The plan to convince Gao Mengnan was simpler than expected, and Gao Mengnan quickly accepted Gao Pragmatic's invitation.
Looking back, Gao Pragmatic estimated that Gao Mengnan was too restless in Xinzheng. In addition, there may be another reason, that is, his relationship with Gao Wuzi was not very harmonious.
This is not unexpected. After all, Gao Mengnan is not a dandy like Gao Wuzi, and because Gao Wuzi is the eldest son, even if he is sitting on nothing, at least the "mountain" is not small, and it seems that it will be enough for a while.
But Gao Mengnan was different. Although he was adopted as an adopted son by Gao Jie, his adopted son could not be compared with his legitimate son. It was a little better when Gao Jie was alive. After Gao Jie passed away, his life began to be like Wang Xiaoer's New Year, and every year became worse than the last. If things go on like this, one day we will have to drink the northwest wind!
Although Gao Jingshi's performance in the capital is not fully understood in his hometown in Xinzheng, he still has a general understanding. At least his Jinghua soap is enough to make him rich with six houses. How can a pragmatic Gao who can make such a big deal live in vain?
Following Gao Pragmatic is at least ten times better than following Gao Wuzi. This is the basic judgment in Gao Mengnan's mind.
Of course, the matter of investing in Tianjin Port is neither urgent nor urgent. Gao Pragmatic does not intend for Gao Mengnan to go to Tianjin immediately to handle it.
I'm not in a hurry because opening a port is different from opening a mine. After mining, whether it is selling finished products after deep processing or selling raw ore directly, it can quickly enter normal operating conditions and start to recover costs and make profits. As long as one condition is met, it is the sales network.
The Gao family's official name is placed here, and the Zhang family of Puzhou serves as a hidden business backer. In addition, Gao pragmatically puts the golden rooster of Jinghua soap on the table. Few people will doubt Gao's family. The industries under his command will open today and close tomorrow, so the establishment of his sales network has always been relatively smooth.
But port operations are completely different from mining and even ironmaking.
First of all, the port itself must have relatively good natural conditions, such as the shape of the port, the size of the water area in the port, the depth of the water in the port, whether it is sheltered from the wind, etc., there are innate requirements. The Tianjin Port of later generations is an international port. Logically speaking, the innate conditions should be okay. However, you must know that the Tianjin Port of later generations was formed after many large-scale artificial transformations, and the current Gao Pragmatic does not have that kind of transformation ability.
Of course, Gao Pragmatic did not dare to expect to build a port as large as Tianjin Port in later generations, but he still needed to send people to conduct a detailed inspection and comprehensively consider all factors before making a final decision to avoid becoming a second-month port.
Although Yuegang in Fujian is the first port to open sea in Longqing and is currently the only port to open sea, the natural conditions of Yuegang are actually quite average. That place was originally a port that sprang up spontaneously due to the prevalence of smuggling. The real advantage it has is actually quite ridiculous: it is located in a remote place, making it difficult to be discovered by the government, let alone seized by the government.
It is precisely because of this advantage of Yuegang that "small problems" such as the small water area and the reefs under the channel entering and exiting the port are ignored.
But Gao pragmatically treats Tianjin Port as his own industry, and it is not an ordinary industry. He also plans to undertake big business such as the imperial court's "South-to-North Grain Diversion" in the future. Of course, he cannot just do it casually. Today he talks about building a port, but tomorrow So I went to buy a piece of land and started construction.
Building a port is no different than building a wharf. It is not just a matter of building a few trestles. In addition to finding the most suitable natural haven, planning and extensive construction in the port area are also required.
This type of planning is relatively easy to handle. Gao pragmatically visited the port when he followed the leader to inspect the coast and had a general understanding of the port's layout and planning. Although the knowledge here is actually very deep, Gao pragmatically only knew a few superficial things, but he estimated that he This level is barely enough in this era.
At least, he also knows that according to the differences in blowing currents, tidal currents, and wave currents, the port's channel, breakwater axis, entrance orientation, etc. must have corresponding measures to deal with it. As for the functional layout of the land area of the port, anyone who has been to the port of later generations can tell you about it. He can do it...well, it can be done reluctantly.
But the third point is powerful, and it is even the most fundamental factor why Gaowu Shi is not in a hurry now: Once there is a port, it will have no effect, because the port itself cannot generate any value, and the value of the port comes from the ships entering and leaving the port.
In other words, the port itself needs to have location advantages and then attract ships to dock, realizing its value through the port’s throughput.
If there are no ships to dock, load and unload cargo, no matter how good a port is, it will be of no use and will be a pure junk asset.
Therefore, before building a port, Gao Pragmatic must first contact a group of willing shippers and merchants to let them be interested in using Tianjin Port as an unloading or shipping place in the future. Otherwise, no matter how much investment is made in this port, Gao Pragmatism will lose money, and it will continue to lose money. In order to ensure the operation of the port, someone must manage and maintain it, and this costs money!
In addition to these hard conditions, Gao Pragmatic also needs to figure out whether such a thing as a private commercial port can be done, and if so, what procedures need to be completed.
According to Gao Pangshi's current understanding of the Ming Dynasty court and local yamen, merchants built any commercial facilities on their own, and as long as they did not overstep the structure, the government had no involvement at all. This is also the reason why every time Gao pragmatically opened a coal mine to make briquettes or an iron mine to make steel and iron, the local government only checked whether he had the land deeds for those plots before letting him go.
If this point can only be said that the Ming government was very tolerant, then the next point is even more amazing.
For example, a businessman built a large warehouse by himself in an important transportation area. Since the local area is a thoroughfare for several provinces or prefectures, business prospered after the warehouse was built, and he made a lot of money every day!
What will happen to the government at this time?
Congratulations to this businessman, because the Ming Dynasty officials will still pretend they didn’t see it and won’t even think of going to this businessman to collect taxes!
You read that right, as long as the land where the businessman builds the warehouse is owned by the businessman, the officials at all levels in the Ming Dynasty will consider any legitimate business you conduct on this land to be reasonable and legal, and - again Let me stress it once – we will not collect taxes from you.
At least, there is no formal tax. At most, when the government faces some big troubles, it will send someone to come to you to apportion a fee. In fact, there are not many big troubles like this. For example, if bandits attack the city, the government wants to recruit people to be brave, but the government is relatively poor, so it has to find local gentry and big businessmen to "compete for payment". Only then will the government think of asking you, the The big businessman made a donation.
The reason why Gao pragmatism still needs to confirm is mainly because of the special nature of the port - after all, although Emperor Longqing opened the sea, he has only approved Yuegang as an export port (Note: Imports are also allowed, but both import and export are restricted. There are restrictions.), although the Tianjin Port that Gao Pragmatic plans to build does not yet plan to engage in overseas trade, and is just testing the north-south shipping first, he and San Bo Gao Gong are both at the forefront of the situation, so it is always good to be careful.
