On the whole, Huamei Oriental Union Group has not had a high trade surplus in the import and export trade of the Daming market, and has been declining slowly, with a net profit of only 800,000 US dollars last year, which is much lower than that of other markets. In such a market, where a large half of Europe's population is located, the demand for Chinese goods is not as crazy as imagined because of backward commodity logistics, thousands of years of subsistence and small-scale peasant economic models, and famine and war.

More than 80% of the profits of the Oriental Union Group last year came from transit trade in China, Europe and Asia. On the contrary, with the passage of time, the domestic demand for various industrial and agricultural raw materials or semi-finished products of Daming has been increasing year by year

Today, the Far East operation of OUCC Group is no longer just about buying industrial raw materials from the southeast coast of Daming, or wholesale industrial products in China and the United States. At the same time that the technical production equipment was gradually exported to the Qiongzhou Gentry Group, a considerable number of industrial and agricultural semi-finished products were processed locally in Qiongzhou, and then entered the terminal factories on Pearl Island and Hong Kong Island at a much lower cost than in China, or were shipped back to the mainland.

The "scissors gap" has formed a shortest distance and richer industrial chain between Daming and Huamei, and gradually made the operation of OUCC in the Far East centered on the overseas territory of Pearl Island and the Hong Kong Governor-General more localized, and the supply of domestic raw materials was also more efficient.

For example, the output cost of Standard Oil in the industrial park outside the island of Manchester is about US$150 per tonne, and the shale oil product with a market value of US$450 can be obtained after comprehensive refining. To produce one tonne of shale oil per month, it takes about six skilled workers at Standard Oil, and the cost of wages for workers alone is US$120 per tonne.

The oil shale retort of the Nanhai firm in Danzhou Bay is only equivalent to US$65 per ton of shale oil exported to the overseas territory of Pearl Island, let alone transported to Pearl Island, even if it is shipped back to the industrial park outside the island of Manchester City, the cost is much lower than that of the mainland. The chemical plant jointly invested by Standard Oil and Oriental Union on Pearl Island has the capacity to process 1,500 tons of shale oil products per year.

The same situation is also applicable to cotton yarn, wool yarn, hemp yarn, pulp, leather, coal tar, coal asphalt, iron ingots, copper ingots and other industrial semi-finished products in Qiongzhou. The reason is that even if the labor shortage of Qiongzhou adopts a high salary, the local labor cost is so cheap that people are jealous, the average labor salary is only 2 US dollars per month, less than one-eighth of the Chinese mainland!

With modern industrial equipment second only to Huamei's local technical level, Qiongzhou's product cost advantage is more obvious. The only drawback, except for a small number of products such as cotton yarn, many industrial scales cannot be improved because of the backward raw material logistics capabilities of Daming, and they are extremely dependent on Huamei's equipment maintenance. As long as the output of several delicate parts that are easy to wear and tear is stopped, a spinning production line is likely to stop completely; In the absence of specially formulated industrial anticorrosive coatings, the equipment corrosion of Danzhou oil shale retort plant will increase dramatically. It doesn't take much time to be scrapped.

What's more, almost all the industrial projects exported to Qiongzhou can only produce semi-finished products, and the vast majority of semi-finished products basically do not have much consumption power in Daming except for selling them to Huamei. It can be said that the money-making business of the "enlightened gentry" in Qiongzhou is completely tied to a gorgeous ship.

Cooperate with the local gentry in Qiongzhou to export technology patent equipment and obtain shares in related factories. While importing a large number of cheap raw materials and semi-finished products. It can also eat back a part of the dividends from the factory's shares, and finally export high value-added industrial products, which is what OUCC has done happily in the past few years.

……

Monday, May 5, 1642. The seventh day of April in the fifteenth year of Chongzhen in the Ming Empire, the beginning of summer.

Early in the morning, an OUCC 800 merchant ship from the overseas territory of Huamei Pearl Island had just sailed into the port of the Hong Kong Governor's District, and a bunch of maritime merchants from Fujian and Guangdong had just sailed. It was as if they collectively smelled something delicious and gathered early in the Oriental Union Commercial Hall near the port of the Hong Kong Governor's District, ready to fight for a new batch of gorgeous seafood.

On the large wall of the main hall of the Merchant House. Numerous wooden strips are arranged on it to form a large catalogue display area, which is divided into two parts: the import area and the export area. On each product catalog, a number of small pieces of wood are hung on them, on which are written the product category, name, current import or export price, inventory or demand, and logistics cycle.

Under the main wall, two richly dressed little girls are using a special long pole to remove a small piece of wood from a certain product slot, and then replace it with the latest information. As small as a number, as large as the entire commodity information has been replaced by new varieties, this kind of majestic commercial coercion has made every visiting Daming maritime merchant remember it in a few years.

80,000 horses of various grades of fabric, 50 tons of lamp oil, 200 tons of chemical fertilizer, and a large number of soap, perfume, matches, cigarettes, glass, hardware, medicine...... A total of nearly 800 tons of cargo information gradually replaced most of the commodity cards in the commodity export display area. In the exhibition area of imported commodities, the demand for raw lacquer, castor oil, tung oil, porcelain, raw silk, medicinal materials, and tea has also increased significantly.

"Look...... The purchase of raw lacquer has been raised a lot, and the price has also increased to 90 yuan of silver per load (equivalent to 60 taels of silver)! Hey, you can't see the business that you can't touch, no matter how high it is! Shopkeeper Wang, I heard that you brought more than 100 loads of lacquer this time, but you earned it! ”

"The third-class cotton and linen blended fabric arrived 50,000 horses this time, and the price dropped slightly...... It's a pity that the first-class finely dyed cotton and wool blended fabrics are only 7,000 horses in total, and the price is still negotiated, and it is estimated that it will be difficult for us to grab it! ”

"Lamp oil, glass lamps and dysentery (berberine) have finally arrived! Go, go to the number! lest the goods be robbed! ”

"This year's raw silk has also been graded, so I don't know how to judge the quality of this shipment ......."

"Big shopkeeper, look, the medicinal herb area has begun to change cards, and this time they are going to buy a lot of money again!"

With the passage of time, there are sold out, there are new inventory, and there are price adjustments, almost every commodity information or big or small change, will cause the main hall to watch the Ming maritime merchants of the low voice, and then there will always be a few people left in a hurry, towards the corridor on the side of the main hall, intending to go through the import and export procedures of goods.

Except for most of the Ming maritime merchants who are bent on seeking wealth. In the spacious and beautiful Donglian Commercial Hall, there were also a number of young people dressed as scholars, and they were seen wandering inside and outside the corridor garden, looking around, or stopping to talk.

"This girl, take the liberty of disturbing. Can I go down to the upper floor to observe? ”

A well-dressed scholar of about 20 years old stood alone and looked left and right at the intersection of the corridor and the garden, and when a beautiful female employee of the Oriental Union Group passed by, he hurriedly asked. As he spoke, he turned his head slightly to a certain staircase leading to the interior of the Donglian Commercial Center.

"I'm sorry sir. It's an internal workspace, no! ”

The girl wearing the work card of the Oriental Union Group very politely raised her skirt in return, although it was a Chinese face, and there was a dress with an oriental style, but this was different from the etiquette and peculiar accent of the Ming Dynasty, which still made the young man opposite slightly stunned.

Tang Ling, who has only turned 18 years old, is the youngest granddaughter of Tang En, the first famous Chinese immigrant senior engineer in the United States, and graduated from Manchester City University of Vocational and Technical Technology last year with a higher degree in accounting. Big brother Tang Bao. After graduating from Porter City Agricultural University last year, he is currently working as an agricultural instructor at a local tropical farm in the Pearl Island.

Tang Ling's fiancé is the son of her classmate Qian Laosan, the commercial director of the Oriental Industrial Company of the Oriental Union Group in Pearl Island, and is currently an intern at the headquarters of the Oriental Union Group. The two siblings are the youngest generation of employees deliberately cultivated by OUCC Group. He will intern in the Far East business unit for a year and then relocate to his home country for a key role.

"Zheng Sen, the supervisor of the Guozi in Nanjing, has Guan Diewen from the Fujian Coastal Defense General Military Office, and has the permission of his father. Come and see what you are. Thinking that the other party was guarding against his identity, the young man quickly took out a document from his body.

Zheng Sen, Zheng Zhilong's eldest son. This young man, who is half of Fusang's ancestry, has now grown into a gentleman.

"Oh, it's Mr. Zheng...... If you need to make an appointment, you can fill out the visitor form at the reception desk in the front office, leave your contact address in Hong Kong, and the branch will send someone to pick you up within two days! Tang Ling carefully looked at the letter of introduction in the other party's hand, and found that it was stamped with the visa stamp of the Hong Kong Governor's Palace, and knew that it was another Ming student who came to visit, so he pointed to the direction of the reception very politely.

"Thank you, girl." Zheng Sen saluted quite handsomely, then turned sideways, watched Tang Ling walk away again, and finally sighed softly, "If it's really as rumored, the customs and people of this overseas gorgeous country are very different from my Ming Dynasty......"

"Hmph, it's also said that Haibang Miyi Fanshang admires Shenzhou and asks for tribute here, but he sees him bullying each other everywhere as a master, and he treats me as nothing! Every time Nanyang rice and fanwu arrive in Hong Kong, the merchants of Guangzhou, Fujian and Zhejiang flock to it. Da Ming Wei and etiquette are left behind, it is really shameful for us! ”

"Not bad! Some people are the children of the eunuchs of the Ming Dynasty, but they show off their family background in front of Fanyi, and they flatter the Fanshang people to the best of their ability, which is really insulting! ”

Not far from Zheng Sen, the other two scholars who were shaking fans all let out soft disdain, as if the young man's series of words and deeds just now had ruined the image of the entire Ming Dynasty.

"The family has family rules, the country has national laws, since the local customs, it is natural to respect them." Zheng Sen frowned, turned around, and said slowly in the direction of the sarcastic voice.

"What a 'family has family rules, and the state has national laws'! I would like to ask this brother, whose country and home is this Hong Kong? When the two scholars saw that the young man still dared to refute, they immediately came to their senses, and their voices were an octave higher.

"Today, Hong Kong is a commercial exchange between the imperial court and foreign countries, and there is a period of constraint, how can you and I be ...... to control it" Zheng Sen knew that he had said the wrong thing, so he could only mumble his head sideways.

"As a scholar, if you don't speak up for the country, you will read the sage's poems in vain! What about the mutual market? It's not a place where people who camp and make money and seek glory walk. Brother Tai stammered with Miyiya people in every way, is it also to learn from those businessmen and others, arguing about catties and arguing, and worshipping yellow and white copper stinky things all day long? When the two scholars saw that each other had fallen behind, they became even more energetic.

"Hmph, what should I be barking at, it turns out that two 'clear streams' are talking about state affairs again?" Suddenly, two more scholars came from the depths of the garden, and one of the younger students gave a direct taunt.

"There is no clear flow in the country, and the mountains and rivers are clean, aren't you waiting for filth to run rampant?!"

"I'm just afraid that it's just climbing the wind and being elegant, talking for a while, and having some tongue ability. Do some 'dirty' mundane things behind your back? ”

"Gratuitous insinuation, not the work of a righteous gentleman!"

The two groups of people suddenly carried it like this, and let Zheng Sen, the "party", hang aside. Each of the four scholars used a different tone to quote scriptures and refute each other. Slowly, a lot of people gradually gathered around.

"You should be calmer, this is the daily office of the OUCC Group, don't disturb the guests to come to do business. I suggest that everyone can continue the discussion in the tea room outside, and there are free refreshments to enjoy......" A European staff member of the Oriental Union Group walked over and politely stood between the two groups of people, smiling vigorously. After speaking, he glanced to the side, only to see two Hong Kong Governor's District policemen standing behind the crowd at some point.

"Hmph, I don't know the ears of the Daming Rites Sect and the fox and the fake tiger......" The two Qingliu scholars who were coldly watched by a group of businessmen saw that the local officials were coming. I had to snort coldly a few times and then retreated.

"Thank you for your help, Zheng Sen in Xia Quanzhou, the words are clear, and I am currently studying in Nanjing Guozijian." Seeing the lively people around gradually disperse, Zheng Sen hurriedly walked a few steps and bowed to the two scholars who were fighting for themselves.

"Don't dare, in Xia Hengzhou, Wang Fuzhi, the word is farming. This is Suzhou Gu Jikun, the word Zhongqing. The two of us are also new to Guangzhou for a study tour. I heard that Hong Kong's business is flourishing, and there is a Song descent Haibang living here, so I came to watch the tour, but I met two empty talkers. ”

The younger scholars were the first to return the gift. While smiling at his companions.

"Brother Ming Yan said that the chief military officer of Fujian coastal defense? I heard that Jinzhou was besieged outside the Sui Pass last year, and Zheng Zongbing traveled thousands of miles to personally send troops, horses, and boats to aid grain Dengzhou by sea, which really made us admire. Could it be that Zheng Zhilong is ......" Gu Jikun is strange. Hurry up and clench your fists.

"It's my father."

Zheng Sen's face turned red, and he originally raised his head with his chest straight, but he had to lower his head slightly at this time. His father's reputation in Fujian. Basically, all the scholars in the Nanzhili area are bright.

Last year, the main force of the Manchu Qing Dynasty went south to besiege Jinzhou, and the governor of Hong Chengchou advanced into Songshan, and Zheng Zhilong went north to Shandong in the name of transporting grain, but he resold more than 100,000 stone of high-priced grain in the local area, making a lot of money, which caused Liu Zeqing, the general soldier of Shandong at that time, to almost send troops to rob the grain ship at the Dengzhou wharf.

"Brother Ming, I heard that your family is also in this Hong Kong Island and Huamei Fanbang barter." Wang Fuzhi interjected on the side.

"My brother doesn't ask much about family matters,......" Zheng Sen replied bitterly, and now he felt how sad it was to meet a Ming scholar in this place in Hong Kong.

"And Brother Nong is just curious, Brother Ming doesn't have to mind." Gu Jikun was much calmer than Wang Fuzhi, and when he saw that the other party was embarrassed, he quickly changed the topic.

"It doesn't matter, my father started from the sea, and he has a lot of roots with Fujian, Zhejiang, and Taixi. However, I heard that the business affairs here are especially better than other places, the peddlers and pawns are all talking about business, and the price of baht is declared in the market, everyone can participate in the camp, and the local governor is to clearly define the business rules and protect the business with the law, so there is a heart of observation and learning...... However, after traveling for many days, I found that this place did not follow the Eastern Soil Ritual Law, and there were many laws and regulations, and the weight of commercial taxes was far greater than that of the Ming Dynasty, but it did not hurt the civil slightest, and my brother was quite puzzled. ”

Probably thinking that there was nothing to hide after his identity was revealed, Zheng Sen calmed down and said his original intention of wanting to know more about Hong Kong and the Oriental Union Group.

"Well, Brother Ming Yan also expressed his doubts about Brother Henong. I feel that this overseas Song descent is a beautiful country, although it seeks freshness on the outside, but it is extremely pragmatic and does not abide by the courtesy. Pragmatism is conviction, and the prosperity of the people is beneficial to the country. We only see the laws and regulations in Hong Kong, but we don't see that the people think everywhere, although the tax is heavy, it is mostly used by the people. Taste the gorgeous armor across the South Seas, Taixi thousands of miles of waves, not plundering wealth and fighting for land, but to protect the business and protect the people, and the business and the country are one. Yu thinks that gathering the spirit of a country with the benefit of the small people is the rule of the people! ”

Gu Jikun thought about it for a while, and also came up with a lot of opinions that he had brewed.

"What Brother Zhongqing said is true, and business is also the people's foundation. The rule of the people is the way to protect the people, to solve the needs of the people, and to apply it to the world. Cheng Zhu Lixue from the Song Dynasty to the present, abstinence is exhaustive, and the misunderstanding is too deep. Food, clothing, housing, oil, salt, firewood, rice, private love, love and hatred, which is not the principle of human ethics in the world, how can there be heavenly principles and destroy people's desires? Ignoring the reality of the people's needs, not thinking about the governance of the people's feelings, and seeking reason in empty words, isn't this reason false? Only 'learning from things, integrating knowledge and action, and applying it to the world' is the right way for righteous people! ”

Obviously, Wang Fuzhi is much younger than Gu Jikun, and his speech is naturally aggressive, but the last paragraph made Gu Jikun and Zheng Sen can't help but nod slightly.

Gu Jikun, Wang Fuzhi, Zheng Sen, the three of them seemed to hit it off at first sight, and immediately made an appointment to go to the reception of the Oriental Union Commercial Hall to go through the visit procedures.

If there is no change in history, a few years later, after the fall of the Southern Ming Dynasty, Gu Jikun will be renamed Gu Yanwu, and the word will also be changed to Ningren. Two of the three families at the end of the Ming Dynasty, plus the national surnames who crisscrossed the Taiwan Strait and the north and south of the river, are still young people in their prime. At this moment, none of them will know the traces they may have left in history. (To be continued......)