1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 3983

While Li Yuande and Chen Pingliao were having tea, several managers and stewards from Furuifeng were already waiting at the guesthouse.

After Li Yuande came out, they led him on a tour of his nearby plantation, where he examined in detail the recent planting and management of several cash crops. Then he returned to the guesthouse by horse-drawn carriage.

This trip didn't involve much business, but it was quite time-consuming. Li Yuande got off the car around dinnertime, but he didn't expect that the line waiting for Chen Pingliao to meet him outside the courtyard would be even longer than when he left.

Seeing this, Li Yuande could only shake his head and give up the idea of ​​having dinner with Chen Pingliao.

It wasn't until the moon was high in the sky that Li Yuande saw Chen Pingliao again, looking exhausted.

Li Yuande laughed and said, "Looks like you've had quite a haul today, haven't you?"

Chen Pingliao looked helpless, patted his stomach and said, "I drank a bellyful of tea, does that count as a gain?"

In the half-day after Li Yuande left, Chen Pingliao received more than thirty visitors, experiencing firsthand the minor troubles of being a son of a powerful family.

Socializing wasn't Chen Pingliao's forte, so receiving so many visitors left him feeling exhausted, and he even lost his appetite for dinner. However, upon hearing that Li Yuande had returned, he forced himself to chat with Li Yuande for a few more minutes.

Chen Pingliao said, "I've met so many people today, and considering what I saw and heard in Phuket, I have a strange feeling. Can you help me analyze it and see if there's any truth to it?"

Li Yuande nodded and said, "Speak freely."

Chen Pingliao continued, "Judging from what I've seen, there are still few businessmen from China who are willing to invest and do business here. After all, the place is too far away, and the conditions in all aspects are not comparable to those in China, which is understandable."

"But the businessmen who have already arrived here have all been unusually enthusiastic. For example, they come to meet with me, which isn't really a business opportunity, but they seem eager to get some resources or inside information from me, even though I'm not a local official!"

Li Yuande nodded and said, "I understand what you mean. The reason is actually very simple. Before, when they were in China, their understanding of the special operations division's jurisdiction came from various one-sided information, making it difficult for them to have a clear understanding. But after coming here in person, they will soon realize that this place has huge development potential and is an excellent target for long-term investment."

"But the problem is that all the resources here are controlled by the special operations division. If you want to do business here, you first have to learn how to deal with the military. Only when the military gives its approval can you get the commercial resources they want. The longer you stay here, the more you understand the importance of the military's attitude."

“Although Brother Chen isn’t a member of the Special Forces Division, your background is no secret. Your family has a long-standing friendship with Commander Qian, so naturally people will think your arrival has some unusual significance. This meeting is not an ordinary opportunity for them. Perhaps a casual remark you make will contain some business opportunities they desperately want.” Chen Pingliao remained silent for a moment before saying, “I haven’t thought that much about it, and I don’t know if I said anything that could be misunderstood today.”

Li Yuande shook his head and said, "That's not important. I was just using an analogy. Most of these people are just trying to get to know you. If there are any who are talkative and ask a lot of questions, and who linger even after we've had our fill of conversation, they're probably the ones who want to get information from you."

After thinking it over carefully, Chen Pingliao realized that the kind of people Li Yuande mentioned did exist, but they were only a few individuals, which made him feel a little relieved.

Once Chen Pingliao understood this, he took the initiative to change the subject, saying, "I heard you went to see the plantation this afternoon. How is the related industry here? Could you tell me about it?"

Li Yuande said, “The plantations near Hamban Port are mainly divided into three categories. The first is fruit, including more than a dozen kinds such as bananas, coconuts, mangoes, papayas, and pineapples. Currently, they mainly meet local needs, and a few that can be stored for a long time can be transported to Fubo Port, where they can be sold at a good price. I plan to build a fruit cannery and a winery here, so that we can make full use of local production capacity.”

"The second industry is tea, but the tea produced here is a bit different from the tea we usually drink. It comes from a tea tree that the locals call 'Assam.' The tea leaves are dark brown, and the tea soup is reddish, so it is called black tea. Countries in Europe like this black tea, and it is currently selling quite well."

"The third category is spices, such as cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, pepper, turmeric... These are all relatively common edible spices. Before we came here, the Portuguese and Dutch were already engaged in the spice trade. The profits from transporting this stuff to Europe were quite high, so they did not hesitate to use military means to compete for resources here."

The plantations that Frederick has established near Hambantota are mostly used for growing the latter two types of cash crops. This is because fruit is not a scarce commodity locally, and although it can fetch good prices when shipped to the Middle East, the storage problem is difficult to solve properly in the short term.

Haihan already has mature operational plans for the large-scale cultivation of spices and tea trees, as well as related deep processing and packaging. Furuifeng only needs to replicate these plans in Hamban Port.

In fact, a large number of rubber trees are now intercropped in the areas where spices are grown, a new planting strategy that was introduced last year by personnel from the Ministry of Agriculture. Domestic demand for rubber products is increasing daily, so there will certainly be no shortage of buyers in the future. However, rubber trees mature much slower than spices, and harvesting is still a long way off, so Li Yuande didn't specifically mention it.

Li Yuande has plenty of funds at his disposal; what he lacks most right now is still human resources.

These plantations require a large workforce to manage under normal circumstances, and during the harvest season, they would prefer to have as many people as possible. With sufficient manpower, the area of ​​the plantations operated by Frederic Fung in Hambantota could probably be several times larger than it is now.

Of course, those who arrived later with the fleet would soon realize the same problem. Funds were not a problem for the wealthy sons of salt merchants, but recruiting a large number of immigrants from the country to settle here was not a goal that could be accomplished overnight, even with money.

However, with more channels working together, Li Yuande believes that the speed of immigration will definitely be much faster than if he were to operate alone. When the population here reaches tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, or even millions, related industries will also rise accordingly, ushering in a period of rapid development, just like the changes that Hainan Island has undergone in the past thirty years.