Chapter 137 Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau
In the presidential palace in Beijing, Yuan Shikai took Ge Yunfei's letter and asked in surprise: "Ge Yunfei's letter asks to participate in the management of the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau and guarantee to independently produce warships within 5 years. "My lord, the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau has been losing money, and the corruption is serious, and it is difficult to return. Pen | fun | pavilion www. biquge。 info The previous dynasty spent a lot of silver taels, like a bottomless pit. Ge Yunfei belongs to the foreign school, I think he can give it a try. Duan Qirui strongly supported it.
Seeing Yuan Shikai's hesitation, Yang Du said: "My lord, the lower officials think that it is better to let Ge Yunfei participate in the management, it is better to sell the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau to him." First, the national government does not have to spend money to invest in the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau and get rid of this burden. Second, the Nationalist Government can give priority to ordering warships at the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau. Ge Yunfei swore that he would independently produce his own warships in 5 years, and I don't think he has this ability to boast of Haikou. Third, the transfer of the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau can supplement the input, so as to alleviate the financial pressure of the national government, which is a triple win. ”
What Mr. Yang said is that the government can get rid of this burden and promote the development of the manufacturing bureau. In the future, the manufacturing bureau will be able to produce China's own warships, and there will be no need to rely on foreigners, and the lower officials believe that Ge Yunfei's move is not for his own selfish interests, but is intended to reduce pressure on the government. ”
"Yes, there is no better job than Ge Yunfei in handling industry, so I transferred the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau to him, and immediately asked the Finance Department to estimate the assets of the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau." Yuan Shikai personally supervised the evaluation of the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau with high efficiency, estimating 20 million silver dollars. Yuan Shikai thought that Ge Yunfei would bargain, but he thought that he agreed very happily, and paid it all at once, and the silver ticket soon entered the pocket of the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of China.
This move made Yuan Shikai secretly surprised, Ge Yunfei was simply too rich. In fact, Yuan Shikai didn't know that Ge Yunfei made a profit of several million yuan from the fire consumption obtained from the minting of silver dollars. At the beginning, Ge Yunfei proposed to adopt the gold and silver standard, and the value of gold began to become prominent. Therefore, many dignitaries and wealthy businessmen began to collect gold. Ge Yunfei used the gold intercepted by the Zhaoyuan gold mine as a reserve, directly exchanged it for silver, and then minted it into silver dollars, and put it into his own pocket. In other words, the dead money hidden by the people became living money and was obtained by Ge Yunfei.
In the middle of winter, Ge Yunfei took a train to Shanghai at Shan Feng, and discussed the handover of the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau with Admiral Zheng Rucheng, the Shanghai town guard, the general office of the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau, and the navy. On the train, Shan Feng was puzzled: "Overseer, why did you suddenly attack the idea of the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau?" "This is what I need to do to have China's own navy in the future, and I have to leave a rich legacy for future generations." In 10 years, I want the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau to become the largest shipyard in the Far East, capable of producing China's own cruisers. ”
"It seems that the Overseers have been targeting the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau for a long time?" "Do you know that the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau was established by the Qing court in 1863, and it arose from the Westernization Movement, especially the promotion of Li Hongzhang, and the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau gradually formed today's scale. The manufacturing bureau not only builds ships, but also produces artillery, guns, ammunition, gunpowder. The manufacturing bureau is large and complete, and some of them are nondescript, which causes losses to become chicken ribs year after year, and it is a pity to abandon the tasteless food. 20 million silver dollars to get the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau, we got a big bargain. ”
"Overseer, as far as I know, Citibank has already recruited a good manager in the United States, and it is estimated that he will arrive in Shanghai in a month. Why hire the Americans, aren't the Germans better? "At present, the United States is the country with the fastest economic development, but their shipbuilding industry cannot meet the economic development at all, and the purpose of hiring Americans is to need orders from Americans and build ships for Americans." Without orders, shipbuilding cannot develop. ”
Ge Yunfei's hiring of Americans as executives is implicit, not targeted. According to later records, from 1905 to 1911, the Jiangnan Shipyard produced 136 ships. The most gratifying thing is that from 1911 to 1918, Jiangnan Shipyard built 4 10,000-ton ships for the United States, and these achievements speak for themselves.
When the train arrived at Shanghai Railway Station, Zheng Rucheng, the envoy of Shanghai Town and the general office of Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau, personally greeted him at the station. This time, Ge Yunfei came to Shanghai as the overseer of Shandong, which naturally caused a sensation. The station platform was very lively, and a group of reporters appeared, and the interview subject was naturally Ge Yunfei. The scene was grand and enthusiastic. On that day, Ge Yunfei was dressed in a military uniform, and his handsome and chic image occupied the front pages of major newspapers in Shanghai and caused a sensation.
Zheng Rucheng set up a banquet for Ge Yunfei to pick up the wind and wash the dust, the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau is a piece of fat, he is naturally unwilling, but Shikai ordered the transfer of the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau, and he had to comply with the order. Zheng Rucheng was born in the navy, studied in the British Navy for further study, and after returning to China, he served as the chief teacher of the Tianjin Naval Academy, and later Yuan Shikai trained troops at a small station under his command. To quell the rebellion, Zheng Rucheng led a warship to attack Shanghai, defeated Chen Qimei, and was appointed by Yuan Shikai as the envoy of Shanghai Town and the general office of the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau.
"Governor Ge is rare and shrewd, Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau is a treasure!" Zheng Rucheng's tone was sour. "General Zheng's mood is understandable, and he blames the official for being disrespectful. The general is a warrior on the sea, and he commands a warship to gallop on the sea. However, the management of huge enterprises requires the participation of insiders in order to make the enterprise develop benignly. At present, the Nationalist Government is in financial difficulties and will not be able to invest in the Manufacturing Bureau in the future, so the transfer of the Manufacturing Bureau is a wise move by President Yuan Da. ”
"What Inspector Ge said is extremely true, as soon as he makes a move, it will be 20 million silver dollars, and the official admires it. Please rest assured that this official will fully cooperate and smoothly hand over to the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau. Although Zheng Rucheng was unhappy, Ge Yunfei was such a person, so he didn't dare to treat him slowly. The next day, the two sides formally went through the transfer procedures of the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau at the Shanghai Mansion, and Ge Yunfei held a thank-you banquet in a high-end restaurant in the French Concession. At the banquet, Ge Yunfei presented Zheng Rucheng with a car on the spot to express his gratitude.
That night, Ge Yunfei assigned tasks to Shan Feng and Du Yuesheng: "We took over the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau and wanted to reshuffle the cards from scratch." The shipbuilding part, the gun and ammunition part, and the gunpowder part were separated. Jiangnan Shipyard was established, the naval gun part was temporarily assigned to the shipyard, the gun and ammunition part was renamed Shanghai Ordnance Factory, and the Malu 1913 standard rifle was launched. The gunpowder part was renamed the Shanghai Chemical Plant, which mainly produced smokeless gunpowder and new explosives. I hired foreigners to take care of the shipyard, and the gun and ammunition factory and gunpowder factory were handed over to Chen Shouting to take care of it. ”
Ge Yunfei continued: "There are three reasons for the loss of the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau year after year: First, it is large and completely chaotic, especially backward management and serious corruption. Second, raw materials are basically imported from abroad, and the cost is too high. Third, the management personnel are seriously overstaffed, and there are many people who eat white rice, which must be streamlined, single-peak! "The subordinates are here!" "You immediately find out how many managers there are in the manufacturing bureau, how many eat rice, and how many are paid at home." "Subordinates obey!"
"Du Yuesheng!" "Here!" "You use the workers of the Qinggang in the factory to check the foremen and managers, those people are recognized by the workers, have the ability to dare to take responsibility and are not greedy, those people are gangsters, the more detailed I can find out, the better." "Subordinates obey!"
The next day, Ge Yunfei met with Deng Ming, president of China Merchants Bank, "Ge Dujun summoned him in his busy schedule, and he was deeply honored to meet him. "Deng Ming is a little restrained." Mr. Deng, Mr. Sheng admires you very much, and in less than a year, your bank has opened branches in Wuhan, Nanjing, and Guangzhou. "Mr. Sheng trusts him so much that he doesn't dare to slack off. It was all thanks to the prestige of the Governor of Greg, and everything went well. "Don't be humble, you have the ability. Nowadays, China Merchants Bank is well-known in Shanghai, and you have contributed a lot. ”
"It's the Overseer's forward-thinking business philosophy that makes me pause, the text you wrote, it's like a stream, and the Overseer is a contemporary ghost." Ge Yunfei changed the topic and said: "Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau has now become an industry of Huasheng Group, and I hope that your bank will provide more support in terms of funds." "Please rest assured that the companies and industries of Huasheng Group in Shanghai have opened accounts with the Bank and hold 20% of the shares in the Bank, and it is within their duty to help each other."
"After the transformation of the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau was completed, it was mainly to manufacture ships. In the next step, your bank should make use of the connections formed by branches in various places to contract business, and China Merchants Bank should form a relationship of solidarity with shipyards. ”
Seeing that Deng Ming was a little confused, Ge Yunfei said with a smile: "Your bank is mainly responsible for publicity, China has the ability to build its own ships, and the quality is high, good quality and low price. In the future, the cost of shipbuilding can be reduced by one-third, and we must not only reduce the cost, but also break the argument that shipbuilding is better than buying a ship. China has tens of thousands of kilometers of sea territory, and there is not a shipyard capable of producing 10,000-ton ships. During the Ming Dynasty, we were able to produce large ships of several thousand tons, and we Chinese had this ability. ”
"Overseer Ge, I want to know how many tonnage ships to contract, and I know what to do." "Offshore ships within 1,000 tons, including passenger ships, cargo ships, and barges, can be undertaken, and the real price must be clearly stated, and I will ask the shipyard to give you a price list." "What the Overseers say is that everything is hard at first, and as long as there are orders, the shipyard will grow quickly." "President Deng, please leave the matter of contracting business to you." "I'm going all out."
Next, Ge Yunfei personally sat in the shipyard to renovate and made drastic changes. Since the manufacturing bureau is a sweet and sweet spot, and the wages of the workers are six times higher than those of various industries in Shanghai, the officials of the manufacturing bureau use the power in their hands to use the means of profit to cause the management personnel to be bloated and huge. Ge Yunfei shook his iron fist, and all those bastards who had nothing to do were laid off, and after careful investigation, capable management personnel were left, and the amount of reduction reached eight-tenths. In addition, we will not only not reduce the number of technical personnel, but also open recruitment to the public.
In order to stabilize the ranks of workers, Ge Yunfei announced that all workers would remain in their posts and their salaries would remain unchanged. Ge Yunfei's iron-fisted measures won the support of the workers, causing the workers to burst into a surge of enthusiasm. When Ge Yunfei took over, four cargo ships were nearing completion, but due to the disconnection of the capital chain, the original plan could not be delivered by the end of the year. Due to the injection of funds and the enthusiasm of the workers, the four cargo ships were launched a month ahead of schedule.
There are many foreign engineers in the shipyard, as well as engineers who have returned from overseas. After Ge Yunfei took over, it seemed to bring a spring breeze, and they also burst out with sky-high energy.
On this day, Ge Yunfei walked into the newly established Ship Research Institute, and Lin Haoran, director of the scientific research institute, accompanied the inspection. "Overseer Ge, your proposal is too good, we lack a professional research institute, and several foreign experts are very enthusiastic, saying that the Overseer is an expert, and predicting that if this continues, the shipyard will become the leader in the Far East in the future." Lin Haoran is in his 30s and returned from studying in the United Kingdom. Due to the corruption of the shipyard and the mediocrity of the officials, he has been discouraged. This time, Ge Yunfei personally appointed him as the director of the institute.
"Director Lin, we must rely on foreign experts, but the most important thing is to train our own engineers. I authorize you, as long as you find excellent shipbuilding engineers in China, you will be poached and entrusted with important tasks. In addition, don't be superstitious about foreign experts, be bold in innovation, and don't be afraid of failure. "Overseer, every time I listen to your instructions during this time, I feel my blood boiling, and I will remember the teachings in the future, and live up to the weight of the Overseer." "Director Lin, I'm going to give you a difficult task?" "What daunting task?"