Now he is also a full member of the Senate. Guo Yi actually attaches more importance to the latter point, and the senior officials in the field are now listening to the prestige, and it will not be uncommon in the future: no matter how old the old man is wasted firewood, it will not be a problem to get a colonial governor to do it in the future. In contrast, the patriarch is the most valuable identity.

"These two things are different." Guo Yi skipped this sad matter, "I know your calculations, and I am ready to engage in peaceful evolution." As he spoke, he tugged on the rope of the bell, and the carriage was set in motion.

This carriage is a high-end luxury car specially manufactured for Guo Yi by the vehicle factory, with a four-wheel structure, leaf spring shock absorption, and extremely luxurious decoration. On the way, everyone knew that this was Guo Dongzhu.

Hong Huangnan's enthusiastic plan to set up pre-set logistics supply points in enemy-occupied areas under the cover of carriage 4S shops was aborted because of the fierce opposition of the Planning Institute and the military. However, the commercial part of it was picked up by Skader.

Skede equipped Guo Yi with such a carriage to use him as a live advertisement.

The carriage quickly left the downtown area and headed for the "Guo Mansion" on Huifu Street.

Along the way, from time to time, you can see neatly dressed people and others standing respectfully on the side of the road, welcoming the carriage of Guo Dongzhu passing by. Skede knew that these people were employees and partners of various affiliated companies under the Zishi Group in Guangzhou. He feels that Guo Yi is now more and more like a Japanese chaebol-like figure.

The mansion on Huifu Street has been renovated since their return to Guangzhou, and Zheng Shangjie renovated the mansion on Huifu Street to fully reflect the power and wealth of "Guo Dongzhu". Not only all kinds of building materials and plumbing hardware are ordered from Lingao, but also a variety of high-quality building materials that can be obtained locally are also piled up without hesitation.

The two sat down in the ornately decorated "smoking room". This is the place where Guo Yi used to entertain "distinguished guests". It's very secluded around the place. He took out two bottles of cold kvasss from the cupboard, and the two of them continued their conversation while smoking cigars.

The core topic was silver and grain, and it was for these two that Skade rushed to Guangzhou.

A delegation of Southeast Asian merchants from the Ministry of Colonial Trade had recently left Lingao to explore the shipping lanes and trade conditions in Siam, Cambodia, Vietnam, and other places, checking for local partners. Rice in Southeast Asia has always been a coveted target of the Planning Institute.

“…… Guo sir, although we sent a business group to Southeast Asia, the establishment of grain channels is not a matter of overnight. "Since we made an agreement, the Dutch have brought us a lot of rice from Southeast Asia, but it all has to ......be bought with real money," Skeard said.

The trade between the senators and the Dutch was, on the whole, superb. The Senate used Guangzhou as a window to buy a large number of Ming specialties and then sold them to the Dutch. The Dutch sold to the Senate a much more limited range of goods, and with the exception of spices, the Senate was mainly interested in commodities, namely rice, timber, and industrial raw materials, which were far from being able to cover the price of the Senate's exports, and the Dutch had to pay a large amount of precious metal money.

It was with the large amount of silver paid by the Dutch that Lingao was now able to pay for the cost of such a large-scale operation as the engine operation. But the revenues from exports alone were always limited, and the Dutch and British paid for Chinese goods were far from sufficient compared to the enormous appetite for engine action and industrialization.

In order to export to the Dutch and the British, the Ministry of Colonization and Trade had to establish a commercial network on the mainland, which in turn took up a lot of money. In Leizhou alone, the amount of liquidity occupied at the peak was as high as 300,000 taels. Moreover, as Wentong continues to expand the sugarcane planting area and expand the sugar production capacity in Leizhou, the amount and time of Leizhou Sugar Industry's occupation of funds are rising. This has further exacerbated the funding gap.

If the current Senate is out of the superposition for European businessmen, then the Senate is completely in a state of superfluity for the Ming Dynasty.

There is no doubt that at present, except for a small part of the goods exported by Lingao to Guangdong, which are re-exported goods from Southeast Asia, the rest are industrial products manufactured by itself, and almost all the goods imported from Daming are industrial raw materials and agricultural products -- primary products. Judging from the types of commodities traded by the two sides and the profits alone, the Lingao-Guangdong trade is simply a typical "post-colonial trading system", and the scissors difference is staggering.

The problem is that the industrial system and the new social system that Lingao is building have too much appetite for primary products, so big that they completely swallow up the huge profits brought by the scissors difference.

Lingao's industrial capacity is relatively small, and its own demand is too large. It is unable to produce enough production capacity to produce cheap consumer goods for export, and the market demand of Daming is very deformed, and the overall demand is small. This has limited the further expansion of exports to Daming. All in all, the revenue growth of Guangzhou station has become weak.

"Do you want to expand the scale of imports and exports?" Guo Yi expressed his worries, "Now that we have almost reached the limit, if we can't directly set up a factory in Guangzhou for production, I'm afraid it will be difficult to have a lot of room for expansion." ”

Not setting up a factory in the local area means that goods and production raw materials still have to be transported in both directions, and it is impossible to further reduce production costs.

"Of course, of course. The spread of light industry enterprises to Guangdong is certainly going to be done, but not now. Skade nodded, "As you know, all departments are working in 24-hour shifts now, and the production tasks issued in this way cannot be scheduled, and it is impossible to make additional machinery and equipment." ”

"So what's the point of growth?" Guo Yi asked. The smoke-free industry is lucrative: Ziminglou's profit margin is the highest among all the enterprises directly under the Senate, but this kind of enterprise cannot flourish everywhere - the consumer group is fixed.

"Table salt."

Guo Yi was a little unimpressed. It is true that salt was the main source of funding for the Senate in the first place, and it was through the seizure of the salt works in Mayuan that the channel for the export of bulk commodities was opened and a stable economic income was obtained. Until now, Lingao's salt exports have been a major source of income for the Finance Directorate's Department.

Since the salt trade is managed by the Monopoly Bureau, the salt merchants who deal with Lingao also go directly to Lingao to trade. The Guangzhou station was only a few sporadic business, so he knew very little about the entire salt trade.

At present, the salt sold by Lingao is all sī salt, and the profit is considerable. However, the sales channels are not wide. At present, except for Hainan, it is only sold in Guangdong Province. Some of it also flows into Guangxi. Unfortunately, due to the suitable natural conditions in Hainan and Haibei, there are many salt drying fields, and the competition for salt is also very fierce.

After the victory of the second anti-encirclement and suppression, the navy took advantage of the victory to actually control the Qiongzhou Strait, including the Leizhou Peninsula and other coastal areas of the strait, and essentially controlled the two main salt-producing areas of Hainan, Haibei and Guangdong. In this way, it will be possible to control the production and marketing of salt in Guangdong.

Since a few months ago, the Ministry of Colonization and Trade has seen the sale of salt as an important breakthrough in increasing exports. After some investigation, it was decided to export to Guangxi and Fujian on a large scale. Both of these places are salt-deficient provinces, and sī salt trafficking is already rampant. It is easy to get high profits by entering these two markets.

"The quality of our salt is much better than elsewhere." "Salt is very profitable. And now we have more than just a salt farm. ”

According to the calculation of the Ministry of Finance and Treasurer, once the channel is opened, the existing salt plant facilities can be used to ensure an income of 300,000 taels per Chinese New Year's Eve. If we further improve the salt farms, increase the manpower and equipment, and develop new salt farms, it is not a dream to earn one million taels of salt a year.

The famous Tianjin Jiuda Refined Salt Factory in the history of old China, with 50,000 yuan of silver dollars as the share capital, 2,000 acres of salt fields as production facilities, using modern salt making methods, with a daily output of 5 tons of refined salt, and an annual profit of more than 500,000 yuan, the original capital of 50,000 yuan can pay dividends of 10,000 to 15,000 yuan per year. The profits are substantial.

The production level and jishu of the salt factory in Mayuan are more advanced than those of the Jiuda Refined Salt Factory in 1911. The salt and soda produced are of high quality.

The Ministry of Colonization and Trade was advised to set up a salt sales center in Canton to transport salt from Hainan Island and Leizhou to be sold. Through Guangzhou's port advantages, it spreads to the whole of Guangdong and Fujian.

Due to the limited production scale of the Mayuan Salt Factory, it is not possible to refine and reprocess the sea salt produced by all the controlled salt works, but this can also widen the distance between the products.

"The so-called monopoly bureau under the Ministry of Finance, which you know, is just an empty shelf, and only one veteran is in charge. The specific sales in Guangzhou are still carried out by the Guangzhou station. ”

Guo Yi said: "But if you are located in Guangzhou, I am afraid that such a blatant wholesale of sī salt is a bit too much. Besides, salt requires a large storehouse -- you can't hide it. ”

"It can be located on Hong Kong Island or on a closer island. The government can't control it and doesn't dare to manage it. All you have to do here is collect money and issue invoices. The salt dealer took the ticket to Hong Kong to pick up the goods - directly loaded and shipped away, and we can also handle the logistics ......"

"What about the government and other salt dealers? I'm afraid they won't just leave the scene willingly. ”

"There is no problem with the sī salt dealers, they are our customers and distribution channels, not our enemies. As long as we take control of the salt works, we can't let them disobey - otherwise they will cut off the supply and sell salt. If you encounter a disobedient thorn, just click and you're done. ”！。