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February 1, 1635, Thursday, the fourteenth day of the seventh year of Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty.

In the early morning, 300 nautical miles northeast of Temasek in the Strait of Malacca, a large steam merchant ship flying a blue ripple flag on a white background and carrying the English letters "EU" printed on it was sailing proudly at a speed of nine knots towards the overseas territory of the gorgeous Pearl Island, which is dozens of nautical miles away. On the bow deck, two well-dressed passengers are gazing out at the sea level in the distance, looking forward to their destination.

Under the instructions of the board of directors of the group, Isaac, the general manager of Oriental Industrial Company, is now cleaving the waves with the latest "Oriental Union 2000" all-steam merchant ship put into operation by Oriental Transportation Company. This kind of commercial ship with a maximum cargo capacity of 2,000 tons specially tailored by Beiyang Shipbuilding Group for Oriental Union is currently the largest ship in China, with a full load displacement of more than 3,700 tons. Equipped with the same steam unit as the Navy's Princess-class large light cruisers, it has a cruising range of more than 7,000 nautical miles at 9 knots and a top speed of 13.5 knots, while the hull strength design with reference to the Navy's quality control standards allows it to carry out at least three ocean voyages to and from the Indian Ocean a year.

The performance of the OUCC 2000 all-steam merchant ship is better than that of the five-masted schooner ordered by the OUCC Group, but the price has also risen a lot, and the contract cost of the 16-month normal construction period is as high as 500,000 US dollars, which is much more expensive than the Gray Whale-class transport ships that have been installed in batches by the Navy.

In addition to more than 200 European immigrants who traveled thousands of miles to settle in the overseas territory of Pearl Island, the Oriental Beauty was also loaded with sheep's wool, leather, wine and various commodities or machinery produced in the territory of Nanshan, totaling more than 1,000 tons.

“…… The decision of the headquarters to continue with the purchase of new steam merchant ships is very wise, otherwise we would have to wait pitifully in this northeast monsoon like the sail merchant ships of the state-owned ocean shipping company, which is a great waste! ”

As the general manager of Huamei Oriental Industrial Company, Isaac has been in office for more than four years, and it is the first time he has come to the Far East. Starting from Nanshan Port, taking the "Oriental Beauty" for the first time in his life to sail continuously for more than a month, Isaac finally had the most intuitive experience of the group's operation in the Far East.

"Mr. Isaac, the Eastern Transport Company already has seven five-masted schooners operating on the route, which are not affected by the monsoon. In fact, what we lack most now is the local capacity allocated to Pearl Island, and there are only 4 'OUC 800' steam merchant ships, which are simply too busy. The clerk on one side hurriedly reminded the general manager who was high above.

"It's going to get better, the board of directors has gotten my mention, and there will be new merchant ships every year." Isaac pointed to the northeast in a high-spirited manner, as if he had become the most powerful man in the world, "But I want to remind you that these costs will also be shared by Dongfang Industrial Company, and there will be no doubt that it will affect our year-end profit statement!" We have to learn to be diligent and thrifty, and everyone works harder, and the work efficiency can be improved a lot...... Well, that's important, as far as I can tell, some of the people in the Pearl Island branch are already a little too comfortable. ”

"Mr. Isaac's opinion will surely be appreciated by the Board of Directors!"

The clerk knew that the general manager in front of him was a well-known mean miser in the whole group, who was well-known in the business of the company led by the governor of Nanshan, and that almost all the farms belonging to the Oriental Industrial Company were Indian prisoner of war slave laborers or "foreign laborers". Now that the board of directors of the group has kicked him to the Far East to inspect, it is obvious that he is not very satisfied with some business decisions of the deputy general manager Zhao Mingchuan, so he hopes that someone will knock on him.

……

In the new year 1635, there were more than 7,500 official residents of the overseas territory of Huamei Pearl Island, and more than 3,000 "foreign employees" lived in the inland OUCC Industrial Zone.

The Pearl City, which is on the track of normal development, is nestled between the evergreen tropical forest and the coast, and the urban planning style is no different from that of the mainland. But in order to prevent hurricanes, the buildings in the urban area of Pearl City, regardless of their height, are far more cement and steel building materials than those of the local towns, and the combination of cyan and white buildings and tropical green trees makes the whole city look particularly refreshing and pleasant.

The farms on the outskirts of the city are wide and neat, and the new season of rice, vegetables and fruits has been sown in a large area, and the green shadows of the seedlings are swaying like waves; On the edge of the farm, the large-scale coconut grove has ushered in the first harvest period after planting, and countless farmers like ants are stacking up and down the coconut grove.

In the Pearl City Industrial Zone, which is exclusive to the inland Oriental Union Group, a new day's work has already begun. Beneath the huge chimneys are clusters of factories of varying heights, and the dense weaving machines in the textile factories continue to extend the snow-white cloth with dazzling mechanical movements amid the roaring sound of steam engines.

Tons of refined salt are packed and packaged in the beach salt pans south of town, where they are packed and sold to merchants in Southeast Asia to India, Daming, Siam, Burma, Sulu, Java, Sumatra, Japan, Korea, etc., to defeat any competitors at prices close to those of coarse salt.

The port area is also bustling, with heavy steam cranes twisting their stout booms and carrying cargo back and forth; Merchants dressed in various costumes move around the docks, and rail freight wagons are constantly transporting boxes or barrels of various sizes into the nearby storage area.

More than a dozen hard- or soft-sail merchant ships, large and small, are nervously loading and unloading cargo, and two of them, flying the flag of the Oriental Union Group, are making their final sailings. They were convoys of ships returning to the Atlantic, carrying more than 1,000 tons of industrial raw materials and thousands of immigrants from the East.

On the other side, the sail frigate of the Pearl Island Naval Base has just returned, and judging from a red strip of cloth hanging high on the mast, the Yueji has captured another unlucky pirate ship during its previous cruise.

At noon, the large merchant ship "Oriental Beauty" finally sailed into the port of Pearl Island, and the management of the Pearl Island branch of the Oriental Industrial Company, which had received the news for a long time, was already waiting at the port, and even in the crowd of greetings, there was George George, the first mayor of Pearl City, who was about to step down.

"Mr. Isaac, it's been a hard journey."

Zhao Mingchuan, who still looked like a white-faced scholar, stood on the edge of the dock with a pair of dark circles under his eyes, politely bowed his hand to the general manager of Dongfang Industrial Company who got off the ship, and the staff behind him all put on a welcoming posture in their own way.

"Mr. George! I haven't seen you in a few years! As if he hadn't seen Zhao Mingchuan, Isaac walked straight towards Mayor Mingzhu, took off his hat very enthusiastically and shook hands with the other party, like an old friend who had been scattered for many years.

"Welcome to Pearl City, Mr. Isaac, I wonder what good news this time has brought us? Maybe you should get a good rest first, there will be a banquet in the evening. George smiled on his slightly tanned face, paying attention to Isaac's indifference to Zhao Mingchuan as soon as he came, and just greeted Isaac into the carriage very politely.

"Vice President Zhao, this person surnamed Ai is not good......" Behind Zhao Mingchuan, Qian Laosan lowered his voice, with an angry expression on his face, "I'm afraid that the rumors and rumors of the group headquarters are inseparable from such people!" ”

"Qian Laosan, Hugh has to chew his tongue...... Mr. Isaac is a person valued by the group, and I have been able to do things with peace of mind on Pearl Island all these years, and the help of Mr. Isaac and others is indispensable behind it. Zhao Mingchuan smiled disapprerovingly, turned to look at the apologetic salute of the company staff who came to greet him, "Everyone, it's better to go back to your own duties, and wash the dust for the general manager tonight, don't delay." ”

……

After a voyage of nearly 7,000 nautical miles from Nanshan Port, the officers and men of the frigate Tulip were arranged to rest the moment they set foot in the military port, and the battleship will also be docked for a month's maintenance.

It has been two years since the last time he came to Pearl Island on duty, and after experiencing a big ups and downs in his life, Huang Huer was promoted to the rank of sergeant again, and successfully passed the internal assessment of the navy, and will be selected to be sent to the reserve officer class of the Long Island Naval Academy in the second half of this year.

Towards dusk, Huang Hu'er completed the vacation procedures at the naval base, and then hurriedly ran to the downtown commercial street with a backpack, intending to buy some gifts to visit the little girl she had taken over from her fellow villagers and entrusted the care of the locals.

The neighborhood of Pearl City has changed greatly from the last time I left, not only more exquisite buildings have risen from the ground, but even every street is made of cyan square bricks that look very expensive. The texture is elegant, flat and sturdy, and it is very oriental and quaint, and similar "luxury" play is only available in some parts of the capital and other local big cities.

Since there is no coal chemical industry on Mingzhu Island for the time being, and there is a lack of natural asphalt raw materials in the nearby areas, all road projects in the urban area of Mingzhu City are made of completely different materials from other towns in China. The patterned bluestone slabs paved the streets and alleys of the Pearl City quite generously, and also became one of the building materials for other municipal infrastructure and local military bases.

In fact, this is not a natural stone or green brick, but a very low-cost modern industrial product - cement brick. About 20 percent of cement, plus 80 percent of gravel, fired cement and cinder emitted from boilers in industrial areas, are mixed together to form a "high-grade building material" that is very similar in color and appearance to bluestone.

There is no fuel consumption in the processing process, the cost of raw materials is much lower than that of ordinary fired red bricks, and the size and pattern can be "customized". In many cases, newcomers and unaware businessmen will be secretly frightened by such extravagant and extravagant streets.

In addition to local use, some maritime merchants from Guangzhou, Fujian, Zhejiang and Luzon quickly positioned this "Nanyang bluestone" as a good brick for wealthy families to build houses. The wholesale price of cement bricks per ton is only one tael of silver, and when it is shipped to Guangzhou, Chaozhou, Hangzhou or Fuzhou, how can it be sold for the difference of one or two taels, and when other goods are out of stock, it is not bad to resell once or twice.

It was just dusk, and early in the morning municipal workers began to hang windproof oil lamps on lampposts on both sides of the street. Walking on the local style of the commercial street, all of a sudden, Huang Huer seemed to feel that he was back in Jerseytown many years ago. After shopping for about an hour and buying a batch of goods that are more expensive than those in China, Huang Huer suddenly found that he had made a mistake, that is, the former neighborhood had been reorganized and modified, and those old-fashioned residential areas had long since disappeared, and the Chen sister-in-law's family did not know where to move.

It was not easy to ask some eyebrows from a neighborhood police station, and when she walked in front of a residential community, Huang Hu'er was dumbfounded again. In front of you, the vast community surrounded by a green belt is full of identical two-story small houses with small courtyards in front and back.

Residents returning home from work kept passing by Huang Hu'er, looking curiously at this young man dressed in gorgeous naval clothes, and some little daughters-in-law and daughters also let out a chuckle after passing by.

"Yo! Is it a tiger? A rough voice sounded, and then a large hand slapped on the shoulder. As soon as Huang Hu'er turned his head, he saw a strong man in a sleeveless sweatshirt standing in front of him with a black and gray face.

"Brother Chen! I haven't seen each other for two years, are the eldest sister and the child okay? Finally seeing the person he was looking for, Huang Hu'er was overjoyed and quickly unloaded the backpack from his shoulder.

"Haha, I'll just say you, I haven't seen you for two years, I'm afraid you forgot about us. Are you going to spend the New Year this time? Let's go, go home, and have a few drinks! "The former Natuna pirates, now the eldest brother of the Chen family, grabbed Huang Hu'er's arm and strode towards the depths of the community.

The Chen family has been watching Huang Hu'er eat and chew with a smile on their faces, especially for dishes such as green leafy vegetables, which are like wolves and tigers when they see a woman, which makes the couple happy in their hearts.

"Hehe, auntie, go get some fried vegetables again, it seems that Huzi is very hungry along the way. We all think that meat is better than vegetables, only we who have run across the sea know that the sea is sad, vegetables are more expensive than meat, and it seems that Huzi's warships have not fallen into this kind of thing. Seeing that the other party didn't eat meat and picked vegetables to eat violently, the Chen family couldn't help laughing.

"Daddy, why is food better than meat?" The six-year-old girl blinked wide-eyed, not understanding what the adults were saying.

"Don't talk about how you were a thief...... Didn't you see the official notice (newspaper) saying that you can eat more vegetables to nourish your body? Sister-in-law Chen, who was holding her one-year-old biological son in her arms, glanced at her husband, and smiled embarrassedly at Huang Hu'er while sandwiching fish and meat in a bowl for her adopted daughter, "The girl has seen you twice over the years, and I don't know you as an uncle." ”

Huang Huer had already recognized Chen's sister-in-law as her sister, so naturally the baby girl he left to raise became his niece. Seeing the chubby girl in front of her, Huang Huer remembered the tragic fate and suicide of the fellow.

"Why doesn't my uncle go home often to see my father and mother?" The little girl, who was gradually no longer afraid of life, finally had the courage to take the initiative to greet Huang Hu'er, and her innocent expression made people can't help but want to hug and kiss her.

"Your uncle is a man who does great things." The man of the Chen family took his daughter into his arms and fed a piece of fish and meat himself, it seems that even if he has a biological son, he has not treated this adopted daughter badly at all.

"That daddy is also a big person, and he comes back so late every day." The little girl giggled, and said no words.

"What's wrong? Brother Chen, what's unsatisfactory? Seeing that the expressions of the two changed slightly, Huang Hu'er quickly put down the bowl.

"I'll take the girl out for a walk, Huzi, you drink more." It seemed that he couldn't hold his face anymore, so the man of the Chen family hurriedly got up with his daughter in his arms and walked towards the door.

"Hey, it's nothing, it's just that your brother Chen started the year before last year, and he didn't fish anymore, and went to work in a cement brick workshop in the north of the city." Sister-in-law Chen sighed, and seemed to disagree with her husband's choice, "At first, the family was quite happy, and there were fifteen yuan of 'ship silver' plus one meal a day after deducting tax silver a month. But after less than three or two months, my man got into a fight with people, and now he is not treated well in the workshop......"

The "ship silver" in Chen's sister-in-law's mouth is another name for the one-dollar silver coin given to the Chinese in Pearl City, because the reverse of the silver coin is the design of the earliest sail frigate of the USS Enterprise in the Chinese Navy.

“…… Later, I found out the reason, and most of the workers in the cement masonry workshop were people from 'outside the city'. Do the same work, because our family is a person with a 'court hukou', you can get a lot more wages than them, and there are several fellow villagers there...... The money was not stolen and robbed by your brother Chen, but also earned by tears and sweat, why can't anyone open their eyes...... If it weren't for the fact that the girl has had another brother over the years, and the family has a lot more, I really want him not to do it in that offending place, and buy a piece of land in the west of the city......"

As she spoke, Sister-in-law Chen began to sigh and sigh, without the slightest sense of pride as a permanent resident of China and the United States. Hearing this, Huang Hu'er quietly glanced around the Chen family's living room, a qiē, not much worse than his home in Jersey Town, but because there was a sister-in-law Chen who was more capable of housework, it looked orderly, neat and elegant. Although all kinds of household goods are relatively low-end gorgeous goods, they are countless times stronger than the small wooden building of the fisherman's family that could be blown across by a broken gust of wind before.

"Didn't you hear that there is a local naturalization quota on Pearl Island every year?" Huang Hu'er was not ignorant of the slightly special immigration naturalization management rules of Pearl Island's overseas territory, so he showed a curious expression, "How many years have it been?" The immigration bureau here doesn't plan to naturalize Brother Chen's co-workers? ”

"Yes, there is, but there is such a 'hukou' limit in a year, so many factories and so many people, how can everyone have a share? It's okay to settle down, and you can be taken away by the imperial court What kind of 'local' do you say, but no one dares to pack a ticket to change places to live a better life than here, and who wants to leave their hometown all the way? Sister-in-law Chen said this, looking at Huang Hu'er's eyes full of worry, "Later, someone said that when you are a soldier of this imperial court, you may still have a chance to settle down." However, last year, the imperial court also limited the number of 100 people in the local area, and thousands of men were competing for it. Your eldest brother Chen got drunk in the Mid-Autumn Festival last year, and packed tickets to a few fellow villagers, saying that he was helping them find a way to join the army, but they all passed the selection period, and he didn't succeed. You said that this stupid man who has suffered a thousand knives has nothing to do with agreeing to this! ”

"Huzi...... Your brother Chen is honest, he has helped outsiders a lot over the years, and now he has fallen into the mouth of being poked in the back......" Looking at Huang Hu'er in a navy uniform, the sister-in-law of the Chen family showed a pleading look again, "Huzi, you are also a member of the imperial court, see if you can get some way to relieve your brother Chen from this siege?" ”

Huang Hu'er was stunned for a moment, and began to secretly complain in his heart, because the other party was talking about the National Guard or the Foreign Legion, and he was not on the same plane as the navy at all.

……

The welcome dinner at the Pearl City Hall lasted until late at night, and many people drank too much, and the high-end fruit wine brought from Nanshan Port was highly sought after by the banquet participants, while the Oriental wine from Daming confused Isaac and others. However, Zhao Mingchuan didn't drink a drop of alcohol, because he had already known in advance the real purpose of the company's general manager, who was one level older than himself.

Early the next morning, Zhao Mingchuan took the initiative to come to Isaac's temporary office, preparing to communicate privately with Isaac on the "1635 Pearl Island Branch Financial Expenditure Plan" that he had not received from the group headquarters.

“…… Mr. Zhao! You also want to know why, right? Well, I have to say, you are really a great philanthropist, but your kindness has embarrassed many people in China. ”

In the newly vacated office, Isaac hurried around the room like a cat with its tail stepped on, a plan in his hand and a look of disgust on his face.

"The full 400 local and foreign secondary school students sent to Manchester City are fully subsidized, and this kind of good thing should be considered by the Ministry of Culture, Education and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs! This means that the company will have to come up with at least $200,000 alone in five years, and a brand new Type 800 merchant ship will be no more! ”

"You should know that according to the agreement we can help the government build here. But we've done enough of this obligation to be beautiful, and no amount of out-of-the-ordinary kindness will do us any more good! I admit that the expansion of the Pearl City Hospital and the City Water Storage Project is a great and honorable work, but it should have been the work of the government itself from the beginning! $150,000 may not be a huge cost, but they took at least $2 million in taxes from us last year, which is more than enough to buy a fleet! ”

"What are the Qiongzhou Island and Dayuan Island in the north? We didn't owe even a penny in our payments or taxes, so there was no need to take on the city's renovation project on behalf of their government, a full $100,000, which madman would have come up with a good idea? ”

“…… As for whether it is necessary to improve the working living environment of the 'Midai Industrial Zone', I think it should be shared fairly by others, because it is not the OUCC Group that benefits alone! ”

“…… In addition, there is this, didn't anyone think it was inappropriate before, I doubt the business ability of your assistants. ”

"If you still insist on a financial expenditure plan like this for 1635, then I can tell you unequivocally that the reason why the board of directors and the president's office of the group have been delayed is that they think that the whole of the Oriental Industrial Company is suffering from a nervous disorder!"

Isaac chattered endlessly, degrading almost every article in Zhao Mingchuan's 1635 plan for foreign financial assistance to the Far East.

"Excuse me, Mr. Isaac." Glancing at the plan that the other party was holding in his hand and almost deformed, Zhao Mingchuan held back his anger and raised his voice, "This external funding plan has been discussed with all parties for a long time, and if the board of directors of the group has any objections, it can be improved one by one." Refusing to do so is reasonable, and it will hurt the company's reputation to the outside world. ”

"Fame? Could it be that every charity work we have done in the past few years has been ineffective? Isaac sat back in his seat in a huff and threw the entire proposal to the ground with a flick of his hand, "Don't challenge the patience of the group directors, they have given us enough time to grasp the intentions of the board." All project expenditures in this proposal should be reduced by at least 30, no, by 50! I hope that within a week, I can see the approval notice from the headquarters, which is one of the reasons why I am here. If you can't finish it, I can have someone take your place. ”

Picking up the scattered pages of the plan from the ground one by one, Zhao Mingchuan silently arched his hand and exited the office. The door closed, and the knuckles of Zhao Mingchuan's fingers, which were clenching the plan in anger, began to turn white.

……

Under the campaign of the Ming Dynasty and Southeast Asian merchants, high-value industrial and agricultural raw materials such as shellac, tung oil, medicinal materials, raw silk, lacquer, tin ingots, copper ingots, potassium alum, fluorite, zeolite and other high-value industrial and agricultural raw materials were continuously transported to the mainland through the fleet of the Huamei Oriental Union United States Group, and even because the gold price in the Far East was generally low, the activities of arbitraging gold with silver were also very active. In just a few years, Huamei's total trade volume in Daming and Southeast Asia surpassed that of the Dutch East India Company.

The economies of scale of the Far East market began to emerge, contributing at least half of the economic growth of the United States in 1634, and Pearl Island became the only overseas consulate with a total tax revenue of more than $2 million – although more than ninety percent of it came from the OUCC company. According to the relevant national tax laws, 80% of the annual local tax revenue will be included in the national treasury, so the tax paid by the Asian fleet of the Chinese and US Navy to the mainland has become a matter of concern.

Throughout 1634, after deducting all expenses and taxes, the net profit of the Oriental Union Group reached 3.05 million US dollars, which was twice as high as last year, surpassing the North American Standard Petroleum, Xinhua Chemical, General Industries, North Industries and other large companies and large groups in one fell swoop, and directly squeezed into the top three domestic profitable enterprises, second only to the state-owned energy and mining group and the agriculture, forestry, fishery and animal husbandry group.

To this end, the board of directors of the group distributed a total of 2.25 million dividends in the first shareholder dividend at the end of 1634, and shareholders throughout the country were happy. However, with the expansion of the Oriental Union's investment in the Nanshan Governorship in 1635 and the large number of orders for new merchant ships, the net profit target for the new year may not be able to maintain the figure of 3 million, so it became necessary to end the loose spending policy in the Far East that lasted for several years.

Since 1631, Zhao Mingchuan has been in charge of the Pearl Island Branch of the Oriental Industrial Company, which has made a lot of support for the construction of the people's livelihood of the Pearl Island, Daming Qiongzhou Prefecture and Dayuan Island.

Basically every year, Zhao Mingchuan allocates a large amount of money from the account of Dongfang Industrial Company to increase the employment of local residents, gather the poor and scattered population, improve living conditions, build urban infrastructure, and provide education assistance. But when the total rose from $100,000 in 1631 to $500,000 planned in 1635, the local board of directors of OUCC could not sit still.

Zhao Mingchuan's business ability in the Far East is remarkable, but his overly "kind" appearance makes people feel that Dongfang Industrial Company is too "wronged". Under the objective pattern that the same capital can obtain higher benefits in the Atlantic, the pressure on the Oriental Union Group to seek "reasonable profits" from the Far East has not been reduced, so Zhao Mingchuan's "non-operating costs" that have been rising year by year are very prominent.

Zhao Mingchuan is not good at arguing with domestic capitalists about the topic of "image appreciation", but he is doing things in the spirit of making a contribution to the construction of the Ming Dynasty as much as possible, which even includes a strange "guilt" of the Oriental Union Group in the Far East to harvest wealth in an all-round way.

That night, Zhao Mingchuan had to stay up late again to revise the incomplete plan that had been refuted by Isaac, and as for the funding projects that had been negotiated with others, he could only replace them in other ways. After doing this, he must also go to Qiongzhou before Chinese New Year's Eve to discuss with Liu Yaoyu about continuing to expand Qiongzhou to accept inland displaced people. (To be continued)