Chapter 534 Refreshing Three Views
Everyone present automatically converted Schneider's highly official rhetoric into easy-to-understand terms - as long as he joins the South China Sea Merchant Alliance, Haihan will provide corresponding protection, and will even go to war with any party for this. . Although Schneider did not name the Ming Dynasty, everyone automatically made up this detail, because at this stage there are no other organized armed forces in the South China Sea, and the only force that can compete head-on with the Haihan people is the Guangdong government of the Ming Dynasty. . Moreover, Schneider also specifically emphasized that this is the commitment of the Haihan Executive Committee and not his personal commitment, obviously to reassure the businessmen present. After all, the credibility of the Haihan Executive Committee has been fully improved in the past few years. The verification is even more effective than what the government says to a certain extent. No one will doubt the validity of the Haihan Executive Committee’s stance.
However, these words have another meaning in the ears of some wavering maritime merchants - if you do not join the South China Sea Commercial Alliance led by Haihan, it will be difficult to guarantee the security of the South China Sea region in the future. , and might even become the target of attacks by the Haihan militia.
Although Schneider didn't explicitly say "get out of the maritime trade world if you don't cooperate with Haihan," his meaning was obvious enough. People who haven't understood Haihan's true intentions at this time probably don't have the IQ either. Fa can no longer hang out in this circle.
Naturally, Li Jifeng, an old fox, would not miss this opportunity to show his loyalty by showing his rhythm. He immediately responded loudly: "Since it is the promise of the executive committee, I, Li, naturally believe it. I have cooperated with Haihan in the past few years. The business has never gone wrong. I have always admired the vision and methods of the leaders of Haihan. Mr. Shi has said so many benefits, so on behalf of Guangdong's Furifeng, I will express my opinion first, Qiong Lianfa. 'Please count them among my family for next year's investment projects, as well as the Nanhai Business Alliance that Mr. Shi just mentioned!"
Schneider smiled and nodded slightly towards Li Jifeng. Before he could answer, another person stood up in the venue and said: "My dear Zhan Gui, I am also willing to continue to cooperate with Haihan. You may not know, but Manlajia There are many pirates in the nearby waters, and they have become even more rampant in recent years. If we can get the Haihan warship to escort us in the future, we will be less risky on this route.”
What Zhan Gui said is not a fiction. Pirates have appeared in the Anambas Islands and Natuna Islands north of Manchuria, as well as Belitung Island and Sukadana Bay in the Java Sea. In recent years, pirates have appeared. Earlier, the Zhan Family Shipping Company accepted the appointment of the Executive Committee and sent people to build trading houses in Malacca and Batavia. Its merchant ships also encountered pirates at sea. Fortunately, the ships sent to the south had all been modified at the Victory Port Shipyard, and their speeds were faster than ordinary Chinese sailing ships. It was difficult for pirate ships to intercept them at sea with their speed, so they escaped.
Of course, just a small number of wild pirates is not enough for Zhan Gui, who also received prior instructions, to specifically emphasize on this occasion. This is also a precaution for other maritime merchants in advance: First, there are real pirates over there. If you want to run a single gang on your own, don't say that no one will remind you when something goes wrong; secondly, the scope of Haihan Navy's activities will definitely gradually expand southward in the future, and combating piracy is also a very high-sounding reason.
Li Jifeng thought to himself that it was a good thing he didn't hesitate after receiving Schneider's hint just now, otherwise Zhan Gui would probably have stolen the limelight. Looking back now, Zhan Gui and his whole family had moved to Sanya to settle down a long time ago. He must have been determined to leave with the Haihan people. In this situation, he would naturally jump out to support the motion proposed by Haihan.
However, what Li Jifeng didn't expect was that after Zhan Gui, three or four large households stood up to express their support for Haihan, and would also join the "South China Sea Business Alliance" which currently only has a name. Only then did Li Jifeng realize that Haihan had already made full preparations. Even if he didn't take the lead, there were always substitutes ready to jump out and lead this wave. The reason why these people were not arranged to step forward at the first time According to Li Jifeng's understanding, it is simply because their portions are not as generous as "Fu Ruifeng".
Of course, if Li Jifeng had not stood up and expressed his support for Schneider just now, someone else would still have done it. Even if the effect was not so good, under the careful arrangements of the Haihan people, it was enough to influence the tendencies of these people in the venue. . However, the Haihan people will definitely support new businesses afterwards to gradually replace some people who have high hopes but are not so firm in their stance. Thinking of this, Li Jifeng was also secretly glad that he had made a decisive decision, otherwise things might have gone completely differently after hesitating for a moment.
While Li Jifeng was still thinking about it, Schneider was already on the stage and continued to speak: "I am very pleased to see so many people standing up to support Haihan's approach. This shows that the development direction we have set is right and in line with the bosses here. Since it is the right thing to do and can bring us huge benefits, we should carry out this matter well! Everyone, please sit down and wait for me to explain the various aspects of 'Qiong Lianfa' next year. The announcement of the development project has been completed. If there are any questions, we will discuss it later.”
Among the development plans formulated by the Ministry of Commerce for Qiongbei, the projects are basically focused on port infrastructure and large-scale collective farms. Among them, the port projects are mainly concentrated in Danzhou Bay, Qiongzhou Fucheng, and Wenchang on the east coast. The return income of these projects will come from the port docking fees after completion. Although the return period will be several years, the shareholders who invested can Depending on the amount of shares, you will enjoy certain special conveniences in the use of port terminals. For example, there may be a terminal exclusive to a certain trading company.
The large-scale collective farm project is led by the Ministry of Agriculture. Currently, a considerable part of the food consumption in the Haihan area still needs to be imported from Annan, and the developable arable land area in Qiongbei is more than ten times larger than that in Qiongnan. As long as If effective large-scale planting of food crops can be organized in the Qiongbei region, it is expected that the food supply gap problem in Qiongzhou Island can be solved within one or two years.
To be honest, none of the projects launched by Haihan Commerce Department this time will have particularly generous returns, and the payback period is also relatively long. Based on investment return, they are not actually good choices. But now that there is a foreshadowing, the businessmen here also understand that the project launched by Haihan people this time is not just for making quick money.
This has at least two purposes. One is to use investment to tie these businessmen and their profit network to Haihan's ship. In the end, the more upper class members of society are involved, the harder it will be for Ming to take action against Haihan. big. Secondly, Haihan also used this to show his absolute control over Qiongbei - the large tracts of land that Schneider circled on the map were not necessarily the "ownerless land" he said. The most effective form of control over an area is the control over land ownership.
Whether to participate in the development of these new projects is no longer a simple economic issue, but also directly involves the issue of political stance. There is obviously no gray area in the position drawn by the Haihan people. They must either cooperate or withdraw from the Haihan economic circle. This kind of withdrawal means giving up the trading power of Qiongzhou Island and the entire South China Sea region, and it is very likely that all maritime trade with the Pearl River Estuary as the outlet will also have to be given up. Sweetness is indeed a very difficult choice for these businessmen. After Schneider finally finished reading out the introduction of a total of sixteen development projects, the businessmen present finally came to the Q&A session. Schneider slowly closed the document book in his hand and handed it to the staff next to him. Then he took the tea cup and took a sip to moisten his throat. Then he said calmly: "As for the various matters announced today, if you If you have any questions, you can raise your hand and I will answer them publicly here.”
At that moment, at least twenty or thirty arms were raised in the venue. Schneider glanced briefly and then nodded at someone: "What advice does Shopkeeper Wang of the Haifeng have?"
When his name was called, Wang Qin of the Huizhou Haifeng Ship immediately stood up and said: "I dare not give you advice, but I would like to boldly ask, have your various development projects in Qiongbei this time been approved by the government?"
This question raised by Wang Qin undoubtedly reflects the sentiments of those present here. If the Haihan people had emptied the government of the city as they did in Qiongnan, then everyone might think that this method of operation was barely acceptable, but in terms of the political environment in Qiongzhou City, the Haihan people would have lost power in just a few days. The possibility of changing its situation is slim. What everyone is most worried about is that this action of the Haihan people will cause disputes between Haihan and Ming Dynasty, or even further armed conflicts.
When the gods fight, the common people suffer. Even if these people here have seen Haihan's force and know that the Ming government has nothing to do with the Haihan people entrenched on Qiongzhou Island, they will still worry about their wealth and life because of their cooperation with Haihan. implicated in the relationship. There is nothing the Ming government can do against the Haihan people, but dealing with them is as easy as killing a chicken. Although Schneider has just made a promise on behalf of the Haihan Executive Committee, no one hopes that there will be a real rift between Haihan and Ming Dynasty. When Wang Qin asked this question, he also hoped that Schneider could come up with a solution that had the best of both worlds. It would not only allow the Haihan people to get what they wanted, and everyone's business could continue safely, but also appease the government and the court, so as not to cause trouble. A dozen chickens and eggs.
Schneider responded unhurriedly: "Pirates invaded Qiongzhou some time ago and captured most of the prefectures and counties in northern Qiongzhou. I believe you all know this. In these cities captured by pirates, government officials were either killed or killed. Well, almost all of them disappeared. After our militia army launched a counterattack to drive away the pirates, the local civil affairs were temporarily managed by us.”
When Schneider said this, he raised his hand and snapped his fingers, and someone immediately presented another document. Schneider took over the folded paper and slowly unfolded it, then lifted it up and showed it to the audience: "Everyone, please see, here is the notice of peace and security issued by the Qiongzhou Prefecture. The security work is fully entrusted to us. All the development projects I just announced here, including the required land and labor, have been approved by the government. Please see clearly that this is stamped with the seal of the Qiongzhou Prefect. , All our actions on Qiongzhou Island have been recognized and supported by the Qiongzhou government of the Ming Dynasty, can you rest assured now? ”
rest assured? It’s a shame that you can rest assured! Although the Ming Dynasty government was corrupt and most of the officials were incompetent, they would not be so stupid as to completely hand over the power of local governance to irrelevant others. This notice of peace of mind was either forged, or obtained through some special means - such as directly controlling the various yamen in Qiongzhou City, as well as the adults in charge of the yamen.
Wang Qin coughed twice and said: "Does this mean that you still recognize that Qiongzhou Island belongs to the Ming Dynasty?"
"Of course!" Schneider responded without hesitation: "Now, of course, Qiongzhou Island belongs to the Ming Dynasty. We have no objection to this. We are only exercising jurisdiction in some areas. We will wait until the Ming Dynasty court fills in the vacant officials. After that, we will gradually return the transferred powers to the local officials. You can rest assured that we have not had any enemies with the Ming Dynasty officials before, and we have no such plans in the future. We will continue our previous practices and everything will be based on peaceful development. "
Of course, Wang Qin did not dare to ask what "the power that should be transferred" was. Schneider could only answer the question to this extent, which was considered very benevolent. At that moment, Wang Qin cupped his fists and bowed, then sat back in his seat.
Although Schneider spoke tactfully, those present could still sense certain undertones in his words. Schneider specifically mentioned "continuing the previous practice." What was the way the Haihan people used to deal with the local officials of the Ming Dynasty? Isn’t it just gradually becoming empty? If this approach continues to the Qiongbei area, can it be understood that the Haihan people plan to evacuate the entire Qiongzhou Island next?
Schneider continued: "Since the manager of the Haifeng Shipment Wang mentioned this issue, let me say it by the way. In view of the fact that the security situation on the island has not yet been restored, we will spend about three months gradually clearing up the pirate invasion of Qiongzhou Island. area, eliminate all remaining pirate forces stranded on the island, and then notify the Guangdong government, who will appoint new local officials to restore the imperial court's local rule."
Everyone listened and felt that their three views had been refreshed again. Three months to sweep Qiongbei? , doesn’t this make it clear that we are going to start a new business to bypass the government?
(End of chapter)