Since the establishment of commercial relations with mainland merchants, the commerce department has been committed to building a product distribution network based on Guangzhou and extending to other places, but in view of the backward traffic conditions and relatively strict floating population control in this era, the commerce department has made very slow progress in this regard, and basically relies on the self-operation of local merchants such as "Fu Ruifeng", which is very inefficient and reliable. In particular, contraband such as arms and illicit salt have to be transported to other places, and even local snakes like "Fu Ruifeng" have to carefully do a lot of cover-up work.

Although the current production capacity of various industrial products of the group is far from being able to supply such a large market as the mainland, with the gradual expansion of production capacity, the commerce department must also open up a broader sales market before the goods appear unsalable. The reality is far from the fast and efficient product distribution network that the commercial sector expects, and if we want to change this situation, we must first solve the problem of distribution channels.

In order to establish a special logistics and transshipment system, the current Guangzhou Office is still unable to catch it, so Schneider and others have introduced another compromise and effective method after summing it up, that is, an armed escort agency.

Although there was no real "dart game" in this period, it was not a new thing for civilian security agencies with similar functions to be present in this period. During the Ming Zhengde period, there was an organization called "Daxing", which has gradually spread to various big cities in the Wanli period. This kind of civil security agency with a fist pattern as a symbol is openly listed for business, and the business content is to provide security protection services for travelers, businessmen and wealthy families, and the local government also recognizes its storage and operation rules, and the valuables escorted by the "beating" can also be sealed by the official, so that the owner of the goods can rest assured that the container will not be opened without permission during the transportation.

As the capital of the Guangzhou-Guangzhou region, Guangzhou naturally has a similar organization, but its scale and organizational structure are still at the level of "amateur players" in the eyes of the Guangzhou Office, which is far from the requirements of the Guangzhou Office, and does not have the value of cooperation or acquisition. On the contrary, the Li family, who took the initiative to come to the door, gave the Guangzhou Office a new idea, and the Li family themselves did not raise a large-scale militia group? It is better to let them pull out this militia and then set up a new organization to realize the initial plan of the Guangzhou Office for the construction of distribution channels.

Since last year, the Li Jiamin Regiment has been gradually equipped with the Type 27 arquebuses purchased from Shengli Port and a full set of individual equipment, and the commanders of the militia are also going to Shengli Port in stages and batches to receive unified training, and the training time is even longer than that of the North Vietnamese Army, and its combat effectiveness is still guaranteed to a certain extent. In addition, this militia group has carried out several escort missions before this, and has successfully transported tens of tons of illicit salt to various capitals in Liangguang, Guangzhou, and Guangzhou, which has already proved their potential in this regard. With some targeted training, this militia can be turned into an armed escort team in the short term.

Of course, the Li family's concern is not only about the combat effectiveness of their own militia group, but more importantly, how to turn this combat effectiveness into the ability to make money. The Li family has now invested more than 10,000 taels in this militia group, and even if they can't get the capital back, it's good to be able to earn the daily maintenance costs.

In the future, the main content of this armed escort organization will be divided into two parts: internal and external, and it will mainly undertake the escort work of valuables, including gold and silver, and the cover of this external business is the transportation of contraband operated by "Fu Ruifeng" itself.

At present, "Fu Ruifeng" is still transporting arms and smuggled salt and other contraband from Guangzhou to other places in the name of caravans, and it often does not even dare to take the main road, for fear of being checked by the local inspection department. After the establishment of an armed escort agency, "Fu Ruifeng" can use the way of sealing the escort to deal with all kinds of checks that may occur on the way. As for how to communicate and cooperate with the local government, this kind of small matter does not need to be pointed out by the Guangzhou Office one by one, and the old fritter Li Jifeng naturally knows how to do it.

The Guangzhou Office pointed to this, and the Li family father and son had certainly realized the trickiness. The dart team can take ten boxes of goods on the road for the escort task, and as for what is contained in the other nine boxes, no one will tear off the official seal for inspection on the way. In the future, the dart team will be able to blatantly transport all kinds of contraband through the state without worrying about being checked. To put it to the extreme, where "Fu Ruifeng" wants to transport goods, it can completely make up a consignor by itself, and then transport a batch of goods that actually do not have zài on the road.

Of course, it will not be easy to do this kind of process, first of all, it is necessary to take care of the various yamen in Guangzhou, and this cost is certainly not a small amount. However, the Guangzhou Office generously said that the start-up capital for the establishment of this institution can be opened to the same as "Fu Ruifeng", and in the future, it will be regarded as a business in which both parties have invested in shares, and the losses will be shared together, and the profits will be divided in half according to this proportion.

For this mention, the Li family father and son don't seem to have any reason to oppose it, if this institution is established, then the goods that go through the dark line must all come from Shengli Port, and it is reasonable for the Haihan people to intervene. Moreover, the Haihan people undoubtedly bear nearly half of the daily maintenance costs of the Li Jiamin League in doing so, and no matter whether this organization can make money in the future, at least a lot of money can be saved from here.

Of course, it is not that the Guangzhou Office has too much money and no place to invest, and there are still quid pro quo conditions for joining hands with "Fu Ruifeng" to engage in this business: First, the day-to-day management and decision-making of this armed escort organization must have the participation of Haihan Commissioner, and all its subordinate personnel must participate in the professional training courses arranged by Haihan; second, Haihan has the right to send people to accompany the escort team to participate in the entire escort process, and Haihan will also send personnel to future branches stationed in other places.

The purpose of these two requirements is quite clear, and the second requirement is simply a copy of He Xi's original words, and its role is to rely on the business network of this escort agency in addition to the purpose of establishing distribution channels, and gradually build up the mainland intelligence network subordinate to Haihan.

It has been half a year since He Xi arrived in Guangzhou, but the establishment of the intelligence network has always been confined to Guangzhou itself, and it is difficult to have a suitable opportunity to expand to other places. And this joint venture escort agency undoubtedly provides a good opportunity, as long as the dart team can go to the place in the future, Haihan's intelligence network can also be extended quickly, and it can have a certain amount of armament in a legal form.

When Tao Dong came to Guangzhou, the Guangzhou Office had already talked with the Li family about 7788, and basically reached an agreement on cooperation. After listening to the face-to-face report of the Guangzhou Office, Tao Donglai also believes that this is a more feasible plan, and it is estimated that the progress that can be made in the commodity distribution network will not be as great as the Guangzhou Office predicts, but it will play an incomparable role in promoting the construction of an intelligence system on the mainland. Just for this point, Tao Donglai felt that the money was well spent.

The actual cost of the crossing group is actually much smaller than the figure in the agreement between the two companies, because the crossing group's contribution is more discounted by equipment and professional training courses, and the cash is really not much. Based on the scale of the 200 members of the Li Jiamin Group, the amount of capital contributed by the crossing group is only two or three thousand taels of silver per year, and it will come back after selling an extra twenty or thirty tons of salt. Even if the scale of the Li Jiamin League expands in the future, it is actually within the capacity of the group, and this amount of money is really only a small amount compared to the activity funds approved by the Executive Committee to the intelligence department of the Guangzhou Office.

Of course, weapons of mass destruction such as muskets must not be openly equipped by armed escort agencies, and at most such things can only be packed and carried around, and it is absolutely impossible to carry muskets on their backs in broad daylight. However, this problem should be solved within this year, and the military industry department of Victory Port is already working on a short version of the musket, although the range will be shortened but the power will be further increased, and its use will be mainly used by the special operations company formed by Qian Tien Dun on the North Vietnamese side, so that they can carry it in the mountainous jungle environment.

In addition, there is a slightly less powerful police version that will be equipped with the soon-to-be-established police department, and now that Guangzhou has this demand, then it can be lowered on this basis and a short-barreled version with weaker performance to equip the Li Jiamin Group. As for the arquebuses originally used by the Li Jiamin Group, they could be sold to Fujian, and if they were operated well, they could even make a little profit. The Li Jiamin Regiment is expected to become the first armed force outside of Victory Harbor to be equipped with flintlock weapons.

After the Li family was settled, the Guangzhou Office immediately used its business relationships to start looking for customers for the armed escort agencies that were still in the plan, and prepared to promote the armed escort business as a subsidiary business of the bank. At present, these foreign businessmen who have opened accounts in the "Haihan Development Bank" and have a huge amount of money have become the focus of Schneider and others. Almost at the beginning of each month, Wang Qin, the business director of the "Haifeng" in Guangzhou, would go to the Guangzhou Office to take away 5,000 to 8,000 pieces of cash, and transport them back to the Huizhou General Office by other means.

It happened that Tao Donglai also planned to find customers to understand the operation of the bank, so Schneider came forward to invite Wang Qin to the inner courtyard for an interview. Sure enough, after asking, Wang Qin was very interested in this matter, and Schneider seized the opportunity to introduce the planned business to him.

After listening to this, Wang Qin asked rhetorically: "Since it is an escort team organized by you, I am naturally relieved in the future, but I am a little unclear, why your escort fee is lower than that of other companies? ”

Schneider said with a smile: "The price is high or low, which is linked to the scarcity of goods, and the high price of our Haihan's commodities is actually just because there are too many people who want to buy and our production capacity is very limited." When the production capacity increases, the price will naturally decrease. However, the trade of this escort is not the same as the merchandise, and we do not want to make much money from this, but we just want to expand the business route with this business. ”

Wang Qin nodded thoughtfully, not knowing whether he believed it or not.

Schneider naturally has unspoken content, the low price of the escort is not entirely the reason he just said, part of it is the profit of transporting his own private goods along the way, and there is also the plan to expand this armed escort team into a logistics company, relying on expanding the transportation volume to reduce the cost of a single waybill. Even if there is a slight loss in the early stage, Schneider is still full of confidence in the business in the long run.

Tao Donglai then turned the topic back to the bank's business, persuading Wang Qin to try the bearer small-amount silver bills that the "Haihan Development Bank" was about to launch. In addition to the fact that this kind of silver ticket can be used in Shengli Port, there are currently several merchants in Guangzhou such as "Fu Ruifeng", "Yongfeng Cloth Store", and "Haihan Bookstore" will also begin to accept this kind of silver ticket. In addition, such as the "Chenghai Bank" in Chaozhou Prefecture, as well as the Xu's Commercial Bank in Zhangzhou and Quanzhou, Fujian, have already negotiated an agreement with the Guangzhou Office on the use of this kind of small amount of silver bills, and the "Haihan Development Bank" will open a branch in Zhangzhou within the year, and merchants in Fujian can also enjoy the service of deposit and exchange in the local branch.

Wang Qin's "Haifeng" is in Huizhou, and there is a Chaozhou Mansion in the middle of Zhangzhou, and there are a lot of business contacts with Fujian, which made him very moved. After getting accustomed to using the deposit and exchange services provided by the "Haihan Development Bank" in Guangzhou, Wang Qin really felt its convenience, and if Zhangzhou could also provide such services, then in the future, his own business would have to traffic goods from Zhangzhou to Guangzhou, and the delivery of silver would be much more convenient.

At that moment, Wang Qin agreed casually, and asked Schneider to immediately transfer five hundred taels from his account for this anonymous small amount of silver bills. After Schneider gave the order, Yu Xiaobao came in with a tray after a while. On the tray was a stack of new-style silver tickets with denominations of ten taels, fifty taels, and one hundred taels, and a small brocade box pressed on top.

"A small gift, not a respect, Boss Wang, don't dislike it!" Schneider grinned and pushed the tray in front of Wang Qin.

Wang Qin opened the small brocade box and saw that it was a one-inch square glass seal, and the inscription was a small seal of "Haifeng Wang Qin", and he thanked him repeatedly: "Such a valuable gift, how can you afford it!" Mr. Shi is really too polite!"

Due to the lack of production capacity and conscious hype, Haihan's glass products have always been high in the Guangzhou-Guangzhou region, and custom-made products that are only sold to a small number of collectors are even rarer. Before that, Wang Qin had asked the Guangzhou Office to customize a set of glass stationery for a wealthy businessman in Huizhou, which was only engraved with the name of the owner's family and two poems, and the price doubled on the original basis. There is a clear price on the product roster of the Guangzhou Office, and the price of glass customized products is ten taels per word, and there is an additional fee for those with a size of more than five points. Customized products like glass seals, the lowest starting price is more than 80 taels, plus lettering, the market price is more than 100 taels, Wang Qin is so polite and not pretended.

Schneider said: "In the future, if Boss Wang needs anything, as long as he writes a letter, stamps the payment with this seal, and sends someone to the Guangzhou Office, we will send someone to handle the business, saving Boss Wang the trouble of running around." ”

Wang Qin closed the lid of the box and replied with a smile: "That's not possible, if you don't come down, how can you get Mr. Shi's guidance from time to time?"

Schneider said: "Speaking of which, I have an idea recently, I don't know if Boss Wang is interested in participating in it." ”

"If it's a good thing, Mr. Shi, don't forget to count the next one!" Wang Qin was in a good mood at this time, and he began to speak casually.

Schneider explained: "In this case, our Guangzhou Office plans to set up a new organization with merchants who trade with us in Fuzhou and Guangzhou......

"Chamber of Commerce?" Wang Qin didn't wait for Schneider to finish speaking, and then asked.

Schneider shook his head and said: "It's not just a traditional chamber of commerce, this organization absorbs businesses that are willing to cooperate with us and make a fortune together, without being restricted by geography or business scale." This is because the business we have to do is relatively large, and it is far from enough to combine the strength of a single company and two companies. ”

Wang Qin was stunned and said: "As far as I know, there are at least twenty or thirty merchants in Fuguang and Guangzhou provinces who have business dealings with you, what kind of business does it require so many merchants to join forces to do it?"

Schneider smiled and said nothing, Tao Donglai took over and said, "Has Boss Wang ever been to Victory Harbor?"

Wang Qin nodded and said, "I was fortunate to go there once a month ago, but I was in a hurry that time, and I didn't have time to visit Mr. Shi." ”

Tao Donglai said: "Then what does Boss Wang think of that place in Victory Harbor?"

Wang Qin thought for a while before responding: "When I first arrived, it was hard to imagine that the local area was only a new port that had been open for less than a year. Whether it is the port facilities or the local environment, it can be regarded as one of the best in the port that I have ever visited! I have heard that you are good at engineering construction for a long time, and it is only after you go to Shengli Port that you can see the indescribable power of the rumors. At that time, I also heard some rumors that the Yazhou government intended to hand over some wasteland under its rule to you for development. ”

"Yes, but we didn't have that much energy to run outside of Port Victory. Tao Donglai nodded and affirmed Wang Qin's statement: "If there is a new opportunity to create a second or third victory port now, will Boss Wang be interested in participating?"

Wang Qin's eyes lit up: "Mr. Tao is not joking, is he? Do you really plan to open a new port again? Can you tell us a little bit about the details?"

"Absolutely. Tao Donglai nodded and said, "The new organization we just talked about is prepared for this. ”