(Every one of your subscriptions, recommendations, and favorites is a great support for "Iron and Blood"!) It's not easy to get a new book, so please support it, thank you! "Iron and Blood" Novel Group: 150536833, welcome book friends to join and discuss the plot together!! ）

Qingming is coming, the sails on the Pearl River are a little bit, Guangzhou at this time is more prosperous than in the past, especially the shipping of the Pearl River, but also because of the salt freight to Huguang and increasingly prosperous, in that little bit of white sails, more but still sampans of different sizes, sampans press the river waves, galloping in the Pearl River, splashing waves are sprinkled on the face of the boatman. The speed of the pen %fun %pavilion www.biquge.info compared to the sailboat borrowing the wind, is not slow.

"Slow down! Boatman, slow down! ”

Li Guansen, who was placed on the bow of the sampan, felt that the speed was too fast, so he commanded the boatman. This time, I came to Guangzhou thousands of miles away, not to visit the Pearl River, but to open a branch here.

Of course, the boatman, who could only speak Cantonese, couldn't understand what he was saying, and the boatman slowed down after repeating it in Cantonese with the accompanying interpreter. （1）

"Huairen, what do you think of here!"

Li Guanshen blamed an empty land on the riverside and said to Zhao Fengqin beside him.

"You see, you can moor big ships here, and when the time comes, you can build a small dock here to facilitate the loading and unloading of goods."

For Zhao Fengqin, Li Guansen can be said to be extremely grateful, if it weren't for him, how could there be today's Hunan No. 1 machine silk reeling factory.

Li Guansen, who went to Wuchang last year to get the entrance examination of the Ministry of Engineering, decided to set up a machine silk reeling factory after Zhao Fengqin's approval in the printing hall.

Because of his father's early death and the reason that he was the only one in the family, Li Guansen, as a family member, sold more than 500 acres of land that his father had saved for many years, made up more than 6,000 taels of silver, and set up a small mechanical silk reeling factory in Changsha, named "Hunan's first machine silk reeling factory". Even he himself did not expect that this small private enterprise would snatch a laurel as the first mechanical silk reeling enterprise in China.

In fact, the reason why it was able to win the first place was because the government-run silk factory in Wuchang was put into operation later than the first machine silk factory because of its relatively large scale.

However, despite this, as the first private machinery enterprise in the Lianghu region, it still has the full support of the government, especially in Hunan. The government has even helped it solve problems such as the purchase of raw materials for production on many occasions.

Because of the success of the first silk factory in Hunan, Li Guansen had the idea of further expanding the company's production, but he did not choose to expand the factory in Changsha, but chose Guangzhou, which had just been recovered, to set up a new factory here.

The reason why Li Guansen chose Guangzhou is because it is open to the sea, and raw silk can be directly exported overseas.

"We don't need to think about the matter of general aviation and cargo pressure when we set up a factory here."

The "navigation and cargo pressing" in Li Guansen's mouth refers to the downstream being disturbed by the war, so sometimes the navigation will always be subject to certain restrictions, and sometimes the goods will be stored in Wuchang for more than a month. But Guangzhou is different, Guangzhou is open to the sea and does not have any navigation restrictions. Because of this, after knowing that the governor had recovered Guangdong, he chose to set up a new factory here.

"Cishan, this is Guangdong, you are from Hunan, in case the time comes, cause some trouble,"

Zhao Fengqin said worriedly, after all, it was inconvenient to set up a factory in Changsha at the beginning, and many people always felt that the chimney was harmful to Feng Shui, if it were not for the support of the government, it was not certain whether the factory could be run.

"Huairen, you think too much, you must know that Lord Zuo needs a factory, and he Lord Li also needs a factory, but I heard that he Lord Li is also preparing to build an iron factory in Guangdong, and it is not the original under the rule of the capital, as long as we set up a factory, whether it is in Hunan or Guangdong, the local government will definitely support us!"

What Zhao Fengqin said is true, whether it is the governor's mansion or the local official office, unlike the Manchu court in the past, it is to encourage the breeding industry to set up factories, and this is closely related to the achievements of officials, and it is precisely because of this that he Zuo Zongtang will fully support the first machine silk reeling factory, and even rub with the local gentry in Hunan to raise 150,000 taels of share capital for it, of course, the reason why those people invested in and supported the first machine silk reeling factory is because last year in just a few months to support the first machine silk reeling factory has made a profit of thousands of taels, and the initial investment has been recovered. It was precisely because of its huge profits that those gentry were easily persuaded by Zuo Zongtang, and then invested in the new factory of the First Machine Silk Reeling Factory. It was with this share capital that he would expand the old factory in Changsha on the one hand, and order steam reeling equipment at the arsenal in Hanyang. On the other hand, he borrowed 100,000 taels from Hunan Guanyin to establish the Guangzhou branch. This time, I came to Guangzhou, firstly, to purchase the machines needed to build a factory from abroad through foreign firms, and secondly, to choose a site for the factory.

However, unlike the original plan, his plan has changed, and among the whole plan, the biggest change is probably to turn the first machine of silk reeling into the first machine spinning factory. This is the idea he had after coming into contact with foreign cloth on the way to Guangzhou, and of course, more importantly, the market for foreign yarn and foreign cloth is far beyond his imagination.

"Last year, Guangzhou imported 520,000 quintals of cotton from abroad, worth 5 million yuan, and cotton cloth accounted for the second place, importing 350,000 horses every year, worth 1.48 million yuan; Woolen woolen occupies the third place, with an annual input value of 1.03 million yuan; Cotton yarn and cotton thread occupy the fourth place, the annual import value is 625,000 yuan, foreign cotton is cheaper than Hunan, Hunan 4 percent, even if the tariff is added to 2 into 5, the cost is far lower than Hunan, set up a factory in Guangzhou, even if it is added through the Pearl River, Beijiang River through the mountain road into the Xiangjiang River freight, the machine spun out of the cotton yarn, cotton thread is also the bottom of Hunan native yarn. ”

Standing on the sampan, looking at the riverside embankment, Li Guansen's expression seemed a little excited, once upon a time, he was also studying the books of sages, but now he is studying this way of breeding, especially the machine factory, the success of the first silk reeling factory is undoubtedly equivalent to opening a new door for him, allowing him to see new opportunities outside the land. In fact, he was not the only one who saw this opportunity, when he expanded the silk reeling factory with the support of Zuo Zongtang, there were already people in Changsha who had already set up a machine silk reeling factory to produce high-quality raw silk with a steam engine.

"However, don't forget, three months ago, the Governor's Office only spent 600,000 yuan to buy a large number of foreign bed sheets, shirt cloths, and twill fabrics from foreign merchants in Guangzhou, and those things are all long-standing backlogs!"

What Zhao Fengqin said is the truth, in fact, a very important reason why the Governor's Office is now welcomed and supported by Western businessmen is that the Governor's Office is its important "trading partner", and the Governor's Office also buys a large number of foreign commodities in addition to purchasing machinery and equipment.

Just as the rebels used white cloth sheets in their barracks, canvas tents when marching, twill in their military uniforms, shirt cloth in their shirts, and even the thread for sewing shoes came from abroad. In this case, Zhao Fengqin naturally did not support Li Guansen to set up a yarn factory in Guangzhou.

"Cishan, at the beginning, we wanted to set up a silk reeling factory here, taking advantage of the convenience of Guangzhou Linhai to export directly, but now you want to set up a machine yarn factory here, if the yarn is backlogged, the official bank will urge a loan, what should I do then? Is it difficult for them to close the factory? ”

Once upon a time, Zhao Fengqin was just a typesetter in the newspaper library, when he first ran a machine silk reeling factory, because no one was available, Li Guansen asked him to be a mechanic in the silk reeling factory, the reason was that he knew the machine, that is, since then, he has followed the foreign technician to learn to use the machine, for Li Guansen naturally has a kind of gratitude, and it is precisely because of this gratitude that he does not want to see his friend bankrupt and ruined in the yarn factory.

"Huairen, how much money did I spend on running a silk reeling factory?"

Facing the opposition of his friends, Jean's Li Guansen asked rhetorically.

"Two! Because the land used to set up the factory is at home, if you count the more than ten acres of land, it should be 7,000 taels! ”

"That's right, it takes only a little more than a month to run a silk reeling factory, the investment is not more than 10,000 taels, although the scale is limited, the profit is extremely considerable, half a year can make a profit of thousands of taels, not to mention that each female worker in the machine silk factory can be worth more than ten people's work, that is, the quality of the factory silk is far from being comparable to the silk, the cost of my first silk reeling factory is the same, and the cocoon is also so, and the selling price is one-third more. In this way, there is a sky-high price of 1,000 taels of profit in January, and the 150,000 taels of silver raised by Lord Zuo for me is the share capital, which is clearly the benefit of the world to see the machine reeling silk, so he wants to devote himself to this industry. ”

Li Guansen's worries were heard in Zhao Fengqin's ears, so Zhao Fengqin couldn't help but ask.

"In that case, then why do you want to take someone else's share capital?"

"Pick up, how can I not take it, I inquired in Wuchang with Professor Yang in Wenshan Yishu, today's silk reeling machine and technology is the best in France, and Wuchang machine is still far from being a first-class French hand, I use 50,000 taels of silver to expand the factory several times, as for the other 100,000 taels, I am ready to buy a new machine from France, hire a first-class foreign master, when the time comes, even if others have set up a silk reeling factory, reeling factory silk, as long as I wait for the silk quality, the natural market is worrying......"

Although he is a businessman who has become a monk halfway, Li Guansen has now touched the door of business. But his explanation made Zhao Fengqin even more confused.

"If that's the case, then why do you need to set up this mill again? Not to mention the large investment in this yarn factory, and the risk is extremely high, isn't it better for us to reel silk well? ”

"The investment is large, the risk is large, so the average talent does not dare to invest, if there is no machine yarn factory and cloth factory in China, if we set it up, will it be possible for the governor to use foreign cloth at that time?"

While the two were talking, there was a noise of gongs and drums mixed with the sound of firecrackers near the newly built wharf on the Pearl River, and even the foreign ships moored near the new wharf also sounded their whistles, and even said that the nearby forts also sounded.

"Boatman, what are you doing here?"

In the translation of the general interpreter, Li Guansen knew that this was the day when the railway was put into use.

"Railway, steamer ......"

(1) From the Ming and Qing dynasties to the Republic of China, if outsiders did not understand Cantonese in Guangdong, they often needed to hire translators. (To be continued.) )