Li Jifeng saw that this road was impassable, so he immediately changed the direction and changed the topic: "The two of you went to Guangzhou this time, and I don't know what to buy, and I may be able to provide some convenience." ”

Schneider did not intend to hide this, and he did need some help from "Fu Ruifeng" in terms of material procurement. Before departure, each production department put forward its own material procurement list, and the executive committee put it together after it was three feet long, so many materials if all the two of them had to purchase one by one, then there was basically no need to do anything else in the last one or two months. Entrusting it to "Frefeng" may allow the other party to earn another handling fee, but the time and energy saved are difficult for money to buy. Moreover, now that the crossing group occupies an active position in bilateral trade, Schneider believes that "Furuifeng" will not play any tricks in material procurement under the current situation.

"We need to procure a lot of supplies, but there is one thing that needs to be urgent. Schneider replied to Li Jifeng with a smile: "Boat." A big ship with 400 materials, whether it is a lucky ship or a wide ship. ”

"If you want to book a large number of ships from Guangzhou, is it because you want to run the route of Guangzhou?" Li Jifeng was very sensitive to this and immediately asked. Prior to this, "Fu Ruifeng" had already bought two 400 sea ships for the other party, which were brought to Shengli Port by Li Nai, but if the purpose of buying a large number of ships by the crossing group was to open up this route by itself, it would not be a good thing for "Fu Ruifeng", which was also engaged in maritime trade.

Schneider shook his head and said, "Of course, we didn't buy a ship to open up this route......

Li Jifeng's heart relaxed a little, but at this time, he heard Schneider continue: "...... There are many routes we have to open, which is why we need a lot of ships and sailors. ”

Li Jifeng said in his heart that it is not easy to open up the South China Sea route, which one is not something that the sailors have to explore over many years, and even if the old maritime merchants want to open up a new route, it is not something that can be achieved in a short time.

However, Li Jifeng remembered that Li Nai had mentioned that the Haihan people were from the east thousands of miles overseas, and there were many strange-shaped large iron ships anchored in Shengli Harbor. Since the other party can sail across the ocean in such a big iron boat, he is afraid that his navigation skills are also very good, and this opening up a route is not necessarily bragging.

Schneider seemed to see through what Li Jifeng was thinking, and continued with a smile: "The big shopkeeper doesn't have to worry too much, even if we open up a route to Guangzhou, it will not affect the trade with you." The increase in capacity will only increase the volume of trade between us, so that we can all make more money. For example, for example, salt, your bank acts as an agent for the sales of Fuguang and Guangzhou provinces, how much salt do these two provinces consume in a year? There are always millions of catties, right? Now because of the lack of transportation capacity, there is only 10,000 catties of orders per month, but in the future, we can expand the transportation capacity through guò, increase the transaction volume to 50,000 catties, 100,000 catties, or even more, and sell salt to Guangxi, Huguang, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, and other farther places. What we need is not a unilateral increase in capacity, but also hope that you can organize more ships to join the route. ”

"Even if you have enough capacity, can you really produce so much salt?" asked Li Jifeng in disbelief.

Schneider pointed at Li Nai and said: "Your son has also visited our salt factory, the scale of three or four hundred people, the output of more than 100,000 catties of salt, by the end of the year, this output will rise." For us, as long as there is enough labor, the production of salt is not a problem at all, the only thing to consider is how to transport this salt from Qiongzhou to Guangzhou. ”

Li Jifeng immediately calculated in his mind, the current price of salt supplied by the Haihan people to themselves is 50 taels of silver per 1,000 catties, after removing the freight and the loss during transshipment, after selling it locally at half the market price, it can still get at least twice the income, that is, at least 100 taels of profit, if you can sell 100,000 catties of salt in January, it will be 10,000 taels of silver. Since the supply of salt to the Haihan people is guaranteed, if there is a special fleet to transport salt from Qiongzhou Island to Guangzhou, and a trip will cost tens of thousands of taels of silver, how much silver will they have to earn this year? I am afraid that it will not be so easy for those big salt merchants in Yangzhou to make money.

Now that Li Jifeng is playing these calculations in his head, the sailor has already calculated Luo Shengdong once. The difference is that the market that Luo Shengdong faces is still relatively limited, after all, the entire Qiongzhou Island has a population of more than 200,000 people, which is far less than the conditions in the mainland, and although Luo Shengdong has an official identity, no one will check his ship, but after all, he does not dare to be too public, and every time he secretly transports two or three thousand catties of salt to make a little money.

The scale of operation and the area covered by "Fu Ruifeng" are incomparable to Luo Shengdong, and it is obviously a business that can make a lot of money, Li Jifeng will certainly not be satisfied with a small fight. However, he was not carried away by the sudden happiness, he still kept enough calm, and continued to ask Schneider: "In addition to Guangzhou, what other ports do you plan to open up shipping routes, can Mr. Shi reveal one or two?"

Schneider said frankly: "The port cities along the mainland are our targets, but that should be at least a year or two away." In terms of business goals, we should be consistent with your bank, to go further and make more money. ”

Schneider's words were vague and untrue, Li Jifeng naturally understood that the other party was on guard, and he didn't ask any more questions at the moment.

After the dinner that night, the Li family father and son returned home and did not rest, but went to the study to continue to discuss the unfinished topics of the previous banquet.

Li Jifeng said: "This Mr. Shi is indeed a veteran of the shopping mall, and he speaks very tactfully, so it's no wonder that the third child will negotiate such an unfavorable agreement with him." A good agent, do you know that if other firms catch their line and give better conditions, then they will easily kick us out!"

Li Nai hurriedly bowed down and said: "The child doesn't know how powerful it is, and only thinks about how to make more money from it, but ignores these details......"

"Forget it, it's the first time you've dealt with such a large deal, and it's not easy to negotiate like this. Li Jifeng had already figured out the joints when he was eating, and at this time he only raised it to warn Li Nai, but he didn't intend to continue to blame him: "Listen to Mr. Na Shi's meaning, they are deliberately trying to make the illegal salt trade bigger, what do you think?" ”

Li Luo thought for a moment before responding: "Although the Haihan people's ability to make salt is high, their transportation capacity is insufficient, and they have no way to sell illegal salt in coastal areas, so they must rely on our business name in this regard." This private salt business is a small profit, and the child thinks it is worth a fight, but he must pave the way first, so as not to find something wrong with the salt department. ”

Li Jifeng nodded noncommittally and said, "Let's talk about it too." ”

Li Nai said: "The second brother is reasonable, this business is doing well, and it will be idle to earn tens of thousands of taels a month in the future." However, the child felt that in addition to beware of the salt department, he also had to beware of other salt merchants. This peer is the enemy, not to mention that if we traffic in a large amount of illicit salt for sale, it will definitely impact the market price of salt, and this matter of cutting off people's financial routes will definitely cause controversy and revenge. ”

"Then what solution do you have?" Li Jifeng continued to ask.

Li Nai said: "The child once heard the Haihan people talk about my Ming salt farms, it is said that more than 20 salt farms in Fuguang and Guangzhou provinces are deserted, and now the salt on the market is mostly from the salt farms in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Huaiyang, so the price of salt remains high. If we supply directly to the salt merchants in various places, the price can be lower than the salt shipped from the north, so that we can earn ours, and the salt merchants will earn the salt merchants, and we can also save the time of selling them one by one. ”

"So you turned the private salt into official salt and sold it?" Li Jifeng's fingers tapped lightly on the bookcase, thinking about the feasibility of Li Nai's idea.

"Fu Ruifeng" has a number of branches in Fuguang and Guangzhou, and it is not impossible to sell salt through its own channels, but it will still face a legality problem. The so-called official salt means that the salt merchant has to go to the salt department to pay the money first, and then take the salt to the salt field to buy salt, but the salt merchant's qualifications are not available with money, and they are often controlled by a few wealthy families in a region. "Fu Ruifeng" did not have the identity of a salt merchant before this, and even if he sold salt, he only sold a small amount of official salt wholesale from salt merchants in a retail nature, and it was obviously very difficult to sell tens of thousands of catties of private salt a month in this way, and it was easy to attract the attention of peers and competent authorities if the shipment volume was large.

It is very easy for those who ship a lot of salt to mix some of the private salt into it, and it is difficult for the authorities to determine whether the salt they sell is included in the salt. In fact, because of the low cost of illicit salt, many salt merchants will sell it with illicit salt in order to obtain more profits. The private salt of the Haihan people is undoubtedly extremely competitive, and their prices have been extremely low, and they can't even find a rival in the salt market of the Ming Dynasty. Even if "Fu Ruifeng" raises the price to 150 taels of silver per 1,000 catties, it still has a greater price advantage than the existing supply of salt merchants.

Selling the salt of the Haihan people to salt merchants in various places, who then sold it to the market as official salt, seemed to be a good solution to the problem. After Li Jifeng thought through the main points, he quickly made a decision.