Chapter 451 Negotiate Again
If the proposal to the Ming Dynasty government to build a wharf and port on Hong Kong Island was only for civilian purposes, the possibility of success is indeed high. After all, this is something that the official managers can receive practical benefits in the short term. To put it bluntly, even if Haihan can't apply by himself, he can still find an agent to handle the matter. Most of the shareholders of "Qiong Lianfa" are wealthy businessmen from Guangdong, and many of them have more or less official backgrounds. There are still many ways to find ways to go. For example, when Dawanshan Island was first developed, the facility construction projects on the island were registered with the government in the name of "Furuifeng".
And this matter does not necessarily have to be bundled with the arms deal. If done properly, it is feasible to promote this as a separate project. However, this matter involves too many aspects, and we must consider how to operate in order to gain more political and military benefits. Even if the General Office of the People's Republic of China has a high degree of freedom to act, I am afraid that it cannot act arbitrarily on this matter, and must first seek instructions. The committee only complies with the working procedures.
In addition to political and military considerations, Guangdong does not have the ability to independently develop Hong Kong Island. Such a large-scale seaport infrastructure project is simply impossible to implement without the technical and material support provided by the base camp. However, due to the channels for news dissemination, the Guangdong Office in Guangdong Province has one piece of information that they do not understand, that is, the Executive Committee is currently worrying about how to implement the Shilu project while also taking into account the development of the seaport in southern Annan. At this time If the Guangdong Office comes up with another development plan for Hong Kong Island, it will undoubtedly put the Ministry of Construction, which is already almost overloaded, into an overwhelmed situation.
Haihan went through the most arduous period of struggle in the first two years after crossing over. Now he has a base area within a certain range of control, an organized armed force, relatively stable output of industrial products, agricultural products and foreign trade routes, and a growing population. Continuously growing. Judging from various data, it can be said that Haihan has entered a period of rapid development. A significant change brought about by this development is the increasingly prominent pursuit of increasing the scope of control areas. Both the executive committee and overseas agencies are actively seeking opportunities to expand Haihan's sphere of influence.
This trend is certainly a good thing in the long run. After all, everyone traveled together to this time and space in order to one day establish a great power across continents and seas. In the limited life span, it has become the common wish of almost every time traveler to expand the control scope of this emerging regime as much as possible. However, at this stage, this outward expansion trend has encountered a problem that cannot be overcome for the time being. That is, Haihan's current infrastructure capacity is not enough to support the simultaneous construction of multiple large-scale projects, let alone these The areas where the projects are located are often quite far away from the base camp. Even in the time and space before the time travel, it is not easy to operate such large-scale cross-regional construction projects.
Among the people who traveled through time, there were only about ten people working in the Ministry of Construction. Many of them were still half-experienced. They had only studied surveying and mapping or had done decoration work, and were included in the list of the Ministry of Construction when allocating units. In fact, there are only a handful of technical backbones who have actually obtained various qualification certificates and have practical experience in construction sites.
Of course, the Executive Committee has long been aware of the trouble this shortcoming will cause in the future. Therefore, among the immigrants recruited by Haihan, almost all those with experience in construction such as carpenters and masons were recruited by the civil affairs department. They were selected and assigned to the Ministry of Construction, and those who had skills in this field were promised better treatment during the immigration recruitment in the mainland. However, despite the many measures taken by relevant departments, the growth rate of professional talents in the Ministry of Construction is still not optimistic. As of the first half of this year, according to the internal labor professional skills assessment standards of the Ministry of Construction, there are more than 200 junior craftsmen and second-level craftsmen in its staffing establishment. There are more than forty craftsmen, and the number of third-level craftsmen who can independently supervise the construction of houses, docks, water conservancy facilities, etc. is only the same as that of the Ministry of Construction.
A large-scale engineering project requires thousands of workers, and the required on-site command personnel often number in the dozens or hundreds. Although the Ministry of Construction has now admitted many young people to work as apprentices, these people can only do odd jobs in the past two years. The technical personnel who are actually responsible for engineering construction will still be a major part of the Ministry of Construction in the future. bottleneck.
However, for organizations like the General Office of the People's Republic of China, the shortcomings of the Ministry of Construction are not within their scope of consideration. How to achieve external expansion quickly and well is their work theme. Just two days after the Guangdong Office discussed relevant matters internally, He Xi entered the city again.
He Xi is now considered a well-known social figure in Guangzhou City. When entering and leaving Guangzhou City, he no longer takes a small sedan as in the first two years, but uses a horse-drawn carriage specially built for the Guangdong Office in the base camp. This kind of Western-style carriage with a side-opening carriage was a rarity in Guangzhou at this time. It was not only equipped with a flexible steering system, but also used spring shock absorbers and wheel hub bearing systems produced by the Shengli Port Military Industry Department. Although due to manufacturing process issues, the durability of these parts is far from comparable to the time and space before traveling, the carriages using these "advanced" parts are indeed outstanding in terms of riding comfort, surpassing the Chinese-style carriages on the market. A big chunk. Apart from the Guangdong Office, only wealthy businessmen like "Fu Ruifeng" who had a close relationship with Haihan and could afford the money had a few of these carriages.
When this black carriage approached the East Gate of Guangzhou, the soldiers guarding the gate moved away from the deer village in the middle of the road early, and the horseman sitting in front skillfully took out a small ingot of silver and threw it to the waiting soldiers. He raised his head and said loudly: "This is Master He's reward, brothers, take it to drink!"
"Thank you, Master He, for the reward!" Amidst the thanks from the soldiers, the carriage He Xi was riding in did not stop at the city gate for inspection and drove directly into the city.
This is not because He Xi has developed a habit of arrogance, but it is indeed necessary for work. The people he visited in the city were often people from the government, and it was unlikely that he would go empty-handed when visiting these people. The car would often carry gold, silver, jewelry and the like. In addition, as a precaution, iron sheets were added to the plywood on the car to create compartments for placing weapons. If someone is searching, it will not be difficult to discover the secrets of this car. Therefore, He Xi bribed the Ming army at the south gate early, and there was no need to stop for inspection when entering or leaving the city gate.
Of course, this kind of super-standard treatment is not unique to the Guangdong Office. Several wealthy businessmen saw the example set by He Xi and imitated him, obtaining free passage in and out of the city gate in the same way. The Ming army responsible for guarding the south city gate also benefited from this. On average, they had hundreds of taels of silver each month to share.
He Xi sat in the carriage, not paying much attention to what was happening outside. He was still thinking about the information provided by Yu Yao and figuring out how to negotiate with the government about Hong Kong Island.
The place the carriage drove all the way was not a government office. After entering the city, it turned towards Nancheng and stopped at an alley. The guard sitting at the front of the car jumped out and opened the door for He Xi. Nowadays, when He Xi drives into the city, he usually has two attendants. Of course, these two people are all field operators affiliated with the Ministry of Security, and they are experts selected by He Xi personally.
He Xi first handed the briefcase to the entourage outside the car, then got out of the car and walked straight into the alley. After the entourage closed the car door, he followed him with his briefcase.
The alley is not deep, and there is only one door in it. On the door hangs a plaque with the words "Xiyuan" engraved on it. He Xi walked forward and knocked on the wooden door with ease. Soon someone came to open the door and welcomed them in. This alley looks unremarkable from the outside, but when you enter the courtyard, you will see a different scene. There are flowers, trees, pavilions and pavilions in the courtyard. In the center of the courtyard is a small pond. The pavilions, pavilions, corridors, rockeries and other scenery in the courtyard are all gathered around the pond, which has the flavor of a Suzhou garden surrounded by mountains and rivers.
A middle-aged woman came out of the house and greeted her from afar: "Mr. He, you haven't come to our place for entertainment for a while!"
He Xi responded with a smile: "I just came here three days ago, Li Sanniang, don't think I was drunk and didn't remember that day!"
"Master He has a really good memory, but Sanniang is right. If you don't come here for a day, this girl Qiu Ju will spend her days thinking about you!" The woman who was replaced by Li Sanniang welcomed He Xi into the house. Go, and said jokingly: "If Mr. He doesn't come over often, I'm afraid Miss Qiu Ju will become thinner day by day."
This courtyard is actually a place for romance, but because the reception level is relatively high and the people who come here to spend money are the upper class of local society, it is not as busy as an ordinary brothel. If we look at the time and space before He Xi's time travel, apart from the fact that there is no membership system, this place is basically the business model of a private club. "Has Mr. Liu from the government office arrived?" He Xi is not interested in whether the girl here will really miss the meal because he hasn't been here for three days. The purpose of coming here today is not for his own entertainment, but to make an appointment. Master Liu Qian from the government office came to discuss the matter.
"Master Liu hasn't arrived yet. Master He can have a drink first, listen to music, and sit down for a while." Li Sanniang was here to greet and greet people, and she also had some discernment. Seeing that He Xi didn't want to talk to her, she stopped. He stopped talking.
Li Sanniang took He Xi and his entourage into a flower hall, and then greeted: "Boss He, sit down for a moment, I will let people serve wine and food, and Miss Qiu Ju will be here soon."
After a while, a young girl with a naive appearance entered the room together with the waiter carrying wine and food. The little girl was so blessed that she sat down next to him obediently, reached out to pick up the wine pot and poured a glass of wine for him. Drinking wine, the entourage standing next to him wisely retreated to wait outside the flower hall door.
He Xi had business on her mind and was not in the mood to joke with the little girl. She just took a sip and put down the glass. She tapped her fingers on the table, thinking about the negotiation strategy later. The little girl with the stage name Qiu Ju probably knew the reputation and status of Boss He, so she didn't dare to take the initiative to talk to him, but just sat beside him silently.
"Boss He, I'm sorry, I'm late today!" Following the voice, a middle-aged man with a goatee walked into the room, raised his hands to He Xi and said: "It's really a matter in the yamen. Too much, I couldn’t leave, so it got to this moment.”
He Xi stood up to respond, with a smile on her face: "Master Liu has a heavy workload, so it would be rude for me to meet you today. Please don't blame me, Master Liu!"
The two exchanged greetings and then took their seats together. Liu Qian smiled and said: "Boss He, this is not the first time we have dealt with you, so you don't need to be so polite."
"It should, it should." He Xi looked very humble and personally held the pot and poured a glass of wine for Liu Qian. If you are familiar with him, it will be difficult to connect his current appearance with the spy chief who built the Haihan Intelligence Agency behind the scenes.
He Xi tilted her head slightly and ordered: "Qiu Ju, go and hurry up and ask the kitchen to get all the food and drinks ordered quickly. Master Liu must be very hungry when he is so busy."
There were already six or seven hot dishes on the table. In fact, He Xi was just looking for a reasonable excuse to send people out. The attendant at the door immediately closed the door from the outside so that the two people in the room could discuss business without being disturbed.
Liu Qian slowly put down his chopsticks and asked proactively: "Boss He specially invited me here today, probably because of what we talked about last time, right?"
"Half yes, half no." He Xi nodded and said: "I wonder how Mr. Liu thought about the deal we talked about last time after he returned?"
Liu Qian responded: "Since you asked, you have already made up your mind to do this. Then you might as well listen to me and tell you the secret method."
"I'm all ears!" He Xi picked up the wine bottle and refilled the cup in front of Liu Qian.
"The arms produced by you Haihan are said to be very sharp, even better than the weapons of the Portuguese people in Haojing'ao. There is no limit to the quantity and can be purchased freely. This is a good thing. But..." Liu Qian started talking. Redirected: "Once this transaction is completed, the money involved will be about one hundred thousand taels. With such a large transaction amount, this is a conspicuous piece of fat!"
He Xi responded: "Master Liu's words make sense, but where the joints should be dealt with and who can go around them directly, Master Liu must show me a clear path."
Liu Qian waved his hand and said: "I can't say what I said in this room today. What I said in this room today is just a family talk after drinking. I'll just say it and you can listen to it."
(End of chapter)