March 1, 1652, Qingdao Port.

Captain Couaite got up early in the morning, his eldest son had just returned from Amsterdam, and the two ships brought back some daily necessities (buttons, sewing needles, pins, candlesticks, candles, etc., which were too expensive to produce on the east coast, so they relied on imports), a few Italian specialties (Florentine ham, cottage cheese, which were marketable among Italian immigrants), more than 20 horses, and more than 400 Tuscan peasants.

It is surprising that the goods that were shipped back were sold at a good price, and even the Florentine ham and Italian cheese that were originally only sold among a certain group of people were snapped up, and most of the buyers were not Italian immigrants, which is really strange. However, Captain Kuat's son only faintly felt strange and did not make much of an association, but the old captain, who was extremely experienced in business, keenly sensed that something was wrong, and felt that this was not like normal market fluctuations. Especially after hearing the news of his daughter's complaint about rising prices, Captain Kuat, who has experienced no idea how many turmoil he has experienced in his life, immediately understood a lot of things.

This is someone buying supplies in the market! Is it possible that there is going to be a war?

"It's really possible to fight, but it shouldn't be the army, it may be the sailor." Pei Qin, who is now the commander of the Guiyi Fort, said nonchalantly while picking up a bowl to eat. He ate very happily, and the dishes were also very rich - the Xinhua grouper and Xinhua prawns, which are extremely rare on the market, were put on the table in a grand manner, and this kind of tropical seafood that was drifted to the mainland by sea in a refrigerated ship can be imagined, and this can be eaten, and the Pei family's Haofu Cheng dù is also evident.

However, it is no wonder that Pei Qin was a senior officer of the Standing Force, and after being ordered to support the East Coast (the Second East-West War), he settled in Guiyi Township, Qingdao County. and served the rank of reserve second lieutenant, responsible for the garrison of the Guiyi Battery. The job paid a lot of money, plus the money he had saved up (share of the spoils). This standard of living is naturally a cut higher than others.

However, the high income is the high income, and Pei Qin himself does not like his current job very much. He still remembers the days when Chongzhen worked as a leathersmith at home when he didn't have an accident in the early years. He really misses his first career and plans to carry it forward on the East Coast. It's a pity that people are not as good as heaven, and the old commander's appreciation made him still not completely get rid of his military career after he retired from the army, and now he still leads a group of militia to guard the fort and guard the safety of Qingdao Port.

It can be seen that Pei Qin's experience basically revolves around the military, whether it is in Dashun or on the east coast. Therefore, he still heard some of the gossip circulating in the army. In particular, his present position, the garrison of the Guiyi Battery, was under the control of the Admiralty. Therefore, it is very clear what is going on within the Navy.

"The Navy has an operation? Didn't most of the main fleet leave the port? Captain Kuayt asked curiously. He came from Qingdao Town to Guiyi Township today just to see his daughter who married here. To tell the truth, his daughter insisted on marrying Pei Qin, who was already thirty-six or seventeen years old, and he himself was very opposed, but after a period of contact, he found that his son-in-law not only had a very rich deposit (close to 1,000 yuan), but also was very appreciated by some military officers, so he slowly accepted this reality. Even now, he took the initiative to bring some gifts to visit relatives.

Pei Qin hesitated, considering that it was not a classified information. Therefore, he nodded and said: "The navy has newly entered service two '10 August' class battleships, four sail frigate gunboats, two fresh water supply ships, and there is still a repair ship, a hospital ship, an ammunition supply ship, and a coal ship under construction. And. I heard that the Admiralty will hold a large-scale military exercise off the coast of Yancheng Port next, and the number of ships participating in the exercise is very large, and most of the Navy's combat ships and almost all of its auxiliary ships will be dispatched. Therefore, it is normal for the shortage of materials in the market, and most of the procurement managers of the Admiralty are scanning a large number of goods, which is normal. ”

"I see." Captain Kuayt nodded, but began to wonder whether to put the last pension money in his hands into Nova Shipyard's convertible bonds. The only privately owned shipyard in the East Coast recently issued a convertible bond worth 100,000 yuan in the financial market of Qingdao Port for the expansion of a shipyard and the launch of a new shipyard manufacturing workshop. The new shipyard is currently operating in a very average situation, with the exception of a few orders for inland steamboats and small offshore fishing vessels. They can only do some maintenance and repair work on the ship.

In the two years since the factory opened, it has been on the verge of profit and loss. At the same time, this also makes people know that shipbuilding and other technology- and capital-intensive industries. Not all cats and dogs can come in. If you don't have strong financial strength and technical strength, you can't afford huge losses for a period of time, and you can't bear long-term huge investment, so don't just enter this industry, and obediently build some jam products factories, milk powder workshops, oil extraction workshops, flour mills, and ham workshops at home.

Therefore, even though the initial investment of the Nova Shipyard is huge and the background is very deep (it is said that there are many "nobles" who have invested in it, and many technicians are also from the three major shipyards), it is still stumbling at the moment, which in itself speaks for itself. No, the plant's investors seem to be impatient with the ongoing investment, so they intend to issue a batch of bonds in the financial markets to raise funds for the shipyard's subsequent development. In order to attract investors to donate generously, they also set the huge amount of bonds as convertible bonds, that is, after maturity, bondholders can choose to convert their bonds into equity in the company at a fixed price, which should be attractive to many investors who have spare money.

It is clear that Captain Kuayt is one of those potential investors who are attracted. He now has about 20,000 yuan in hand, which is the pension money he has left for himself (most of his assets have been given to his eldest son), perhaps out of the instinct of a businessman, he always feels that it is a very bad thing to keep a large pile of money in hand - especially now that the bank interest rate is not very high - so he must find a way to make the money "travel", and the convertible bonds of the new shipyard seem to be a good opportunity.

He had been observing this small and medium-sized shipyard for a long time, and if he had been hesitant for a while, now that he heard from his son-in-law that the navy might make a big move, he immediately threw the last trace of hesitation out of the clouds, and made up his mind to buy at least 10,000 yuan of the company's convertible bonds after he went back, maybe he could make a lot of money.

After lunch, Captain Kuayt returned to the port of Qingdao in a horse-drawn carriage, and by this time there were no less than 30 ships moored in the wharf, and in less than two months, Captain Kuayt felt that the number of these ships was likely to double to 60 - because as the influence of the Qingdao Spring Trade Fair grew, more and more foreign ships came to the fair, and last year 46 ships registered to participate in the fair, and this year the number will only be more.

With the increase in the number of foreign ships entering the port, the turnover of goods on the east coast during the fair (throughout May) has also increased day by day, reaching an unprecedented 1.24 million yuan last year, and this year's figure is afraid to exceed 1.6 million yuan, effectively making up for the huge losses caused by the loss of the French market.

Among these incoming ships, Dutch ships are the first in terms of both number and tonnage; Then there were the English ships, some of which came from the British North American colonies and some from the British mainland, and were mainly used for entrepot trade. These two ships accounted for two-thirds of all foreign ships, and the rest were scattered in Portugal, North Germany, and Italy.

Captain Kuayt even found two seagoing ships from the Duchy of Courland, which brought hundreds of black Congolese slaves and a large amount of tobacco to the port of Qingdao, and sold them all to the people on the east coast, which is said to have made a lot of money. However, they probably won't be attending the next fair, as the supplies needed for the two ships (consumer goods, metal tools, weapons, ammunition, and bean cakes) have been procured, and it is said that they will now return to the colony in New Courland to continue their colonial work.

"I don't know ......how many Dutch and English ships are left in this full harbor," Captain Kuayt sighed wistfully. Although he had left the Dutch West India Company and even became a naturalized East Coast, that didn't mean he didn't know anything. Now the tension between the Netherlands and England is on the verge of breaking out, which any old fur seal with a little brain can see, and it is impossible to say that one day there will be a sudden war. The large number of ships of the Navy of the Republic of the East Coast is concentrated in service, and this may be a factor in this regard.

Thinking of this, Captain Kuayt felt an even greater sense of urgency in his heart: he had to seize this rare opportunity to invest the surplus money in his hand and let it travel, so that when war came, perhaps an opportunity for the manufacturing and shipping industries on the East Coast, he would be able to take advantage of this shareholder wind to reap the greater good.

The purchase of Nova Shipyard convertible bonds cannot be postponed any longer! Well, buy 15,000 yuan at a time, and play a big one if you want to play, hoping to get a good return. (To be continued)