Gao Pragmatic is actually very satisfied with Wei Xuezeng's suggestion.
Gao Pragmatic doesn't care how much money was spent on the construction of the four major official ports, because in Gao Pragmatic's view, many of these expenses have not been spent on the actual purpose, and a large part of them may have to be demolished after Gao Pragmatic takes over. Again.
What Gao pragmatism actually cares about is the other three aspects.
The first aspect is that after the Ministry of Industry withdrew, there were actually no so-called official ports in the Ming Dynasty, and all private ports were fully developed. In terms of private ports, Jinghua's construction and operation capabilities can completely defeat other "retail investors".
Why does Jinghua Tianjin Port have increasingly rich experience in operating ports? Jinghua Infrastructure has the largest engineering construction capacity in the Ming Dynasty, while Jinghua Cement Plant can produce "internally priced" cement. The use of a large amount of cement has increased construction standards but reduced construction costs. .
You should know that near the port, due to the high sea breeze and rainfall, the service life of wooden buildings is shorter than in dry areas, and the interior of the building is more likely to be damaged by moisture. Therefore, the "Jinghua Standard" of comprehensive use of bricks, tiles and cement buildings is itself a business card to attract merchants from the sea.
Coupled with various advantages such as large-scale operations, it can be said that as long as Jinghua takes over the four official ports, Daming's ports will only be divided into two categories: Jinghua and others. This kind of brand effect is what Gao Pragmatic has been pursuing tirelessly. Why all of his properties are branded "Jinghua" is also based on this consideration. Whenever you see "Jinghua", the first impression you get is "strong strength"
In this era, no one can count how much wealth a certain wealthy family has. In many cases, what merchants pay attention to when doing business is credibility. However, the brand Jinghua built by Gao Pragmatism can now be said with pride that the word "Jinghua" means credibility.
The second aspect is location advantage. Location advantage is a word he came across a lot in his previous life. If he were to put it in the words of a Hong Kong real estate tycoon at that time, it would be "there are three core factors for real estate success: location, location, location."
In the feudal empire of the Ming Dynasty, who can get the best position is undoubtedly the imperial court. Even the highly pragmatic Tianjin Port was built next to the official port of the imperial court. It can be seen that the best position must have been expropriated by the imperial court. Now it can be It's still the Wanli Dynasty, not the Chongzhen Dynasty. Do you dare not give it to the imperial court if it wants this land?
Therefore, not only is Tianjin's official port location good, but the three major official ports in the south, Ningbo, Quanzhou, and Guangzhou, also occupy the best geographical locations. If Gao Pragmatic takes over, it will be equivalent to the Ministry of Industry helping him in the name of the imperial court. After the "demolition" work was completed, the best quality properties were sold to him at a low price. Wei Xuezeng was obviously not a real estate tycoon. He only calculated the cost of building the port, and did not realize that if the imperial court had not come forward to acquire these lands, what would have happened? He didn't realize how much extra money he would have to waste, and he didn't realize how amazing the appreciation in value of these lands would be under Jinghua's efficient operation.
The third aspect is that Gao Pragmatic has always been obsessed with expanding to the south, and he has actually obtained an excellent entry point so easily. Gao Pragmatic originally wanted to buy land in southern ports several times, but the results were not good, even though he was already a business tycoon in the north, not to mention a hidden political power. However, in the south, the sky is high and the emperor is far away. The local officials and gentry have many reasons and methods to exclude Gao pragmatism, and there is no good entry point at all.
In particular, Gao Jing's partner in the south, the Linhuai Marquis Mansion, does not have the ability to help so much. Their family titles are broken in the middle, and their strength is indeed limited. At most, they can only help with the guard station. , others are unreliable. After the Xu Pengju incident, although Xu Bangrui, the new Duke of Wei who inherited the Duke of Wei, was favored, he could not reverse the antipathy within the Xu family towards the Gao family for a while, so he could only write a private letter to express his gratitude. Thanks, I can't help you at all.
Now as long as Gao Pragmatic agrees to this deal, he will immediately own the three best-located private ports in the south and gain three footholds in the south at once.
Thinking about it carefully, Wei Xuezeng actually gave Gao Jingshi two choices. One was to temporarily pay for the cement on credit. According to Gao Jingshi's intention, credit was ok, but the credit amount had to be negotiated. By the way, the interest that should be paid was probably unavoidable. The other was the one just now. In the private port payment transaction, Gao Pragmatic directly exempted this year's cement payment, and added some money, and the four major official ports were directly transferred to Jinghua.
This multiple-choice question may not seem very different to Wei Xuezeng, but in Gao Pragmatic's opinion, the difference is too great. He said without hesitation, "Since Wei Budang attaches so much importance to river engineering affairs, as a native of Henan Province, Wan Sheng naturally has to I will do my best to go around Guangang to get Wansheng, and the rest of the conditions will be abided by Wei Butang's wishes."
Wei Xuezeng was overjoyed and secretly thought that this couldn't be better. Not only did he lose a big burden that cost him more than 20,000 taels of silver every year, he also "lost" nearly 300,000 taels of arrears, not to mention he still had 100,000 taels of cash in cash. Warehousing. As a result, even if the allocation to the Ministry of Household Affairs is greatly reduced this year, our Ministry of Works can still breathe a sigh of relief.
Wei Xuezeng and Wei Budang quickly stood up and thanked Gao Jingshi. Gao Jingshi had a thick face and a dark heart, but he could still accept it with a smile, saying, "I only suffered such a big loss because of your Wei Budang's face." appearance.
Wei Xuezeng was grateful again and again, but he still had to ask clearly about the business: "I wonder about the one hundred thousand taels of silver?"
"The money is easy to handle." Gao Pragmatic smiled and said, "I don't know if the Ministry of Industry intends to ask for the money directly or has other considerations."
Wei Xuezeng was slightly startled, "Other considerations include seeking truth."
Gao pragmatically said, "It's nothing special. There are two main considerations. One is that these 100,000 taels can still be used to buy cement, whether it is this year or next year. This money can be directly offset, and we are not too lazy to spend more." A hand in hand. Second, these 100,000 taels can be used to hire Jinghua Infrastructure to build the final project of diversion of the Yellow River. As you know, since the Ministry of Household allocation for river engineering is insufficient, in addition to cement, employment and other aspects will probably be reduced. , I’m afraid it’s hard to say now whether it will affect the overall progress of the diversion project, so it’s best to prepare early.”
"Oh" Wei Xuezeng frowned and thought for a while before saying, "I'm afraid our headquarters will have to discuss this matter with Mr. He before we can answer it. If we complete the previous transaction first, how will we trade these one hundred thousand taels of silver?" I will give you an answer after discussion with Mr. He."
Gao Pingshi smiled and said, "Of course." However, he said this, and he still hoped that it would be a better way not to directly use the money to go out to attract business for himself. However, this intention may be too obvious. Wei Xuezeng obviously wanted to follow The river is always open and ventilated.
He tried to persuade the two ministers to stay for dinner at Gao Mansion, but both ministers politely declined. Gao pragmatically guessed that they would not stay for dinner, so he politely sent them to the gate. This transaction is really a happy one.
After the guest left, Gao Pragmatic had to turn his mind back to the current problem. The emperor asked him to find a consort for the third princess during the imperial examination. How should he handle this matter?
The main question is whether it is feasible for them to take the exam. They obviously still yearn for an official career, so let them give up the "closer" career as a civil servant and become a person who does nothing except name. I'm afraid this matter will be a little difficult for the consort Lao Shizi who can't even do it.
