Chapter 464 Return to Annan
Nguyen Thanh Kuei was one of the first leaders to surrender before the collapse of the South Vietnamese regime. Therefore, the treatment he and his family received after the war was unmatched by the elders and children of South Vietnam. After Ruan Jingui arrived in Port Victory, he was quickly asked by Schneider to work in the Ministry of Commerce. The plan of the Executive Committee at that time was to subdue him and send him back to South Vietnam to work in order to make full use of his indigenous status. His younger brother Ruan Wenwen was also reused and was recruited into the Police Department. With his qualifications as an officer, as long as he remained loyal to the Executive Committee, it was basically just a matter of time before he was promoted and reused.
After Ruan Jinggui entered the Ministry of Commerce, in addition to serving as Schneider's personal assistant, he also began to gradually take over some trade affairs related to Annan. As the current major trading partner with Haihan second only to the Ming Dynasty in terms of trade volume, and even equal to the Ming Dynasty in terms of immigration import, Haihan still attaches great importance to Annan. There is a dedicated Annan Affairs Office in the Ministry of Commerce, which is responsible for handling daily trade between Haihan and Annan.
Different from the trade strategy adopted by Haihan in the Ming Dynasty, the commercial department did not open the door to Annan's trade through smuggling. Instead, it reached a trade agreement with Annan's ruling class from the beginning and openly communicated to Annan. Enter industrial goods. This was largely due to the fact that Annan was caught in a war quagmire at the time. A large number of laborers were forced to go to the front line to serve in the war. Even salt needed to be imported on a large scale from Haihan. Although the Annan Civil War has come to an end, in the past two years, high-quality and low-priced Hai Han refined salt has occupied the main market in the former North Vietnam region. Every time the trade agreement between the two sides is revised, salt will still be included as the main commodity. Go to the agreement.
Along with the salt, many other industrial products entered Annan, such as glassware, soap, matches, iron farm tools, etc. Not only that, even cheap agricultural products have been used by the commercial department in every possible way to sell them to Annan at high prices. For example, palm oil, which only started to be produced this year, has a small output, so the commercial department has used the brand name "Royal Edible Oil" to promote it to the nobles of Annan. This high-grade edible oil, which is said to be only available to pure Haihan people, has been a hot seller in Annan since its launch. The price per ton of palm oil is three times as much as when the commercial department tried it in Guangzhou.
But it’s no wonder that the name Haihan is much more authoritative in Annan than in Ming Dynasty. After all, he is a strong man who can change the situation of Annan’s civil war. Both ordinary people and high-level society are willing to imitate Haihan’s lifestyle. . As for the price, this kind of clearly positioned product will not be sold to the poor, and its sales targets will not consider price too much when purchasing. They have already formed a certain mindset in the past two years - —As long as Haihan people say it’s good, it’s definitely not bad.
The person who proposed this sales plan was Ruan Jinggui, who had recently joined the Ministry of Commerce. Although the South Vietnamese court did not establish official trade relations with Hai Han at that time, the Ming Dynasty maritime merchants who continuously transported Hai Han goods from Victory Port to South Vietnam for sale were never cut off. Therefore, the customs in South Vietnam at that time were actually similar. Sometimes even because of the shortage of supply, the same goods are much more in demand in South Vietnam than in the North. Although the South Vietnamese dignitaries were filled with indignation at court about Hai Han's participation in the Annam Civil War, almost everyone had a collection of high-end glass stationery produced by Hai Han in their homes. It was precisely because of his understanding of the domestic situation in Annan that Ruan Jinggui proposed such a sales method.
Relying on concept hype to improve product quality, thereby driving up product prices. This business operation model is naturally nothing new in another time and space. All so-called direct selling companies on the market use this routine. But in this era, Ruan Jinggui was able to come up with this sales strategy without any guidance, which shows that he does have some extraordinary talents in business. After Schneider confirmed this matter, he handed over the planning of Vietnam's trade strategy to Ruan Jingui for follow-up.
Ruan Jinggui really lived up to Schneider's trust, and soon followed this path and worked out a hype plan for other agricultural products. After the commerce department made corresponding adjustments, agricultural products exported to Annan in the first half of the year more than tripled the expected revenue. This is not the concept of a roadside grocery store selling more bottles of oil or kilograms of vinegar. The increase in profits brought about by the adjustment of the agricultural product sales strategy is enough for the Navy to add two more large ships within the year.
It is precisely because of his outstanding performance in the Ministry of Commerce in the past six months that Ruan Xinggui finally gained the trust of the Executive Committee, which appointed him to Da Nang as the Hai Han commercial representative to be responsible for negotiating and handling the local trade situation and participating in the planning of the local trade. Construction of port business area.
Originally, according to the agreement reached between Hai Han and the Annan court, the South Vietnamese ministers who were protected by Hai Han after the Battle of Hue were not allowed to return to Annam. However, since the Hai Han Concession enjoys extraterritoriality, even if someone like Ruan Ching Gui arrives in Da Nang, as long as he does not intentionally leave the concession area, Annan officials can only pretend not to see anything.
For Ruan Jinggui, it was an unexpected surprise to be lucky enough to set foot on the land of Annan again. When he boarded the ship outside Hue, he thought he would never have the chance to return to this land. Unexpectedly, only half a year had passed before I returned to my hometown - of course, this place no longer had the surname Ruan, but changed its surname to Zheng.
Although Ruan Jinggui shoulders the duties appointed by the Haihan Executive Committee, to be honest, he does not feel like returning to his hometown in glory. Instead, he looks like a down-and-out person who was sent to a remote rural area to be a county magistrate. Although Da Nang has a good geographical environment, the previous South Vietnamese court did not have enough capacity to carry out large-scale commercial development. Therefore, it was in an almost primitive state for a long time, until the past two months. , people started to move here one after another.
These people did not come here by chance. In fact, they were the laborers prepared by the Annan court for Haihan. According to the agreement between the two parties, after completing the local construction projects, these workers will have the right to choose whether to join Haihan as naturalized citizens of Haihan. It can be said that the essence of this project is that the Annan court exchanged population for a port that Haihan was responsible for building and Haihan actually controlled. Annan only enjoyed nominal ownership rights and part of the right to use it.
Not only did Annan have to swallow this loss, but he also had to try to get the Haihan people to start implementing the development plan of Da Nang as soon as possible, because the maritime trade in South Vietnam was stagnant, which was definitely a must for the Annan court, which had a serious shortage of treasury revenue. big problem.
When the Haihan people attacked Hoi An last year, they took away almost all the local Ming merchants, and also drove away the Portuguese, the only Western partner. It can be said that they directly strangled the South Vietnamese maritime trade at that time. From the standpoint of the Annan court at that time, there was nothing wrong with the Haihan people's approach, and it could be said to be very good. In one fell swoop, they cut off the largest source of income for the South Vietnamese court. But after the war, the drawbacks of this matter gradually emerged.
It is not that the Annan court had tried to roll up its sleeves and go into business on its own. However, the Ming Dynasty maritime merchants who had good connections said that without the approval of the Haihan people, they did not want to take the risk of going to Annan to do business again. The Portuguese are more direct. They believe that Haihan is a more important partner than Annan. Portugal will not unilaterally discuss trade cooperation with Annan before Haihan makes a clear statement.
Of course, the Portuguese did not behave like this out of respect for Haihan, but probably more out of awe. After the Portuguese became Haihan's arms agents, they had trafficked a large number of Haihan guns and sent them to the European battlefield. Not that no one has thought about using these weapons to deal with the Haihan people. However, the Portuguese who have visited the Haihan shooting range all know that the Haihan people still have many advanced weapons that are not for sale. The Haihan people equipped with these advanced weapons It is as easy for the regiment to deal with an enemy who only has matchlock guns and small-caliber smoothbore cannons as it is for an adult with a stick to bully a child with bare hands. What's more, the naval power of the Haihan people is not weak. If they are provoked, the future of the Portuguese stationed in Macau will be in doubt. The Haihan people can easily attack Macau by relying on Wanshan Port and Lijiazhuang, Panyu. Areas including surrounding sea areas are blocked. By then, let alone doing business, whether the Portuguese can continue to stay in the Far East will become a problem.
The Annan court could not persuade the Ming Dynasty maritime merchants and the Portuguese to cooperate directly with them, so the only partner they could choose to cooperate was Haihan. Even if the conditions proposed by Haihan are very harsh, the Annan court can only knock out its teeth and swallow it. This time the official sent by the Annan court to Da Nang to handle specific affairs was still Zheng Lin, who had a good relationship with Haihan. Although the last time he went to Sanya to discuss cooperation with the Haihan people to develop the four southern ports, the results were not ideal, but Annan The imperial court believes that it cannot find a more suitable candidate than Zheng Lin for the time being, so Zheng Lin is still responsible for communicating with Haihan regarding the follow-up matters of the development of the four southern ports.
This task cannot be said to be difficult, but it is by no means easy. Zheng Lin has been dealing with the Haihan people for almost two years. He knows very well that although these Haihan people are very particular about business credit, the problem is that their skills in squeezing others are really hard to guard against. The reason why Annan is now in a rather passive position in the process of business cooperation, and even has to give up part of his interests in exchange for Haihan's compromise, is that when the various cooperation agreements were initially negotiated, the Haihan people took advantage of too many loopholes. So much so that now we have to pay more to pay for our previous sloppiness.
"Ruan Jinggui, the commissioner of the Annan Affairs Office of the Ministry of Commerce in Haihan, met Special Envoy Zheng!" After Ruan Jinggui got off the ship, someone introduced Zheng Lin to him.
Zheng Lin slightly cupped his hands and said: "I have admired you for a long time! I heard that Commissioner Ruan is a local!"
Ruan Jinggui heard a hint of sarcasm in these words and responded without changing his expression: "I am a naturalized citizen of Haihan, and I don't care about my place of origin. When working for the executive committee, I never ask about my origin, only my origin. Loyalty required! “
Zheng Lin snorted coldly: "Loyalty? You haven't committed suicide and sacrificed your country, yet you dare to talk about loyalty!"
"Marie your country? If I die for your country, what will your Zheng family's small court be?" Ruan Jinggui immediately caught the loophole in Zheng Lin's words.
As soon as Zheng Lin said this, he knew he had made a mistake. He quickly changed the subject and said, "I heard that the person leading the team this time is Mr. Liu, who specializes in engineering construction at Haihan. Why haven't you disembarked yet?"
"Chief Liu is receiving the message from the Executive Committee and will disembark later." Speaking of this, Ruan Jinggui's face became more solemn. The ability of the Haihan people to transmit messages through the air seems more like a magical spell to outsiders. Although Ruan Jinggui knows to some extent that the Haihan people use a magical tool to achieve this effect, he is still interested in it. This is full of awe.
Zheng Lin actually knew about the same situation as Ruan Jinggui. When he lived in Heitu Port, he saw many times at close range the Han people who had crossed the sea using radios, walkie-talkies and other equipment to communicate through the air. But what was the principle and how to operate it? But he didn't understand at all. But one thing he knew was that Haihan people were not allowed to be disturbed by other people when they were talking through the air. If Liu Shanxia was indeed talking to the Executive Committee, let alone Zheng Lin, even if the King of Qingdu came in person, Liu Shanxia might not be willing to cut off the call right away.
The identity of these two people six months ago was that they were life-and-death opponents. Now, although the civil war is over, one side has not won thoroughly enough, and the other side has lost unacceptably. However, they will meet again in such a situation that requires cooperation. The two of them stared at each other, neither of them willing to lose their temper first.
After ten minutes of speechless silence, Liu Shanxia finally got off the boat. He was not showing off just now, but he was really receiving messages from the base camp. Although it was just a routine call every day, Liu Shanxia would not change his arrangements for the Annan envoy waiting on the shore. This was exactly the same as Zheng Lin had estimated.
After Liu Shanxia got off the boat, he saw that the expressions of these two people were not quite right. He roughly knew Ruan Jinggui's background. Zheng Lin had met him in Heitu Port earlier, and he was not a stranger. He immediately understood what the cold situation in front of him was about. He immediately laughed and said: "Special Envoy Zheng Long wait! "
Zheng Lin hurriedly clasped his fists and bowed: "Mr. Liu is polite, just for a moment. It's Mr. Liu who came across the sea and worked hard all the way. I have prepared a table of wine to catch the wind. I hope Mr. Liu will not dislike it and will definitely appreciate it! "< br>
(End of chapter)