Chapter 1739 Overseas Investment
It has actually been more than two months since the war in Manila ended. However, considering the local situation in Manila and the actual distance from Sanya, it is understandable that the Ministry of Commerce has only launched the local investment project now. It is not The investment promotion activities have been delayed for so long because of low efficiency.
But for these big merchants who are really close to Haihan, sooner or later, one or two months is not a big deal. This is not because the businessmen are magnanimous and don't care about the profits they can get in this short time, nor is it because they are afraid of Haihan's authority and dare not urge them. It is because they have actually started business activities in the local area long before Haihan's official public invitation for investment.
During Haihan's attack on Manila, there were quite a lot of civilian ships accompanying the army to carry out logistics and personnel transportation, and they were even more numerous than the military warships participating in the war. In order to meet the actual needs of combat operations, these civilian ships were not randomly recruited from the private sector. Instead, several large merchants with close ties to Haihan provided ships and sailors to Haihan officials to ensure that military secrets before and after the operation would not be leaked to the outside world. , after all, this is not the first time they have done this kind of work, and they can cooperate with the military's command and actions more skillfully.
These merchants are willing to use their precious transportation capacity to help the Haihan Army complete logistical transportation tasks. Of course, this is not because they are coerced by Haihan officials or simply for patriotic purposes. There are even maritime merchants from the Ming Dynasty actively participating. . In addition to having confidence in the victory of the Haihan Army, the other main reason for them to operate this matter so actively is to obtain profits from the local area as soon as possible after the war.
In addition to completing the transportation tasks required by the military, these ships and personnel accompanying the army will also choose the opportunity to purchase or sell various wartime supplies in the local area, and even directly acquire local real estate titles. Whether it is driving up or suppressing prices in wartime, it will always be much easier than in peacetime. And they have the Haihan military as their backer, so there is no need to be afraid of using such extreme business methods locally. In a short period of time Then the cost of accompanying the army on the expedition can be recovered from the local area.
The main task of Haihan's military is to complete the attack on Spanish armed forces. As for post-war management and reconstruction, Haihan's usual practice is to leave it to professionals. For some local business areas that are related to people's livelihood, these merchants who accompanied the army will be given the opportunity to take over according to their respective strengths as soon as possible after the war, and this means that they can maintain a near-monopoly in the future for a period of time. Go run some local livelihood industries.
This is indeed the case. For example, the James Shipping Company, which dispatched the most ships in this expedition to the West, took over most of the shipping business in the ports of Manila and Cavite after the war. Boss Zhan Gui has even circled more than 500 acres of the best seaside land near the Port of Cavite to build warehouses and shipyards later, and he only needs to pay an extremely low land rent to Haihan officials. That’s it.
The various gold, silver, jewelry and valuable items collected by the Haihan Army from the local area also need to be digested by these merchants who accompanied the army on the expedition, and they will be converted into Haihan currency before they can be recorded in the military's accounts.
The first round of dividends was actually completed within a few days after the war ended, and at that time Sanya had not even announced the success of the front line. The process of carving up the war dividends among the upper class of society is much faster than the outside world knows. The business projects that will be promoted at the investment promotion event two months later have actually been screened by the large local merchants.
Of course, for merchants with second-class qualifications and connections, these projects launched by the Haihan Ministry of Commerce at this time are still lucrative and worth investing in and corresponding funds to compete.
Similar to previous overseas colonial investment promotions, the projects prepared by the Haihan Ministry of Commerce this time are still mainly agricultural development, with fishery, livestock, farms and plantations accounting for the majority. However, perhaps considering that Manila is too far away from the Ming Dynasty, Haihan and Indochina, the official has also given greater discounts than usual in this investment invitation, spending both on development costs and taxes in the next few years. In order to attract businessmen to invest in Manila.
Manila Bay has thousands of square kilometers of coastal plains in the north and south directions. Its natural conditions are very suitable for growing tropical cash crops such as rubber, tobacco, fruits, oils, and spices. The scale of agricultural development carried out by the Spanish during their rule was limited, and the development results over the past few decades were not even as fast as Haihan's farming on Hainan Island in recent years.
Of course, it is unfair to attribute this entirely to the incompetence of the Spanish. After all, the number of local Hispanic and Chinese immigrants is limited, and these two groups of talents are the main force in social production. Except for some tribes that were attached to the Spanish rulers, the local indigenous people who made up the majority of the population had no interest in participating in agricultural development and infrastructure projects organized by outsiders. Haihan will also face the same problem when planning to develop the local area, so the government needs to mobilize private power to allow businessmen to invest in local development and immigrate to meet labor demand.
Crossing the sea to immigrate to the local area is undoubtedly one of the costs that investors need to consider, and the local area was not a Han-dominated area in the past, so its attraction to immigrants is limited. Therefore, Haihan can only significantly reduce other expenses, including taxes, and reduce the investment costs of merchants, in order to complete the investment promotion.
It has to be said that these measures have played a certain role. After Schneider announced the investment project, businessmen all took the initiative to subscribe. This is actually a situation that was expected by the officials. If there are still very few takers after so many offers, it means that Haihan's appeal has dropped to a terrible level. The current reaction of businessmen basically confirms the official prediction before the war, that is, there will still be a large number of businessmen who have taken advantage of the low local development costs and participated in the plan to develop Manila.
The reassurance that the Ministry of Commerce has prepared for merchants does not end there. Considering the limited returns from growing agricultural products and cash crops, the Ministry of Commerce is also preparing to build a number of workshops in Manila that specialize in deep processing of products. Making flue-cured tobacco, canned food, perfume, and deep processing methods such as sugar refining, oil pressing, and wine making can all bring more substantial benefits to agricultural products.
However, most of the most advanced processes and formulas are in the hands of Haihan officials, and many processes require the use of high-end equipment such as steam engines, so the initial investment is much higher than that of ordinary processing workshops. And considering the issue of process confidentiality, it is currently difficult for private parties to independently contract such projects. They can only invest in shares, and the government controls the use and maintenance of production technology and equipment.
But even so, the deep processing project still attracted the attention of the participating merchants. Anyone who has dealt with Haihan will understand that these advanced processing technologies can increase the value of agricultural products several times. This is something truly valuable, and businessmen hope to gradually master these technologies that cannot be bought with money on the market through cooperation.
Businessmen scrambled to increase prices in units of 10,000 yuan, spending money like water. This lively scene deeply shocked Li Xi, who was participating for the first time. Before this, he didn't have a precise understanding of Haihan's good management skills. Until today's event, as long as Schneider comes out to say a few words and introduce some plans that are still on paper, these smart businessmen can go crazy. Money, this shows how amazingly valuable Haihan's business reputation is.
Fei Cexian was even more upset when he saw this situation. He had just read the imperial newspaper some time ago. Last year, in order to deal with internal and external wars, the Ming Dynasty sent additional taxes to various provinces to pay for military pay, totaling three million taels. Among them, Fujian received an additional 120,802 taels of silver, and Guangdong received an additional 231,178 taels of silver. The officials in these two places complained endlessly and claimed that they had received additional silver in the memorials delivered to the court. Silver has squeezed the local area too much, and the people are already miserable. Further taxation may trigger civil unrest. But what is the actual situation? Perhaps the people at the bottom did not have enough money to pay the extra taxes imposed by the imperial court, but these businessmen from Fuguang were all very generous and wanted to buy the whole of Manila. They looked like they had no money at all. ?
Fei Cexian silently calculated that the projects bid by businessmen from Fuzhou and Guangzhou after the event totaled at least more than 500,000 Hainan dollars. Converted into equivalent silver tael, it was already more than the extra silver distributed by the two provinces last year. More than half more. Fei Cexian really wanted to ask those officials who complained endlessly that there was no money in the local area, how to explain these businessmen's performance of being so wealthy in Haihan.
Of course, Fei Cexian can also understand why these businessmen are unwilling to donate money to the country's war effort. After all, Fuzhou and Guangzhou are far away from the battlefield. Whether it is the Jin soldiers going south or the civil strife in the Central Plains, the direct impact on these coastal areas will be minimal. On the contrary, there will be more Attracting people and property from war-torn areas to these places has led to pathological prosperity in the local economy.
The more frequent the wars in the Ming Dynasty, the easier it is for businessmen in these places to make money. It is obviously a more stable arrangement to invest the money earned in the areas under the rule of the Haihan people, so that even if the Ming Dynasty conquers the world one day If there is chaos, they don't have to worry that they have no way out.
"The court wants money, but you cry poverty! The Haihan people want money, but you are vying to give it!" Fei Cexian looked coldly at these Ming businessmen vying for bids, but he felt a fire in his heart that he could not vent.
The more resources and wealth Haihan absorbs from the Ming Dynasty, the faster the Ming Dynasty's national power will decline. Fei Cexian can clearly see this big trend now. But he was powerless against such a trend and could not stop what Haihan was doing.
Why could Haihan have more powerful appeal than the imperial court and make these misers in Lingnan willingly spend their money? Fei Cexian couldn't help but start to think about this higher-level political economic issue.
What powerfully attractive conditions can Haihan offer them? Based on the introduction he just heard, Fei Cexian believes that there are three main points: extremely low taxes and development costs, generous investment returns, and a stable and safe social environment. These seem to be the most lacking parts of the Ming Dynasty. Businessmen all have a profit-seeking nature. The conditions provided by Haihan can allow them to earn more wealth steadily, so it seems that they choose to transfer their assets overseas. It's a matter of course.
But even so, Fei Cexian didn't want to forgive these merchants who smelled of copper. His eyes swept over these people one by one, and he silently remembered every Ming merchant who had raised his hand to bid. He decided to write down the names and origins of these people in the next memorial, report their exploitative behavior to the Ming court, and then let the court put pressure on the local government to give these people some punishment.
Of course, Fei Cexian also understands that it may take several months before the results are seen. By then, the money that should have been sent to Manila will have been shipped out long ago. This does not stop these people from sending Ming's resources to Haihan's hand. Besides, even if the court promulgates disciplinary measures to the local level, local officials will most likely collude with these businessmen and get away with it.
It is helpless, but the reality is that Ming Dynasty can only temporarily act as a spectator on the chessboard of the South China Sea, watching helplessly as Haihan slowly conquers, lays out, and operates in this area, and strengthens its own strength through continuous outward expansion. Even if he realized that Ming Dynasty would become the target of Haihan annexation sooner or later, Fei Cexian had no ability to change the status quo.
"You really want to flip the table, don't you? Just get used to it."
Fei Cexian turned his head and saw that the speaker was Su Keyi, the Dutch special envoy. In fact, he didn't have much favorable impressions of this Han Chinese who worked for the red-haired people. However, the East India Company has been suppressed by Haihan in recent years. He is still aware of this. From a certain perspective, the two of them can be regarded as having the same problem. .
Although Haihan's investment promotion activities are conducted publicly, only personnel from Haihan's own country and allied countries can participate. In other words, the Dutch East India Company was excluded from this activity and was not qualified to compete for these investment projects officially announced by Haihan. The treatment that the East India Company could receive was even worse than that of the Portuguese. At least the Portuguese had received permission to open business inns and consulates there after sending personnel and ships to fight the Battle of Manila.
The East India Company has not even received a trade permit to enter Manila yet, and it is estimated that it will have to wait until the activities of these days are over at the earliest. It has a bit of a smell that after everyone has divided the cake, the East India Company comes on the scene and licks the plate.
Su Keyi was also quite helpless about such treatment, but Haihan's attitude towards the East India Company had always been like this. The Dutch were never allowed to participate in investment promotion activities for overseas colonies. He knew that even if he complained about the injustice, it would be useless, so he could only face Haihan's investment promotion activity with an extremely complicated mood, just like Fei Cexian.
(End of chapter)