The machinery has been purchased a long time ago, the workers are skilled, the production efficiency is high, and the tariffs are low. In addition, the cost of purchasing cotton from North Korea is low, so the price is naturally low. Half of our technicians and technicians are hired at high prices, and dyes are also imported. Indeed,

It’s a big disadvantage. Secondly

It is difficult to train our workers, and it often takes one or two years to graduate. There are too few technicians who are proficient in machinery, and they all rely on foreigners. It is very common for foreign technicians to grind down foreign workers. Work is often delayed for several months without any reason, and dozens of machines are stopped.

There."

Zhang Bishi could only sigh in the same way and said: "What you said is true. It is not easy to run an industry in China, but it is already pretty good in the three northeastern provinces. This investment in the textile industry is almost half of my worth here. Fortunately, there are many

Everything was done by the Far Eastern Commercial Bank and the yamen in the three eastern provinces, such as the establishment of a large number of textile schools, the promotion of new cotton varieties, the construction of railways, and power plants. All aspects have been completed. I

At present, I feel that as long as we can survive the most difficult three years, the textile industry in the three northeastern provinces has great potential. Unfortunately, the excessive taxes and miscellaneous taxes in Zhili are so heavy that the price of cotton in Zhili is too high. The cotton price is high and the profit is thin, so farmers are unwilling to plant it.

, otherwise by harvesting cotton in two places, Jinzhou’s textile industry will definitely have great potential. Even so, I still think that the hope of China’s textile industry lies in the three eastern provinces, and the textile industry in the three eastern provinces is in Jinzhou.”

Song Biao nodded in agreement and said, "You are absolutely right."

Zhang Bishi added: "Japan's current domestic market is small, and the textile industry's production capacity is expanding day by day. Half of the market demand depends on exports to my country, and prices are kept very low. This is also a bad thing. Since the opening of the three eastern provinces, businessmen from various countries have mostly When investing in setting up factories, all profits were used to borrow money or expand the factory, and not many investors actually cashed in their banknotes. Japanese businessmen cashed in as much money as they could, eager to drain the banks of the three provinces."

While the two were talking, they had already walked outside Zhang Bishi's office building. Then they entered his office together and sat down here. Zhang Bishi took out two boxes of exquisitely packaged wine and presented them to him, saying: "This is my investment office in Yantai, Shandong.

Produced by the winery, I wanted to entertain the Governor at the banquet today, so I would like to ask you to accept this small gift from me."

Song Biao took it out and looked at it for a while. He felt that it was still very good. He smiled at Zhang Bishi and said, "Your winery is doing very well. I heard that there are a lot of wild grapes in the Changbai Mountain area. If you are interested in investing in one in the three northeastern provinces,

The winery, I’m definitely very welcome to.”

Zhang Bishi laughed heartily, sat down and sighed with Song Biao: "I have more ambition than strength. I am already old. If I were ten years younger, I would definitely go to the Changbai Mountain area to inspect it. Besides, the establishment of this textile factory cost almost

Half of my family wealth has been lost, and in these two

I have spent all my efforts and energy during the year. Although I am making a profit now, it will be hard to say when taxes start to be collected next year... I should still be able to make money, but the investment scale is huge. If it competes with the Japanese cloth,

If you get up, you will definitely suffer a loss in terms of price.”

After a pause, he continued: "A few days ago, Pan Sichi and I talked about Japanese foreign cloth. Speaking of it, the Japanese are also very good at doing business. The brands of foreign cloth are very good, and the colors and patterns are even closer.

What our local people like, although the quality is poor, the price is low, go for

Small profits but quick turnover. The quality of our textiles is not as good as the foreign cloths of Britain, France and Germany. So we can only learn the Japanese method. However, weaving patterns and colors requires technicians and masters who can draw pictures and weave threads. At the moment, we can only

Although hiring technicians from Japan and France can be an emergency solution, it is not a long-term solution."

Song Biao nodded slightly and said: "These matters have been considered in the Far East, as well as by the New Government Bureau and the Research Bureau of the Governor's Office. They started to deal with them last year. Now we have opened four textile schools in the three provinces of the East, specializing in textiles.

It is estimated that after five or six years of cultivating talents in this field, these problems will not be a big problem. Today, Japanese textiles account for half of the domestic imported textile market, and exports to China every year

More than 40 million yuan, it is definitely not an option to continue like this, but it is not easy to deal with this matter in three or four years. Pan Sichi and Rong Xingqiao have both reported this matter to me, and it is estimated that it will take five years to gradually resolve the matter.

To have the ability to compete with Japanese textiles in the long term, I can only say that I am taking my time. In the past five years, I will let all bureaus pay attention to the issues that need to be solved by the Governor's Office, and we will try our best to find solutions."

Zhang Bishi praised: "Your words are enough, and I feel relieved. But I also want to ask the Governor whether you can increase the tariff on Japan's exports to the three northeastern provinces. I have also discussed it with Yu Qiaqing and the others.

, the imperial court really can’t count on it, everyone is willing to invest and set up factories in the three northeastern provinces, because they are watching you take charge in the three northeastern provinces, and they will never let us suffer."

Song Biao replied: "There is definitely no way to talk about export taxes separately in these years, because the tariffs in the three northeastern provinces are still subject to the treaties signed by the Qing government and other countries. But this matter will not always be unresolved. I have it in my heart. For the time being.

After all, there are still some pitiful tariffs blocking it. As long as our own costs are lower than Japan's and the quality is no worse than them, it won't be a big problem. When doing business, there are always various tricks and tricks.

You all should work harder and think more about new things.

Law, new tactics, more decoration, more publicity. I am now afraid of Japanese companies investing in China. We cannot directly set restrictions on Japanese companies legally. We can only find ways to provide credit to various banks, and other

We can only rely on companies to figure out countermeasures for each other. In a word, there are limits to what the government can do. All we can do is to provide support to the entire industry as much as possible and maintain a fair competitive market.

For other things, we can only rely on the efforts of the industrialists themselves."

Zhang Bishi continued to agree: "Your Majesty, the governor-general of the three eastern provinces can do this. Those of us who run factories really understand it in our hearts, and we are really satisfied and very happy. Since your Excellency specially came to inspect my factory today, Zhang Bishi

, I, Zhang Bishi, am here to express my position to you. The environment in the three northeastern provinces is so good. I plan to spend all my money to invest and set up factories in the three northeastern provinces. There are 400 million people in China.

The textile industry has great prospects ahead. I plan to discuss with General Director Pan of the Far East Textile Corporation to invest another 20 million silver dollars on the current basis, and to expand the scale of Jinzhou Textile School and continue to support it in Tianjin and Shanghai.

Open two textile schools to cultivate talents. Since we have invested half of our wealth in the textile industry, we must develop this industry to give face to us Chinese people."

Song Biao clapped his hands and praised: "Great. General Manager Zhang has such courage and determination. It is really a blessing for China's industry. It is a blessing for China's textile industry. But when it comes to investment, I happened to think of another thing. I heard

General Manager Zhang has invested in many rubber plantations in Nanyang and is very experienced in this field. I would like to invest in this field. Some time ago, someone introduced me to the newly appointed Governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, Zhang Renjun.

,talk

When it came time to check whether Hainan Island was suitable for planting rubber trees, he was very interested in my idea and was willing to support me. However, you also know that the court had some criticisms of me, including the recent quarrel, and the Far East Trading Company was indeed

No one knows anything about rubber. After some consideration, I want to cooperate with you, or ask you to help me work on the stage. Our two families will jointly operate the entire rubber planting industry in Hainan Island."

Zhang Bishi was quite surprised and said: "Of course that's the best. Since there are two governors who can lead the way, it can definitely be done. But I don't know how many acres of rubber plantation the governor plans to buy?"

Song Biao said: "Approximately how many acres of rubber plantations have you planted in Nanyang?"

Zhang Bishi said: "About 60,000 acres. It is scattered in more than ten places. If the rubber plantation is too large, it is easy to cause problems. Especially if it gets infected, the entire production capacity will be reduced. There are also problems with too many workers. It is not easy to recruit.

, so a rubber plantation is usually about four to five thousand acres, and usually six to seventy workers are enough to manage it.

It is also convenient to manage. When busy, hundreds of temporary workers are urgently recruited. Fortunately, the price of rubber has increased slightly every year. Now the market is good. Generally speaking, it is more profitable than running a factory. It depends on the specific management level. If the management is not good,

There are also losses, and if you encounter wind, rain, or insect pests, that’s pretty bad.”

Song Biao continued to ask him: "How much rubber is generally produced, how much is the income, and what is the current demand in the global market?"

Zhang Bishi said: "My rubber plantations are all old forests that are more than 20 years old. They produce a relatively large amount of rubber. Usually, the harvest of dry rubber is close to 300 pounds per acre. New plantations that produce new rubber usually only have 100 pounds per acre."

Eighty pounds will gradually increase to 300 pounds in about ten years. Thirty pounds

The harvest gradually declines after the new year, and it is usually necessary to cut it down and replant it at this time. The 140,000 acres of forest here produced 18 million pounds of dry glue last year, with a price of two shillings per pound, and an income of about 100,000 pounds.

Seven hundred thousand pounds, fully calculated, after deducting all expenses and the earliest

I invested almost one million pounds last year. Of course, I never thought that this business would be so good. Six years ago, the annual profit was only a few hundred thousand pounds. I heard that the United States imported it last year.

The total price of rubber exceeds 10 million pounds, and it is also the country with the highest import of rubber in the world. More than half of the world's market is in the United States. In other words, the total global rubber import and export volume is now about 20 million pounds, and the United States imports

First, Germany and France are second, and the UK is relatively far behind."

Song Biao had previously collected some information related to the rubber industry, but it was purely related to planting technology and botany, and he knew nothing about the market, plantation management, etc.

After listening to Zhang Bishi, the Nanyang rubber king, Song Biao finally understood the account involved.

If the price eventually rises to 12 shillings per pound as history says, the United States will have to pay 50 million pounds in foreign exchange every year just to import rubber. From this point of view, Yu Qi said that this rubber financial crisis will clear up the world.

The main culprit for the collapse of the dynasty was the financial war waged by Jewish capitalists against the United States. That is why the U.S. government introduced laws to restrict the import of rubber to end this financial war.

In this era, fifty million pounds is definitely a huge amount of money, and it will eventually be turned into gold. No matter how much foreign exchange the United States earns from exports each year, or how much gold flows in every year, it will ultimately not be able to stop the madness of rubber. Previously, oil and other agricultural products have

All the pounds earned in the field will be spit back to the European plutocrats.

Zhang Bishi said that he invested 20 million silver dollars to account for half of his net worth. This is absolutely a lie. No businessman would tell the government his actual total assets. At this time, Zhang Bishi was not only one of the rubber industry kings in Nanyang, but also a real sugar industry leader.

One of the kings, he even occupies a large share in the import and export of tea in Java, Indonesia. He is stronger than Huang Zhonghan, another sugar king.

Some people say that Zhang Bishi's net worth at his peak was about 80 million US dollars. This should be a lie, because rubber is really a good thing, especially during the First World War. The total transaction volume of the international rubber market was as high as 780 million US dollars.

In pounds, the price of rubber is almost as high as the peak of 1910. And not everyone can buy it, because all ships, cars, submarines, and airplanes need rubber. Even artillery requires rubber.

The rubber industry is a very miraculous undertaking. After the collapse of the rubber bubble in 1910, more than 80% of the world's rubber plantations were razed. New investments in rubber plantations in the past few years were not spared. But by 1914, rubber plantations

The price soared magically again. Even between 1915 and 1916, it far exceeded the price in 1910. A pound of rubber was worth a pound of gold.

If you step in during the lowest period, you can actually buy the entire rubber planting industry with only a few million pounds. After a few years, you can reap a huge fortune of 780 million pounds. Just sit back and watch the Allies and Allied Powers continue to consume rubber in the world war.

.

Song Biao thought about it for a moment and said to Zhang Bishi: "I recently heard some rumors from foreign banks. It is said that some powerful European capitalists want to invest in the rubber industry, raise rubber prices, stimulate stock growth, and at the same time use

High rubber prices have hit the U.S. economy.

I suggest you register your rubber plantation in the Netherlands as a company and list it in the UK. If you cash out part of it at the right time, you should be able to earn a huge fee. I also recently want to buy a large amount of rubber stocks in the London market and wait for the stock price to grow.

Then sell it and get the price difference."

Zhang Bishi thought for a while and said: "It should be very possible. The rubber market is indeed very good now, and rubber is something that cannot be stored for a long time. It is best to replace it after one or two years, even if it is unprocessed dry rubber.

It can only be kept in your hands for about a year. Since the Governor is interested in doing this business, I can help, but I don’t know how reliable this news is?"

Song Biao said: "It's very reliable. Don't ask too many specific questions. Just trust my source."

Zhang Bishi pondered for a long time and said: "Since the Governor is so sure, then I will give it a try. In fact, I recently had the idea of ​​running a Nanyang Rubber Company in partnership with other Indonesian businessmen and Dutch businessmen, just because my rubber plantation is producing high yields.

In the future, I really can’t bear to give up the profit merger, so I might as well take a gamble now.”

Song Biao said: "It is not necessary to register as a Nanyang Rubber Company. You might as well see if you can register as a Netherlands-Indonesia Rubber Company. This will be more attractive in the international market and be larger in scale. Even if you have a little more working capital, you will have a larger share."

If possible, I would also like to spend some money to occupy the shares. If not, forget it. Anyway, there are other rubber stocks in the market that can be pursued."

Zhang Bishi said: "I'll try my best to help. Theoretically, it shouldn't be a big problem. I just don't know how much money the Governor-General expects to be able to split the shares?"

Song Biao calculated it and said: "I have about ten million pounds in cash, half of which are long-term loans from foreign banks. I will misappropriate it to this project first, and use five million pounds to give it to you."

The company increased its shares and another £5 million was used to purchase shares on the London Stock Exchange."

Zhang Bishi said: "I'm afraid I won't be able to afford five million pounds here. I can absorb more than one million pounds as new shares at most. The largest rubber companies now are the British Colonial Rubber Company, the Anglo-Dutch Rubber Company and the French Colonial Rubber Company.

These three companies are large rubber companies that were merged with the shares of colonial investors, accounting for about 1/2 of the international rubber supply market.

With a market share of 3.3, the equity is very dispersed. The current total market value of the three companies is actually only about 40 million pounds. If the news is true, you'd better eat and exit quickly, because these stocks are all large-cap stocks.
To be continued...