After listening to Chen Jianning's speech, Liu Lantao said: "In the morning negotiations, what was Sheng Xuanhuai's reaction?"

Chen Jianning shook his head and said: "This old fox is very cunning, knowing that he can't say much at this time, so he rarely speaks during the morning negotiations, and the people I am holding are all foreigners, and Sheng Xuanhuai will help us say a few words in a place that doesn't hurt or itch, and there is nothing wrong with it on the surface." ”

Liu Lantao nodded and said, "That's for sure, sailing is a big piece of fat, whether it is Sheng Xuanhuai or a foreigner, of course he will not let it out easily." ”

Chen Jianning said: "It's no wonder that China Merchants Steamship can actually be regarded as Sheng Xuanhuai's own industry, and it did go through a fierce business war with foreigners at the beginning to gain a foothold in China, unlike other enterprises founded in the Westernization Movement, so Sheng Xuanhuai insisted on shipping rights, from Sheng Xuanhuai's position, this is to protect his own interests." ”

Yang Yuxin didn't know much about the history of China Merchants Steamship, so he asked, "How is China Merchants Steamship Sheng Xuanhuai's industry?"

Chen Jianning did a lot of homework for this negotiation and knew a lot about the history of the China Merchants Steamship Bureau, so he explained: "The China Merchants Steamship China Merchants Bureau was founded in 1872, and unlike other enterprises founded in the Westernization Movement, the China Merchants Steamship Bureau stipulated that the government should supervise the business and attract investment and raise shares at the time of its establishment. It was the first enterprise in the Westernization Movement to shift from a military enterprise to a civilian enterprise, from a government-run enterprise to a government-supervised commercial enterprise, and to adopt a joint-stock business model, and Sheng Xuanhuai was the largest shareholder. Strictly speaking, this is not a steamship company operating in the shipping industry, but a comprehensive investment company, such as the Kaiping Coal Mine that was robbed by us, there is the investment of China Merchants, as well as Hanye Pingchang Mining Company, Shanghai Machine Weaving Layout, China Commerce Bank, China Merchants Insurance Bureau, China's first telephone line, China's first railway, etc., and the China Merchants Group and China Merchants Bank in the old time and space are actually developed from China Merchants. ”

Yang Yuxin said with a smile: "It turned out to be the predecessor of China Merchants Bank, I still have two China Merchants Bank cards, can I go to them and see if I can get the money." ”

Of course, this is a joke, Chen Jianning said with a smile: "In fact, it's not just China Merchants, the two foreigner steamship companies, Swire and Jardine still exist in the old time and space, and these two companies are developed and grown by China, and have developed into group companies, that is, Swire Group and Jardine Matheson Group, although they are all in the United Kingdom, but their headquarters are located in Hong Kong, and their businesses are mainly in the Asia-Pacific region, because they are Jardine Matheson Group and are among the world's top 500 companies." ”

Yang Yuxin said again: "Then what's going on with the business war between them?"

Chen Jianning said: "Speaking of this business war is also a highlight in the Westernization movement, before the establishment of the steamship China Merchants Bureau, China's shipping industry is divided equally by the three companies of Swire, Jardine Matheson, and Qichang, although they are also in competition, but they do not want anyone to enter the shipping market, so after the steamship China Merchants Bureau intervened in the shipping industry, these three companies have joined forces to suppress the China Merchants Bureau, and the means used are also very simple, that is, to reduce prices, in order to squeeze the China Merchants Bureau, but Li Hongzhang took the official money to raise money, As a result, the Qichang Company went bankrupt due to the long-term low freight and was forced to sell the steamship company to China Merchants, so in 1877, China Merchants acquired all the assets of the Qichang Steamship Company for 2.22 million taels in cash. On March 1, Qichang Industry changed its flag and transferred its ownership to China Merchants, including 7 sea vessels, 9 river vessels and various barges and barges. ”

Swire and Jardine Matheson were forced to compromise with China Merchants and signed three full-price contracts in 1877, 1883 and 1889 respectively to jointly negotiate a unified price on each route in China and determine the distribution plan of water foot income and supply of goods, and China Merchants held the largest share. Since then, China's shipping industry has been divided among these three companies. Although in the old time and space, the academic circles once believed that the signing of the parity contract represented the weakness and compromise of the national bourgeoisie, but from the actual situation of this era, under the condition that the sovereignty of the Qing court could not be completely independent, it wanted to put the primeval and It is almost impossible for Jardine Matheson to completely squeeze out of the Chinese market, so compromise is inevitable, and China Merchants is determined to break the monopoly of foreign shipping in China's shipping industry, which to a certain extent, does protect China's interests, and from this point of view, it is still quite positive. ”

Although theoretically speaking, the appointee of China Merchants is to manage the company together with the businessmen who are the main shareholders, but the major decision-making power is actually in the hands of the official directors appointed by the Qing court, that is, Sheng Xuanhuai, the Qing court actually still controls the power of China Merchants, and as the biggest symbol of the joint-stock company, the board of directors elected by shareholders was not established until 1909. Although Sheng Xuanhuai was born in a family of eunuchs, and was born in handling foreign affairs, and also has shares in China Merchants, but in the final analysis, he is still the official agent of the enterprise, which is destined to Sheng Xuanhuai's ultimate goal is not to establish a modern enterprise management system, but to increase his own political achievements by operating a business, and finally embark on a career in office. Moreover, the political situation of the Qing court had been turbulent, so after 1900, the foreign-owned steamship companies gradually regained their dominance of China's shipping position. Our participation may be detrimental to the interests of China Merchants, but it will be beneficial to the entire Chinese shipping industry. ”

"But at present, China Merchants is still the most profitable enterprise in the Westernization movement, and it is also Sheng Xuanhuai's largest capital, so he definitely does not want us to get involved in the shipping industry, and at this point, Sheng Xuanhuai and Swire and Jardine have the same goals, although Sheng Xuanhuai does not dare to disobey the orders of the Qing court openly, but he must secretly instigate Taikoo and Jardine to oppose us. ”

Yang Yuxin said: "Then this negotiation can be negotiated." ”

Chen Jianning said confidently: "Of course, we can negotiate, first of all, the Qing court has already approved our power to operate shipping, that is, theoretically speaking, we don't need to deal with China Merchants Bureau, Swire Steamship, Jardine greeted, you can operate their own shipping, but these three are the current representatives of China's shipping industry, so we negotiated with them; secondly, we have actually controlled the sea route from Shandong to Tianjin, at least in this section of the sea route is up to us, and this section of the sea route is one of the main routes of China's shipping, in fact, whether it can be negotiated or not, we have already begun to operate, although other ships can come in, but a rate according to the foreign ships to collect tariffs, if it can't be negotiated, it's a big deal we don't operate other sea routes, but no one wants to come in this section of the sea route, or levy high taxes, and think of more northward places, such as LushunIn the end, the Qing court's Cao Yun is still in our hands, one day is not good, Cao Yun will not think about luck one day, even if it is lucky, we must honestly pay customs duties to us, so we can afford to delay, but the Qing court can not afford to delay, after a long time, the Qing court will naturally put pressure on Sheng Xuanhuai, as long as Sheng Xuanhuai is pressed down, Taikoo and Yihe will not be able to turn over many waves. ”

When Yang Yuxin heard this, he also nodded again and again, and said, "That's good, that's good, then I'll rest assured, and the negotiation will be handed over to you." ”

After lunch, Yang Yuxin took the four soldiers who came with him to return to Shanghai New Area in a rubber boat, and the work of the traverser in Shanghai was also being carried out intensely.

In fact, as Chen Jianning said to Yang Yuxin, now the traverser can completely ignore it, steamship China Merchants, Taikoo, Jardine Matheson, and start their own business, but this time the steamship China Merchants, Swire, and Jardine will definitely join forces to squeeze the traverser, and will fall into a protracted business war, although the traverser is not afraid of business competition, but after all, it consumes a lot of resources. Jardine Matheson has squeezed out and monopolized the shipping market, but only wants to take a share of the current shipping industry in China and increase a source of income for the East China government, so it can not only reduce the consumption of China Merchants Steamship, Swire and Jardine, but also use its own shipping facilities, such as wharves, ports, etc., to reduce the initial investment.

However, China Merchants, Swire and Jardine Matheson did not want to negotiate with the traverser, because once the negotiation was completed, it would be equivalent to officially recognizing the status of the traverser in the shipping industry, and it would be difficult to suppress the traverser again. If it weren't for the fact that the traverser now controls the sea route from Shandong to Tianjin, they would not have bothered to negotiate with the traverser at all, so before the negotiation, the steamship China Merchants Bureau, Swire and Jardine Matheson had already discussed, and the goal of this negotiation was to restrict the traverser to only operate the sea route from Shandong to Tianjin, and it would be divided equally with the three, and the other ship lines would never be distributed to the traverser. And due to Sheng Xuanhuai's identity, he can only sing red-faced, and the matter of singing white can only be handed over to Taigu and Yihe.

However, it was obviously impossible for the traverser to accept such conditions, so the two sides talked for six days in a row, but they still held their own opinions and had no results, and Sheng Xuanhuai suggested that the parties rest for three days before continuing to negotiate.