Chapter 723 Intelligence Work
This is not the first time that Su Keyi has been a guest in Cheng Dapeng's study, but every time he comes here, he can't help but be shocked by the gorgeous furnishings in his study.
Su Keyi is already the third generation of the Su family to move to Nanyang, but his cultural inheritance and living habits are still based on the traditions of the Han people, so it is not difficult for him to recognize the calligraphy and paintings, ornaments, books, furniture and even the calligraphy and paintings in Dapeng's study. Pens, inks, paper and inkstones are all high-end items that are worth a lot of money. But Cheng Dapeng himself was very indifferent to this. When Su Keyi came to visit for the first time, he casually praised the beautiful glass paperweight on the desk, and Cheng Dapeng immediately gave it to him as a gift.
Su Keyi was shocked at the time. You must know that the glass inkstone was a colorful commemorative edition of the first year of Chongzhen produced by Haihan. A total of 88 sets were produced. When it was sold, it once fetched nearly a thousand taels of silver in the Guangzhou market. The head of the Su family, Su Minggang, asked people to buy a set in Guangzhou, but they couldn't buy it at all. It had become a priceless collection long ago. Cheng Dapeng was young, and not only could he collect this thing, but he was also so generous. This really made Su Keyi feel that this person's background and demeanor were quite extraordinary, and he immediately wanted to make friends with him.
Later, Cheng Dapeng revealed intentionally or unintentionally that his family not only had business in Guangdong, Guangdong, Fujian, Annan, and Champa, but also had excellent relationships with big figures in the official circles of Fuzhou and Guangzhou in the Ming Dynasty. In addition, the Haihan people, who have risen rapidly in Qiongzhou Island in recent years, also have business dealings with his family - the limited edition paperweight given to Su Keyi was obtained through this channel.
Of course, since there are so many ways, Cheng Dapeng's family's business is naturally not limited to the grain business. He told Su Keyi frankly that he came to Batavia to open this rice store just to open a trade window in Southeast Asia. When the time is right, the family may slowly increase its business projects in Nanyang.
Cheng Dapeng's witty conversation, broad knowledge, elegant temperament, and generous treatment of others all showed that he was an unusual person. In addition, Su Keyi also met more than once maritime merchants from the Ming Dynasty who came to "Dacheng Rice Shop" to visit Cheng Dapeng. Upon inquiry, these merchants all said that Cheng Dapeng took good care of their business elsewhere, so it was natural for them to come here. I also want to come and meet the people who are starting a family. After going back and forth, Su Keyi gradually lost his wariness.
But Cheng Dapeng's true identity is of course not a steward sent by a big family to Nanyang to attack the front station, but a special commissioner of the Nanyang Affairs Office of the Haihan Security Department, and one of the few intelligence personnel classified as Class A secret by the Ministry of Security. Although his identity is fake, the name Cheng Dapeng is genuine and not false. He is originally from Qingyuan, Guangdong, and he is indeed from a merchant family. He has received a good education. He was selected as a scholar at the age of sixteen, and he is also a local scholar. A well-known young talent.
If it hadn't been for the natural and man-made disasters that broke out across Guangdong in 1628, Cheng Dapeng might have successfully passed the examination and then used his family's financial resources to donate an official position and pursue a career in politics. But it is a pity that his hometown of Qingyuan happens to be one of the main sources of banditry, and a wealthy family like Jia Jia naturally becomes the first target of gangsters in troubled times.
During the bandit turmoil in Qingyuan, Chengjiazhuang was one of the first villages to be conquered by bandits. After the bandits looted all of Zhuangzi, they set a fire and burned Zhuangzi into ruins. Cheng Dapeng was also one of the few victims who escaped Chengjiazhuang alive. He first fled to Guangzhou, but because there were too many refugees in Guangzhou, the Guangzhou government was worried about causing chaos and banned the refugees from entering the city. And with Cheng Dapeng's stature as a scholar, he couldn't grab the limited amount of relief food from others. So he continued southward, and when he arrived at Panyu, he happened to encounter Haihan recruiting immigrants. At that time, Cheng Dapeng had not eaten for several days, and he had no other concerns about survival, so he immediately signed up for immigration.
What happened later was similar to that of most of the Ming Dynasty refugees who immigrated to Hainan Island from the mainland. After arriving at Victory Port, Cheng Dapeng was quickly singled out because of his origin and outstanding cultural quality, and then several units worked together After a wrestling match, the Ministry of Security won the spot. After a short-term training, Cheng Dagui successfully passed the entry examination and became a regular employee of the Security Department. Later, the Ministry of Security established the Nanyang Affairs Office and sent personnel south to Batavia to establish an intelligence agency. Cheng Dapeng, a new face, had very little time to show up in Victory Port. In addition, he had good results in previous professional training, so he was selected as one of them. The person in charge of one group, as a senior manager of "Dacheng Bank", went to Batavia City to open a rice store.
Relying on his own cultural accomplishment and the various supports provided by Haihan, Cheng Dapeng quickly established a foothold in Batavia. Based on the lessons learned during the Ministry of Security, he began to slowly build a Your own social intelligence network. Children like Su Keyi who came from a powerful local family were naturally among Cheng Dapeng's targets.
Last year, Su Keyi received an errand to go to Sanya to negotiate with Haihan people. Before leaving, he came to Cheng Dapeng to learn from him, hoping to gain some experience in dealing with the Haihan people. Although Cheng Dapeng didn't know the attitude of the Executive Committee towards the peace talks between the two sides at the time, he was not optimistic about Su Keyi's mission at all, because many of the intelligence he had collected before was related to the Ambunas Islands. , it is enough to see the determination of the Executive Committee to seize this place. Since Haihan had already spent so much time and effort to capture this place, how could he possibly spit out the fat that he had eaten in his mouth?
Sure enough, after Su Keyi, Van Longen, and Van der Wegen arrived in Sanya, it can be said that they did not get any advantage at all. The negotiations were deadlocked from the beginning, and it was not until two months later that an agreement was reached, which was later used by the Batavia Council. A truce negotiated through gritted teeth. The Dutch suffered a big loss, but the council could not blame the three people responsible for the negotiation for not achieving the predetermined negotiation goals - after all, the military strength was not as strong as the other side, and naturally you could not rely on words to get something that could not be obtained on the battlefield. You can get it.
After Su Keyi returned to Batavia, he was further used by the family, because the Su family believed that after the armistice agreement was signed, the trade relations between Haihan and the Netherlands would gradually normalize. As for the scale of trade that Haihan has carried out in Daming, Annan and other places in recent years, the Su family has heard about it even though it is located in Southeast Asia. The head of the family, Su Minggang, believes that the size of Haihan can be compared with the East India Company. Maybe some There are still areas where it excels - such as military strength.
If the two sides can start trade exchanges after this, Su Minggang hopes that the Su family can grab a high ranking. After all, the businessmen who have relied on Haihan have really benefited a lot in recent years. Maritime merchants who came to Batavia for trade increasingly included Haihan products in their shipments. As a representative of Chinese merchants in Batavia, Su Minggang naturally knows how much profit there is to encourage maritime merchants to make changes.
Among the direct descendants of the Su family, not many have had face-to-face contact with the Haihan people, and Su Keyi's two months of experience in Sanya naturally made him the best among the candidates. So Su Keyi was entrusted with the important task soon after returning from Sanya and was responsible for preparing for the establishment of trade relations with Haihan. Su Keyi is indeed considered a "Haihan expert" in the family, but he has personally been to Sanya and knows that the true situation of Haihan cannot be grasped by just looking at it, not to mention that he was actually under house arrest for most of his time in Sanya. You cannot go out in the hotel. So even if he gets the family's trust, it will be difficult for him to get started with this job smoothly. However, he was very glad that he knew Cheng Dapeng as a friend, because this young master had lived in Sanya for a short time due to family business two years earlier. In terms of experience in dealing with Haihan people, this There should be more bits than myself.
Of course, Cheng Dapeng would not refuse such a good thing that came to his door. While pretending to advise Su Keyi, he took the opportunity to collect various relevant intelligence information, especially the various business projects and operating conditions of the East India Company in Nanyang. Cheng Dapeng They all gave Su Keyi a lot of useful information in the name of reference.
Su Keyi obviously didn't realize the importance of this information, let alone Cheng Dapeng's ulterior motives, and unknowingly revealed a lot of inside information to him. In his opinion, Cheng Dapeng was just a friend in the grain business and had no direct connection with the project run by the Dutch. Even if he knew how much nutmeg the Dutch bought and sold every year and how many ships they sent to Da Yuan and Japan, from What's the big deal about news like how much raw silk Ming Dynasty purchased?
Of course, Cheng Dapeng didn't just ask questions but didn't give any ideas. In fact, using the special location of Ambuna Port to carry out slave trade was one of the suggestions Cheng Dapeng made to Su Keyi.
Haihan's immigration rate has begun to slow down in the past two years, and the executive committee is also seeking to introduce labor from Southeast Asia through the slave trade. The location of the Ambrosia Islands makes it difficult to attract mainland immigrants to settle there. Cheng Dapeng believes Since the armistice agreement allowed Dutch merchant ships to dock locally, they could try to conduct slave trade with the local Haihan people.
The slave trade was not a rare thing in Batavia and the entire Southeast Asia. There were more than one large slave market outside Batavia. Every month, a large number of slaves from all over Southeast Asia, the Indian Peninsula, the Middle East and even Africa are transported here for sale. At least 70% of the workforce in the Su family's plantation on Java Island are slaves. However, if you want to sell these slaves to Haihan, you will definitely not be able to bypass the Dutch. As the number one Chinese comprador under the East India Company, the Su family wants to bypass the Dutch and deal directly with Haihan. This is undoubtedly a kind of rebellion. If the Lord's behavior is noticed by the council, everyone in the Su family will suffer.
So although Cheng Dapeng's idea sounded good, Su Keyi handled it very carefully. He was very aware of the seriousness of the matter, and after discussing with the family management, he finally came up with a compromise method to implement it.
The Su family organized the supply of goods at the slave market in Batavia, and then hired Dutch merchant ships to transport the slaves to the Port of Ambrosia for trading. In this way, the council has received taxes from transactions in the slave market, and the participation of Dutch merchant ships also allows it to know the whereabouts of these slaves, so that it will not cast unnecessary doubts on the behavior of the Su family. The Dutch slave trader Jansen whom Roger met after returning to Port Ambrosia was actually the Su family's partner in this business. Eighty percent of the slaves transported by Jansen's fleet to the Port of Ambrosia were purchased by the Su family in the Batavia market.
Due to the profit sharing caused by having to let a third party intervene, and the risk of loss during the transportation of slaves, the income the Su family gained from this business was actually not high. A shipload of slaves could only be earned if it was successfully transported. A few hundred taels of silver is far less than the return from selling some other high-profit products. But what the Su family values is not just the economic benefits of this business, but more importantly, they hope to gradually build a broader and deeper trade relationship with Haihan.
It has been more than a day or two for high-profit Haihan products to enter Batavia, but these products are almost all shipped by Ming merchants, leaving little profit margin for the Dutch. Therefore, the council also adopted a default attitude of not supporting, opposing, encouraging, or stopping the Su family's actions, hoping that the Su family could partially replace the market share of Daming Shipping and reduce the port price of some Haihan products. If the Su family's performance in this process is not ideal, or there are any illegal actions, it will be too late for the council to intervene to stop it.
As for the shame of losing the Ambrosia Islands, it is not that important to some people in the council. As long as Batavia's route to Northeast Asia can be preserved, ceding territory and truce is not an unacceptable solution. After all, before the Haihan people took that place away, the East India Company only used it as a supply station on this route. And if trade relations can be gradually established with the Haihan people, on the one hand, it can ease the tension with this powerful enemy, and on the other hand, it can also suppress the position of Portugal, a competitor, in the Haihan trade system.
Of course, the most important point is to allow all the gentlemen in the council and the business groups behind them to gain actual benefits from the emerging trade relations. The East India Company had already suffered huge losses due to the two wars in the Ambrosia Islands and Fujian, and many people were unwilling to continue fighting against such a powerful enemy as Haihan. Doing business happily and making money is the real reason why everyone travels thousands of miles to come to the Far East, isn't it?
(End of chapter)