Chapter 2348: The Newly Established Nanyang Company (Part 8)

Xu Yanliang reviewed the roster while jotting down names and personal ID numbers in his notebook—with these numbers, he could access the personnel files of anyone who caught his interest for a more thorough evaluation.

He was concerned primarily with their administrative capabilities. That is, it was best if they had experience leading teams: being a "manager" in a pirate group and commanding several ships required considerable ability. It wasn't something you could accomplish merely by being fierce and combative. You needed real skills. The more people and ships someone had led, the stronger their management level had to be.

If you asked who among the Southeast Asia Company's shareholders and employees had led the most people and ships, that would naturally be Liu Xiang. From the end of the Tianqi reign to the early Chongzhen years, in just a few short years, he had expanded to become the primary rival of Li Kuiqi and Zheng Zhilong on the Guangdong seas, directly controlling three to four hundred vessels. This man's skills and abilities were evident. If he could take the field, the Nanyang Company would achieve twice the results with half the effort, regardless of where they started establishing colonies.

However, Xu Yanliang thought with some regret that employing him was impossible—the Senate would never agree. Si Kaide had entertained a similar idea back then, proposing to send Liu Xiang and his team to the South Seas to establish colonies. But this proposal had been severely criticized in the Senate.

Liu Xiang and fifteen of his most trusted aides were currently living the life of "farm owners" under the "strict surveillance" of the Political Security Bureau in Sanya. No matter how highly Xu Yanliang regarded them, employing them would prove extremely difficult.

His gaze could only turn to those "managers" who had been mid-level leaders commanding a few ships. Most of these people had stayed in the Southeast Asia Company as captains or heads of trading stations. Quite a few had transferred to work and live on shore, content with merely being "shareholders" and collecting dividends.

He roughly scanned the whereabouts of these transferred shareholders. "Farming" was the most common outcome—this was unsurprising. Whether Zheng Zhilong or other sea lords, they all showed great interest in land. In the parallel timeline's history, all of them had purchased large amounts of farmland and estates in their hometowns.

Beyond land's characteristics of value preservation and stable income, many of them originally came from peasant or small landlord backgrounds. The attachment to land was engraved in their bones.

Given the climate and land conditions in Southeast Asia, many areas were suitable for agriculture—especially the Mekong Delta, which had been developed by Chinese people who went to the South Seas during the Ming and Qing dynasties.

If these people were willing to take the lead in going to the South Seas, it would tremendously benefit colonial establishment. Liu Xiang and his subordinates came mainly from the Chaoshan region of Guangdong. In the parallel timeline, Chaoshan was famous throughout China as a "hometown of overseas Chinese." Long suffering from land scarcity and overpopulation, wave after wave of commoners had gone to the South Seas since the Ming Dynasty. Xu Yanliang believed that as long as the policies were sufficient, these former pirates who had already settled down should be willing to take a gamble.

"The South Seas is the promised land for the Chinese. If given enough land, how could they not go?" Xu Yanliang thought. It was a pity the Senate lacked a Homestead Act. Otherwise, people could claim wasteland just by staking it out, which would attract large numbers of landlords and poor peasants to colonize the South Seas.

"After landing for so many years, we can't even get a basic land law settled. The Senate is hopeless!" Xu Yanliang started complaining again.

"Old Xu, how's your reading coming along?" Wang Kai suddenly asked.

"Almost done," Xu Yanliang said. "I just feel that if the land ownership issue isn't resolved, our colonial action won't have enough appeal. Back then, with just a Homestead Act, how many people in the US abandoned everything and dragged their families west to reclaim wasteland? Now we're engaging in colonization—what can we promise the commoners? We can't say, 'You go open up wasteland, but the land still belongs to the Senate'..."

"The dispute within the Senate is just too big," Wang Kai said. "No one wants to touch it."

"But if the land issue isn't clarified, how can we recruit immigrants?"

"Anyway, there are too many poor people who can't get enough to eat. Let's just vaguely promise 'go to the South Seas and you'll get land,' and let the Senate worry about future matters." Wang Kai said. "I have something more headache-inducing here."

What Wang Kai found so headache-inducing was the Southeast Asia Company's total share capital. Though the shareholding structure was clear—the Senate held 51% and the various surrendered pirate groups held 49%—when it came to specific assets, Wang Kai was truly startled.

In a policy of "cherishing men from afar," the asset evaluation for surrendered pirates had been preferential. Ships invested as shares were classified into three levels—large, medium, and small—each further divided into three conditions: good, medium, and poor. This made nine categories in total. Even the lowest-valued "small-poor" ship was worth thirty taels, while the highest-grade "large-good" ship reached as high as one thousand taels.

Of course, very few ships qualified for the large-good category. But the massive number of small and medium ships resulted in a very considerable total. From its establishment until the asset freeze before this restructuring, the Southeast Asia Company had cumulatively received over 1,200 ships of various sizes as equity investment. The total valuation approached 530,000 taels—after the currency reform, stock calculations switched from the silver "tael" to the silver dragon "yuan." At the Southeast Asia Company's original face value of one tael per share, this meant 530,000 personal shares had been issued.

Most of these "share capital" ships had actually been eliminated, sold, or dismantled soon after investment, with negligible residual value recovered. The company's real ship assets consisted of only those 225 vessels.

"Looking at this unassuming little company full of junk, it turns out the total share capital exceeds one million!" This time it was Wang Kai's turn to complain.

"Let it be one million. It's all hollow anyway," Zhou Wei said. "What about the shareholders and dividends?"

"There are about a thousand shareholders, with average holdings of around five hundred shares. Liu Xiang is the number one individual shareholder, holding 150,000 shares. Currently, seven hundred shareholders are working in the company."

"That's quite a lot!"

"Most pirates were ordinary commoners—they couldn't just wash their feet and go ashore just like that. They still have to make a living at sea," Xu Yanliang said.

"As for dividends, the Southeast Asia Company paid individual shareholders about 19 cents per share last year. Considering that nearly half the shareholders hold between 100 and 200 shares, those people's dividends last year amounted to only 2 to 4 yuan. As an investment, the annual return rate is less than 2%—that's really too low. Only major shareholders like Liu Xiang get a decent return."

"That's far less than his original income."

"So most of them are still working for the Southeast Asia Company," Zhou Wei said. "However, with investment returns like that, we'll probably have great difficulty selling stock. What about the company's revenue, operating costs, and profits?"

"I can't make sense of the revenue and costs either—we need a professional accountant to examine them. The profit is clear at a glance. Net profit in 1634 was 27,000 yuan. After deducting the company's retention, it was all used for dividends. Individual shareholders received over ten thousand yuan in total."

"This net profit is too low. Is the calculation wrong? Such a large company earning less than thirty thousand yuan a year? A single ship running maritime trade makes tens of thousands of silver profit in one trip!"

"Net profit can be manipulated," Zhou Wei understood the situation somewhat. "For a company like the Southeast Asia Company, the Planning Committee implies they shouldn't make net profit too high."

Wang Kai hesitated before saying: "I feel the Southeast Asia Company's historical burden is too great. It's not very suitable for stock offerings."

"I think our first step should be hiring an accounting team to thoroughly clarify all the Southeast Asia Company's accounts. Figure out the specific operational situation. We also need to communicate with the Planning Committee," Zhou Wei said. "The Southeast Asia Company's fixed assets are easy to handle, but we need a clear picture of the company's specific operating costs and working capital situation."

Wang and Xu had no objections.

"Next, let's divide the work. Xu Yanliang, you go to Sanya as an advance party. Touch base with the Mayor of Sanya and look for a suitable location first. We won't have time to build new facilities in the short term. However, the Southeast Asia Company has wharves and trading stations in Sanya. See if we can clear out some buildings to serve as offices and dormitories after the headquarters moves there."

"How many people in the first batch?"

"Most of the office staff at Southeast Asia Company headquarters have to go," Zhou Wei said. "Moving this far, most families will likely follow. I estimate around a hundred people. Add the families, service staff, and guards for the three of us, and that's another ten or twenty."

"I'll check the personnel files first, then talk to headquarters staff to see how many are willing to move with their entire families."

"Handle that," Zhou Wei said. "Needless to say, leaving Lingao for Sanya—probably quite a few cadres and staff won't want to go. It's all voluntary anyway. If cadres and staff don't want to go, write them recommendation letters and let Yang Yun find new positions for them. Those willing to go will be the founding veterans of the Nanyang Company. We definitely won't treat them poorly."

"Give employees incentive shares?"

"We'll discuss that later. No rush," Zhou Wei smiled. "Just make promises for now; don't specify the benefits yet. Be cautious."

"This empty big pie isn't easy to draw," Xu Yanliang laughed.

"Old Wang, what about you? Make the rounds at the Planning Committee, the Ministry of Technology, the Industrial Sector, and the Agricultural Sector. See what their views and requirements are on the current material supply. Let's find out which items provoke the strongest reactions and loudest complaints, especially those materials that aren't needed in great quantities but block key positions on the technology tree. Also, visit the Remote Exploration Team. See if you can get them to organize some remote explorations of the Southeast Asia region."

"That way they'd cover personnel and expenses. Brilliant."

Zhou Wei smiled: "Anyone can see through our little tricks. The Exploration Team has been drooling over Southeast Asia's mineral resources for ages. We're giving them official justification this time. Win-win."

"As for me, I need to find some financial experts for a thorough discussion," Zhou Wei said. "Our overall asset situation is quite good right now. The Southeast Asia Company is definitely a high-quality asset. It just lacks working capital and has too low a return rate. It needs proper packaging."

(End of Chapter)