Chapter 780: Adjust measures to local conditions
The natives of Ajia She have probably never thought of raising wild deer in captivity before. In their eyes, deer cannot be domesticated at all. They are just prey that can provide skin and meat, not livestock that can be kept in captivity. Before the arrival of the Haihan people, most of the deer skins traded by the Ajia community could only be exchanged for some coarse cloth, rice, coarse salt and the like from the Han fishermen living on the seaside. They had never seen the sea. These are the good products brought out by the Han people. It was only then that they suddenly discovered that the value of the inventory in their hands did not seem to be very high, and it was difficult to exchange them from the Haihan people for the good things they longed for. The suggestion put forward by Anxi does seem to be a way to solve this contradiction between supply and demand.
It’s not like Anxi suddenly thought of this. Before he left for Taiwan, he had already sought advice from Yuan Qiuye, who is responsible for poultry and livestock work at the Ministry of Agriculture, so that he could use some agricultural and forestry breeding projects that were not too difficult to implement to expand Taiwan’s economy. The indigenous tribes on the island were integrated into Haihan's trading system. Among the suggestions Yuan Qiuye gave him at that time, in addition to the most commonly used economic crop cultivation, there was also a special suggestion that was to artificially raise deer.
In 1603, the 31st year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty, there were relevant records about Taiwan's sika deer in "Dongfan Ji" written by Chen Di. After the Dutch colonized Taiwan, they also began to purchase deer skins from the indigenous people. After the Han fishermen in the Kaohsiung Port area exchanged deer skins from the Ajiashe people, they basically took them to Taiyuan Port for secondary trade with the Dutch. However, such a model is obviously difficult to meet Haihan's needs for such resources. Moreover, if deer skins are purchased in large quantities under relatively favorable terms, the wild deer herds on the island will suffer a devastating blow in just one or two years.
Naturally, Haihan people with a long-term vision would disdain doing something like fishing from the entire lake. Scattered supply is not the trade operation method that Haihan is interested in. Stable and controllable supply sources are the conditions that the commercial department really wants to achieve. Artificial deer raising is not technically difficult, the operating costs are low, and the profits are long-term and stable. Taiwanese sika deer mature at one and a half years old and can reproduce the next generation, and they can reproduce once a year. Male deer can be used for breeding, or provide high-value commodities such as venison, deer skin, deer whip, antler, and deer blood. After reaching a certain breeding scale, the economic value is considerable, and it can gradually develop into a local specialty industry, which will have a great impact on the future. Integrating Taiwan's indigenous people through the trading system would also play a role.
For the indigenous people who are relatively familiar with the habits of sika deer, it is even easier to build a breeding farm to raise deer than to grow cash crops. As long as a piece of land is fenced off, the simplest level of raising can be achieved. This is much better than cultivating the land to serve crops. Much easier.
"If you are willing to raise deer, then we can talk about larger and longer-term cooperation, and you will get more benefits." Anxi spared no effort to persuade the native representatives to accept his proposal.
After listening to the translation, the native representative only asked one sentence: "Can we get more pig iron, fine salt, fine wine and transparent crystal bowls?"
"Yes, of course!" Anxi responded with a smile: "Believe me, you will get far more than this. Raising deer will help you live a better life in the future."
Seeing the native representatives leave with satisfaction holding two jars of "Sanya Special Wine" presented by Anxi, Chen Yixin not only sighed: "These people are really honest, but they agreed without continuing to bargain."
"What they care about is not the unit price of the deerskin, but how much the deerskin they provide can be exchanged for." Anxi explained: "If the deerskin they provide at one time can be exchanged for a bottle of deerskin for everyone in the club, wine, then they probably won’t care whether the bottle of wine was exchanged for four or five deer skins.”
"This is the tragedy of not having a math teacher." Chen Yixin couldn't help but joke.
"So we just need to let them know that raising deer is more cost-effective than the way they hunt deer now." Anxi continued: "If the Ajia Society can cooperate with us, it will be a good start here. It will be relatively easy to contact other indigenous tribes.”
After the theft gang was publicly dealt with, the security situation in the immigration camp improved significantly. After all, petty theft will result in three and a half years of hard labor. If someone commits other crimes, the sentence will probably be even more serious. No one will be willing to take the risk of being sent to hard labor to offend the sea. Various decrees promulgated by the Han government.
Almost at the same time, Qian Tiandun and Li Dou also met with visitors from Fujian at the command center of the Penghu base. The envoy who came to Penghu this time was Dong Yanyun, who had dealt with the Haihan people for several years, and was also one of Xu Xinsu's most trusted confidants. After Qian Tiandun came to Fujian last year, he had dealt with him many times, and Li Dou had known Mr. Dong as early as Wanshan Port, so they were all familiar with each other.
The main purpose of Dong Yanyun's visit to Penghu this time was to discuss the development of Taiwan Island with Haihan.
It is impossible to expect Haihan's actions on the Taiwan coast to be completely hidden from the Fujian officials. Not only in Penghu, there are also people on the island of Taiwan who provide information to the Fujian officials. Not two days after Qian Tiandun returned from his first expedition to Zhuoshui Creek, Fujian already knew that the Haihan militia had visited Taiwan Island. Of course, it is difficult to make a clear judgment based on just a few pieces of information as to whether this kind of action is part of daily training or has other motives. It is not easy for Fujian to question Haihan on this.
Although Xu Xinsu did not say anything after receiving the news, she immediately increased her attention to the movements of the Penghu garrison. Of course, this kind of attention is not out of hostility. Xu Xinsu also knows that the Haihan people in Fujian have their own needs and will not do anything against them. He just wanted to make sure that the reason why the Haihan people did not take the initiative to inform him was not because they planned to abandon their partners and go it alone.
The Haihan people have a certain obsession with the island of Taiwan, and Xu Xinsu is very clear about this. Since the Haihan people established an office in Fujian, they have never stopped collecting intelligence on Taiwan Island. Their interest in Taiwan was even greater than that of Penghu, which was occupied by Shibazhi at the time. Judging from the colonial experience of the Haihan people in Hainan Island, Xu Xinsu is almost certain that they will attack Taiwan sooner or later.
However, Xu Xinsu believed that the Haihan people would not be so broad-minded as to allow the Dutch stronghold to continue to exist on Taiwan Island. After all, there was no way they would allow others to snore next to the couch. Even a blind person could see that the Haihan people wanted to control the Strait waterways, and Now the only stumbling block and thorn in the side is the Dutch in Taiyuan Port. Before Haihan takes action on Taiwan Island, he will probably find an excuse to fight a war to drive the Dutch away from the west coast of Taiwan. Xu Xinsu believed that the Haihan people had the ability to expel the Dutch, but the Penghu base had just been built, and the Haihan people did not have a solid foundation there, so he believed that even if the Haihan people wanted to take action, they would probably wait for an opportunity to make more progress. When it matures, say one or two years later.
The training situation of the Haihan Militia Corps stationed in Penghu in the past few months seems to have confirmed Xu Xinsu's suspicion from the side, because the training range of the Haihan Militia Army is almost concentrated within ten nautical miles around Penghu, and it has never deliberately approached Taiwan. The west coast seemed to be cautiously keeping a safe distance from the Dutch's sphere of influence.
However, the news that Qian Tiandun led his troops to land on Taiwan Island instantly changed the situation. Although Zhuoshui River is still some distance away from Taiyuan Port, Qian Tiandun's action can still be easily understood as a demonstration, even in the eyes of Xu Xinsu It may become a precursor to the attack on Taiyuan Port.
The island of Taiwan is not currently a legal territory of the Ming Dynasty. Historically, it was not until 1662 that the Dutch signed a sovereignty transfer agreement with Zheng Chenggong due to their defeat in the war, making the island officially belong to China. However, if there is an opportunity to set foot on the island of Taiwan, even if it is only a nominal rule, the ever-lasting fame of opening up new territories will still be extremely tempting to Xu Xinsu. Just like Penghu now nominally belongs to the Ming Dynasty, but the actual control belongs to Haihan, the Haihan people have benefited, and Xu Xinsu has also received awards from the court for recovering the territory. If he had the opportunity to apply this method to Taiwan, then this credit might be enough for him to be promoted three levels in a row to become a high-ranking official in the Ministry of War in the capital.
Regardless of whether the Haihan people wanted to drive away the Dutch first, or wanted to open a new port, Xu Xinsu was willing to stand by Haihan in both public and private matters. If there is a war, Xu Xinsu is willing to send troops, money and food, and he can also get some military exploits besides training. If you want to build a new port, then work with the Haihan people to see if you can get more benefits for yourself.
According to the cooperation agreement between the two parties, the Fujian military has always stationed a small number of military observers on Penghu Island. Therefore, the second time Qian Tiandun led the main force of the fleet stationed on the island, he did not escape the eyes of these eyes. However, due to certain confidentiality measures taken by Haihan, Xu Xinsu's people did not know the true destination of the fleet. It was not until a few days after the fleet returned that more precise news was sent to Zhangzhou, saying that they Headed to Taimuang Port and had brief contact with the Dutch.
A fully armed fleet went to the waters of Damuan Port and stayed for several days. Xu Xinsu no longer believed that this was part of routine training. In his opinion, this is actually a manifestation of the Haihan people showing their fangs to threaten the Dutch. If the Dutch in Taiyuan Port cannot control their emotions well, then maybe Haihan really may end up fighting after a disagreement. The war started.
After confirming that the news was true, Xu Xinsu asked Xu Jiaqi, the representative in Penghu, to talk to Haihan. At this time, Qian Tiandun no longer concealed the truth and made it clear that he was preparing to open a port on the island of Taiwan. As for the reason why he led his troops to Damuan Port, Qian Tiandun said lightly that he was just going to negotiate conditions with the Dutch so that they would not affect Haihan's plan.
Xu Xinsu didn't know how Qian Tiandun managed to defeat the Dutch, nor did he know what conditions were negotiated between the two families, but he could judge that since Qian Tiandun expressed his attitude in this way, it meant that Haihan Probably no force will be used to deal with the Dutch - at least there should be no changes in a short period of time, otherwise Haihan will not be able to safely and boldly transport immigrants to settle on the island of Taiwan.
Xu Xinsu would not just be a bystander and miss this good opportunity to get involved. Although it is still unclear where the Haihan people have chosen to build the port and the future development direction, he can be sure that from the Haihan people's perspective, they will never make a loss-making business. No matter what the Haihan people want to do on the island of Taiwan, it is always right to take this boat first. So after Xu Xinsu confirmed the news, he sent Dong Yanyun to discuss matters related to the development of Taiwan with Haihan on his behalf.
Before coming, Dong Yanyun thought that with the close cooperation between the two parties in recent years, this negotiation should be a relatively smooth process, and the reasonable requirements of Fujian officials should be met. But the actual situation is that the attitude of the Haihan people this time is indescribably awkward. Almost all of Dong Yanyun's requests in the previous two days of negotiations were rejected.
"Mr. Dong, it is impossible for the port we built on Taiwan Island to be assigned to the Ming Dynasty, even in name only. This island is different from other places. It did not belong to the Ming Dynasty in the past and will not belong to the Ming Dynasty in the future. ." Qian Tiandun's attitude was quite tough and he once again rejected Dong Yanyun's proposal.
Dong Yanyun can roughly understand what he means by "other places". Except for a few colonies in Annan, almost all the territory Haihan currently occupies is Ming Dynasty territory, and they have indeed never publicly claimed it. These places no longer belong to the Ming Dynasty, which can be regarded as saving a little face of the Ming Dynasty. Officials in the Fuguang area generally believe that this is Haihan's "respect" for the Ming Dynasty. But Qian Tiandun's attitude also seems to draw a line for such "respect", that is, these territories at least once belonged to the Ming Dynasty before they could sit down and discuss the nominal and actual ownership rights, while Taiwan Island has never been formally owned. Over the Ming Dynasty's overseas enclaves, Haihan will refuse to negotiate ownership rights.
But knowing it all, Dong Yanyun still refused to give up. After all, this was an important matter that Xu Xinsu had warned him several times before setting off. Whether the master will have the opportunity to join the Ministry of War in the future depends to a certain extent on the outcome of his negotiations with the Haihan people.
Dong Yanyun pondered for a moment before responding: "The ownership of Taiwan Island will actually play a key role in Mr. Xu's future career advancement. Haihan has spared no effort to help Mr. Xu in the past few years. I hope If this practice can continue, I believe it will be of great benefit to Haihan if Mr. Xu can achieve great success and rise above the imperial court."
(End of chapter)