Chapter 122 Jetta Bank and Bank Dream
Time flies. Hu Chuyuan keeps coming back and forth between Fuzhou and Shanghai. He goes to Fuzhou Ship Administration Government once a month to make some decisions according to his own ideas, and then let others handle it.
The operation of the tea industry of Jiangnan Cooperative has been steadily progressing steadily, and the speed of expansion is moderate. Hu Chuyuan only gave a control in the overall situation and established a British tea company through Taikoo Yanghang, which achieved unified operation in the three aspects of production, distribution and sales, and continuously increased advertising investment. .
More time, Hu Chuyuan still runs his own industry in Shanghai.
More than half a year has passed in such a hurry.
After the Spring Festival in Hangzhou, Hu Chuyuan returned to Shanghai with his two younger brothers.
Hu Pinyuan followed Yu Yue to learn in the National Academy of China. He is very smart. He can learn a lot of things, and he can remember them at a glance, but he dabbles too much, and he has to learn calligraphy, painting and gold and stone.
Hu Zhenyuan was a very low-key apprentice in Wanqi Yangxing. He rented another small house outside with several apprentices. He only occasionally went back to the Garden to talk to Hu Chuyuan and Hu Pinyuan about the interesting things, strange things and troublesome things he had experienced recently.
As soon as Hu Chuyuan returned to Shanghai, Huizhou merchants, Zhejiang merchants, Guangdong merchants and foreigners took this opportunity to go to Hu's house to visit him and give some gifts. After paying New Year's greetings, they had to see him once and talk about a few polite words.
It was not until the Lantern Festival passed that Hu Chuyuan was rarely quiet for a few days, so he did not go to work in the business and stayed in the Yinghua Pavilion to read books.
In the evening, the setting sun shone, and it was almost time for dinner. Wu Shuzhen came to him.
The weather was quite cold. She wore a snow-white fox fur coat, and her dark black hair was naturally wrapped into a bunch. She hung behind her neck and wore a pair of black suede boots, which made her look more beautiful and noble.
The two checked the general ledger in the study and paid last year's dividend.
After talking about the money, Wu Shuzhen said with admiration: "As you said, the profit of the jewelry business is really high. We only invest the principal of tens of thousands of taels of silver. When the general account is cleared next year, we can almost get the principal back. The situation of the watch store is also very good. It can sell more than a dozen pieces every day, and the gross profit is also 20%. Although there are many accounts in and out of the silver building, the profit margin is very average. Think about the trick again.
Hu Chuyuan asked her, "Do you know why the profit margin of the silver building is not high?"
Wu Shuzhen said, "The competition is too strong. There are more than a dozen silver buildings in the Shanghai Concession, and there are also a lot of them in China. Everyone's business is almost the same, just relying on craftsmanship. Although you have dug a few skilled craftsmen for me, the conditions are a little higher."
Hu Chuyuan said, "The Silver Building is a traditional business, which relies on craftsmanship and word of mouth. Others are a century-old store, but our Kimberley Silver Building is a new store. Without word of mouth, it can't stand at all. So it is necessary to spend more money at the beginning and hire a few skilled masters.
Wu Shuzhen was a little puzzled and asked, "Then can we not do the silver building business, concentrate the capital, and open new jewelry stores in Tianjin and Hong Kong."
Hu Chuyuan said, "Although the business of the jewelry store is profitable, it is not very popular at present. If you want to be big in today's domestic market, you must do the business of gold and silver building."
Wu Shuzhen said, "The problem is that it is difficult to do business in a big silver building. You can't work without a silversmith, and you can't recruit a job without a good silversmith. It takes at least ten years for a silversmith to work from an apprentice to a teacher. The master still refuses to bring it, and he can only take a few in his life. The two of us, I'm afraid that if we get old, we may not be able to open many silver buildings. Sooner or later, we will offend all the silver buildings just by digging corners of the wall. Then why bother? Do you still need this little money?
Hu Chuyuan smiled and said, "You are a talented woman from the United States. Why can't you think of a suitable way? I will give you a trick. You can choose one of those powerful masters, negotiate the price with him, ask him to be responsible for training silversmiths in the future, and set up a gold and silversmiths' school to focus on training apprentices. We will give our own silver materials to let them exercise, and we can be a teacher in two or three years. During this period, you keep digging some skilled masters to support the scene, and it doesn't matter if the cost is high.
Wu Shuzhen praised repeatedly, "This method is really good. You can open as many stores as you want."
Hu Chuyuan suddenly laughed and said, "Do you really expect to make money by opening a silver building?"
Wu Shuzhen said seriously, "Yes, why not? Think about it, as long as a silver building is well handled, it can earn at least a few thousand taels of silver a year. If you open hundreds of silver in the five provinces of the south of the Yangtze River, you will make a profit of hundreds of thousands of taels a year!"
Hu Chuyuan smiled and said, "The profit is on the jewelry. How much can you earn by opening a silver building? The role of the Silver Building is only to cultivate more craftsmen. As people's demand for jewelry gradually increases, Kimberley's profits will become larger and larger. In addition, the silver building can play the role of hoarding gold and silver speculation, which is also a use. Third, as foreign banks such as Taigu, Wanqi, Wanbao and Zenchen shift their business focus to other powerful colonies, a large amount of jewelry and gold will inevitably be supplied, and Kimberley is a good distribution channel.
Wu Shuzhen couldn't help smiling and said, "I really can't compare with you. You can always see so far."
Hu Chuyuan said, "Small business can also be big, and big business can be small. The key is to see what you think. China's business is the most profitable to trade. When you make Kimberly more and more convenient, you will open the most high-end department store on Nanjing Road, specializing in selling luxury goods, not only in Shanghai, but also in Tianjin and Hong Kong.
Wu Shuzhen couldn't help laughing and said, "This is my favorite business!"
Hu Chuyuan smiled silently. He was very happy that Wu Shuzhen could be so happy. This woman is different from ordinary people. She likes to run her own business and is indeed a person who can do business.
Compared with many old traditional businessmen in China, she pays great attention to marketing, not only advertising, but also rents billboards in the most prosperous sections.
Thinking of this, Hu Chuyuan's heart suddenly moved and said to Wu Shuzhen, "In fact, there is another business that you are quite suitable to do. If you do it well, it will also make a lot of money... Wrong, it should be said that there are two."
Wu Shuzhen immediately became more interested and asked eagerly and curiously, "What is it? Tell me quickly!"
Hu Chuyuan said: "Advertising marketing and agency. To be precise, you need to build a very special foreign business, which is responsible for advertising, designing marketing strategies, and designing business names and brands for others. Yanghang also acts as an agent for a variety of high-end personal consumer goods, such as watches, cigars and cosmetics.
Wu Shuzhen suddenly couldn't help punching Hu Chuyuan and said, "Oh, you are really so smart. This is really a good idea!"
Then, she asked urgently, "Then tell me, what's the name of this foreign store?"
Hu Chuyuan thought for a moment and said, "Unfortunately, Yihe is a business established by your family, but it is occupied by others at present. Otherwise, it's good to use Yihe's business name. If Yihe doesn't work, it's called Leyi Yangxing.
Wu Shuzhen smiled leisurely and seemed to be very open-sightly. She said, "I don't care. The past has passed. My father always told me that don't always carry the past. If a family wants to be young, let alone the past."
Hu Chuyuan nodded silently and felt that this made sense.
It seems that he also has a new understanding of Wu Shuzhen.
Wu Shuzhen herself thought about it and asked him, "How about Jetta Yangxing? It's a good idea to help people succeed quickly, isn't it?"
Hu Chuyuan always felt that there must be a trace of sadness in her heart. He just wanted to echo her and make her happy, so he laughed and said, "Jetta... It's really good. Then let's call it Jetta Yanghang. You can apply quickly, but you must find a good partner. Unlike the jewelry industry, you used to just sit behind the counter and carefully plate the accounts. If you want to open this foreign bank, you have to deal with all kinds of people, especially with foreign bank managers and Chinese businessmen. It's not very convenient for girls. I'm not saying that women can't do it. It's really that this environment is not suitable for you to give full play to your talents!"
"Okay, don't talk to me so carefully!" Wu Shuzhen actually had a little coquettish charm and said with a smile, "I know, I'll go back to the United States in a few days and ask my former classmates to help introduce a person who works in the advertising industry. The advertising industry in the United States has a history of decades and has developed rapidly. It should be able to find a suitable candidate. There should also be a shopkeeper in China to help take care of it. Even if it's a buyer, can you recommend someone for me?
Hu Chuyuan said, "Yang Hongbin is good... But he may not want to be a buyer. Wait and see...!"
Before he finished speaking, Hu Rong hurried in, holding a telegram in his hand and said, "Young master, Lord Zhongtang sent you a telegram and said it was a very urgent call!"
Hu Chuyuan said oh, immediately got up and took the telegram in his hand. When he opened it, he saw ten words "Emergency telegram, the overall situation has been decided, and everything is feasible" written on it.
Seeing these words, Hu Chuyuan was overjoyed. He knew that what he had planned for nearly two years had finally come to an end.
He couldn't help laughing and ordered Hu Rong, "Go, go and call all the four big shopkeepers, Chen Xiaobai, Tan Yiyun, Liu Chengxiang and Zheng Xitai, and call Ye Tongguang alone in the evening. It's a great joy."
"Good, good!"
When Hu Rong saw that Hu Chuyuan was happy, he was also very happy. He immediately agreed and hurried back and ran out of the study.
Wu Shuzhen asked Hu Chuyuan curiously, "What's the matter? Make you so happy?"
Hu Chuyuan laughed again, waved his arms and said, "My dream of CITIC Bank is finally coming true. Although Zhongtang did not explain the specific situation, it seems that the court has approved it, otherwise it must be approved."
Wu Shuzhen was puzzled and said, "I've always been strange. If you want to open a bank, what's so difficult? I've been quietly preparing for the past two years, which really makes me very anxious.
Hu Chuyuan laughed and said, "You don't understand. I'm not an ordinary bank, but a bank with the right to issue money. For this goal, I have made a lot of detours and come up with many ways to avoid the avoidance of the Qing court. Among other things, for this matter, I asked Shen Furong to secretly order more than 1.4 million taels of silver in the capital in the past two years. Prince Gong, the military foreman, Prince Su, who was in charge of civil affairs, and the greedy Prince Qing spent more than half of the silver, plus the big and small officials of the Ministry of Household and the Ministry of Civil Affairs, Cixi's side. Those eunuchs, I've been down all the way, is it just for a Qianzhuang that has changed?
Wu Shuzhen sighed, "It's really difficult to do something in China. Even you have to make so many detours and spend so much money, let alone others."
Hu Chuyuan said, "I eat crabs, and I always pay the most. When my business is done, other companies of official stocks will scramble to follow suit. In the past two years, they have been plagiarizing me all the time. They will do what I do. That's why I have quietly prepared for so long. When I handle it, it's too late for them to copy!"
(to be continued)