The sound of the work whistle in the early morning, accompanied by a blood-red sun that had just risen, sounded almost simultaneously.
When the whistle sounds,
Soon, the spinning machines in the Yuhua Spinnery Workshop started running again. The roar of thousands of spinning machines driven by the steam engine driving shaft was like summer thunder!
The female workers were all walking back and forth in front of the yarn machine. They would be busy from six in the morning to six in the evening, a full twelve hours of work, with only half an hour of rest in between. But even so, the female workers
I still cherish this rare job. This is especially true for Western technicians in factories. After all, most of their counterparts in Europe not only have to work sixteen or seventeen hours a day, but are also unemployed.
中. It is definitely an extremely happy thing to be able to find a job like this here, and the working hours are 1/3 less than before.
Of course, they didn't know that the establishment of this large-scale textile factory was entirely due to the cotton crisis in Europe. Otherwise, Nanhua would not have been able to buy a large amount of cotton textile equipment at cheap or even scrap metal prices and quickly build it.
Complete the cotton textile industry.
When the cotton textile industry in Europe went bankrupt due to insufficient cotton, the cotton textile factory that had just been built in Nanhua had sufficient raw materials to start operation. This in itself is a miracle. Of course, to the outside world, Nanhua's cotton supply may come from local sources.
But only a handful of people know that those cottons come from the United States.
It can even be said that it was American cotton that made all this possible. On the one hand, it quickly exchanged arms for cheap cotton through smuggling arms, and on the other hand, it shipped the cotton out of the United States and sold it at a price nearly ten times higher. Then it purchased machines from Europe at the price of scrap iron.
Establish a cotton textile factory and take the opportunity to produce cotton cloth and other cotton textiles to seize the market.
Inadvertently, Nanhua started a small virtuous trade cycle. However, the person in charge of all this was not the company's ordinary department, but the little-known investigation department.
Like many buildings built in 1863, No. 11 Wing On Plaza is also a reinforced concrete building. The style of the six-story building is different from both Western and Chinese styles, except that the outer layer of the building has a slight Chinese style decoration.
This is the Investigation Department of Nanhua Company.
The Investigation Department, in its earliest days, was the Investigation Section, with only six people. At the beginning, it was responsible for statistics and other work, but in the past two years, from the Investigation Section to the Investigation Department, as the number of personnel has increased,
of enrichment.
By the end of 1863, the Investigation Department had developed into a large department with more than 500 employees, and there were even more than 100 foreign employees stationed in Britain, France, the United States, Argentina and other places, specializing in collecting business information. In fact,
This is also a relatively common organization in enterprises.
In this era, many insurance companies and shipping companies have their own investigation agencies, which specialize in the collection and investigation of business information. Many foreign employees in the investigation department are even poached from insurance companies, shipping companies and other companies.
However, those foreign employees are either permanently stationed in European and American countries, or they can only work below the third floor of the company building and participate in ordinary business investigations. After all, the company is not just a business investigation agency.
"Last month, special convoys crossed the Union naval blockade thirteen times and smuggled approximately 200,000 bales of cotton from Confederate ports. Although this was less than 10% of the annual prewar cotton exports from Southern ports, with the special
With the increase in the number of ships in the transport fleet, by the end of next year, our fleet will be able to basically bring out all the cotton from the south."
Behind the desk, Qian Zizhuang smiled kindly at his subordinate while listening to him.
"Martin, on the way back, we have to transport as much cotton as possible. It is an important source of income for the Confederacy. Only by transporting cotton out can they have the money to buy important war supplies and continue to fight. Of course, the most important thing is
It is profit. The Civil War brought cotton production to a standstill in the southern United States. Under the severe contradiction between supply and demand, global cotton prices rose about four times. However, in southern ports, cotton prices were still the same as before the war, or even lower than before the war. This
It means survival. As long as the cotton is shipped out of the Confederacy, we can get 4 times the profit! Two hundred thousand bales of cotton...if it is shipped to London, that is a profit of millions of pounds!"
As the head of the Investigation Department, Qian Zizhuang, although he only attended private school for a few years, as a "gold mine old man", he has always won the trust of his employer. From the Investigation Section to the Investigation Department, he followed his employer's wishes step by step.
We are building an investigation department, hiring European and American investigators to learn investigation and collection, and at the same time establishing training courses to train our own people.
Nowadays, the trade with the South is handled by the Third Division of the Investigation Department. However, the person in charge of the Third Division, Martin Coleman, is not Chinese. He is the earliest naturalized citizen of South China. He is Mr. Diego’s confidant.
, who was originally responsible for covert operations in Buenos Aires, fled to South China after his identity was exposed.
Although he has curly black hair and deep-set blue eyes, he speaks fluent Mandarin Chinese. The reason why he was put in charge of the third department is because his appearance is very suitable for overseas operations.
Even in the training classes of the Investigation Department, there are some street children and orphans collected from all over South America and Europe, and they are trained for a long time so that they can be sent to other countries to engage in investigative intelligence work in the future.
"Yes, Mr. Minister."
Martin nodded and said.
"That's why our trade with the South is barter trade. Last month we successfully shipped about 50,000 rifles, 103 cannons, and enough lead and saltpeter to make 10 million rounds of small arms ammunition, and
Enough to provide shoes, uniforms and blankets for the entire army. In addition, there are about 3 million kilograms of canned meat, corned beef and other supplies. These supplies strongly support the southern battle. However, now the south is dissatisfied with our quotation and feels that
Our quotation for cotton is too low, and our quotation for materials is too high."
"dissatisfied?"
Qian Zizhuang sneered.
"Ignore them. Now we only have ships that can continuously transport the supplies they need. If they don't accept our offer, they can find someone else."
Under the blockade of the North, trade with the South is a seller's market, and those southerners in Richmond have no room for bargaining. Qian Zizhuang is too lazy to pay attention to them. At the moment, the "special freight company" is worth millions of pounds a month.
The profit is the capital for him to claim credit in front of his boss.
The so-called special transport company is actually a collective name for more than a dozen companies. Among the companies listed in the Investigation Department, there are more than 30 companies engaged in smuggling to the south and business related to the cotton trade.
It is under numerous covers that they can make huge profits through smuggling as much as possible. Of course, these profits will eventually be handed over to the company, which will be used to purchase various machines and develop Nanhua's industry.
Crisis, sometimes other people's crises are our own opportunities. This war is definitely a good opportunity for development for the South.
The same is true for the Investigation Department. The current expansion of personnel in the Investigation Department is also due to the war fought by Americans thousands of miles away and the unprecedented opportunities brought by that war.
"Yes, that's how we responded to them."
This is the advantage of exclusive business. The initiative is completely in your own hands. The other party has no bargaining power at all.
"By the way, Minister, they once again expressed their hope to purchase our ships."
"Don't reject them, and don't agree to them. This needs to be decided by the owner."
Qian Zizhuang waved his hand. He knew the answer without making a decision. Dong Dong would never sell the boat to them.
"By the way, there is another thing. I noticed in the briefing that the political situation in Uruguay is not stable recently. I also want to know about other local situations. Can you see if you can get it from Buenos Airi?
Send an investigator there to collect as much information as possible about the local situation. Do you understand?"
Martin was not surprised by the minister's order. He was an expert at doing this and it was his job.
"Yes, Mr. Minister, but it will take some time for our people to get there. I know a few Uruguayans in the past. They can also handle this matter. Or let them do it..."
In this era, patriotism is not popular, especially in South America. Maybe those people were French, Roman, Sardinian or Prussian a few months ago. Which country do they love?
Just like Martin, he said he was Argentinian, but he immigrated from Ireland. In Ireland, he almost starved to death. Love Britain?
is it possible?
As for Ireland, there is no such country in the world yet.
"Yes, that's okay. When we set up an intelligence network, we are using local contacts. However, we must pay attention to their movements, and it is best to have our people control them. After all, this work still needs to be done with caution."
Staring out the window at the bright sunny day, watching the passers-by walking back and forth on the square. At this time, Nanhua seemed extremely quiet, as if the disputes in the world had nothing to do with it. People were busy and working, and they were creating here.
With wealth, after a busy day, they will get off work when the bell rings at 6 o'clock, and then return home to enjoy a quiet life.
However, how long can such peaceful years last? Maybe in a few years, maybe in more than ten years, all this will be broken, and all they need to do now is to prepare before all this is broken.
"Okay, Martin,"
Qian Zizhuang said to Martin behind him a little stiffly,
"Go and do your business. As for the boat you mentioned before, don't worry about it. As long as we have the boat in hand, they will definitely not be able to do without us!"
This chapter has been completed!