Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1827 Baoding Area ([-])

"Compared with Baode County or Dingjun County, which one is better, father?" His son Ivan suddenly asked in a street car in Baode County, where only Goshkin and his son were sitting in it.

"Well, this kind of thing is really hard to say." After pondering for a while, Goshkin thought about it and said: "When the northern railway has not been built to the edge of Wujiang River, and the population of other counties in Baoding area is not very large, Ding Even though Jun County is the regional capital, it has a certain gap compared to Baode County, an old industrial county in all aspects. Well, even now, Baode County still has a larger population than Dingjun County."

"But now you can also see that the northern railway not only extends to the south bank of Wujiang River in the north, but even the north bank of Wujiang River is also building a railway non-stop. In the south, this railway is gradually extending to the junction of Taiping County and Luohan County. There are more and more places for communication, and the importance is increasing day by day. Think about it, Dingjun County is at such a critical node, is the prospect of future development much stronger than that of Baode County?" Goshkin asked with a smile road.

"But the traffic conditions in Baode County are not bad, right? Over the years, they have squeezed out a considerable part of their limited financial funds and invested in the widening and dredging of the Baoan River. After more than ten years, the navigation of this canal The ability has been greatly enhanced, and it can effectively communicate with Ping'an County, which has a population of nearly 10 and a large number of wealthy people. Moreover, those inland river boats can also sail on the vast and misty Duck Lake with full loads of goods, and send various commodities to Go to Shenwu, West Lake, Zhongshan, Zhenhai, Hengtang, Meilin and other counties to make huge profits. Isn’t such an advantage huge?” Goiwan retorted.

He is a graduate of Qingdao Road and Bridge School and has worked hard in the society for some years. He designed an inland wharf in Baode County, so he still has a strange feeling for this county.Therefore, when discussing the current situation of Baoding area with my father this time, I subconsciously maintained Baode County.

"Well, how to say this, there are good and bad. Baode County can sell goods to far away places through the canal system. But you should also see that most of the places where the canal passes are old-fashioned developed areas. Of course, the market It’s not small, but isn’t the competition small? Look at Ping’an County, yes, there are many industrial workers in this county, but there are no handicraftsmen? How is it possible! These people also produce many commodities that have homogeneous competition in Baode County , This will undoubtedly reduce their profits. In addition, a considerable part of the market in Baode County is Fanyang, Lintan, Tumen and other counties in the east and north. To these places, you can only go by land, and there are It’s a bit hard to get around, and that’s one of the major disadvantages. Of course, overall, Dingjun County and Baode County are about the same. They are both very good places with rapid development and promising future prospects. Goshkin looked at his son lovingly, and said helplessly: "Now these two counties are very competitive. One is the oldest and the first to develop in the region (Baode County was taken from the Portuguese. ), one is the regional capital and transportation hub, which is not convinced by anyone, and the open and secret fights are very fierce. It has lasted for many years, and it will continue for many years in the future. It is really difficult to see who is strong and who is weak. In this case In fact, neither of us is accurate, let time judge."

In fact, what Goshkin said was true, but anyone who is not blind or deaf knows more or less what is happening in these two counties.For example, when Shao Yaoguang was still a member of the military management committee in Baode County, he collected temporary environmental taxes in several towns in the southern part of the country where the industry was the most developed, and established sewage treatment and urban sewage facilities that had never been seen in the surrounding areas, greatly improving the environment. The environment of these industrial townships was changed, and later it was transplanted to Baode Town, the county seat, leading the local trend for a while, and it was very popular.

At that time, Dingjun County was an army depot and a construction site, and the environment was famous for being dirty and messy. Naturally, it was not as good as Baode County next door, so the cadres in this county even felt a little embarrassed.Later, when the Baoding area was established, Shao Shude was transferred from the position of Baode county magistrate to Dingjun county magistrate, and concurrently served as the executive deputy commissioner of the district administrative office. Then he began to slowly improve the environment of Dingjun county, relocating a lot of fertilizer and mixing Farms, pig pens, cattle pens, slaughterhouses and other heavily polluting units have built urban sewage facilities, which has brought the two counties back to a level county at the same time.

Later, Dingjun County, ahead of Baode County, spent huge sums of money to introduce a complete set of gas lighting system from the East Bank Gas Company, and it was very advanced to extract air from the urban sewage dark river for combustion (this can speed up the air circulation in the dark river, The mode of diluting toxic gas and explosive gas to ensure the safety of dredging workers) suddenly came to the front.

Seeing this, Baode County was naturally not reconciled, and also introduced a gas lamp system from Wang Huadu of the East Coast Gas Company, illuminating a cross street at the core of the county.Afterwards, the county made persistent efforts to establish the Baode County Streetcar Company with a loan from the United Industrial Credit Bank, built the urban light rail, and formally operated this rare thing that is relatively rare in large coastal cities. Jun County was very irritated, and then they gritted their teeth and cut down on food and clothing to start the Dingjun County Streetcar Company.

It is rare for two counties that are close to each other to compete so fiercely, which is rare in the East Coast, let alone under the jurisdiction of the same regional administrative office.However, it seems that Shao Yaoguang, commissioner of the Administrative Office, is happy to see this kind of competition. He has never expressed any negative views on the healthy competition between the two counties in various industries. There is even a hint of encouragement, which undoubtedly further strengthened The intensity of competition between the two counties.

"Okay, don't think about what you have and what you don't have, just talk about something else." Goshkin patted Goivan on the shoulder and said with relief: "Your firm has won eight large-scale companies this time. I am very happy with the design order of the winery. This proves that you have become a man of your own. Therefore, I plan to follow up on this project personally and strive to do it well. It’s an honor, my son, it’s been a long time since I personally directed such a project It’s not a big project, but this time I decided to make an exception and discuss business with the owners of those wineries.”

"Are you really planning to invest in the wine industry? You can only find a way in Baode County. Because of the soil environment and other factors, the wine industry in Dingjun County has been completely defeated by Baode County..." Ge Ivan asked softly.

"Yes, that's right, I intend to invest in the wine business, but this is just testing the waters, not as a main business. You have to understand, my son, Goshkin Construction Company is our root , Our foundation is the main business for the next few decades, not some Goshkin wine company, do you understand?" Goshkin looked at his son and said earnestly: "The construction industry will last for a long time in the future. They are all industries with a long-term boom in the country. Business is impossible to do without, so we must manage it carefully. However, isn’t it popular in the business world to diversify operations now? I went to Qingdao County to participate in a salon lecture held by Mr. Liang of Qiangdong Trading Company. I am deeply convinced that all eggs cannot be put in the same basket. Horizontal diversification is to organize. Just as our current construction labor force is getting bigger and bigger, the daily consumption of alcohol is not a small amount, so invest in some alcohol Villages, wineries, etc., can also get some money back from it."

Goivan nodded silently.Since his father said so, then this matter is actually a certainty. The investment in the winery industry in Baode County should sign an agreement this time.Of course, as the first heir of the Goshkin Construction Company, Goivan himself does not object to this investment. With the tobacco and alcohol tax already being piloted in 25 counties, and a full reshuffle of the brewing industry imminent, he wedged himself into Baode County ahead of time. Such a place with a relatively large wine industry is indeed a good investment.

You should know that the future tobacco and alcohol tax will be levied on the place of production, and the local and central governments will share the account according to the ratio proposed by the tax-sharing system reform. This means that areas like Baode County, which produce a lot of high-quality grapes, will definitely be very popular.You must know that any local official has a strong urge to keep wine-making raw materials (grain, fruit, etc.) in the local area for production, and then collect taxes, and has a natural sense of rejection for the large-scale export of wine-making raw materials.Therefore, places with good natural conditions like Baode County will only become more and more popular in the future. The wine industry in Dingjun County was defeated by Baode County in the early years because of its quality.

If Goshkin wanted to diversify his investment, the first step was to take over his own logistics statistics system, so it was normal for him to take over the winery in Baode County and take a large share in joint operation.In fact, it is not only that, Goshkin will also acquire some small-scale liquor workshops in the grain-producing counties in the Duck Lake Basin, and then integrate them to establish a medium-scale winery to fully enter the industry.As for whether it will enter the bacon, canned food and other industries in the future, it is also uncertain, and it may be done.

Of course, while entering these industries, he will certainly not forget what his main business is.No, in addition to contracting some scattered municipal projects, road docks and other projects in the north, the main force of the Goshkin Construction Company has been transferred to the construction site of the Yanbu Railway in the south of the La Plata River. The progress of this national key project-the construction industry is the foundation of Goshkin's fortune and the most important tool for him to accumulate others. It is impossible not to pay attention to it.

The swaying streetcar soon stopped at the end.Strictly speaking, it is already a suburb of the city, but it still looks quite prosperous. There are sounds of forging iron pieces one after another. Commodities such as horseshoes, knives, and agricultural tools are sent out of the workshop one by one, and then loaded into carriages and transported to distant places.It is worth noting that some workshops—looking at the scale, they should not be workshops—have some small steam engines in them, which seem to be second-hand goods that have been auctioned by the government, but they should be good to use.

These workshops using steam engines employ a lot of people. In addition to apprentices or technicians, there are also a lot of non-national laborers from Ireland and Italy. They are usually engaged in work such as handling, burning fires, and cleaning ash, and occasionally they will do it.Judging by the numb expressions on their faces, they should be used to this kind of high-intensity work.I didn't take it seriously.

"These workshops with steam engines for their own use should be business owners who have completed primitive accumulation. Once upon a time, they also used horse-drawn carts to carry steel bars and equipment, and drove tirelessly to the central power workshop invested and constructed by the government to rent steam horsepower. , it is very inconvenient. As a result, less than 20 years have passed, and someone has spent their own money to buy boilers and transmission systems, and has built their own steam engine. Although it is a second-hand obsolete product, it is not easy. , which shows that these industries are developing rapidly.” Goshkin couldn’t help but look at the iron products processing area a few more times, and said in a slightly emotional tone: “Ivan, my son, you have also seen that, now all industries All industries are developing rapidly, and our construction industry is no exception. If I retire in the future, you must not take it lightly. The current status of Goshkin Construction Company is the result of my half-life hard work, and you must not let it decline. .”

Goiwan nodded silently when he heard the words, and the feeling in his heart became even heavier.In the current construction industry, the competition is actually very fierce. In addition to the state-owned communication construction and railway construction companies, the strength of the private sector should not be underestimated, such as Batino Company, Mendes Company, etc., and even some local companies on the east coast. Enterprises are also catching up from behind and attacking suddenly. For example, Zhu Heng Zhu, a celebrity in Luocha County, has slowly entered the downstream of the construction industry. These are all future enemies and must be guarded against.

From November 1680th to 11th, 10, Goshkin and his son were active in Baode County for almost half a month.During the period, they met with many practitioners in the wine industry, from winemakers and coopers to wholesalers and business owners, and then negotiated with some of the more powerful owners of several wineries and signed a shareholding agreement The agreement can be regarded as officially entering the industry.

On November 11th, just as the two of them were planning to pack their bags and leave Baode County temporarily to discuss another business in the Jiangbei area in the north, they happened to meet Dr. Shao Yuanyi, who was on a business trip from Xihu County in the south, in Baode County. .After some joy, the three of them found a restaurant to sit down and have a drink or two. After talking about local customs and knowledge, Goshkin naturally brought the topic to business, which was not a waste of opportunity.

(End of this chapter)