Chapter 478 Visiting Sanya Port
Li Qingyang is a smart man. He can certainly think of why the Ministry of Security arranged for him to meet these external personnel who had defected to Haihan. Regardless of Ming Dynasty or Annan, these officials who once served for different regimes have now been given a new life under the rule of the Haihan Executive Committee, and they all show more or less gratitude.
Li Qingyang has interrogated many prisoners in the past, and he has his own set of criteria for judging whether what a person says is credible. In his opinion, the contacts arranged by the Ministry of Security showed no obvious signs of lying during their interactions with him, and their credibility was relatively high. Moreover, these three people all have a common argument, that is, as long as they stay in Sanya for a longer time, their thoughts will change.
In fact, he didn't need to stay for a long time. Li Qingyang felt that in just half a day after his release, he had already begun to undergo some subtle psychological changes. The initial hostility towards Haihan gradually faded away without even realizing it. Firstly, it was because of the goodwill shown by the Haihan people, and secondly, it was because of the terrifying strength that Haihan displayed intentionally or unintentionally.
If the Haihan people really want to separate themselves and commit rebellion, Li Qingyang believes that they undoubtedly already have such strength, but the Haihan people obviously have no intention of becoming an enemy of the Ming Dynasty - at least not under the current situation. The Han people needed to export various goods they manufactured in Sanya to the Ming Dynasty, and the massive funds and continuous manpower provided by the Ming Dynasty were exactly what Haihan needed.
From a business perspective, Haihan seems to follow the businessman's approach when dealing with external relations. Almost all interactions with the outside world are conducted in the form of commodity transactions. But Li Qingyang now understands the terrifying strength of Haihan under the disguise of this layer of businessmen. Their silent expansion methods are just gentler than the rebellion with open swords and guns, but the final direction is not too big. The differences are all about continuously bringing a wider territory and more people and product resources under their own rule. Fortunately, this expansion was not aimed at the Ming Dynasty. The methods adopted by these Haihan people in Annan were much more radical, directly involving military intervention.
Of course, this is because Li Qingyang doesn't know Haihan well enough. After a while, he will gradually know that Haihan actually took many military measures in the Ming Dynasty, but he didn't directly sign various exchanges of interests with the government like Annan did. Just an agreement. Haihan's locations in Panyu, Dawanshan Island, and the seaport in the southwest of Hong Kong Island, which is currently in the planning stage, are all areas with very critical geographical locations. As for the control of these places, Haihan currently has no control over the Ming Dynasty. The plan for a showdown was to first occupy the land in the name of building business stores and refugee shelters. Before the local government could react, they began to implement Haihan's social system in the local area to achieve basic rule.
While Li Qingyang was deep in thought, the "Lightning" had already sailed out of the bay of Victory Port, and after going south around Yulin Point, it docked at the coast of Luhuitou Peninsula.
Lin Nan greeted: "It's already past noon. Brother Li must be hungry too, right? Wait for a while, and the crew will prepare meals."
Li Qingyang originally thought that he would not be able to eat any decent hot food during this kind of voyage, but he did not expect that the crewmen brought out a grill, charcoal and a large pot of seafood from the cabin, and started to cook a barbecue feast directly on the deck at the stern of the ship. This kind of barbecue at sea has almost become a tradition of the Ministry of Shipping and the Navy. As long as they are not performing military tasks, most captains will arrange one or two seafood barbecue feasts on their way to sea. Although there is no Chief Haihan on board to take command today, this custom has not been forgotten by the crew.
"Sanya's seafood barbecue is different from other places. It uses a variety of locally produced spices. Brother Li, you can try it." Lin Nan enthusiastically put a bunch of hot charcoal-grilled squid into Li Qingyang's hand.
Most of the spices produced in Sanya are only sold in Guangdong, Guangxi and Fujian, but have not yet been sold to Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Therefore, for Li Qingyang, the method and taste of this seafood barbecue are very novel. Coupled with the local specialty bamboo tube rice, Li Qingyang felt that this was the most satisfying meal he had eaten since his arrest.
After lunch, Li Qingyang stood up solemnly and bowed to Lin Nan: "Brother Lao Lin guided us all the way today. Li Qingyang would like to thank you."
Lin Nan said in shock: "Today's trip has not been completed yet, why is Brother Li so anxious?"
Li Qingyang responded in surprise: "Have you not finished the tour?"
Lin Nan laughed and said: "Brother Li doesn't think Sanya only has the places we saw in the morning, right? You know there are two seaports in Sanya. The one I saw in the morning was Victory Port. In the afternoon, I plan to take Brother Li to see the newly built one." Sanya Port.”
Li Qingyang thought that it had only been two or three years since the Victory Port was built, but there was actually a newer port. Listening to the name of this seaport, it turns out that Sanya got its name from this.
The crew of the "Lightning" tidied up the deck and soon set off again, sailing around the Luhuitou Peninsula toward the entrance strait of Sanya Port. The sea was open here, and the "Lightning" let go of its speed and galloped all the way. Only then did Li Qingyang truly feel the speed advantage of this strange-looking sailboat.
The entrance to Sanya Port is half narrower than Victory Port. When sailing into the strait, Li Qingyang was able to more clearly observe the coastal defense batteries on the slope of the right bank. Although the scale of this fort does not look as good as the Victory Port fort seen in the morning, it is much closer to the shooting target. Even if Li Qingyang does not understand the performance of the Haihan artillery, he also knows that it is facing the enemy at such a close distance. The black muzzle is actually no different from putting your head directly on the muzzle. The shooting error of artillery at this distance is almost negligible. If a foreign enemy tries to rush into the port in the strait through water, it will suffer.
Due to the narrow channel, the transportation situation here is extremely busy. Sailboats of various sizes are arranged in two queues, one in and one out, heading towards each other in the strait. The high speed of the "Lightning" has no use in this place. According to the port regulations, the ship can only reduce the speed and move forward sequentially in the queue of ships entering the port. After sailing through this one-mile-long narrow channel, the water surface immediately opened up. This is the mouth of the two water veins of Linchun River and Sanya River. The main wharf of Sanya Port built along the inland harbor also shows In front of Li Qingyang. Compared with the Victory Port Pier that we visited in the morning, this place seems more crowded. There are almost no empty trestles. Moreover, the pier continues to follow the two rivers upstream, and the end cannot be seen from the ship. .
"This place is somewhat similar to the Pearl River Wharf outside Guangzhou." Li Qingyang stood on the bow of the ship and commented on the scene before him, but he still had a few words left unsaid: "...but the people on the wharf here The operational efficiency is far better than that of the Pearl River Terminal.”
Li Qingyang saw a large number of workers on the dock wearing the multi-colored vests he had seen before. The dock operation system arranged by the Haihan people was obviously very skilled, and the scale of cargo throughput was even higher than that of Victory Port. Li Qingyang secretly calculated that if the scale of operations of Victory Port and Sanya Port were added together, they would have already surpassed Guangzhou. Haihan people boasted that Haikou was the first port in Qiongzhou, or even the first port in the South China Sea. It was not true. Bragging.
Li Qingyang turned his head and saw two strange-looking Galen boats parked on the river bank in front of him, and couldn't help but ask Lin Nan: "Are there any Westerners here?"
"Yes!" Lin Nan nodded naturally and replied: "They are Portuguese, and they also have a settlement in Haojing'ao, Guangdong. According to the leaders, these Portuguese are from the distant continent of Europa in the west, which is several kilometers away from us. Thousands of miles away. To them, all the things produced in the East are valuable treasures after being shipped back.”
"The Portuguese rely on their strong ships and cannons, and have always been arrogant. They may not be the choice of business partners." Li Qingyang shook his head.
Lin Nan smiled and said: "Brother Li, good advice! These Western barbarians don't know my Eastern etiquette and think they are superior in force. Little do they know that with me, Haihan, sitting in the South China Sea, they will inevitably have to touch the bag to know the pain."
Li Qingyang heard Lin Nan's unkind tone and asked, "Could it be that the two sides have already fought against each other?"
“We already fought against each other last year.” As a veteran of the militia, Lin Nan has always been generous in publicizing the achievements of the Haihan militia: “The Portuguese were the backstage supporters of the southern Annan court and provided them with a lot of support. Guns and artillery. However, after we intervened in the civil war in Annan, the Portuguese's local advantage was gradually eliminated by us. Last year, we captured the Hoi An Port in Annan, which is the main settlement area of the Portuguese. After that, the Executive Committee An agreement was reached with the Portuguese that they would withdraw from Annam and we would give them the opportunity to cooperate in trade and military affairs.”
Lin Nan pointed to the Galen Ship on the shore as he spoke: "For them, making money is much better than fighting, not to mention that their partner is the most powerful force in the entire South China Sea. Although these Portuguese are barbaric, they are not Silly, knowing who to cooperate with is in their best interest.”
Lin Nan's words were spoken in an understatement, but Li Qingyang had a different taste in his ears. He also knew a little bit about the Portuguese's military power. Someone from the Ministry of War had already made suggestions to the court a few years ago to purchase Portuguese artillery, hire Portuguese officers and gunners, and participate in the war on the northeastern front. In the eyes of the Ministry of War, the Portuguese, who were extremely powerful, did not get a good deal from the Haihan people. As Lin Nan said about reaching an agreement after the war, how could the Portuguese be willing to withdraw from Annan if they had not lost so miserably?
What Lin Nan said at least showed one thing, that is, Haihan's military strength is still far superior to the Portuguese, so that the Portuguese now have to use a relatively low profile to seek cooperation opportunities with Haihan. Thinking of this, Li Qingyang became even more worried about the future relationship between Ming Dynasty and Haihan. In front of this group of Haihan people who seemed to be omnipotent, in addition to the vast territory of Ming Dynasty, it seemed that there was really nothing to say. What other obvious advantages?
“This is the new urban area of Sanya that started to be developed last year. Many foreign businessmen have purchased real estate and settled here. Look at the five-story masonry buildings on the shore, which are complete houses specially sold to foreigners. Lin Nan continued to enthusiastically introduce the customs and enthusiasm of Sanya Port to Li Qingyang: "This area was still a wasteland a year ago. Looking at the current prosperity, Brother Li will know why the local people have no regard for the authority of the Executive Committee." So reverent.”
Li Qingyang nodded silently. He had seen with his own eyes the ability of the executive committee to run a place. If there were such capable local officials in the Ming Dynasty, they would probably be promoted to the Golden Palace in just a few years. However, the Haihan people were obviously not interested in serving as officials in the Ming Dynasty, because it is said that the private schools they ran did not teach the content of the Four Books and Five Classics, and they did not encourage scholars under their rule to take the imperial examination.
Li Qingyang did not think there was anything treacherous in this move, because the Haihan people were obviously better at governing the local area than the officials trained by the imperial court, and these officials had read the Four Books and Five Classics for many years before joining the job, which was very useful for them in their work. Local representation does not appear to have significantly helped. The civil affairs system implemented by the Haihan people was obviously not imitated from the Ming Dynasty. In many places, there were places that were more advanced and reasonable than the current system of the Ming Dynasty. Under such circumstances, the Haihan people were unwilling to adopt the cultural and educational system of the Ming Dynasty. It's quite reasonable.
The attitude of ordinary people towards this problem may be more simple and direct. They can have food and housing, their children can read, they can see the trend of better life in the future, and they have the protection of the Haihan Militia. , for them, the place under the rule of the Haihan Executive Committee is probably almost like paradise. After living in a place like this for a year and a half, who would care about the Ming Dynasty? Now the Ming court cannot give them their current life, let alone guarantee their future.
Thinking of this, Li Qingyang couldn't help but feel some pessimism in his heart - the Ming Dynasty, which he had always been proud of, was so inferior to Shanghai Han that Li Qingyang wanted to find some reason to refute Lin Nan's show off. There are no materials available. Li Qingyang also wanted to blame Haihan people for being traitors and traitors, so that he could at least find some reason for his resistance, but Haihan people's performance gave him no excuse to criticize him. He had to insist that Haihan people did it. If it is not done well, then what is the level of the Ming court’s actions?
Looking at the rows of business houses, warehouses and other buildings on the river bank, Li Qingyang has fallen into deep thought. Haihan's model has proven its advanced nature. Is it possible for Ming Dynasty to imitate their practice?
(End of chapter)