Chapter 613 Situation in Quanzhou
Although the Ming court did not attach much importance to the port of Quanzhou, Haihan was very interested in it. Quanzhou Port stretches from Quanzhou Meizhou Bay in the north to Weitou Bay in the south, with a coastline of more than 500 kilometers. Historically, it has been said that there are four bays and sixteen ports. The port conditions are very superior. It is only 90 nautical miles away from Magong Port in Penghu, and the voyage from the west coast of Taiwan Island is within 200 nautical miles. For the Haihan regime, which is determined to develop Taiwan Island into the next Hainan Island-style colony, Quanzhou Port is located on the coast of Fujian. A good trading port.
If Haihan develops smoothly in the future and can defeat the Shibazhi and drive away the Dutch to take over the island of Taiwan, then most likely they will negotiate with Fujian officials to take over part or all of the operating rights of Quanzhou Port, or establish a Local chambers of commerce organizations like "Qiong Lian Fa" have attracted local big business owners to take over this area for redevelopment. This route is already familiar to Haihan. There are already many templates for reference. When the time comes, it will not be difficult to invite merchants from Fujian to Hainan Island and Annan to take a look at the operation of the local ports. The successful models of the past were copied to Fujian.
Of course, before realizing these long-term goals, the Haihan people must first solve the immediate problems pragmatically and completely eliminate the influence of Shibazhi in the coastal areas of Fujian.
Although Quanzhou Port was obviously in decline at this time, many of the supporting facilities of the Millennium Commercial Port were still complete. For example, the residence Xu Xinsu arranged for Shi Diwen and others near the port was quite good. This is a courtyard covering an area of more than 20 acres, but this is not a private residence, but an inn open to the public. It is specially designed to serve wealthy businessmen who have to bring their families and servants with them when they go out. The cost is by no means trivial either. However, with Xu Xinsu's arrangement, there is no need for Haihan to pay out of his own pocket.
The courtyards here are all designed by famous designers from Suzhou and Hangzhou. Although it is located in Lingnan, it has an unusual Jiangnan flavor. Shi Diwen and Morgan moved in with several personal attendants, and the number of servants arranged here was more than double that of them. As long as they were willing, someone would even wipe their butts for them. As long as you give orders for anything, someone will run errands to do it, and they will be more comfortable than when they were leaders in Victory Port.
Both Shi Diwen and Morgan stayed in Victory Port for a long time. Even if they were on business trips, most of the time they were on the battlefield or exploring new settlements in deserted places. They rarely enjoyed this kind of time. Morgan lay on the soft couch, enjoying the delicious food delivered to his mouth by the maid, and couldn't help but sigh: "I find that our life in Port Victory is not as good as we thought."
In order to prevent others from spreading the conversation, most of the exchanges between the two on the road were done in English. After hearing this, Shi Diwen also responded in English: "Of course, look at the expatriates in recent years. Has anyone ever applied to be transferred back to Shengli Port? Even though the living conditions outside are not as complete, life is more comfortable than in Shengli Port! ”
Morgan responded: "I should also consider applying for a foreign assignment."
"No, you have no hope. It's better to give up as soon as possible." Shi Diwen poured cold water on Morgan mercilessly: "You are the only expert in the entire team who specializes in cardiovascular diseases. Do you think the executive committee will Are you planning to stay away from Sanya for a long time? ”
"You're right." Morgan himself obviously knew this very well, and said with some frustration: "It seems that I have to bring out a few qualified apprentices as soon as possible, otherwise I will never be able to escape from this imprisonment. I came with you back then. One of the reasons for coming here is that I don’t want to be trapped in the hospital. I don’t want to repeat my old life after coming here.”
That evening, the person in charge of Haihan's office in Quanzhou also rushed to Quanzhou Port to report on the recent work and the situation in Quanzhou to the chief who came here for the first time. The person in charge of the office in Quanzhou is also a naturalized cadre and a native of Fujian—Zhang Qianren, the eldest son of Zhang Tiangui, director of the Shengli Port Shipyard.
Zhang Tiangui's family originally lived in Guangdong from Fujian, and were recruited by Haihan from Guangdong to Shengli Port. Among Zhang Tiangui's five sons, except for the youngest son Zhang Qianzhi, who was appreciated by He Xi since childhood and became the chief's personal attendant, the other four sons all became shipwrights with Zhang Tiangui. However, Zhang Tiangui entered the Haihan system early, and he also has his own understanding of this social system that is different from that of the Ming Dynasty. He believes that although he can do well in his profession, it is still a technical job. If he wants his descendants to succeed, they still have to let Like Zhang Qianzhi, they have to take another path.
So at Zhang Tiangui's request, Zhang Qianren, who was familiar with Fujian's customs and customs, was sent to Quanzhou to take charge of Haihan's local business and diplomatic affairs. This is indeed a brand new job for Zhang Qianren, who has been working as a carpenter for nearly ten years. Fortunately, Haihan's local business affairs in Quanzhou mainly focus on purchasing various industrial raw materials and introducing immigrants. The big framework has already been established. If the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Civil Affairs coordinate well with the Fujian government, Zhang Qianren does not need to be responsible for the foreign affairs work that is easy to take the blame. He only needs to do his job step by step. Although there are no bright spots in the work of the Quanzhou office, Zhang Qianren has not caused any trouble for Haihan in the more than a year since he took office.
Zhang Qianren is no stranger to Shi Diwen and Morgan who led the Haihan warship to Quanzhou this time. When he was still working at the Victory Port Shipyard, these navigation experts from the North American Gang were regular visitors to the shipyard. From "Exploration Class" to "Expedition Class" to the latest "Majesty Class" sailboats, they are involved in every new sailboat manufactured by Victory Port Shipyard. Zhang Qianren has also listened to their lectures on navigation knowledge more than once. Seriously speaking, the two parties still have a master-student status.
After Zhang Qianren came to the study, he knelt down without waiting for the two to greet him. He gave the two the master-disciple ceremony according to tradition, and then stood up to reply. Although Shi Diwen and Morgan have lived in this era for more than four years, they still cannot accept this kind of kneeling ceremony. However, they also know that Zhang Qianren just wants to show respect to them, so it is not easy to reprimand him. .
Shi Diwen smiled and said: "Zhang Qianren, you are now also the leader of a foreign agency. Don't kneel down at every turn. This is not the behavior that Haihan cadres should do."
Zhang Qianren said sternly: "As a humble official, I am a Haihan cadre and a student of the two teachers. If I put public affairs first and then private affairs, then I have to salute twice in this humble position. It is better to just give a big salute and save a little trouble of red tape." .”
Shi Diwen couldn't laugh or cry when he heard this, so he had to compromise: "Don't kneel down like this in public, it will have a bad impact... Well, this is my order to you as a teacher."
"Students must obey the instructions." Zhang Qianren did not argue, but just agreed. However, it seemed that he had no intention of obeying Shi Diwen's order. "This time our mission visited Fujian, Commissioner Ning was supposed to be in charge of commercial and diplomatic affairs. However, because he had to stay in Zhangzhou to handle some affairs, he did not come with our fleet, so your routine report will be given by Morgan and I will be responsible for the review." Shi Diwen quickly brought the topic back to business: "Let's talk about our business progress in Quanzhou first."
"Yes! I have prepared two written reports for the two leaders. Please review them." Zhang Qianren came prepared, presented two handwritten documents, and then began to explain the recent business situation to the two.
Quanzhou's local exports have always been mainly silk fabrics and ceramics, while the bulk of imported goods are spices and medicines. After Haihan established commercial ties with Fujian, Quanzhou's imported goods catalog added Haihan products as a major item. Now the value of various Haihan industrial products shipped from Sanya to Quanzhou for sale every year has exceeded 70 Ten thousand taels of silver, in addition to being sold locally in Quanzhou, a considerable number of Haihan products are also sold via land monopoly to the inland Yanping Prefecture, Shaowu Prefecture, Jianning Prefecture, and even Jianchang, Fuzhou, and Nanchang in Jiangxi Province adjacent to Fujian Waiting places. Some commodities will also be transported by sea to Fuzhou Prefecture and Funing Prefecture in the north, and even to the coastal areas of Jiangsu and Zhejiang further north.
This trade figure may seem large, but for Fujian's local consumer market, it is far from ideal. This is not because the high prices of Haihan products have limited sales. The main reason is that the supply of Haihan products is limited. Most products are still in short supply. Basically, they can sell as much as they can ship. How much, sales is not a problem.
Zhang Qianren pointed out in his written report that even if the quantity of goods supplied by Haihan were doubled, there would never be any unsaleable situation. Although it is only the middle of the fourth year of Chongzhen, some merchants from other places have already taken the initiative to pay deposits to the Haihan Office in Quanzhou for some in-demand commodities for the next year in order to ensure priority purchasing rights.
Similar situations like this were mentioned by Gong Ping, the local responsible for commercial and trade affairs, when the mission was in Zhangzhou. This is considered a norm in Fujian. Xu Xinsu, Haihan's main local partner, almost monopolizes the operation rights of most Haihan products, which also makes the Haihan products circulating in the market even more scarce. However, this situation is probably unlikely to have any chance of improvement in the near future. The Executive Committee believes that it will take at least two or three years before the production capacity will explode as Haihan's primitive accumulation reaches a certain level. Change this situation in the local market.
Currently, Fujian can only rank third among Haihan's export destinations, with the top two being Guangdong and Annan. According to statistics from the Ministry of Commerce, only about 15% of Haihan industrial products exported last year were sold to Fujian, and most of the exported goods were used to satisfy major markets closer to Hainan Island.
The goods Haihan purchases locally are still mainly based on various industrial raw materials. In addition, agricultural products also occupy a considerable share, especially some agricultural products produced in the north. The prices purchased from Fujian are about three times lower than those from Guangdong. one part.
However, neither Shi Diwen nor Morgan were from the Ministry of Commerce, and they only had a partial understanding of the business situation. Since there was no data to compare with most of the data provided by Zhang Qianren, they could not tell whether the trend was good or bad. Naturally, they had no idea. No comment can be made. Compared with the business situation, they are more concerned about the progress of immigration affairs.
"Let's talk about the immigration recruitment situation in the recent period." After Zhang Qianren finished introducing the business situation, Shi Diwen couldn't wait to change the topic.
Zhang Qianren continued: "After the establishment of the Quanzhou office, an immigration recruitment agency was established immediately. By the end of last year, a total of 7,351 immigrants had been sent to the Sanya area. In the first three months of this year, a total of 7,351 immigrants had been sent to the Sanya area. Sanya transported 1,048 immigrants, among whom the number of adult men was..."
If we look at the average level, Quanzhou's immigration recruitment scale is probably only ranked at the bottom among the overseas offices. The number of immigrants transported in the first three months of this year is not as good as the one-month volume of the Lijiazhuang resettlement site in Guangdong. But considering that Haihan's local influence is far less than that of Guangdong, there seems to be nothing wrong with such results.
Shi Diwen was obviously not satisfied with this situation. After hearing this, he shook his head and said: "The number is too small! Calculated, there are only a few hundred people a month. Even the establishment of an administrative village is a bit reluctant. If it is only at this level, When the work performance is reviewed at the end of the year, I’m afraid it will be difficult for you to report to the Ministry of Civil Affairs.”
Zhang Qianren smiled bitterly and said: "I want to recruit more people in my humble position, but it is not easy for people to abandon their homeland and settle in a foreign land thousands of miles away. If there is no catastrophe, who would be willing to leave their hometown easily? Fujian The war has calmed down in the past two years, and the Shibazhi harassed local areas less often than before. Without the flow of refugees, it would be difficult to attract a large number of immigrants in a short period of time.”
What Zhang Qianren said is not to shirk responsibility. Since Haihan implemented a strategy of military support for Fujian, the Shibazhi, which often disrupted the social order along the coast, has also been directly affected. The scope and frequency of its activities have been greatly reduced compared with the past. Correspondingly The number of victims has also decreased significantly compared with previous years. In the absence of natural or man-made disasters, it would be much more difficult to recruit a large number of immigrants from an area. The method of attracting hungry refugees to sign up voluntarily by holding a big pot of white porridge like in Lijiazhuang is not the case in Quanzhou. It won't work.
Of course, if we must find a way, there is nothing we can do, such as promising generous remuneration to immigrants, but this will greatly increase the cost of immigration, and such additional expenditures will probably not be approved by the Executive Committee. Even if you have to spend money to recruit immigrants, the targets will definitely be skilled workers and professionals, and they will never be ordinary people recruited in batches.
(End of chapter)