On September 7, 1629, the Qionglianfa Qiongxi expedition consisting of seven ships arrived at Changhua Port. The expedition did not come from Sanya, but from the mainland, crossed the Qiongzhou Strait along the Leizhou Peninsula to the south, then stayed in the capital city of Qiongzhou for a day, and then went west through Danzhou to Changhua.

The delegation was supposed to arrive at Changhua Port three days earlier, but was delayed by bad weather on the way. However, perhaps because the project promotion meeting held by the Guangzhou Office was good enough, the representatives of this group of businesses did not show the fatigue they should have after many days of running after getting off the ship, but excitedly asked Qiao Zhiya, who came to greet them, when they could go to see the local development progress. Obviously, in the minds of these people, making money is the first priority.

Qiao Zhiya was bent on pulling this group of local tyrants into the pit as soon as possible, so he naturally wouldn't mind them taking the initiative to jump into the pit, so he immediately responded: "Everyone, where you are now, is actually part of the Changhua development site. Just three months ago, it was a small fishing village of less than 20 households, but now you can see the situation, with more than 500 workers working here every day, constantly expanding the port, improving the facilities, and receiving all kinds of tools and raw materials from Sanya and other places. By the end of the year at the latest, it is highly likely that this number of workers will double again. The cargo throughput capacity of this port will also surpass the capital city of Qiongzhou and become the third largest port on Qiongzhou Island. ”

As for the first two ports that Qiao Zhiya did not explicitly mention, they naturally refer to the two places of Shengli Port and Sanya Port. And the representatives of the merchants who listened to his introduction did not question it at all, and listened to Qiao Zhiya continue with a natural expression.

"I think we know why we built a big port in this place. Yes, that's right, in the inland mountainous area about eighty miles from here, there is a very large iron mine. As for how big it is?" Qiao Zhiya deliberately sold a pass, and waited for a while before continuing: "The iron buried in this place is enough to meet the demand for iron in the entire Ming Dynasty. Please note that I'm not talking about a year, 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 though this statement sounded as mysterious as a strange tale from heaven, no one still 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 is, the Haihan people have some kind of secret technique of prospecting and determining the vein, and they are looking for the kind of big ore veins that no one has discovered, such as the Tiandu area that the Haihan is mining and those large mineral deposits that go deeper inland, as well as the Heitugang coal mine in the north of Annan, known as Little Sanya, were all found by the Haihan people with this magical spell.

Almost all of these major shareholders have sent people to visit Tiandu's iron mine, and even the Damao manganese phosphate mine further afield has also been visited by people who have worked tirelessly to see it. As for the popularity of the Heitugang Coal Mine in the Liangguang area, it has surpassed that of Tiandu Iron Mine, and the coal market in Lianzhoufu and Gaozhoufu, which are the most westward to the sea in Liangguang, has almost been monopolized by the cheap refined coal produced in Heitugang, so that the local coal merchants either change their careers to engage in other businesses, or simply set up a relationship with the Heitugang Management Committee and become the agent and distributor of the Heitugang Coal Mine. Not to mention Qiongzhou Island, which has been infiltrated by Haihan, since the Heitugang Coal Mine was put into operation, the small coal mines on Qiongzhou Island have gone bankrupt in less than half a year, and a large number of miners have gone south to invest in Haihan, and now there is no other source of coal on Qiongzhou Island.

Haihan's track record of success in mining development makes it impossible to question their proposed development plans. After all, in this field, no one dares to stand up and say that they are better at it than Haihan. As for whether Qiao Zhiya's claim of a few hundred years is 300 or 500, no one intends to get to the bottom of it, because this question was explained to them by Mariko when he was in Guangzhou.

Of course, what Marik is talking about is not the specific reserves of Shilu iron ore, but the profit model of the bonds issued by Haihan. The benefits that can be obtained from this kind of bond are actually dividends from the development of Shiroku Iron Mine, which is said to be bonds, but the operation mode is closer to stocks, and they will enjoy a certain percentage of dividends according to the number of holdings every year. The difference is that these bonds still stipulate a repayment period, after which the principal will be returned and dividends will no longer be enjoyed. One of the most attractive places for investors is the high annual rebates, which only take a few years to get back the principal, and then the holding period is to buy and sell without capital to collect money.

As for the length of the profit period that investors are concerned about, it is directly related to the number of immigrants introduced by buyers in a certain period of time. The Ministry of Commerce of Haihan has set a relatively high threshold for the purchase of bonds this time, and the total amount of bonds that can be purchased is different depending on the number of immigrants introduced. If investors want to obtain this considerable long-term income, in addition to sufficient capital, it is more important to be able to provide enough immigrant population to Haihan.

Although the operation process is cumbersome, the return on investment is steadily higher than those development projects that Qionglianfa has invested in in the past. Moreover, those agriculture-related projects have a heavy component of watching the weather and eating, and they may not be able to maintain profitability every year. If the scale of the immigrants brought in is large enough, and a long-term bond with a maturity of 50 years can be bought in one go, it can also leave a considerable wealth to future generations - even without spending energy to run this business at all, and the income can be increased every year in the account of Haihan Bank, which is an heirloom for future generations to lie down and make money!

It is with this intention that the shareholders of Qiong Lianfa will come here to do a special field trip, and after getting Qiao Zhiya's reconfirmation, the eyes of the representatives of these merchants present are brighter and brighter.

"If you have any questions, feel free to ask me and I will answer them as much as I can. Qiao Zhiya was excited when he saw these feelings, so he decided to strike while the iron was hot and add some ingredients to them.

"Director Qiao, may I ask how this iron mine, which is eighty miles away from the sea, how to develop it, is it possible that we need to build a road to the local area?" someone immediately asked.

"Good question, everyone, please come with me!" undoubtedly gave Qiao Zhiya an opportunity to give an in-depth introduction to the current status of the project.

Soon, the delegation followed Qiao Zhiya to the Changhua Port Railway Station, which was hundreds of meters away. Of course, the site is still just a planned train station, with no platforms or waiting rooms, but business representatives who have been to Sanya many times quickly recognized the actual purpose of the place.

"There's railroad tracks here, it's the Haihan train!" Someone soon recognized the real purpose of this place from this particular roadbed and tracks.

"That's right, that's what we're currently planning to do with a transport line that will connect us to the mines that we will develop inland in the future, and iron ore that will continue to be transported out of the mountains through the guò transport line. Qiao Zhiya introduced loudly: "If you are interested in taking the train, you can take the train to the east for about six miles later, which is the range we have opened to traffic at present." ”

However, the response to this invitation was sparse, and one person answered: "Can the train here be the same as that of Victory Port?"

Qiao Zhiya nodded, and the man said, "Then I still choose to walk or take a sedan chair to see the situation." ”

One of the things outsiders must do when they come to Victory Port is to take the Haihan Train, which is not dragged by cattle but can move on its own. However, after being blown in the face by soot, very few people will want to take a second ride. Unless you have received an invitation from a Haihan person, you will be eligible to ride in an all-package premium car with a Haihan person. The Changhua Port has not even built a railway station, so it is conceivable that there will be no high-end carriages for business representatives to ride.

Sure enough, a train rumbled in the distance, and the three wagons dragged behind the front of the locomotive were not fully packaged, not even half-packaged, but simply a few iron wheel tires installed on the chassis. The train back to the port area was not loaded with any goods, but more than 300 migrant workers who had just come down from the construction site.

Seeing the embarrassed appearance of these migrant workers, everyone dispelled the idea of taking this train to the front of the construction site. Seeing this, Qiao Zhiya had no choice but to cancel this itinerary, and said that he would find other means of transportation the next day to send the business representatives to inspect the construction site. Of course, in terms of local conditions, Qiao Zhiya can find other means of transportation at most at the level of ox carts.

The delegation spent five days in Changhua, which verified the huge financial resources invested by Haihan in the early stage. Thousands of laborers have been working here for three months, and the Haihan people have even managed to transport huge steel locomotives here, and the tracks that have been laid for this purpose have been nearly ten miles long, and are still extending inland at a high speed of one mile in three days. No matter from which point of view, Haihan people have already invested heavily in this project, and the business representatives have a more real understanding of the various publicity and commitments made by Haihan.

During this period, Tao Donglai and representatives of the local government in Changhua also attended a briefing to show that the project had been recognized and supported by the Ming court - if the general Xiao Laosan could represent the Ming dynasty.

Xiao Laosan himself does not reject Haihan's propaganda method, and even has a little snickering joy in his heart - I didn't expect that I, Xiao Laosan, would also represent the court one day!

Strictly speaking, Xiao Laosan, who received two hundred taels of silver from Qiao Zhiya, is not qualified to represent the imperial court, and he is not even able to represent the Changhua official county government, not to mention that iron is the same as salt, and it should be controlled by the state for its monopoly power, and it is illegal for Haihan to do so.

However, the merchant representatives present did not care whether this nominal thing made sense, all they wanted to confirm was whether the Haihan people had settled the local government, and as for who came forward to express their position on behalf of the local government, whether it was the garrison commander or the county magistrate, that was not the point of the problem - this person had already won the trust and support of the Haihan, and that was the evidence to confirm the facts.

As for saying that Haihan's development of iron ore in this place would violate the laws of the Ming Dynasty, no one cares about this issue. Which of these merchants who have close cooperation with the Haihan have not resold the Haihan's illegal salt? Have not smuggled the Haihan's arms? Have not relied on the ports set up by the Haihan on the coast of the mainland to evade taxes? Can have a lot of silver in the account, who cares whether the law of the country is not the law of the country, the current situation is that the rules of the Haihan people have a lot of money to make, and they also have enough strength to protect their own industry, as long as they are not fools, they know how to choose.

The representatives of the merchants happily left Changhua Port and returned to the mainland with the hardship fee and valuable souvenirs issued by the Ministry of Commerce of Haihan. If nothing else, the majority shareholders behind the representatives of these merchants will soon take action, soliciting 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 is really up to each person to see who can get more people.

With the smooth progress of the Changhua project, Qiao Zhiya, the interim director, was also naturally corrected by the executive committee because of his excellent performance during this period. The area and population under the jurisdiction of Qiao Zhiya rank second among all foreign institutions, second only to the Black Earth Port of Annam. Recently, however, the Executive Committee has announced that it will make structural adjustments to Annan's management department by the end of the year.

This adjustment was not due to any problems with the local military and political chiefs, but simply because the original institutional setup was no longer able to implement efficient management of the current concession in Annam. From the northernmost port of Hac Tu to the southernmost Da Nang, which is still under planning, the distance has gone far beyond the functions of the local governing body required by the Ha Han Executive Committee. Although it is possible to exchange information through the guò radio station, in practice, it is difficult to achieve effective management from thousands of miles apart. Breaking up the management of the Annan region has become a must-do now.

According to the plan of the Executive Committee, in the future, at least two sets of leading bodies in the north and south of Annam will be set up, with the Zhengjiang and Hengshan Mountains 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 under the jurisdiction of the southern organs.

On September 20, 1629, an advance party of the Da Nang project arrived on behalf of the Ha Han Executive Committee. The person in charge of the advance team was Liu Shanxia, who was urgently transferred from the Chang Chemical Site by the Executive Committee, and after rushing back 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. And in addition to the people from various relevant departments, there is also a person with a special identity who travels with him.