"What? The machine was broken again?" Chen Mengqiu suddenly sat up from the recliner in Taipei County, Taipei Prefecture, and did not care about the still vicious sun outside. He grabbed the palm-leaf fan and walked out. Behind him, in addition to the four guards holding knives and guns, a servant in blue clothes followed him.

Chen Mengqiu is the magistrate of Taipei appointed by Zheng Kezang, and is in charge of the Zheng family's four counties in Taiwan, Taipei, Zhuqian, Keelung and Pingnan. He is also responsible for negotiating with the Taiwan Bank of the East Coast people and has certain authority.

As the second son of Zheng's elder Chen Yonghua and the current Jinshi of the Ming Dynasty, this jun traveled to Kunming when he was young, participated in a scientific examination and a high school Jinshi. After serving as an editor of the Hanlin Academy for a period of time, he left Chen Mengqiu, both from origin, fame and practice, was quite good. His only disadvantage was that he was too impatient and treated his subordinates harshly, and sometimes even disobeyed his superiors. Otherwise, he would not be a Taipei prefect, and he would have been an important minister who often accompanied Zheng Kezang, just like his brother Chen Mengwei.

Of course, being a prefect in Taipei does not mean that Zheng Kezang does not pay attention to him. After all, this is his place of success. He was the prince of Yanping and is now the prince of Fujian Province. He has not given up on the Taipei Prefecture. Therefore, to be honest, Chen Mengxiong was very respected when he was the magistrate of Taipei Prefecture, especially since he was responsible for negotiating with the people of the East Coast, which is even more of a great responsibility.

The East Coast people have invested quite a lot in Taiwan, and the first ones are the two mines, namely the gold mine and coal mine in Keelung. The gold mine is directly operated by the Taiwan Bank. The Zheng family cannot get the money, so the gold collected is smelted on the spot, and then waits for naval ships to come and ship to the East Coast local area. Of course, the East Coast people also give the Zheng family a "gold mine usage fee" of 20,000 yuan every year. In addition, some Zheng people have also recruited some Zheng family members to go to the mines and factories to learn technology, which is considered to help them cultivate some talents.

The Keelung coal mine was not run by the Taiwan Bank. In fact, they had already explored this mine, but because they lacked relevant talents and technology, they could also easily buy coal from North Korea and Northeast China. They judged that the reserves of the coal mine were not large, so they gave up. However, the Taiwan Bank gave up, and some merchants in the Ningshao area did not give up. They accumulated a lot of wealth by exporting tea, textiles, silk and other commodities to the outside world, and they were a little overcapacity, which was just when they were eager to expand. Therefore, after finding out that the Taiwan Bank was not interested in mining the Keelung coal mine, they came to the door in groups and planned to mine the coal, and transport the coal produced back to Ningbo to compete with the coal produced in the North.

Zheng Kezang actually had an indifferent attitude towards this. After receiving the 20,000 silver dollars collectively offered by these merchants, he readily approved the opening of the coal mine. However, he was still a little scheming and asked the Yanping County Prince's Mansion to occupy 20% of the shares. In addition, some Fujian merchants who depended on him also either paid funds or manpower to convert the shares, accounting for about 20% of the shares.

The matter of coal mine equity was almost done in mid-1692. However, at the last moment, the East Coast Navy broke into a slight squad, and they came to the door and asked to sign a long-term supply agreement with the coal mine. The price and quantity were finalized. It was obvious that they planned to use Keelung Port as a coal-adding point. The merchants looked at me, looked at you, and finally gritted their teeth and ended up gritting their teeth. There was no way, the East Coast Navy was the absolute master of this ocean. Even if they bought coal at an outrageous price, everyone could only grit their teeth and gave it to the Navy at that time, and there was no way to ask.

The official opening of Keelung Coal Mine was at the end of that year, and the climate was relatively cool. Because of the use of some coal mining machines purchased from Hei Water, Fujian has a large population and low land and cheap labor, the coal produced is very low, and it opened up sales in Ningshao and nearby areas, making the merchants who were still a little nervous before they started production. The only one who can compete with them in labor costs is North Korean coal, but North Koreans do not have so many machines, and the transportation cost issue is the issue, so the selling price is higher than Keelung coal. Not to mention Hei Water Coal, the northeast is its own ruling area on the east coast, with few people and high labor costs. In addition, the local climate cannot produce and transport throughout the year, and the distance is also far, so the selling price is higher than that of North Korean coal, and it cannot compete with Keelung coal in terms of cost.

After learning about the hot sales situation of Keelung coal mines, Zheng Kezang immediately ordered the establishment of Keelung Mining Bureau, which would be the Taipei Prefecture to perform management powers, and this naturally fell on Chen Mengqiu. However, today Chen Mengqiu rushed to the city in a hurry, not for the Keelung coal mines, but for the sugar-pressing machines imported from the East.

These machines were purchased by Zheng Kezang for a large sum of money on Sakhalin Island. They were originally steam-powered, but they changed their design before they were sold and used hydraulic powered. But even so, their sugar-grabbing efficiency was still extremely high and they have always been regarded as treasure by the Taiwan Sugar Industry Bureau (also under the jurisdiction of Taipei Prefecture). The machine had some failures before, and it cost the boss Zhou Zhang every time. He spent money to ask someone to come for repair from Heishui County. Not only did he spend a lot of money, this time was delayed, which made people feel troubled.

After Chen Mengqiu arrived at the workshop of the Sugar Industry Bureau in a carriage, he felt relieved when he saw that the other three machines were still working normally. However, after hearing that the broken machine had broken the spindle, he was so anxious that he jumped straight away and scolded the people in the bureau and asked them to contact the Taiwan Bank Agency immediately and ask Heishui to send someone to bring the processed spindle to replace it. The price is easy to say.

It is actually no wonder Chen Mengqiu is anxious. It is really that the Sugar Industry Bureau is now one of the important financial sources of the Zheng family in Fujian. Not only does Taiwan banks spend a lot of money to purchase sugar from the Taiwan Sugar Industry Bureau every year, they themselves are selling sugar for nearby Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Guangdong and Guangxi. Even Japan to the east has Taiwanese sugar, which has greatly squeezed out the share of many Dutch people.

The huge income obtained from selling sugar is basically invested in the construction of the Fujian regime's army and related military industries. For example, the Fujian New Army of the five divisions formed by Zheng Kezang Yiming had to rely on a lot of money to pay for every day. For example, the Guns and Shipbuilding Bureau under construction in Mawei Port was even more shocking, and 300,000 taels of silver may be spent every year (after all, they have built from scratch, factories, machines, and personnel recruitment from scratch). If they did not rely on the bank support of the Sugar Industry Bureau, they would probably not be able to continue playing.

Chen Mengqiu angrily walked around the Sugar Industry Bureau and gave instructions countless times before he rode back to the mansion with his followers. At this time, he called out to the master again and chatted with him for a long time. His words and words were all about the current agricultural production situation in the four counties of Taipei Prefecture. His master is from Zhejiang, but he has been in Fujian for many years and has followed many masters of the court. He is a standard practical faction and knows all the situations in the whole mansion.

The master comforted Chen Mengqiu. Taiwan’s climate is good, and grain is not a problem for three ripe a year. If the problem of malaria epidemic can be solved, a large amount of grain can be produced. In addition to the agreement that must be sold to Taiwan Bank, the rest can also be sold back to Fujian to solve the problem of food shortage in Fujian. Here is a more statement. According to the agreement reached on the cruiser "Beilu Shimen", Zheng Kezang agreed that Taipei Prefecture will sell a certain amount of grain to Ningbo every year, and even if there is a famine in Fujian Province, it will not be interrupted.

In addition to grain, the cultivation of tobacco, pepper and other spices that the East Coast people helped them introduce has also become a scale, and their annual sales are growing steadily. In time, it is not known that the sales revenue of these cash crops can exceed that of the Sugar Industry Bureau. After all, to be honest, these things are very marketable in Ningshao and Denglai areas, which have strong consumption capacity.

Coal, wood, sugar, tobacco, pepper, and grain are basically the major products that are currently exporting foreign exchange-making products in Taipei, which can bring great income to Zheng every year. Zheng Kezang did not expect that Taiwan Island, which his father did not pay much attention to back then, could become an amazing treasure pot in his hands. Now Zheng is paying more and more attention to this island. Almost every year, he recruits terrestrial sluts from various prefectures and counties in Fujian and goes to Taipei to settle down and cultivate, so as to make the local cause bigger and stronger and bring him more income.

Of course, except for the huge income brought by Taiwan Island, Zheng Kezang invested most of the huge income in his pockets. He was different from Li Yuanhao, the greedy person in Guangzhou. He knew the importance of industry to Fujian, which may be related to his family's origins as a maritime businessman.

Zheng Kezang established the Guns and Cannon Bureau and Shipbuilding Bureau in Mawei, hiring a large number of Western and East Coast technicians with high salaries, and also imported many machinery and equipment to produce guns, armor and even modern armed ships. He was even exploring how to build a modern iron plant, and wrote a letter to ask for help from the people of the East Coast, although he was finally rejected.

Zheng Kezang did not focus on heavy industry either. In fact, he was also trying to make Fujian's tea-making industry bigger and stronger, which was another important income from his small separatist regime. He was blessed by the people of the East Coast. Nowadays, tea drinking trends are very strong in Europe and the New World, and tea sales are setting new highs every year, which is already a very huge market. Fujian's Wuyi green tea is already very famous. Decades ago, the Dutch East India Company was purchasing a large amount of money, and Zheng Kezang had no reason not to vigorously develop this industry. For this reason, he also found a way to import machinery and equipment from the East Coast and focus on developing the tea-making industry, in order to create greater profits for himself in the future.

The Zheng family in Fujian is not from a traditional family of scholars and officials, and there are not so many rules and regulations. Perhaps, under his fierce operation of Fujian's industry and commerce, it may bring different brilliance in the future.
Chapter completed!