Chapter 2281

From Li Nai's point of view, the daily operation of Qiongxi Academy seems to be doing well, the teaching environment is orderly, and the lecturers in various majors he has seen do not seem to have the kind of Mr. Nanguo who is just messing around. After all, this picture

The dean seems to know a little bit about all aspects of knowledge, and the minimum level of teaching here must be passed through him first.

Li Nai also boasted of being knowledgeable in the past, but when he visited Qiongxi Academy this time, he was quite surprised by the erudition displayed by this unassuming dean of the academy, although his level may not be enough to be a master in a certain field.

He has become an expert, but Zhang Jinbao’s understanding of the subjects offered by the academy has been far beyond ordinary people. Among the people Li Nai has come into contact with, there are very few people with Zhang Jinbao’s level.

High-ranking officials in Haihan who don't know it may not understand it either.

However, based on the contact with Zhang Jinbao these days, Li Nai can confirm that the other party is not a "born knower" like the senior officials of Haihan, but has mastered this knowledge through continuous study and accumulation. With Zhang Jinbao's ability

, even if you don’t open an academy, you will definitely be able to make some achievements in other fields.

Of course, everyone has their own ambitions. Li Nai does not arbitrarily believe that being in business or becoming an official is superior to running an academy, and he can clearly feel that Zhang Jinbao has really devoted a lot to this cause.

With his hard work, he is definitely a partner worthy of respect.

However, business is business, and there are some issues that need to be clarified, so we still have to explain them clearly at this stage. This will not only be responsible for our own work, but also respect our partners.

"Dean Zhang, when you were in Sanya, you mentioned to me that you planned to open a branch of Qiongxi Academy in Guangzhou. Can you tell me more about your detailed plans?" After sitting down, Li Nai took the initiative to mention it.

Got down to business.

Zhang Jinbao responded: "Then let me first talk about the current idea. If there are any inappropriate omissions, please give me some advice, Third Young Master!"

Zhang Jinbao took the time to sort out his ideas in the past few days and roughly listed some items in order to respond to Li Nai's inquiry. He cleared his throat and began to outline his plans one by one.

According to Zhang Jinbao’s plan, there will be some differences in the direction of running schools between the branch in Guangzhou and the main school in Danzhou. Because the Guangzhou branch will cooperate with Fulifeng in running schools, Fu Ruifeng will be more considered in the setting of subjects.

Ruifeng's employment needs, for example, focus more on business, navigation and other fields.

In addition, some majors that are only relatively marketable in Haihan, or have certain technical confidentiality requirements, will also be cut in the Guangzhou branch. Zhang Jinbao does not need to explain this. Li Nai has been dealing with senior figures in Haihan for many years, so he naturally understands this.

How closely do people guard technological secrets? Although the skills taught to students by Qiongxi Academy may not be very advanced, Haihan would definitely not be happy to see some of Haihan's proprietary technologies spread in this way.

To the Ming Dynasty.

Under such circumstances, the scale of the branch school will definitely be reduced. Zhang Jinbao predicts that the initial number of majors will be limited to less than ten. As for the enrollment method, Qiongxi Academy has a ready-made plan that can be applied.

With the announcement, promotional tours, and some training activities targeted at large employers like Furifeng, it shouldn't be a big problem to recruit three to five hundred students in the first phase.

"But with such an enrollment volume, can the tuition collected cover the daily operating expenses of the college?" Even if Li Nai does not look at the income and expenditure account books of Qiongxi College, he can roughly deduce the daily expenses of such an institution based on experience.

Although he does not have high expectations for the profitability of this project, if he needs to spend additional money to subsidize long-term losses, he must carefully weigh whether it is worthwhile to invest in this project.

Zhang Jinbao responded calmly: "If we only rely on tuition fees, it will probably be difficult. The academy will definitely need to obtain income through other channels, such as sponsorship from Fulifeng. But I can guarantee that in one or two years, the academy will be able to

We will get on the right track and start making profits through our own operations. This can be based on the actual operating conditions here. Once the number of enrollment increases, the teaching costs will be diluted and profits will be achieved."

"How to arrange the teaching staff required for teaching?" Li Nai continued to ask.

Zhang Jinbao responded: "All the teachers needed in the early stage will be selected from Danzhou. If we can establish a foothold in Guangzhou, we will try to hire some lecturers from China as supplements."

Regarding the teaching staff, Zhang Jinbao actually does not have much confidence. At present, almost all lecturers at Qiongxi Academy are from Hainan. These people live a good life in Danzhou and may not be willing to accept expatriates to work in Guangzhou. Zhang

If Jinbao wants to achieve such a goal, the only way to do it is to pay him a lot of money, but doing so will inevitably increase the initial expenditure significantly.

Of course, he would not take the initiative to mention this kind of issue, otherwise Li Nai would mistakenly think that he was intentionally increasing the amount of initial investment, which might affect the prospects of cooperation between the two parties.

Li Nai continued to ask: "Has Dean Zhang carefully calculated the cost and construction period of opening a branch in Guangzhou?"

Zhang Jinbao said: "I'm not afraid of the third young master's jokes. I don't know much about labor and land prices in Guangzhou. Therefore, I haven't been able to calculate a more accurate estimate of how much it will cost to purchase land and hire craftsmen to build houses."

This is one of the reasons why I hope to cooperate with Fulifeng. Your firm is familiar with the business in Guangzhou. I believe that handling these matters will be much easier than mine, and it will also save a lot of money."

Li Naidao said: "Back then, when the Haihan Kingdom set up its office in Guangzhou outside Guangzhou, you could buy a large piece of land for a few thousand taels of silver, and then level the ground to build a commercial warehouse. It took more than half a year to achieve initial results. Later,

It has been expanded year by year over the past few years, and the annual investment in construction is not a small amount. As far as I know, the cost spent by the Guangdong Office in Guangzhou on construction should be 300,000 taels. Their place is about three-thirds

The size of Qiongxi Academy, maybe Dean Zhang can use this as a reference."

"Three...three hundred thousand taels!" Zhang Jinbao could only be speechless after hearing this.

If Qiongxi Academy is included in the real estate, it is probably worth three to four hundred thousand taels of silver. However, Zhang Jinbao's liquidity is far less than this amount. It must be managed according to the standards of the Guangdong Office.

Doesn't make sense.

But in fact, there is some water in Li Nai's description. The long construction project of the Guangdong Office did cost a lot, but a large part of it was actually because the construction standards of the Guangdong Office were too high.

When Haihan established the Liaison Office in Guangzhou, he had not even fully occupied the Qiongnan area, and war might break out with the Ming Dynasty officials at any time due to territorial disputes. Therefore, the Liaison Office in Guangzhou had to take relatively high risks to operate in Guangzhou.

If anything unusual happens, it will be difficult for Sanya to provide support through force.

Therefore, when the Executive Committee was planning the Guangdong Office, out of safety considerations, it intended to build the Guangdong Office into a fortress with certain protective capabilities, and its construction standards were much higher than ordinary private houses.

The Guangzhou Garrison Office used more than 2,000 green strips of 300 kilograms each to build the foundation of the wall facing Guangzhou City. It can be said that artillery with smaller calibers may not be able to hit the Guangzhou Garrison Office.

The front wall of the office is high.

With such construction standards, the cost is naturally high. In order to allow several senior Haihan officials stationed in Guangzhou to better adapt to the local environment, a lot of living facilities were subsequently transported from Sanya to the Guangdong Office, including bathtubs and toilet furniture.

Things like this are almost always transported across the sea to Guangzhou, which is another huge expense.

Therefore, the construction costs mentioned by Li Nai are not universal, and the Guangdong Office is completely a special case. If it is really just to build an ordinary store and office, then maybe 50,000 to 60,000 taels of silver will be more than enough.

But the reason why Li Nai wanted to use the Guangdong Office as an example was to test Zhang Jinbao's background, to see how determined and powerful he was to operate this project, and to leave a bargaining opportunity for himself.

capital.

Zhang Jinbao quickly thought about it in his mind, then shook his head and said: "If it costs so much money to open an academy in Guangzhou, then I can only give up this idea. For such a large sum of money, unless I sell Qiongxi Academy

Only then is it possible to raise..."

Li Nai smiled and said: "It's OK for Dean Zhang to cry because he is poor, but the academy cannot be sold. Let's talk about money. If our two companies cooperate, then the academy alone will not be the one to fund it."

After hearing about Li Nai's safety, Zhang Jinbao's face still looked worried: "But even if one family contributes half of it... this is an unbearable amount for the academy."

Li Nai said: "I have an alternative method, but I don't know if Dean Zhang can approve it."

Zhang Jinbao quickly responded: "I would like to hear the details."

Li Naidao said: "If we buy land to build an academy near Guangzhou City, firstly, the upfront cost will be high, and secondly, the construction period will be long, which will take up a lot of money in vain. If suitable ready-made housing can be found, can Dean Zhang consider using it?

Come and open a branch?”

Zhang Jinbao said: "What's wrong with this? If the third young master can find a suitable place and spend money to buy it or rent it for a long time, it can be discussed."

Li Nai said: "In that case, let me tell you straight. My family has an idle manor near Guangzhou, covering an area of ​​about a hundred acres. Nearly half of the area is composed of already built houses, and the other half is the surrounding fields.

If it is to be converted into an academy, I believe the amount of work will not be too large. Fulifeng will use the manor as a contribution to jointly establish the Guangzhou branch of Qiongxi Academy. What do you think of President Zhang?"

Zhang Jinbao is also a shrewd person. When Li Nai told this situation, he immediately understood that what the other person just said was just to support this condition. After hearing the story just now and then hearing Li Nai's condition, he would probably subconsciously understand

I thought this manor was worth at least hundreds of thousands taels of silver.

But the opportunity is rare, and Zhang Jinbao cannot refuse Li Nai's suggestion. If Furifeng can really donate this manor to set up a branch, a lot of time and money can be saved in the early stage. Moreover, this manor is in Fu Ruifeng.

Under Ruifeng's name, many unnecessary disputes can be avoided in the future.

Zhang Jinbao was very moved, but he also felt that Li Nai wanted to take advantage of the academy under this condition, so he felt a bit sorry for himself if he did not bargain with him.

Li Nai then said: "If Dean Zhang can't make up his mind, why not go to Guangzhou with me in two days? Seeing is believing, and see for yourself whether this manor is suitable. If Dean Zhang likes us, we can discuss the details.

If you are not interested in the cooperation method, you can also learn about the local market in Guangzhou and see if it is more cost-effective to buy a piece of land and build your own academy."

This proposal made Zhang Jinbao feel that it was acceptable. When the preparation for the branch reached a certain stage, he would definitely have to go to Guangzhou in person to finalize important matters such as the location of the branch. Li Nai also showed obvious interest in this cooperation. Perhaps this was the reason.

It is an appropriate time to push this matter into the implementation stage.

However, Zhang Jinbao still has some doubts: "The third young master's suggestion is good, but I am not familiar with the local situation in Guangzhou, so I probably need more help from the third young master."

Li Nai said: "This matter is easy to handle. You should take my boat in two days and go to Guangzhou together. When we get there, we will arrange someone to take Dean Zhang to inspect the school environment."

"If this happens, won't we have to bother the third young master for several days again?" Zhang Jinbao felt that it was feasible, but he still had to hesitate.

Li Nai said: "I would like to invite Dean Zhang to go to Guangzhou for inspection. I can't say it's disturbing. If this project is successful, you and I will be partners from now on, and there will be many more visits to Guangzhou."

When the two talked about this, they basically reached an intention to cooperate. The next step was to ask Zhang Jinbao to go to Guangzhou for a field trip. However, because the location has not yet been decided, the initial school expenses cannot be budgeted in advance at this time.

, so the funding issue does not need to be discussed in depth for the time being.

Seeing that the matter was almost settled, Zhang Jinbao said that he would treat Li Nai to a big dinner in Danzhou City in the evening to thank him for his previous care and his enthusiasm for taking the trouble to come to Danzhou to inspect the academy.

However, Li Nai advised: "Dean Zhang, there is no need to rush to be the host today. Someone has already made an appointment to hold a banquet for me in the evening. You can come with me."

Zhang Jinbao said: "There are actually people snatching up this reception banquet. The third young master is really popular. I don't know which boss invited Zhang to come forward and discuss it, and give today's meal to me first."

"

Li Nai just looked at Zhang Jinbao and smiled without saying a word, and did not immediately say the name of the proprietor. However, Zhang Jinbao immediately came back to his senses and said in shock: "How dare you be invited by the mayor to be the host? I really can't compete with you.

, I can only accept defeat!"

Li Naidao said: "I met Mayor Zhang when I went to the Yamen to do business today. He made an appointment to treat me to dinner in the evening. He didn't allow me to refuse, so I had to agree to him. But I also told Mayor Zhang that he was coming to Danzhou this time.

purpose, so he specifically asked you, Dean Zhang, to attend the banquet as well."
Chapter completed!