Chapter 213 Persuasion
With the existing conditions in the 17th century, it is certainly impossible to restore Baili Island to the military fortress state of the 20th century. Such a large-scale project to change the world is not something that can be completed with the current level of construction. However, it is not too difficult to set up small-scale military strongholds on these islands.
"To choose a location to set up a stronghold here, there are two problems that must be solved. One is fresh water, and the other is the port." Xiao Liang pointed to the map and explained: "Also considering that the area of the island itself cannot be too small, the remaining options There are not many left, probably the three adjacent islands of Dawanshan Island, Baili Island and Dongao Island. The objective conditions of these three islands can meet our needs, but which one to choose in the end? I’m afraid it will take a few more on-site inspections before we can decide.”
Xiao Liang didn't say it directly, but Schneider already understood what he meant: "You mean we'd better figure out the situation on these islands as soon as possible?"
"At least make sure there are no pirate forces entrenched on these islands." Xiao Liang nodded and confirmed Schneider's guess: "Li Jifeng should have more or less news about this."
Li Jifeng sat in the hall with his eyes slightly closed, thinking about the meeting with Schneider later.
The development speed of the Haihan people greatly exceeded his expectations. It had only been more than three months since the first news about Haihan came back from Yazhou. The business of these Haihan people had already expanded from Yazhou to Guangzhou. , and plans to develop further north. But at the same time, Li Jifeng also knew very well that the Haihan people probably did not have the real strength to expand northward, because as far as he knew, Mr. Shi, who was good at doing business, had recently bought a boat in the market, which was enough to show that the Haihan people were still serious. Lack of capacity.
Since there is not enough transportation capacity, why do they desperately want to inquire about the situation of the coastal forces in Fuguang? Li Jifeng thought this was another little trick played by Schneider, who wanted to use it to seek certain benefits, such as establishing a line with a large maritime power and then directly selling arms, private salt and other materials to it. This eliminates the intermediate link of "Fu Ruifeng", and Haihan people can obtain more benefits from these businesses.
Li Jifeng has always been very guarded against such attempts. He knows that the biggest reason why Haihan people choose to cooperate with "Furuifeng" is because of their own sales network, and all the so-called agency rights are It is built on the semicolon of "Furuifeng" spreading across Fuzhou and Guangzhou. If the Haihan people establish their own channels for selling goods, then the existing basis for cooperation between the two parties will no longer exist.
Although the Haihan people do not yet have enough maritime transport capacity to expand the northern route, in Li Jifeng's view, the Haihan people's trade ambitions will force them to open up the northern trade route as quickly as possible. By then, the Haihan people will definitely leave behind "Fu". Ruifeng", looking for new local agents in Jiangsu and Zhejiang to cooperate. Jiangsu and Zhejiang are far more prosperous than Fuzhou and Guangzhou, and there are many big merchants there. With the Haihan people's business methods, it is not difficult to find a stronger partner than "Fu Ruifeng". This is what Li Jifeng least wants to see. arrived situation.
Li Jifeng has been thinking about how to tie the interests of both parties together these days to prevent Haihan, the cash cow, from running away on his own. Of course, he could continue to use various excuses to shirk the Haihan people's demands, and he could even create little obstacles for the Haihan people to make their maritime trade develop less smoothly. But Li Jifeng did not dare to ensure that this trick could be hidden from the Han people, especially the extremely shrewd Mr. Schneidersch. If the two sides fall out, the Haihan people may soon find another partner in Guangzhou City.
Haihan products have become popular recently, and all the big merchants in Guangzhou are trying their best to find out where these things come from. Although "Furuifeng" has been carefully keeping secrets, the Haihan people have set up a point outside Guangzhou, exposing them to the public. It's only a matter of time before it comes out in the public eye. By then, a large number of businesses will definitely come to seek cooperation. If something goes wrong on the "Furuifeng" side and the other party catches it, then the loopholes that the Haihan people deliberately left in the agency agreement may come into play. .
Schneider's recent proposal of the "most favored treatment" gave Li Jifeng hope to solve this problem. If "Furuifeng" gets this treatment, no matter which merchant Haihan people choose to cooperate with in the future, at least "Furuifeng" will have the same competitiveness as them. From this perspective, Li Jifeng believes that it is worthwhile to inform the Haihan people of some relatively confidential information. But what Li Jifeng is unsure about is where the upper and lower limits of the intelligence information are for the Haihan people. If too much information is leaked, will it have an adverse impact on his future maritime trade business on the southeast coast.
Li Jifeng thought about it again and again, but still felt a little uneasy. He picked up the tea cup on the table and took a sip. Just as he was about to put it down, he remembered something and said, "Don't use this big red robe when we serve tea. I bought it from Hangzhou this year." Mr. Shi prefers Yuqian Longjing.”
In the afternoon, Schneider came to visit on time. He Qiang went to the gate to pick up the people and introduced him to the inner hall to meet Li Jifeng. After a few words of greeting, the two took their seats. After the servants served tea, they were the only two people left in the hall.
"Good tea!" Schneider praised after taking a sip: "Only Shopkeeper Li can drink the most authentic Longjing tea in Guangzhou City!"
Li Jifeng smiled and said: "Since Mr. Shi likes it so much, I will send a few pounds to my house later."
After Schneider said a few polite words, he quickly got to the point: "I wonder what Shopkeeper Li has thought about the matter I mentioned to Manager He yesterday?"
Li Jifeng had met with Schneider several times, and he was used to his down-to-earth, down-to-earth style. He immediately responded: "The conditions offered by Mr. Shi are very good, but I don't know how to achieve this." Most Favored Treatment' Agreement? ”
After yesterday's discussion at the Guangzhou Guangdong Office, Schneider already had a comprehensive plan on how to proceed with this matter, and immediately explained it to Li Jifeng.
First of all, the Haihan side needs to understand the distribution of coastal forces in Fuzhou and Guangzhou. The more detailed the better. This area includes the waters from the Pearl River Estuary to Wenzhou Prefecture adjacent to Fujian, as well as the Taiwan Strait. At the same time, Schneider also said that at present, it is just to understand the relevant situation. In the short term, Haihan will not be involved in the shipping business between Fuzhou and Guangzhou, and has no intention to compete with "Furuifeng" for customers. The purpose of understanding these situations is just Just to allow the Executive Committee to assess the risks of expanding trade channels northward.
Secondly, the goods sent by "Furuifeng" to Fujian must be supervised by Haihan, and some goods are prohibited from being sold to merchants or local forces on the blacklist provided by Haihan, even if they are resold through middlemen. , once discovered, Haihan will immediately terminate the exclusive agency rights of "Furuifeng" for all products in Fuzhou and Guangzhou.
Li Jifeng was still mentally prepared for these two requirements, but he did not fully believe the reasons explained by Schneider. Although the Haihan people are very trustworthy, it does not mean that they are a very rigid group of people. On the contrary, everything the Haihan people do has a purpose, but sometimes the means they adopt make it unclear what their purpose is. That's it, just like the current situation. Li Jifeng believed that Schneider's statement that "the Haihan Executive Committee needs to assess risks" was just an excuse. At the same time, this excuse also prepared countermeasures for the uncooperative attitude that his side might adopt - then Schneider could use "Executive Committee" For reasons such as "the risk of the Fu-Guang sea route is too great", they openly refused to cooperate with "Fu Ruifeng" in Fujian and even the coastal provinces further north.
"Looks like loyal, but is actually cunning!" Li Jifeng secretly commented to Schneider in his heart. However, Schneider will definitely not care about this kind of evaluation. With his thick skin, he will probably interpret Li Jifeng's resentful evaluation as a praise for his professionalism.
As for Schneider's second request, Li Jifeng did not expect it, because the Haihan people had already jumped out to point fingers in the first batch of arms sales and did not agree with "Furuifeng" to sell these arms. To the Fujian pirate gang "Eighteen Zhi", they could only sell it to Xu Xinsu, a large merchant in Xiamen named by them.
If it weren't for the huge profits in the arms business, with hundreds or thousands of taels of gross profit from trafficking a cannon, Li Jifeng would definitely not tolerate these Haihan people interfering in his own business. After all, there are frequent wars in Fujian, and the arms business is a good business that can be continued for a long time. Even if Li Jifeng has trouble with the Haihan people, he will not have trouble with the money. In order to receive large arms orders from Fujian in the future, Li Jifeng decided to endure it first Take this breath.
However, he did not expect that the Haihan people would go even more serious this time and directly demand "supervision power" and also have a "ban on sales" that can take effect at any time. Li Jifeng found this both difficult to understand and unacceptable.
"Mr. Shi, both parties cooperate voluntarily in buying and selling. Don't you think that such a move is akin to forced buying and selling?" Li Jifeng was also considered a somewhat civilized person. He did not get angry because of this, but tried to refute the other party verbally. . Of course, if Schneider would admit defeat verbally, then he wouldn't be listed as one of the five big talkers of the Time Travel Group. In response to Li Jifeng's question, Schneider had already prepared an answer: "Shopkeeper Li, the reason why we made this request is not to interfere with your freedom of doing business, but to ensure that our business on the southeast coast can be carried out safely and stably for a long time. Go on. Which things can be sold and which things cannot be sold, who can buy it and who can't buy it, are all decisions made after careful discussion by our executive committee. They are not just talking in plain words and singing whatever comes to mind. . Simply put, you can understand this as a sales strategy, and we require supervision just to ensure that this strategy can be implemented. ”
Li Jifeng was confused by his words. He seemed to understand, but he didn't seem to mention anything substantive at all. Li Jifeng secretly thought about it for a while before responding: "If you ask me to do something, you should at least tell us clearly why you want to do it instead of using words to prevaricate!"
Schneider picked up the tea cup and pretended to drink tea. He thought to himself that this old guy actually understood quite well. It seemed that he couldn't restrain himself without using some killing moves.
Schneider put down the tea cup and said seriously: "Since Shopkeeper Li must want to know the reason, I will reveal it appropriately. However, the law is not passed down to the ears. I hope Shopkeeper Li will die after hearing what I said here today." In my heart, otherwise I am afraid something will happen.”
Li Jifeng sneered in his heart, you are a literate scholar and you still want to scare me? I went to sea with my father when I was twelve years old. I have seen a lot of pirates, soldiers and Westerners, so there is nothing to be afraid of.
Although Li Jifeng disagreed in his heart, he still said calmly: "Just like Mr. Shi said, we must keep it a secret."
Schneider nodded and said: "I'll take Fujian as an example. It's been almost two years since the 'Eighteen Zhi' fought with Xu Xinsu in Xiamen, right?"
Li Jifeng was startled and thought that Schneider didn't know anything. He even knew when the fighting would start and how long it would last. He nodded in agreement and waited for Schneider to continue.
"I know that your bank has business dealings with both warring parties. Forgive me for asking, will Shopkeeper Li clearly choose one side to support?" Schneider asked.
Li Jifeng shook his head and said: "The Bihang family is not the only one who has dealings with them. Any maritime merchant who wants to do business in Fujian waters will maintain a certain relationship with these two companies to avoid being affected. As for supporting one of them... this war Both sides are very powerful. Who dares to easily choose sides when the winner is decided? If you make a mistake and make a wrong bet, wouldn't you be asking for trouble? Whoever is willing to pay will do so. Business, it’s that simple.”
"In Shopkeeper Li's opinion, which side has a greater chance of winning in the end?" Schneider continued to ask.
Li Jifeng thought for a while and then said: "I think the 'Eighteen Zhi' are just a group of pirates. Although there are heroes like Zheng Yiguan leading the army, Damuan Island is short of materials and difficult to supply, and Xu Xinsu is backed by the mainland and has a navy. The general title brings many conveniences, and if it is delayed for a few more years, it stands to reason that Zheng Yiguan will be wasted. "
Schneider nodded repeatedly after hearing this. If he was not someone who knew this period of history, he would probably have similar thoughts to Li Jifeng. Regardless of whether these people under Xu Xinsu were listed or not, they could still be regarded as the regular army of the Ming Dynasty. They had no worries about supplies from the mainland. Since he had enough money to build ships and buy weapons, there was no way he would lose to a group of pirates. This was probably the reason why Li Jifeng initially planned to sell the weapons to "Eighteen Zhi" one.
"Then if I say that Zheng Yiguan will win this battle in the end, what do you think?" Schneider asked with a smile.
Li Jifeng frowned and did not answer his question immediately, but considered it in his mind. If the Haihan people are more optimistic about Zheng Yiguan, it is easy to explain their previous interference behavior - selling arms to "Eighteen Zhi" has only one effect, and that is to speed up the end of this battle, and this is obviously It does not meet the interests and needs of the Haihan people as arms dealers.
Li Jifeng thought for a moment and then said: "Why are you so optimistic about Zheng Yiguan? It should be noted that the two red-haired people are not helping each other now, and Xu Xinsu has the support of the Fujian government behind him. I really don't see how Zheng Yiguan can win. Opportunity... Maybe you think that in one or two years, the war situation will change and it will be difficult to say that the situation will take a turn for the worse, but I dare not make any judgment. ”
Schneider shook his head and said: "This is not a rash conclusion, it is an inference after our rigorous research. It doesn't have to wait until two years later, next year Xu Xinsu will be defeated by Zhongzuo Suo, and his own life will be lost there. . You don't have to look at me in such surprise. This is bound to happen. If we sell our weapons to the Eighteen Zhi, Xu Xinsu will probably lose before he can survive next year. You know what that means. What are you wearing? ”
Li Jifeng said in astonishment: "It means...from now on, Fujian has stopped its activities and the demand for purchasing weapons has dropped sharply?"
"That's just one of them." Schneider shook his head and said: "After Zheng Yiguan takes control of the Fujian coast, he will immediately surrender to the Ming Dynasty and take over Xu Xinsu's position in the Fujian navy. And the 'Eighteen Zhi' will become the entire The largest maritime force on the southeast coast, all ships doing maritime trade within their jurisdiction must pay them annual protection fees... Shopkeeper Li, you should know what protection fees are, right?”
Seeing Li Jifeng nodded with an ugly expression, Schneider continued: "Your bank has many ships going to Fujian every year, and the protection fee they have to pay is not a small amount, so if Zheng Yiguan wins this war, It is of no benefit to your bank or to us. All we can do now is to prevent Xu Xinsu from defeating so quickly. The longer they fight, the greater the benefit will be to us. Of course, even if Xu Xinsu fights, it will be of no benefit to us. Winning will also do us no good, so if Xu Xinsu gains the upper hand in the future, we will also adjust our sales strategy according to the development of the situation and tend to support the relatively weak party so that they can continue this protracted war. Hit the ground.”
Li Jifeng sighed: "I originally thought that not choosing a side was the most brilliant strategy, but now it seems that Mr. Shi is the better one!"
Schneider thought to himself, I am different from you. For you, it is a matter of luck to choose sides, but for me, it is just a small golden finger. Schneider spread his hands and said, "Shopkeeper Li should be fine now, right?"
Li Jifeng still shook his head and said: "Mr. Shi's words are all empty talk. How can I easily believe such a big thing with just a few words from Mr. Shi?"
Schneider sighed. It seems that this spoiler party is not easy to do. If you don't come up with some practical information, you won't be able to gain Li Jifeng's trust.
(End of chapter)