Chapter 813 Industrialist's Spring (Second update, please subscribe)
As usual, when the whistle sounded for work, the Taichang Shipyard was bustling with activity. Amid the foreman's whistle and shouts, workers were busy in the dock, while in the owner's office in the office building in the distance, thick smoke filled the air.
Although the cigarette smoke was a bit choking, Wang Pengju, with a happy face, still took out two cigars from the exquisite wooden cigarette case and handed them to manager Qin Shaohua and accountant Li Li respectively.
"This cigar was given to me by Lieutenant Colonel Fang Dezhi of the Navy. At the beginning of the year, he came to inspect our factory. He said that with our factory's technology, there would be no problem in building warships!"
“There’s no problem with the technology, but the equipment is not working!”
Qin Shaohua said directly.
"Our equipment is all for building merchant ships. Our dock is only 100 meters long, and the crane on the outfitting dock has a lifting capacity of only 30 tons. If we want to build warships, we need at least a 50-ton crane, and we need to add more equipment. Otherwise, it will be impossible to build warships. Moreover, the navy has higher requirements for the construction period..."
As the factory manager, Qin Shaohua is responsible for the specific management of the shipyard and naturally knows where the shipyard's disadvantages lie.
After he pointed out the many shortcomings of the factory one by one, Wang Pengju spoke directly.
“None of these are problems!”
Waving his hand, Wang Pengju held the document and said.
"Manager Qin, didn't you say that with this incentive, we can directly get loans from the bank to expand the factory? We can use the loans to expand whatever we need. Anyway, it's either an interest-free loan or a low-interest loan."
What he held in his hand was the "Shipbuilding Encouragement Measures" which had just been formulated by the Ministry of Industry and Commerce. In addition to providing a subsidy of 10 yuan per ton for domestically built ships, the measures also provided incentives for shipyards.
"For every new dock over 150 meters long and the purchase of corresponding equipment, the government will provide a 50% interest-free loan. For docks over 200 meters long..."
Once again, Wang Pengju started to think about it.
"A 50% interest-free loan is almost like using the government's money to build a shipyard. As long as the order is guaranteed, this deal will definitely work!"
"But the prerequisite is to have enough orders. Our factory doesn't have enough orders right now!"
"If there is no surplus, then think of another way!"
Wang Pengju looked at Qin Shaohua and said.
"I'll go talk to Manager Fang of Dadong Shipping. They've bought a lot of big ships in the past two years. I'll see if I can take orders for two ships. And the Immigration Bureau also has orders for immigration ships. In a word, we must seize the opportunity right now and expand Taichang as soon as possible!"
After deciding on the development strategy of the shipyard, he discussed it with Manager Qin and others for a while. After they left the office, Wang Pengju stood up from his desk, walked across the room, went to the stained glass window on the south wall, and stared at the shipyard downstairs and the workers in the dock who were moving around the ships.
This shipyard is the result of his thirteen years of hard work!
Thirteen years!
He has been in Ming Dynasty for thirteen years!
Almost twenty years ago, Wang Pengju never thought that one day he would be able to live the life he has now. At that time, he was just a servant of the Wang family. Although he was deeply trusted by the young master, that was all.
When the Taiping soldiers entered Nanjing that year, the master, the young master and their family loaded a boat with gold and silver and wanted to escape from Nanjing. However, they encountered the Taiping navy halfway. In panic, the five or six boats of the Sun family fled in all directions. Although Wang Pengju desperately rowed the boat down the river, the young master and the boatman were shot to death one after another. They finally rowed the boat into the reed marsh by the river and escaped.
But there was no one alive on the boat except the newly married young mistress and her personal maid. In troubled times, people's fates always change unexpectedly. Wang Pengju protected the young mistress and her friends and fled all the way to Suzhou, and later to Shanghai.
Later, the young lady became his wife. After all, weak women in troubled times always need someone to rely on. Relying on the gold and silver left on the ship, Wang Pengju opened Taichang Trading Company in Shanghai to do business. Later, the business of Taichang Trading Company was also booming, and he made a lot of money in all aspects. The young lady and Xiaoping both gave birth to his children.
However, in troubled times, no one knows what will happen to them. Just when Wang Pengju thought that he would live like this for the rest of his life, his beautiful dream was almost shattered. It was not that the Taiping rebels had invaded Shanghai, but that the second young master of the Wang family came to him. The second young master was still alive and even brought him to the government. Killing and humiliating the master, in the Qing Dynasty, this was a serious crime that would definitely cost him his life.
In order to survive, he spent several thousand taels of silver to bribe the government, and then fled to the Ming Dynasty by boat. Although he abandoned his business in Shanghai and lost tens of thousands of taels of silver, Wang Pengju started a new life in the Ming Dynasty with the more than 200,000 taels of silver he had saved in HSBC.
Thirteen years ago, when his family fled to the Ming Dynasty, Wang Pengju had no idea what business to start. When he first arrived in Linhai, looking at the ships coming and going in the bay, he thought of the shipyard on the Huangpu River in Shanghai that was doing a lot of business. At that time, there was only one shipyard in Linhai, so he spent tens of thousands of taels of silver to set up a shipyard. Over the past thirteen years, the Taichang Shipyard, which only had a stone dock at that time, has gradually become today's Taichang Shipyard.
However, he always felt that something was missing?
What's almost there?
Money and status!
He needs to use his success to make up for some of the deficiencies in his heart.
Wang Pengju has his own ambitions in his heart. He hopes that one day, Taichang can become a famous shipyard in Ming Dynasty, or at least in Linhai. Only then can he, Wang Pengju, truly get rid of the shadow of the past.
Even though Wang Pengju had long been a well-known wealthy man in Linhai, no one here would care about his past, and no one from the Wang family would come to his house to accuse him of murdering his wife. The young lady and Xiaoping were willing to marry him. If he wanted to take her away, he could have just fled to Suzhou that year. Why wait until two years later?
And this is also the knot in his heart. Maybe, no one will come to him again here, but there is always something in his heart that he can't let go. He wants to use his achievements to prove something.
"The opportunity is right here!"
Pursing his lips, Wang Pengju was thinking in his heart, he had made a fortune in these years, but he was only one step away from
"Just take this opportunity,"
With this in mind, Wang Pengju picked up the phone and called Manager Fang of Dadong Shipping Company. They quickly made an appointment to have dinner together in the evening.
When he hung up the phone again, a smile appeared on his face.
"Haha, it's done!"
(End of this chapter)
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