This auction involves several yamen. The Ministry of Industry is responsible for the handover of machinery and equipment, the Household Department is responsible for cashiers, the South Factory is responsible for security, the Changzhou Prefecture is responsible for various peripheral logistics, and there is also a person named Dai Yi from the Supervisor of Ceremonies.
The old eunuch and the worker's department were responsible for auditing and supervising the affairs. Of course, people from the Metropolitan Procuratorate were also indispensable. There were more than ten censors who came and stared at all the details of the auction like wolves all day long, hoping to find something.
Trouble with the Ministry of Industry or Liu Ziguang.
Qishuyan Machinery Factory covers an area of hundreds of acres, spanning both sides of the canal. The factory buildings are like a joint operation, and there are countless machines and equipment. It can be regarded as the largest factory in the Ming Dynasty, with a total asset value of tens of millions of taels. If the auction is successful, it will be
The Ministry of Household Affairs has increased a huge amount of revenue, and military expenditures for the Northern Expedition have been funded. Therefore, everyone in the imperial court attaches great importance to it. Liu Ziguang's original plan to do some trick to let the Liguo Iron Works win the bid may come to nothing.
Because it is an open bidding, there is little chance of cheating. No one is a fuel-efficient lamp. If the auction is a little biased, these guys with good eyes and hands will make the city full of trouble. If they use their financial resources to fight, Liguo Iron Works
It doesn’t have much of an advantage. The iron factory has not been very well-funded recently. It can barely scrape together more than one million taels of silver. This amount of money is not enough to purchase a machine factory. However, other manufacturers are not having a good time either. No one has the money these days.
There is not much cash, and if you forcefully withdraw funds, it will inevitably affect your own production and operation, which will form a vicious circle. Even if you buy a machine factory, you will have no start-up capital. The only solution is to borrow money and ask the most promising company in the world.
If you borrow money from the Rishengchang bank account and use factories, machinery and property as collateral, you will definitely be able to borrow money.
The Zuo family in Wuchang planned this, and the Chen family in Guangzhou also planned it. Anyone with a normal business mind would think of borrowing money. They not only borrowed money from Rishengchang, but also borrowed money from wealthy businessmen and wealthy families in the city where they were located, agreeing on the interest rate in advance.
After the machine factory has been photographed and operated for a period of time, the capital will be returned with interest. In this way, a lot of funds have been raised. Each merchant who bids has brought millions of dollars. Now Changzhou Prefecture has gathered a huge amount of money. I am afraid that
One-tenth of the silver in the Ming Dynasty was concentrated here. Of course, most of it was easy-to-carry silver notes and relatively high-value gold ingots. Otherwise, just transporting and storing the silver would have taken a lot of manpower. Just like this, a lot of money was used.
There were few bodyguards to protect the courtyard. Almost all the famous bodyguards in the Ming Dynasty were here, and the imperial officers and soldiers also mobilized tens of thousands of horses to escort the auction.
Liu Ziguang was sitting at the top of the auction hall. Sitting below him was the eunuch Dai Yi. This guy was a fellow villager of Wei Zhongxian. He was already quite old and had always been a minor role in the palace. Recently, he relied on Wei Eunuch's relationship to become the official.
When he became the leader of the fifth rank eunuch, his self-confidence was extremely high. After arriving in Changzhou, he became even more domineering. Because he came from the palace and had the backing of Dongchang, he did not take other officials seriously, including Nachang.
Among everyone, he was only a little afraid of Liu Ziguang, which made everyone very disgusted with him.
The auction officially began. The first auction was a batch of inventory steel and wood. There was nothing thrilling about these small-scale auctions. They were all worth several thousand taels of silver. The bidders were all small manufacturers around Changzhou.
The auction process was long and difficult, and the shrewd Jiangnan merchants never wasted a single tael of silver. The bidding price was only fifty taels, which made everyone feel sleepy.
Fortunately, Liu Ziguang revised the rules of the auction in time, stipulating that each increase in price must be half of the starting price, which is one-twentieth. This turned the boring situation around. The Ministry of Housing officials' small hammers fell frequently, and a large number of
The raw material inventory of Qishuyan Machinery Factory was sold, and the money was collected into the cash box of the household department.
The young boss who took the photo of the item he was satisfied with smiled and took the official document set issued by the government to the machine factory to pick up the item. The rest of the people were waiting for the next round of bidding with high expectations.
Next in the queue is a batch of bidding for technical information. There is nothing too advanced in technology, just water wheels, boilers, rail forging methods, etc. The people participating in the bidding are still the bosses of small workshops, but except for Changzhou locals,
There were also some out-of-towners here, and this round of bidding went faster. The bidding was completed in three or two attempts. It seemed that everyone came well prepared and determined to win.
The first two rounds of auctions were warm-up exercises, and the highlight was yet to come, which was the overall auction of the machinery factory's factory equipment. Everyone focused their attention on a few heavyweights. Wuchang Shipyard was opened by a relative of Huguang Superintendent Zuo Liangyu.
Yes, everyone knows the relationship between Liguo Railway Works and Liu Ziguang. The other companies also have strong official backgrounds. There is only one humble Shanghainese that no one knows, and he is sitting in the buyer's seat and drinking Longjing.
Smoking fashionable cigarettes.
At the beginning of the auction, officials from the Ministry of Household Affairs quoted a reserve price of five million taels of silver! It immediately caused a stir in the venue. Those small buyers had never heard of such a huge figure, let alone seeing it. Five million taels of silver meant that
What are you talking about? That is a well-equipped army, that is the annual tax of a province, that is the total annual income of millions of people, everyone gasped in surprise, but those big guys who are determined to win the bid
But he remained motionless, with no expression on his calm face. This low price was already within their expectations.
The Chen family in Guangzhou was the first to hold up a sign, "Five.
The Wuchang Zuo family immediately followed up and raised their placards, and their followers shouted louder: "Five, five and a half million taels."
Immediately afterwards, the Huainan Mei family also held up placards to bid. Their strength was relatively weak. This time they only brought six million taels of silver notes, so they simply quoted a price of six million. If they could achieve success, they could not fail. But
Unexpectedly, the price was surpassed as soon as the price was announced. The protagonists of the auction were Wuchang Zuojia and Guangzhou Chenjia. Both of them are shipbuilding factories. They have long been coveted by the steam engine production capacity of Qishuyan Machinery Factory.
, if they could annex the machine factory, it would be a huge help to them. They would be able to dominate the Ming Dynasty's shipbuilding industry soon, so the two companies fought fiercely.
It is said that the Chen family has some relationship with Guangzhou Shipping Company, and they can make money like water without hesitation at all. The Zuo family is also unambiguous and frequently outdoes the Chen family. In addition to their relationship with Zuo Liangyu, they also have a relationship.
Wei Zhongxian's method was to give him a lot of benefits for this auction, so Wei Zhongxian said that the emperor sent eunuch Dai Yi to supervise it, just to ensure that the Zuo family could successfully take the auction. The Zuo family was indeed rich in money and kept raising the price.
At seven million taels, the Chen family was helpless and about to win. The representative of the Zuo family set their sights on Hu Xiezi, the representative of the Liguo Iron Works. Lao Hu kept drinking tea leisurely and contentedly.
Without raising a sign, do they still have a backup plan? As for the inconspicuous Shanghainese, no one paid attention to him. This guy was probably frightened by the lowest price offered and did not dare to speak out at all.
Unexpectedly, Hu Xiezi had no intention of bidding at all. At this tense moment, he actually stood up to complain and went out. This was clearly an abstention! Although they didn't know the reason, the representatives of the Zuo family and Dai Yi were both relieved at this moment.
In one breath, as long as the Peng family does not participate, no one can compete with them.
The price still stood at 7 million taels, and an official from the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development stood on the stage and shouted: "Is there anyone else who bids more? Is there anyone who offers a higher price? No one raised a sign. From now on, the Qishuyan Machinery Factory will have a left name."
"
"I'll offer eight million taels of silver." The mysterious Shanghai guest who had been hiding behind everyone finally raised his sign and easily quoted a high price of eight million taels. This shocked everyone, and what they had been worried about finally came to an end.
Appeared, Eunuch Dai Yi frowned, and the representative of the Zuo family also had a long face. Seven million taels was their limit, and there was still a lot of fund-raising and borrowing, but at this point it was no longer possible.
The only way to retreat was to persist. The representative of the Zuo family turned to Eunuch Dai for help. Dai Yi understood, coughed dryly and said: "Who is this buyer? Has he paid a deposit? Do you know what you are saying now?"
You must be responsible for every word you say. If you can't come up with so much money, not only will the deposit be confiscated, but you will also be punished." After saying that, he looked back at Liu Ziguang and said with a smile, "Mr. Liu,
Isn’t it true what our family said?”
"Well said, this auction was organized by the emperor himself. Anyone who dares to raise the price will be guilty of bullying and will be beheaded." Liu Ziguang said.
"The villain is Lin Xiang, the representative of Jiangnan Shipyard. He has already paid the deposit in full. As for whether we can come up with the money, let's wait and see after taking the photos. If the adults are not satisfied by then, the villain is willing to take the trouble.
Kill." The Shanghai man spoke very forcefully and was not afraid of the intimidation from the two adults at all.
"You still dare to be so stubborn. I think you are just here to cause trouble. I'll coax him out." Although Dai Yi didn't know the origin of this guy, he already felt a faint sense of danger. This so-called Jiangnan Shipyard
, there must be some big shot standing behind him.
The Jiangnan Shipyard located on the bank of the Huangpu River in Shanghai is a small factory. Few people know about it, and no one knows that the boss behind it is Liu Ziguang. All kinds of discussions suddenly sounded in the hall. Two things behind Dai Yi
The factory fan was about to step forward and take out the representative.
"Stand back." Liu Ziguang said softly, his calm and intimidating attitude made the two Dongchang fans shudder. They looked at Dai Yi and then at Liu Ziguang, helplessly standing there and not daring to move.
"Dai Yi, you don't have the right to speak in front of me. Forget it this time. Next time you are so disrespectful, be careful with your head." Liu Ziguang said coldly, without giving Dai Yi any face in his words.
He blushed on the spot.
Being scolded in front of so many people, Dai Yi was very angry. He felt that he was from the imperial palace and was a confidant of Eunuch Wei of Dongchang. No matter how awesome Liu Ziguang was or how arrogant Nanchang was, he would still be punished.
He was a bit thin-faced, but he didn't expect to come out like this. Seeing the gloating faces around him, Eunuch Dai twisted his neck and said: "Our family is sent by the emperor, it's hard to say who is superior and who is inferior.
.”
Liu Ziguang laughed loudly: "You, a lowly eunuch, dare to compete with me, a first-class earl. It's so ridiculous. You are sent by the emperor, so don't I, the imperial envoy, be the same? Could it be that Eunuch Wei is asking for advice?
A guy like you? Come on, drag this servant down who doesn’t understand the rules and slap him."
In fact, Dai Yi regretted it as soon as he said it. Who was Liu Ziguang? He was the favorite of the emperor, the admiral of the South Factory, and the head of the Imperial Guards. Not to mention himself, a fifth-grade eunuch, even his immediate boss, Eunuch Wei.
Not daring to confront him face to face, Dai Yi came to his senses and hurriedly knelt down to beg for mercy. He slapped 17 or 18 big mouths, all of them were real guys who caused blood. Liu Ziguang looked at it and sneered, and didn't pursue it any further.
Go down and let him continue to sit and supervise the auction.
Nachang and Dongchang are nominally one in charge and one in charge of external affairs, but in fact it is difficult to distinguish the scope of authority and responsibility. The two yamen inevitably have frequent fights. Liu Ziguang was better off when he was in the capital. Recently, he went on a tour
Jiangnan, Dongchang took the opportunity to suppress Nanchang, bullying the brothers until they could not lift their heads.
, Sun Gang had already told Liu Ziguang about this matter, so he took the opportunity to quarrel with Dai Yi. This was also a warning to Wei Zhongxian. If it weren't for the fact that Dai Yi really came under the emperor's order, I'm afraid this guy who doesn't know the heights of heaven and earth.
He had been killed by Liu Ziguang long ago.
Dai Yi naturally understood Liu Ziguang's intentions. On the surface, he humbly admitted his fault, but secretly he remembered his hatred and began to think about how to attack Nanchang and Liu Ziguang.
The auction continued. Taking advantage of the free time just now, the representative of the Zuo family quickly negotiated with a big shopkeeper specializing in loans from Rishengchang at the venue, requesting an emergency loan of two million taels of silver. The big shopkeeper shook his head in embarrassment.
Said: "The amount is too huge. One hundred thousand and two hundred thousand can still be negotiated. No matter how much it is, I can't make the decision." The representative of the Zuo family hurriedly took out a pile of land deeds and asked for mortgage on the spot. The big shopkeeper picked up one of the land deeds and read it.
Looking at it, he still shook his head: "These properties and houses are not worth a lot of money, so there is nothing I can do for you." After saying this, he went out with a fist in his arms, leaving the Zuo family representative who was sweating profusely on the spot.
The Zuo family only has 7.5 million taels of silver, which is already their limit. They don’t want to invest all this money. If they spend all the money, the flow of funds to Wuchang Shipyard will be cut off, which will seriously affect the normal operation of the shipyard.
Operation, this representative had a high status in the Zuo family and had the power to make on-the-spot decisions. He secretly thought that he would definitely succeed this time. Even if he went back to smash pots and sell iron, he would make sure to take pictures of the machine factory, so he cruelly shouted out 880
A sky-high price of ten thousand taels!
Lin Xiang from Jiangnan Shipyard sneered, put away the sign and stopped bidding. After asking three times, the Ministry of Housing official lowered the hammer and announced that the factory machinery of Qishuyan Machinery Factory was bought by the Zuo family of Wuchang.