Although Haihan's current immigration policy is mainly to absorb the people at the bottom of society, the agents supported by Haihan in the Ming Dynasty are basically wealthy businessmen and literati in the upper strata of society. Haihan used the social influence of these upper-class people to gradually shape the Haihan social system that was rich, stable, safe and fair in the minds of the people of the Ming Dynasty. Such a social system would obviously be more attractive than the Ming Dynasty, which was in turmoil, and the immigrants it could attract were not only disaster-stricken people who could not find a way to survive, but also a large number of skilled craftsmen who would choose to accept Haihan's employment because of their generous treatment.

The strength of the Haihan was strengthened by the continuous replenishment of immigrants, which in turn affected the Ming magnates whose attitudes wavered, and pulled them further into the camp of the Haihan. After visiting Lijiazhuang, Wanshan Port and even Sanya, many wealthy businessmen saw the true strength of Haihan, so they changed their previous wait-and-see attitude and began to actively participate in the trade system created by Haihan.

The business delegation organized by the GDETO came in the name of investing in the development of Hong Kong Island. There are more than 30 large and small businesses in the Liangguang region in this team, which is unprecedented in the short economic and trade history of Haihan.

Of course, these merchants also include more than a dozen major shareholders of "Qiong Lianfa", after all, they joined the Haihan camp much earlier, belong to a group of people who have already tasted the sweetness, and understand the huge returns that such large-scale development projects can bring more than other latecomers. As soon as these people heard that the Guangzhou Office was going to organize new development projects, they enthusiastically signed up to participate, lest they be disqualified from participating because of quota restrictions and other things. And some other merchants saw that these big merchants were so active, and they didn't want to know that this matter must be beneficial and harmless, so they scrambled to jump on the big ship of Haihan.

For ordinary merchants, although they can usually maintain a certain amount of trade with Haihan, most of the time they watch big families eat meat, and they can only drink soup, after all, most of the most profitable Haihan goods are monopolized by a limited number of large households, and the things that ordinary merchants can buy from Haihan people are almost all big road goods, and relatively speaking, the profits are not so considerable. But the problem is that if you want to win the right to act as a commodity agent, you have to have a relatively deep level of cooperation with Haihan, such as investing in projects in Sanya, purchasing real estate, sending the descendants of the family to study in the local area, and even forming a militia armed group under the unified command of Haihan at the local level.

But for a considerable number of businessmen, they either lack sufficient financial resources, or they dare not blindly follow Haihan's arrangement with scruples, and not everyone can try them. The new development project organized by the Guangzhou Office this time has undoubtedly greatly lowered the threshold for entering the Haihan trade system, which is located in Xin'an County, only a day's flight from Guangzhou, which is much more convenient than that of distant Sanya.

Moreover, compared with "Qiong Lianfa", which needs to pay a high margin to buy shares, the project margin threshold has also been lowered to 1,000 taels, which is enough to make a large number of medium-strength merchants excited. Therefore, the number of businesses participating in this inspection team has increased several times compared with when the "Qiong Lianfa" delegation went to Sanya more than a year ago, and it is no exaggeration to say that with the economic strength of this inspection team, it is not difficult to raise a development fund of 340,000 taels of silver within 10 days. Two years ago, when Haihan developed the Black Earth Port, the total amount invested in the first phase of the project was only 50,000 taels, and now with such sufficient financial guarantees, it can be said that the opening of Hong Kong Island no longer needs to consider the problem of funding gap.

As for the official interests represented behind this local tyrant delegation, it is far more than the backing of the shareholders of "Qiong Lianfa". Compared with the situation that most of the shareholders of "Qiong Lianfa" are concentrated around Guangzhou, the local tyrant members of this delegation come from a wider range of regions, and almost all the ten prefectures under the jurisdiction of Guangdong are involved. Although some of these merchants are only represented by clerks stationed in Guangzhou, this will not affect the investment enthusiasm of the merchants in the slightest -- in the past year or two, all the businesses dominated by Haihan have never heard of losing money, and as long as they take this ship, it is almost equivalent to making a lot of money.

This delegation was personally led by the head of the Guangzhou Office, Ma Like, which also shows the importance that the Guangzhou Office attaches to this matter. Thirty or forty representatives of the merchants were divided into four large boats, and then a few participants who went out on their own to sail into the Aberdeen Harbour, a total of more than 10 boats. However, due to the very limited size of the dock, there was simply no room for so many ships to dock at the same time, and the fleet had to spend a long time coordinating to get the big ships to dock and the small boats to get on the big boats, using the gangplanks to build a passage to connect to the shore.

As Haihan's old friend and partner who has always taken a firm position, the Li family will naturally not miss such an event, and the person who participated in this investigation on behalf of the Li family is the third young master Li Nai, who likes to join in the fun.

In fact, when Li Nai learned about this incident, he had just returned to Guangzhou from Sanya, and when he heard that the Guangzhou Office was going to organize a business group to develop the island, he immediately grabbed the errand. For him, the business of guarding the "Golden Shield Escort" in Guangzhou is far less interesting than going out to travel and increase his knowledge, not to mention that this activity is still led by Haihan people.

As for whether this project really has excellent development prospects as claimed by the Haihan people, Li Nai has no doubts about it. Since he met these people two years ago, Li Nai has never seen any misjudgment in the general direction of their development, especially in terms of project investment, Haihan people's vision and operation methods are impeccable, and almost all the projects they have handled have become cornucopias. For example, the sugarcane industry, port construction, and spice base projects in which the Li family has a stake in Qiongzhou Island have gradually achieved better output since this year, and the return on investment is much stronger than that of simply opening a commercial bank to sell groceries in the past.

Hong Kong Island is no stranger to Li Nai, he had been here since he was a teenager, but when he revisited the place more than ten years later, this place seems to have not changed at all. There are still a few dilapidated piers on the shore, the roads on the shore are muddy from the heavy rain of the previous two days, and the stench of excrement can be faintly smelled in the air. The situation here is not much different from that of most small fishing villages near the sea in this era, but Li Nai has become accustomed to the neat appearance of the port area under the rule of Haihan, and he can't help frowning before he gets off the boat.

"Third Young Master, don't look at this place as desolate, after a year or two, this will be a prosperous port again. Seeing Li Nai's displeased face, Marik took the initiative to come over and talk: "We have a comprehensive plan for this place, and in the next few years, it will be built into the largest commercial port and cargo distribution center on the southern coast of Daming." The construction and business model here will be based on our successful experience in Sanya, and when you come here next year, you will definitely see a completely different scene. ”

"What Director Ma said, I naturally believe it. Li Nai replied with a smile: "My father sent me as a representative to participate in your development plan as soon as possible." As long as it is your opinion, the Li family will follow it. ”

"The third young master is too unsightly!" Mariko replied enthusiastically: "Everyone has been working together for such a long time, and they trust each other very much, and there are good things that must be shared together." ”

After the two landed, they soon met the team that came from Sanya to conduct a field trip on behalf of the Executive Committee. Perhaps in order to calm the opposition duì Hong Kong Island project, the leader of the expedition team sent by the Executive Committee this time was actually Gu Kai, but he probably did not expect that the speed of action in the Guangzhou Office would be so fast, and a few days after he sent a written report to the Executive Committee, a huge business delegation had already been organized to conduct field research.

After Gu Kai came here, the first thing he affirmed was that there was no doubt that there were obvious loopholes in the military's description of the situation on Hong Kong Island, and the situation of the resident population here was obviously not a no-man's land as the military had previously claimed, and there were still hundreds of people.

Whether this loophole was intentionally operated by the military or inadvertently left behind should have been one of the tasks of the expedition. But after coming here, Gu Kai quickly gave up on this unrealistic idea. Although there were some residents here, when they heard that they would have the opportunity to enter the Haihan social system without having to leave their homes, the vast majority of them chose to obey the arrangement—and as for the very few who refused to cooperate to vacate the space, it was natural that someone would be responsible for solving the problem by some unconventional means.

When Gu Kai met with Marik and the others on the shore, Gu Kai suddenly felt that his trip seemed to be a bit redundant. The active participation of dozens of merchants has shown how much preliminary work the CDETO has done in this matter, and the willingness of so many people from the upper echelons of society to take the initiative to participate in Haihan's trade system is definitely something that the Executive Committee is happy to see.

This time, the Guangzhou Office wisely chose to attract investment in advance, and so many businessmen came to inspect the environment, which already indicates that the future development of this place is very good. Even if Gu Kai can find some faults in the actual situation here and write it into the report to question whether the timing of Hong Kong Island's opening of the port is reasonable, it will not be able to prevent the impact of such a large-scale investment promotion activity on the Executive Committee. At that time, the executive committee will naturally ignore the detail that the military's description does not match the facts, and focus instead on the actual benefits that can be brought to Haihan after the successful investment promotion.

There is no doubt that the executive committee that is in the lead will definitely stand on the side of the military, because the project has avoided the possibility of failure from the beginning - with so many Ming businessmen involved, let alone the people, even the Ming officials will find it difficult to have a public opposition voice. In a good situation, Gu Kai also didn't want to play a reckless man who didn't understand the amorous feelings, which would not only not leave a good impression in the hearts of the other executive committee members, but might cause disgust because of this kind of procrastinating behavior.

Therefore, when Gu Kai met with a business delegation from Guangzhou, his role became that of a propaganda machine for Haihan's policy. When the representatives of the merchants who participated for the first time learned that this Haihan person was one of the nine principals of the famous Haihan Executive Committee, they immediately gathered around and began to ask endless questions. For them, there are many details in the Haihan policy that need to be explained by an authoritative person to help them understand the implications. And for some content involving money exchanges, they prefer to get the endorsement and commitment of the leading figures of the Haihan.

Because there were so many people asking questions, Gu Kai had to suspend his original task and play the role of business representative instead. Marik commanded his men to build a large awning in the open space on the shore, and then held an impromptu policy conference, with Gu Kailai answering the questions of representatives from various merchants.

Most of the problems are still focused on the local investment projects and the future planning and development direction of this area, although Gu Kai has not made relevant preparations before, but with his three-inch tongue, it is not too difficult to bluff the scene for the time being.

To be honest, the Executive Committee has not even made a final decision on whether to develop the area immediately, and there is no development project or specific development plan at all. However, referring to the past experience in developing ports in other places, Gu Kai can casually say a lot of content.

Gu Kai spent more than two hours answering all kinds of questions from all walks of life, and only stopped at lunchtime. At this time, Gu Kai felt the dryness of his throat for a long time, and only then did he realize that it had been a long time since he had said so many words at one time.

During the meal, Gu Kai had another discussion with Marik to communicate his specific views on the Hong Kong Island project. Compared with Gu Kai's fake big empty when answering questions, Marico's view of the Hong Kong Island project is much more practical: "After this place is taken, on the one hand, the existing trade volume can be expanded, so that more Daming merchants can participate." On the other hand, the military also needs to have a large-scale military port in the waters near the mouth of the Pearl River as a springboard for future attacks on the mainland. For businesses who are willing to invest money in port infrastructure, we can give them certain preferential treatment, such as the priority of entering the port in the future, leasing warehouses, and loading and unloading goods. And so on, where they are willing to invest their money, they will be given a certain return from the corresponding aspect. These people don't care how much money they have to pay, what we will do with the money, they just care about the return, so just tell them what percentage of the economic return they can get after investing in us. ”