"If you can guarantee that, people are willing to put their money into it. It's just that when you withdrew from Nanyang Company before, many people felt that the wind was not in the right direction and that you were ...... Uh, I think you're too much to do. When there are too many things, it is not easy to make money. This one is not good, that one is not reasonable...... Everyone was a little scared. ”

Jian Chen shook the plan in his hand and said, "Some bottom lines are to be upheld now, and some bottom lines can be said in the future." The road has to be taken step by step, of course, the less there is a bottom line, the easier it is to make money, but some money can also be earned with a bottom line. We still support normal industry and commerce at this stage, including the Nanyang Company, if it were not for the slave trade and the extraction of land rent, we would not have withdrawn our shares. ”

"Again, the slave trade and the extraction of land rent required the support of hired soldiers and sailors, which required considerable investment. We set up this company definitely not to compete for business with Nanyang Company, but mainly to invest in industries such as minerals, smelting, and canal road construction. ”

Everyone also thinks that the principal required by these two ultra-high-profit industries is really large.

Overseas investment requires strong force to protect, but it does not necessarily require the company to be in person.

Chen Jian is also worried about raising another monster like Nanyang Company, with money and guns in his hands, and no one will be able to control it at that time.

Once this is started, when the time comes, the country will hire thousands of mercenaries, and it will definitely not be soft when suppressing the hired workers.

In view of the fact that these social capitals are still needed to come together at this time to help Min County through this severe transition period, Chen Jian has already made a lot of concessions.

There is no way to do this, there are too many things to do, and Jian Chen is too anxious, and he needs money everywhere, but he has no right to collect taxes and regulate on his side, so he can only use the power of these people to develop as planned as possible instead of disorderly.

Another one he is also worried about the excess capital in the society to learn a little Nanyang Company, it is the monk who can't touch me? Learn the same thing and reach out to Asia, after all, unlike Europe, the European colonizers need to occupy India before they can continue to go deeper, and this side is only separated by the Pacific Ocean.

And he also needs these people to help organize and train a large number of low-level employees and technical backbones in the smelting and mining industries, so that they can train the most needed talents with the least amount of money, mainly to save time.

The matter could not be settled so easily, Chen Jian asked everyone to think again, and in the next few days, he visited and invited some people who were familiar with the rest of the industry, especially a large number of people who were excluded from the Nanyang company system.

The general result of the discussion is still good, at this time Chen Jian still has the previous means of making money as a basis, many people in Min County and coastal areas quite agree with his ability to make money, and also understand that the capital united at this time can easily squeeze out some small capital industries, and the rate of return on some major events will not be low, or even higher than the return of normal lending, but the personal capital is too small compared to large-scale mining, road construction, canals and the like.

A few days later, a ship carrying tobacco and indigo from the Great Wilderness City docked, along with several high-ranking officials of the Great Wilderness City, they didn't know that Chen Jian had returned, but the ship that had returned first informed them that Chen Jian was coming back, so they returned with enough documents to discuss some things.

In the venue, the people who came back from the Great Wilderness City reported on the situation in the Great Wilderness City, and the most important thing was that the Great Wilderness City had gained a firm foothold, and it was time to kill the upper echelons of the nearby slave states and liberate the slaves and expand the labor force.

Again, because the cycle of the first batch of bonded workers has arrived, and they are no longer completely subordinate to the "immigration company" as in previous years. Land issues, ownership issues, systems, and taxation issues must be discussed and decided, and the Great Wilderness City can only have the right to make suggestions and no final decision.

After a general inquiry, Jian Chen asked, "Is there enough food in the Great Wilderness City now?" ”

"There is enough food, and since it was a wage system, it can be forced to bypass the market and profits. Tobacco and indigo, which make money, are cultivated within a certain range, and the rest of the land is still dominated by grain. It was shipped to Europe for sale, and the price could not compete with that of the Dutch from the north. It is not possible to transport it back to China, and the domestic grain price is not high, although Min County grows a large amount of cotton, but the grain in the north has been in a constant supply, so these grains are also backlogged. ”

"What about the main income?"

"Paper money is still in circulation internally, and external trade is settled in silver. Our cotton, indigo, tobacco, etc., in exchange for silver. Now there is a lot of food, but it can't be turned into money, and the money can't be invested back in Minjun. The silver mines over there have been almost explored, and the organization has also sent people to the silver mines in Spain to take a look. Mercury has also been secretly accumulated over the years, but there is still no silver mining, so the Great Wilderness City is making money as a whole...... But grain can't enter the market circulation, so from the point of view of silver, it is still a loss. ”

Several people exchanged views and looked at Jian Chen, who asked, "Judging from the current grain production, if it is normal, how many immigrants can be accepted each year?" Regardless of the cost of silver, it is only calculated whether you can maintain a normal life. ”

"About 70,000, no problem. No matter how much it is, it is not impossible, such as forcing those hired workers who have completed their contracts to grow grain. But there are differences of opinion on this point. ”

"How?"

"There are two main aspects. Kill the upper echelons of that slave city-state, free the slaves, and increase food production a little, that's for sure. But the newly cultivated land allocated to freelancers will grow as much lucrative crops as possible, such as tobacco, indigo, and even cotton, if not coerced. Then we, the familiar land that has been reclaimed and the large tracts of land that can be used for large-scale horse farming, still have to ensure the production of grain, that is to say, completely give up profits and become a grain protection land in the Great Wilderness City area. ”

The person who spoke smiled and said helplessly: "The problem we are facing in the Great Wilderness City is how to keep people in the city. The life of hired laborers is much worse than that of peasants, and the peasants who are allocated to large tracts of land suitable for cultivation live far better than hired laborers. Once it is completely released, it will be difficult for us to retain people in several big workshops in the Great Wilderness City. ”

Several people who participated in the round-the-world voyage with Jian Chen and had seen the Black Swan River and the nearby lands also frowned. This is a problem that should be considered at the beginning, and unlike places with little land and many people, when the charm of an industrialized city is far from being apparent in areas with few people and large populations, the dream of being a farmer with 100 acres of land is not comparable to that of a hired worker.

"One more. We have been committed to the bottom line of a ten-and-a-half-hour work system, as well as a day off in ten years, plus the cost of town construction, the cost of our hired workers is much higher than that of the workshop in Mincheng. The wages of child laborers and female workers here are very low, and the cost of working 14 or 5 hours a day is simply incomparable to ours. ”

Chen Jian thought about it for a while and said: "Indeed, it is completely better to build a factory in Fujian than to sell cotton cloth and glass in China. But we also have an advantage, we are very close to Europe, and the things produced in our workshop can be exported to Europe. This is an advantage over shipping costs from Minjun. In addition, we can produce our own salt, which is tax-free, and the raw materials are cheaper. The labor enthusiasm of the first batch of immigrants is still very high, and the efficiency of the same hour is definitely higher than that of the workshops in Minjun. ”

The man also said: "We have also considered this issue, but we really have no advantage in this kind of unreasonable competition." If the paradise is only self-sufficient, there is no problem, but the rules of the outside world have been determined, and it is unlikely that we will win the factory law and the 11-hour work day in the short term, and we will not be able to sustain the competition in the long run. ”

One of the people next to him snorted and said, "Everyone has also discussed this issue before." Some people's opinion is to ignore our concept for the time being, other workshops work fourteen or five hours, and our factories are the same, and the benefits that are not available in the law will be abolished, as long as we ensure that our purpose remains the same, accumulate money to promote change, and strive for the 11-hour working day legislation. As long as our purpose remains the same, and we can give up some bottom lines when necessary, we do not want to build a paradise, nor can we build it in a county, unless we close our doors and do not participate in all external competition, and we no longer care about these domestic affairs, including the affairs of the poor, the unemployed, and the homeless, and put all our energy on those no-man's lands overseas......"

Someone immediately retorted: "In that case, as long as the purpose is determined, we can participate in the slave trade?" Are you sure that our people will still stick to our beliefs? ”

"But the problem now is that if this matter is not solved, many industries controlled by our party property that cannot monopolize technology will not be able to make money, so we can only use those industries that monopolize technology to put money into them. If you only meet the internal needs, this can be, basically it can be done no higher than the external cost. But if you want to participate in the external market competition, you can't compete with those factories that have no bottom line. If you look at the current Mincheng, how much does a child laborer get a month? How to compare? ”

"Don't be noisy, don't be noisy. And that's a good thing, too. At least one thing, we can be sure that this idea of building a paradise is absolutely impossible, right? If the quarrel over this matter can unify this opinion, I personally think that the discussion caused by this matter is worth it. ”

Chen Jian stood up and stopped the quarrel between the two sides, this issue is very important, it is not only a question of the justice of the bottom line, purpose, and process, but also a problem of how to make money under the impact of cheap labor without a solution.

"Regarding the matter of the Great Wilderness City, let's discuss it slowly in the future, at least we have to go to the Great Wilderness City to see the specific situation there. Today I just know a rough idea, but about the way to make money, I have thought of a way to make a profit, and it will definitely not involve our bottom line. ”

Glancing at a few people from the Great Wilderness City, Jian Chen asked, "How is the northern coastline chart drawn?" How was the trading post set up? What about further north? ”

"Almost. I don't dare to say that I know everything inside, but the estuary of the river, the latitude line of the map, and so on have already been drawn. ”

Jian Chen thought for a moment and said, "That's the case. In the Ming Empire, there was a herb that was very valuable. This herb grows only at latitudes between about forty and forty-five degrees north. At least when I was in Quanzhou, someone gave me a few, and the price was ridiculously expensive, mainly from the barbarians in the north. I wondered, could there be this herb in the north of the Great Wilderness City about forty to forty-five degrees? Or something like that? ”