Chapter 2343 - Freshly Baked Nanyang Company (III)

Delay was inadvisable; the Nanyang Company had a thousand tasks waiting. Logically, he should travel to Guangzhou immediately. But the Rat Plague quarantine hadn't been lifted yet—going there to raise shares at this moment was impossible.

After much deliberation, he decided to send telegrams to several Senators in Guangzhou, informing them of the Nanyang Company's establishment and his intention to visit for fundraising. This would give them time to prepare. He knew nothing about Guangzhou's business circles and would inevitably need these people to make introductions.

His first telegram went naturally to Ai Zhixin, now the Director of the Guangzhou Finance and Tax Bureau—the top finance official. Taking money out of Guangzhou required his blessing. The second telegram went to Meng Xian; raising shares inevitably required the bank's support and cooperation. The third went to Liu Xiang in Guangzhou—extracting money from his turf also demanded a proper greeting.

After handing the drafted telegrams to his confidential clerk, Zhou Wei paced around an office on the third floor of the Customs Building.

This office housed the original Southeast Asia Company headquarters. Ever since he'd collected his key from the General Office, he had been holed up here reviewing the Southeast Asia Company's operational archives.

The third floor of the Customs Building belonged entirely to the Southeast Asia Company headquarters. The space wasn't small, but this floor was actually an attic. The roof ridge at its highest point reached only 2.2 meters, dropping to just 1.8 meters at the eaves. At Zhou Wei's height, staying inside felt distinctly cramped—to say nothing of the temperature on a top floor in summer.

We must relocate the company headquarters before next summer, Zhou Wei thought. This place will turn into an oversized steamer.

That the Southeast Asia Company headquarters was housed here spoke volumes about the company's standing in the Senate's eyes.

Its staff was equally sparse. Fewer than twenty naturalized cadres and clerks worked at headquarters. The nominal Chairman was Liu Xiang—though in reality, Liu Xiang and his extended family were living comfortable lives collecting dividends at their manor in Sanya, merely pocketing a "carriage fee" here. The person actually in charge was the naturalized General Manager.

By any measure, this was shabby. Despite a not-insignificant history, the Southeast Asia Company ranked low among National Policy Enterprises—only Second Class. Though the Planning Academy held 51% of shares, investment in the company over the years had been minimal. Its main assets were the ships contributed by various surrendered pirate leaders.

When Zhou Wei had worked in the Finance Sector, he'd read the Southeast Asia Company's financial reports. "Mediocre" was the only word to describe its performance. Though the Southeast Asia Company was theoretically a major shipping and trading company, the bulk of its business operated on an "Affiliation Model."

After various big and small pirate captains surrendered, they "invested" their ships, affiliating themselves under the Southeast Asia Company banner. They uniformly flew the Senate Merchant Flag and the "Nine Segment Flag," then operated shipping and trade businesses along the routes they knew best. Of course, their fleet sizes were drastically reduced, and crews were now uniformly deployed by the Southeast Asia Company rather than composed entirely of their own family members, clansmen, and fellow villagers as before.

Naturally, this extensive operating model couldn't generate impressive profits. Though the Southeast Asia Company's affiliation fees weren't set low, all affiliates gained access to Southeast Asia Trade and Mainland Coastal Trade licenses. This was far cheaper than the two thousand taels per flag that Zheng Zhilong had charged in his era. And once the company collected its affiliation fees, it provided consular protection for its subordinate ships. The risk borne by ship owners dropped dramatically.

Even ship owners too lazy to put thought into operations could guarantee sufficient annual profit just by undertaking shipping contracts. This shipping business came not only from the Senate but also from domestic and foreign merchants who came to Senate-controlled territories to make purchases.

Overall, the Southeast Asia Company's profits were limited, but its foundation remained sound. At the very least, things weren't a mess. This somewhat reassured Zhou Wei—since he hadn't examined the company's detailed financial reports for several years.

No wonder the company's headquarters operated at such a modest scale. When he checked the asset situation, however, he found that the Southeast Asia Company owned far fewer ships than expected. This greatly exceeded his projections. When the pirate gangs had surrendered, each captain had possessed at least three or four ships, with major leaders like Liu Xiang commanding fleets of three to five hundred. By his rough estimate, ships under the Southeast Asia Company's name should have numbered at least six or seven hundred.

But reviewing the asset table today, he discovered the actual count was far less than he'd imagined.

Currently, only 225 ships were "affiliated" under the Southeast Asia Company name. Of these, 182 were chartered by the "China Merchants Bureau," operating mainland coastal freight and trade routes to Japan and Korea. Only 43 ships actually ran Southeast Asian routes.

Where had all those ships that had originally surrendered gone? Zhou Wei was puzzled. He summoned the General Manager.

The Southeast Asia Company's General Manager was Wang You, who had initially served as an accountant under Zhu Cailao before joining Zheng Bao's crew. When Zheng Bao was destroyed, he had "abandoned darkness for the light" at an opportune moment. After purification processing, he was assigned to the Southeast Asia Company.

Having spent many years among pirate gangs, he understood pirate habits and mentality thoroughly. His years of immersion meant he could speak most of the dialects used within pirate circles. Crucially, he had always occupied an "advisor" role—frankly, just scraping together a living. He had no deep common interests with the real pirate leaders, so from the start he was listed as a "Key Cultivation Target." Wang You was also a man who understood his circumstances and knew which way the wind blew; naturally, he "actively sought progress." Promoted repeatedly over several years, once the Senate had sufficiently digested the Southeast Asia Company pirates and Senators no longer personally served as General Manager, Wang You ascended to the position.

With Zhou Wei taking office, Wang You felt somewhat uneasy—not because of any embezzlement or bribery. Though Wang You hadn't been entirely spotless over the years, he hadn't done anything excessive either. Nothing more than exempting freight on some private goods or reselling non-controlled commodities on the side.

What worried him more was the meaning behind suddenly appointing a Senator to arrive. Wang You knew the Senate didn't trust surrendered pirates, especially those who had come over in large groups. They were targets for intensive prevention and division. In the company's early years, serving under a Senator, he had witnessed the Senate's various methods for dividing and disintegrating the surrenderers. Now, with a Senator suddenly appointed as General Manager and a "Nanyang Company" being created—what exactly did it mean?

Could someone among the old Southeast Asia Company surrenderers be "plotting rebellion"? Were people he didn't know scheming in the shadows?

At this thought, the hair on the back of Wang You's neck stood on end. If this were truly happening, wouldn't it mean a sudden wave of mass imprisonments! Having served as General Manager of the Southeast Asia Company for several years, he would at minimum face charges of "Negligence of Duty"—or perhaps be labeled an "Accomplice" or accused of "Tacit Connivance." Then his life wouldn't be worth much...

Hearing Zhou Wei ask about the ship numbers, Wang You finally let out a breath of relief. He said: "Chief Zhou—"

"Call me General Manager."

"General Manager." Wang You hastily corrected himself. "The situation is like this..."

As it turned out, the number of pirate ships that had surrendered to the Senate was indeed enormous. According to the company's receiving ledger, various pirate surrenderers over the years had handed over ships numbering from hundreds down to just one or two. The total exceeded one thousand.

But among these thousand-plus ships, small vessels made up the overwhelming majority—over sixty percent were single-masted or double-masted ships with load capacities of only thirty to forty tons. Such vessels could technically sail at sea but were really only suitable for offshore coastal routes. They couldn't handle the open ocean. Even for coastal shipping and trade, they were uneconomical.

So these small ships were quickly phased out. Only the medium and large vessels remained.

"...General Manager probably doesn't know, but most of these ships were of poor quality. Many were what we call 'Material Ships'..."

"What's a Material Ship?"

"Our sea merchants over on the Fujian side would cut timber and build ships the year before going to sea. The ships weren't particular—workmanship and materials were both sloppy, and even the wood was unseasoned..."

"They're going to trade in Nanyang on shoddy ships without fearing death? Even if they don't go to sea themselves, losing cargo to shipwrecks is still a loss." Zhou Wei found this strange.

"General Manager doesn't understand—these ships were all one-way vessels. Regardless of destination, upon arrival they'd sell the cargo. Then the ship itself would be dismantled and sold as lumber. After selling everything, they'd take other ships home."

Zhou Wei was thoroughly puzzled by this. Shipbuilding was a high-investment enterprise. A good seagoing vessel could cost a thousand taels of silver, but once built, it could serve for fifty to a hundred years. Why build these "disposable ships"? It wasn't as if the sea merchants couldn't afford proper ones. And if they traded in Nanyang annually, why go through the trouble of building new ships each year?

This is truly strange! Zhou Wei thought. But since the sea merchants do this, there must be reasons behind it.

Wang You explained that these ships were originally of poor quality and had been floating at sea for several years afterward, so their condition had deteriorated severely. Thus they were eliminated quickly.

The remaining vessels were those with larger tonnage and better condition. Among them, some were actually new ships that Southeast Asia Company shareholders had purchased from Hong Kong Shipyard, plus some "Special Service Warships" retired from the Navy. Ships truly brought by the surrenderers weren't numerous.

"So the current condition of the Southeast Asia Company fleet is relatively good."

"Yes." Wang You nodded quickly. "Operating rate is above eighty percent."

Zhou Wei thought the ships chartered by the China Merchants Bureau were mostly small to medium vessels—not of great use to him. His main capital was those 43 ships running to Nanyang.

"Prepare a report on the ship owners of the 43 ships currently running Nanyang routes, along with their vessel conditions and operational status—roughly how many days will you need?"

"Three to four days."

"I'll give you five days." Zhou Wei glanced at the calendar. "Make the materials as detailed as possible!"

(End of Chapter)