Chapter 109 Assam 1

Through the intermediary and private negotiations between Ye Fu and Ye Zuyu, Hu Chuyuan still reached a silent agreement with Lin Taizeng and Liu Buqi. The two entered Hong Kong in Guangzhou, and Ye Zuyu led the other three gunboats to Mawei.

Subsequently, Hu Chuyuan officially left Singapore, crossed the Strait of Malacca, went to the Indian Ocean, and headed for Europe.

The whole voyage will last for 20 days, which is actually more than a month, because Hu Chuyuan has high requirements for life and diet. Even on the boat, it is impossible for him to eat blue and moldy potatoes.

Even if he eats fresh potatoes for three meals, he will be dissatisfied.

The Taichang has a special cabin, which is specially raised for chickens, ducks, geese, quail, fish, sheep... Kill one every day, stew and steam, and change the pattern every time.

Abalone bird's nest, peanuts and almonds, red beans and soybeans... are all dry goods, and these are easy to do.

The most troublesome are fruits and fresh vegetables.

Therefore, as long as there is a port to berth, the Taichang will stop at the shore every two or three days and let Hu Rong go ashore to buy vegetables and fruits.

Hu Rong is worried about other people's purchases. In case Hu Chuyuan has a bad stomach, it's a big deal, and he can't afford it.

To be honest, others also enjoy it.

The speed is a little slow, but everyone is very happy.

On September 15, 1879, the Taichang arrived in Chittagang in the Bay of Bengal.

To everyone's surprise, Hu Chuyuan decided to stay here for a week. Shortly after the ship stopped at the dock, he asked Zheng Xitai to find a few local guides to go deep into Assam.

His behavior surprised many people, but no one objected.

There are many people who went to Europe with Hu Chuyuan. Hua Weifang, Rawls, Wu Dezhang and others are technical consultants and supervisors. Yan Shizhang, Miao Tsuensun, Niu Yugeng and Gu Jiaxiang are his private staff. Ye Fu, Deng Shichang and Lv Han are the overseas students sent by Fujian sailors.

Hu Chuyuan asked everyone to pack a few simple pieces of luggage. Hua Weifang, Wu Dezhang, Yan Shizhang, Miao Tsuensun, Niu Yugeng, Gu Jiaxiang and Ye Fu all have to accompany him to Assam. Wu Shuzhen naturally wants to go. Only Deng Shichang, Lv Han and others stay on the Taichang to see the ship.

They will take a train to Algatara, accompanied by local guides, which is the tea plantation area of Assam Tea Company. In the area, they own 7,710 acres of tea plantations.

Although Hu Chuyuan seemed to be very serious, everyone didn't care too much. He just took it as a trip to see the legendary Tianzhu Kingdom.

Many people are still new to the train, including people like Wu Dezhang, not to mention Yan Shizhang and others.

On the train, Indians seem to be curious about Chinese people like them who are rarely seen. People often take the initiative to ask questions, or ask the guides hired by Hu Chuyuan.

I heard that they were going to see the tea garden, and soon an Assam businessman came curiously to ask.

The Assam people are not Indians in the traditional sense, but the Sham people, that is, the Dai and Thai people. The source of "Assam" is Asom, that is, the transliteration of "Shan" in English.

Before the British invasion of India and Myanmar, the Shun people had occupied Assam for nearly 400 years, and until many years later, they were still the main population of Assam.

The businessman who took the initiative to talk to Zheng Xitai is a Shang people. He is also running a tea business and is very interested in it.

He said that the tea industry in Assam is getting better and better, and many people are planting tea plantations. However, the main investors are the British. They have opened new tea plantations on a large scale, each of which is more than thousands of acres.

Usually, these tea companies will ship tea directly to the UK and auction it on the London tea market.

In Hu Chuyuan's group, there are only two real businessmen, Hu Chuyuan and Zheng Xitai.

Zheng Xitai is very fluent in English. He has worked in Shanghai Liru Bank for many years and knows something about Indians. He has always been responsible for his trip in India.

Listening to the businessman's words and the conversation of several other Assamians who could speak English, Zheng Xitai gradually understood the purpose of Hu Chuyuan's trip.

Zheng Xitai is very clear that he knows that the two industries Hu Chuyuan wants to make bigger and stronger are raw silk and tea. In recent years, the sales of Chinese tea have declined sharply, which is undoubtedly caused by Indian tea.

However, can this matter be recovered?

Zheng Xitai, who has worked in British banks for many years, is very clear about the strength of the British, and he is not optimistic.

Listening to the Indians and Assam people on the opposite side talking enthusiastically and happily about the new development of the tea industry and the better and better situation, Zheng Xitai sitting opposite them and Hu Chuyuan not far away, both of them were unhappy.

After more than ten hours of bumps, Hu Chuyuan and his party finally arrived at Agartala and stayed in the local hotel.

India is a caste class society. The best local hotels are only open to white and high castes... In fact, there is only one in the whole town, which is still run by high caste people in India. Even if it is Hu Chuyuan, he can only find a small hotel to stay with everyone.

The next day, under the introduction of several Indian guides, Zheng Xitai spent a lot of money to hire an Englishman who was a local tea artist as a guide, and contacted several tea companies through this person, saying that he was a Chinese tea merchant and wanted to come to India to buy cheaper black tea.

What a smart person Zheng Xitai is. Since he was sent out to contact and arrange the itinerary, why should Hu Chuyuan worry?

In the afternoon, Hu Chuyuan went out with Wu Shuzhen and bought more than a dozen brands of Indian tea at the local tea market.

Local tea consumption in Assam is also a big deal. The tea market is very lively. There are not only local tea in Agartala, but also Tibetan tea and Indian tea in other regions.

After buying these teas, the two returned to the rented hotel and called Yan Shizhang, Miao Tsuensun, Ye Fu and others. Each of them made more than a dozen cups and held a tea tasting party.

A bowl of rosy tea soup appeared in front of us. Everyone was very interested and tasted it one after another.

For a while, there was a strong smell of tea all over the room.

Indian black tea is characterized by thick tea soup, dark color, ruddy and bright, and the tea is large, but it does not look old.

These people are all old tea guests, especially literati such as Yan Shizhang and Miao Tsuensun. They are very good at tasting tea.

After a while, Miao Tsuen Sun first said to Hu Chuyuan, "Your Excellency, it's a pity that the soup color is very good, but the taste is a little sour and bitter, and the aroma is even heavier. The local people grow tea, and they can't get the essence of my Central Plains tea art."

After listening to him, Yan Shizhang, Ye Fu and others also nodded slightly, which seemed to be very unified.

Hu Chuyuan himself is not a master of tea tasting. The tea he usually drinks are the top green tea, black tea and oolong in China, and his favorites are oolong tea and Longjing.

He also drank a little and rinsed his mouth with water between each cup to avoid the wrong taste.

Compared with domestic tea, the taste of these teas is indeed a little strange, and the taste is sour and bitter... He doesn't think so, but the taste is heavy.

In general, the characteristics of these dozen kinds of Indian black tea are roughly the same, and the soup is red.

He didn't express his opinion, because he knew very well that his taste was tricky, but in fact, he couldn't taste the benefits of Indian tea.

He looked at Wu Shuzhen and was full of special expectations for her taste and evaluation.

Seeing him looking at it so strangely, Wu Shuzhen smiled and said, "I think it's not bad, at least it looks good. It's a little uncomfortable when I first drink it, as if it doesn't feel cooked thoroughly, and there is still the astringent taste of fresh tea. If you drink a little more, you will feel much better. I don't know what its selling price is in foreign countries. If we calculate it according to the price we bought in the tea market, we can buy two pounds with three foreign yuan. It's really cheap!"

Hu Chuyuan was about to continue to speak, but Hua Yufang suddenly said, "This is caused by large-scale stir-frying with a machine, because the frying pan they use is very large, like a ball, external heating, and the propeller-like stir-frying shovel is flipped inside. It must not be as fine as our hand-frying method. The tea is not stir-fried thoroughly, so it will be disabled. Leave a trace of astringent taste. Although the taste of such a process is slightly worse, it is undoubtedly low in terms of cost.

Hu Chuyuan couldn't help but be a little surprised. He asked Hua Hefang, "So you know this?"

Hua Yanfang smiled and said, "A few years ago, a British-funded firm wanted to sell these machines to Boss Xu. Boss Xu invited me to inspect them. I also saw the British use that machine on the spot, which is a little understanding."

What he said about Boss Xu is naturally Xu Run.

After Xu Run joined Jiangnan Commercial Bank, the original tea business, tea warehouses and tea banks were merged into Jiangnan Commercial Bank, which made the commercial bank expand rapidly in the tea business and had a large share in the tea market in the whole five provinces of Jiangnan.

Hu Chuyuan thought for a moment and asked Hua Weifang, "Is there any way to remove this astringent taste?"

Hua Weifang shook her head and said, "If there is a way to remove it, Xu Run will definitely buy a few sets of machines to open a Western-style tea house at the beginning. This is not a problem of mechanical design and manufacturing, but an inevitable problem in the use of a large frying pan."

"Oh!"

Hu Chuyuan is a little disappointed, but also happy, which means that Indian tea is difficult to promote at least in China, unless the British continue to improve their technical standards and mechanical equipment.

He sighed and said, "What I have to do today seems to be my business. In fact, this is a real state affair, and it is the biggest and most important thing in our country. Think about it, tea used to be the first export resource in China. How much silver did you exchange for us? But over the years, I have estimated that in the past decade, the total annual export volume of Chinese tea has not decreased significantly, but the price of tea has been falling. On the other hand, the total international tea export has maintained an annual growth rate of 7%. This means that Indian tea is increasing rapidly every year, with production and sales doubling in ten years and doubling four times in 30 years. At that time, I'm afraid our tea can't be exported anymore!"

Yan Shizhang and Miao Tsuensun dare not speak. As a staff, their business and management skills are not as good as a business clerk.

Gu Jiaxiang was relatively young and immediately laughed and said, "The adults worry too much, and the Indians are not good at growing tea, while China has been a major tea-producing country for thousands of years. The country's fate is far-reaching, and the tea art is exquisite, which is not what outsiders can learn."

Wu Shuzhen smiled faintly and discussed with Hu Chuyuan, "Britain should be the world's first tea importer, right?"

Hu Chuyuan nodded and said, "They account for 70% of the global tea import market, followed by France, Russia and Spain, followed by the United States, Germany and Turkey."

Wu Shuzhen has always been a very elegant woman. She smiled and said, "I think there is a lot of market space in the United States. At present, the United States has a population of nearly 50 million, of whom 25% of whom are concentrated in cities. The United States has always followed Raymond's high-payingism. The consumption power is very strong. The key is how Promotion and development. The United States is based on manufacturing, and the pace of life is very fast. It is not as rich as the British who have enough time to enjoy life.

Her words reminded Hu Chuyuan.

The four major tea importing countries, Britain, France, Russia and the West, are all countries with a relatively slow pace of life, while the United States and Germany, with strong manufacturing, although their overall economic strength is strong and economic prosperity, are not the main consumers of tea.

However, how to develop the tea market in the United States and Germany, and how to maintain competitiveness in the four traditional tea markets of Britain, France, Russia and the West... Hu Chuyuan does not have an answer to these questions.

Because of Hu Xueyan, Hu Chuyuan had sufficient consideration for the silk industry from the beginning. Coupled with the foundation of the family, he could quickly respond and adjust to the Chinese silk industry.

What about tea?

Hu Chuyuan once pinned his hopes on Xu Run, but after all, Xu Run was not him. Xu Run wanted to make money. At this time, Xu Run wanted to concentrate his energy and financial resources on the land industry in Shanghai.

For the big problems that Hu Chuyuan is considering, everyone else can't help, and they feel a little at a loss.

Everyone was silent for a while. Ye Fu suddenly asked Hu Chuyuan, "Your Excellency, can you tell us how much the impact of this matter will be?"

Hu Chuyuan thought for a thought, stood up and walked around the room a few times, and then explained to everyone, "The British are our biggest tea buyers, accounting for 70% of China's tea exports, but they set up tea plantations in India and will only buy tea in India in the future. What about our tea? You may still think that this is just a business, but this business is not only related to China's reputation and dignity, but also to the livelihood of tens of millions of tea farmers and their families.

Hearing this, everyone couldn't help but feel a little sad.

Miao Tsuen Sun was still a little puzzled. He asked Hu Chuyuan, "Your Excellency, we haven't exported tea with foreigners before. Aren't the people doing well? Since the British don't buy our tea, we will also buy it ourselves?

"Yes!" Gu Jiaxiang and Hua Weifang nodded slightly.

Without Hu Chuyuan's answer, Wu Shuzhen smiled and said, "The truth of the two gentlemen seems simple and direct, but in fact it is not right. The development of the country is the same as learning. If you don't advance, you will retreat, because others are always developing. Without the export of tea, we can't absorb a large amount of silver from abroad, and it will be difficult for the national economy to grow, and it will further lag behind the world. If the country is weak and backward, something will inevitably happen in the Old Summer Palace, and Russia will dare to occupy Ili.

"Is that so?" Miao Tsuensun seems to understand a little.

Hu Chuyuan couldn't help but smile bitterly. There were no foreign trade exports and no drawbacks of capital inflows. In China many years later, even high school students could understand it, but today, even scholars such as Miao Tsuen Sun and Yan Shizhang did not understand such a simple truth, and he had to explain it.

(to be continued)