1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 463 Bonds
On September 1629, 9, the Qiong Lianfa Qiongxi investigation group consisting of seven ships arrived at Changhua Port.This expedition team did not come from Sanya, but from the mainland, crossed the Qiongzhou Strait southward along the Leizhou Peninsula, then stayed in Qiongzhou Fucheng for a day, and then went west to Changhua via Danzhou.

The delegation was supposed to arrive at Changhua Port three days ago, but encountered bad weather on the way and delayed the trip.However, perhaps it was because the Guangzhou Office did a good job of promoting the project during the project promotion meeting. After disembarking, the group of business representatives did not show the fatigue they should have after many days of running around, but excitedly. Qiao Zhiya, who came to meet them, asked when he could go to see the local development progress.Obviously, in the eyes of this group of people, making money is the first important thing.

Qiao Zhiya wanted to quickly pull these local tyrants into the pit, so he naturally didn't mind them jumping into the pit, so he responded immediately: "Everyone, the location you are now is actually a part of the Changhua development site. Only in three A month ago, it was just a small fishing village with less than [-] households, but everyone has seen the current situation. There are more than [-] workers working here every day, constantly expanding the port, improving the facilities here, and receiving All kinds of tools and raw materials shipped from Sanya and other places. The number of laborers is likely to double by the end of the year at the latest. And the cargo handling capacity of this port will also surpass Qiongzhou Fucheng in an all-round way, becoming the third largest port on Qiongzhou Island port."

As for the top two ports that Qiao Zhiya didn't explicitly mention, they naturally refer to Shengli Port and Sanya Port.And the merchant representatives who listened to his introduction did not question this at all, and listened to Qiao Zhiya's continuation with an expression of course.

"The reason why we built a large port in this place, I think everyone already knows the reason. Yes, there is a very large iron mine in the inland mountainous area about eighty miles away from here. As for how big it is What is the extent?” Qiao Zhiya deliberately kept it a secret, and then continued after a while: “The iron buried in this place is enough to meet the iron demand of the entire Ming Dynasty. Please pay attention, I am not talking about a year’s worth, but Hundreds of years!"

There was a low exclamation from the crowd, and there was no doubt that Qiao Zhiya's description deeply shocked them.But even if this statement sounds as mysterious as a legend in the heavenly scriptures, still no one questioned the authenticity of Qiao Zhiya's statement.The reason is also very simple. There has long been a saying in the outside world that the Haihan people have some kind of secret technique of prospecting and identifying veins, and they are looking for the kind of large ore veins that no one has discovered, such as the Tiandu area where Haihan is mining and The large mines that go deeper inland, as well as the Heitugang coal mine in the northern part of Annan, known as Little Sanya, were all found by the Haihan people with this magical magic.

Almost all of these major shareholders and merchants have sent people to visit Tiandu's iron mine, and even the Damao Manganese Phosphate Mine farther away has also taken the pains to visit it.As for the popularity of Heitugang Coal Mine in Guangdong and Guangxi, it has surpassed Tiandu Iron Mine. The coal market in Lianzhou Prefecture and Gaozhou Prefecture, which are the most westward to the sea in Guangdong and Guangxi, has been almost monopolized by the cheap clean coal produced by Heitugang. As a result, the local coal merchants should either switch to other businesses, or simply establish a relationship with the Heitu Port Management Committee and become an agent of the Heitu Port Coal Mine.Not to mention Qiongzhou Island, which has been infiltrated by Haihan. Since the Heitugang coal mine was put into production, the small coal mines on Qiongzhou Island have gone bankrupt in less than half a year. A large number of miners have gone south to join Haihan. There is no other source of coal on Qiongzhou Island.

Haihan's brilliant achievements in mining development in the past make it impossible to question the development plan they proposed.After all, in this field, no one dares to stand up and say that they are better than Haihan.As for whether the hundreds of years that Qiao Zhiya claimed were three hundred or five hundred, no one planned to get to the bottom of it, because Maiko explained this question to them when they were in Guangzhou.

Of course Maliko was not talking about the specific reserves of Shilu Iron Mine, but the profit model of the bonds issued by Haihan.The benefits that such bonds can obtain are actually dividends from the development of Shilu Iron Mine. It is said to be bonds, but the operation mode is closer to stocks. Every year, they will enjoy a certain percentage of dividends according to the number of holdings.The difference is that these bonds still stipulate a repayment period, and the principal will be returned after the period, and no dividends will be enjoyed.One of the most attractive places for investors is the high annual rebates. It only takes a few years to rely on the rebates to get back the principal, and the subsequent holding period is to collect money without capital.

As for the length of the profit period that investors care about, it is directly linked to the number of immigrants that buyers bring into Haihan within a certain period of time.The Haihan Ministry of Commerce set the threshold for purchasing bonds relatively high this time. The total amount of bonds that can be purchased varies with the number of immigrants introduced.Investors who want to obtain this considerable long-term income must not only have sufficient capital, but more importantly, be able to provide Haihan with a sufficient number of immigrants.

Although the operation process is very troublesome, the return on investment is steadily higher than those development projects invested by Qiong Lianfa in the past.Moreover, those agricultural-related projects are very dependent on the sky, and it may not be possible to maintain profitability every year.This mining operation is much more secure. If the scale of immigrants introduced is large enough, buying a 50-year long-term bond at one go can also leave a considerable fortune to future generations-even without spending energy to manage it. Buying and selling, you can increase your income in the account of Haihan Bank every year. This is a family heirloom for future generations to lie down and make money!
The shareholders of Qiong Lianfa came here for a special on-site inspection with this in mind. After Qiao Zhiya's reconfirmation, the eyes of the business representatives present became brighter.

"If you have any questions, you can ask me anytime, and I will try my best to answer them." Qiao Zhiya saw that these people were agitated, so he decided to strike while the iron was hot and give them more food.

"Director Qiao, may I ask how to develop the iron mine, which is [-] miles away from the sea, is it possible that we need to build a road leading to it?" Someone immediately asked.

"Good question! Everyone, please follow me!" This question undoubtedly gave Qiao Zhiya an opportunity to introduce the status quo of the project in depth.

Soon the delegation followed Qiao Zhiya to the Changhua Port Railway Station hundreds of meters away.Of course, this place is only a planned railway station at present, and there are no facilities such as platform or waiting room, but the business representatives who have been to Sanya many times quickly recognized the actual situation of this place. use.

"There are rails here, it's the Haihan train!" Soon someone recognized the real purpose of this place from the special roadbed and tracks.

"That's right, this is the transportation line construction plan we are currently working on. This rail transit line will lead directly to the mines we will develop inland in the future. Iron ore will be continuously transported from the mountains through this transportation line." Qiao Zhiya introduced loudly: "Those who are interested in taking a ride can take the train to the east for about six miles. This is the area we have opened to traffic."

However, there was little response to this invitation, and someone answered: "Can the train here be the same as Victory Port?"

Qiao Zhiya nodded, and the man said again: "Then I'd better choose to walk or take a sedan chair to see the situation."

One of the things that outsiders must do when they come to Shengli Port is to take the Haihan train that can move by itself without being dragged by animals.However, after being blown in the face by soot, few people are willing to take a second ride.Unless you are a distinguished guest who has been invited by the Haihan people, you are eligible to ride with the Haihan people in a fully-packed premium car.As for Changhua Port, the railway station has not even been built yet, so it is conceivable that there will not be any high-end carriages for business representatives to ride here.

Sure enough, not long after, a train rumbled up in the distance. The three wagons dragging behind the front of the car were not to mention fully wrapped, not even half wrapped.The train back to the port area did not carry any goods, but more than 300 migrant workers who had just come off the construction site. As for the expressions of these migrant workers after taking the train, they could basically only be described as black and carbon.

Seeing the embarrassment of these migrant workers, everyone gave up the idea of ​​taking this train to the front of the construction site.Seeing this, Qiao Zhiya had no choice but to cancel the itinerary, and said that he would find other means of transportation the next day to send the merchant representatives to check the construction site.Of course, in terms of local conditions, Qiao Zhiya can find other means of transportation that are at best at the level of a bullock cart.

The delegation stayed in Changhua for five days, which verified the huge financial resources that Haihan invested here in the early stage.Thousands of laborers have been working here for three months, and the Haihan people have even managed to transport a huge steel locomotive here, and the track has been built and laid for this purpose. Continue to extend inland at high speed.No matter how you look at it, the people of Haihan have already invested heavily in this project, and the representatives of the merchants have a more real understanding of the various publicity and promises made by Haihan.

During this period, Tao Donglai and representatives of the Changhua local government also attended a briefing to show that the project here has been recognized and supported by the Ming court—if the third son of the chief executive Xiao can represent Daming.

Xiao Laosan himself does not reject Haihan's propaganda method, and even has a little secret joy in his heart-I never thought that I, Xiao Laosan, will have a day to represent the court!
Strictly speaking, Xiao Laosan, who received Qiao Zhiya's 200 taels of silver, is not qualified to represent the imperial court, not even the government and county government in Changhua. What's more, iron, like salt, should be controlled by the state. , Haihan's doing so is simply illegal.

However, the representatives of the merchants present didn’t care whether the nominal thing made sense. What they wanted to confirm was whether the Haihan people had settled the local government. As for who represented the local government, it was the garrison commander or the county magistrate. That's not the point of the question—this person has already gained Haihan's trust and support, and that is the evidence to confirm the facts.

As for the fact that Haihan's development of iron mines in this place would violate the laws of the Ming Dynasty, no one cared about this issue.Of these merchants who have worked closely with Haihan, which one has not resold Haihan's private salt?Have you never smuggled Haihan arms?Didn't rely on the ports established by Haihan on the mainland coast to evade taxes?Who cares about the laws of the country and not the laws of the country if there is a lot of money in the account? The current situation is that there is a lot of money to be made by adhering to the rules of the Haihan people, and they also have enough strength to protect their own industries. Anyone who is not a fool knows how to choose.

The representatives of the merchants happily left Changhua Port and returned to the mainland with the hard work and valuable souvenirs issued by the Haihan Ministry of Commerce.If nothing else, the major shareholders behind these business representatives will soon take action to attract immigrants to Sanya in various ways in exchange for the qualification to invest in bonds in the Qiongxi Iron Ore Project.As for how much benefit can actually be obtained, it really depends on each person's ability to see who can get more people.

With the smooth progress of the Changhua project, Qiao Zhiya, the interim supervisor, was logically supported by the executive committee because of his outstanding performance during this period.The area and population under the jurisdiction of Qiao Zhiya ranks second among all foreign agencies, second only to Annan Black Soil Port.However, the executive committee has recently released rumors that it will make institutional adjustments to Annan's management department before the end of the year.

This adjustment is not because of any problems with the local military and political officials, but purely because the original institutional settings are no longer able to implement efficient management of the current concession in Annan.The distance from Heitu Port at the northernmost point to Da Nang, which is still under planning at the southernmost point, has far exceeded the functions of local governance institutions required by the Haihan Executive Committee.Although it is possible to exchange news through the radio, in actual work, it is difficult to achieve effective management after being separated by thousands of miles.Splitting up the management organization of the Annan region has become a must-do right now.

According to the vision of the Executive Committee, in the future, at least two sets of leadership groups will be set up in the Annan area, the north and the south, with Zhengjiang Hengshan as the boundary, the three early concessions will be under the jurisdiction of the north, and the four new ports in the south will be designated as the jurisdiction of the southern organization.

On September 1629, 9, the advance team of the Da Nang project representing the Haihan Executive Committee arrived there.The person in charge of the advance team was Liu Shanxia, ​​who was urgently dispatched by the executive committee from the Changjiang Chemical Industry Site. After returning to Shengli Port to report on his work, he quickly devoted himself to the Da Nang project and was appointed as the person in charge of the preliminary work.Besides people from various related departments, there was also a person with a special identity who was walking with him.

(End of this chapter)