Chapter 677 Visiting Changhua
Schneider has no interest in continuing to waste time on this negotiation that is destined to be fruitless. He had informed Yu Xiaobao of the negotiation framework and asked him to slowly work it out with the representatives of the East India Company. Now that September has arrived, the annual Sanya Autumn Trade Fair has also reached the final preparation period. Schneider has a large number of drafted agreement texts that need to be reviewed and revised. These agreements will be signed at the next Autumn Trade Fair. Ceremony to promote the great effectiveness of the Autumn Fair.
After entering the fifth year of time travel, the economic activities between Haihan and Ming Dynasty have become more frequent, and the bilateral trade volume has also been increasing year by year. Compared with the huge market of Ming Dynasty, Haihan's current production capacity in various fields is still in short supply. Some high-end industrial products still need to be booked months or even half a year in advance before they can be obtained when they are launched. goods. In order to give foreign businessmen a fair competition opportunity, the annual Sanya Autumn Fair has become Haihan's largest and most concentrated external ordering period.
In addition to the order fair, cooperation on some large-scale projects is also the highlight of the Autumn Fair. "Qiong Lianfa", which started by developing agricultural and forestry infrastructure projects, is now a representative organization for economic and trade exchanges between Ming Dynasty and Haihan. A large number of cooperation projects are publicly signed at the Autumn Trade Fair every year, and it has invested in various projects over the past few years. The funds in the fund have already exceeded one million taels of silver. Of course, under the careful management of Haihan, the shareholders of "Qiong Lianfa" have also received quite generous returns. The dozen or so major shareholders who initially invested in the shares are now considered to be major players in Fuzhou and Guangzhou. .
In addition to the traditional projects, this year's Autumn Fair also included the vast area in the northern part of Qiongzhou Island. After taking control of the Qiongbei area through Operation Liaoyuan last year, after more than half a year of governance, a large area to be developed has been cleared. The next step is to wait for the injection of funds and labor. The Ministry of Agriculture has currently planned tens of thousands of acres of cash crop farms, and will select cooperative businesses for joint development through bidding during the Autumn Fair. In addition, Haikou Port, Danzhou Port and other seaport terminal infrastructure projects have already had intention agreements and are waiting to be officially signed during the Autumn Trade Fair.
As in previous years, this year the Ministry of Commerce also organized foreign business delegations to inspect construction projects in areas controlled by Haihan and view the construction results. In addition to the representatives of various shareholders of "Qiong Lianfa", this year there are also many new businessmen from Fujian, Jiangxi and other places, as well as foreign guests from Annam, Champa, Siam, Portugal and other countries. Representatives of the local officials stationed in Qiongzhou by the Ming Dynasty will also be present to convince foreign merchants that Haihan's development and construction of Qiongzhou Island is officially supported by the Ming Dynasty.
Just arranging this matter has already made the commercial and diplomatic departments very busy. At this time, when the Dutch mission came to visit, it was naturally difficult to get Haihan's attention. Schneider and Gu Kai felt that there was nothing substantive in their contact with each other, so they quickly left the work to Yu Xiaobao, who had just come into contact with foreign affairs, and got busy taking care of business.
Logically speaking, Gu Kai should not leave Victory Port at this time, but the executive committee believes that it is just a good opportunity to take the Changhua project commissioning ceremony to bring the foreign business delegation over to open their eyes and let them see the industrial age. the beginning of. In addition, this event is also to build momentum for the independence measures to be carried out next year. After all, the salt and iron franchise has been regarded as a symbol of the regime since ancient times. Although Haihan has already achieved self-production of salt and iron, the mining of Tiandu Iron Mine The scale of operations and operations are far less than those in the Shilu area of Changzhou, and its external influence is also very limited. Let foreign businessmen go to Changhua to take a look at the production conditions of iron and steelmaking, so that they can have more confidence in Haihan's future development.
It is not a problem to transport foreign business groups to Changhua. The difficulty is that the development level in Changhua is far less than that in Sanya. It still takes some time to find a place to accommodate so many distinguished guests. For this reason, Qiao Zhiya had to inform Changhua County in advance and asked the local officials to organize the squires to temporarily vacate three or four courtyards as a place for the visiting group to stay.
While the Dutch were still trying to get along with Yu Xiaobao, foreign business delegations organized by the Ministry of Commerce had already boarded ships from Sanya and Danzhou and headed for the Changhua area. Gu Kai also set out with the fleet. In addition to being a guest at the commissioning ceremony, he will also be responsible for organizing the activities of the visiting group during their stay in Changhua.
On September 7, 1631, Gu Kai's fleet successfully arrived at Changhua Port. He had visited Changhua twice in the early days of developing Changhua, but at that time Changhua Port had not even completed its port facilities. Coal ships coming from Annan Black Earth Port were jammed outside the small harbor, unloading goods. Basically, we can only rely on shovels and sacks. Every time a coal ship arrives at the port, for a few days, the entire port and the water of the Changhua River are floating with a layer of coal ash. The situation is even worse than that of the place of production - at least Heitu Port has already Mechanized bulk coal loading has been realized. The small trains transported from the mining area to the port can unload the bulk coal directly to the shipping conveyor. There are also relatively complete dust removal methods, so that coal ash will not be spread for miles around. The interior is overwhelming.
But when Gu Kai arrived at Changhua Port this time, he found that the appearance here had indeed changed greatly compared to the last time he came. First of all, the size of the port has been greatly improved, and the passenger and cargo terminals are completely separated and are not mixed together as before. The small harbor on the sea side has become a dedicated passenger terminal, and the fleet transporting supplies will travel to the bank of the Changhua River further inland, where there is a specially built cargo terminal, and according to the setting of Heitu Port, Several steam-powered dry bulk conveyors have been installed, and the efficiency of unloading has increased more than ten times compared with before.
Secondly, the passenger and cargo channels on the shore have also been separated. The freight terminal has a specially laid transport track leading to the coal and iron industry base in the east of Changhua County. It is responsible for transferring the coal transported to the port to the coking workshop of the industrial base. After coke is made there, it is used in the production of iron and steel. This track is also connected to the rail transportation line from Changhua Port to Shilu. Some engineering machinery and equipment produced in Sanya can also be loaded here and then transported directly to the Shilu mining area.
Qiao Zhiya brought the local naturalized cadres to the dock to greet Gu Kai and his party. Most of the members of the visiting group who were traveling with him were still excitedly discussing the giant ship they had just seen before entering the port.
A "Dignity-class" warship that happened to have completed its combat readiness duty in the waters near Changhua chose to dock at Changhua Port for supplies. When the visiting group's fleet entered the port, this ship and two accompanying "Exploration-class" warships The warship is slowly sailing away from the coast. This was the first time for most people to witness the legendary Haihan battleship with their own eyes, so naturally they couldn't help but comment on it.
Of course, no one doubts the actual combat effectiveness of this kind of warship, because just four months ago, this kind of warship defeated Shibazhi in Fujian and made great achievements. The Fujian government also issued a special notice and award for this purpose, and copies were sent to all government offices in Qiongzhou. Anyone who has been to Qiongzhou Island recently can see relevant notices at various docks and city gates. Two months ago, news came back that the Haihan Fleet defeated the Red Fleet in Fujian. Hundreds of foreign prisoners were paraded in Sanya Port. The people who did not know the truth naturally took credit for this achievement. A large warship with a mighty appearance - although the "Dignity Class" never appeared in the battle with the Dutch fleet, this does not prevent people with rich imagination from making up a "Dignity Class" according to their own wishes. A great show about the majestic warship beating up the red-haired ghost.
It has been some time since the visiting group arrived in Qiongzhou, and they have been brainwashed by the news during this period. Even those who still have doubts in their hearts immediately became suspicious of the rumors after seeing the true form of this kind of warship. Convinced. Of course, Gu Kai had much more information than these outsiders. He quickly pulled Qiao Zhiya aside and asked: "Why do the navy people come here to supply? Isn't their supply port in Danzhou Bay?"
"It's mainly for coal loading. The reserves in Danzhou Bay are probably not enough." Qiao Zhiya explained: "Danzhou is under martial law again. Some cargo ships can't leave Danzhou for the time being. It just so happens that the navy's ship is training nearby again, so I stopped by. Decorate the coals.”
"Why is martial law in Danzhou again? Something happened?" Gu Kai frowned and asked.
"Last week, there were assassins in Danzhou again, but this time they were not looking for Zhang Xin, but the Ming officials who had taken refuge with us." Qiao Zhiya must have been bored in this place for a long time, so he was very excited when talking about these gossips from other places: "Didn't the officials who were assigned to Danzhou at the beginning of the year all join us later? This time there were assassins in Danzhou to assassinate them. Zhang Xin and the people from the Ministry of Security thought that the remnants of the last assassination had not been cleared away, so they closed the port. Capture the assassin in Danzhou”
"Oh...I remember, one is named Yan Mingjun and the other is Li Jin, right?" Gu Kaijing also remembered this after he said this.
When these two Ming officials first arrived in Danzhou, their resistance was quite obvious. However, in March, anti-Hai Han squires and Jin Yiwei officers instigated a riot in Danzhou and tried to assassinate Zhang Xin and other Hai Han officials in the city. Han was an important person, so these two people chose to cooperate with Haihan at the last moment, and conveniently sold their accomplices. After that, the two of them could only settle down and become vassals and spokesmen of the Haihan local administration. On the surface, they were the governors and generals of Danzhou, but in fact they were just decorations and were only responsible for paying monthly bills to the governor of Zhaoqing. The yamen can just write a routine report - the contents of this report are all written according to the instructions of the Haihan people.
Of course, this is not a bad thing for them. In addition to saving their own lives, they can also make a small fortune. At the same time, they do not have to worry about local governance. Naturally, the Danzhou Management Committee will take care of everything. . In addition to not being allowed to travel to the mainland, their local movements are no longer restricted.
Yan Mingjun, who loves literature, naturally sat on the throne of the honorary president of the "Danzhou Literary Federation" under the arrangement of the management committee. He also presided over the latest Qiongzhou Poetry Festival and was praised by many literati. He was generally praised and had a great time.
Li Jin, who was fond of martial arts, was completely mixed up with the Haihan soldiers. He had no family, so he simply moved his residence outside the city, adjacent to the training ground of the Haihan garrison. He ate and lived with the Haihan officers every day, and he didn't look like an outsider at all. Although Li Guang never said anything about surrendering to Haihan, everyone regarded him as a surrendered general.
Of course, this is not discrimination. It is not uncommon for Ming generals to be demoted under the rule of Haihan. Lord Luo Shengdongluo, the first demoted general to join Haihan, is now not only engaged in smuggling business with the rank of Ming Dynasty, but also served as a post this year. Vice president of the "Da Ming Hai Han Folk Relations Association" which was only established in April. Although this organization is not officially recognized by the Ming Dynasty, its level is indeed not low, because the president is concurrently served by Haihan's top leader Tao Donglai. Although the name is "civilian relations", the actual task is to coordinate the relationship between Haihan and the Ming Dynasty officialdom.
Li came in late, and of course he did not get so many opportunities to serve Haihan loyally. However, Haihan's officers saw that he was a soldier who did not like politics, so they did not exclude him from joining. They usually included him in daily training. After all, it would be difficult to copy Haihan's skills and implement them in the Ming Dynasty, and the officers were not afraid that he could secretly learn some unique skills. Li Jin may have had such thoughts at first, but after contacting the Haihan Militia for a long time, he also knew that it was impossible to train such an army with the existing conditions of the Ming Dynasty, whether it was weapons and equipment, living conditions, daily life, etc. In terms of training and command system, the Ming army could not reach the level of the Haihan militia, and they gave up after repeated attempts.
There has always been a navy stationed in Danzhou. Although Li Jin was not born in the navy, he often went to Danzhou Port to watch the training of Haihan Navy. Later, he met Wu Sen, who was also a general, and they even burned yellow paper and cut off the chicken head to pay homage. Although this kind of custom is not advocated in the Haihan Army, no one specifically targets these two surrendered generals with special status.
After Yan Mingjun and Li Jin had been living together peacefully for several months, something happened recently. Two assassins climbed over the wall into Yan Mingjun's residence after dark and tried to assassinate him. However, after Yan Mingjun surrendered in March, the Danzhou Management Committee assigned two soldiers to live in his home as security guards. The two assassins were discovered before they even touched Yan Mingjun's bedroom. The soldiers fired warning shots. The assassin fled in panic. In the end, one person was killed and the other injured. The Ministry of Security obtained a confession that these two people were related to the assassination in March, and quickly notified all parts of Qiongbei to cooperate in capturing several wanted criminals who were still at large. Shipping at Danzhou Port has also been affected, with cargo shipments temporarily suspended.
(End of chapter)