"The business has been difficult in the past two years. I have lost so much money, and I really don't know how to explain to the board of directors and shareholders." Shao Shuguang, the general manager of the bank, held several account books and said with a sad look on his face.

The four Han brothers, Shinnosuke Hashiguchi, Yuma Yamashita and other confidants were sitting on the chairs on both sides, and they were sweating profusely at this moment. The ghost weather on Taiwan Island was so hot and the humidity was far higher than that of the mainland. In addition, the boss sat in front of the account book and sighed, they were all under great pressure and sweating all over.

In fact, why don’t they know what Mr. Shao said? On weekdays, they ran around Haizhu Island Commercial Station, Ningbo Dinghai Port, Denglai Area, Amur River Estuary, Okhotsk Sea and even Heixiazi Port. They are very clear about the current business situation. Due to the severe drought that has lasted for many years, the number of victims in Shandong and East China governments collected in Denglai area is countless. So many people have to eat, which is naturally a huge expense. But in the past few years, due to the specialty trade with the Dutch East India Company

It is easy to make it so easy. Ningbo Prefecture (including occupied Tiantai, Ninghai and other counties), which were supposed to be an important grain-producing area in the Far East, was driven by economic interests, and the grain planting area dropped sharply. In the end, it even had to import grain from the Dutch East India Company and the Kingdom of Korea to make up for it. Of course, some grain inflows from Songjiang, Shaoxing and Hangzhou prefectures in the Qing Dynasty controlled areas, but it is always a lot, sometimes very few, and sometimes even the source is cut off, which is not stable.

The people of the East Coast have considered it seriously and thought they could afford it because they had the most powerful maritime transportation forces in the Far East and the relatively strong armed forces. Once food is scarce, they either pay for purchases, or pay for friendly forces, or directly looting troops, they will not all starve to death at home. It is precisely for this consideration that after the establishment of a large syndicate company of the Taiwan Bank, the tea and raw silk trade between the East Coast people and the Dutch East India Company reached a climax, and the Taiwan Bank swept most of the profits therein. The gentry and merchants of the stability maintenance meetings in various counties in Ningbo Prefecture also shared a lot of money, and the local grain production activities naturally fell to a low point.

However, the subsequent deployment of all the droughts and chaos in Shandong, Liang Xiangjian, the captain of the Denglai Development Team, conducted a "political adventure" (of course, as a time traveler, he was also qualified to play this kind of game because he could afford to lose). Within two and a half years, he successively attracted more than 340,000 Shandong victims to Denglai, Ningbo, Heishui, Hokkien, Liaodong, North Korea and other places to resettle and settle down - even the extremely remote Thousand Islands, Heixiazi Port, Rabaul, Australia and other places, a small number of them were slightly diverted - this crazy behavior suddenly exhausted the grain, cured meat, and salted fish that had been stored in various places for many years.

That's not all, the livestock that had been farmed for decades in Blackwater, Hokkien, Jeju Island and other places were also slaughtered in large quantities to supplement the food shortage. The money in the treasury, war horses in the pastures, various commodities in the warehouses, and all the goods that could be exchanged for money and grain were basically emptied, and exchanged for ships of food to feed those victims who were desperately huge.

In the end, due to the continuous spread of the disaster, the Three Feudatories of the Far East could not hold on anymore, and they had to use all means, such as robbing the Japanese coast (mainly the Japanese companies on the East Coast) and exploiting North Korea (mainly the Den Lai Development Team and the North Korean companies on the East Coast), borrowing money from merchants and gentry in the country (mainly in Ningbo Prefecture), drawing blood from Taiwan banks (no dividends have been distributed for two consecutive years, and even owed some payments for Guangdong merchants and Dutch people), and developing Zhaoyuan frantically

Gold mines (currently produce 600 kilograms of gold annually, mostly used to purchase grain), increased efforts to catch seafood (new whaling ships were built and Zhoushan fishing farms were opened), and even borrowed heavily from the Dutch East India Company (the total debt has risen to 2.4 million gusts, which is shocking). This has barely fooled the huge grain gap and in the Shandong drought and locust plague ended, with relatively good water conservancy facilities, resisted floods and hail (in some areas), and resumed production to a certain extent.

It can be said that as long as Shandong does not have three consecutive droughts and frequent locusts as before, even if the Denglai Development Team recovers, the 340,000 victims may have died in history, but they will basically survive. Liang Xiangjian passed the political qualifiers sent by the Executive Committee and gave him a warning and exhortation, which is a win-win situation.

Only after experiencing this incident did Liang Xiangjian realize how difficult it is to support more than 300,000 people without food and clothing. Once upon a time, when I read a novel in the 21st century, I saw a certain protagonist traveling back to ancient times and living hundreds of thousands of people at will. Liang Xiangjian didn’t think so at that time, but he did it himself, and I really felt that it was too difficult! This is still the case where people on the East Coast can fully mobilize resources from various places (even foreign countries), overdraw credit and credit, and sufficient transportation capacity. If it was a famine in the ancient inland areas, the picture would be unimaginable.

The drought in Shandong lasted for three years and the locust plague lasted for one and a half years. The Three Feudatories of the Far East exhausted their foundation and owed a lot of debts, and also annoyed the Japanese shogunate. Because the coast was plagued by yellow-clad pirates, the Tokugawa shogunate has repeatedly reiterated that the country was locked up, and the Satsuma family, which had been doing smuggling trade with the East Coast, was slippery and stopped. Only the strong Northeast vassal Ida family did their own thing, but the scale was also reduced compared to before, and they were obviously worried. Finally, they had to barely hold on. What they had to do below is to further expand the production of various foods, including grains, and strive to gradually reduce the import volume of grain within three to five years, achieve balance of income and expenditure, and then slowly recover and pay off the debts.

Basically, the Denlai Development Team will take about five years to slowly digest the deficit and transform productivity. All the cadres present at the Taiwan Bank also have some understanding of this. In other words, their lives may improve slightly in the next five years, but it is unlikely to deal with the debt and restore the good days of making money in the past. At least, the tea gardens, mulberry fields, cotton fields and other areas that have been destroyed and converted to grain in Ningbo Prefecture are not a matter of overnight recovery.

And this is exactly what Shao Shuguang is worried about now. After all, he is the general manager of Taiwan Bank (also a shareholder with 10% of the shares). It is his natural responsibility to make the company's business a step further and earn more profits for shareholders. However, the current reality has made him helpless. 1667 was a inevitable loss, and it is probably impossible to make a profit in 1668. The main loss point is that they need to support Commander Liao Xiaoyao as part of the food and cash to support their colonial activities in the Wudi River-Jia River area. That's a big deal!

"The two hundred boxes of raw silk that should be sent to the Dutch. The tea has been owed for some time. Governor Kuiyi of the Reland Chamberg has even visited the door twice. If it really doesn't work, first transfer the batch that should have been sent back to the local area to the Dutch, and then talk about it. After all, we owe them a lot of money for the goods now, and there is no way." Shao Shuguang threw down the account book in his hand and stirred it in a coffee cup with a spoon, saying: "But these Dutch red hairs have bought so much tea and raw silk from us in recent years and earned a lot of money. They are still pushing each other step by step. It's really hateful! If you have the chance in the future, you must expel them from the coast of the Ming Dynasty to see what they can do when they go."

"The Dutch red-haired man is indeed arrogant, but if we want to expel them from here, we don't need to do anything at all. Just let the people of Zheng Chenggong in Fujian take action." Han Jin carefully advised after a glance at his immediate boss: "In the past year, with Zheng Chenggong's acquiescence, many people in Fujian have crossed the sea to reclaim Taiwan Island, mostly in the central and northern regions. There has not been much development there, and the environment is harsh, and many people have died. I heard that the representatives sent by the Zheng family here have turned their attention to the prosperous Relanzha City.

Here in the fort, we plan to seize the natives who obeyed the Dutch's orders to grow sugarcane, rice and other crops. However, Zheng is still a little hesitant at the moment, worried that once he turns against the Dutch, the trade route to Japan will be harassed by Dutch ships, and the losses will be large. In the short term, I am afraid that Taiwan's output will not be able to make up for it, so I never agree. Therefore, as long as we hint that Zheng Chenggong can endorse their Japanese route, or even sell some artillery or old ships to them, maybe they can attack the Dutch Red Hair."

"Thinking!" Shao Shuguang pointed Han Jin with his right index finger and said, "I actually sold artillery and ships to Zheng Damu. Is this what you and I can do? Even the captains of the three pioneering teams do not have the power to sell retired warships privately, so they have to bear serious political responsibility. My resentment towards the Dutch Red Hair, that is, they are just ugly and ruthless, but putting them aside at this stage may not be a good thing. In addition to the group of merchants with great power in United Province, who else can help us sell so much tea and go to Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and the European continent? Is it impossible to rely on ourselves! So urging Zheng to fight the Dutch Red Hair and other things, don't mention it again in the future. It will not benefit us at all. On the contrary, it will also lose some profits. It is a fool!"

"Your Excellency is right. At this stage, the Dutch East India Company is our largest agent and has many reliances on it. You must not turn your back easily before you are fully prepared." Seeing that no one spoke for a while, Yuma, a middle-level Japanese cadre sitting at the end, said loudly: "If our company wants to quickly expand its business and increase profits in the next two years, the most realistic way is to follow His Excellency Liao Xiaoyao and develop the rich Amur River, Wudi River, and Jieya River basins. I have worked there for two or three years, and I know the local fertility, fur, gold, medicinal materials, livestock, and fish. Even the land is extremely fertile and fertile black soil. The harvest of crops such as vegetables, rye, oats, barley and other crops is very high. Except for the colder, everything in the local area is perfect and has great investment value. Please give a clear understanding of the information!"

"If you invest outside the Northeast, you have to make a lot of determination." Shao Shuguang first sipped the fragrant Tacheng refined coffee, and then said: "The barren lands are all light, cold, frozen, ignorant and vicious natives, and the extremely poor transportation conditions, the early investment may not be less. Moreover, Commander Liao was there to grab land, naturalize the natives, and expel the Russians and the Qing Dynasty. Our Taiwanese bank followed behind to invest and enjoy the happiness. We cannot help but say that this is another expense..."

Speaking of this, Shao Shuguang paused for a moment, and everyone focused on him and listened attentively to what he would say next, because this may be related to the development strategy of Taiwan Bank in the next few years and is extremely important.

"However, what Yongma said at the Yamashita is reasonable. When Ningbo Prefecture will not be able to recover for a while, the Northeast can indeed be our investment focus for the next two or three years." Shao Shuguang sold his entire life and cleared his throat and said, "Actually, a while ago, Commander Liao Xiaoyao and Commander Liao asked me to hand over a letter to me, inviting the bank to invest in Huma Fort. I actually know about that place. At present, there are about hundreds of settlers, very desolate, and they cannot afford to support themselves in the food, and there are even people around who are dissatisfied with the Wang Hua.

The indigenous people are harassing, and the investment environment is very bad. Commander Liao's intention is to ask our Taiwan Bank to pay money, supplies, and hire people to go to Huma Castle to develop gold mines. After half of the gold mined is distributed to them in proportion, the rest belongs to us. Of course, we have to pay the taxes that should be paid. At the same time, we also have to pay an extra amount of money to get a group of immigrants to settle and farm. After all, mining people also need to eat, and they can't all transport them from other places. To be honest, this project is still a little bit bigger, the investment in the early stage is a little more... "

"However, everyone has also seen that in the next few years we have not had much trouble in tea, so I have decided to invest in Huma Gold Mine to build it into the company's next stable source of profit." Shao Shuguang said: "It just so happened that the bank has made great progress in deposit business recently. Some landlords and wealthy people in Ningbo are finally willing to take out some of the money to put in the bank's account to eat interest (as a whole, there are still a few people, mainly because these merchants made money on raw silk and tea after making money (as a whole, they are still a few people, mainly because these merchants made money on raw silk and tea.

There are no other investment channels), so it is quite abundant in terms of funds. It should be a big problem to support the mining of Huma Gold Mine. You guys, it is time to seek change. Ningbo's business has collapsed, and the business in the northeastern region has to be established. Those who should buy ships, those who should hire people, those who should form security teams, and those who should organize expedition teams, and those who should organize expedition teams. In short, the tough battle of Huma Gold Mine must be fought well. No one is allowed to be timid. Do you understand?"
Chapter completed!