The shareholder is undoubtedly Henry Pitt.

This person has played a considerable role in the process of Zhou Lang's difficult steps to the present, without his shares, in fact, Zhou Lang's company can not develop at all, it is precisely because of his endorsement that it can attract the first batch of investment, but because of his endorsement, it was targeted by the East India Company prematurely.

Misfortune and fortune depend on fortune and misfortune, but Zhou Lang believes that he has more to gain than lose by attracting Henry Pitt as a partner.

Therefore, Zhou Lang warmly received Henry Pitt and met all his requirements, including leading the shareholders to visit various parts of Fengshan County, or to investigate, or even investigate.

Let these shareholders see the current development of the company, will give them greater confidence, and then through their mouths, let more people have confidence in the company, and then Zhou Lang whether it is the issuance of new shares, or negotiations with the East India Company, also have greater confidence, Taoguang Yang is obscure and wise to protect himself, in front of foreigners are not suitable.

So this group of shareholders saw the stable state of Fengshan County, and confirmed that Zhou Lang had actually controlled this area half the size of the Netherlands with a population of 500,000, and what made them most happy was that they saw the 50,000 acres of tea plantations developed.

These tea plantations are still very rudimentary, not even tea plantations, because most of the tea trees that were planted at the beginning are dead, and only one-fifth survive, which is already very good. Historically, the British stole more than 13,000 tea seedlings from China, and only 1,000 survived, and these 1,000 were covered with mold. After the 1,000 tea seedlings were transplanted to the Indian tea plantations, the local leaders insisted on watering the tea trees, so that most of the tea seedlings died. In the end, only 80 plants remained. They also stole a large number of tea seeds, and as a result, none of them sprouted, and all of them became moldy and rotten.

Zhou Lang can have a one-fifth survival rate, which should be thanked for Taiwan's close enough to the land, the tea trees and tea varieties are not moldy, and at the same time, his poor large number of tea farmers are also professional enough to ensure the survival of a considerable number of tea trees. Those dead trees, in order to see, Zhou Lang had the tea farmers take people to shovel them long before the shareholders arrived, and the result was that the tea garden was very empty, not like a tea garden at all, but like a natural garden, but the British had never seen a tea garden, they picked the tea leaves, and with the help of the tea farmers on the spot, they fried the authentic ripe tea with their own hands, they were sure that these were tea trees, and this was the tea garden, so they boiled.

They thought they had found a plantation that produced a steady stream of gold and silver.

After this series of foreshadowing, Zhou Lang discussed with Henry Pitt and convened a board of directors.

Eleven Britons, plus two Chinese, Zhou Lang and Xie Qinggao, a total of twelve people on the board of directors were very fierce.

They have no doubts about the company's prospects, but it is difficult for them to accept the debt problem raised by Zhou Lang.

According to Zhou Lang's explanation, the money is his own property, because the company can not turn around, so he has to inject his own funds into the company's account, Zhou Lang said that the money can be used as a debt, can also be used as a capital into shares, if the shareholders have no opinion, Zhou Lang is very happy to convert the money into the company's shares.

However, first, these people did not want the company to expand its shares again to dilute their shares, and second, they questioned Zhou Lang's source of funds.

One of the shareholders said in an unfriendly tone: "Mr. Zhou, I would like you to explain why the company's accounts show that it has been losing money, but you have been able to get such a huge fortune and lend it to the company within a year of returning to China?" ”

The attitude of the shareholders is obvious, that is, they suspect that Zhou Lang used the convenience of his position to seek personal interests for himself, and let the company lose money all the time, in fact, the East India Company has been doing this kind of thing all these years, the shareholders and employees control the most lucrative private trade, but the company bears the most difficult business development costs.

Regarding the shareholders' questions, Zhou Lang was very annoyed.

He snapped the case: "This gentleman, please pay attention to your tone, I think it is an insult to my personal character. If you know anything about the island of two million people you are currently standing, you should know that the current ruler of this island is a great leader of the Restoration Movement, who is now the Emperor. And his sister, the princess of the former dynasty (Ming Dynasty) who was successfully restored, is already my legal wife. ”

The British couldn't help but nodded, in Zhou Lang's report to the board of directors, he had mentioned the Tiandihui uprising, and compared the Tiandihui uprising with the Spanish restoration movement, since 718 AD, Spain gradually fell under the rule of the Umayyad dynasty of the Alaber Empire, which at that time extended from the Middle East along the African coast to the land of Spain and Portugal.

But the Spaniards never gave up their resistance, and they established bases of resistance in the mountains beyond the control of the enemy, and slowly developed into several small kingdoms based on them, and finally expelled the Arabes after 800 years of rule, and in the process, these large and small kingdoms united in various ways to form the first nation-states in Western history, Spain and Portugal.

This 800-year-long movement of resistance and expulsion of the Arabs is known in the West as the Reconquista.

Zhou Lang explained that for more than 100 years since the Manchus occupied China, China's resistance forces have always existed, and an organization has been established, and this organization is the Tiandihui, and the current leader of the Tiandihui is Chen Zhouquan.

After Henry Pitt came to Fengshan County, they learned about the recent information that Chen Zhouquan was called emperor, and they also generally recognized Chen Zhouquan's legitimacy, as long as he can successfully control Taiwan, then he is the emperor of Taiwan, and if he can unify China one day, then he is the emperor of China.

Zhou Lang continued: "You should know that China has been rich since ancient times, do you think that if a Chinese princess marries, will there be no rich dowry?" ”

Zhou Lang's rhetorical question made the shareholders present unable to answer, and it also perfectly explained the origin of the 20 million silver dollars he extorted from Guangzhou.

Zhou Lang continued: "I can tell you with a clear conscience that not only have I never used the company's resources for my own personal gain, but on the contrary, I have been using my personal network resources to seek benefits for the company. As we all know, I reached an alliance with the Tiandihui organization during the Tiandihui Restoration Movement, so His Majesty the Emperor of the Tiandihui handed over the southern region of Taiwan where you are located to my own rule. It is precisely because of this that the company has a base in China that can be used. If you are not satisfied with my personal performance of duties, I am willing to resign again, and I now invite you to vote! ”

Zhou Lang's sudden resignation made all shareholders a little stunned.

At this time, Henry Pitt had to stand up, if the shareholder's questioning of Zhou Lang, without Henry Pitt's approval, Zhou Lang did not believe it, he thought that the shareholder's suspicion was actually Henry Pitt's suspicion, because the company had been losing money, but Zhou Lang claimed that he had lent five million silver dollars, although the accounts were indeed very strict, but the source of the money was still suspicious.

But they just want to put pressure on Zhou Lang, but they don't want to force Zhou Lang to resign, they all know very well that the company's biggest prospect at present is actually supported by Zhou Lang, and without the power that Zhou Lang has established in China, the company will be worthless. If Zhou Lang gave up the company, then any commercial base, any stable source of tea, would no longer exist.

So Henry Pitt could only come out and persuade: "Zhou, you misunderstood, the board of directors and shareholders have never questioned your work in the slightest. At the same time, we all have great respect for your personality and honor, and we are very grateful for the value you bring to the company today. ”

After relenting, he quipped, "I think Mr. Harry's questioning of you is more out of jealousy of your good fortune." If I knew that I could marry a princess in China, I don't think I would let you come, but come myself. ”

After he finished speaking, the others laughed, and suddenly reversed the awkward atmosphere of the boardroom.

Zhou Lang also laughed.

But he still had to stress: "As for the corporate debt problem, I think we have to come up with a solution. If it is a debt, according to the local interest rate, the company should pay at least 20% annual interest rate, and if it is an investment, I am personally willing to give up this interest. At the same time, it should be exchanged for one-third of the current shares of the company. ”

The initial capital of the China (East India Company) Company was 1 million, and after two capital injections by the East India Company and other shareholders, the book share capital has reached 2.5 million pounds. Zhou Lang injected five million silver dollars into the East India Company, equivalent to more than one million pounds, and demanded a third of the shares, which was reasonable.

Henry Pitt shook his head in disagreement: "Dear Zhou, that was before. In fact, what you may not know is that the company's shares have already increased by a third in the Indian market, and investors are very optimistic about the company's prospects. ”

Because Zhou Lang continued to send good news, the company's shares continued to appreciate in private transactions, which Zhou Lang really didn't know.

Henry Pitt added: "After our examination of the current state of the company, we have reason to believe that the company's stock is still undervalued. So the one-third of the shares that you're asking for, I think is a significant undervaluation of the actual value of the company. ”

Zhou Lang shrugged: "Then how many shares do you think is appropriate?" ”

Henry Pitt said: "At most, one in five, this is still a concession that the company is willing to make considering that your status is of great help to the development of the company, otherwise I don't think a tenth is appropriate." ”

Fifth! This is far beyond Zhou Lang's psychological price, in fact, he thinks that it is good to get one-tenth, which is consistent with Henry Pitt's estimate, and Henry Pitt's willingness to accept one-fifth of the price is obviously very sincere, and it is also a recognition of the current role of Zhou Lang.

Zhou Lang nodded: "Then do other shareholders still have different opinions?" ”

No one objected, and no one dared to oppose it, and the resolution was passed.

Zhou Lang's shares increased greatly, and the diluted shares that had been diluted after the East India Company's two shareholdings were greatly increased again.

Originally, after two dilutions, Zhou Lang's shares had been reduced to 10 percent, and now they have risen to 28 percent, plus Xie Qinggao's 8 percent, the total has reached 36 percent, although it has not reached the level of control, but it already has a huge voting power.

After resolving the equity issue, Zhou Lang began to discuss with shareholders the direction of the company's next expansion, the most important of which was the establishment of a commercial base near the mainland. That is, the plan to attack Kinmen, and it is time to put it on the agenda. Because Zhou Lang's fleet has already been built.

But on military issues, the British shareholders represented by Henry Pitt had some different views.