Thirteen lines in Guangzhou!

Twenty-five years ago, all merchants engaged in the commercial trade of the Far East in the world knew that there were 13 banks in Guangzhou, which once gave birth to the world's richest man and once dominated the trade between the Qing Dynasty and the West. Of course www.biquge.info all this ended with the cannons of the "Opium War".

After the signing of the Treaty of Nanjing, the Thirteen Banks lost the privilege of foreign trade monopoly. The decline of the Thirteen Lines even led to the decline of Guangzhou as a city, and Guangzhou, which lost its foreign trade, was just a very ordinary port city. It seems that Guangzhou is destined to decline from now on.

Surprisingly, however, Guangzhou has not declined, but has become increasingly prosperous, and now the city has become the "southern gate" of China and the most important industrial base in Lingnan. And all this is thanks to the construction of the Han-Guangdong Railway, which can be called China's first railway, from the day it was built, as originally conceived, it has become a steel artery in China's huge territory, and a giant artery to promote China's economic and industrial development and resource development.

As China's first trunk railway, in the process of building the Han-Guangdong Railway, the tentacles of the Han-Guangdong Railway Company reached out to all aspects along the line, and as an enterprise, it obtained various monopoly privileges in the process of building the railway. In addition to railways, water transportation and other transportation businesses, the Hanyue Railway Company also operates coal mines in Hunan, iron ore in northern Guangdong and many other mining businesses, owning a number of enterprises such as the North Guangdong Iron and Steel Company, the Xiguan Locomotive Company, the Nanyang Shipping Company, hospitals and hotels in major cities along the line, and of course, a series of educational institutions including Lingnan College.

It can be said that now the Hanyue Railway Company, an enterprise with tens of thousands of employees, has long been out of the concept of ordinary enterprises, and to a certain extent, he, like Hanyang, has become a "national policy enterprise", but everyone knows that he can never become a "national policy enterprise", and its nature also makes it impossible to become a "national policy enterprise". Because he is a private enterprise!

Unlike the Hanyang Group, which relied on government investment, the establishment of the Hanyue Railway Company was only borrowed from the Governor at that time, which did not have enough funds to build the railway, so the 13 merchants who were in decline at that time financed the construction of the railway for the future of Guangzhou and their own interests, thus laying the foundation of the Hanyue Railway Company.

The nature of capital determines that he cannot become a "national policy enterprise" that obeys the government's orders, and it is precisely because of this that the Hanyue Railway Company has been suppressed to a certain extent - until today, the Hanyue Railway has not been able to extend its tentacles to Jiangbei, in the construction of a large number of railways after Kaihong, in addition to the government-run railway, the Hanyue Railway has only obtained the right to build a few railway branch lines, and it is the government's deliberate restriction that has led to the development of this enterprise has been restricted to a certain extent.

As for the 13 banks, which are the largest investors in the railway company, how to break out of the government's constraints has been plaguing the "Lingnan Consortium" with the 13 merchants as the core, and the so-called Lingnan Consortium is actually the product of the "group warmth" of the Cantonese businessmen who have faced the "invasion" of the lake businessmen for several years, and they have set up banks such as the Bank of Guangdong, the Nanyang Bank, and the Overseas Chinese Bank to compete with the Huguang Bank and the Hunan Bank, and subsidized the establishment of industrial and commercial enterprises by the Cantonese businessmen through the banks, and it was not until last year that the "Lingnan Consortium" was vaguely formed.

Of course, the so-called consortium is just a newspaper statement, and in China's so-called Huguang Consortium, Jiangsu-Zhejiang Consortium, Shaanxi-Gansu Consortium and Lingnan Consortium are actually just a mixture of chambers of commerce full of a certain regional color, but they have introduced modern financial institutions - banks, and invested in industry and commerce through banks, and this combination of a number of large enterprise capital groups and large banks with a certain degree of regional activities as the main base of activities is called a "consortium" by the newspapers. Such a consortium never existed, at least in the official sense, as the newspapers called it a "royal consortium."

But sometimes, it doesn't only exist that really exists, it will exist in another way, in another form, just like now, Li Hongyuan, who was wearing a military uniform without rank, was sitting there, he looked at the person in front of him, he was no stranger to this gentleman, in fact, any old Guangzhou would not be a stranger.

He is Pan Shiliang of the Pan family, it can be said that it is precisely because of his strong advocacy of the construction of the Han-Guangdong Railway that there is the prosperity of today's Guangzhou, but all a Guangzhou person has benefited from him to a greater or lesser extent, as for the "Thirteen Lines" that only became a noun, the "Thirteen Families" are also influenced by him, without him, there would be no Thirteen Families in Guangzhou today. Of course, he also got his own reward - he was the chairman of the Hanyue company for many years.

Why him?

Li Hongyuan looked a little surprised, he didn't feel that he was such a small person, and he needed to be interviewed by this Boss Pan in person, in fact, in his opinion, he was just here to apply for a job, a security job.

For Li Hongyuan, who has been idle, the reason why he chose this job is very simple - this job first requires that he must have military experience, and at least be a captain and rank in the army, and have experience in commanding troops above the company level. There are no other requirements, these conditions seem simple, but in fact they are very simple, because no former army captain will be a "security captain" for a company, especially in wartime, and there is no such captain.

However, for Li Hongyuan, this is simply like a condition prepared for him - his military rank happens to be captain, he once served as the acting battalion commander, and went on an expedition to Australia. So his conditions are very suitable.

As for the scope of work, it is not in the country, but in Africa. An ordinary person might turn down the job because of the location, but he didn't mind, and he even wanted to leave Guangzhou, because life here was too boring.

"Captain Lee......"

Looking at Li Hongyuan sitting in front of him, he only needed to look at his file, in Pan Shiliang's opinion, there was no more suitable person than him.

First of all, he is a native of Guangzhou, and secondly, their family has had business dealings with the thirteen families for many years, and they are also members of the "consortium", and he is his own person.

"What do you think of the Lingnan Foundation?"

The unexpected question made Li Hongyuan stunned at first, and then he shook his head and said.

"According to the official attitude, the Lingnan Consortium does not exist!"

Yes, the consortium never existed!

This is the official attitude, in other words, the consortium is just a product of the imagination of public opinion, and it never existed, so there is no need to answer.

Typical military men!

After secretly giving this answer in his heart, Pan Shiliang said with a smile.

"It is true that the consortium never existed, for the official, since it has not been registered, then the consortium has never existed, but I can tell you for sure that the consortium exists, and the official is also very clear, soon, maybe five years, maybe ten years, when the time comes, the whole world will know that in China there are Huguang, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shaanxi, Gansu, Lingnan, North China, and of course, the royal family, these consortiums all exist, at least to some extent, have you read today's Lingnan Business Daily?"

Without waiting for Li Hongyuan's face to show a different color, Pan Shiliang asked rhetorically.

"Boss Pan, I'm not good at business,"

If he was good at business, would he go to military school back then?

"Well, then I can tell you that today there are 57 factories and enterprises in Guangdong that are starting production, and among these 57 enterprises, 37 have accepted loans or investments from the Bank of Guangdong, Nanyang Bank or OCBC Bank, and these banks are all members of the Lingnan Banking Association, and the shareholders of these banks are mainly thirteen and the local rich gentry in Guangdong, and your Li family is also the major shareholder of Nanyang Bank!"

looked at the other party in surprise, Li Hongyuan didn't know why the other party said this, he just looked at the other party, for all this, he had no way of knowing,

"There are many people who say that the Hanyue Railway is the core of the Lingnan consortium, but in fact, the bank is the real core of the consortium. Without banks, how can hundreds of millions of dollars be raised? ”

After saying these words, Pan Shiliang stared at Li Hongyuan and said.

"For the outside world, the consortium is half a secret, but in fact, everyone knows very well that this is the rule of the game, and the rule is that the Lingnan consortium will never be able to step out of Guangdong and Guangxi, even if it is Fujian, it must compete with Jiangsu and Zhejiang, this is the rule!"

Standing up, the current Pan Shiliang is not like interviewing the other party, but lobbying Li Hongyuan.

"But now, everyone knows very well that the outbreak of war has changed everything, the rules are changing, and many boundaries are becoming blurred, but Lingnan is not capable of challenging Huguang now, after all, they ...... Their backers are too strong, even if you don't count the uncle of the country, even the Huguang officials alone are enough to overwhelm Lingnan, so if we try to challenge the rules, it is very likely that we will pay an extremely heavy price, so ......"

Looking at Li Hongyuan with a smile, Pan Shiliang's words turned around, looking at this own person, he said seriously

"If we say what kind of advantage we have as Cantonese, that is, overseas, in Nanyang, as long as there are overseas Chinese, there must be Cantonese people, so we will have OCBC Bank, even in the colony, there are also a large number of Cantonese people, just like the weavers in Xiguan, so compared to them, we have an advantage, that is, in the colony,"

Taking a deep breath, Pan Shiliang did not hide his thoughts.

"Now, the rules are changing, so we have to prepare in advance, this, Huguang is faster than us, they have reached out to Myanmar, everyone will prepare for the future, and if we want to break through the current predicament, we must find another way, and Africa, is our breakthrough! But ......"

Staring at each other, Pan Shiliang said in a helpless tone.

"It's full of uncivilized natives, and they can attack our settlements at any time, and of course some of our construction sites, so if we're going to do business there, we're going to need some security personnel......"

This is the reason why Pan Shiliang needs a security captain, the special environment in Africa makes it necessary to set up security forces to invest there, that is, private forces, Pan is no stranger to this, in fact, in the process of Borneo development, enterprises also have their own arms, although the scale is limited, but the effect is extremely significant, can protect the interests of enterprises to the greatest extent.

And the colony also allows enterprises to have a certain amount of armament, after all, in those wild places, enterprises will always face such and such problems, sometimes, some problems are more secure for enterprises to solve by themselves, not to mention, for the colonial government, they also want enterprises to undertake some affairs, such as development, consolidation of colonies.

"You mean, the armament of the enterprise itself, am I right?"

Now, Li Hongyuan understands the other party's request, what he asked for is not a security captain, but an officer, although he has never been to Africa, but Li Hongyuan learned from some classmates who served in Africa that in the colony, similar private armies have always existed in Africa, their scale is not large, but they have always been the most powerful helper of the colonial government to implement rule in the colony, especially in some times, when some dirty work is not suitable for the colonial government, this kind of private army is the best assistant.

Of course, this kind of private army is "gray" and exists in the name of corporate security. In this regard, Li Hongyuan, who had already been mentally prepared, did not question what he needed to do, after all, after knowing that his work place was in Africa, he knew that he was very likely to enter the private army, but he did not expect that his employer would be a "consortium".

Now, after being shocked, he pondered another question - what is the purpose of the consortium? As a soldier, he knew very well that Pan Shiliang did not say his true purpose, and he personally came forward to interview himself, which shows how much attention the consortium attaches to this matter.

"Mr. Pan, I would like to know, what is your purpose, or rather, what is the purpose of the consortium? Just to invest in Africa? ”

The conversation between smart people and smart people is simple, after Li Hongyuan asked this question, Pan Shiliang looked at the other party and did not immediately give him an answer, but asked rhetorically.

"Do you know why the Huguang Consortium is strong?"

Obviously, this is not what Li Hongyuan understands, but Pan Shiliang then explained.

"Because the footsteps of Huguang merchants followed the righteous army into all parts of the country, for Lingnan, our market is in Lingnan, but for Huguang, their market is in the whole country, this is the difference, why do we go to Africa......"

After a pause, Pan Shiliang said in a relatively solemn tone.

"Because, we need to accumulate strength there, only in this way, can we compete with Huguang and other consortia, because we have to follow in the footsteps of the imperial army, just like the Huguang merchants in the past......"

Huguang merchants!

This is now China's most abundant capital, the hardest background of a group of businessmen, the reason why they have today, the reason is very simple, just like the Jin merchants followed Huang Taiji, Dolgon finally established the Jin merchants for more than two hundred years of wealth status, Huguang merchants chose to support the governor's mansion, and finally achieved their wealth, through the cooperation with the Han army, those Huguang merchants obtained wealth beyond people's imagination, and the only thing that can make merchants in other regions express their happiness is that the Han army is not like the Manchu Qing or long-haired bandits, Everywhere they went, they plundered at will, which caused great damage to the gentry everywhere, but thanks to their proximity to the government, in the past many years, with the conquest of the rebel army, those Huguang merchants would always follow the rebel army to various places, and then get the concession of the garrison, through which they obtained a lot of wealth and gained a firm foothold as customers in the local area.

And this is exactly what the merchants in Lingnan and any other region lack-it is difficult for them to gain a foothold in other places, and even if they can gain a foothold, they are only limited to a few areas such as provincial capitals, but the Huguang merchants have gained a firm foothold in the counties with the support of the rebels, and when the dynasty is changed, the local merchants who can't figure out the details don't dare to exclude those Huguang merchants like they did in the past to exclude foreign merchants. Local businessmen have even actively or passively cede many benefits to each other.

Following in the footsteps of the army, this is a path that Pan Shiliang pointed out for Lingnan, and he needed to accumulate ammunition for Lingnan through overseas, because he knew very well that after this war was over, China's business community would be plunged into another war, and the real competition was just beginning.

"Mr. ......"

Silent for a moment, for Li Hongyuan, he doesn't care about the region at all, this may be the difference between the army and the locality, in the army has always emphasized that "all the lakes and the four seas are one family", but among the businessmen...... Some decadent ideas cannot be eliminated in a moment.

"I want to know, what are you going to do if you go into Africa? If I had done those things like some private team, I would never have done them, I am a soldier, even now, I am still a soldier! ”

Li Hongyuan knows what some private groups are doing in Africa, and he can accept others doing that, after all, the world is "the law of the jungle", and the so-called "gentle colonization" never exists, but he himself will not do that, because he is a soldier.

"Of course!"

Nodding, Pan Shiliang said with a smile.

"There are some things that the company is not convenient to do, and if it really does, what will the company do there when the enemy is provided with ammunition to attack itself? Of course, it is to build a railway, believe me, this is also the will of the richest man in the empire! We're just helping him make it happen! ”

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