1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 534 Refreshing the Three Views
All the people present automatically converted Schneider's official rhetoric into an easy-to-understand statement in their hearts - as long as they join the South China Sea Business Alliance, Haihan will provide corresponding protection, and will even go to war with any party for this .Although Schneider didn't mention Daming's name, everyone automatically made up this detail, because there is no other established armed force in the South China Sea at this stage, and the only force that can compete head-on with the Haihan people is probably only the Guangdong government of Ming Dynasty up.Moreover, Schneider also specially emphasized that this is the promise of the Haihan Executive Committee rather than his own. Obviously, it is also to reassure the businessmen present. After all, the reputation of the Haihan Executive Committee has been comprehensively strengthened in the past few years. The verification of the Haihan Executive Committee is even more effective than what the government said to a certain extent. No one will doubt the validity of the Haihan Executive Committee's statement.

However, these words have a different meaning in the ears of some maritime merchants who are vacillating. If you don’t join the South China Sea Business Alliance led by Haihan, it will be difficult to guarantee the safety of the South China Sea region in the future. , Maybe it will become the target of the Haihan militia.

Although Schneider didn't say clearly, "If you don't cooperate with Haihan, get out of the maritime trade industry", but the meaning is already obvious enough. People who haven't understood Haihan's real intention at this time probably have no IQ. I can't hang around in this circle anymore.

Li Jifeng, an old fox, naturally wouldn't miss this opportunity to express his loyalty with a rhythm, and immediately responded loudly: "Since it is the promise of the executive committee, then I, Li, naturally believe it. I have cooperated with Haihan in the past few years. The business has never gone wrong. I have always admired the vision and methods of the heads of Haihan. Mr. Shi has said so many benefits, so I will express my opinion on behalf of Guangdong's Furuifeng, "Qione Lianfa 'Next year's investment projects, as well as the South China Sea Business Alliance mentioned by President Shi just now, please count them all as part of my family!"

Schneider smiled and nodded slightly towards Li Jifeng. Before he could respond, another person stood up in the venue and said, "I'm Zhan Gui, and I would like to continue to cooperate with Haihan. You may not know it, but that's full of people. There are many pirates in the nearby waters, and they have become more rampant in recent years, if we can be escorted by Haihan warships in the future, the risk of running this route will be much less!"

What Zhan Gui said is not a fiction. Pirates have appeared in recent years in the Anambas Islands and Natuna Islands in the north of Manga, as well as Belitung Island and Sukardana Bay in the Java Sea.Earlier, Zhan's Shipping Company accepted the appointment of the executive committee and sent people to Malaga and Batavia to establish trading posts. Its merchant ships also encountered pirates at sea.Fortunately, the ships sent to the south had all been modified at the Shengli Port Shipyard, and their speed was faster than that of ordinary Chinese sailing ships. It was difficult for pirate ships to intercept them at sea with their speed, so they escaped.

Of course, if there are only a few wild pirates, it is not enough for Zhan Gui, who has also been instructed in advance, to emphasize it on this occasion. This is also an inoculation for other sea merchants in advance: First, there are real pirates over there. If you want to run a single gang yourself, don’t say that no one will remind you when something happens; second, the scope of activities of Haihan Navy will gradually expand to the south in the future, and fighting pirates is also a very high-sounding reason.

Li Jifeng thought to himself that it's fortunate that he didn't hesitate after receiving Schneider's hint just now, otherwise Zhan Gui would probably have robbed him of the limelight.Thinking back now, Zhan Gui moved his whole family to Sanya long ago, and he must have been determined to leave with the Haihan people. On such occasions, he would naturally jump out to support Haihan's proposal.

However, to Li Jifeng's surprise, after Zhan Gui, three or four big families stood up and expressed their support for Haihan, and they would also join the "South China Sea Business Alliance", which currently only has one name.Only then did Li Jifeng know that Haihan had already made full preparations. Even if he didn't do it himself, there were still many candidates who were ready to jump out to lead the rhythm of this wave. The reason why these people were not arranged to stand up at the first time According to Li Jifeng's understanding, it is simply because their weight is not as good as "Fu Ruifeng".

Of course, if Li Jifeng hadn't stood up and expressed his support for Schneider just now, then there would still be other people doing this. Even if the effect was not so good, under the careful arrangement of the Haihan people, it would be enough to influence the tendency of these people in the venue up.But afterwards, the Haihan people will definitely support new businesses to gradually replace some people who have high hopes but whose positions are not so firm.Thinking of this, Li Jifeng also secretly rejoiced that he was relatively decisive in making a decision, otherwise, after a moment of hesitation, things might go completely differently.

While Li Jifeng was still thinking about it, Schneider continued to speak on the stage: "I am very pleased to see so many people stand up to support Haihan's approach, which shows that the development direction we have set is correct, and it is in line with the needs of all the bosses here. interests. Since it is the right thing, something that can bring us a lot of benefits, then we should carry on this matter well! Everyone, please sit down, and I will first report the "Qiong Lianfa" next year's various The development project has been read out. If there is any problem, we will discuss it later."

In the development plan formulated by the Ministry of Commerce for Qiongbei, the projects are basically port infrastructure and large-scale collective farms.Among them, the port projects are mainly concentrated in Danzhou Bay, Qiongzhou Fucheng, and Wenchang on the east coast. The return income of these projects will come from the port use charges after completion. Although the return period will last for several years, the shareholders who invest can According to the amount of shares, you can enjoy certain special conveniences in the use of port terminals. For example, there may be a terminal exclusively owned by a certain commercial company.

The large-scale collective farm project is led by the Ministry of Agriculture. At present, a considerable part of the food consumption in the Haihan area still needs to be imported from Annan, and the area of ​​arable land that can be developed in Qiongbei is more than ten times that of Qiongnan. If effective large-scale planting of food crops can be organized in Qiongbei area, it is expected to solve the problem of food supply gap in Qiongzhou Island within a year or two.

To be honest, none of the projects launched by the Haihan Commerce Department this time will have particularly lucrative returns, and the payback period is relatively long. Taking the return on investment as the basis for consideration, none of them are actually good choices.But now that the previous foreshadowing has been made, all the businessmen here also understand that the project launched by the Haihan people this time is not just for making quick money.

This has at least two purposes. One is to use investment to tie these businessmen and the profit network behind them to the ship of Haihan. In the end, the more the upper classes of society are involved, the more difficult it will be for Da Ming to take action against Haihan. big.Second, Haihan also used this to demonstrate his absolute control over Qiongbei—Schneider circled the large tracts of land on the map, but not all of them were the "unowned land" he said. The most effective form of expression of the degree of control over a region is the control over land ownership.

Whether to participate in the development of these new projects is no longer a simple economic issue, but also directly involves the issue of political stance.However, there is obviously no gray area in the position drawn by the Haihan people. They must either cooperate or withdraw from the Haihan economic circle.And this kind of withdrawal means giving up the trade rights of Qiongzhou Island and the entire South China Sea, and it is very likely that all maritime trade with the Pearl River Estuary as the estuary will also have to be given up. It is indeed a very difficult choice for these businessmen who are interested in sweetness.

After finally waiting for Schneider to read the introduction of a total of [-] development projects, the businessmen present finally waited for the question and answer session.Schneider slowly closed the document book in his hand, handed it to the staff next to him, took a sip from the teacup to moisten his throat, and then said calmly: "As for the matters announced today, everyone, if you If you have any questions, you can raise your hand to signal me now. I will openly answer any questions raised on the spot here."

At least [-] or [-] arms were raised in the venue at the moment, Schneider glanced at them, and then clicked on a person: "What advice does the shopkeeper Wang of the Haifeng have for you?"

Wang Qin, the Huizhou Haifeng number who was named, immediately stood up and said, "I don't dare to advise, but I would like to ask boldly, whether your various development projects in Qiongbei have been approved by the government?"

The question Wang Qin raised undoubtedly spoke out the aspirations of those present.If the Haihan people emptied the government office in Fucheng as they did in Qiongnan, then everyone might think that this method of operation is barely acceptable, but in terms of the political environment in Qiongzhou Fucheng, the Haihan people in just a few days There is little chance of changing its situation.What everyone is most worried about is that this action of the Haihan people will cause disputes between Haihan and Daming, and even further armed conflicts will break out.

The gods fight, and the common people suffer. Even if these people here have seen Haihan's force and know that the Ming government has nothing to do with the Haihan people who are entrenched on Qiongzhou Island, they still worry that their wealth and life will be destroyed because of their cooperation with Haihan. relationship involved.The Ming government has nothing to do with the Haihan people, but getting rid of them is as easy as killing chickens. Although Schneider just made a promise on behalf of the Haihan Executive Committee, no one wants Haihan and Daming to really tear each other apart.When Wang Qin asked this question, he also hoped that Schneider could come up with a solution that had the best of both worlds, so that the Haihan people could get what they wanted, and everyone’s business could continue in a stable manner. Chicken and egg beat.

Schneider responded unhurriedly: "Some time ago, pirates invaded Qiongzhou and conquered most of the counties and cities in Qiongbei. I think you all know about this. In these cities captured by pirates, government personnel were either killed or killed. Well, almost all of them disappeared. After our militia army launched a counterattack to drive away the pirates, the local civil affairs were temporarily taken care of by our side."

When Schneider said this, he raised his hand and snapped his fingers, and someone immediately presented another document.Schneider took the folded paper and slowly unfolded it, then lifted it up and showed it to the audience: "Look, everyone, here is the Anmin Announcement issued by the Qiongzhou government. The security work is entrusted to us. All the development projects I have read here, including the land and labor required, have all been approved by the government. Please see clearly, there is the seal of the prefect of Qiongzhou here , All of our Haihan actions on Qiongzhou Island have been approved and supported by the Daming Qiongzhou government. Can you rest assured now?"

rest assured?That's a hell of a place to rest assured!Although the government of the Ming Dynasty was corrupt and most of the officials were incompetent, it would probably not be so stupid to ask them to hand over the power of local governance to irrelevant others.Either the Anmin notice was forged, or it was obtained through some special means—such as directly controlling the various yamen in Qiongzhou Fucheng, as well as the adults in charge of the yamen.

Wang Qin coughed twice and said, "Does this mean that you still recognize that Qiongzhou Island belongs to me, Daming?"

"Of course!" Schneider replied without hesitation: "The ownership of Qiongzhou Island is of course Daming. We have no objection to this. We are only exercising jurisdiction in some areas. Wait for the Ming court to fill in the vacant officials. Afterwards, we will gradually return the powers that should be handed over to the local government. You can rest assured that we have not had any enemies with the Ming government before, and we have no such plans in the future. We will continue the previous practice, and everything will be based on peaceful development.”

Of course, Wang Qin didn't dare to ask what "the power that should be handed over" is. Schneider can answer the question to this point, which is very benevolent.At that moment, Wang Qin cupped his fists and bowed, and sat back in his seat.

Although Schneider spoke very tactfully, those present could still feel some overtones from his words.Schneider specifically mentioned "continuing the previous practice". What kind of practice did the Haihan people deal with the local government of Ming Dynasty in the past?Isn't it just gradually emptying it?If this practice continues to the Qiongbei area, can it be understood that the Haihan people plan to empty the entire Qiongzhou Island next?

Schneider went on to say: "Since the shopkeeper Wang of the Haifeng has mentioned this issue, let me say it by the way. Since the security situation on the island has not yet been restored, we will spend about three months to gradually clean up Qiongzhou Island that was invaded by pirates." area, wipe out all the remaining pirate forces lingering on the island, and then notify the Guangdong government, and they will send new local officials to restore the imperial court's rule over the local area."

Everyone listened to it, and felt that their three views had been refreshed again, sweeping Qiongbei in three months? , isn't it clear that we have to set up a new stove to empty the government?
(End of this chapter)