Chapter 1474 Investment and Development
He Li had already thought clearly about the causes and consequences on the way here. Haihan's journey of thousands of miles and hard work to capture Liaodong was definitely not for charity, and the possibility of taking the initiative to return control to the Ming Dynasty was extremely slim. Even if the Ming Dynasty was aware of the military methods implemented by Haihan in Liaodong, the possibility of using force against him would not be too great. Otherwise, it would have been enough to directly send troops to deal with the Jin people before. There was no need to wait for Haihan, the big devil, to appear and then ask for trouble. . Therefore, what Sha Xi said just now, He Li believed that he was just alarmist. It is unlikely that a large-scale war would break out between the two countries. In this way, the development of Liaodong is actually the next focus. Haihan will definitely try to start from Recovering the cost of military operations in the process of operating Liaodong and perhaps attracting the injection of external capital will also be one of Haihan's business strategies.
Who does Liaodong belong to in the end? That is not something He Li is qualified to worry about. But what kind of substantial benefits Liaodong can bring to southern merchants is what He Li will definitely be concerned about. Therefore, his question did not involve the relationship between the two countries at all, but went straight to the topic, asking Shaxi whether he could open up local trade rights.
"Boss He seems to be eager to invest here!" Sha Xi personally greeted these businessmen. The ultimate goal was to get them to settle here in Liaodong and use their maritime transportation capacity advantages to benefit the development of Liaodong. Now that He Li jumped out on his own, it saved him a lot of saliva.
Sha Xi immediately explained to everyone: "This place in Liaodong used to be rich in products, but after the Jin people occupied it, the various infrastructures here were severely damaged, and the fields were basically deserted. After our country took over, we only had everything. We have started all over again, so as long as you are willing to join the development of Liaodong, we welcome you regardless of your nationality.”
While He Li nodded repeatedly, he was thinking in his mind that Mr. Sha was so slick and smooth. He had a lot of nice things to say, but he didn't have any substantive content. He didn't seem to be an easy target for tricks. It's just that businessmen from the south like myself are not so easy to fool. I'm afraid I won't be able to get through this kind of scene just by talking.
Sure enough, someone else immediately urged: "Can Sir Sha tell you in detail the details of the development of Liaodong? We can follow the rules and contribute to the reconstruction of the local area."
Sha Xi said: "Are you all so impatient? I don't think so. It's already time to eat, so let's change places and let's talk while eating!"
Haihan's shopping mall culture is in the same vein as that of the Ming Dynasty. It has always been a common custom to talk about things at the dinner table. This was not the first time for these southern maritime merchants to deal with Haihan people. Naturally, they understood what Sha Xi meant and immediately followed him. After entering the small tea shop, several more carriages were waiting outside. After everyone got on the carriages, the carriages drove directly to the nearby Lushun Fort.
Although Sha Xi came to Liaodong to rule for a short time, after he took office, he focused on the infrastructure projects in the area around Lushun Fort. The official road about three miles long between Lushun Port and Lushun Fort has been basically repaired. Xi also arranged for workers to transplant trees one after another on both sides of the official road, and now it can be regarded as a local facade.
However, the renovation work inside Lushun Fort has not yet been completed, and most areas are still under construction. Sha Xi did not take it seriously. Instead, he used it as a talking point to introduce to the guests the scene when the Haihan Army captured this place. Although he was not in Lushun at the time, he generally knew that the Lushun Fort captured by Haihan was almost in ruins. Today, more than 80% of the various houses and living facilities in the fort were newly built after Haihan occupied this place.
The labor force in the entire Haihan occupied area is a scarce resource. Even if Sha Xi has great hands and eyes, he does not have the extra manpower to build banquet halls and other facilities in Lushun Fort, so the place where he entertains these southern businessmen can only be placed in the fort. Officers' mess. Of course, since a person of Sha Xi's level was hosting the reception, he would definitely not just serve these guests with a big pot of food. Sha Xi specifically asked his personal chef to take charge of the work in the kitchen and prepared a table of standard seafood dishes. Han flavor entertains everyone.
Because the fleet had arrived at Port Arthur last night, Shaxi's chef had half a day to prepare the banquet, and it was quite decent. Although the environment was a bit crude, with a high-ranking official like Sha Xi present, the southern businessmen did not dare to object that the reception was not of a high standard.
The Haihan official who accompanied Sha Xi to attend this event was Liu Shang, who had been recruited by the military to Liaodong earlier and was later sent to the rear of Lushun Fort to take charge of logistics affairs.
For Liu Shang, he has done a lot of work on behalf of the Haihan official and Ming merchants since he joined the company in Sanya, so he is already familiar with the business. Sha Xi asked him to come over today to participate in the reception work, and naturally he took a fancy to his work experience in this area.
After Liu Shang came to Liaodong, he truly saw the power of Haihan's force. His stance and mentality changed more and more completely, and he began to truly put himself in the position of a Haihan official to deal with affairs and consider issues. His performance was also praised by Sha Sha. Happy recognition. Although in terms of administrative structure, he is still an official recruited by the military, in actual work, he has quietly become a subordinate official under the direct command of Sha Xi.
I have to say that Liu Shang's life is really good. Wherever he goes, he can meet noble people who give him a push, intentionally or unintentionally. When I was storytelling in Sanya, I met Jiang Han and Chang Degao, and I was able to sneak into the Haihan official organization by luck. Then I got the appreciation of Yu Xiaobao by accident, and took him around Hainan Island, which is equivalent to... After gilding his resume, he jumped from the bottom of the Propaganda Department to the Youth League. Although he encountered some dangers in Majiazhuang after being sent to Shandong, Zeng Xiaowen and Chen Yixin finally removed him from the suspect list and issued him an officially certified good person card, completely clearing his identity. After being transferred from Shandong to Liaodong, whether he was in the army or now transferred to the rear, Liu Shang was able to get along like a fish in water and was quite comfortable.
Now Sha Xi is quite satisfied with his performance at work, and has even mentioned on more than one occasion that he intends to take him over from the military and stay in Lushun to focus on local development-related matters. Today, he is asked to participate in receiving the carriers from the south, so that he can contact them about investing in the local area.
Of course, Shaxi could talk to the southern businessmen in person about these matters, but once he came forward, there would be less room for maneuver. By leaving it to Liu Shang to handle, many things can be handled more flexibly. Needless to say, Sha Xi knew this kind of knowledge, but Liu Shang also knew it and maintained a tacit understanding between superiors and subordinates with him. This is one of the abilities that Sha Xi likes in Liu Shang. Sure enough, after drinking for three rounds, an anxious businessman brought up the previous question again, wanting to know what specific investment plans and relevant rules there were in Liaodong. But this time there was no need for Sha Xi to answer it personally. Liu Shang took the initiative to answer the question: "As for the investment plan in Liaodong, the leaders have already had a comprehensive idea. If you want to know more, Liu Shang can simply say Say.”
When everyone heard that there was something going on, everyone put down their chopsticks and wine glasses and listened intently to Liu Shang's explanation of the matter that they were most interested in at the moment.
In fact, the formulation of the investment plan was basically Sha Xi's idea. The military generals are currently in the north directing the confrontation with the Jin Army and the project to rebuild the Jinzhou Isthmus defense line. They really don't have much thought about the development and construction of the rear. . In addition, the executive committee's original intention was to let Sha Xilai come to Liaodong to handle development matters. In order to avoid suspicion, the military could not directly intervene, so it simply gave full power to Sha Xilai. Sha Xi knew that Liu Shang was quite capable of explaining things, so he had already communicated with him beforehand and handed over this task to him.
"Since you are all carriers recruited by Haihan State, maritime transportation capacity is an inherent advantage for everyone who wants to invest and operate in Liaodong, and we will consider the projects we want to attract investment as much as possible. At this point, make full use of the transportation capacity you have at hand.”
Liu Shang had already made a plan in his mind and talked to everyone: "There are many products in Liaodong that are not available in the south. As long as they can be transported to the south at a lower cost, the rest is just to make more money." Question. The business our country plans to operate in Liaodong is generally based on this guideline. This is mainly divided into two categories, one is agriculture-related, including various plantations and farms, and the other is supporting services. categories, such as stores that provide food, clothing, housing and transportation to local people. You can choose the appropriate business category according to your own situation. ”
Someone asked Liu Shang: "I heard that the people here have been emptied by gold thieves. If we want to do these transactions, where do the hired workers come from, and who can the goods be sold to?"
If the local population does not have a sufficient basic population, there will naturally be no consumption and circulation system, and the military alone is obviously unable to revitalize the economic situation here, so this question makes some sense.
Liu Shang's eyes met Sha Xi's, and when he saw the other person's affirmative expression, he explained to the man: "The gold thieves indeed kidnapped all the local people, but after our country captured this place, it began to move Dongjiang Town overseas. The soldiers and civilians have moved back in batches, and more than 10,000 people have been resettled near Lushun. What you are worried about will not become a problem for everyone. ”
Everyone was a little surprised when they heard the news. It was an unconventional operation for Haihan to allow the Ming army from Dongjiang Town to participate in the Liaodong battle. After the war, he actually planned to move all the overseas soldiers and civilians of Dongjiang Town back to Liaodong. Are you really not afraid that the people in Dongjiang Town will take advantage of the opportunity and rebel?
As if he knew what everyone was thinking, Liu Shang continued to explain: "The combat troops in Dongjiang Town are currently deployed on the northern front, and their family members are stationed near Lushun. New villages are currently being built under our organization. And began to farm and reclaim wasteland. I believe that it is more important for them to regain their own homeland than to rush to determine which country the land they farm belongs to. ”
He Li also felt that what Liu Shang said made sense. He heard that the soldiers and civilians of Dongjiang Town had been living on deserted islands overseas for a long time. For these people, survival opportunities may even be much more important than nationality. Having said that, regaining lost territory for the country has been achieved, at least in theory. Thinking of this, He Li suddenly realized that part of Haihan's purpose in letting the soldiers and civilians of Dongjiang Town move back to Liaodong was to let the outside world recognize that Liaodong had returned to the control of the Ming Dynasty.
As for whether these soldiers and civilians of Dongjiang Town who returned to Liaodong will still be loyal to the Ming Dynasty and follow the instructions of the imperial court, the answer seems to be obvious. Haihan people are so smart, how could they be so stupid as to raise tigers? There must be some way to control Dongjiang Town before it is moved back to Liaodong for resettlement. He Li even thought pessimistically that the once world-famous Dongjiang Town might only have a shell left, and Haihan wanted to use this shell to complete his legal control of Liaodong. Maybe the Dongjiang Town troops participating in the war were actually just a certain unit of the Haihan Army that changed its banner.
Although He Li's idea was not entirely successful, it was not too far from the truth. The army participating in the war belonged to Dongjiang Town, but its training and equipment were provided by Haihan. In this new army, Haihan's imprint is no less profound than that of Ming Dynasty.
However, this topic was quickly taken over by Liu Shang, who began to explain to them the local policies on taxes and apportionment. These are all information closely related to the interests of investors, and the businessman's attention immediately skipped the previous sensitive topics. As everyone listened, they began to secretly figure out how to reasonably avoid taxes and increase the income from business.
Liu Shang saw the blurred eyes of these people, and he had guessed their plans in his heart, and was secretly amused. He had been in Haihan for a long time, and he knew very well that the relevant departments of Haihan had carefully considered when formulating these policies, and these measures were consistent with The policies were all based on practical experience gained after many years of operations in the southern colonies, so loopholes could not be easily exploited. These businessmen just invest money honestly and do business. After a few years of good business, they will definitely get rich. However, if someone really plans to test Haihan's bottom line, he may end up stealing the chicken but losing a lot of money. rice.
This luncheon lasted from noon to the afternoon because of the investment introduction. Later, Sha Xi said he had official business and left first. At this time, everyone had no appetite, so Liu Shang simply ordered the banquet to be withdrawn, served tea, and slowly discussed the details of the investment measures with these businessmen. Although no project was finalized on the spot during the half-day discussion, Liu Shang could also feel the investment enthusiasm of these businessmen, and they obviously did not want to miss out on undeveloped virgin land like Liaodong.
(End of chapter)