Chapter 532 Surprise Release
When talking about safeguarding maritime interests, maritime merchants naturally understand that these are just nice words for their own group of people. The current scope of activities of the Haihan Fleet is not only to perform escort missions, but also to "protect" the entire Qiongzhou Island. Last month, the General Office of Guangdong Province issued a suspension notice to various merchants. In order to prevent pirates on Qiongzhou Island from escaping, all ports on the island are only allowed to enter but not to leave. Of course, this ban only applies to ordinary people, Haihan himself. Boats are not covered by this ban.
The current maritime force of the Haihan people is enough to control the waterway from the mainland to Qiongzhou Island. There is no other force in this sea area that can threaten Haihan's interests. However, the Haihan people do not seem to be satisfied with the status quo, claiming that they are still The construction of these terrible huge gunboats will continue. If they are not bragging about this, then the purpose is worth pondering.
Of course, no one dares to openly question the actions of the Haihan people on this matter. The government has turned a blind eye to this, so who is willing to jump out and offend the rich and powerful Haihan people? Besides, Haihan's purpose of doing this is quite obvious, which is to let the people present know which side of their butts should sit. If you want to play tricks, you can consider whether your own fleet can do it better than Haihan. A scary warship. .
After visiting the Haihan gunboats, various merchants returned to the venue with different thoughts and began this year's shareholders' meeting. After more than two years of operation, in addition to the original 13 major shareholders, the current "Qiong Lianfa" also added more than 20 small shareholders who joined later. Nearly a hundred people attended the meeting. So much.
There are not many buildings in Zhennan Port that are suitable for use as a venue. In the end, Haihan managed to vacate a warehouse and set it up as a venue. Considering that the venue is a bit large, in order to allow participants who are sitting a little further away to hear the speeches clearly, the conference organizers specially placed loudspeakers in the four corners of the venue.
Although the venue is a bit shabby, the bosses and shopkeepers who come from all over the country don't mind this - the business discussed during the meeting are often big deals worth tens of thousands of taels of silver. It doesn't matter that the venue is shabby, as real money falls into their pockets The inside is the most important thing.
Of course, in order to keep the contents of the meeting confidential within a certain number of people, the organizers of the meeting asked the vigilante group to impose martial law on the periphery, and no one was allowed to move within 30 meters around the venue. Specialized personnel have also been arranged to take care of all meeting supplies and the supply of meals and tea during the meeting.
These things are naturally nothing special in the Haihan system, which is tightly organized and has a clear division of labor. Everything has a corresponding system and person in charge, and the efficiency of operation is naturally much higher than that of the traditional labor-employed system. But in the eyes of those who are new to Haihan's business system, they are amazed by this efficient work arrangement. Especially in an occasion like this when discussing business, there are hundreds of soldiers standing guard outside with loaded guns and ammunition. It is exactly like the treatment of high-ranking officials of the imperial court. This is an unprecedented experience for many people.
The main content of the shareholders' meeting is actually not much different from the time and space before the time traveler came here. It also focuses on reviewing various proposals. First, the host of the meeting announced the number of people attending the meeting, the main attendees, and the attendance ratio of major shareholders to determine the effectiveness of the meeting.
Next comes the complicated review process, starting with the previous year's work report proposal, then the financial settlement proposal, profit distribution proposal, daily related transaction proposals, etc., there are more than ten proposals in total. After these proposals are read out by the drafters on stage, the shareholders and representatives present will vote on the spot, and then the voting data will be counted to determine whether they are passed. And every proposal of this motion will involve the interests of most people present, or even everyone, so no one will doze off on such an important occasion, and everyone will prick up their ears and listen carefully to what is being said on the stage. Someone read out the content of the motion.
The Ministry of Commerce of Haihan is basically responsible for drafting these proposals. When it comes to financial calculations, an audit team sent by the major shareholders will conduct a special review. It can be said that the system is quite formal and rigorous. Of course, shareholders can also put forward their own proposals, but the starting point of shareholders is basically for their own interests. It is difficult to propose proposals that can satisfy other shareholders, so the number is not large.
Since the system and power structure framework when "Qiong Lianfa" was founded was basically formulated by Haihan, it has a high degree of control over the development direction of this joint-stock firm from the beginning. The content of the annual shareholders' meeting, Basically, everything is carried out according to the script prepared by the Ministry of Commerce. Although there are more than a dozen major shareholders, the actual control has always been in the hands of the Haihan Ministry of Commerce.
The shareholders did not show any dissatisfaction with this situation. After all, Haihan's strength lies here. No matter whether he has more money or more courage and cruelty, no one dares to challenge Haihan's authority.
This general meeting of shareholders also followed the trend of the previous two years, and the discussion and review of proposals went relatively smoothly. Of course, part of the reason for this is indeed because shareholders are focusing on surprise announcements that have become a common practice at shareholder meetings, hoping to end the boring deliberation process as quickly as possible.
The first day's deliberation process was uneventful. Shareholders had nothing to criticize about the annual work report. Haihan people's various commitments to investment projects in advance have basically been realized. Everyone is more concerned about how these projects will earn money for themselves. How much money will be paid, and in what manner and proportion the profits will be distributed.
After the meeting that day, the organizers of the meeting opened more than a dozen banquet tables to entertain the attendees, and the various exquisite glass tableware, cooking spices, drinks, and even some ingredients used at the banquet were specially shipped from Sanya. Came here. This is undoubtedly a very high enjoyment for the wealthy people who have regarded Haihan lifestyle as a new trend. And each participant received an exquisite souvenir after the banquet - a glass paperweight engraved with the words "Commemoration of the Shareholders Meeting of Qiongzhou United Development Group Company in the Third Year of Chongzhen in the Ming Dynasty". Although this thing does not have high economic value, it is a limited edition product produced by Sanya Glass Products Factory, and it can highlight the identity of the owner, so the collection value is quite high.
The next day's deliberation was about the profit-related proposals that everyone was concerned about. Dozens of shareholders had large differences in the returns they received based on their shareholding ratios and investment projects. Of course, the specific income figures for each shareholder will not be announced at the meeting. The only public data is the total income of each project and the corresponding profit distribution ratio.
However, it is not difficult for an interested person to deduce the general business scale and profitability of "Qiong Lianfa" from the data released at the meeting. One thing that all business projects have in common is that their profitability is pretty good. Except for some crop projects with long profit cycles, almost all other projects related to industrial manufacturing, shipping, commerce, culture, etc. have achieved good returns. Major shareholders like "Fu Ruifeng" who invest money in almost every project can even receive profit distribution notices after the income report of each project is read out, which is really enviable to many people. Most of the deliberations on the third day were related to transaction methods. After Haihan successively developed Wanshan Port and Zhennang Port, there were more options for cargo delivery methods with maritime merchants from various places. This process involved warehousing, Transshipment and other aspects of costs, so the relevant departments have made appropriate modifications to the previous transaction regulations.
At the end of the third day's agenda, the participants finally waited for the "surprise announcement" they had been waiting for. Of course, there was nothing surprising, because after the meeting, everyone's eyes were already fixed on Schneider. As the chief manager of Haihan's foreign trade, he is responsible for reading out the published contents every year.
Sure enough, this year Schneider lived up to expectations and stood up, holding a file book and walked to the podium in front of him.
Schneider raised his hand and raised the black document book in his hand and said: "I know that it is actually it that you have been waiting for, not me!"
There was a burst of good-natured laughter from the audience, and Schneider continued: "Every year after the shareholders' meeting, we will publish some of the development projects for the next year, but every year, there seems to be no surprises. And I heard that This year everyone has already been speculating on the next area we are going to spend money on, and many people probably already have their own answers in their minds..."
Schneider looked around the crowd and said slowly: "But what I am going to announce next may be beyond the expectations of most of you. Whether you are surprised or happy, the investment projects we have prepared are all It will continue to bring considerable economic benefits to everyone. The investment projects announced below will start raising funds in three days, and will be implemented in 30 days. Haihan Commercial Department will hold at least 50% of the shares. If the public sale portion is not sold out, we will make up the difference. ”
Schneider opened the cover and began to read out the first project: "The new commercial port project at the mouth of the Nandu River, north of Qiongzhou Fucheng, has a total cost of 500,000 taels of silver and a total construction period of 18 months..."
Before Schneider finished reading the content, everyone in the audience was in an uproar. The people here have many conjectures and speculations about Haihan's next investment location, but no one thought that this location would be near the center of power on Qiongzhou Island.
For maritime merchants, Haikou Port near Fucheng is naturally a well-known place. Before the two ports in Sanya appeared, this place was the largest and most prosperous port on Qiongzhou Island and the trade distribution center of Qiongzhou Island. However, due to the impact of Sanya in recent years, Haikou Port has gradually begun to decline. Its old port facilities and silt-rich hydrological conditions are indeed inferior to the two large ports built by Haihan people in Sanya. If it weren't for the important location of Fucheng nearby, with tens of thousands of settled people, perhaps the rate of abandonment would be even faster.
But whether this place is prosperous or abandoned, it is a key area under the eyes of the Ming government. It guards the important position of the Qiongzhou Strait in the north of Qiongzhou Island. How could the government leave it to a group of businessmen to run it? What's more, these people are not from the Ming Dynasty, but are the remnants of the Han people who drifted from overseas.
Looking at the history of the Haihan people's prosperity, it seems that they have not engaged in such radical behavior before. The areas where investment projects are implemented are almost all within their sphere of influence, such as the Sanya area in Qiongnan. In such places, the Ming government was often beyond the reach of the Ming Dynasty, so the Haihan people could implement their own system of public ownership of land locally, concentrate all the land in their own hands, and then carry out large-scale development. And if this practice is moved to Fucheng, will the government still pretend to be deaf and turn a blind eye?
There are probably only two reasons for this uncharacteristic behavior of the Haihan people. One is that the fever burned out their brains, which is obviously not in line with their always rational behavior. The second possibility is that they have been able to control the situation in the area around Fucheng, but this means that the Ming government has lost the ability to control the strength of this area.
Of course, there have been similar situations before. The Yacheng government near Sanya has long been ignored by the Haihan people. This is not a secret in the maritime business circle. Anyone who has been to the local area in recent years knows that the Haihan people have owned a property in Qiongnan. What an influence. But after all, Qiongnan is a vast and sparsely populated place. Even the Li and Miao natives only have a population of tens of thousands. The foundation of Ming Dynasty's local rule cannot be said to be particularly stable. Besides, the Haihan people did not do anything excessive after taking control of the local area, let alone any rebellious actions. They only focused on making money, making money, and making more money. Therefore, from the perspective of Daming Maritime, although Haihan's expansion momentum was strong, it did not seem to have formed. What a threat.
It was not until recently that the Haihan people sent troops to Qiongbei and recovered several cities captured by the pirate army for the government. Most people realized that the power Haihan had at hand was far beyond simply controlling Qiongnan. As long as they were willing, they would control It doesn't seem to be a problem to expand the territory several times outward.
However, before convening this conference, the vast majority of people still held a very optimistic attitude, believing that Haihan would rationally control his sphere of influence in the area dominated by Qiongnan. But now the Haihan people have publicly placed the investment and development location of "Qiong Lianfa" next year near Qiongzhou Fucheng, which seems to prove that this disturbing development direction is becoming a reality.
Schneider read something later. The venue was noisy, and at least half of the people didn't hear it clearly. After Schneider finished reading this paragraph, he put down the document book and asked the attendees with a smile: "Everyone, are you interested in participating in our new plan?"
(End of chapter)