Chapter 825 Zhaoqing Machinery Co., Ltd. takes off
Although he was restricted from traveling with the army's supply troops and it was impossible to go anywhere, the journey was still an eye-opener for Gerdes and he truly saw what a prosperous place is.
Jiangnan shocked him even more than in Guangzhou and Zhaoqing.
Guangzhou and Zhaoqing brought him more novelties, such as all kinds of messy novelty gadgets and clean and tidy cityscapes. However, the land in the south of the Yangtze River made him feel how wealthy this place was, and the people's living standards were far higher.
Much higher than what he had seen elsewhere.
And this place is densely populated!
Dense population and affluence represent purchasing power, and purchasing power is the market!
At this time, Gerdes couldn't help but fantasize. If he could earn one tael of silver from one person, then this place would have a population of at least 20 to 30 million. Wouldn't he be able to earn more than 20 million from it?
silver?
When he thought of so much money, Gerdes couldn't help but feel excited in his heart!
I definitely made the right trip to Jiangnan. My Gerdes Trading Company must move to Jiangnan. I will not only set up a branch in Shanghai, but also set up a branch in Jinling, and completely transform my trading company.
The distribution network has penetrated into Jiangnan.
Nowadays, his Gerdes Trading Company is doing more complicated business. In addition to its own merchant ships participating in maritime trade, it is also involved in many other messy things. But in essence, it is still a second-rate dealer, using its unique identity to do business.
Although it sounds like he is just a second-rate dealer, he has become very prosperous in the past two years and has made a lot of money. Now that he has seen the prosperity of Jiangnan, he naturally wants to develop his business network to
Coming from Jiangnan.
And it’s not just establishing acquisitions and sales channels as in the past, but preparing to get involved in a higher-end silk business!
According to the information he got from some supposedly reliable channels, Zhaoqing Machinery Company, an upstream enterprise in the industry of the Tang Dynasty, has developed a machine that can process raw silk quickly, and it is also a complete solution.
It is said that the state-owned textile company under the Ministry of Industry of Datang is already purchasing this kind of machinery and equipment to improve production efficiency, reduce costs, and improve the quality of raw silk.
He knew very well how popular silk from the ancient oriental countries was by European dignitaries. The largest purchases by foreign merchants who came to China were silk and porcelain.
Most of the traditional silk business is handmade. In the past, he was only a second-tier dealer, purchasing finished silk products directly from various places. But now, he has seen the middle reaches of the silk industry directly involved: raw silk.
Therefore, Gerdes is naturally unwilling to give up easily, so even though he has not seen any machine-made raw silk or finished silk products yet, Gerdes still decided to take a gamble.
But Gerdes did not know that he was not the only one who wanted to take a gamble. After Zhaoqing Machinery Company developed a complete set of mechanical spinning machinery and equipment, in addition to the state-owned textile factory of the Ministry of Industry who immediately ordered it, there were
Several private textile companies also quickly followed up and directly ordered this kind of machinery.
He is not the only one who plans to open a raw silk factory in the Jiangnan area. Both the Ministry of Industry's state-owned factories and private factories have such plans and have already begun to do so.
China's first steam machinery raw silk factory near the Shanghai Business District, a raw silk factory directly affiliated to the Jiangnan Textile Company of the Ministry of Industry, has already begun the plant construction and equipment installation stages.
Gerdes' news is a little behind, but this still does not affect his investment plan!
However, these investment plans will have to wait until he goes to Jinling and settles down other matters. Moreover, the investment in setting up a raw silk factory is huge, and Gerdes's financial resources are still somewhat lacking, so he is still trying to find ways to raise funds.
The investment in setting up a raw silk factory is large. On the one hand, the raw materials are expensive. The raw materials of raw silk factories are all silkworm cocoons, and silkworm cocoons are very expensive. Setting up a raw silk factory, not to mention other things, just purchasing silkworm cocoons is a huge sum.
expenditures.
In addition, the equipment is expensive. Various mechanical equipment in Zhaoqing Arsenal are never cheap, especially this kind of mechanical equipment that has just been launched and has great prospects, is often expensive.
And people usually don’t just buy machinery. If you want to buy machinery, you have to purchase a complete set. Of course, if you don’t purchase it from Zhaoqing Machinery Company, you have no place to purchase it, because at present, under the rule of the Tang Dynasty, even
Globally, only Zhaoqing Machinery Company specializes in providing these mechanical equipment.
Such a complete set of equipment, plus factory buildings, worker training, and raw material procurement, etc., the initial investment is not something that can be done with tens of thousands of taels, let alone hundreds of thousands of taels of silver.
Although Gerdes has made a lot of money in the past few years, a lot of it has been invested in the expansion of the trading company and the merchant fleet, and he really can't get it out at the moment.
Otherwise, he would have directly placed an order for the equipment before heading north.
With all kinds of messy thoughts, he finally arrived at Jinling City, and as usual, he was shocked again.
After the shock, he purchased real estate, registered with the Ministry of Commerce, and prepared to open a company in Jinling City. However, he usually did not do these things himself because his appearance was too strange. In order to avoid trouble, he always asked others to do so.
The attendant will deal with it.
Gerdes' trip to Jinling City did not last long. He left Jinling City only three days later. However, before leaving, he had already purchased a property in Jinling City and set up a branch office.
As for himself, he was preparing to return to Shanghai to handle other matters.
On the way back, he did not follow the military team, but went to Shanghai on his own. Of course, in order to avoid trouble on the way, he usually stayed in the carriage or on the boat without showing much face, and just watched quietly.
Many matters are handed over to subordinates.
Sometimes when he was interrogated, after he produced a serious household registration certificate, he could calmly leave under the shocked eyes of patrol policemen from various places.
When Gerdes returned to Shanghai, Li Xuan also listened to the Ministry of Industry's industrial layout in the Jiangnan area.
"At present, the Ministry of Industry has prepared to build three core enterprises: Jiangnan Arsenal, Jiangnan Shipyard, and Jiangnan Steel Plant. In addition to Jiangnan Shipyard being deployed at Wusong Military Port, Jiangnan Arsenal and Jiangnan Steel Plant are also preparing to be deployed in Dangtu. In addition, according to His Majesty
According to the instructions, we have found a large-scale open-pit iron ore area near Dangtu. The quality of the iron ore is quite good, and we will be able to provide a large amount of cheap and high-quality iron ore to Jiangnan Iron and Steel Plant in the future."
"Jiangnan Arsenal will refer to Zhaoqing Arsenal, Guangzhou Arsenal, Foshan Arsenal and other arsenals, and accept technical personnel from the above-mentioned arsenals, and prepare to build this arsenal into a super-large arsenal. According to the construction plan, once completed,
The gun production of this arsenal will reach the total of the current production, with a monthly production of 3,000 muskets."
After hearing this, Li Xuan nodded slightly: "Yes, it seems that your Ministry of Industry has also worked hard!"
In the past, now, and even in the future, the most important task of the Ministry of Industry of the Tang Dynasty has always been to provide sufficient weapons with advanced performance for the army, navy, and guards of the Tang Dynasty.
Therefore, the core of many state-owned factories in the Ministry of Industry of the Tang Dynasty revolves around military production. Even the textile industry was originally intended to produce military uniforms. However, after it quickly grew in size, it turned to the civilian market.
Nowadays, two major textile companies have gradually developed, namely Guangzhou Textile Company and Jiangnan Textile Company.
But the textile companies of the Ministry of Industry only aim to make money and then supply them for national defense construction.
The core of the Ministry of Industry has always been the defense industry. The arsenal is their core, and the related factories that support the arsenal are their focus.
As for the civil industry, the Ministry of Industry has never deliberately interfered. Of course, sometimes it does so unintentionally, such as the imitation industry or Zhaoqing Machinery Company.
At the beginning, Zhaoqing Machinery Company was just a subsidiary factory of Zhaoqing Arsenal. It was mainly used to support, design, develop and produce various types of machinery and equipment for the many arsenals of the Ministry of Industry. However, there was a demand for these machinery and equipment among the people.
It's also so huge.
Therefore, the Ministry of Industry simply made Zhaoqing Machinery Company independent. Its various mechanical products are supplied to major arsenals and other national defense enterprises, as well as to various private factories.
After several years of development, it has basically become an upstream enterprise of Datang Industry, providing more than 80% of all types of machinery and equipment for major factories. Behind the mechanization of every industry in the Datang Dynasty,
It is inseparable from the efforts of Zhaoqing Machinery Company.
The machinery and equipment used in these emerging industries all come from Zhaoqing Machinery Company.
The scale is getting bigger and bigger, the turnover is getting higher and the profits are getting bigger and bigger. This has also led to the Zhaoqing Machinery Company getting bigger and bigger, and the pace of launching new products and improvements is also accelerating frequently. At present, Zhaoqing Machinery
The company is already on the road to take-off!
But what makes them feel a little embarrassed is that even though Zhaoqing Machinery Company has vigorously recruited technical talents in recent years and conducted its own research and development, it still cannot escape the influence of the Royal Institute of Technology in terms of core technologies.
Almost 80% of the various advanced equipment produced by Zhaoqing Machinery Company were developed by the Royal Institute of Technology and then licensed to them for production.
And we don’t know how long it will take to get rid of the influence of the Royal Institute of Technology.
The national defense industry is extremely important, so Li Xuan is also very concerned about it. At the imperial meeting of the Ministry of Industry, he directly participated in the discussion and directly stated that I will strongly support various projects of the Ministry of Industry.
But soon, people from the Ministry of Industry came to support us!