On the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month in the fifth year of the Wanli reign, more than a thousand group representatives gathered in the magnificent conference hall of Xingangbao to attend the Jiangnan Group's closing ceremony... Oh no, the tenth anniversary ceremony!

Amidst thunderous applause, an increasingly large group of senior executives appeared on the rostrum.

When Zhao Hao helped the frail chairman Hua Cha to sit down at the main seat, the applause became even louder. This applause was dedicated to Hua Cha.

Chairman Hua is 80 years old this year, and he is no longer able to be a mascot. The group's board of directors has accepted his resignation, and he will retire honorably at the end of this year.

As for his position, Zhao Hao took over. Now Mr. Zhao is already a mature handsome man, so he doesn't have to worry about being too young to convince others. Moreover, he is the leader of Jiangnan Group, which is a well-known secret, so there is no need to hide it.

As for the vacant director position of Hua Cha, it was given to Fatty Tang...

Zhang Han, the recently retired Minister of Personnel, was invited to serve as the group's independent director. In fact, he was given a generous reward and asked to serve as the group's mascot.

That's why Zhang Han didn't return home immediately after leaving his job. He stayed in Beijing just to wait and attend the group meeting with Zhao Hao.

There is no limit on the number of independent directors. In fact, it is a revolving door between politics and business set up specifically for the Jiangnan gang bosses to step down. Otherwise, why would the bosses protect the Jiangnan Group as if it were their own treasure?

For example, the current Minister of Rites Pan Sheng also held this high-ranking, high-paid, and not busy position during his retirement. He was recently promoted to the position of Grand Master of the Imperial Clan, and he has just resigned from his position in the group. When he retires in the future, he may come back...

There is nothing new under the sun. The hustle and bustle is, to put it bluntly, all about profit. It will not change even in a thousand years.

~~

After playing music, raising the flag, and singing the group's song, Zhao Hao announced the decision to replace the chairman and asked the old chairman to make a resignation speech.

Applause rang out again, and Hua Bozhen helped his father to the podium equipped with a loudspeaker. Hua Cha held the podium with both hands, looking affectionately at the thousands of group management and outstanding employee representatives below the stage, and after a long while, he slowly said:

"Ten years have passed in the blink of an eye. I can still clearly remember that in the summer of the second year of Longqing, my third son brought Master Zhao to Wuxi to find me and invited my family to invest in a Jiangnan company that I had never heard of. They also invited me, who had been in seclusion for many years, to be the chairman. I refused in my heart at the time. I had never heard of the chairman. If it weren't for the fact that this young man was my son's master, I would not even have invested in it."

"It was right to be cautious. Later we found out that Mr. Zhao's Jiangnan Company didn't even exist at that time." Wang Mengxiang laughed and interrupted, "He tricked us into joining one by one, and then Jiangnan Company was established!"

There was a burst of laughter in the meeting hall, and the shareholders of the group's subsidiaries were even more envious, wondering why Mr. Zhao didn't come to us in the first place? These guys really got a great bargain.

"I didn't join him at the beginning, not because I didn't trust Mr. Zhao. At that time, he had already established Xishan Company and successfully issued stocks. Even a blind man could see that he was the God of Wealth incarnate." After the laughter died down, Hua Cha continued:

"It's just because I'm scared by the Yan Party. Being called the 'richest man in Wuxi' has made me tremble with fear and I can't sleep at night. I often tell my sons that 'the benefits of the world belong to everyone and should not be monopolized. Sharing some with others can avoid harm to the whole body.' It's too early to give away wealth, and I'm not very interested in making more money."

Listening to the old chairman's Versailles, everyone couldn't help laughing again.

"It was Master Zhao who convinced me. He said that what he wanted to do was to 'benefit the people of the world', to ensure that all people in the world could have enough food and clothing, and to ensure that those who followed us to do business could live a prosperous life. Ultimately, we wanted to achieve the prosperity and strength of the Ming Dynasty and make it great again!"

As soon as the old chairman mentioned Zhao Hao, the room immediately fell silent and no one dared to cough.

"Although I didn't quite understand what he said at the time, I was deeply shocked. Although I didn't quite believe what he said, I finally became interested - I knew he was definitely not just trying to make money, but to do something different." Hua Cha continued:

"I was seventy years old at the time, and I had seen a lot and felt bored with life. I finally agreed to invest in order to see something new. I never expected that I would see this new thing for ten years, and the more I saw it, the more interesting it became, the more excited I became, and the more I believed that you could really turn your boasts into reality."

The old chairman was a little excited when he said this: "Over the past ten years, I have watched you all, under the leadership of the young master, work together with one heart and one mind, overcome all difficulties, expand the territory, and achieve unprecedented achievements. You have really made the people of Jiangnan prosperous! I am so proud every day!"

"I really don't want to leave..." Hua Cha took out a handkerchief to wipe his eyes, his voice choked with sobs, "I often think, if you had found me earlier, wouldn't I have been able to devote my twenty-plus years of unemployment to our business? Unfortunately, you were not born when I was born, and I was old when you were born. The group has only been in operation for ten years, and when it was about to enter a glorious era, I was too old to continue. I can only retire first and watch you all pick up your own glory and write your own chapters from the stage!"

Hua Cha raised his right fist and shouted with all his strength:

"Gentlemen, the wheel of time is unstoppable. I will lead you to turn the world upside down and create a better new Ming Dynasty! In the upcoming epic, each of you is the protagonist. Don't let this era down and fight for the rebirth of the Ming Dynasty with all your strength!"

Zhao Hao took the lead in standing up, and everyone stood up and applauded, giving the old chairman a prolonged applause.

~~

Afterwards, Zhao Hao, as the chairman of the group, gave a report on the completion of the Second Five-Year Plan to the conference for the first time.

The goal of the Second Five-Year Plan is to strive to move forward on the basis of the First Five-Year Plan and strive to put the group's economy on the fast track of rapid development.

After five years of unremitting efforts by the entire group, the Second Five-Year Plan also exceeded its targets!

First of all, in terms of the overall situation, the group's GDP has maintained a high growth rate of more than 30% per year. In the past five years of Wanli, it has reached 200 million taels of silver, accounting for one-fifth of the entire Ming Dynasty's GDP...

This is mainly because the group's gross domestic product is also included in the Ming Dynasty's gross domestic product. If it is not included, the proportion will be as high as a quarter!

Specifically in the agricultural sector, during the 25th Five-Year Plan period, the group opened 2 million acres of rice fields, 1 million acres of cotton fields, 2 million acres of sugarcane fields, and 2 million acres of tobacco fields, which is twice the plan!

Eighty percent of these newly opened arable lands come from Taiwan and Luzon, and the majority of them come from Taiwan, which has been cultivated for more than seven years. It can be seen that if the group wants to maintain a high growth in arable land area, it can only continue to expand overseas!

Moreover, all overseas reclamation areas have uniformly adopted farm-based management and have achieved self-sufficiency in food, with a slight surplus, which has greatly reduced the economic burden on the group's large-scale immigration.

In addition, the promotion of double-season rice has been completed in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Fujian, and three-season rice has been promoted in Taiwan, southern Guangdong and Luzon. Although the taste of three-season rice is slightly worse than that of double-season rice, in this era, apart from the rich, only the common people in the Jiangnan region who got rich first would be picky about the taste of rice.

Ninety percent of the people can't even afford pure brown rice, so they have to cook it with grains and wild vegetables. It's far from the time to be picky about taste.

With the good weather, the 25th period was characterized by favorable weather and good harvests, and it is no surprise that the grain harvests reached new highs year after year.

If it had happened in the past, the price of rice would have dropped to an unimaginable level.

However, in order to prevent farmers from suffering losses due to low grain prices, the Jiangnan Group has been purchasing rice at a protective price. Over the years, the group's warehouses in Jiangnan have been piled high with rice.

Mr. Zhao had to build huge granaries in Tamra, Ryukyu, Taiwan, Luzon, Sanya and other places where the coast guard was stationed to accommodate the purchased grain. It was a huge expense every year.

Of course, it's not all good news. For example, the local cultivation of corn, potatoes and sweet potatoes has encountered adaptability problems. The yields of experimental fields in various places have been significantly declining every year.

But there is no other way. We can only select and breed them year after year, hoping that these South American visitors can adapt to the environment of Ming Dynasty as soon as possible...

~~

In terms of business, during the 25th century, the group still firmly held the monopoly of Ming Dynasty's maritime trade and basically established its dominance over the South China Sea.

Now, from Malacca to Luzon, it is all under the control of the Coast Guard Fleet. Although the pirates in the South Seas are like weeds, burning one after another, none of them can become a big deal and cannot threaten the group's shipping. Instead, it effectively prevents the emergence of smugglers, allowing the group to enjoy a monopoly on trade.

During the 25th year of the reign of Emperor Wanli, the freight revenue of Royal Shipping and South China Sea Shipping surged year after year and had already achieved profitability. In the fifth year of the reign of Emperor Wanli, the profit contributed by Royal Shipping alone to the group exceeded 10 million taels. The profit contributed by South China Sea Shipping was also around 2 million taels.

Today, the Jiangnan Group owns 4,000 sand ships of 1,000 tons and 3,000 seagoing ships of 2,000 tons, of which 2,000 were built during the Second Five-Year Plan.

In fact, compared with the 15th period, the tonnage of cargo ships built has dropped a lot. However, the scale of the Southeast Shipbuilding Industry has doubled. The number of ship workers and related upstream and downstream employees in the three major shipyards has exceeded 100,000!

This is because most of the skilled craftsmen were absorbed by the Jiangnan Shipyard and the newly built Yongxia Shipyard in Luzon. And these two shipyards are used to build ships!

During the 25th Five-Year Plan period, Jiangnan Factory built a total of eight battleships, sixteen cruisers, thirty-two destroyers, and sixty-four frigates.

All the battleships and 80% of the cruisers were assigned to the strategic fleet that monitored Portugal and Spain in Luzon, while the destroyers and frigates were used to refit the marine police stations in each garrison area.

When Yongxia Shipyard can reach such production capacity, with the support of the two shipyards, the Coast Guard fleet will be able to punch Portugal and kick Spain, dominate Asia and go to the world!

ps. Post first and modify later.