Chapter 1472 Northern Route (5)

In the past, Majiazhuang was just a small village in Fushan County. Not many people in Dengzhou knew about it, let alone the whole of Shandong. But now, Majiazhuang has been rumored to be the "No. 1 village in Dengzhou"

"The prosperity of this town alone is comparable to that of a big city.

Of course, the surface glamor cannot fully explain the development here. To verify whether the prosperity of a place has reached a relatively high standard, the easiest way is to look at the level of commercial catering here. This

The guests and hosts we entertained this time were all business people, so they knew all about these things. As soon as the banquet started, it was basically clear what the current standard of Majiazhuang was.

Shandong cuisine is originally one of the four traditional Chinese cuisines. In the "Essentials of Qi Min" written by Jia Sixie in the late Northern Wei Dynasty, he described the "steaming, boiling, roasting, stuffing, frying, stir-frying, boiling and cooking" in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River.

", fried" and other cooking techniques were summarized, which can be said to have laid the framework of Chinese cooking techniques. In the Ming Dynasty, a large number of Shandong chefs and dishes were selected into the palace, which made the upright, peaceful and health-preserving style characteristics of Shandong cuisine more prominent.

The chefs of this restaurant in Majiazhuang are all chefs hired with huge sums of money from Jinan Prefecture, and the banquet prepared is naturally a standard Shandong cuisine banquet. On the table are first-grade tofu, sea cucumbers roasted with green onions, and chicken nuggets with sugar sauce.

Elephant-eye pigeon eggs, Xishi tongue in clear soup, shredded yam, braised prawns, musu pork, fish with vinegar and pepper... Dozens of dishes were served one after another, all of which were masterpieces of Shandong cuisine. Even a few of the visiting team saw many dishes.

Well-informed gourmets can’t help but praise the Shandong cuisine here for its authentic taste after trying it.

Even people who have not studied food know that this level of feast is certainly not something that can be enjoyed in ordinary towns. The chefs who can prepare these dishes will definitely not use ingredients that come from Zhejiang.

Preparations were only started temporarily after the team arrived at Zhifu Port. At most, they started preparations one day in advance. If this level is usually achieved, it is conceivable that the local consumer groups are not all ordinary people, but there must be a group of people with stronger economic strength.

Only strong upper-class people in society can make a living by visiting this high-end restaurant.

Since there are such high-end restaurants in Majiazhuang, they must not exist in isolation. There must be many supporting facilities of comparable quality, such as inns, carriage shops, brothels, etc. When the service industry in a region reaches a certain level,

To such an extent, the social wealth gathered here will naturally be quite astonishing. They don't need to travel throughout Majiazhuang. From this place alone, they can roughly deduce the level of economic development here.

Of course, to be able to gather so much wealth from the outside to Majiazhuang, He Li and others would never believe that this was just a motivation from the private sector. The local government in Shandong probably not only acquiesced in private trade, but also probably

Only by secretly adding fuel to the flames could this originally unknown Zhuangzi turn into a prosperous town in such a short period of time. And Haihan showed these conditions intentionally or unintentionally, naturally so that He Li and others could

Realize how influential and effective Haihan is in the local area.

During the dinner, Ma Dongqiang was also half drunk and half awake and roughly revealed some of Haihan's long-term plans for the local area. First of all, the land on Zhifu Island will definitely not be let go and returned to Ming Dynasty. Haihan is considering seeking a legal settlement.

He did not hesitate to take over this land from the Ming Dynasty, even if he had to spend some money for it. As for the land in Fushan County, Haihan wanted to protect the last two places that the Zhejiang businessmen visited today.

The first is Fushan Copper Mine, and the second is Majiazhuang. These two places, including their surrounding areas, will definitely not be returned to the Ming Dynasty.

In addition to these key protection areas, Haihan has currently developed and constructed plantations within the jurisdiction of Fushan County. Of course, it will not be abandoned easily. Therefore, the overall plan is to at least retain the existing control areas. The process can be negotiated with Daming.

The solution will be solved slowly. In the future, this area will serve as Haihan's base in Shandong Peninsula, echoing the area it occupied in Liaodong across the sea.

At this time, He Li slowly came back to his senses, and was even more impressed by Haihan's whole day's visit arrangements. After watching the whole day, they at least knew that the resources and development efforts Haihan had invested in Shandong were not a big deal.

It was just for fun, and it was indeed profitable for Haihan to hire them to operate the northern route, not just to satisfy their hunger.

After seeing Majiazhuang, He Li also had more expectations for the untouched Liaodong region. He heard that Haihan had already been in such a situation in Shandong for less than two years, and Liaodong

The area occupied there is larger, and there is no external resistance such as local governments. The space for operation is only slightly larger than that of Fushan County. If operated properly, it is possible to become a major trading port in the Bohai Bay in a few years. If you start early,

Obviously there will be many conveniences in the future.

Everyone had a banquet in the restaurant, and most of them were already drunk. In addition, they had been running around for a whole day, and their energy was already exhausted. Everyone was no longer interested in the "sideshow" prepared by Ma Dongqiang, and just wanted to go to bed early.

They fell asleep. Ma Dongqiang didn't force himself when he saw this. It was getting dark now, so he sent them to the inn they had contacted in advance to rest, and they would go back to Zhifu Island tomorrow.

After everyone arrived at the inn, a waiter ushered them in. They shared a room with each other. Hot water and towels were already prepared. They quickly cleaned up and took a rest.

Early the next morning, everyone had breakfast at the inn, and then took the bus back to Zhifu Island. With what they saw yesterday as conversation materials, everyone started talking about Haihan's business situation in Shandong on the way. They, the maritime merchants,

In addition to profits from trade, what matters most is the safety of the destination, including the political situation, security conditions, port supporting facilities, etc. Judging from yesterday’s visit, Haihan’s performance in this regard

There is obviously no doubt about their professionalism. The degree of perfection of their measures in this field far exceeds the scope of businessmen's worries. Even some details that they have not considered at all, Haihan has been fully prepared.

If used as investment targets, these Zhejiang businessmen would be happy to invest some money in Shandong and run businesses such as stores. Anyway, they have a ready-made fleet, and they definitely have certain advantages in terms of freight. I just visited yesterday

After looking around, Haihan did not mention any projects for them to invest in, and they did not even make a formal promotion to them for investment projects with the lowest threshold, such as plantations.

He Li had been listening to the discussion of several other people without expressing his opinion. When he heard this, he interrupted: "Fushan is too small. I guess the Haihan people don't want to make the situation too complicated, so they have no plans to attract large-scale investment. If they want to

If you want to spend money and do some business locally, I think there is probably only one place where you can start your business, Majiazhuang."

After everyone heard this and recalled what they saw and heard yesterday, it seemed to be true. The ownership rights of the plantations they went to early in the morning seemed to be in the hands of the Haihan official. They had not heard of any land being developed privately. All the land in the county was local.

Haihan, a traditional large household in China, also specially left this area untouched. As for the copper mine, it was protected by the army like an iron barrel formation, and it was impossible for private investors to participate in the operation. After all, it was true that only Ma

The prosperous town of Jiazhuang seems to have some room for investment.

"In Brother He's opinion, is Majiazhuang worth a try?" Someone felt that He Li was right and continued to ask questions.

He Li pondered: "Haihan arranged for us to visit the local area, and naturally he used Majiazhuang as a demonstration. And what we saw is that there are indeed many foreign merchants running businesses in the local area. If I am not mistaken, we are not

The first group of people to visit Majiazhuang will certainly not be the last. If Haihan wants the Shandong Controlled Area to continue to prosper, he will probably need more businessmen to join in. Personally speaking, Majiazhuang

It’s worth a try!”

Of course, this kind of chatting on the way will not lead to any definite conclusion. Everyone is just asking each other for their opinions. If you really want to make a decision, you have to think carefully. After all, this place is too far away from Zhejiang.

When investing, you must consider daily regulatory and operational issues.

However, He Li had already made up his mind. Regardless of whether others would invest or not, he had planned to open a business store here. If he invested a few thousand taels of silver, he would be able to get his money back quickly. He paid special attention during the visit.

When I walked into the shops in the town, there were only a few selling southern goods. The varieties were few and expensive, obviously because the supply problem had not been solved well. And for a maritime merchant like him from the south, this was naturally a problem.

This is an excellent business opportunity, there is no reason to let it go.

Of course, he believes that he is not the only one to have noticed such details, so the earlier he starts, the more advantage he will have as a first mover. Others may have to spend time to consider various issues before they start making plans and implement them, but he plans to follow Hai as soon as possible.

The relevant departments in Han Dynasty finalized the matter and notified his brother He Xiao as soon as possible to make preparations in Zhejiang.

He Li is not worried that his affirmation of the investment environment in Majiazhuang will bring too many competitors to him. Even if he does not say this, others are not stupid and will naturally infer Haihan from what they see and hear.

His intention and sincerity. But he believed that he would be able to put this plan into effect faster than others, because he knew from his brother that the Haihan people had the ability to communicate across thousands of miles, and this technology could be enjoyed by outsiders with money.

service.

Of course, maybe there are others in the team who also know this secret that is not a secret, so he planned to contact the officials of the Haihan Ministry of Commerce as soon as he returned to Zhifu Island and spend money to send the news back to Zhejiang. One step faster

, Bu Bu Kuai, He Li believes that as long as He Xiao receives the news, he will naturally understand his plan and cooperate with it.

After returning to Zhifu Island without incident, He Li took a chance and went to find the official from the Ministry of Commerce who was responsible for receiving them and informed him of his request. The official kindly reminded him: "This method costs a lot."

Gao, if Boss He wants to understand the content clearly, it is best to be as concise and concise as possible."

When He Li asked about the price, he was shocked. It was as high as three taels of silver per word. The official's explanation was that the civilian telegraph network was still in the debugging stage, and for the time being, the only way to go was the military. The military had rare goods, so it was fixed.

Even with this high price, the Ministry of Commerce cannot make the final decision. After a period of time when civilian telegraph is put into use, this fee will be greatly reduced - to about one tael of silver per word.

He Li didn't know much about debugging, but he knew that whether it was the military method or the civilian method mentioned by the official, the price of this transmission was far beyond the reach of ordinary people. But the other party also said that it was sent from here to Zhoushan Island.

The message can be sent to Ningbo by speedboat on the same day, directly to He Xiao. This efficiency is already impeccable in He Li's opinion.

Since the military was willing to sacrifice a lot of money, He Li had no choice but to grit his teeth and accept the offer. He worked with the official on deleting and editing, and it took a long time to reduce the original draft of more than 100 words to more than 30 words.

The general idea remained the same. In the end, it took a hundred taels of silver to finally get this telegram finished.

However, He Li did not see how the text message was sent in the end. Officials took away the manuscript of his letter and money, and later the receipt only contained the words "content has been sent" and a

The seal of the Shandong Garrison Communications Liaison Office.

"So... the letter has been sent?" He Li asked in disbelief. He always felt as if he had been cheated out of a sum of money by the other party. How could he send the letter so quickly and without any movement?

Sent away?

The official did not take it seriously, nodded and said: "Don't worry, this receipt is stamped with the seal of the army and cannot be faked. The letter will be received over there within today."

He Li frowned and said, "Then how do I know whether I received it or not?"

The official smiled and said: "If your brother knows your thoughts, he will definitely send a reply as soon as possible to reassure you."

He Li couldn't help but smile when he heard this: "Doesn't this mean we have to keep replying to each other so that the other party can feel at ease?"

However, there is one thing that makes He Li feel a little relieved, that is, except for him, no one in the entire team seems to have thought of using telegrams to transmit the information he obtained in Shandong back, so that Zhejiang can do it first.

The preliminary preparations for the investment in Shandong made He Li feel proud of his foresight. If this plan could be implemented smoothly in the end, then the one hundred taels of silver in the summons would be well worth it.

The next morning, as the fleet was getting ready for departure, a horse went directly to the dock and sent a telegram from Zhejiang to He Li, who was about to board the ship. The content was exactly his brother He Xiao's reply to the previous telegram.

.However, He Xiao is obviously much smarter than He Li. This reply has only one word: OK.
Chapter completed!