Chapter 234 New trends from the mainland
In addition to the busy work in the inland residential areas, people from the Military and Police Department have also arrived at the planned location and started building the Tieliang Port Post.
Due to various objective reasons, the plan for the coastal defense fort in Tieliang Port was not approved in the end. In addition, the Executive Committee believed that the military threat posed by the Wanzhou area north of Tieliang Port was very limited. Therefore, the original heavy deployment of troops was not feasible. It was changed to lookout posts, and early warning was used instead of fire strikes. After preliminary on-site surveys, the Military and Police Department selected a commanding height on Yalong Ridge south of the entrance to Tielugang to establish a lookout post.
Although the altitude here is only more than 100 meters, it is not easy to transport a large amount of building materials from the shore. The Military and Police Department deployed fifty workers for this purpose, plus a platoon of militiamen, to open the road and transport at the same time. It took a whole day to transport various supplies and building materials for building the outpost to the predetermined location. After the outpost is built here, a squad of militiamen will be stationed here for a long time. They will mainly monitor the sea areas on the north, east and south to prevent other forces from sneak attacks on Tieliang Port from the sea. If necessary, they will also monitor the inland residential areas. To provide early warning to the production area, its function is basically the same as that of the outpost on Yulinjiao, Victory Port.
Due to proper planning and layout in advance, the colonization operation progressed very quickly. By sunset that day, the workers responsible for building the residential area had cleared a large area of foundation and erected the capitals of several boat-shaped houses. According to calculations by the Ministry of Shipping, 80% of the building materials and supplies have been delivered, and the first batch of new immigrants selected in advance can be gradually transported here the next day.
According to the arrangements of the Executive Committee, the administrative planning of Tielugang will be divided into two communes, the north and the south. The commune in the south will be planted with salt-alkali tolerant crops, mountain crops and fisheries because there are relatively few nearby tidal flats. As for the main industry, the communes in the north will make full use of the large coastal tidal area, with salt as the main industry.
The Executive Committee has decided to establish a separate Salt Industry Department within the Ministry of Industry. The Shengli Port Salt Field that has been built, the Tielugang Salt Field that is under construction, and even the Yinggehai Salt Field that is still under planning will all be managed by the Ministry of Industry in the future. The newly established Salt Industry Department is under unified management. All salt export business will also be separated from the current commerce and trade department and handed over to the Salt Industry Department. As for the person in charge of this newly established unit, it was without any suspense handed over to Anxi, who has the most professional qualifications and nearly half a year of salt field operation experience. However, the relevant appointment order has not been announced yet. The executive committee will not announce the appointment decision until the Iron Furnace Port colonization site begins to operate normally.
Luo Shengdong and his friends made another shipment the next day, then said goodbye to Tao Donglai and headed north with the fleet. This time the executive committee rewarded him with five thousand kilograms of salt. For the Chuanchuan Group, the production cost of this salt was less than a hundred yuan. Hiring seven or eight boats for nearly two days was completely cost-effective. But for the salt dealer Luo Shengdong, if these five thousand kilograms of salt are sold to Qiongzhou Prefecture, he will get a gross profit of one thousand taels of silver. Apart from the consumption in the past few days and the dividends distributed to his men, Luo Shengdong can at least guess that Half of the money goes into his pocket, which is a lot of money in total. Both parties get what they need and are very satisfied with this way of cooperation.
However, Luo Shengdong had one more mission to go to Qiongzhou Fucheng this time. After listening to Tao Donglai's words, Luo Shengdong's mind slowly opened up. Whether or not you can be promoted to Qianzong is certainly important, but if you can move your future father-in-law to the position of governor of Yazhou next year, I believe it will be more beneficial to you.
Although the Haihan people are currently not very interested in the land in Phoenix Town, judging from their development speed, Victory Port will definitely not be able to accommodate them. Sooner or later, they will expand to the outside. As a result, sooner or later, the Haihan people's power will It has developed to Fenghuang, Tianya, and even Nanshan Town next to Yazhou. Instead of giving all the benefits now to these officials who are about to step down, it is better to save them for the future and transfer all these benefits to the father-in-law who is in charge of Yazhou - anyway, the father-in-law has an only daughter, so this is the benefit that the father-in-law has received. , isn’t that just your own benefit?
Of course, although Luo Shengdong's abacus was very good, he had to find a way to help his father-in-law to take over the throne first. This time he went to Qiongzhou Fucheng not only to sell salt, but also to explore ways for his father-in-law to take over Yazhou. Tao Donglai has made it clear that he will support it. Luo Shengdong naturally understands that this kind of "support" means more than just verbal support. Haihan people have always been very generous in giving gifts to officials in Yazhou. Luo Shengdong thinks As long as you find the right path, the Haihan people will be happy to use money to help them push their father-in-law into power.
As for what kind of benefits the Haihan people would ask for from him after this matter was completed, Luo Shengdong no longer wanted to think about it in detail. Anyway, my head should have been chopped off and hung on the gate of Yazhou City half a year ago. Since it is still growing on my neck, it means that the path I have chosen so far has been right. From now on, Then just go down. Cooperating with Haihan people can lead to promotion and wealth, and there is nothing wrong with that.
On October 20, three large ships with a capacity of 400 tons slowly sailed into Victory Port. These three ships came from Guangzhou. One of them is a second-hand ship recently acquired by the Guangdong Office in Guangdong. Counting the one that has already arrived at Victory Port, there are currently two large ships that can be put into the next Vietnamese immigration operation. Serve as the main force of transportation.
The other two ships were ships of the "Fu Ruifeng". The person in charge sent by Li Jifeng to Victory Port to negotiate trade this time was still an old friend of the Crossing Group, Li Nai, the third young master of the Li family. However, the old steward He Qiang did not come with him this time. It is said that he was sent to other places to handle other matters.
Li Nai's visit brought to the Crossing Group many materials purchased by the Guangdong Office, such as cloth, tung oil, leather, copper ingots, tin, sulfur, etc., as well as various handicrafts recently hired by the Guangdong Office. There are more than 50 craftsmen, more than 30 orphans accepted by the Charity Hall, more than 30 sailors, and nearly 100 poor people who voluntarily immigrated to Victory Port to try their luck.
In addition, Li Nai's trip also brought a lot of materials and manpower. These items were not used for transactions with the Crossing Group, but to prepare for the implementation of the cooperation agreement reached by the two parties in August and start to carry out construction projects in the Victory Port area. Set up business stores, build restaurants and other special industries that single young men have been waiting for a long time.
Of course, as the Executive Committee attaches great importance to health and epidemic prevention, it will naturally not let Li Nai bring these people ashore easily. Anyone who intends to live in Victory Port for a long time must undergo necessary quarantine and isolation observation measures in accordance with the existing system. Especially those young women who clearly want to work in special industries must undergo a comprehensive physical examination before being allowed to do so. Login.
Li Nai didn't quite understand the harsh measures taken by the Executive Committee and the Port Management Committee. He even went to Tao Donglai and asked for the people on the ship to be released as soon as possible. After all, they had been wandering at sea for a week, and some of them were not in good health. The good woman almost only had half her life left, and Li Nai didn't want the person who had been transported all the way from Guangzhou to be carried directly into the coffin without doing anything.
However, the executive committee has not let up on this. The matter of cooperating with "Furuifeng" for commercial development is still quite controversial. In particular, the feminists led by Raisa have always been opposed to the Victory Port area. There are objections to the establishment of establishments such as "brothels". If another messy disease occurs in these places, the people who approved the matter in the first place will be blamed for it. Therefore, the Executive Committee also secretly issued a death order to the medical department. The source of infection must be eliminated in the early stage. In the later stage, strict monitoring will be maintained and random inspections will be conducted at any time. No scandals will occur due to the health situation.
In order to comfort Li Nai, Tao Donglai pulled him to the planned commercial area and showed him the land belonging to "Furuifeng". At present, the foundation here has been basically leveled, all trees and their roots have been cleaned up, and all kinds of bamboo and wood building materials needed to build houses have been prepared in accordance with the original requirements of "Fu Ruifeng". They were all piled in a nearby open space. Just wait for the construction team to arrive and construction can start immediately.
Seeing that the preparations had been completed, Li Nai put aside his previous unhappiness and said to Tao Donglai: "Mr. Tao, according to your original request, I specially sent people to Victory some time in advance. Hong Kong will accept the epidemic prevention inspection you mentioned, but now these women are not allowed to set foot on the shore. Is this going too far? ”
Tao Donglai looked around and saw that Luo Wudan, who had been wandering around before, was gone. Then he breathed a sigh of relief and said: "Mr. Li, when you came to Victory Port last time, you should have learned about our Places like brothels exist with great caution, and to us, any scandal brought about by such a place is a sufficient reason to close it, especially in terms of hygiene if there is any Haihan in it. If you are infected with some shady and strange disease, not only will the brothel be closed, but you, 'Fu Ruifeng', will probably be classified as undesirable." Li Nai said disapprovingly: "These women are carefully selected. I had someone check me out when I was in Guangzhou.”
Tao Donglai still insisted: "For the sake of smooth future cooperation, it is always right to be cautious. I guarantee that these people will be allowed to disembark from the ship and disembark by tomorrow at the latest."
What Tao Donglai did not say is that even if these people can set foot on the land of Victory Port, they will be sent directly to the isolation residence, where they will stay for at least seven to ten days and undergo another comprehensive inspection before they can obtain local quarantine. Residence permit. However, there is no need to explain these things to Li Nai in detail. He will be dissatisfied with the previous arrangements. What he cares about is not the future and fate of these people, but how much weight his own face has among the Haihan people. Tao Donglai's patient explanation had already made him feel the respect of the Haihan people, and that was enough.
In addition to these, the most important purpose of Li Nai's trip is to discuss with the Executive Committee matters about further expanding the scale of trade. After Li Nai returned to Guangzhou in August, he was immediately sent overseas by Li Jifeng to promote the private salt trade in Huizhou, Chaozhou and Shaozhou. Li Nai spent nearly a month traveling to the capitals of these states, met with some local businesses and officials, and successfully reached several intentional cooperation agreements. In the future, "Furuifeng" Provide cheap sources of goods, and these merchants and even officials are responsible for local distribution channels.
The business of selling illegal salt is a capital crime for ordinary people, but for powerful people, it is a shortcut to make a fortune. The cooperation partners that Li Nai has negotiated in these states require as little as three to five thousand kilograms of salt per month, and as many as tens of thousands of kilograms. There are even some people who have proposed to cooperate with "Furuifeng" to transfer private salt. Trafficked to Ganzhou, Jiangxi Province, and Chenzhou, Huguang Province for sale. Li Nai's second brother Li Po also achieved similar promotion results in Zhaoqing, Gaozhou and Leizhou. Although there is no news about the Li family's promotion activities in Fujian yet, judging from the situation in Guangdong, the situation in Fujian will not be much worse.
Since then, the salt trade volume between "Furuifeng" and Chuanchuan Group has rapidly increased from 10,000 jins per month to 50,000 jins, and then to the current 120,000 jins, and will continue to rise in the near future. trend - however, the supply volume currently required by "Furuifeng" still has a small problem with the current production capacity, and it will take some time to alleviate this situation.
Of course, in addition to salt, Haihan glass products, which have become a popular trend in Guangzhou's cultural circles, are also on the list of products for the promotion. However, due to the current supply volume of Chuanchuan Group to the mainland is extremely limited and can barely meet the market needs of Guangzhou and surrounding areas, the prices of these glass products begin to rise significantly when they are trafficked to areas slightly further away from Guangzhou. Rising, for example, in Chaozhou, which is more than 800 miles away from Guangzhou, the price of a set of colored glass stationery produced by Haihan has reached thousands of taels of silver, and it has been in a state of pricelessness for a long time - this thing is because The production process is relatively complex and the yield rate is low. So far, the Cross Travel Group has only sold a total of fifty sets.
In Huizhou, Chaozhou, and Shaozhou alone, the market demand for glass stationery in the three places where Li Nai went has far exceeded the current production capacity of Chuan Chuan Group. Li Nai said that as long as Chuan Chuan Group can provide sufficient supply, "Fu Rui In terms of "feng", the purchase price can even be appropriately increased.
As for the matches and soaps recently launched in Guangzhou, because the current production is too small, it is not enough to supply Guangzhou, so they have not been promoted to other places at all.
In addition to these civilian commodities, Chuan Chuan Group’s key export items, arms, have also received information feedback from buyers in Fujian - 500 Type 27 matchlock guns and 20 artillery pieces of two calibers, large and small, of course. , and a large amount of special ammunition for Haihan firearms. The content of this second arms order from mainland China has exceeded the first one. It is obvious that the quality and practical effectiveness of these arms have been recognized by users.
Although before Li Nai arrived, the Executive Committee had actually learned about the contents of the trade order that "Furuifeng" would bring through the radio station of the General Office of the People's Republic of China, but when Li Nai said it in person, the Executive Committee still asked You will feel the joy of success again.
At the request of Tao Donglai and others, Li Nai also briefly explained this. Last time, "Furuifeng" shipped the first batch of arms ordered from Victory Port back to Guangzhou without disembarking at all. After replenishing supplies at the dock, it went straight to Fujian. "Furuifeng" finally followed the instructions of the Cross-Travel Group and quietly sold the arms to Xu Xinsu's party in the name of a middleman.
At this time, Xu Xinsu's forces were gradually at a disadvantage in the naval battle, and even some trade routes had been blocked by the "Eighteen Zhi" pirate ships. Not only that, the "Eighteen Zhi" began to organize manpower to attack multiple land targets along the coast of Quanzhou Prefecture from the middle of the year, putting great pressure on Xu Xinsu. The batch of guns and artillery shipped from Guangzhou at this time was a timely help for Xu Xinsu. There was no dispute about the price at all, and the other party just accepted the order.
Although most of Xu Xinsu's men were pirates and had only shed their original skins and put on Ming army uniforms in the past year or two, many of them can handle firearms, which is much better than the peasant army of North Vietnam. . Therefore, although the Cross Travel Group did not provide any technical support for the firearms sold, Xu Xinsu's party still put the new weapons into battlefield applications in a very short period of time.
It has to be said that the use of new weapons is very effective. In a land offensive and defensive battle that broke out at the Zhongzuo Institute, Xu Xinsu's party, who used firearms, easily defeated more than 2,000 incoming pirates. Afterwards, they were known as "the formation killed more than a thousand pirates." ". Compared with this outstanding record, his own losses in this battle were so small that they were almost negligible.
Of course, the "Eighteen Zhi" were not without firearms and equipment, but they didn't expect that Xu Xinsu, who had been immersed in taking beatings, would suddenly have such strong firepower. Half a month later, the "Eighteen Zhi" organized another attack on the Zhongzuo Station, and were equipped with a considerable number of muskets and various heavy weapons such as Tiger Crouching Cannons and Folan Cannons. However, unexpectedly, they were still defeated by their opponents this time. Even those men who used firearms suffered heavy casualties - no matter in terms of weapon range, lethality or reloading and firing speed, the firearms in the hands of "Eighteen Zhi" could not compete with the opponent.
This does not mean that the "Eighteen Zhi" are completely helpless against their opponents. Zheng Zhilong still has many authentic Hongyi cannons that he bought from the Dutch earlier. Their caliber, power, and range are all superior to the Haihan cannons. superior. However, this kind of cannon weighs two to three thousand kilograms each and has almost zero mobility. It is only suitable for use as a defensive weapon. If you want to transport it to Zhongzuo Station by ship, then move it ashore and drag it under the city to attack the city, But it's a little too difficult.
(End of chapter)