Chapter 976 Heading to Changhua Port
Of course, it seems unfair to attribute these historical mistakes entirely to the improper command of former Governor-General Cohen. After all, during Cohen’s tenure, the East India Company’s primary goal was not to eradicate insignificant armed forces like Haihan, but also Many more important things are waiting for adventurers to complete. The Portuguese and Spanish colonists, also from Europe, were the Netherlands' most powerful competitors in the Far East at that time. With the strength of the East India Company, it is indeed impossible to allocate part of its energy to establish a new opponent for itself. But who would have thought that it only took Haihan a few years to develop from scratch into the most powerful armed force in the South China Sea? This unreasonable situation is indeed difficult to make an accurate prediction several years ago.
As for the bureaucrats in the Batavia Council, most of them are just interest agents sent to the Far East by major shareholders in Europe. What they pursue is purely economic gains and they are not willing to accept combat operations. For the required military expenditures, even if they were fighting against Portugal, Spain and the Ming Dynasty, they would first consider whether they would obtain direct benefits after the war, rather than the long-term impact of the outcome of the war. For these people, it would be better not to do such a thankless task as fighting Haihan. It would be more cost-effective to save military expenses and purchase several hundred more loads of raw silk.
Van Diemen naturally had some personal ambitions that he wanted to realize after succeeding to the governorship, but the post-war reconstruction project of Batavia greatly slowed down his development plan for the East India Company, and most of the funds and Resources can only be invested in Batavia first, otherwise the foundation of the East India Company's rule in the Far East will be somewhat unstable. The speed of development and expansion of Heihan during this period can only be described as rapid. When the Dutch had not recovered from the last battle with Madrid and the Blue Country, they found that Heihan had become silent. Silently, he extended his tentacles to the door of his house. Although Van Diemen did not like Haihan, he was a very pragmatic person. After it became clear that he could not defeat Haihan by force, he endured the humiliation and chose to compromise, hoping to buy time for the East India Company to recover. , adjust the direction of development, and then seek opportunities to compete with Haihan.
The Haihan people were willing to arrange such an inspection trip around the island for Van Diemen. To be honest, he was surprised. After all, this was equivalent to exposing his own strength to the competitor of the East India Company. Van Diemen knew that the value of the information he gained during this trip was immeasurable. If he only relied on the intelligence agencies affiliated to the East India Company, it would not necessarily be possible to achieve the same effect even if it took ten years. Van Diemen very much hopes to use this inspection to more accurately assess the strength of the Haihans, and to find out their possible weaknesses in politics, military, economy, and people's livelihood, so that they can be exploited when launching counterattacks in the future.
However, after Van Diemen visited Yacheng and Yinggehai, he discovered that the East India Company's weakness against Haihan was not just military, but a frustrating all-round backwardness. In comparison, Haihan's soft power in social management, organizational production, transportation and sales seems to be more difficult to catch up with than its advantages in the military field. Over time, Van Diemen was confident that he could retrain an army with a tough fighting style, but he was not sure that the East India Company's business system would reach the level of operation of Haihan.
"Mr. Van Diemen, if the East India Company is interested, we can consider finding a suitable coast on Java Island to build a Haihan-style salt farm to introduce high-quality and cheap salt to the local market. With your company's local commercial distribution Channel, it must not be difficult to profit from it." Anxi's words suddenly brought Van Diemen out of his thoughts. He did not expect that the other party would take the initiative to bring up this matter, and he also planned to bring the East India Company into the group. .
For a while, Van Diemen couldn't figure out whether this kind of cooperation would be more harmful or beneficial to the East India Company, but his fear of Haihan prevented him from agreeing to Anxi's invitation at the moment. The business acumen of the Haihan people was well known, but Van Diemen was not sure what hidden tricks were hidden behind the attractive trading conditions. After this opening is opened, Haihan products are likely to flood into the Southeast Asia market that originally belonged to the East India Company like a scourge. By then, the Batavia authorities may not be able to come up with any effective measures to stabilize the market.
"Mr. Anzai's proposal is good, but I can't make a decision here right away. An important trade agreement like this requires the company's council to discuss and vote on the process. When I go back, I will let the council study this proposal carefully. Let’s see if we can find a way to cooperate that makes both of us feel reasonable.” Van Diemen’s words were very tactful, and he was noncommittal about the feasibility of this business, but he had a good sense of proportion.
Anxi spread his hands slightly disappointedly and said: "Okay, we will wait for your reply. But I must remind you that there are many people who want to be our agents in Nanyang. If the East India Company gives up this opportunity, it will really miss it. A great business opportunity.”
Fan Diemen thought it was hard to tell whether this was a business opportunity or a crisis. Haihan's initial business activities in places like Guangdong, Guangxi and Annan started with the salt industry, and he even forced his way into the market by dumping at unprofitable low prices. However, it almost controls most of the local import and export trade, and the income earned is much greater than selling salt. Nanyang's business form is far more primitive than that of the Ming Dynasty, and it is even less resistant to Haihan's endless business methods. Once Haihan enters this market, it is estimated that the difficulty of obtaining control will be much lower than in previous regions.
If Haihan found other people to cooperate with him to enter Nanyang, Van Diemen would not be too afraid. The East India Company had been operating in Nanyang for more than ten years, and its distribution channels were far from comparable to others. Even Haihan people knew this very well. If someone else did the same thing, the effort required would be several times greater, so Anxi tried to persuade Van Diemen to join the business of selling Haihan salt.
During his visit to the salt farm, Van Diemen noticed that ships were constantly coming in and out of Yinggehai Harbor, and mountains of salt were piled up on the shipping dock. Although it is unclear where the next stop of these salt ships will be, judging from the frequency of ships entering and leaving the port, business here is indeed quite good. Anxi boasted that the salt here could supply the needs of Guangdong, Guangxi and northern Annan, but it didn't seem like he was bragging.
Anxi's inspection work had actually ended before Ningqi and Van Diemen arrived, but in order to brainwash the Dutch, Anxi stayed and acted as a tour guide at the Yinggehai Salt Field for a day. Although Van Diemen was not persuaded in the end, Anxi at least convinced him of one thing - in the entire Far East, Haihan is the leader in salt production capacity, and the adjustment of the production capacity of his salt farm will even affect the production of other countries. Salt prices fluctuate.
However, Van Diemen's mind was not on the salt business. Haihan used advanced equipment such as steam engines to improve production efficiency in various production sites, which was what he cared about most. Although the Haihan people say that the production capacity of steam engines is seriously insufficient and cannot be exported, Van Diemen believes that this is just an excuse to paralyze himself. The gap in productivity between the two sides is bound to be further widened due to the promotion and application of this machinery. . Compared with this unstoppable trend, Haihan's attempt to use salt to open the Nanyang market does not seem so urgent.
Van Diemen's inspection trip in Yinggehai only lasted for most of a day and ended. The production model of Haihan Salt Farm cannot be copied, and it is even difficult to imitate it. In addition to confirming Haihan's terrifying salt production capacity, the inspection at this stop Apart from that, there seems to be nothing else to gain.
After bidding farewell to Anxi and leaving the Yinggehai Saltworks, Fan Diemen continued to take the "Speed" sailing boat to go north along the coast. His next stop was Changhua, a major industrial base on the west coast of Hainan Island.
The construction project of Shilu in Changhua started in June 1629. The land passage connecting the two places was completed in November 1630. The Shilu mine was officially put into operation in 1631. In the same year, Changhua's large smelting plant was gradually put into use. middle. Ore mined from the Shilu Mine is transported to Changhua via a dedicated freight railway, where it is then smelted. There are more than 10,000 employees in the local mining and smelting industries alone, and their scale is definitely second to none in the Far East. Van Diemen also knew through intelligence that Changhua was the main place where the Haihan people produced steel, but he lacked a deeper understanding of what level the Haihan people's smelting technology and production capacity had reached. And this time he had the opportunity to visit here in person, Van Diemen was finally able to witness the hard power of Haihan people in industry.
When he was still more than twenty nautical miles away from Changhua Port, Van Diemen could already see black smoke rising from the northeastern coast. It goes without saying that this is probably the smoke released from the chimney of the local blast furnace for smelting steel.
The fishing village of Changhua, which used to have only a few dozen households, has long since disappeared, replaced by a cargo terminal stretching for several miles at the mouth of the Changjiang River. When Van Diemen came here, he thought that this was not a trading port and that there would not be many ships coming and going. However, after arriving here, he discovered that his idea was completely wrong. The coal ships docked at the dock alone were at least three large and small. There are as many as forty ships. Moreover, there were a large number of merchant ships loading and unloading goods here, which made Van Diemen's eyes go straight.
These coal ships basically come from Annan Black Earth Port, transporting coal required for smelting from the local area to Changhua for unloading, and then loading some goods back to Annan. Therefore, these coal ships that travel to and from the Beibu Gulf all year round not only transport coal, but also carry out part of the task of transshipping other goods. Since these ships are almost empty when they return, they can earn a little by loading them, so the freight is also Relatively cheaper. As a result, many goods that need to be sent from Sanya and other places to northern Annan will be transported to Changhua Port for transshipment, and the freight will be much cheaper than transporting them to Annan by themselves. The freight terminal originally did not have commercial functions, but in actual operation it has gradually become a transshipment center on the west coast of Hainan Island.
And the cargo ships coming here are not only loading goods that need to be transferred to Annan. The permanent population of Changhua plus Shilu is more than 20,000, and the largest local output is only ore and steel. The food of so many people Almost all clothing and housing depend on external supplies. The food shipped here alone amounts to hundreds of tons every month, and the transportation capacity required for various daily necessities is by no means a small amount.
"We have several specialized fleets that are responsible for transporting daily necessities here every month." Ning Qi explained to Van Diemen: "In fact, nearly half of the cargo you see on these cargo ships is provided to the local area. , the rest is the part that is transferred to Annan through Changhua Port.”
Because it carries a relatively large volume of cargo transshipment, the docks at Changhua Port are obviously much busier than those at Yacheng and Yinggehai that Fan Diemen visited before. The number of dock workers is more than the first two places combined. Although it is not as good as Victory Port and Sanya Port, it is already quite prosperous for a non-trading port.
The person who came to the dock to receive Ning Qi and his party was Changhua District Director Qiao Zhiya. He had stayed here for several years and had not moved. He had not even participated in various military operations in the past two years and had basically given up. The military position was devoted to politics.
Still far away, Qiao Zhiya took the initiative to say hello: "Teacher Ning, there are only a few visitors, but you don't come to our place! How are you always?"
"It's good. You look pretty good, old Qiao!" Ning Qi laughed and shook hands with Qiao Zhiya tightly, then introduced Fan Diemen to him.
The itinerary arranged by the executive committee for Van Diemen had been notified by telegram in advance, so Qiao Zhiya did not express surprise at the arrival of the Dutchman and stepped forward to greet him. Qiao Zhiya was originally an ABC born in North America. Seeing the European face of Van Diemen, he naturally started to use English, and there was no communication barrier. Van Diemen was very surprised. Among the Haihan people he came into contact with, there were quite a few who could speak English fluently, and their proficiency far exceeded that of the Orientals he had come into contact with in the Far East. Is it possible that these people came to Before going to the Far East, had you lived in Europe for a long time?
"Staying here, you have to be at home, in the canteen, and at work every day. It's not like you can go out and do activities as often as before. It's inevitable to gain weight!" After Qiao Zhiya met Van Diemen, he responded to what Ning Qi just said. words. His current job does not require as much exercise as before in the military. He is pampered every day, so his weight naturally goes up.
Ning Qi smiled and said: "I heard that life in Changhua is very difficult and there is nothing good to eat, but looking at you...the rumors are not true!"
Qiao Zhiya smiled and said: "Whether it is true or not, you will know after the feast...Mr. Van Diemen, why does your face look a little bad? Is it because you are feeling unwell?"
Ning Qi smiled and said: "No, he just has some allergic symptoms...allergic to Butt Fengyan."
(End of chapter)