Chapter 833 Candidate
"Sure enough, there is a hidden trick!" Shi Diwen sighed secretly in his heart. Although both the military and the Ministry of Security believe that the old fox Xu Xinsu may have buried nails in Zhejiang, there has never been any solid evidence. It was only then that Xu Xinsu took the initiative to speak out, confirming Haihan's previous guess. Now that Xu Xinsu showed his cards, Shi Diwen no longer had to worry about making excuses, which saved a lot of trouble.
Then I heard Xu Xinsu continue to say: "The year I ascended the throne, I had already decided to give up business and join politics, hoping to use my official career to protect my Xu family. But because the starting point was too low at that time, it was already difficult to get a general position. It was not easy, and there was no hope of future promotion. I had nothing to rely on at that time, only gold and silver. After thinking about it, I finally selected a few young people from the clan, changed their names, and went to Zhejiang to do business, study, become officials, and join the army. Now seven or eight years have passed, and some of them have joined the army. It’s already starting to make a difference and may come in handy in your plans.”
Shi Diwen thought that this big smuggler sent his younger brother to go ashore and lurk, and even entered the army and government. Why does it sound a bit like the plot of Infernal Affairs? However, Xu Xinsu's calculation was really good. As he was facing Zheng Zhilong's pursuit at that time, he was already in a precarious situation. It was indeed difficult to rely on such a low-level military position as the chief to save the entire family and related industries. At that time, Haihan had not yet Showing the power to turn things around is not a real boost to him. Although Xu Xinsu's method cannot completely solve the current crisis, it can spread the risks and greatly reduce the possibility of the family being copied by Shibazhi. Once the limelight passes, the people in Zhejiang might still have a chance to stand out and start a new career for the Xu family.
Of course, Xu Xinsu was extremely unoptimistic about the future situation at that time, so she came up with such a way to try to preserve the Xu family bloodline. But what he didn't expect was that the situation in Fujian would soon change, and mysterious forces from overseas would come to him and ask for military assistance. At first, hundreds of matchlock guns and a few small cannons were sent, but later they gradually supplied many "advanced weapons" to Xu Xinsu, and guided the navy led by Xu Xinsu in several victorious battles like a prophet of the unknown. , the military merits accumulated from this allowed him to be promoted one after another like a rocket. With the record of a victorious general, he was promoted from the commander-in-chief to the commander-in-chief of a province.
On the other hand, under the leadership of Haihan, maritime trade, which Xu Xinsu was already good at, also flourished. The large amount of industrial products imported from Haihan allowed the business organization under Xu's name to quickly occupy the Fujian market through exclusive agency, and even had the ability to export some products to neighboring provinces. It is difficult for Xu Xinsu to calculate the specific amount of money he has made using this kind of operation in the past few years, but one thing is certain. The profits he made by cooperating with Haihan people are much higher than those he made in the past with Hongmao. During the period when he was a smuggler between the people, the French people, Japan, Ryukyu and other parties, he was much more assured than his previous collaborators. Haihan's strength was unfathomable. Even now, Xu Xinsu still can't understand it. How many good things do these overseas visitors have that they have yet to reveal?
The Haihan people are not satisfied with living in a corner. The pace of expansion has accelerated in the past two or three years, and Xu Xinsu has seen it. Fortunately, Haihan doesn’t seem to have much interest in invading the Ming Dynasty. Instead, he focuses on controlling the coastline of the Ming Dynasty and implanting such influence into trade and immigration to continuously obtain wealth from the Ming Dynasty. and population. Xu Xinsu understood that Haihan's method was actually sucking blood from Daming, but as an official who started as a businessman, he did not dislike Haihan's approach. After all, when he was still doing smuggling business, what he was doing was of the same nature.
Now that Haihan is about to enter Zhejiang, Xu Xinsu feels that this is another opportunity to take off. If used well, the cooperation form in Fujian can be copied to Zhejiang in the future - Haihan controls the power of sea passage, and Xu Xinsu The business organization under his name is responsible for underwriting Haihan's products in Zhejiang and assisting Haihan in obtaining various resources they want from the various states in Zhejiang. Of course, to join this game, you must first show your bargaining chip in exchange for the trust of the Haihan people. Xu Xinsu's bargaining chip is the connections he established in Zhejiang back then. This is also his greatest sincerity.
"I have people from Ningbo Prefecture, Hangzhou Prefecture, Shaoxing Prefecture, and Jiaxing Prefecture. However, General Lao Shi has to explain how to cooperate with your actions." Xu Xinsu was not an energy-saving lamp, so he only gave a few instructions. In a few words, the identities of these people were not elaborated. The meaning is also very clear, my cards have been shown, it is time to show the cards in your hand.
Before Shi Diwen set off, the staff department had indeed formulated several action plans. How to implement them depends on the local situation in Zhejiang. But when the staff department made the plan, they did not take into account the people Xu Xinsu arranged to lurk in Zhejiang. Shi Diwen came here to negotiate, which was actually more or less improvised. The conditions that Xu Xinsu can provide are a huge variable for Haihan's original plan. Such a situation was not even considered in the emergency plan. Now he wants Shi Diwen to explain Haihan's action plan. solved a big problem.
Shi Diwen thought for a while before responding: "Our original plan was to talk to the local government first. We would send troops to help the locals suppress bandits, and the locals would open their markets to us and provide necessary supplies. Of course, it would be best if this deal could be negotiated. Well, if we can't talk, we have no choice but to use force. According to our previous understanding, the local navy's combat effectiveness is very low, so we don't intend to consider their feelings. When it's time to take action, we will directly clean up the pirates outside Hangzhou Bay. . Of course, we will not invade the mainland. At most, we will find an island with suitable conditions to settle in the Zhoushan Islands and sell various products produced in Haihan to the local market. However, after we understand the local situation, we found that we need to do it. It will be very difficult to reach this level, and the local government may not want us to settle there.”
"This problem does exist in Zhejiang. Your appearance will affect the interests of many people. Not everyone will welcome your arrival." Xu Xinsu nodded in agreement with Shi Diwen's point of view.
"So I'm thinking that since no one in the local area may be willing to welcome our presence, we should find a way to cultivate some fans ourselves. Whether they are people in the officialdom or business people, we can provide a lot of resources. , help them get promoted and make a fortune, and enhance their influence in the local area." Shi Diwen spoke very slowly, thinking about his words as he spoke: "But if it is someone who has no foundation, this process may take longer. , and there will be many variables in the process, so we hope to get some recommended candidates so that we can formulate specific plans in a more targeted manner so that the people we support can be in place as soon as possible.”
"In this case, I suddenly feel that the pressure on me is a lot heavier!" Xu Xinsu responded contentedly. Shi Diwen's words have basically stated his attitude. Haihan will support Xu Xinsu's people. As for how strong the support will be, it depends on how capable Xu Xinsu's people are.
"Of course we can trust the candidates recommended by Mr. Xu personally. We also hope that Mr. Xu can trust us. If your identity is exposed because of this, we will do our best to ensure his personal safety. If this affects his career or causes... If there is any financial loss, we will also provide corresponding compensation." Shi Diwen continued: "If necessary, I can sign a written commitment on behalf of the executive committee."
"General Shi's words are too outrageous! You and I have always trusted each other and cooperated very happily. There is no need to sign a written commitment for such trivial matters!" Xu Xinsu also knows how to give up when things are good. All he wanted was for Shi Diwen to express his attitude on behalf of Haihan. As for the commitment on paper, it was actually unnecessary for both parties. Xu Xinsu still remembered that when she met Ning Qi two years ago, she heard him say something very philosophical - agreements written on paper are ultimately meant to be torn up. The purpose of these descendants of the Xu family who are scattered throughout Zhejiang and remain anonymous is to help the Xu family in times of crisis. Therefore, when Xu Xinsu asks them to serve, these people should not resist the order from the family head. What's more, this operation is guaranteed by the strong support of Haihan, which is enough to add a lot of confidence to the children of the Xu family.
The two sides quickly agreed on a general framework and agreed on the direction of action. The next thing is to finalize specific candidates one by one. There are certain difficulties in doing this. First of all, the situation of the person concerned only comes from Xu Xinsu’s verbal introduction. Shi Diwen must not be able to see anyone now, and Xu Xinsu’s subjective views are likely to affect Hai. It is almost inevitable for Han to have biased impressions in his judgment of the parties concerned. Secondly, the parties involved are all in Zhejiang, and there is no way to know their thoughts and attitudes on this matter now. Although these people all come from the Xu family, it is really difficult to determine whether the changes in living environment have affected their mentality after so many years.
Xu Xinsu did not reveal all the cards in his hand at once. When Shi Diwen asked about a certain field, he would tell whether anyone among the people he arranged was involved in this field. The conversation lasted until late at night, and Xu Xinsu introduced a total of three people.
These three people all entered the officialdom and were both civilized and military. The literary one was a county magistrate in a county in Ningbo. Among the two military ones, one became the chief of the police in Hangzhou Prefecture, and the other was a naval officer in Ningbo Prefecture. Being appointed as the general manager is at the same level as the starting point of Xu Xinsu's official career.
Shi Diwen was somewhat interested in this naval commander, because in Xu Yuzhuo's description, the naval commander of Ningbo Mansion was completely incompetent in the entire Ming Dynasty. Of course, this incompetence is not only due to its low combat effectiveness. A large part of the reason is that there are many gray interest chains between the Ningbo Navy and the pirate gangs in the Zhoushan Islands. Instead of becoming a fist against pirates, they act as a protective umbrella for pirates. Role. In the eyes of the Fujian navy, which had successfully expelled Shibazhi, this performance was naturally extremely incompetent.
Shi Diwen didn't expect this young man from the Xu family to be very capable. He just wanted to use this person to understand the conflict of interests between the Ningbo Navy and the pirates, so as to find a way to break up this chain of interests. Of course, if this person is strong enough and courageous enough, Haihan can also find a way to support him to a higher position, and even give him glory and wealth.
But when talking about the later part, Shi Diwen realized that Xu Xinsu's energy could no longer hold up and his concentration began to lose focus. This must have been caused by his age and fatigue from running around for a day. So Shi Diwen took the initiative to end the conversation and made an appointment with Xu Xinsu to continue the conversation the next day.
During the meeting the next morning, Xu Yuzhuo did not appear again. Shi Diwen thought that he should go to prepare for subsequent actions. Xu Xinsu continued the topic from last night and continued to introduce her troops lurking in Zhejiang. Shi Diwen turned his inquiry to the business community today, and Xu Xinsu provided him with two candidates.
One of them is engaged in silk business in Hangzhou and has a silk and satin shop in Fucheng. Almost all the Hangzhou silk that Haihan purchased from the mainland came from the silk and satin shop run by this man. Another person is engaged in aquatic products trading in Ningbo Prefecture. He has more than ten fishing boats and more than a hundred sailors under his name. The catches from the sea are mainly sold to local restaurants in Ningbo, and the business is pretty good.
Shi Diwen secretly marked this aquatic product seller in his mind. Since he has a ship in his name and often needs to go to sea, he must be familiar with the pirate situation in Zhoushan Islands. If there is a chance, he can talk to this person in advance. Make contact and collect some useful information from him.
Speaking of this, even though the identities of these people have been explained, Xu Xinsu still did not mention the real names of these people. Shi Diwen thought that Xu Xinsu might have to wait until Haihan came up with a specific action plan before Xu Xinsu would hand over all the information and let Haihan contact the person involved directly. Although Shi Diwen was a little dissatisfied with Xu Xinsu's caution, considering that these people were once the hope of the Xu family, Xu Xinsu's caution seemed to be understandable.
The two parties discussed this in secret for two days, and then jointly agreed on several candidates. Shi Diwen took the roster and returned to Penghu to continue discussing the action plan with Qian Tiandun, while Xu Xinsu secretly sent a messenger to Zhejiang to meet with the selected candidates. Contact several people.
(End of chapter)