Chapter 768: Unique Vision
"Reporting to the chief, Li Shaodong's family from Guangdong Furifeng Trading Co., Ltd. is seeking an audience."
"Oh? He came to Sanya again? Invite him in." After hearing the guard's report, Schneider put down the official document in his hand.
Although Guangdong Furifeng Trading Company has three young masters, the only one who would come to the Ministry of Commerce to visit him at short notice without making an appointment in advance is probably the third young master Li Nai, who regards Fort Victory as his own home.
Ever since Li Nai became the chief shopkeeper of "Golden Shield Escort", he spent most of his time in Guangdong. He couldn't just run to Victory Port like before, and stayed there for two or three months. However, he still bought a house in Sanya New Town, and would live in Sanya for at least ten days and a half every year, catching up with Haihan's friends.
"Mr. Shi, long time no see! How are you?" Li Nai greeted Schneider warmly as soon as he came in.
Schneider didn't see him either. He stood up and cupped his hands with a smile and said, "Young master, you are so free, come to Sanya for vacation again? You are living a relaxed, carefree and enviable life!"
"This time I came to Sanya not just for fun." Li Nai waved his hand seriously and said, "I have serious business to attend to. I came directly to Fort Victory to find you as soon as I got off the ship."
"What's the business?" Schneider said with a smile, "Could it be that you are marrying a concubine again? Let me talk about it first. You are holding a wedding banquet in Guangzhou, and no one can go there. You can only ask the Guangdong Office to send me a gift. ”
Li Nai got married two years ago and started a family, and her children are now one year old. However, I got married last year and sent someone to Sanya to send out invitations, inviting senior executives of Haihan whom I knew well to go to Lijiazhuang, Panyu County, Guangzhou Prefecture for a wedding banquet. Of course, the time travelers were not free enough to cross the sea to participate in such social activities, so most of the people who received the invitation did not attend the wedding banquet, but they still sent congratulatory gifts to Li Nai through the Guangdong Office. and the red envelope passed. Schneider was also one of the people who received the invitation at that time, and he happened to be on a work tour in Guangzhou at that time. By the way, he showed up on behalf of the Haihan Executive Committee and said a few words of congratulations, which was enough to give Li Nai face.
Li Nai smiled bitterly and said: "Why are you marrying me? Two women at home are enough troubles. I have no interest in marrying another one and letting them fight me as a landlord."
"There's no need to fight with landlords. If you marry another one and go home, the four of you can have a mahjong table together." Schneider joked.
As contact with the Ming Dynasty increased, some of Haihan's unique entertainment methods, such as playing cards and the improved mahjong gameplay of later generations, gradually entered the lives of some upper-class people who were close to Haihan. Li Nai This lover of Hai-Han culture has naturally learned a lot.
"No kidding, to be honest, I really have something to do when I come to Sanya this time." Li Nai raised his chin towards Schneider: "I just came to see you."
"Is that about business?" After all, the two have known each other for several years. Schneider could roughly guess what Li Nai said when he heard it.
"We are not outsiders, so let me tell you the truth." Li Nai took the hot tea just delivered by his secretary to moisten his throat, and then said: "I heard that Haihan is going to colonize Dayuang Island?"
Schneider asked calmly: "Where did you get this news?"
It has only been a few days since Qian Tiandun signed an agreement with the Dutch in Damuan Port. The news has not yet spread completely. Calculating the time, Li Nai did not know about it at all when he set off from Guangzhou.
Li Nai responded: "Looking at your reaction, it should be close to ten. I didn't get this from others, but I spent a lot of time analyzing it bit by bit!"
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"Oh? Did you analyze it yourself? Then tell me." Schneider had nothing urgent at hand, and he became interested after hearing Li Nai's answer. He wanted to know what this young master Li San, who has a strange brain, thinks about it. came out.
"This is a long story..." Seeing that Schneider was interested in listening, Li Nai became excited and began to explain his reasoning process bit by bit.
The story begins in May of this year. After the Battle of Penghu, Haihan and Fujian officials consciously conducted a large amount of propaganda on the results of the battle. The Guangdong side, with the secret promotion of the Guangdong Office in Guangdong, naturally also conducted this battle. It triggered a wave of discussion among the public. The common people in the city are probably concerned about how many pirates the official army and Haihan militia have killed in Penghu, how many ships have been sunk, how much stolen money and stolen goods have been seized, and a number of rumors will also be generated in the process of dissemination. Or legend. However, people from the upper echelons of society like Li Nai get much more detailed information than folk rumors due to different sources of information, and their focus is somewhat different from that of ordinary people. The coalition forces composed of the Ming Dynasty and Haihan won a complete victory in the Battle of Penghu and drove the remaining Shibazhi forces away from the local area. This result is beyond doubt, and Li Nai has no doubt that the Haihan militia has such combat capabilities. ——As for the officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty, Li Nai believed that they only played a supporting role and had a limited role in the battle. The question that interested Li Nai was why Haihan sent troops to fight this battle? After this battle, what does Haihan want to do next?
Of course, Li Nai was somewhat aware of the conflict between Haihan and Shibazhi, as well as the behind-the-scenes support of Fujian Commander-in-Chief Xu Xinsu, so Haihan teamed up with the Fujian government to send troops to raid Shibazhi's lair. Li Nai thought it was okay. It's reasonable. However, he did not expect that the Fujian government was generous enough to directly hand over Penghu to Haihan for management after the war. Although it was nominally a co-management, it was obvious that the degree of co-management may not be as influential as the Yazhou government in Sanya. Coupled with Haihan's subsequent announcement to garrison troops in Penghu and build a port and immigration station, Li Nai understood that Haihan was planning to repeat what he had done on Hong Kong Island there.
With the cooperation of the government, it would be no more difficult for Haihan to take actual control of Penghu than it was to take Hong Kong Island, so Li Nai's focus quickly shifted to Haihan's next plan.
Before Haihan took action against Penghu, he established a temporary base at Zhongzuo Station on the Fujian coast at least a year in advance. A large amount of military supplies were shipped from Sanya and transferred to the local area via Hong Kong Island. Since Haihan hired a considerable number of civilian ships to perform transportation tasks in order to cover combat purposes at that time, Furifeng, as Haihan's "old friend", his shipping department also undertook part of the transportation business in the process, so Li Nai This is relatively clear.
The springboard role played by Hong Kong Island in Haihan's expansion of his sphere of influence into the Fujian Strait is very obvious, and the location of Penghu indicates that it is very likely to be the next springboard with similar functions to Hong Kong Island - only the sea In which direction Han was going to jump, Li Nai had limited information at the time and could not accurately judge.
Although Li Nai was very familiar with the people in the General Office, he was not blind enough to go directly to ask them about this issue. However, from the fragments of information collected later, Li Nai gradually pieced it together according to his own understanding. There is a possibility.
Haihan has stationed a powerful armed force in Penghu. The army is the special operations battalion known as Haihan's Ace Army, and the navy is an almost integrated fleet. Haihan's biggest local enemy Shibazhi has already Fleeing to the far sea, there are allies Xu Xinsu to the west, and the Dutch who have signed an armistice treaty and are unwilling to oppose Haihan to the east. So what is the significance of deploying this armed force locally?
Li Nai had been dealing with the Haihan people for a long time, and his way of thinking naturally moved closer to the Haihan people unconsciously. He did not think that Haihan's behavior was unintentional, and it was more likely that it had some secret purpose. For Li Nai, who is familiar with Haihan's situation, it is not too difficult to find out the truth after the deduction has reached this point.
Based on the usual practice of the Haihan people, Li Nai believes that they will not stop at the Fujian Strait, but will definitely look for opportunities to expand their sphere of influence, and the troops stationed there will probably become the pioneers in the next step. The Haihan military has a very close relationship with the Fujian military, and Xu Xinsu can be regarded as a die-hard Haihan Party member. It is unlikely that Haihan will target the coastal areas of Fujian as his next target. In addition, the first special operations battalion stationed in Penghu is best at mountain and jungle warfare. This information happens to be in Li Nai's possession. Combining these pieces of information, Li Nai believes that Haihan's next step is probably to attack nearby people from Penghu. The nearby Da Yuan Island took action.
As for why he headed east instead of continuing north, Li Nai's views are very consistent with those of Haihan's military. He believes that the size of Penghu is not enough to support Haihan's development needs to the north, just like An in the South China Sea. The Buena Islands cannot support Haihan's southward strategy. If Haihan really wants to continue to expand northward, then it will need another base with a larger scale and richer resources in the Fujian Strait. From this perspective, Penghu has no advantage over Taiyuan Island. Although Qian Tiandun had not yet led his troops to inspect Taiyuan Island at that time, Li Nai only inferred based on the information he had and had already firmly believed that Haihan's next development target was Taiyuan Island next to Penghu.
Haihan's next move to Taiyuan Island, does it have anything to do with Li Nai and Guangzhou Furifeng behind him? Of course there is a connection, and it is a big one.
Since Fulifeng climbed onto the high branch of Shanghai five years ago, its development can be described as a meteoric rise. Up to now, Furifeng and the many firms and various businesses with which it is interested have made the Li family the leading wealthy businessman in Guangdong. But after reaching this stage, the Li family also felt that the business seemed to have hit the ceiling and there was no room for further growth and development.
The reason is simple. Furifeng's influence is mainly concentrated in the coastal areas of Guangdong and Guangxi. This sign is difficult to use outside the province, especially to the north. In neighboring Fujian, there is a big boss like Xu Xinsu who is both a government official and a businessman. It is difficult for Furifeng to expand his business there. Although they can be regarded as Haihan's in-depth partners, the business system promoted by Haihan in Daming is based on the local agency system. Xu Xinsu, as the general agent in Fujian, will naturally not be happy to see the agent from next door. Do business at home. The current business scope of Furifeng is almost 100% related to Haihan, and there is naturally a 100% conflict of interest with its counterparts in Fujian, which makes it difficult for Furifeng's trade scope to expand northward. The main reason why the military supplies transported by Furifeng had to be transshipped in Hong Kong was because Fujian was unwilling to let Furifeng's fleet pass.
In addition, there is another reason, which is that Fulifeng has tasted enough sweetness in the investment projects led by Haihan in recent years, giving the Li family a new understanding of the model of developing overseas colonies. Furifeng's investment projects on Hainan Island include saltworks, farms, plantations, transportation lines, ports and terminals, various workshops, and even real estate areas that few foreign investors can directly set foot in. At the same time, it has invested in Hong Kong Island, Annan and even Nanhai. Buena Port has investment projects of various sizes, and the long-term and stable income is very considerable. During this process, the Li family also noticed that investing in undeveloped virgin land has the most cost-effective rate of return and return cycle.
Li Nai has carefully studied Haihan's operation mode of new colonial areas in the past few years. Almost all of them have carried out investment promotion activities of different scales to attract businessmen other than Haihan to invest money or resources to participate in the operation, reducing the risk of independent development and construction of colonial sites. risk. Based on this, he believed that if Haihan wanted to attack Taiyuan Island, one of the necessary steps to establish a colonial area was to attract investment. Furifeng must seize this opportunity and gain its own foothold locally. If he moves slowly and is overtaken by his colleagues from Fujian, then Furifeng will most likely not even be able to get a mouthful of soup.
The reason for such urgency has a lot to do with the suppression Furifeng received in Fujian. Although Magong Port in Penghu is actually controlled by Haihan, it is still officially under the Ming Dynasty. The influence exerted by the Xu family on the local area means that Furifeng has not yet obtained an exclusive dock and business store in Magong Port. Haihan can only remain neutral about this. After all, the merchant ships under Xu Xinsu's name are now unable to pass the Pearl River section north of Lijiazhuang, Panyu. They can only choose Hong Kong Island or Wanshan Port as their anchorage.
But Damuan Island is different. The imperial court did not include this large island in the territory of the Ming Dynasty. Xu Xinsu did not have any direct influence in the local area. If Haihan took over the land, the local land distribution would definitely be The Haihan people have the final say. If Furifeng can obtain the qualification to build a wharf and commercial warehouse locally, the Fujianese can only stare blankly.
Although Li Nai didn't know when the Haihan people would attack Damuan Island, this matter should be done sooner rather than later. After he figured out the key, he immediately took a boat to Sanya, hoping to be the first to finalize the cooperative development with Haihan executives. agreement.
(End of chapter)