking a step back, sulfonation reaction is also an important way to prepare dyes. I have also discovered many interesting new dyes in the past few years. Of course, I have not found any good ones for the time being. The bactericidal effect, this is what the liaison officer of the Ministry of Health told me." Liu Xuefei spread his hands and said helplessly, and the words were obviously not completely relieved.

"Continue to increase research efforts, don't relax. In this matter, I will say hello and ask the Ministry of Science and Technology to grant more funds and send more personnel to you. Anyway, I will create the best working conditions for you. I hope it will produce results. , but I think I probably won’t see it in my lifetime.” Qi Wangping finally said.

(End of this chapter)