Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 2186 Free State and Breakthrough

Lu Dajun also came to the Naryshkin Building.

He and Ma Xiaopeng came together, but not together.They came from the Free State, and they were members of the official investigation team sent by the Xinjing government, so they naturally couldn't get along with Ma Xiaopeng.

Lu Dajun is a yellow-black mixed race. He is in his 30s and was born in Xinjinggang, the capital of the Free State.His father was a senior official of the Mo family, and his mother was the daughter of an oriental Confucian exiled to the Free State.He grew up learning Confucian classics from his grandfather. To be honest, he is quite bookish, his conversation is more elegant, and his character is not worth mentioning.In conversations with officials and scholars on the East Coast, people are often surprised that such a black man is not rough at all, which makes him very proud.

Lu Dajun is now the official envoy of the Free State Kingdom, and he can be regarded as an official with real power.This time, the Xinjing royal court organized a delegation to visit the east coast. Because of his profound knowledge of Chinese, he was selected as the deputy head of the delegation and traveled across the ocean to the east coast.The leader of the team is a son of the royal family, who is currently moving around the capital on the east bank. These members came to the Pampa area, which has become an economic hot spot, to inspect the urban construction and industrial and commercial layout of the east bank.

Because Lu Dajun was a transshipment envoy, his main job on weekdays was to raise and transport supplies for the dynastic army fighting against the Indians, and he was also responsible for restoring the local economic order in the newly occupied land. Therefore, he was very interested in the agricultural and commercial policies on the east coast. .I came to the Naryshkin Building today, it was really not a temporary idea, but he really wanted to take a look at this commercial holy place and see how the business of the people on the east coast works, even if it is only superficial, it is also beneficial .

"If the business is prosperous, the negotiations are successful, and the country will be self-reliant." After walking around, Lu Dajun and others were also tired, so they sat in the cafe on the ground floor of the building, smoking and drinking coffee, and chatting.

"I think the establishment of the business school and the business bureau is very necessary." After smoking a cigarette, Lu Dajun said to the few people sitting beside him: "If you don't teach business studies and enlighten business intelligence, how can you negotiate with foreign businessmen? Those who make goods should understand craftsmanship, and those who transport goods need to know business conditions. Otherwise, they will follow in the footsteps of others and listen to manipulation. .”

After speaking, he put a copy of the latest "Kommersant" on the table, pointed to various business news on it, and sighed softly, without knowing what he meant.Several other people had lower official positions than him, and after looking at each other in blank dismay, they didn't dare to speak rashly.Only a manager surnamed Zhang of Qiangdong Trading Company who sat opposite Lu Dajun and accompanied them throughout the whole process smiled, and then said: "Lu Shijun really understands these internal and external profits and losses, gold and silver fluctuations, local demand, and the ups and downs of various industries." We also often study such important news. It’s just that there is no limit to learning, and energy is limited, and many times we can’t learn the essentials, so there’s nothing we can do.”

Because Qiangdong Trading Company has great commercial interests in the Free State, this large trading company also sent a number of middle-level cadres to accompany the delegation during the visit to the East Bank. The manager Zhang in front of him is obviously one of them. one.Now, when he heard this dark-skinned Lu Shijun talk about business matters, he felt contemptuous and also a little surprised. He didn't expect that there were such outstanding talents among black people.It seems that these years of studying abroad on the east coast have successfully transformed these people. The IQ and knowledge of the upper class of the Free State who have undergone modern education are still above the level, which should not be underestimated.

Of course, he only maintained a respect for these black elites. In his opinion, most people in the Free State were ignorant and extremely backward.Although their predecessor, the Black Banners, has been successfully promoted to a feudal society after decades of transformation by the people on the east coast, there are still too many remnants of slavery, and the education level of the common people is also very low, which is generally lower than that of European countries. First class, probably a little better than those Malay countries in Southeast Asia.

However, contempt is contempt. When there is business to do, the basic attitude of respect is still necessary.Manager Zhang had accompanied Deputy Head Lu to visit the prosperous Qingdao Port before, and learned that they had a major procurement task this time, so his mind was always on it.When accompanying them to visit various places on the east coast, he was also very careful in what he said, for fear of angering the dignitaries and officials of the Free State, which would eventually cause the business to fail.

Of course Lu Dajun knew the purpose of this Manager Zhang. Considering the close relationship between his country and Qiangdong Trading Company, he didn't think there was anything wrong with it.This time I heard Manager Zhang jokingly replying, so he also said: "Manager Zhang, I plan to go to the court after I go back and ask for the establishment of a commercial organization according to the Eastern system. This is the Commercial Bureau. Once the Commercial Bureau is established, it will choose Decide the place and invite agricultural and sideline products, industrial raw materials and handmade products from all cities in the country to participate in the exhibition. All kinds of commodities will be marked with the place of origin, price and freight. At that time, you will also welcome your company to visit and purchase more. In addition, our country needs to import There are about [-] pieces of spinning machines and machines in total. Please take care of this matter. Cotton is the most important specialty of our country. Air Canada in Port of Mobile purchases a large amount of cotton yarn every year. The machine is the top priority, Manager Zhang, please."

When Manager Zhang heard that Free State was going to purchase so much equipment, he was immediately elated, and nodded repeatedly: "You can rest assured, Mr. Lu, our company is professional in purchasing."

Although Mr. Zhang was puzzled that the Free State, a country with a population of only 6 to [-], purchased a large number of spinning machines, because in his opinion, they probably did not have enough skilled workers to operate these equipments, but this was not his concern. What's the matter?As long as he facilitates this business and the company makes a lot of money, he can also get a lot of commission, so why bother?

The group sat in the cafe for a long time before getting up and returning to the hotel.While on the road, Lu Dajun thought about some things carefully.Recently, the country has fallen into the dilemma of fighting on two fronts. The targets are all Indians. Although they can win every time, the loss of supplies is really too alarming.Considering that most of these commodities cannot be produced by themselves, the cost will be astonishing. In the long run, the country may not be able to support them. Therefore, it seems necessary to purchase machines to develop advantageous industries and earn more hard currency.

As for the manpower to operate the machine, it is actually not difficult.The Caribbean Shipping Company, which also has a deep relationship with them, has promised to help hire some retired technicians from the east coast. After a period of time, it should be able to cultivate a group of local talents, right?Can only hope so.Sometimes, Lu Dajun envied the group of pirates in Sioux City Port in the west. They didn't have many people engaged in production, but they were still alive and well, and the logistics didn't seem so lacking.After much deliberation, the reason is nothing more than that the people on the east coast have assisted him, which is really enviable.

In fact, the pirates in Sioux City Harbor were the pawns of the people on the east coast. The Free State was not aware of this, but it didn't point it out openly.Their existence shows that the people on the east coast have ambitions for the Texas General District in Spain and want to control it through their own thugs.Sometimes Lu Dajun is very envious of these pirates. They also want to be the pawns of the people on the east coast, and they also want to directly get a large amount of aid. It's a pity that the people on the east coast don't regard them as core pawns, which makes people feel very uncomfortable. is sad.

I heard that the epoch-making warship "Bianliang" is being built at Qingdao Port. I don't know what kind of powerful weapon this is.I hope that after the "Bianliang" officially enters service, they can also visit their Xinjing port from time to time, which will be of great benefit to the security of their small country.Moreover, he also insisted that the strategic position of Xinjing is extremely important, and the vast inland hinterland can be penetrated along the Mo River. Therefore, it is very necessary for the East Coast Republic to set up a military base here and send a certain number of naval and army troops. Both are good.

He also once glanced at the construction site of the "Bianliang" from a distance outside the Qingdao Port Wharf.Although the outline of the current ship is not complete, it can be seen that it is a big guy, a big guy who can make people's hearts jump, and can run across the sea.Such a war behemoth is indeed not something that ordinary people can resist the enemy. Maybe the Free State will never have the opportunity to produce such a giant ship, right?

And just as Lu Dajun and others from the Free State returned to the hotel, Ma Xiaopeng finally walked out of the Naryshkin Building.He didn't get a definite reply from Nantie Bank this time, which made him not very happy.But there is no way, Qiang Xiaoman really can't mobilize more funds at hand, and he is really not optimistic about TEPCO's ambitions, so it is understandable that the policy tends to be conservative.

But electricity really represents the future, and it is really disappointing that so many people obstruct it.In particular, Wang Huadu, the boss of the East Coast Gas Company, repeatedly obstructed him from winning the arc lamp project, which is really annoying.To tell the truth, if the law does not allow it, someone would want to invest in overseas colonies or even places like New Courland, Free State, Portuguese Brazil, etc. How can they use the bird gas from the gas company in China?

Now it seems that TEPCO's best opportunity lies in whether it can squeeze into the "Bianliang" ironclad warship project and become a blockbuster among them.However, is it possible to cultivate some domestic industries that use electricity and gradually increase their scale, thereby forcing the country to invest heavily in electricity infrastructure?

It seems that this possibility is not impossible.Ma Xiaopeng thought that now more and more domestic water plants have been built on the east coast, and the textile industry is developing rapidly, and the demand for chlorine and related derivatives is also increasing.Especially the textile industry. When he had dinner with the cadres of Air Canada last week, he learned that the company is vigorously developing cotton plantations and textile processing industries near the coast of North America. At present, it has formed a considerable scale. The cotton has been fully digested, and a large amount of cotton from the Free State has been purchased, which shows the scale of its industry.

With the great development of the textile industry, the demand for bleaching chemicals will definitely increase greatly.Air Canada used to use traditional methods for bleaching, or did not bleach at all. Now, in order to deeply participate in market competition, they have to start purchasing bleaching medicines from China. This seems to be a good thing for the electrolytic brine industry.

And if those scattered small electrolytic brine factories can be concentrated in one place, and then Tepco invests in the construction of a power station to provide centralized power supply, I believe it will be a good thing for both parties.The development of the power industry in the East Coast Republic seems to be a breakthrough here.

(End of this chapter)