1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 3963

"I'm so sorry, it's not that I don't want to sell to you, it's just that these bonds are really gone! To be honest, even though these bonds were sold by Qionglianfa and my Li family in Guangzhou is a major shareholder of Qionglianfa, we can't buy any for ourselves in the name of Furuifeng now."

"Once the next batch of bond issuance plans is approved, I will definitely send a message to you all as soon as possible to ensure that everyone gets a share and that all of you patriotic heroes can buy them!"

Li Fa saw off several wealthy local businessmen with an apologetic expression, took a sip of tea to moisten his throat, and instructed the steward to invite the next group of visitors in.

Li Fa's public statement was not fabricated, but it was not entirely the truth either.

The subscription quota for these war bonds issued by the Special Forces Division in the East China Sea region has indeed been sold out, but why would Fu Ruifeng need to go through the trouble of purchasing these bonds through Qionglianfa? His son, Li Yuande, is the actual person in charge of these war bonds; a simple signature is all it takes to complete the process, and there's no need to go through Haihan Bank to handle the related procedures.

However, outsiders don't know the ins and outs of this, and when they hear such an explanation, they often just feel helpless and don't think about it too deeply.

After all, Fu Ruifeng is a well-known large business in Haihan, but it is only one of the dozen or so major shareholders of Qionglianfa, a commercial behemoth with government backing. If even Fu Ruifeng cannot be bought, then outsiders can hardly expect Qionglianfa to give them special treatment.

Even though there were no bonds available to sell for the time being, the network of contacts he built was still a significant gain for Li Fa. So, despite the exhaustion from constantly welcoming and seeing off visitors, he insisted on making time to meet with anyone who came to visit.

However, the connection that Li Fa truly valued most was not a local figure from Jiangsu or Zhejiang.

Before Li Yuande left Hangzhou, Li Fa specifically instructed his son to maintain a good relationship with Chen Pingliao during this voyage. If possible, it would be best to establish a personal friendship, as this would benefit their future trade activities in the north.

Although Fu Ruifeng had opened trade routes to the north many years ago, its business there had never been very successful. It wasn't until a few years ago, when Li Yuande joined Qian Tiandun, that Fu Ruifeng's business in the north began to improve. After this connection was established, Qian Tiandun spoke to Chen Yixin on his behalf.

However, Li Fa will not stop there. Now that Chen Pingliao, the young master of the Northern Region, has become Li Yuande's colleague, this relationship will certainly have the opportunity to bring greater assistance to Furuifeng's business in the North.

As for the extent to which he can help, that depends on Li Yuande's performance.

Li Yuande, who had already set sail, did not have such awareness. Although Chen Pingliao came from an extraordinary background, Li Yuande had been working for Qian Tiandun for the past few years. Qian Tiandun was a big shot whom Chen Pingliao could only meet as a junior and subordinate. Li Yuande usually dealt with dignitaries from various countries, so he naturally did not have any special feelings for Chen Pingliao.

However, Chen Pingliao's decision to lead several thousand men to sea to support the special operations division earned him considerable favor with Li Yuande. After departing from Zhoushan, Li Yuande took the initiative to travel with Chen Pingliao so that he could introduce him to the local customs and culture along the way during the long journey and help him adapt to the overseas environment more quickly.

Several days later, the fleet successfully reached the Pearl River Estuary and docked at Kowloon Harbour in Hong Kong. A fleet of Fook Fung's ships sailed down the Pearl River and met up with the main force here. This fleet mainly carried local specialties from the Guangdong and Guangxi regions, some of which would be traded at ports along the way, with only about one-third of the goods ultimately destined for the Special Operations Division's area of ​​responsibility.

"Although the handicrafts from Guangdong are not as exquisite as those from Jiangsu and Zhejiang, they are very cost-effective and popular in the South China Sea region. Textiles such as Yue cloth, banana cloth, and kudzu cloth, ceramics such as pottery from Shiwan kiln, celadon from Chaozhou kiln, as well as ironware and tinware from Foshan, and sugarcane from Xuwen, all have good sales overseas."

After listening to Li Yuande's introduction, Chen Pingliao asked with a smile, "I heard that half of the business in the Pearl River Basin is under the name of Furuifeng. I suppose many of these goods exported overseas are monopolized by your family?"

Li Yuande waved his hand and said, "There are so many things to eat all at once! Brother Chen underestimates the situation in Guangdong and Guangxi. There are more than ten families of founding fathers who are currently based in Guangzhou. These are the real powerful families. Our Li family is not qualified to play any monopoly business!"

Chen Pingliao was somewhat dismissive of this. Although he had lived in the north for many years, he knew of a very large business called Fu Ruifeng in Guangzhou when he was a child studying in Sanya. Many products from Guangdong were sold by this business.

As he grew older, he gradually learned that the Li family of Guangzhou had played a crucial role in the founding of the dynasty. They had been partners of the Executive Committee since the establishment of Haihan, providing a large amount of resources and channels needed for development, and thus earned the deep trust of Haihan's top management.

The most famous person in the Li family is Li Yuande's third uncle, Li Nai. He has close personal relationships with many high-ranking officials of Haihan, and even many members of the executive committee have a mentor-student relationship with him. He has a great influence in the upper echelons of Haihan.

Therefore, when Qian Tiandun went south to sea a few years ago, he chose Furuifeng as his business partner. In Chen Pingliao's view, this was a matter of course - when choosing a partner, one should choose someone who is both powerful and reliable.

Seeing that Li Yuande refused to admit it, Chen Pingliao changed the subject and asked, "Brother Li, could you tell me how many bonds Furuifeng subscribed to this time? If it's inconvenient to say the exact amount, is it more or less than the Yangzhou salt merchants?"

Li Yuande continued to deflect, saying, "This matter was decided by my elders. I have been overseas for many years and am not aware of it."

Even Li Yuande himself felt that this statement was not convincing, so he added, "The subscription amount for bonds varies in each region, so there is really no comparison. The salt merchants of Yangzhou are incredibly wealthy, and the amount they have subscribed to has far exceeded my expectations."

Li Yuande beat around the bush, refusing to disclose how many bonds Furuifeng had subscribed to. However, his refusal to answer the question gave Chen Pingliao a general idea of ​​the situation.

The number of bonds subscribed by Furuifeng was likely no less than that of the Yangzhou salt merchants.

The salt merchants of Yangzhou were the wealthiest in the world, and the amount they subscribed to was astronomical. If Furuifeng subscribed to less than the salt merchants of Yangzhou, it would be reasonable and not a loss of face.

Only the amount subscribed by Fu Ruifeng was larger, which would shock the audience if revealed. Li Yuande disdained to lie, so he gave such an evasive answer.