After listening to Chen Jianning’s speech, Liu Lantao said: “What did Sheng Xuanhuai react during the morning negotiations?”

Chen Jianning shook his head and said, "This old fox is very cunning and knows that he can't say much at this time. Therefore, he rarely talks during the negotiations all morning. He and I are all foreigners. Moreover, Sheng Xuanhuai will also say a few words for us in the pain and itchy place. On the surface, there is no problem."

Liu Lantao nodded and said, "That's for sure. Sailing is a big piece of fat. Of course, neither Sheng Xuanhuai nor foreigners will give it up easily."

Chen Jianning said: "It's no wonder that Shipbuilding Merchants Group can actually be regarded as Sheng Xuanhuai's own industry. In addition, it was indeed a fierce business war with foreigners to gain a foothold in China. It's not like other companies founded during the Westernization Movement. Therefore, Sheng Xuanhuai insisted on not giving in on shipping rights. From Sheng Xuanhuai's standpoint, this is protecting his own interests."

Yang Yuxin knew little about the history of Shipbuilding Merchants, so he asked: "How is Shipbuilding Merchants Business Company Sheng Xuanhuai's industry?"

Chen Jianning did a lot of homework for this negotiation and learned a lot about the history of the Shipbuilding Merchants Association. He explained: "Shipbuilding Merchants Association was established in 1872. Unlike other companies founded in the Westernization Movement, the Shipbuilding Merchants Association stipulated that the official supervision and business office should be supervised and business offices should be collected. It was the first enterprise in the Westernization Movement that changed from a military-industrial enterprise to a civilian enterprise, from a government office to a government office, and adopted a joint-stock business operation model. Sheng Xuanhuai was the largest.

The name of China Merchants Group comes from this. Strictly speaking, this is not a shipping company that operates the shipping industry, but a comprehensive investment company. For example, the Kaiping Coal Mine that was stolen by us has investment from China Merchants Group, as well as Hanyeping Factory and Mining Company, Shanghai Machine Weaving Layout, China Merchants Bank, Insurance China Merchants Group, China's first telephone line, China's first railway, etc. Moreover, China Merchants Group in the old time and space were actually developed by China Merchants Group."

Yang Yuxin smiled and said, "It turns out that it is the predecessor of China Merchants Bank. I have two China Merchants Bank cards. Can I go to them? I can see if I withdraw or pay for it."

This is of course a joke. Chen Jianning smiled and said, "In fact, it is not just China Merchants Group, but two foreign ship companies, Swire and Jardine have existed in the old time and space. Moreover, both companies have grown up with China and have developed into group companies, namely Swire Group and Jardine Group. Although they are both in the UK, their headquarters are located in Hong Kong and their businesses are mainly in the Asia-Pacific region. They are Jardine Group and the Fortune 500."

Yang Yuxin said again: "So what's going on with the business war between them?"

Chen Jianning said: "Speaking of this business war is also a highlight of the Westernization Movement. Before the establishment of the China Shipbuilding Corporation, China's shipping industry was divided equally by the three companies, Swire Co., Ltd., Jardine and Qichang. Although they are also competitive, they do not want anyone to enter the shipping market again. Therefore, after the China Shipbuilding Corporation entered the shipping industry, these three companies once jointly suppressed China Shipbuilding Corporation. The method used was very simple, which was to lower the price to squeeze China Shipbuilding Corporation. However, Li Hongzhang took measures such as raising official funds, increasing the allocation of grain and carrying official goods to ensure the stable income of China Shipbuilding Corporation.

The land required to build a terminal warehouse, and the goods transported were exempted from lijin. As a result, Qichang Company went bankrupt due to the low long-term freight costs and was forced to sell the ship company to China Merchants. So in 1877, China Merchants acquired all the assets of Qichang Shipping Company for 2.22 million taels of cash. On March 1, Qichang Industry changed its flag and transferred it to China Merchants, with 7 seaships, 9 river ships and various barges and barges. Since then, the fleet size of China Merchants has exceeded that of Swire Gu, and the two companies of Jardinet were the first for Chinese companies to acquire foreign companies."

"And Swire, Jardines was forced to compromise with China Merchants. In 1877, 1883 and 1889, they signed three full-price contracts in 1877, 1883 and 1889, jointly agreed on a unified price on all routes in China, and determined the distribution plan for water foot income and supply. China Merchants accounted for the largest share. From then on, China Merchants' shipping industry has divided the three companies. Although in the old time and space, the academic community once believed that the signing of a full-price contract indicated the weakness and compromise of the national bourgeoisie, from the actual situation of this era, it was almost impossible to squeeze Swire and Jardines out of the Chinese market completely when the Qing court could not be completely independent, so compromise was inevitable. Moreover, China Merchants' intention was to break the monopoly of the foreign wheel monopoly of China's shipping industry, which to a certain extent did protect China's interests. From this perspective, it still had quite positive significance."

"However, although China Merchants Group has made many innovations in its system, it has not established a real modern enterprise after all. Although theoretically, the person under China Merchants Group manages the company with the businessman who is the main shareholder, the major decision-making power is actually in the hands of Sheng Xuanhuai, the official director appointed by the Qing court, that is, Sheng Xuanhuai. The Qing court actually still controls the power of China Merchants Group. And as the biggest symbol of a joint-stock company, the board of directors was elected by shareholders until 1909. Although Sheng Xuanhuai was born in a family of officials and was from a foreign affairs department, he also had shares in China Merchants Group, but in the final analysis, he was still an enterprise

Official agents, this is destined that Sheng Xuanhuai's ultimate goal is not to establish a modern business management system, but to increase his political achievements by operating enterprises and eventually embark on the career path. Now Sheng Xuanhuai has the official title and specialized in the report of the Shaoqing of Taichang Temple, a fourth-ranked Wei rank. Sheng Xuanhuai finally became the Minister of Posts and Communications Department of the Qing Dynasty. Moreover, the political situation of the Qing Dynasty has been turbulent, so foreign-funded ship companies gradually regained their position in China's shipping after 1900. Our joining may harm the interests of China Merchants Group, but it is beneficial to the entire Chinese shipping industry."

"But at present, China Merchants Steamship Corporation is still the most profitable company in the Westernization Movement and Sheng Xuanhuai's biggest capital. Therefore, he definitely does not want us to intervene in the shipping industry. On this point, Sheng Xuanhuai, Taikoo and Jardine have the same goals. Although Sheng Xuanhuai did not dare to disobey the Qing court's orders on the surface, he must have instigated Taikoo and Jardine to go against us."

Yang Yuxin said: "Then we can negotiate this negotiation."

Chen Jianning said confidently: "Of course we can talk about it. First of all, the Qing court has granted our power to operate shipping. In other words, we do not need to say hello to the Shipbuilding Merchants, Taikoo and Jardines, and we can operate shipping on our own. However, these three companies are the representatives of the current Chinese shipping industry, so we negotiated with them. Secondly, we have actually controlled the sea route from Shandong to Tianjin. At least this section of sea route is up to us, and this section of sea route is one of the main routes of China's shipping. In fact, whether it is successful or not, we have already started to operate. Although other ships are now

Although we can come in, we can collect tariffs on foreign ships at one time. If the negotiation fails, we will not be able to operate other sea routes. However, no one can think of entering this section of sea route, or levying high taxes. And when we think of places further north, such as Lushun, we have to take a detour. In the end, the Qing court's canal transportation was still tied in our hands. If we can't negotiate a day, we will not think about the transportation of the canal transportation for a day. Even if the transportation is started, we must pay tariffs honestly to us. Therefore, we can afford it, but the Qing court cannot afford it. Over time, the Qing court will naturally put pressure on Sheng Xuanhuai. As long as Sheng Xuanhuai is suppressed, Taigu and Yihe will not be able to make a lot of waves."

After hearing this, Yang Yuxin nodded repeatedly and said, "That's good, that's good, I'm relieved. The negotiation work will be handed over to you."

After lunch, Yang Yuxin brought the four soldiers who came with him back to Shanghai New District on rubber boats, and the work of the travelers in Shanghai was also under intense progress.

Of course, in all work, the most difficult thing is the negotiation of shipping rights. In fact, as Chen Jianning said to Yang Yuxin, the time traveler can ignore it now. Shipbuilding China Merchants, Taikoo, and Jardine have started to operate it themselves. However, this time, Shipbuilding China Merchants, Taikoo and Jardine will definitely join forces to squeeze the time traveler, and will fall into a protracted business war. Although the time traveler is not afraid of business war competition, it has to consume a lot of resources. Now the goal of the time traveler is not to squeeze the Shipbuilding China Merchants, Taikoo and Jardine are all, and dominate the shipping market itself. Instead, they only want to get a piece of the current shipping industry in China and add a source of income for the East China government. Therefore, with Shipbuilding China Merchants, Taikoo and Jardine can not only reduce the consumption of squeezing each other, but also use their own shipping facilities, such as docks, ports, etc., to reduce early investment.

Ship Merchants, Taikoo and Jardine did not want to negotiate with the time traveler, because once the negotiation was completed, it would be equivalent to officially recognizing the status of the time traveler in the shipping industry. It would be difficult to suppress the time traveler. If it weren't for the time traveler now controlling the sea route from Shandong to Tianjin, they would be too lazy to negotiate with the time traveler. Therefore, before the negotiation, Ship Merchants, Taikoo and Jardine had already discussed it. The goal of this negotiation was to restrict the time traveler's management of the sea route from Shandong to Tianjin, and it was divided equally with the three companies. The other ship lines would never be distributed to the time traveler. Moreover, due to Sheng Xuanhuai's identity limitation, he could only speak red faces, and the matter of singing can only be handed over to the time traveler.
Chapter completed!