Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 911 The Travel of Money ([-])

"Where are the Genoese?" Xu Xin picked up a copy of the meeting minutes, leaned on the soft carriage cushion, yawned, and then casually flipped through the pages.The main content of this meeting minutes is the record of "consultations" between the diplomatic and trade departments and Genoese business people represented by the Doria family in the past two days. The Genoese tentatively put forward many ideas, and the people on the east coast are also "polite" Some responses were given, that is, the relationship between the two is still in a tentative state, and formal negotiations have not yet started.But even so, it is enough for the trade officials of the East Coast government to understand many things.

"At present, we are still discussing with our businessmen in Dongfang Hotel. Mr. Mario Doria, the leader, proposed to meet with you and even Chairman Liu. According to your intention, we politely declined for the time being." The secretary sat beside Xu Xin. , said softly.

After hearing this, Xu Xin stopped talking, and saw him thumping his waist a little, then changed his posture, and read the minutes of the meeting.The content of the meeting minutes is actually very simple. The main reason is that Genoa tentatively proposed to make a larger investment in the east coast, and the conditions are very favorable, that is, they will transfer some skilled technology from the handicraft workshops in France, Spain and parts of Italy. Workers, come to the East Coast Republic to set up a joint venture factory with the East Coast government in order to take advantage of the strong production capacity and unparalleled cost advantages of the East Coast.

Among them, the product design, style and fine processing are completed by the Genoese—or the Genoese provide guidance—and the rest is produced by the joint venture factory. In short, everything follows the old practice of the Luocha Textile Factory. , the company's infrastructure, operations and production are in charge of the East Coast people (the Genoese need to invest a sum of money, the amount is to be determined), and Genoa only sends a manager and a few entourages for liaison purposes. In principle, the product sales are jointly resolved by both parties—— But in fact, due to the channel advantage of the Genoese in Europe, they still need to rely more on each other in this regard.

This plan itself is not fancy, and it has long been recognized by both parties. The only thing that has changed now is that the Genoese invest in more industries.For example, they plan to set up a cheese workshop on the east coast, and send dozens of master craftsmen who are skilled in this field from Tuscany, Parma and other places to the east coast, using their decades of experience in the dairy industry The production experience, combined with the idea of ​​industrial production on the east coast, produces cheese that can be sold in the European market but at a low cost.

For another example, they even plan to relocate some knitwear handicraft factories to the east coast as a whole, because these factories currently located in France are facing a great crisis (threat of war).If you move to the east coast, not only will you get a safer production environment, but you can also use cheap textile raw materials nearby for production, which will greatly reduce the cost-although it will not be easy to move the factory, it will also It's not as difficult as imagined. They only need to persuade some skilled workers to come to the east bank, and recruit and train other insufficient personnel on the spot. Take your time.

All in all, the investment projects of the Genoese involved more than ten industries, including knitwear, cheese, ham, wine making, rope making, barrel making, and paper making, involving nearly a thousand people.Once the two parties successfully reach an agreement, the Genoese will spend two to three years to gradually invest and relocate some workers, so as to resume production as soon as possible and earn enough profits for them.

Of course, the projects invested by the Genoese are not all aimed at the European market, and some of them are aimed at the East Coast and Peruvian markets, but the East Coast people don't mind this, because there is a large lack of these skilled products in the East Coast. What about handicraftsmen in China - after all, not everything can be made by machine - there is no reason to refuse someone who comes to your door.

After reading it for a while, Xu Xin gently put the meeting minutes aside, and then began to think quietly.

To be honest, the investment sincerity of the Genoese people this time is quite sufficient, involving multiple projects, not only bringing nearly a thousand valuable craftsmen to the East Coast, but also bringing a lot of investment—and the scale of this investment It was quite large, and the total amount was likely to be as high as 500 million bank lire, which made Xu Xin a little satisfied.After all, as the economy on the east coast is getting bigger and bigger today, if the Genoese still want to engage in projects worth hundreds of thousands to fool people, that would be too boring.The total investment of 500 million bank lire, hehe, is still so-so.

However, just relying on the above ten or so projects, it cannot digest such a large amount of funds as 500 million lire.If the Genoese want to invest deeply in the east coast, they must carry out some unique projects.

"What do the people of Genoa think about investing in the Southwest Railway project?" Since the people of Genoa put forward so many suggestions, it is not rude to come and go, and the people on the east coast naturally introduced some "hot" projects on the east coast to them, such as the Southwest Railway. The "long-standing and difficult" project of the railway.

The so-called Southwest Railway is an old topic on the east bank. It was brought up many years ago, and even the government and private individuals funded the construction of a single-track railway from Xiayihe Township (the south bank part) to Ningjin Township (Xiayihe Township) Nanjing line, with a total length of about 40 kilometers).It's just that the government shifted its main energy to other places later, and private capital was unable to fool the big pit of the Southwest Railway, so this section of the railway was stopped and shelved.Investors who run large farms in Dahuang Farm, Shrub Farm, and Guangrong Farm, as well as residents of the nearby Taoyuan Township, have built some simple sandy soil roads to connect them to Ningjin Township, Xiayihe County, as a way to communicate with the outside world. aisle.

But it is obviously different now. After learning that someone who has been taken advantage of is willing to invest in the railway, the bureaucrats of the State Railway Administration immediately picked out the plan made in the past from the pile of old papers, and then reported it to the Government Affairs Council, asking them to unite with various ministries and commissions. The Genoese invested in the construction of the Southwest Railway.Of course, the premise of investing in the construction of the Southwest Railway was that the Genoese recruited labor from the Old Continent and provided wages, food and clothing, while the east coast provided various building materials and rails for free, and leased various engineering equipment at preferential prices.After the railway is officially opened to traffic, the operating rights for the first 30 years will be owned by a joint venture company jointly funded by the East Bank and Genoa, and the company will still pay 30% dividends to both parties; Pay the Genoese a reasonable fee (amount to be negotiated separately).

To be honest, this plan is quite deceitful, because the planned Southwest Railway will be a main artery that traverses the entire inland of the east coast. Its starting point is Xiayihe Town, passing through Ningjin Township, Dahuang Farm, and Guangrong Farm, and then heading southwest And go, through the uninhabited Western Great Wilderness Grassland, to Jingjiang Port in the Wujiang River Basin.In terms of mileage, it is almost another main artery at the level of the Northwest Railway. If it is completed, it will be of great significance, because it means that the originally desolate and closed inland of the Great Western Wilderness has become a rear area available for development. It is extremely important for strategic security-they can finally move some important facilities or units that need to be strictly kept secret to the inland security area.

However, the location advantage of this railway seems to be good, but the problem lies in the fact that the route along the route is now deserted and uninhabited.Since there is no human habitation, how can railway investors recover their costs? This is a very real problem.And if this problem is not resolved, then even if the Genoese are eager to vent their excess capital, they will not spend money at will, so the people on the east coast must also come up with some substantial benefits, otherwise the Genoese may not Easy to hook.

"Mr. Mario Doria appreciated the new mode of transportation of the railway, and he expressed his wish to take the train himself. In addition, he also pointed out that in view of the high cost of railway construction, he hoped that we could come up with a strong Otherwise, he can only buy some construction bonds issued by our country out of friendship, and he cannot afford unknown things with huge investment but unknown prospects." The secretary immediately answered sternly.

"It's not easy to get into the pit, this is expected." Xu Xin nodded, "The Southwest Railway is clearly not a profitable project at present, so it is naturally not attractive. In my opinion, it is estimated that they will not add any extra points. We will not nod easily. Let’s see, we promise to use the repurchase clause to nationalize the 40-kilometer section of the Xianing Railway, and then put it into the Southwest Railway, which will be jointly operated by both parties in the future; in addition, we also promise Build a railway bridge over the Yihe River to connect the north and south parts of Xiayihe Town, and connect the Southwest Railway with the Northwest Railway. Of course, this railway bridge can also be placed under the name of the joint venture company; The 30-year operating right can also be placed in the name of the joint venture company for free, provided that they invest in the continued construction of the remaining terminal facilities and dredging of the nearby waterways. These conditions should not be released at once. You also know the skills of negotiation, and you will grind with them a little bit. Don’t Afraid of hurting feelings, the people of Genoa are rich and have nowhere to spend, and they are very sincere, and now as long as the price is negotiated, they have a high probability of investing."

"In addition, let's say that the Chinese government plans to build some new settlements along the Southwest Railway, and there is still a great prospect of making profits in the future." Xu Xin instructed again.What he said is not a lie, but the East Coast Council has indeed decided to build three towns near the small town of Cedo Colorado, Capia del Sauce and Ballentines in later generations. Three settlements: Minghe Fort, Xikou Fort, and Baishabao—almost all the residents of the three settlements come from Ningbo Prefecture, as can be seen from their place names.

These three settlements are currently being prepared by people, and the immigrants are also ready and waiting to be sent.As for the large amount of construction materials needed for construction, some of them are provided by the neighboring old settlements (provided that there is a construction material factory). If there is not enough, they can only deal with it by themselves.After the construction of these three settlements, supplemented by the other six or seven old settlements nearby, there is almost a slight effect in persuading people to invest in the construction of the railway. After all, the population radiated by the railway has increased.

Book friend Liang Xiangjian's colleague "Looking West: From China to the East Coast" is very well written. If you have time, you may wish to watch it. Website ISBN: 3485354

(End of this chapter)