Chapter 533: Both soft and hard tactics
New plan? This is not a new plan to make money, this is simply a rebellion!
Occupying Qiongzhou Fucheng is not the same as occupying the wasteland in Sanya. Qiongnan Mountain is high and far away from the emperor, and the Guangdong government can't control that much. But Qiongzhou Fucheng is the core area of the island. How can the government easily let the sea go? Do the Han people control the local situation?
Some of the participants below are already secretly regretting it. If they had known that the Haihan people were going to play such a big role, they should have found a reason not to attend this shareholders' meeting. If you step into this muddy water, you will be in trouble before you can make any money!
Although these participants have some investment in Qiongzhou Island, their foundations are almost all in the mainland. The so-called monks can't escape the temple if they run away. If the actions of the Haihan people anger the Guangdong government, then they will "complicit" with the Haihan people. What will happen to the people?
Although the government cannot afford to offend, the other side cannot afford to offend either. In terms of force alone, Haihan's strength in his area of activity has even surpassed that of the Ming government. At least no one on Qiongzhou Island dares to disobey him. . Not cooperating with the Haihan people is almost equivalent to giving up all their interests on Qiongzhou Island. This is not a loss that everyone can bear.
Of course, money is secondary. When it comes to life and death, it is not something that cannot be given up. The question is, after offending the Haihan people, will my own goods and ships be able to safely go to sea in the future? Now the Haihan people have built two ports in the waters of the Pearl River Estuary, and warships are stationed all year round. For partners, they are an indestructible protective umbrella, but for those who are unwilling to cooperate, the existence of those Haihan warships can It's a huge threat.
The location of the Pearl River Estuary is extremely critical. The outlets of several major commercial areas in Guangdong such as Zhaoqing, Guangzhou, and Huizhou are all located here. Controlling this area is equivalent to controlling more than half of the waterways along the Guangdong coastline. Before this, everyone thought that the Haihan people's measures were very popular and could provide excellent protection for maritime merchants who lacked a sense of security. Merchant ships and civilian ships traveling between Guangdong and the South China Sea no longer had to worry about the rampant activities in the Pearl River Estuary in previous years. of pirates.
However, remuneration is directly linked to the position you are in. Of course, if you cooperate with the Haihan people, you will be protected, but if you don't cooperate, what will happen?
After Schneider asked this question, no one in the audience immediately responded. Everyone was waiting for him to give further explanation.
Schneider saw all the expressions below. After the discussion in the crowd stopped, he continued: "Everyone, before announcing the next project, I have another news to announce..."
The hearts of everyone in the audience were immediately in their throats, fearing that Schneider would say something treasonous in the next sentence. However, Schneider said with a relaxed face: "In the next year, we will further open the trade routes in the direction of Annan and the South China Sea. For merchants who are not capable of ocean shipping, they can also rent the cargo holds of our Haihan merchant ships to transport goods. By then, We will launch a new business organization for this purpose. As long as you become a member of this organization, we will provide a full range of services, such as the delivery, collection and storage of goods at overseas ports, the transfer and lending of funds, and armed escort during the voyage. , and even communicate with local officials, you can get our help.”
As soon as this statement came out, the audience was in an uproar again. Even the Li family and his son were shocked by the news, because when Schneider came to visit a few days ago, he did not mention such a thing.
The waterway from Guangdong to Batavia and Malacca in Annan and the South China Sea is nothing new. All maritime merchants know that trafficking various Ming Dynasty specialties from the mainland to the local area can make excellent profits. But for the maritime merchants here, not every one of them has the ability to transport goods from Guangdong to the local area for sale. The sailboats owned by many maritime merchants can only sail offshore and cannot travel thousands of miles. On the other side of the ocean, one can only look at the sea and sigh at the huge profits from ocean trade.
What Schneider said is obviously great news to this group of maritime merchants with limited strength. Even if they don't have ships that can reach the southern overseas ports in the future, they can still take the big ship Haihan and lay their business network to places that were beyond their reach before.
For those maritime merchants who had the ability to go to distant ports, they immediately paid attention to several key words-business organization, armed escort, and communication with local officials. There is no doubt that the Haihan people intend to copy the strategies they are currently implementing on the mainland coast to the South China Sea. They must gradually integrate these capable maritime merchants to unify foreign trade in the form of commercial organizations, and It will provide transportation, financial and other assistance for this purpose, as well as the military protection that merchants most desire.
Of course, compared to those small maritime merchants who only think about the huge profits of ocean trade at the first time, these powerful large merchants consider whether Haihan's policy will have an impact on their own business, and what Schneider said Whether the new business organization will be extremely exclusive.
Sure enough, Schneider continued: "... Of course, there are no barriers to obtaining these services from us. You must first become a member of the new business organization I just mentioned - let me call it the South China Sea Business Alliance. Only after joining this organization can you be eligible to enjoy various benefits. The threshold for entering this organization is also very low. Anyone who has invested more than 20,000 taels of silver on Qiongzhou Island can sign up."
For the merchants who can sit here and participate in this meeting, 20,000 taels is not a big number. At least half of them have reached or exceeded this number, and the remaining people actually want to reach this goal. There is no difficulty. Even if you can't afford the money temporarily, you can borrow an emergency loan from Haihan Bank, which is always open to you. Smart people have already thought that the purpose of Haihan's setting up this access threshold is obviously not to keep the people here out, but to force the maritime merchants to take sides.
To enter the next new game, you must follow Haihan's game rules and arrangements in order to continue playing. People who want to establish a clear relationship with Haihan will basically no longer be qualified to enter the new game. Previously, many people were silently weighing the pros and cons in their hearts and considering whether to give up their own interests in Qiongzhou Island. But as soon as Schneider drew the big picture, many people could no longer stay calm.
Although the various investment projects hosted by Haihan people on Qiongzhou Island have good profit prospects, the cycle is often relatively long, ranging from a few months to a long one, such as the sericulture breeding project in Qiongzhong, which may take several years to produce results. Naturally, it doesn't matter to large merchants with strong capital, because many people invest money in these long-term projects not only to make profits, but also to maintain the trading partnership with Haihan. For those merchants with little capital and weak strength, they value short-term profits more. They can collect money once they take a boat trip. This traditional trading method is even more popular with them.
Haihan's plan to open the routes between Annan and the South China Sea is exactly in line with the interests of these small businesses. As long as one cargo can be shipped there, or even one cargo hold, they can actually receive a sum of money. , which can produce results much faster than investing in long-term projects. Of course, the premise is that their butt must move from Daming to Haihan in the future. Li Jifeng was shocked and contacted Schneider about the information he had disclosed in private. He naturally thought that the purpose of the Haihan people was to force the richest and most powerful people in the Guangdong business community to continue the trade cooperation between the two parties. , and the scale will be larger than in previous years, and the extent will be more profound.
Li Jifeng had to admire the methods of the Haihan people. If they used the threat of force at this stage, they would probably be able to force most people here to submit. At least when Li Jifeng visited the Haihan battleship at the dock, he thought that the Haihan people had such a purpose. . However, the Haihan people are clearly superior and have adopted smarter methods to lure these businessmen, including himself, into the game voluntarily. Li Jifeng believes that those who can resist the temptation of huge interests and stick to their positions will probably account for a smaller proportion of the people here. It was frighteningly low - even he himself could hardly resist such a temptation.
"Furuifeng" naturally has the ability to trade across oceans, but since Haihan controlled the Annan coastline, Annan's maritime trade has actually been monopolized by Haihan. Even if a merchant like "Furuifeng" has an excellent relationship with Haihan, if he wants to trade on the Annan coast, he must first report to the Haihan Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Shipping, and go along the prescribed route at the specified time. at the port and conduct transactions with Annan merchants designated by Haihan. As for those merchants who tried to go to Annan for sea trade on their own, they all came back in disgrace - almost all the commercial ports on the Annan coastline are under the control of Haihan, and all the largest commercial banks in Annan are under the control of Haihan. He was an official and businessman with an aristocratic background and had long been colluding with the Haihan people. Naturally, he would not offend Haihan, his big backer, for the sake of one or two retail investors from the Ming Dynasty.
What's even more terrible is that after the Annan Civil War ended, the Annan court also handed over several major ports in the south to the Haihan people for operation. However, Hoi An Port, which originally had the best foundation, had been destroyed by war in the previous civil war - that In order to escape the war, almost all the Ming Dynasty maritime merchants who were in Annan had moved away from the area and completely lost their roots in Annan. Therefore, after the war, the coastline of southern Annan was also controlled by the Haihan people. Ships traveling from the South China Sea to Malacca and Batavia almost all had to seek supply points in southern Annan. If there were no Haihan people, Nodding, it is estimated that maritime merchants will be deprived of opportunities to replenish fresh water on that section of coast in the future.
The plan mentioned by Schneider seems to leave open sea routes to Annan and Southeast Asia, but from another perspective, it strangles the necks of the small number of large merchants who currently have the ability to run such ocean routes. If you don't stand on the same front as the Haihan people, you may lose not only your business in Qiongzhou Island, but also your ability to trade in Annan and more distant overseas ports in the future. And the long-term gains from these sea trade transactions may not be worth tens of thousands of taels of silver.
"The Haihan people's combination of soft and hard tactics is quite powerful!" After Li Jifeng thought about the cause and effect in his heart, he could only praise the Haihan people's serial methods.
Whether it is specially deploying warships to appear, or announcing the conditional opening of the South China Sea route, the Haihan people have made full preparations, both soft and hard. If they cooperate well, everything Schneider said will become a tool that can help maritime merchants earn more. A lot of money helps. But if you want to part ways with Haihan and draw a clear line at this juncture, then be prepared to withdraw from the maritime business world. Even if you reluctantly stay, don't even think about playing in this circle in the future - Haihan people have at least a hundred ways , and drove those maritime merchants who were unwilling to cooperate from their sphere of influence.
Unless there is an ultra-low probability event such as the Ming Dynasty's official army annihilating the Haihan militia in one fell swoop, no one can hope to change the current situation of Haihan's dominance in the South China Sea with their own efforts. Faced with this situation, the maritime merchants probably had no other choice but to say "submit" in unison.
While Li Jifeng was sighing, he suddenly felt Schneider's eyes on the stage looking toward him. The two people's eyes met, and Li Jifeng clearly felt that Schneider was signaling to him.
Of course, Li Jifeng understood the purpose of Schneider's gesture to him at this time - he had agreed to be a trustee beforehand, and now it was already time to go to work. Li Jifeng thought for a moment and then stood up immediately.
"Mr. Shi, may I ask a question about this?" As soon as Li Jifeng spoke, the crowd who were still whispering around him immediately fell silent. Everyone knows about Li Jifeng's relationship with the Haihan people, and the questions he will ask the Haihan people must not be missed.
Schneider smiled and nodded: "Excuse me, Boss Li."
Li Jifeng took a deep breath and said: "I would like to know if I cause some official troubles in the future because of my business cooperation with you, will you come forward to solve it?"
Schneider did not answer Li Jifeng's question immediately. Instead, he glanced at the people present and said, "I believe most of the people here have the same question in their minds, right? I would like to make it clear that the South China Sea Business Alliance I mentioned just now is of great significance to Haihan." It is not just an alliance in the field of business and trade. The safety of the family and property of all members who join this alliance is also protected by the executive committee from any external interference that is harmful to the interests of the business alliance, just like the area under Haihan's rule. All forces will be targeted by the Haihan Militia. This is not my personal explanation. This is the promise given to you by the Haihan Executive Committee.”
(End of chapter)