1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 3976

Phuket, along with Langkawi and Penang to its south, together form the Special Operations Division's sphere of influence north of the Strait of Malacca. However, due to limited resources, the current focus of development is on the slightly larger Phuket.

For the special operations divisions advancing westward at breakneck speed, Phuket is the largest logistical base and is increasingly replacing the role of Star Island.

“Basic necessities such as rice, salt, sugar, and oil are currently produced on Phuket Island. Once we are completely self-sufficient, we will no longer need to rely on Sing Tao’s supplies.”

After listening to Li Yuande's introduction, Chen Pingliao asked curiously, "I see that there are many mountains and forests around Phuket Port. Is there enough land to cultivate farmland?"

Li Yuande laughed and said, "Phuket is indeed not very big, only a few dozen miles in circumference, and half of it is still mountainous land that is not easy to cultivate. As long as there is enough labor, it is estimated that the arable land can be fully cultivated in another ten or eight years. But the Phang Nga Bay nearby has flat and fertile land along the coast. If needed in the future, we can rent land from Siam to grow grain and vegetables. There is no need to worry about not having enough space."

Chen Pingliao smiled knowingly. With the special forces division negotiating with Siam, the other side would likely not dare to refuse. This kind of "cooperation" already had a well-established routine; the lease agreement would be signed for a hundred years, and the cultivated land would probably never return to Siam.

As for who will invest in these planned farms, there are already ready-made investors. After visiting the island, the sons of salt merchants from Yangzhou took the initiative to inquire about the local industrial development and began to think about how to invest and acquire land.

Besides basic agriculture, Phuket also has some small-scale handicrafts. For example, processed cashews and various dried fruits with rich flavors, batik fabric products, tin wine pots, cups and tea canisters, various leather products made from crocodile and stingray skins, and pearl jewelry are all local specialties that sell well.

Of course, when it comes to local specialties, one cannot forget the various spices native to Siam, such as lemongrass, basil, curry leaves, galangal, dill, tamarind, and so on.

Dishes cooked with these spices have a unique flavor and are quite popular among the special forces soldiers. Ships traveling west from Phuket to places like Hambantota often carry a batch of fresh Siamese spices to meet the needs of the stationed troops.

Some of the merchants brought by Stevin during his inspection last year have already settled down here and started businesses related to these local specialties. Although the sons of Yangzhou salt merchants arrived later, they are not without opportunities to enter the market. As long as they are willing to invest heavily in Phuket, they can still get a share of the future trade market.

On the second day after arriving in Phuket, some of the salt merchants' sons who had landed on the island were already looking for land and measuring it out, preparing to build a trading post there.

Seeing this, Chen Pingliao laughed and said, "In this situation, I wonder what Brother Li thinks?"

Li Yuande understood what Chen Pingliao meant. He looked up at the sky, shook his head helplessly, and sighed, "What else can I feel? I can only accept my fate and find joy in hardship!"

These newly opened shops and trading posts in Phuket are undoubtedly taking a bite out of Fu Rui Feng's business, vying for the share that originally belonged to Li Yuande. But in order to accelerate the development of the area, Li Yuande has no choice but to face this reality.

Of course, Li Yuande also understood the many benefits this brought. If Fu Ruifeng continued to operate the business exclusively, it would be a case of one tree not being enough, and it would probably take eight or ten years to see significant improvement. Now, more businesses saw the potential profits here and were willing to invest and establish operations, which greatly boosted local prosperity. The development of Phuket Port has now entered a virtuous cycle, and Qian Tiandun no longer needs to allocate military funds to maintain the operation of people's livelihood and commerce. Moreover, the various local specialties produced have greatly alleviated the supply pressure on the Special Forces Division, and when Fu Ruifeng's fleet returns from the mainland, it can use the limited space to transport more high-value goods.

This situation actually occurred more than 30 years ago, when Furi Capital first arrived in Sanya and reached a cooperation agreement with the Haihan Executive Committee. At that time, Sanya was also extremely poor and its development was slow. After Furi Capital entered the market, it attracted many merchants from Guangdong and Guangxi to move south to Sanya, which gradually led to the development of Sanya into the first port city in the South China Sea.

It was precisely because of Fu Ruifeng's wise choices and proactive performance during that period that it gained its current special status and became one of the most powerful private businesses in Haihan.

Given Phuket's own conditions, it is probably difficult to replicate Sanya's glory. However, if managed properly, it still has the potential to become the premier port city at the northern end of the Strait of Malacca in a few years. At that time, it would be a good situation to have it echoing the Star Island from the south and the island from the north.

Li Yuande complained, but he knew perfectly well that as long as he cooperated with the special forces division's arrangements, the benefits that Fu Ruifeng had ceded in Phuket would be returned many times over from other places in the future.

Besides business matters, there were other important matters to attend to. The primary task of the salt merchants' sons who accompanied Li Yuande to Phuket was not to invest here, but to fill vacancies in the local government.

In particular, the officials in charge of civil affairs, agricultural reclamation, commerce, and navigation had previously been concurrently held by officers from the garrison, with Fu Ruifeng sending people to assist them. These officers were adept at commanding battles, but they were ultimately novices in managing administrative affairs, which was not their forte, and the results were predictable.

As for the appointment of the sons of salt merchants to official positions, Li Yuande had already discussed a preliminary plan with the heads of the seven major families while in Hangzhou.

The special operations division provided a list of vacant positions, each with specific requirements, such as proficiency in arithmetic, writing skills, and practical management experience in a particular field.

The salt merchants of Yangzhou would recommend suitable candidates, but if, after taking office, it was found that the candidate was unworthy of the position or lacked the ability to perform the duties, then they would have no choice but to withdraw the appointment and ask the candidate to step down.

Those who perform well and pass the probationary period assessment will receive a formal appointment letter, truly becoming a member of the Haihan bureaucratic system and receiving a government salary from then on.

With a sufficient number of officials in place, the relevant functional departments were finally able to be established separately from the military.

This cake-sharing event naturally benefited the Li family. Although Li Yuande himself did not enter officialdom, in the past two years, some of his descendants have gone to sea and followed in his footsteps to work here.

Li Yuande had already discussed it with Qian Tiandun. Once the local government offices were set up, Li Yuande would take every opportunity to place these members of the Li family in the offices and give them control over some key positions, so as to prevent the salt merchants' children from becoming too powerful.