Those 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, then Haihan will provide corresponding protection, and even go to war with either side for this. Although Schneider did not mention the name of the Ming Dynasty, everyone automatically made up this detail, because at this stage, there are no other formed armed forces in the South China Sea region, and the forces that can compete head-on with the Haihan people are probably only the Guangdong government of the Ming Dynasty. Moreover, Schneider also specifically emphasized that this is a commitment by the Haihan Executive Committee rather than his own person, obviously in order to reassure the businessmen present, after all, the credibility of the Haihan Executive Committee has been comprehensively verified in the past few years, and even more effective than what the government said in a certain way, and no one will doubt the validity of the Haihan Executive Committee's statement.

However, in the ears of some wavering maritime businessmen, these remarks have a different meaning -- if they do not join the South China Sea Business Alliance, which is dominated by the Haihan, it will be very difficult to guarantee the security of the South China Sea in the future, and they will become the target of the Haihan militia.

Although Schneider did not explicitly say the words "get out of the maritime trade world if you don't cooperate with Haihan", the meaning has been obvious enough, and people who have not understood Haihan's true intentions at this time will probably not be able to mix in this circle anymore.

Li Jifeng, the old fox, naturally would not miss this opportunity to show loyalty with rhythm, and immediately responded loudly: "Since it is the commitment of the executive committee, then I, Li, naturally believe it." In the past few years, the business of cooperation with Haihan has never gone wrong, and the vision and means of the leaders of Haihan have always been very admired. Mr. Shi has said so many benefits, so this means that Guangdong 'Fu Ruifeng' will first express his attitude, 'Qiong Lianfa' investment projects for the next year, and the South China Sea Business Alliance mentioned by Mr. Shi just now, please count them all as my family's share!"

Schneider smiled, nodded slightly at Li Jifeng, and before he could respond, another person stood up in the venue: "In Xia Zhangui, I am also willing to continue to cooperate with Haihan." You may not know that there are many pirates in the waters near Manraka, and they have been rampant in recent years, if they can be escorted by Haihan warships in the future, they can also be much less risky to run this route!"

Zhan Gui's remarks are not fictional, as pirates have been seen in the Anambas and Natuna Islands north of Manraka, as well as Belitung Island and Sucadana Bay in the Java Sea. Earlier, the Zhan family shipping company had been appointed by the Executive Committee to send people to Manraka and Batavia to establish trading houses, and its merchant ships had also encountered pirates at sea. Fortunately, the ships sent to the south had been modified at the Victory Harbor shipyard and were faster than ordinary Chinese sailing ships, and it was difficult for the pirate ships to intercept them at sea with their speed, so they escaped.

Of course, just a small number of wild pirates are not enough for Zhan Gui, who has also been instructed in advance, to emphasize on this occasion, which is also a precautionary shot for other maritime merchants in advance: first, there are really pirates over there, and they want to run a single gang by themselves, so don't say that no one will remind them if something happens at that time; second, in the future, the scope of activities of the Haihan Navy will definitely gradually expand to the south, and cracking down on pirates is also a very high-sounding reason.

Li Jifeng said in his heart Fortunately, he didn't hesitate after receiving Schneider's hint just now, otherwise he would probably be robbed of the limelight by this Zhan Gui. Looking back now, Zhan Gui had already moved his family to Sanya to settle down, and he must have been determined to go with the Haihan people, so he would naturally jump out to support the proposal proposed by Haihan on this occasion.

However, to Li Jifeng's surprise, after Zhan Gui, three or four big families stood up one after another to express their support for Haihan, and they would also join the "South China Sea Business Alliance", which currently has only one name. Li Jifeng knew that Haihan had already made all the preparations, even if he didn't come out of this, there were alternates who were ready to jump out at any time to bring this wave of rhythm, the reason why these people were not arranged to stand up at the first time, according to Li Jifeng's understanding, was purely because their weight was 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 to do it, even if the effect was not so good, but under the careful arrangement of the Haihan people, it was enough to affect the tendencies of these people in the venue. However, after the fact, the Haihan people will definitely support new businesses to gradually replace some people who have high hopes but are not so determined. Thinking of this, Li Jifeng was also secretly glad that he had made a more decisive decision, otherwise if he hesitated for a moment, things might have gone in a completely different direction.

When Li Jifeng was still calculating, Schneider had already spoken on stage: "I am very pleased to see that so many people have come forward to support Haihan's approach, which shows that the development direction we have formulated is right and in line with the interests of all the bosses here." Since it is the right thing, something that can bring us a lot of profits, then we should carry this matter on well! Everyone, please sit down, and I will first read out the various development projects of 'Qiong Lianfa' in the next year. If there are any questions, we'll come back to them later. ”

In the development plan drawn up by the Ministry of Commerce for Qiongbei, the projects are basically based on 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, and the return income of these projects will come from the port call fees after completion, although the return period will be as long as several years, but the shareholders who contribute can enjoy certain special convenience in the use of the port terminal according to the share quota, for example, it is likely that there will be a terminal exclusive to a commercial bank.

At present, a considerable part of the grain consumption in the areas under the rule of Haihan still needs to rely on imports from Annam, and the area of developable arable land in northern Qiongnan is more than ten times more than that of southern Qiongnan, as long as effective large-scale planting of grain crops can be organized in northern Qiongzhou, it is expected to be able to solve the problem of food supply gap on Qiongzhou Island within one or two years.

To tell the truth, none of the projects launched by the Ministry of Commerce of Haihan this time will have particularly rich returns, and the return period is relatively long, and they are not too good choices based on the return on investment. But now that there is the foreshadowing, the businessmen here also understand that the project launched by Haihan people this time is not just to make quick money.

This has at least two purposes, one is to use investment to tie these businessmen and the interest network behind them to the ship of Haihan, and the more upper echelons of society are involved, the more difficult it is for the Ming to take action against Haihan. Second, Haihan also used this to show his absolute control over northern Qiongbei - Schneider circled that large tract of land on the map, but it was not necessarily the "ownerless land" he said, and the most effective form of control over a region was the control of land ownership.

Whether or not to participate in the development of these new projects is no longer a simple economic issue, but also a direct issue of taking sides with the government. However, there is obviously no gray area in the position drawn by the Haihan people, either cooperate or withdraw from the Haihan economic circle. This withdrawal would mean 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 an outlet would also have to be abandoned, which is indeed a very difficult choice for these merchants who have tasted the sweetness of maritime trade in recent years.

After Schneider read out the presentations of the 16 development projects, the businessmen finally waited for the Q&A session. Schneider slowly closed the book in his hand, handed it to the staff next to him, and then took the teacup and took a sip to moisten his throat, and then said unhurriedly: "Regarding the matters announced today, if you have any questions, you can raise your hand to me now." I will answer all the questions raised on the spot. ”

At least twenty or thirty arms were raised in the venue at that moment, Schneider glanced at it slightly, and then casually clicked on someone: "What advice does the shopkeeper of the Haifeng have?"

Wang Qin, who was named in Huizhou Haifeng, immediately stood up and said: "I don't dare to advise, I dare to ask, have your various development projects in Qiongbei been recognized by the government this time?"

Wang Qin's question undoubtedly asked the voices of these people here. If the Haihan people had emptied the government of the capital city as they had done in Qiongnan, then everyone might feel that such an operation was barely acceptable, but given the political environment of the capital city of Qiongzhou, the possibility of the Haihan people changing their situation in just a few days was very small. And what everyone is most worried about is that this action of the Haihan people will cause disputes between the Haihan and the Ming Dynasty, and even further armed conflicts.

The gods fought, and the people suffered, even if these people here have seen the strength of the Haihan, and they also know that the Ming government has nothing to do with the Haihan people entrenched on Qiongzhou Island, but they will still worry that their lives will be implicated because of the cooperative relationship with the Haihan. There is nothing the Ming government can do with the Haihan people, but it is as simple as killing chickens to clean them up, although Schneider has just made a commitment on behalf of the Haihan Executive Committee, but no one wants Haihan and Daming to really tear their faces. When Wang Qin asked this question, he also hoped that Schneider could give a way to get the best of both worlds, so that the Haihan people could get what they wanted, and everyone's business could continue to do it in peace, and it could also appease the government and the imperial court, so as not to cause chickens and eggs.

Schneider replied unhurriedly: "Some time ago, pirates invaded Qiongzhou and conquered most of the prefectures and counties in northern Qiongzhou, and you must all know about this. In these cities that were captured by pirates, almost all of them were killed or disappeared. After our militia army launched a counterattack to drive out the pirates, local civil affairs were temporarily managed by our side. ”

When Schneider said this, he raised his hand and snapped his fingers, and immediately someone presented another document. Schneider took the folded paper and slowly unfolded it, then lifted it up and showed it to the audience: "Everyone, please see, here is the notice issued by the Qiongzhou Prefecture to ensure the safety of the people, and the prefect has entrusted us with the post-war reconstruction and civil security work in the northern Qiongbei region, and all the development projects I just read here, including the land and labor that need to be expropriated, have all been approved by the government. Everyone, please see clearly, there is a big seal of the prefect of Qiongzhou here, and all the actions of our Haihan on Qiongzhou Island have been recognized and supported by the Daming Qiongzhou government. Now you can rest assured, right?"

Although the Daming government is the most incompetent official, I am afraid that they will not be so stupid as to completely hand over the power of local governance to irrelevant others. Either this notice was forged, or it was obtained through some special means, such as directly controlling the various yamen in the capital city of Qiongzhou, as well as the lords in charge of the yamen.

Wang Qin coughed dryly twice and said, "Does this mean that you still recognize the ownership of Qiongzhou Island as my Daming?"

"Of course!" Schneider replied without hesitation: "Now the ownership of Qiongzhou Island is, of course, the Ming Dynasty, and we have no objection to this, and we are only exercising jurisdiction on behalf of some areas now." After the Ming court has appointed the vacant officials in place, we will gradually return the power that should be transferred to the local government. You can rest assured that we have not had a bad relationship with the Ming government before, and we have no such plans in the future. ”

Of course, Wang Qin didn't dare to ask what "power should be transferred", and Schneider was able to answer the question to this point, which can be regarded as very benevolent. At that moment, Wang Qin clenched his fists and sat back in his seat.

Although Schneider said it tactfully, those present could still sense some of the off-strings in his words. Schneider specifically mentioned "continuing the previous practice", what kind of practice did the Haihan people use to deal with the local government of the Ming Dynasty in the past? Isn't it just gradually emptying? If this practice is applied to the northern Qiongbei region, then can it be understood that the Haihan people plan to empty the entire Qiongzhou Island in the future?

Schneider continued: "Since the king's treasurer of the Haifeng has mentioned this issue, then I will say it again in passing. In view of the fact that the law and order situation on the island has not yet been restored, we will spend about three months gradually clearing the area of Qiongzhou Island that has been invaded by pirates, eliminating all the remaining pirate forces on the island, and then notify the Cantonese government, who will send new magistrates to restore the local rule of the imperial court. ”

Everyone listened to it, and they only felt that their three views had been refreshed again, and they swept Qiongbei in three months.