1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 3962

In fact, not to mention the South China Sea, which has been controlled by Haihan for many years, even in the Indian Ocean, where pirates are more frequently active, there are fewer and fewer armed forces that dare to provoke Haihan ships.

Many of the unfortunate pirates who have been wiped out by special forces divisions over the years have gotten themselves into trouble by launching attacks. So now, pirates tend to avoid the sight of the red and blue flag flying on a mast from afar.

Even risking raiding armed merchant ships from Portugal or the Netherlands would be relatively safer than provoking the Haihan people.

When Li Yuande's merchant fleet operated in the Indian Ocean, it was usually escorted by warships from the special operations division between Fubo Port, Hambantota Port, and Phuket Island. Even when they encountered pirates along the way, they never had any major problems.

The day after Li Yuande arrived in Zhoushan, representatives from Yangzhou also came, including representatives from all seven major salt merchant families. Their purpose was twofold: first, to bid farewell to the more than one hundred salt merchant sons who were about to embark on their voyage overseas, encouraging them to thrive abroad; and second, to pay Li Yuande for the funds he had invested in purchasing war bonds, completing the related transaction, which required the presence of all the families who had contributed substantial sums to witness the event.

This time, the Yangzhou salt merchants really went all out, collectively subscribing to war bonds worth 20 million yuan, which is almost equivalent to the total military budget of the special operations division for the past three years.

Such a large sum of money could not be traded in cash, so the Yangzhou salt merchants brought a large number of negotiable instruments, mainly Haihan Bank checks, which were signed for by Li Yuande to complete the corresponding transfer procedures.

Because of the huge amount involved, the official in charge of the East China Sea region business of Haihan Bank also personally brought a group of people to witness and guarantee this semi-official transaction, and completed all the deposit, withdrawal and transfer procedures on the spot.

These bonds have a ten-year repayment period and a symbolic annual interest rate of only 1%, because the salt merchants group did not expect to make money from bond interest at all. Instead, they intended to use them to create an opportunity to cooperate with the special operations division and to gain long-term benefits from the subsequent bureaucratic appointments in the newly established region and the Suez Canal project.

Even though Yangzhou salt merchants were said to be as wealthy as a country, a considerable portion of their wealth consisted of fixed assets that were not so easy to liquidate, and the funds they could readily access were still limited.

This time, withdrawing so much working capital to buy bonds at once, and also setting aside start-up capital for the children of each family for future development, is not exactly a crippling blow for the salt merchants, but it is certainly not an easy task.

Among the sons of salt merchants who went to sea, the older ones were already over thirty, but there were also some handsome young men who were still minors, and their families had high hopes for them. However, the younger ones were not necessarily of lower seniority; during the send-off ceremony, several of the young men stood at the very front of their respective family processions.

Li Yuande, who was observing the ceremony, had a solemn expression. This was not only out of respect for the Yangzhou salt merchants, but also because he realized that once these salt merchants' children arrived there, they would inevitably form a united force. At that time, he would definitely face competitive pressure from these newcomers, and the first-mover advantage that he had worked hard to win for Furuifeng over the past few years might not be able to continue.

However, this matter was unavoidable, and Li Yuande knew he couldn't allow Furuifeng to monopolize local trade indefinitely. For the rapid development of the Special Operations Division's territory, even if Yangzhou salt merchants weren't brought in this time, other business giants would eventually enter the Middle East.

In fact, when Shi Diwen and other high-ranking officials went to sea last year to inspect the special operations division's jurisdiction, many domestic businessmen accompanied them. At that time, some people also invested in land in several seaports, intending to set up permanent offices.

However, most of these merchants were testing the waters, eyeing certain unique local commercial resources, such as the gems of Ceylon. Their aim was to profit through trade, unlike the salt merchants' sons who had set their sights on higher levels of officialdom. Furthermore, these merchants from various regions were unlikely to form a united front and posed little threat to Li Yuande, who had gained the upper hand.

Therefore, although many businesses decided to invest there at that time, the competitive pressure on Li Yuande was far less than that brought by the introduction of salt merchant capital this time.

Li Yuande believes that once word gets out about this special route specifically for the sons of salt merchants, the competition will quickly become fierce. Children of powerful families in China who lack good career prospects will likely flock to this route.

After all, there are plenty of wealthy businessmen in China, and the practice of spending money to obtain official positions is not uncommon in overseas regions. It's just that the special operations division had not opened this door in the Indian Ocean and Middle East before.

After the fleets of Chen Pingliao, Li Yuande, and the Yangzhou salt merchants assembled at Dinghai Port in Zhoushan, they officially embarked on their journey south to the sea.

Not only were there thousands of Chinese people seeing off the fleet at the port, but there were also many Europeans with worried expressions in the crowd.

They had learned that the fleet's destination would be west of the Strait of Malacca. This marked the second consecutive year that Haihan had sent a large fleet to the region, following the visit by Stevin and others last year.

Such a major move was not good news for Europeans who relied on long-distance trade. The trade share that Haihan was currently and would continue to gain from the region was, in effect, indirectly taken from them.

However, Europeans currently have no good way to deal with Haihan's aggressive approach. They can't really break off relations and go to war with Haihan—the probability of defeat is too high, and no one is willing to take such a huge risk.

The aftershocks of Haihan's official public promotion of the Western Development Plan have not ended. Public interest in the matter has even surpassed the recent discussion about the war in Jiangxi.

The Qionglianfa Hangzhou office, managed by Li Yuande's father Li Fa, temporarily became a handling point for related matters, and was bustling with activity for a time.

Whether you want to find a way out in the special operations division's jurisdiction or plan to buy war bonds that are not publicly available, you can consult Qionglianfa and entrust them to handle the matter on your behalf.

Although the war bonds issued by the Special Forces Division have extremely low interest rates, private capital now regards them as a stepping stone to participate in new overseas regions. In particular, the news that Yangzhou salt merchants collectively subscribed for a massive 20 million yuan has led many to believe that there will be other substantial returns in the future, and they have flocked to Li Fa to ask for more subscription quotas. Some have even brought boxes of cash and banknotes to show their sincerity.

Before Li Yuande returned to China, he and Qian Tiandun agreed on the approximate sales amount in each region. The original upper limit for the Donghai region was set at 20 million, but unexpectedly, it was all bought up by the wealthy salt merchants.

Faced with the subsequent surge in subscriptions, Li Fa was at a loss for what to do with his limited resources and could only contact Qian Tiandun by telegram, requesting an immediate increase in the bond issuance quota in the Donghai region.