Chapter 826 Reporting the situation
Compared with rifles, what is really difficult to imitate are heavy artillery and Haihan warships with higher technical content. The material processing and casting technology of heavy artillery were insurmountable technical obstacles for the military craftsmen of the Ming Dynasty. Even with the lower-tech quantitative powder bags and flame tubes, the imitations made by the Ming Dynasty could not reach the level. To the genuine use effect. If Xu Jiaqi was lucky enough to see the artillery battle between the Haihan Army outside two Spanish castles in Taipei, he would further realize that although the artillery equipped by both sides looked the same, their performance on the battlefield was the same as that of rifles. , there is an obvious generation difference between the two.
As for warships, they are less difficult to imitate than muskets and artillery. An experienced shipwright can spend time figuring out the structure of the hull and deducing a rough shipbuilding method. However, the large number of metal structural parts used in the ribs of the Haihan warship to reinforce the hull, as well as Haihan's unique steel core mast, are parts that are difficult to build by the Ming Dynasty Shipyard. In addition, it is widely used on the Haihan warship. The steering wheel system was originally supposed to be invented by the Dutch in the next century. It has a special anti-disassembly device. As long as it is disassembled by force, the gear transmission system inside will be destroyed. Therefore, imitation can only be done at most. It can imitate its shape, but for these black technologies that are beyond the times, the shipbuilders of the Ming Dynasty racked their brains and could not figure out how to copy them.
Since it cannot be copied, the final solution is to buy it with money. The Fujian Ming Army's arms purchase contracts have always been handled personally by Xu Xinsu. The content and price of the purchased arms are discussed directly with Haihan's senior officials, and no one else can get involved. However, the inspection and handover matters were handled by his trusted generals. In the past, the handover of arms between the two parties usually took place in Sanya or Zhangzhou, depending on how the freight was handled in the contract. After the Haihan people occupied Penghu, they took the initiative to change the trading location to Penghu. The people responsible for receiving the goods from the Ming army were naturally the military observers stationed here.
For Xu Jiaqi, this is really a lucrative job. Every time there is an arms transfer, he will receive a red envelope from Haihan privately - a brand new Haihan Bank bearer banknote. The amount depends on the value of the goods handed over. It depends, but since Xu Jiaqi took over this matter, the red envelope has never been less than one thousand taels. This is much easier than living on empty pay and drinking soldiers' blood. At the beginning of the year, a batch of Haihan artillery worth more than 300,000 taels of silver and two Haihan warships were delivered here, and the Haihan people immediately blocked them. A red envelope of five thousand taels of silver was given to Xu Jiaqi, which was extremely generous.
Xu Jiaqi took the money, and of course he quickly signed the relevant documents to receive the goods with understanding, and asked Zhangzhou to pay the money to Haihan Bank - in fact, the money had already been deposited in it, and it was just a formality to make an account. But for Haihan, the faster the delivery time is, the less likely it is to have extraneous problems and the fewer related expenses incurred. A certain amount of expenses are paid in this link in exchange for a smooth handover result. It can’t be said that it was a disadvantage for Haihan.
Xu Jiaqi lived a peaceful life here, collected his money well, and as time went on, he could become brothers with Qian Tiandun and other senior Haihan officers. At the same time, he was gilding his military career. Military observers are indeed a wonderful job.
After being together for a long time, Xu Jiaqi could also feel that the Haihan people did not have any hostility towards Daming, but their view of Daming was not filled with awe, or even more of a condescending perspective. Qian Tiandun expressed his opinion more than once in informal settings such as the wine table, believing that the Ming Dynasty was full of various difficult-to-solve problems, and the root of these problems lay in the Ming Dynasty's political system.
Regarding such "rebellious and unethical" remarks, Xu Jiaqi would not make any reaction or comment even if he drank too much, because he could feel that although the Haihan people could not see the various problems of the Ming Dynasty, they were willing to help in their own way. Daming solved the problem. Driving away Shibazhi, accepting northern refugees, selling arms, and training officers for the Fujian Ming Army. Although Haihan took these measures out of his own interests, they did help the Ming Dynasty alleviate the military tension in the southeastern seaboard to a certain extent. Stress and social problems arising from civil unrest in the North.
Of course, out of duty considerations, Xu Jiaqi would regularly report the attitude and opinions of the Haihan people to his uncle Xu Xinsu, so that he could take care of the many businesses under the Xu family's name with peace of mind. Although Xu Xinsu holds the title of Fujian General Soldier, he is mainly responsible for making decisions at critical moments. Specific matters in the army are basically left to trusted officers. Xu Xinsu only needed to know the general situation and movements of Haihan's troops stationed near Fujian, and make sure they would not cause harm to the Ming Dynasty. As for purchasing a large amount of armaments from Haihan every year, there was indeed an actual need to expand the strength to resist the Eighteen Zhizhi in the past. However, after Haihan drove away the Eighteenth Zhi and suppressed the Dutch, the coastal areas of Fujian are no longer as huge as they used to be. Defense pressure, such a transaction has become more like the protection fee paid regularly by the Fujian Ming Army to Haihan.
However, for the business empire under Xu Xinsu's name, although this expense is not a small amount, it is not enough to make him feel painful. Besides, the money spent was not in vain. The Fujian Ming Army has indeed enriched its combat power, and the Haihan people will continue to maintain a military base in Penghu to provide a certain degree of protection for the Fujian coast. Of course, the most important thing is the bilateral trade brought about by the military trade, which is enough for Fujian to earn back the money spent on Haihan from other places in the Ming Dynasty in doubled amounts. As long as this trade system can operate well and continue to bring benefits to Xu Xinsu's business empire, he also believes that spending money to maintain the current relationship between the two armies is a price worth paying.
Under this general background framework, it is not a big deal for handlers like Xu Jiaqi to obtain some personal benefits from military trade activities. Even if Xu Xinsu knew about it, he would definitely turn a blind eye to it. After all, he also needs specialized personnel to handle the relationship with the Haihan military. If he replaces the existing personnel for a small profit, It may affect the relationship between the two parties for a period of time. If this is weighed on the scale in Xu Xinsu's heart, it must be more than the gain is worth the loss - a lot of money has been spent, why do you still care about this?
Of course, this kind of leisurely life is occasionally disrupted. For example, Xu Jiaqi had just gotten up and had not eaten breakfast when he received a message from Qian Tiandun, inviting him to the base headquarters for a talk. .
Usually military observers from the Ming Dynasty are invited to meet at the headquarters, and these are more formal matters that require communication. As for a temporary meeting like this that has not been scheduled in advance, there may be an unexpected incident. Xu Jiaqi didn't dare to put on any airs, so he quickly packed up, took a few personal guards and rushed to the Haihan headquarters.
"General Qian sent people to recruit the generals early in the morning. Is there an urgent military situation?" After seeing Qian Tiandun, Xu Jiaqi asked straight to the point.
"There is indeed military information that I want to report to you." Qian Tiandun saw Xu Jiaqi's face becoming nervous, and immediately smiled and said: "Don't worry, General Xu, it's not Shiba Zhi who has come back."
For the generals of the Ming army in Fujian, Shibazhi was undoubtedly a nightmare that had troubled them for many years. Even in the later stages of the war, the Ming army, supported by Haihan, gradually took the initiative and even forced Shibazhi to withdraw its scope of activities. , voluntarily giving up the control area on the Fujian coast, it is still difficult to completely alleviate the psychological shadow caused by the long-term beatings of the Ming army. Even though the Haihan Army took the initiative to drive the Eighteen Zhi completely out of the Fujian Strait last year, senior officers like Xu Jiaqi still have some bad memories of the Eighteen Zhi. At the slightest sign of trouble, they will first think of the Eighteen Zhi. On Chi. Xu Jiaqiang smiled and said: "General Qian is joking, thinking that the thieves of Shibazhi were killed by the coalition forces last year and abandoned their armor and fled. They didn't even want to live in their hometown. In just one year, what happened to them? If you dare to come back and die! With your army stationed in Penghu, Fujian will have no worries about coastal defense!”
Qian Tiandun accepted the flattery from Xu Jiaqi calmly and continued: "We invite General Xu to come for a meeting today mainly for two reasons. First, our army has officially launched an attack on the Kingdom of Spain, the Ming Dynasty, a few days ago. The second thing is that our army has conquered two armed strongholds built by the Spanish in the northern part of Taiwan Island and completely driven them out of Taiwan Island."
Xu Jiaqi's expression at this moment could only be described as dumbfounded. He never imagined that Qian Tiandun would come to him to deliver such news. To be honest, the war between the Haihan people and the Folangji people had no impact on the Ming Dynasty. As for seizing the opponent's stronghold in the northern part of Taiwan Island, it had no direct relationship with the Ming Dynasty. What surprised Xu Jiaqi was that the Haihan people suddenly declared war on the Folangji people and launched an attack without any warning. They also captured the opponent's fortress in a very short period of time and expelled them from Taiwan. island.
In fact, Xu Jiaqi had heard a little bit about the Folangji people building a colonial stronghold in the northern part of Taiwan Island. The Xu family's maritime trade business has been extremely prosperous. Not to mention the Folangji people living in Taiwan, even the city of Manila in Luzon has always had business contacts. Therefore, Xu Jiaqi has no doubts about the strength of the Folangji people. There is still a certain understanding. Although they are not necessarily stronger than the Haihan people, they are at least on the same level as the red-haired people in Danyuan Port. I had heard before that the red-haired people had launched attacks on the Folangji stronghold in the north more than once, but they all returned without success, which shows that the local stronghold is not that easy to deal with.
However, this does not seem to be a big problem for the Haihan people. According to Xu Jiaqi's observation records, the main force of the Haihan fleet stationed in Penghu should have left the port about ten days ago. At that time, they left in the name of going to sea for training. There are also the main forces of the special operations battalion. Although Xu Jiaqi had a little doubt at the time whether the Haihan people's daily training was too intense, he quickly put the matter behind him. Looking back at this moment, it seems that the armed forces leaving the port headed directly to the north. However, Qian Tiandun never left during this period, but Gao Qiaonan had disappeared for many days. Thinking about it, it was Gao Qiaonan who should have commanded this military operation on the front line.
But in just ten days, the Haihan people not only conquered the two strongholds of the Folangji people, but even expelled all the people from Taiwan Island. The speed of this battle was too fast. We must know that Nan Juyi, the governor of Fujian, led the Ming army to besiege the red-haired people in Penghu. They fought with ten thousand against nine hundred for seven months and spent hundreds of thousands of silver before finally driving the red-haired people out. to Penghu. The strength of the Folangji people is no worse than that of the red-haired people, and they have been operating in the northern part of Taiwan Island for several years. Under Haihan's offensive, they did not survive even half a month. This gap really made Xu Jiaqi Surprised.
Perhaps due to confidentiality considerations, or perhaps because he did not intend to let the Ming army intervene in this matter, Haihan had not informed the Ming army about this before. Today, Qian Tiandun's calm and straightforward explanation can be regarded as a warning to the Ming army. Official notification from the military. Although it was a little late, it was still notified after all, which can be regarded as a kind of respect for the military allies.
Xu Jiaqi was not a loser. After the initial surprise, he quickly remembered that Haihan had previously sent a fleet to frighten the red-haired people in Damuan Port, and opened a port to build a port city in Kaohsiung Port. Now that the potential opponents in the north have been quietly bulldozed, there is no longer a formed force on the entire island of Taiwan that can compete with Haihan. In other words, Haihan has actually obtained actual control of Taiwan Island.
Xu Jiaqi certainly knew how big Taiwan was. From the time the Haihan people landed on the island to survey more than half a year ago, to the occupation of Kaohsiung, and now even Taipei, the time it took the Haihan people to acquire this land was only half a year. It's just up and down. The speed of opening up territories is indeed quite fast. Since the Ming Dynasty did not include Taiwan Island under its rule, the Fujian government would not have any objection to the control of the Haihan people - even if it did, it would be useless, after all, strength speaks for itself.
For Ming Dynasty, Haihan's occupation of Taiwan Island was actually a good thing to a certain extent. This meant that it held up a huge protective umbrella for Ming Dynasty on the southeast coast. If there is a powerful foreign force that wants to invade from the sea in the future, Daming, then you must first pass the Haihan level.
Xu Jiaqi quickly got over his surprise and congratulated Qian Tiandun with a smile: "Congratulations to General Qian for his military exploits! Congratulations to Haihan for gaining new land!"
"Same joy!" Qian Tiandun also bowed his hands and said in return: "Taiwan Island is so big, and the space for development is also large enough. If the Fujian government is interested, it can also participate in the development of Taiwan Island. How about Kaohsiung Port? You can do it in other places and follow the rules and make a fortune together!”
(End of chapter)