When Wang Fengyuan was discussing with his son, in a mansion outside Zhengyang Gate, Hu Guangyuan was also discussing things with several shareholders. Around Zhengyangmen and south to Xianyukou and Langfang Hutong, it is the largest commercial area in the outer city of Beijing.

Around both sides of the royal road, all kinds of shops and theaters and teahouses are crowded. And the mansion where Hu Guangyuan and the others are now is in the alley behind the Zhengyangmen shop. It is only a few dozen steps away from the bustling shopping street, but it is surrounded by a quiet residential area, which can be said to be a good place to take a break from the hustle and bustle.

Originally, Hu Guangyuan did not want to put the bank's headquarters in the outer city, he also wanted his bank to be stationed in the Shiwang Mansion, and it was best to arrange it opposite Wang Fengyuan's central bank.

But Wang Fengyuan didn't seem to think so, not only did he use his connections in the palace to prevent him from entering the Ten Princes' Mansion, but even the location suitable for opening a bank in the inner city was one step ahead of him. The rest of the place made Hu Guangyuan feel that setting up his bank's headquarters there would only make people feel that his bank was inferior to the central bank.

In desperation, Hu Guangyuan finally chose to find a mansion near Zhengyangmen in the outer city as the location of his bank's head office in Beijing.

Through this incident, Hu Guangyuan finally deeply realized that although the principal of his Communications Construction Bank is similar to that of the central bank, there is still a big gap between the status of the two banks in the emperor's heart.

After understanding this, Hu Guangyuan temporarily gave up the idea of wanting to part with Wang Fengyuan's central bank, and focused on building his own bank system as soon as possible.

Sitting on the throne, he listened to the report of the shopkeeper below with some absent-mindedness, "... Each bank branch needs about 12-15 employees, of which at least 4-5 technicians are familiar with banking business.

In order to initially build our bank system, we formulated the first phase of the bank construction plan to establish bank branches in 24 cities such as Suzhou, Song, Chang, Hu, Jiaxing, Jinling, Yangzhou, etc., for which 120 professional banking technicians are needed. According to the follow-up plan, an additional 100 professional and technical personnel must be added every three months.

At present, however, there is only one school in the capital that trains bank technicians, and it is jointly run by the Metropolitan Governor, the Ministry of Household Affairs, and the Central Bank, and the duration of an accelerated course with a certain foundation is about six months, while the normal course from scratch is two years. The former now runs 6 classes of 35 students each. The latter has four classes of 45 students each.

Under the coordination of the Maharaja, in a month and a half, a crash course will be allocated to us. In addition, it was agreed to open three additional orientation training classes for our Communications Construction Bank, including two crash courses and one normal class..."

Hu Guangyuan said with some displeasure: "Why do you train for so long? Can't our shopkeepers and old fellows be usable? We are already one step behind the central bank, and if we wait another six months, will we not be able to eat the leftovers of the central bank? ”

The shopkeeper who was reporting suddenly said in embarrassment: "Owner, this bank looks very similar to a pawn shop, but the doorway inside is far behind.

Although the pawnshop is also in the business of lending money, in the final analysis, it still makes money by selling dead pawn items. Because when we collect the collateral, we have already determined the profit. Therefore, as long as the objects received do not look away, there is generally no risk.

But banks are different, banks are really buying and selling money, selling irreredeemable collateral, which is a failed business for banks. Because every piece of collateral that cannot be redeemed represents the loss of a customer for the bank.

Our pawnshop has a saying that it will not open for three years, and it will be open for three years. But the bank is different, he is through a large amount of money in and out, the purpose of charging a relatively low commission.

For example, since the establishment of the central bank, the main items of profit are still in short-term capital turnover, capital exchange, and transaction fees for large amounts of funds. These projects involve a large number of mathematical formulas, as well as detailed accounting records.

Due to the distance between each branch and the amount of funds entering and exiting the bank every day, if there is no certain supervision and account verification, as well as familiar business capabilities, then it will cause the loss of principal, which is obviously not something that those shopkeepers and associates can deal with now. ”

Hu Guangyuan and several shareholders were silent for a long time, and finally he broke the silence and said: "In this case, just go and contact the guys and shopkeepers of the outlets under the central bank, as long as they are willing to come to our side, then process the money and give treatment." And for every man they brought, they gave him 20 silver dollars. All in all, the shelves of the Communications Construction Bank will be erected for me in February next year..."

In the Xianyu Hutong south of Zhengyangmen, Andre was closely following Li Bo'an in front of him in the flow of people, his two eyes staring nervously at Li Bo'an, for fear of losing someone. He bet there wouldn't be so many people on even London's busiest streets.

Although he had barely learned a few Chinese words to greet these days, he was not sure that he would find a place to stay in the capital after being separated from his Chinese companion.

After all, he was reassured that this was not Europe, and that the residents on both sides of the street would not dump yellow and white things and some rancid unknown liquid on the street. And there are solid brick and stone walkways or concrete roads under his feet, and there will be no black mud puddles waiting for him.

This allows him to only have to keep up with his companions in front of him without having to distract his energy elsewhere. For the past few days, Andre has felt that he is like Ali Baba in the Thousand and One Nights, and the city of Beijing is like a huge treasure cave, no matter where he goes, he can find treasures that amaze him.

Although the Chinese refused the request to visit the railroad factory, he saw the process of installing the rails. The railway being built in Beijing is clearly not a place to hide secrets.

After chatting with the foreman who built the railway, he realized that the price of iron in the Chinese was much cheaper than in the British, and it was no wonder that they could think of the idea of laying valuable iron bars on the ground.

In Europe, British iron products are the finest, and many of them are exported abroad every year. But the best pig iron in Europe comes from Sweden. According to Andre's observations, ordinary pig iron in the Chinese market is about a little worse than that produced in the UK, but the price is 36% cheaper than that of British pig iron.

There is also an excellent Xishan iron produced in the Chinese market, which is comparable in quality to Swedish pig iron, but the price is 25% cheaper. As for refined iron, which is of better quality than Europe, that is, wrought iron is 37% cheaper, and the price of steel is completely incomparable.

Here is a shoddy steel called Sugang, which is only twice the price of refined iron. And there is also a good steel with high strength, which is only six times that of refined iron. But in the UK, even if the quality is slightly better than that of sutan, the price of the foam steel, which is slowly soaked with charcoal and wrought iron, is eight times that of wrought iron, reaching a staggering 140 pounds per tonne.

As for the kind of good steel smelted by the Chinese, Europe simply cannot find it. As for the 100-forged steel, which relies on forging and making well-made weapons, it may have its own advantages in terms of performance and this kind of good steel, but there is no possibility of comparison in price at all.

It was only then that Andrei realized that the 1 million yuan per year goods exchange agreement he had signed with Chinese merchants was still too conservative. 1 million Ming Yuan is equivalent to 200,000 pounds, and the annual import quota of the UK is about 50-600,000 pounds.

André originally thought that signing a trade contract equivalent to one-third of the value of British imports in a year was already a rather bold venture.

But the more he learned about the Chinese capital, the more he found it ridiculously low in terms of trade. Every item in the city's shops has a value for being shipped back to Europe. What could limit the scale of this trade was the gold in their pockets and the ability of merchant ships to transport it.

Even the 1 million yuan of goods do not need to be shipped back to the UK, just transshipment to the Indian mainland, which can completely digest the goods of this value.

And India's best cotton textile industry does not seem to have the upper hand over the Chinese. Cotton yarn here is about 01 yuan per catty, but in India it is close to 015 yuan. And cotton cloth in China is almost a third as wide as Indian homespun cloth, but the price is only 23% higher.

Of course, in between, Andrei still thinks the Indians are better. However, Chinese cloth is heavier and suitable for high-latitude regions such as Europe. Of course, for these merchants, cheap and beautiful Indian cloth is obviously more cost-effective in terms of freight.

After all, China has so many high-value goods, whether it's raw silk, silk, porcelain, rhubarb, or the kind of good steel he found, every commodity that can be shipped back to Europe or India can make double the profits.

However, as André continued to select and compare these goods, he found two goods that he considered to be the most valuable to the British. One is the shuttle box used to modify the weaving machine, and the installation of this shuttle box on the current weaving machine can not only double the weaving efficiency, but also increase the width of the cloth to more than 25 feet.

The other is the all-iron plough, which is said to be driven by one or two oxen, and can plough 15 to 20 centimeters of ground, and it only takes 14 hours to cultivate 25 acres of land. This is obviously much more efficient than the tools used in Britain today, but the price of the all-iron plough is also quite staggering. Only 10 all-iron plows can be made per ton of pig iron, and each plow is worth 9 yuan.

When Andre saw that Li Bo'an in front of him finally stopped, he finally breathed a sigh of relief. He followed Li Bo'an out today to buy a few gifts and then visit a Chinese gentleman who had taken in the orphan daughter of a British clerk who had been murdered at the Ambon Merchant House.

Of course, in addition to wanting to comfort the orphans of this compatriot, he also wanted to get acquainted with this Chinese gentleman who was quite influential in Japan, after all, it was no secret to these European merchants that the trade route of taking Chinese goods to Japan to extract silver, and then using them as capital to buy Chinese goods and return them to Europe.