After discussion between the two last time, they decided to gradually get involved in shipping affairs. According to Jiang Fan's deployment, Ba Qing cleverly took advantage of the situation and successfully started to intervene in the Zheng family's business.
With the Sea Dragon King's laissez-faire, rampant piracy, and the obstacles set up by the Chu government represented by Ding Shaoan, the Zheng family's maritime transportation was quite difficult. At this time, Ba Qing found a third party to come forward and provide them with a channel. The passage makes the Zheng family very happy now, but it won't take long before it will become one of the ropes that strangle them.
After Jiang Fan heard Ba Qing's detailed layout, he was greatly impressed. It was really wonderful. It had a greater effect than his original idea. He was indeed a genius in the field of practical operation.
Talking about these seriously is actually more interesting than playing in many cases.
Jiang Fan made many comments on these three major items, and Ba Qing also wrote them down one by one. At the same time, he also put forward different opinions on some issues. Jiang Fan likes this kind of discussion very much. No one can be absolutely right, especially when it comes to business. Ba Qing's practical foundation is unmatched by a theoretical expert like himself.
Ba Qing also mentioned one thing. Now her personal property has been merged with Lishan.
However, following Jiang Fan's wishes, the most important cinnabar and mercury industries under his command were supplied to the royal family and nobles as tools as much as possible, which greatly restricted the output of alchemy. Although this will undoubtedly reduce a large amount of income, Ba Qing no longer cares about this, and also agrees with Jiang Fan's statement that most of those who use cinnabar and mercury to make elixirs are evil sects or alchemists who seek immortality.
But even so, Ba Qing still monopolized all the cinnabar and mercury markets in the five countries, firmly occupying the throne of the queen of cinnabar.
Only in Chu State, Xiang Chen and Yinglu took the lion's share of the profits, but neither of them was worried. They used this to open up more trade channels in Lishan, and they had already more than made up for their losses.
As for the three key issues, no surprise, they are production capacity, transportation, and safety.
The problem of production capacity mainly exists in three aspects: limited workshops, insufficient manpower, and insufficient technology to keep up.
Although today's Lishan has achieved streamlined operations, it is by no means an industrialized mass production. Although there are advanced tools made by the public transport family that greatly improve efficiency, it still relies more on manual labor. Therefore, many things cannot be accomplished overnight and can only be promoted as quickly as possible.
Fortunately, manpower will definitely be available within the next year. First, the empress moved a large number of people from barren areas. Secondly, Lishan never stopped searching for labor. Then, due to the war in the Four Kingdoms, many refugees poured into the relatively peaceful Daqin. Under the promotion of the empress, almost all of them were supplied to Lishan.
There is no shortage in terms of quantity, but there is a shortage of skilled workers, and most of the time is spent in this aspect.
The second big question is about transportation.
This is directly subject to the transportation conditions of this world. Mainly relied on water transportation, carriages and horses. However, in terms of water transportation, the cargo capacity of ships is too low and the speed is very slow. Land transportation is roughly the same, mainly relying on carriages and horses, and the cargo capacity is also very low. In addition, the roads are simple and the speed is also a problem.
But none of these can be solved by Qin alone. Jiang Fan understands that whether it is the improvement of vehicle and ship technology or the improvement of transportation channels, only when the world is unified can we truly embark on big plans.
The third issue is safety.
This matter is a key issue every year. Now that Lishan has completed its fortifications and strict management system, although outside snooping has never stopped, with Daqin on the periphery, a completely closed interior, and a special management method, it is almost impossible to launch an attack that can shake the foundation of Lishan. nonexistent.
In Lishan itself, the biggest defense problem is probably the issue of confidentiality, but fortunately, the assembly line operation and control system have effectively suppressed this.
The real trouble lies in the attacks outside Lishan. Especially security during transportation and outside Da Qin's influence. As we discussed last year, there are three major forces that are constantly attacking us, both covertly and covertly.
However, there has been a great improvement this year. After all, the three princes and four princes have been dealt with, and the internal enemies of Qin have been eliminated first. In addition to the Qin State, it was obviously the resistance of the four countries to Qin. This aspect was always inevitable, but through many channels, Lishan products were still popular.
Among them, not only are Ba Qing, Ji Le, Nangong, Hei Fan, Cao Zijian and many other forces operating, but the trade treaties signed by Qin State, Wei State, and Jin State also played a great role.
And there is another important issue, that is, Lishan will take binding output under certain circumstances.
For example, when it really doesn't work, we will come up with a special product and use its irreproducibility and irreplaceability to open the market, but the condition is that it is bound to other commodities.
Another example is secret input through some kind of turnover method. After all, Lishan products are indispensable to many princes and nobles, and even they will help find a way.
There are many similar methods, so I won’t go into details one by one.
In a word, despite the pressure from the state and aristocratic forces, because of the uniqueness of Lishan products and the sharp and changeable marketing methods, it is difficult for the four-country market to resist this attack rooted in advanced concepts.
But the danger behind the scenes is the most terrible. The two dark forces have never stopped attacking Lishan, and have even escalated, often turning into naked robberies.
Fortunately, security measures have been continuously strengthened, and the agency plan drawn up last year has achieved great results. Although this aspect is very bad, it can still be resisted.
"According to Miss Shangguan's information, one of the two forces does have someone organizing from it to entangle all opposition forces. This spearhead..."
Ba Qing pondered: "It vaguely points to the imperial court."
Jiang Fan's mind moved slightly: "Is there any evidence?"
Ba Qing shook his head: "We have sent people to track many times, dug deeply, and even captured many people alive. We found that they came from different countries and even different forces. The same thing is that they are all connected through a single line. After following the clues, we discovered that there was a There are hidden clues pointing to a certain big shot. Unfortunately, that person is very vigilant and his subordinates are also very powerful. The clues always break when they point higher. But there are several times when the highest instructions that can be found may come from the monarch. In this way, we Judgment... there are forces behind it that are higher than the monarch and are organizing everything."
Jiang Fan nodded: "Being higher than the king, the imperial court can obviously consider it, but the evidence is not enough."
Ba Qing said: "The reason for this judgment is that in addition to the general situation, there was a clue that suddenly appeared, allowing us to trace Princess Chen..."
Jiang Fan frowned. Princess Chen was the one who wanted to kill everyone in the Ying family to avenge Chen. She was also the one in the imperial court who was very hostile to him.
"unambiguous evidence?"
Ba Qing said: "We investigated a secret messenger and followed the clues all the way. We could have captured enough evidence. Unfortunately, at the last moment, the only clue person was poisoned and died. Although it is certain that he went to interview Princess Chen, but The evidence could not be obtained, so in order to avoid any inconvenience, we did not continue to dig deeper."
"Done right."
Jiang Fan said: "The imperial court is very cautious now. It is not easy to obtain evidence. It is wise for you to stop in time to avoid alerting the enemy. Go back and report everything about this clue to me."
