Chapter 759 Dutch Envoy
"Qian Tiandun is really fast!" When Tao Donglai got the telegram report sent back from Penghu, he couldn't help but sigh. He looked up at Yan Chujie who had personally sent the message and said, "Then the Military Commission is planning to approve his proposal and make Taiwan Island the next target for occupation?"
"Old Tao, you should be very clear about how much the establishment of a colony on Taiwan Island will play a role in our future development. Some people are now only focusing on the refugees in the Jiaodong Peninsula and want to open up a new base in the northern seas as soon as possible, but How much does Penghu produce? Can it supply the material needs of the new base? Most of the consumption has to be transported from Hainan Island, which is time-consuming and costly. Of course, it is more cost-effective to develop Taiwan first. Living on the main waterway to Northeast Asia will kill two birds with one stone." Yan Chujie spared no effort to persuade: "In addition to iron ore, Hainan Island can basically produce it in Taiwan. It only takes four or five years to produce it. Is it a Hainan Island? It will be much easier to plan northward then, right?”
"I know the truth, but the labor gap in Hainan Island is also obvious now. You should also understand this situation. There may be little resistance from the outside world to develop Taiwan. Qian Tiandun personally led the team to the island this time, probably because he wanted to The Executive Committee proves this, but the amount of human, material and financial resources we will invest in the initial stage will not be small, and it is likely to affect the development process of Hainan Island." Tao Donglai explained in a deep voice: "The Executive Committee needs to consider it. It is not only the development layout in the north, but also the local development situation of Hainan Island. After all, the development of Hainan is still the top priority. ”
It has been five years since the time travelers came to this time and space. Although there were some slight stumbles at the beginning, generally speaking, the development has been relatively smooth. After actually taking control of Hainan Island, the Haihan regime is entering a period of rapid development. The main bottleneck currently restricting Haihan's development is the population problem that has never been completely solved.
Compared with Western colonists of the same era, Haihan introduced immigrants from neighboring countries at a much faster rate, but it still could not keep up with Haihan's expansion of territory. At present, in the northeastern part of Hainan Island alone, there are millions of acres of undeveloped arable land waiting for the Ministry of Agriculture to turn it into plantations of various cash crops. The plantations themselves are labor-intensive industries. Haihan is not If tens of thousands of immigrants are brought to the island, it will be difficult to implement the large-scale development plan formulated by the Ministry of Agriculture in the short term.
In Haihan's current trade system, the income from cash crops still accounts for a non-negligible part of Haihan's trade income. Even the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Commerce, which often side with the military, on the Taiwan issue They have always maintained a relatively neutral attitude. The reason is that now everyone is not sure what the trend will be in the next few years if Taiwan is developed first. It is still difficult to determine whether Taiwan's development helped Haihan take off, or whether it slowed down the development progress of Haihan's base camp and affected Haihan's overall development strategy.
Qian Tiandun sent this telegram back to Sanya, but he did not expect to receive an immediate reply from the base camp. Although he is away all year round, he also knows that there is still a big debate in the base camp about whether the Penghu base will expand its control area eastward or northward in the future. Some people at the base camp are worried about the prospects of developing Taiwan, but Qian Tiandun knows that there are actually other forces that are even more unwilling to see Haihan set foot on the island of Taiwan.
On November 2, 1632, a Dutch merchant ship sailed into Magong Port in Penghu under the guidance of the Haihan patrol ship. After undergoing detailed registration and inspection at the dock, Dutch captain Philip finally set foot on Penghu.
Philip came to the Far East ten years ago, and Penghu was once a regular stop on his voyage between Southeast Asia and Northeast Asia. However, the current Magong Port is completely different from the time when it was still the territory of the East India Company in his memory. The Haihan people's ability in engineering construction has been fully demonstrated. The ground of the entire terminal has been renovated and leveled, and there are tall hangers near the berths. The dock workers load and unload cargo with extremely high efficiency, far faster than the previous loading and unloading method that simply relied on shoulder carrying and hand lifting. The flat-bottomed trucks that transport goods on the dock all run on paved tracks and appear very orderly.
All the original wooden shed-style warehouses on the dock were demolished and replaced with more solid and reliable masonry structure warehouses. Philip couldn't imagine how much money it would cost to transport so many bricks and stones from the mainland, and this seemed to reflect the extraordinary importance Haihan attached to Penghu. Of course, Philip didn't know that Haihan had built two brick-making workshops on the island after capturing Penghu. Although the production capacity was not too high, it could basically meet the needs of local infrastructure projects.
In addition, Philip also noticed that Haihan militia soldiers wearing gray clothes and trousers could be seen everywhere on the pier. If it weren’t for the records of past confrontations, it would be hard for Philip to believe these thin, dark-skinned Haihan soldiers. Being able to defeat the invincible East India Company allowed Batavia to acquiesce in the Haihan people's land enclosure behavior in the Fujian Strait and Nanyang region. However, Philip still firmly believed that the East India Company would one day reverse its decline and regain these lost lands from the Haihans - of course, first the East India Company had to recover from the devastating consequences of the Batavia War.
Although the war in Batavia has ended for more than two months, its impact is far from over. Due to the loss of this important trade transit point, the Dutch's trade in Northeast Asia has also been greatly affected. Currently, 70% of the goods in Damuan Port have become zero inventory due to the supply cutoff in Batavia. Merchants have almost no inventory. Any goods that are available can be shipped to Ryukyu, Japan and the Korean Peninsula for sale.
Really smart maritime merchants would naturally foresee the crisis that this situation would bring, because the Spanish, Portuguese, and even the Ming Dynasty would take advantage of this window period to step up their efforts to encroach on the market share that originally belonged to the East India Company. But now the only agent of the Dutch in the Ming Dynasty, Shiba Zhi, has become a lost dog and fled the Fujian waters. The Dutch are also unable to obtain commercial resources for trade from the Ming Dynasty. Since there is nothing to sell, some maritime merchants have to change their past. With this strategy, a pure shipping industry began to travel between several countries in Northeast Asia. Some maritime merchants even changed their lives and temporarily turned their sailboats into fishing boats.
Philip is also one of the many Dutch maritime merchants who are confused and desperate. He is not willing to engage in the low-level and hard fishing industry, nor does he want to waste time on low-profit shipping. If he has a choice, Philip still hopes to continue to engage in low-priced fishing. High selling East-West trade. Of course, the premise is that there must be goods on hand that can be sold.
In the current environment, Philip thought about where to find the source of goods. After ruling out various possibilities, he finally selected a seemingly unlikely target.
In the perception of the Dutch, the Haihan people have a large amount of commercial resources in their hands. Not only can they manufacture various goods themselves, but they also control most of the maritime trade resources in Annan and the southeastern part of the Ming Dynasty. If they can get the permission of the Haihan people, , entering the Haihan Port trading area to purchase goods, there is great hope to restart the sea trade business. However, it may not be easy to get the Haihan people's trade permission, because it has only been a year since the two sides last fought on the battlefield. It is not easy for either side to let go of their psychological burden now.
However, Philip accidentally heard the news recently that his colleagues in Batavia were actually quietly doing business with the Haihan people, and the main content of their transactions was the slave population. Merchants organized the supply of goods in the Batavia slave market, sent them in batches to the Ambrosia Islands that had been occupied by Haihan, and then bartered for goods that were highly sought after in the Batavia market. Haihan goods. Although the trading relationship was not publicized, it was said to have been going on for months, and the company's board of directors turned a blind eye to the situation - it is possible that some senior figures themselves were involved.
Although this news came a little late, it still inspired Philip a lot. Since Batavia's colleagues can secretly do business with the Haihan people, what do I have to worry about? Philip made up his mind and commanded his ship to go straight to Penghu, hoping to have direct contact with the Haihan people and see if there was any opportunity to operate.
After Phillip expressed his intention to the staff on the dock, he was quickly invited to the port center, where he met the local head of commercial affairs, a man who looked extremely young. From his skin color, clothing and demeanor, Philip could almost instantly tell that this was a "real" Haihan, not the so-called Haihan naturalized people who originally belonged to the Ming Dynasty, Annan and other countries. "I am Li Dou, the person in charge of Haihan Commercial Department in Penghu. I heard that you have business and want to talk to me, Mr. Philip." After Li Dou invited Philip to sit down, he took the initiative to introduce himself.
The translator standing behind Li Dou immediately translated it into a language that Philip could understand. Philip also knew this translator. He used to work for the East India Company in Damuan Port. It seemed that Haihan had paid a lot of money. price, dig it out.
"It's an honor to meet you, Mr. Li Dou." Philip was not affected by this small detail and immediately cheered up and began to introduce his purpose to Li Dou. "I have been engaged in maritime trade in the Far East for many years, and I am willing to serve the respected Haihan adults! If the adults can give me a chance, I will sell Haihan products to Japan and North Korea. I believe they will be sold there. Good price.”
Li Dou suppressed his smile and said: "Mr. Philip, you may have forgotten that we only signed an armistice agreement last year, but we have not signed any form of cooperation agreement, and trade is naturally not included in it. If you come to us to do business, it is a big deal." Does Hans from Yuangang know? Does Batavia know? ”
Philip responded: "Although Chief Hans may not publicly express his support for this approach, he will never oppose it... As for Batavia, I think the slave trade in Southeast Asia is no longer a secret, right?"
Li Dou rolled his eyes and understood the message contained in Philip's words: "There has been no trade in Danyuan Port recently, right? So you plan to follow Batavia's example and sell slaves to us? ”
"It is a pity that I currently have no slaves on hand to provide you." Philip shook his head and corrected Li Dou's guess: "For example, you purchased a large number of black slaves in Nanyang, and the entire Damuan Port also Not much.”
"Then what are you planning to trade with us?" Li Dou asked.
"What about the Japanese and Koreans?" Philip made a suggestion that was beyond Li Dou's expectation: "Exchange them for your goods. We can discuss the specific price."
Li Dou frowned and said, "How do you plan to get people from these two countries?"
"Buy!" Seeing that Li Dou was still interested in asking, Philip immediately cheered up and explained to him: "Just like the Ming Dynasty, many people in these two countries are demoted as slaves every year for various crimes. As long as they buy it with money, Just come down.”
"Can you buy it as a foreigner?" Although Li Dou didn't know much about the situation in Northeast Asia, he at least knew that Japan was in a trade blockade against Dutch merchants during this period, and all Dutch businesses in Japan were sealed. He thought I'm afraid it's not easy to buy slaves from Japan.
Philip responded: "I have officials who are familiar with me in both countries. They can operate it for me without having to do it myself."
"That's a good idea." Li Dou touched his chin and muttered: "If we measure it in terms of months, how many people do you think we can get with this method?"
"If the price is right, we should be able to guarantee supply for about a thousand people every month." Philip had already made a draft, and he answered immediately as soon as Li Dou finished asking.
"Thousands of people? Too few." Li Dou was not very satisfied with this number. If you need to pay a certain price to buy slaves from these two countries, it is better to spend more money to introduce immigrants from the Ming Dynasty. After all, the northern refugees only want to have a mouthful of food, and Haihan does not need to pay extra ransom money to anyone. If the method Philip mentioned is large enough to be considered, but if small, it is neither large-scale nor a waste of money, the Executive Committee will definitely not approve it.
Philip said: "Mr. Li Dou, although the quantity is not large, the quality can be guaranteed. I can select the purchase objects according to your requirements. For example, young women, craftsmen, strong laborers, and literate scholars Wait. I believe that even if there are similar transactions elsewhere, it will be difficult to provide such meticulous and thoughtful services.”
(End of chapter)