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Volume 1: Fierce Battle in Changsha Chapter 513: Steel Crisis

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    Hu Xueyan was a businessman. He knew what would happen if a firm could not sell its goods, and what would happen if most of the firms in the country could not sell their goods.  Although Hu Xueyan is not yet aware of the worldwide economic crisis, he can infer that the excessive export of British steel will inevitably affect the United States' own steel industry.

    Later, Hu Xueyan did not blindly follow the trend of investment but continued to collect his business intelligence. He found that many steel companies in the United States had serious problems such as overproduction and product backlog, while British steel was imported in an endless stream, which continued to impact the United States.  pig iron, steel and other industries.  At the same time, large-scale speculation in railway construction was going on throughout the United States, and the securities, stock, and investment markets were crazy and noisy.

    Although Hu Xueyan does not have the level of experts and professors of later generations who can profoundly analyze events and the economic laws behind them, his long-term business experience tells him that in any business activity, only a few people will make a fortune in the end, and persistence can be seen everywhere in the United States.  There was a crazy crowd about railway securities, and Hu Xueyan knew that no one might be able to make a fortune.  Therefore, Hu Xueyan chose to stand still and did not continue to expand railway investment according to Xiao Yungui's wishes, nor did he blindly follow those Westerners who were investing crazily. He was waiting for opportunities and continued to collect intelligence.

    Due to the product dumping policy of Britain, the world¡¯s factory, the already weak U.S. steel industry has been stagnant for a long time, and the cotton textile industry is not growing fast either.  At the same time, imports of railroad tracks, pig iron, locomotives, cotton cloth and other British manufactured goods increased rapidly. British products flooded the U.S. market and hindered the development of important industrial sectors at the time, such as the U.S. metallurgy and cotton textile industries.  The money brought by railroad speculation beguiled people's eyes.  False market prosperity caused the U.S. economic bubble to begin to collapse.

    Starting from the third month after Hu Xueyan returned to the United States, a large number of American steel industry companies began to collapse rapidly, just like dominoes falling.  The metallurgical industry was hit hard, which then affected the financial industry. Many banks collapsed, which quickly spread to other industries.  In just two months, more than 5,000 domestic companies in the United States closed down or went bankrupt, resulting in overproduction of grain, and a decline in grain prices and grain exports.  Coupled with the fierce competition in British industrial products, the economic crisis in the United States deepened.  In turn, Britain's economic development was hit by the crisis in the United States.  American banks, railroads, and commercial companies that had been financed by Britain went bankrupt.  It also caused a sharp devaluation of the securities held by British investors.  In the autumn of 1857, a currency crisis broke out in the United States, and the entire banking system was paralyzed. The currency crisis in the United States reached its peak in mid-October.  At that time, 62 of the 63 banks in New York stopped paying.  The discount rate exceeded 60%, the stock market fell by 20-50%, and the stocks of many railway companies fell by more than 80%.  The economic crisis in the United States quickly spread to the United Kingdom and continental Europe, triggering waves of bankruptcies.

    It was at this time that Hu Xueyan started his business operations. He did not do anything to rescue the market. Although he had a large amount of funds on hand, he could not save the United States.  Americans' own economic crisis needed to be resolved through war, and this war was the Civil War that was about to break out.  What Hu Xueyan wants to do now is to acquire those bankrupt and cheap American companies.

    Within a month, Hu Xueyan acquired several steel companies, military companies, and textile companies, and successfully acquired most of the shares of a Connecticut patent firearms manufacturing company called Colt.  Hu Xueyan, the Colt patent firearms manufacturing company, had no idea what kind of history it would create subsequently. He only invested one million US dollars and promised the company to represent them in the Chinese firearms market, so Hu Xueyan got the shares.  .  This company provided a large amount of arms supply in the subsequent American Civil War, and its influence was extremely far-reaching.  At the same time, a large number of experienced American workers were recruited, the largest number of whom were shipbuilders. Hu Xueyan packaged these workers and the machinery and equipment from the two medium-sized shipyards he acquired and sent them back to China. Shanghai, Fuzhou, and Guangzhou all  Shipbuilding equipment and a large number of skilled workers were needed, and Hu Xueyan provided employment opportunities.

    Shanghai Shipyard is also known as Jiangnan Shipyard. Last year, the Shanghai Navy Administrative Department started a huge shipyard merger plan, including Xiangsheng Shipyard, Yesong Shipyard, privately owned Ruirong Shipyard, and privately owned Bandung Iron Works.  After many mergers and acquisitions, Hefeng Shipyard and Dongjiadu Shipyard, jointly run by the government and the private sector, have become the largest shipyards and shipyards in Shanghai.  The new shipyard implemented a joint-stock system, and the original private capital was converted into company shares, which continued to be held by private investors, who became shareholders of the shipyard.  The merger of Jiangnan Shipyard was not a government action of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, but the result of the need for a monopoly in Shanghai's shipbuilding industry to develop to a certain point. Xiao Yungui did not intervene because the government held far more shares than private shares. To be honest, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom government was  The largest shareholder of Jiangnan Shipyard.

    and Jiangnan ShipbuildingThe difference between the two factories is the shipyards in Fuzhou and Guangzhou. The Fuzhou shipyard is located in Mawei Port and started investment and construction two years ago. However, it turns out that Fuzhou is subject to the influence of Shanghai's trade routes, and it has always been difficult for the shipyard to form a climate.  At the beginning of the year, Lu Chaoan, who had made outstanding achievements in developing Quanzhou Port, was transferred to Fuzhou. Later, he began to use shipping from Ryukyu and other places to develop Fuzhou Shipyard, and his momentum was quite high.  Guangzhou's shipbuilding plan only started this year, and its technology and talent are far inferior to its two predecessors.

    ¡°One of Hu Xueyan¡¯s most important tasks during this trip to the United States is to introduce skilled workers, technology and machinery and equipment to the three shipyards.  Xiao Yungui judged that as the United States later became a world power, its shipbuilding technology at this time must not be too bad. Perhaps the United States could find the technology that the British were unwilling to provide.  But his judgment was wrong. At least before 1880, the American shipbuilding industry still relied on the experience and technology of workers. Scientific shipbuilding theories and systems were still far away. The British shipbuilding technology at that time could not be replaced by anyone.  However, the efforts of Xiao Yungui and Hu Xueyan were not in vain. They laid the foundation for the future development and maturity of domestic shipbuilding technology and systems. Who said that it must rely on the British to achieve success?  The road is made by oneself. Although there may be some detours along the way, it is indeed a solid path that must be taken.

    Hu Xueyan's series of garbage-picking acquisitions could not save the United States, but he saved some Americans. In the two big cities of San Francisco and New York, one to the east and one to the west, Hu Xueyan's investment by a Chinese became the only bright spot in the economic crisis.  The companies he acquired did not have to compete with the British for the domestic market in the United States; the market for these companies was in distant China.  Many Americans in San Francisco even shouted: "God bless the Chinese, they gave us jobs!"

    All the companies and enterprises that Hu Xueyan invested, invested in, or acquired, without exception, have gained a part of the Chinese market share. The booming domestic development at the moment requires a large number of industrial products and machines. At the same time, Japan is also a good place for dumping goods. Hu Xueyan is in  While allocating domestic market share, it also brought Japan along with it.

    Hu Xueyan saw some of the essence of this U.S. economic crisis. He introduced an unprecedented mechanism, that is, the order share production system. Under the companies he acquired or invested in, the factories would only start production if there were orders and long-term cooperation agreements.  Maintain a certain amount of output at ordinary times and never waste too much production.  However, capitalist enterprises are destined to expand production and pursue greater profits. Hu Xueyan started his agent system. He set up a special team to find product sales agents to find sales for the products. The agents then looked for  Retail merchants, etc.

    Before he took office as minister to China, Levi met with the Chinese man who was in the spotlight in the United States to discuss the possibility of further expanding Sino-US trade. The United States needs the market to save its economy.  Although Hu Xueyan has some of the privileges granted by Xiao Yungui, his share of the cake is limited whether it is industrial construction, railway construction or other construction in the country.  Before coming to the United States, Xiao Yungui and Hu Xueyan analyzed the domestic situation. Currently, Britain and France still occupy most of the Chinese market share, followed by domestic industrial groups supported by Xiao Yungui, and then some countries such as Prussia have also begun to limit their  trading activities.  To be honest, the American pie cannot be too big, otherwise it will affect the interests of British, French or domestic enterprises.

    So Hu Xueyan had to politely decline Lie Weilian's proposal. He had no right to make any promises. The orders and markets for his companies and enterprises were officially authorized by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

    After finding the problem, Lie Weilian hurried to China, even faster than the people sent back by Hu Xueyan to report the news. Therefore, before Xiao Yungui got the news from the United States, he got it from Lie Weilian first.  Good news.

    Xiao Yungui was secretly glad that Hu Xueyan was a person who adapts to circumstances and did not expand railway investment as he said. Otherwise, God knows when the investment would be recovered, and the civil war between the North and the South was about to break out. A military control might be able to change the ownership of the railway.  There were too many variables to become the government, but Hu Xueyan¡¯s approach was appropriate, especially the move to acquire shares of Colt Arms Factory. Xiao Yungui was happy to know that in the subsequent civil war between the North and the South, he had a bridgehead for dumping arms to the United States.  .

    After Wei Lian introduced Hu Xueyan's great achievements, he began to lobby the leaders of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, hoping that the Western King could expand the trade of the United States, especially when he heard that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom intended to continue building railways in Guangdong, Jiangxi, Fujian and other places. If there were railways  With the right to build, the metallurgical industry in the United States may be saved.

    Wei Lian's lobbying was not recognized by Xiao Yungui. He secretly murmured that if the Yankees were given the right to build railways, Britain and France would directly go to war. Moreover, it would save the U.S. economy.  If the contradictions are not prominent enough, can the civil war between the North and the South still start?

    So Xiao Yungui moved out one after anotherBritain and France talked about the matter, and in the end Lie Weilian was so anxious that he couldn't help but threaten. This was the bad news Xiao Yungui heard. The Manchus and the Qing Dynasty took note of the American ships anchored in Dagu Port, and they were willing to negotiate with the United States.  Opened trade ports and invited the United States to mediate in the war with Britain and France.  (To be continued)
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