Chapter 408 Deep Cooperation
In fact, it is not just onlookers like Li Nai who have this question. There have always been different voices within the Time Travel Group regarding how to deal with the relationship with the Annan court. At the beginning of time travel, there was an internal debate over whether Annan should be developed into a slave state or directly annexed, and this debate has not been completely subsided until now.
Some people think that they should use the various black technology cheats they have in their hands to annex Annan as quickly as possible, because compared to the Ming Dynasty, which is strong and has vast territories, Annan is obviously a "soft persimmon" closest to the location of the Time Travel Group. , this country does not even have an independent language, and the people's sense of belonging to the national identity is relatively weak. It is definitely much easier to rule than to annex areas under the Ming Dynasty. After swallowing this country, you can quickly obtain population, land, various production resources and strategic depth, which can give the traversing regime an explosive growth in strength.
However, the attitude of the Executive Committee is still biased towards a prudent approach, believing that with the current strength, it is a bit unrealistic to achieve the annexation and rule of Annan in the short term. The north and south ends of Annan's territory are more than 1,000 kilometers apart. Whether it is civil administration or military defense, Haihan's current situation is unlikely to achieve complete rule over such a large area. Moreover, the country of Annan is a typical country that accepts softness rather than hardness. It has fought with the two powerful empires of Yuan and Ming Dynasty with real swords and guns. If Haihan wants to annex it by force, it will inevitably arouse strong resistance.
Although the Executive Committee believes that the combat effectiveness of the militia will not be lost to the Monkey Soldiers on the Indochina Peninsula, after all, there are only a few thousand people under their command. If they are concentrated in one place, they will inevitably not be able to take care of both ends. If the troops are dispersed, they will not be able to exert the power of group operations. At that time, it is very likely that the tragedy of a certain lighthouse country in another time and space falling into a quagmire of security war in the Middle East will happen again. No matter how much the people who don’t know the truth clamor for law, the Executive Committee still has a relatively clear understanding of its own strength. Every large-scale military operation in Annan takes several months or even half a year to prepare for the operation and complete the set goals. They withdrew immediately after that, and this was just a local war. If they really wanted to fight a protracted war to destroy the country, the Haihan Militia did not have such strong strength for the time being.
Take Hue as an example. Although the militia took just one month to destroy this large city known as Annam's most powerful city and took away the foundation of the Nguyen family court in South Vietnam, they basically used up the previous few Combat supplies prepared for months. The militia army made a lot of money in the city of Hue, but if they want to continue fighting this war, they still need time to convert the captured real money into food, weapons and ammunition.
Victory on the battlefield does not mean complete conquest. Siege and rule are two completely different things. With the size of Hue City, if we want to rule according to the model of Victory Port, in addition to stationing at least two thousand people here, A militia army composed of around 100,000 people is used to maintain daily security and external defense. It is also necessary to mobilize a team of at least two to three hundred naturalized civilian cadres to manage tens of thousands of people in Hue and even the surrounding areas. Obviously the human resources department does not have so many personnel reserves available, and the use of unidentified leading parties or surrenders on a large scale in the local area is also not safe enough in the opinion of the executive committee.
Although it holds Zenith Star technology that transcends the times, whether it is material supply capabilities or management personnel reserves, the current strength of Haihan is far from enough to annex a country like Annan, and even directly in the foreseeable years. The possibility of annexing Annan is not great - one day Haihan has the strength to establish a real ruling area outside Hainan Island, and the first choice target will definitely still be the mainland with the same roots and species, not Annan.
Regarding Annan, the Executive Committee's attitude is still to adhere to the current approach, infiltrating him through various channels from political, economic, military, cultural and other aspects and gradually establishing influence, so that the ruling class can maintain sufficient respect for Haihan. and dependence, and slowly created the tall image of Haihan as the "Celestial Kingdom" in the minds of its people. Of course, there are quite a lot of measures that need to be used in the process. The complexity is even far greater than preparing for a war, and its implementation is also a long-term task that takes many years. There is no way to accomplish it overnight.
Schneider did not discuss the strategy of the Executive Committee in detail, but just mentioned a few key points casually. Li Nai and Ruan Jinggui were both shrewd people. After drawing inferences from one example, they naturally understood the scale of the Executive Committee's plan. Although Ruan Jinggui's expression remained unchanged, his heart was already churning - although Haihan had no intention of annexing Annan, they wanted far more than just Annan!
"Since the Executive Committee has no more ideas about Annan, the more this weapon is sold, the more dependent Annan will be on Haihan!" Li Nai quickly figured out why Haihan was still increasing his support for Haihan. Annan’s intensity in exporting weapons.
Schneider nodded and said: "Annanguo imitated our Haihan's military system to establish a new army, and the equipment was also our Haihan's weapons. All officers of the new army must receive training at the military academy run by our Haihan, and learn combat skills. At the same time, they are also accepting the various consciousnesses we have instilled in them. Annan does not have the ability to produce weapons on its own. As long as we cut off the supply of weapons, the combat effectiveness of Annan's new army will be greatly reduced. They want to spend huge sums of money. Purchasing our arms will make them rely more on us in economics and trade, and we can also use this as an exchange to make more demands on them, such as opening treaty ports, granting extraterritorial rights to Haihan nationals, etc. . In short, as long as we open an opening, we have many ways to slowly turn Annan into an obedient assistant.”
After all, Ruan Jinggui was from Annan. After listening to Schneider's argument, he was still a little dissatisfied, so he couldn't help but retort: "When the Annan Kingdom was at its peak, it fought with the Yuan and Ming Dynasties. Although it was at a disadvantage in terms of strength, it finally won. Opponent. It’s true that Haihan’s weapons are powerful, but the Annan army that was not equipped with these weapons had many victories? If the Executive Committee thinks that it can control Annan’s army, is it too much?”
Schneider smiled and said: "There should be quite a lot of people in Annan who have thoughts like yours now, but it doesn't matter, time will prove who of us is right and who is wrong. There is another thing you probably ignored. People like Annan For a country with a long coastline and major cities in coastal areas, if it doesn’t have a strong navy, never think about establishing its own business.”
Schneider's reminder made Ruan Jinggui suddenly enlightened, and he immediately figured out the Haihan people's true plan. The strongholds established by the Haihan people in Annan, including the four southern ports that have not yet been implemented, are all on the coastline, and the weakest force of the Annan military is the surface force. The navy in South Vietnam had almost been wiped out by the Haihan warships. The navy prisoners, especially the commanders, were all transported to Sanya as debts. The North Vietnam area is slightly better. At least there are still some troop transports and cargo ships available. However, compared with the professional heavy artillery warships of the Haihan people, the so-called naval warships of North Vietnam are actually not fundamentally different from ordinary civilian ships. In front of the Han artillery were piles of rotten wood floating on the water.
Among the military assistance and cooperation projects for Annan, most of them are aimed at the army. There is only one project related to its navy, which is the sale of "exploration-class" warships. However, Thang Long Palace now simply spends Without spending such a large amount of money to buy warships from the Haihan people, even if they cut their teeth and cut their kidneys to buy them, they still cannot afford to support such a costly surface force - only the warships need to be repaired and maintained at the Victory Port Shipyard every year. The time and cost are enough to make the senior officials of Sheng Long Palace give up the idea of purchasing.
In the foreseeable period of time, Annan probably has no hope of establishing a truly powerful navy of its own. However, under the deliberate operation of the Haihan Executive Committee, Annan's future military development path is likely to change. This is a strange lame phenomenon, that is, there is only an army and no navy, and the entire Annan coastline must be handed over to Haihan, an ally, for protection and defense. In this way, even if Annan's army becomes incredibly powerful in the future, it will not be able to pose a substantial threat to the mobile and flexible Haihan Navy. On the contrary, numerous coastal towns in Annan will always be under attack from the Haihan Navy. within the range.
Due to the huge gap between the two sides in many aspects such as shipbuilding, weapons manufacturing, and maritime operations, coupled with the targeted arrangements of the Shanghai-Han Executive Committee, Annan has almost no possibility of turning around in this field. In the future, maritime security must be ensured The only option is to enter Haihan's camp. And this camp is not limited to the scope of military cooperation. It must be in step with Haihan in all aspects of politics, economy, culture, etc., and then establish a community of interests with strong relationships led by Haihan - this This level is probably completely beyond Li Nai and Ruan Jinggui's understanding of alliance relationships. After all, their vision is limited by this era, and they have no specific concept of what integration is.
The inability to fully understand does not hinder the two people's admiration for the Executive Committee's foresight. Ruan Jinggui couldn't help but sigh: "I once heard that the winner before the battle is counted; the winner before the battle is counted; the winner is counted before the battle. The one who doesn't win must be considered a small number. Now I finally understand why Haihan can control thousands of miles of territory in Annan with a small number of elite troops. The mastery of the Executive Committee is truly unmatched!"
Li Nai also praised: "With the strategy of the Executive Committee, even if those in the Annan court want to break their heads, I am afraid they will not be able to find a way to crack it! Brilliant, indeed brilliant!" After discussing this topic, Schneider took the briefcase and said, He opened it and took out a stack of documents and handed it to Li Nai and said: "These are the entrusted training agreements for the personnel arriving in Hong Kong this month. Can you sign it if there is nothing wrong?"
Li Nai flipped through two pages at random, raised his head and asked, "Are they all from my Lijiazhuang?"
"That's no nonsense, can someone else let you sign?" Schneider scolded with a smile.
"Then I don't have to read them one by one." Li Nai took out a pen from his arms, leaned over and started to sign his name on each page of the stack of documents. This signature pen was a small gift given to him by Tao Donglai after he signed the cooperation agreement with the Executive Committee. In order to be able to use this exquisite signature pen in the correct posture, Li Nai asked Ning Qi for advice. pen technique. Of course, he was also told that the number of words that this pen could write was limited, so apart from signing some documents, Li Nai basically would not use this rare thing in his daily life.
After nearly two years of cooperation, the cooperation projects between Haihan and the Li family have long gone beyond the initial stage of trade and military. In addition to setting up permanent offices on each other's territory, both parties have also carried out deeper cooperation. For example, since last year, the Li family has sent people to Sanya on a regular basis to learn some of the training courses offered by Haihan. course.
These training courses are not cultural literacy classes for school-age children, nor are they military content for training armed personnel, but some highly professional courses, such as financial and accounting courses. This is because "Furuifeng" branches are becoming more and more Bank notes issued by Haihan Bank are used in many places, but the accountants often do not know how to identify and use Haihan bank notes. In order to solve this problem, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Commerce jointly held a class, which not only faced "Furuifeng" is recruiting students, and other businesses that are willing to participate can send their own people to sign up.
Similar courses include medical, agronomy, logistics, sales and other majors. All registrations are voluntary. Although the training fees are expensive, the enrollment situation is very good. In the first training class in the first half of last year, only a few foreign students were enrolled in each major. Now there are more than 20 students from the Li family who have signed up for the next training class. The number of foreign students in this training class is It is estimated that there will eventually be more than 200 students, and even the Portuguese have signed up for two places in the financial accounting class, because the two parties have agreed to set up a Haihan Bank branch in Macau in the near future.
At first, the outside world did not pay much attention to these training courses. The bosses focused on the production skills that took several years to train, but soon they discovered the benefits and necessity of these short-term courses - if they wanted to learn from overseas If the Han people expand their business scale, they must have someone under them who understands the rules of the game set by the Han people.
For example, when organizing immigration for the Haihan people, rebates were available per head in the past. However, with the expansion of the scale of immigration, the requirements for the physical condition of immigrants have gradually become stricter, including physical disabilities that affect their ability to work, and various infectious diseases. , people who are seriously ill will be rejected by Haihan. In order to adapt to the new rules, several larger business operators simply hired their own doctors and sent them to Sanya for short-term training. In the future, when organizing immigration, they would first eliminate unsuitable personnel.
Some businesses that export agricultural products to Haihan are now gradually accepting the new rules formulated by the Ministry of Agriculture in Haihan. All agricultural products must be graded and priced, and live poultry and livestock must also undergo quarantine. Naturally, the big bosses don't bother to learn these things and don't have the time to learn them. It's easier to spend some money to send their subordinates to Sanya for training.
As for the training courses in logistics, sales, finance and other aspects, there is no need to go into details. If foreign merchants want to seamlessly connect with the Haihan trade model, these projects must follow the rules set by the Haihan people. There is no compulsory registration for these courses, but all cooperative merchants understand that if they do not participate, sooner or later they will be excluded from the trade circle with Haihan as the leading force, and this is definitely the case for everyone working with Haihan. This is a situation that no boss who has tasted the sweetness of Han's trade wants to see.
As the veteran partner with Haihan for the longest time, the deepest degree of cooperation, and the largest scope of cooperation, the people selected by the Li family to participate in the training courses in Sanya have almost filled up all the majors for external enrollment, even the "geological exploration" The Li family didn't care enough to sign up for a new course they didn't know why - a major that seemed useless now might come in handy in the future.
Although it was quite expensive to send these students to Sanya for further study, with the tuition fees alone costing two to three thousand taels of silver, the Li family did not feel distressed at all. Considering the scale of business cooperation between the two parties, this amount of money was really worth it. It's just a drizzle. In the face of the commercial miracle created by the Haihan people and the strong armed support, everyone in the Li family has been thoroughly brainwashed and determined to follow the executive committee. To put it more seriously, if Schneider now said that Haihan was going to start selling cow dung, Li Nai would probably not hesitate to spend money to book a few ships first.
While Li Nai was signing the agreement one by one, Schneider chose to give Ruan Jinggui a brief explanation about the professional training. After hearing this, Ruan Jinggui couldn't help but ask: "Are there any students from Annan Kingdom coming here to receive training?"
"Of course." Schneider didn't mean to hide this: "Last year, we set up an office of Haihan Bank in Tushan Port, not far from Thang Long Palace, and have already started to operate in the ruling area of Thang Long Palace. Promote banknote transactions to facilitate trade settlement between the two parties. To this end, we have been training professionals in finance, logistics, commerce and other fields for Shenglong Province. There should be 20 or 30 students here now. "
Thang Long Province in the north was ahead of Hue Province in everything. It is no wonder that the northern court had the last laugh in the dispute between the north and the south. After Ruan Xinggui confirmed this fact, he also had a deeper understanding of the failure of Hue Province. . When the city was destroyed, Ruan Thanh Kui had the same idea as most people in the city, believing that Hue's failure was simply because its armed forces were inferior to the Hai Han militia. However, as he learned more about Hai Han's strength, he discovered that his original thoughts It's indeed a bit one-sided.
(End of chapter)