Chapter 382 All-round intervention
For Annan State across the sea, the Executive Committee had no intention of directly ruling it from the beginning. Instead, it hoped to exert influence over Annan State in many aspects such as military, economic, political, and cultural aspects. The indirect control of the regime eventually positioned it as a slave state of the Haihan regime. A large part of the various military assistance provided to the North Vietnamese court at this stage is also to achieve this long-term goal.
The situation in Annan is that powerful ministers are in charge, both in the north and the south. However, in the north, military generals are in charge, in the south, civil servants are in charge, and the Li emperors on the throne are just puppets. Haihan chose to support North Vietnam, so he naturally focused on the North Vietnamese military system. By constantly training new troops and senior officers for North Vietnam, Haihan's influence in the North Vietnamese army was gradually increased.
Such measures do have a certain effect. For example, the first batch of North Vietnamese officers Zheng Ting and others who received training from Hai Han have now gradually entered the senior ranks of the frontline main battle units in the North Vietnamese Army. Although these North Vietnamese soldiers did not necessarily agree with some of Hai Han's actions, and were even wary to some extent, it is undeniable that these officers who had received Hai Han's training had almost always said what Hai Han was like. , taking Haihan's model as a criterion - after all, the Haihan Militia has been invincible since its emergence, and there is no second choice for such an impeccable model.
Judging from the achievements of military aid at this stage, although Hai Han is not yet able to influence North Vietnam's military trends, the influence of the North Vietnamese military has begun to take shape, especially in the arms trade, Hai Han has basically monopolized North Vietnam's arms market. Now, in addition to muskets, artillery and corresponding ammunition and spare parts, Haihan has also begun to export a large number of weapons and equipment such as waist knives, spear points, plate armor, and barbed wire to it. The technical content of these things is not high, and there is iron ore in the Hai Han base camp. Coupled with the advanced production model, the cost can be controlled at a lower level. The export price to North Vietnam is even higher than the cost of its own production. Nearly a quarter lower.
Given that prices and quality are similar, military leaders will naturally be more inclined to choose Haihan equipment, which symbolizes strong combat effectiveness. Therefore, more than 80% of the newly purchased weapons and equipment in the North Vietnamese Army are imported goods, ranging from small ones to Belt buckles made of fine iron, as well as artillery pieces weighing over a thousand kilograms, are all branded "Made in Haihan". The North Vietnamese Guards Corps, which has been established with a lot of money since last year, is currently regarded as the elite elite force in the hands of North Vietnam. Its equipment is all made in Haihan, and even the military organization has been changed from the original Ming style to the Haihan style. , company and platoon-level officers all came from Do Son training camp, and all officers at battalion level and above must go to Victory Port in batches to receive further training. Obtaining the completion certificate issued by the Victory Port Military Academy has begun to become the basis for North Vietnamese officers to advance to senior military ranks. Required qualifications.
If it were not for economic pressure, the North Vietnamese military would even want to purchase several "Exploration-class" warships produced by the Victory Port Shipyard from Hai Han. As early as the end of the aid operation in Vietnam in the first half of the year, the North Vietnamese military had already inquired about the price of this advanced warship, but Haihan's quotation directly made them give up this unrealistic idea - equipped with a complete naval The quotation for the "Exploration-class" warship with Hanfeng sails, steering wheel system, and all guns was as high as 25,000 taels of silver per ship!
There is a good reason for Haihan to ask for such a high price. There are a total of twelve naval guns on the ship, five on the left and one on the left and one in the front. These twelve guns, plus the special mechanical recoil gun mount, are worth more than ten thousand. Five thousand taels, plus the unique sails and steering wheel of the Shanghai Han warship, this price is already very "conscientious". In order to let the senior personnel of the North Vietnamese military understand the performance of this warship, Qian Tiandun even specially transferred a warship from the base camp and invited the senior personnel of the North Vietnamese military to go to sea on this ship and conduct military exercises. , to prove that the performance of this warship is worthy of its high price.
The North Vietnamese military does not know how much moisture is included in Hai Han's offer, but one thing is clear, that is, the North Vietnamese military has no money in its pockets. Although they are very coveted for the performance of the Hai Han warship, the North Vietnamese military, which has long been stretched for military expenditures, can no longer spend more money to build its own fleet - even if it buys one and uses it as a flagship, it is no longer enough. Funded. Therefore, although Haihan used various means to promote, they still failed to get orders from North Vietnam.
However, Bai Kesi, the person in charge of "Haihan Military Industry", has never given up on this project. It is said that he has recently communicated with Victory Port Shipyard and Haihan Bank and plans to launch a special arms trade loan to North Vietnam. The permanent ownership is mortgaged and Haihan Bank provides a ship purchase loan. It just so happened that Zheng Zha came to negotiate this time, and Bai Kesi was gearing up to fool him.
"When it comes to actual influence, I have something to say." Ning Qi saw a few people in the military attache system having a lively discussion, and of course he didn't want them to take all the limelight.
"Although North Vietnam is a military government, we can't just introduce short-term overseas students with military backgrounds. We should follow our current approach to the Ming Dynasty and let North Vietnam's dignitaries send their children here to receive our education. When North Vietnam When the upper echelons of society tend to be friendly towards us, influence will naturally arise." Ning Qi had obviously already prepared this, and said calmly: "Nowadays, education institutions at all levels already have such influence. There is already a establishment of international students, and adding another enrollment target will not be very troublesome. It is nothing more than an additional review and registration procedure for the civil affairs department, but the benefits of this are obvious. ”
"This is possible." Tao Donglai agreed very much with Ning Qi's suggestion and nodded repeatedly: "I was busy with the war in the first half of the year, and the work on cultural dissemination has been relaxed. Now that the situation is better, we need to We should seize the time to start this work, and it would be best to normalize and institutionalize the recruitment of overseas students. In the future, we will definitely control more than the areas we currently control. We can then extend this mature experience to other countries and regions. ”
At present, Haihan’s external cultural promotion work has achieved more obvious results in Ming Dynasty. Under the operation of relevant departments, educational institutions in the Victory Port area have currently accepted more than a hundred international students, ranging in age from seven or eight years old to early twenties. The vast majority of overseas students come from various businesses that have business dealings with Haihan. Most of these people choose to study in Sanya so that they can learn various unique production technologies of Haihan in the future, hoping to bring them back to Sanya. Daming.
Of course, the executive committee is not worried that the leakage of these production technologies will bring competitors to its own business. In fact, the production projects included in vocational training are basically unlikely to rely on manual workshops for large-scale production, such as glass. Even if they could be copied in Ming Dynasty, their production costs would not be able to be reduced to Haihan's current level. It would be almost impossible to compete with Haihan products in the first-tier market.
The education department hopes that through this kind of vocational training, it can gradually cultivate some overseas students who are truly interested in Haihan culture. After these people return to Ming Dynasty after completing their studies, they will become voluntary propagandists of Haihan culture, thereby attracting More people came to the Haihan area to engage in trade, study and even settle down.
"Your military and cultural circles have expressed their stance, so I will briefly say a few words on behalf of the industrial and commercial circles." After everyone had discussed Ning Qi's opinions, Schneider also cut into the topic: "Our trade with North Vietnam has begun. It has been more than a year. There is a saying that our trade surplus with North Vietnam is indeed too large. Sometimes even I feel that North Vietnam is about to drain us. There are very few products that North Vietnam can export to us. There are only a few limited types such as grain, wood, medicinal materials, and fur. Some processing projects with low technical content, such as rough processing of wood and medicinal materials, can be carried out locally. It is nothing more than investing money to do some It’s just a handicraft workshop. This saves our limited transportation capacity and also supports the local economy.”
"There is nothing wrong with helping North Vietnam develop rough processing industries, but doing so will not solve the current unequal trade volume unless more high-value goods can be found in North Vietnam." Ning Qi questioned Schneider's statement.
"It's not that there are no good things over there, it's just that we don't have the ability to mine them yet." Regarding this issue, Bai Kesi had already done research on this issue, and he took over the topic after hearing this: "Dak Lok and Da in central Vietnam There is a large amount of bauxite that can be mined in Nong, Kontum and Lam Dong. According to the information we have, the total bauxite reserves in the places I just mentioned exceed 4 billion tons. , the current production capacity is sufficient for mining for hundreds of years. In addition, there are quite a lot of titanium ores in the coastal areas of North Vietnam, including primary ores, weathered residual ores and coastal placers, from Mang Cai and Thanh Hoa in the north to the central areas. It is distributed in Hue, Quy Nhon, and all the way to Vung Tau and Ha Tien at the southern tip of the Indochina Peninsula. The rich ore grade can reach more than 30%, which is very valuable for mining. Needless to say, as for the iron ore, the Ha Tinh Shixi Iron Mine is. The reserves are two-thirds more than the Shilu Iron Mine that we have always been obsessed with, and the ore has a higher iron content and can also be mined in the open. In addition, there are also lead, zinc, phosphorus and other mineral deposits there. Quite a few, if conditions permit, we can develop them one by one, and we won’t have to worry about exported products.”
"It's better not to be too hasty about opening mines. There is still a large area of mines on Hainan Island that have not yet been opened!" Tao Donglai did not agree with Bai Kesi's enthusiasm. In the planning of the Executive Committee, the Shilu Iron Mine in western Hainan Island has always been a key development project in the future. As for minerals in other overseas countries, the Executive Committee's attitude is to only develop places with strategic value for the time being, such as Heitu Port. of coal mines. As for those minerals that are suitable for development in Hainan Island itself, Tao Donglai believes that there is no need to go all the way to other countries to import them.
After a night's rest, Zheng Zha launched formal negotiations with the executive committee the next day.
According to Zheng Zha's formulation, the North Vietnamese court hoped that Haihan would send troops to help achieve the complete reunification of Annan. The corresponding military expenditures and exchange conditions also hoped that Haihan could come up with a more specific plan. After the internal meeting the day before, the Executive Committee already had a relatively unified understanding of this. Tao Donglai said: "As for sending troops to assist your country to exterminate the rebels and achieve reunification, we are happy to see it happen in principle. However, considering that the combat cycle will be relatively long and the battlefield situation is changing rapidly, it is difficult to make appropriate decisions now. After discussing the military budget, we made the following suggestions, which you can use as a reference.”
"First of all, let me talk about the military expenditure issue that your country is most concerned about. Military expenditure is still calculated based on the previous standards, based on the length of combat and combat consumption. However, considering the economic difficulties your country is currently facing, we can appropriately extend the payment period. The period has been relaxed from one year to five years, and you are no longer required to pay a large deposit before the war.”
Before Zheng Zha could smile, Tao Donglai continued: "This is actually because our side has advanced the military expenses in advance. In essence, we have provided a considerable amount of war loans to your country. In order to avoid risks, , we also require you to provide certain physical collateral.”
Zheng Zha frowned and said, "I wonder what the physical mortgage you require means?"
"Same as before, use land as collateral." Tao Donglai explained to him: "But the places we requested before were all in the north, but this time we plan to ask for several places in the south."
The place in the south is still in the hands of the Ruan family. It doesn't hurt to give away other people's things. Zheng Zhu felt relieved and nodded: "Mr. Tao just said it doesn't matter."
Tao Donglai said: "Da Nang, Quy Nhon, Cam Ranh, and Vung Tau south of Hue will be leased to us as concessions for fifty years, and the fees will be calculated based on the Black To Port concession. If your country cannot repay our war debts in full within five years after the end of the Unification War, then the ownership rights of these places will be obtained by us as loan collateral.”
Zheng Zha did not respond in a hurry this time, but began to recall the locations of these places in his mind. Da Nang and Quy Nhon are easy to understand. After all, these two places have natural ports, which are very attractive to Haihan people who are good at sea trade. However, Cam Ranh and Vung Tau are disputed areas between the Champa Kingdom and Annam in the south - these two places originally belonged to the Champa Kingdom, but were later occupied by Annan. If North Vietnam hands over these two places to the Haihan people, it will undoubtedly cause a backlash from the Champa State.
Zheng Zha hesitated for a while before asking: "Mr. Tao, does he know that there is still a dispute between our country and the Champa Kingdom over the ownership of Cam Ranh and Vung Tau?"
Tao Donglai pretended to be stunned and said: "Is there any dispute? Then this matter will be difficult to deal with... How about we talk about this for today, and the young prince goes back to have a good rest, and let us have another meeting here to study it."
When Zheng Zha heard this "research and study", he felt overwhelmed. This Haihan man was good at everything else, but he was procrastinating in doing things. Even big things would require a group of people to hold meetings to study them. Although Tao Donglai seems to be the leader of the Haihan people, he does not have the power to make decisions, and he does not know how this group of Haihan people govern. If it were any other time, maybe Zheng Zha would have taken the initiative, but now every day of delay would put North Vietnam under greater pressure. Zheng Zha, who knew that he was in a difficult situation, simply did not have the patience to wait for two more days. , hurriedly responded: "Actually, there is no need to hold a meeting. The so-called dispute is just the opinion of the Champa Kingdom and cannot be taken seriously. Cam Ranh and Vung Tau are naturally the territory of our country."
Hai Han has long been hooked up with the Champa Kingdom in the south, and has even sold a lot of weapons to them, so that the Champa army can add fire to the precarious Hue government from the south. Regarding the dispute over the ownership of Cam Ranh and Vung Tau, Hai Han has naturally known about it for a long time. But precisely because of the controversy, the executive committee intentionally proposed it to Zheng Zha as one of the conditions for exchange.
If the war goes well, there is a high chance that Annan's reunification will be achieved next year, but the Executive Committee does not want to see Annan settle down - creating regional tension has always been one of the means by which big countries exert influence on small countries. Although Haihan is not a big country now, and has not even established a formal political power, the thinking mode of the Executive Committee is already to view the situation in Indochina from a condescending perspective.
After eliminating South Vietnam as an opponent, the Executive Committee decided to support Thang Long Province with a new opponent so that it could continue to maintain its military dependence on Hai Han. The Champa State, which has territorial disputes with Annan, is undoubtedly an ideal choice. Although Haihan now has trade relations with Champa, this will not stop the Executive Committee from trying to trick it. Who made it have such a good terrain, but it is right next to Annan Kingdom?
As for whether the current arms trade between Haihan and the Champa State will cause an embarrassing situation because of Annan as an ally, the Executive Committee is not worried at all - in the future, countries will use weapons produced by the same country to compete with each other. There have been many cases, but I have never seen these countries fall out with arms exporting countries. What's more, in order to implement this plan, the executive committee has even found the next agent. Yes, that's right, it is the Portuguese who can completely give up his integrity and position in order to make money.
After the military conflict between Annan and Champa, Haihan will probably suspend arms sales to Champa out of care for its allies. The Portuguese then took over the baton and did the rest instead of Heihan. As long as the goods are transferred from the left hand to the right hand, good profits can be obtained. For the Portuguese who are good at maritime trade, this is simply the simplest profitable transaction. They will be happy to take over this task from Haihan.
As for whether there will be a day in the future when Annan becomes stronger and destroys Champa, the Executive Committee is not worried. Even if that day comes, it will not be a big deal - there is Siam to the west of Champa, and Siam to the west There is also the Toungoo Kingdom of Myanmar, which is not afraid of finding new characters.
(End of chapter)