Chapter 1004 Founding Celebration (4)
Although Van Diemen was able to make some interpretations based on the actual situation regarding the many advanced measures adopted by Haihan in politics, economy and trade, more often than not he felt strongly that he could not keep up with Haihan's pace. While I was still trying to figure out Haihan's means and purposes of using newspapers, he had already taken this step and was far ahead. These guesses and predictions just made, maybe Haihan has already been implemented or even completed part of them. Even if they are all expected, it will be difficult to have an impact on Haihan.
Of course, Van Diemen also understood that Su Keyi's purpose of showing these commercial newspapers to him was not to undermine his confidence, but to make him notice that these newspapers were not only a weapon in Haihan's hands, but could also be used by the East India Company.
The advertisements in this kind of business newspaper are all-encompassing, and obviously their censorship is far less rigorous than that of The Times. Basically, as long as you are willing to spend money, you can publish business information in the newspaper. This is difficult for people as far away as Batavia to communicate with the Ming Dynasty. For the East India Company to promote itself, it was indeed a pretty good publicity platform.
The handicrafts from Europe and the Middle East that Dutch merchants transported thousands of miles to Batavia still have a certain market in the Far East, and they cannot be replaced by mass-produced industrial products like Haihan, but Batavia Davia is too far away from the Ming Dynasty, the largest market, and there have been constant frictions between the two parties, so trade has never been smooth. After Haihan took control of the Fujian Strait, the trading institutions deployed by the East India Company in Daguan basically lost their function, and life became even more difficult. If not, Van Diemen probably wouldn't have agreed so easily to join the South China Sea Trade Alliance led by Haihan. In the final analysis, he had to compromise in order to continue doing business.
If the goods hoarded in Batavia are shipped to Sanya and then advertised for sale in Haihan's business newspaper, there will definitely be merchants who know the goods and place orders for them. If the operation is carried out slowly, perhaps we can also gradually sell goods from the West. The products once again entered the market of Ming Dynasty. In addition, the East India Company could also publish purchase information in newspapers for various commodities it hoped to purchase from the Ming Dynasty, so that suppliers might come to the door on their own.
Within a short time, Van Diemen had already thought of several ways to use this business newspaper to make profits. He was delighted and felt that Haihan's methods were even more impressive. If someone in the East India Company could come up with this method in the early years, maybe the trade situation with the Ming Dynasty would be a different story, right?
But Van Diemen immediately overturned his idea. Haihan's ability to use this method to influence and regulate the trade conditions in the market was based on his existing political influence, military support, trade scale, and the fact that he had the same ancestor as the Ming Dynasty. Based on the cultural foundation of the same clan, these are almost all the shortcomings of the East India Company. Even if it can barely produce such a newspaper, it is unlikely to achieve the same results. Moreover, banks under the name of Haihan have offices in major ports and cities in Fuzhou and Guangzhou, allowing merchants who trade between the two countries to basically break away from transactions using gold and silver currencies. This convenience is unmatched by any other. The country cannot provide it.
Although financial institutions such as banks were no stranger to Van Diemen from Europe. The Venetians had established banks to engage in financial business as early as the 12th century, but after visiting the operations of Haihan Bank in Sanya, he had to admit that The operational level and business scope of the Haihan people are far superior to those of their European counterparts. If you want to introduce Western banking institutions to operate in areas controlled by Haihan, it is tantamount to humiliating yourself, and it is likely to be used by more sophisticated means. The Haihan people used financial means to bring them to ruin.
If you want to establish trade relations with the Ming Dynasty, you have to bypass the Haihan barrier, and you must use the commercial promotion platform, financial settlement means and entrepot trade port provided by Haihan. The combination of these conditions is undoubtedly a big pit that cannot be climbed out. However, if the East India Company wants to break the previous trade barriers, it really has to jump.
From a rational point of view, Van Diemen also knew that if the East India Company jumped in, it would certainly be able to make some profits, but more of it would help Haihan and increase the number of business channels he could control. One piece. But if we don’t jump in, the East India Company’s market share and influence in the Far East will continue to be compressed, especially after the establishment of the South China Sea Trade Alliance. If we are excluded, it will basically be equivalent to losing most of the market in the Far East. .
In addition, there is another factor that forces Van Diemen to make a choice, which is the rival Portuguese. The Portuguese, who took advantage of the situation, reached a cooperation agreement with Haihan as early as 1628. Their position in the Haihan trade system is something that the current East India Company cannot catch up with. Because of this, the Portuguese received a lot of commercial resources from the Ming Dynasty and Haihan. In recent years, their trade volume has surpassed the East India Company, whose trade status has been declining year by year, ranking first among European countries entering the Far East. one.
Portugal, which received the support of Haihan, not only opened up the situation in trade, but Haihan also obviously provided military support in secret. As far as Van Diemen knows, Portugal's armament level has significantly improved in the Strait of Malacca and even in the Indian colony of Goa, and the weapons it equips are most likely from the Haihan Arsenal located in the interior of Sanya. If the East India Company continues to stand on the opposite side, it is very likely that the next attack on Batavia will not be some horse-and-blue natives, but a coalition of Portuguese and Haihan armed to the teeth.
There were many reasons that prompted Van Diemen to make the decision to jump into the trap, including political factors, economic factors, and military pressure. If a more suitable solution could be found, Van Diemen was actually unwilling to make such a choice. He also knew that once he complied, it would be difficult for the East India Company to stand up again. However, the reality was cruel and did not leave any room for discussion. He has more options.
Van Diemen shook his head helplessly, dispelling some unrealistic thoughts from his mind, and told Su Keyi: "After the celebration, the countries will also negotiate on the trade alliance agreement. By then, matters between Ming and Annan will be settled. I’ll leave it to you.”
Su Keyi knew that this was Van Diemen delegating power to himself, and it should be regarded as a test. How much benefit he could obtain for the East India Company in the negotiation was probably the standard for Van Diemen's rating. Su Keyi immediately responded and began to plan the negotiations after the celebration.
March 31st, the eve of Haihan’s founding celebration. Starting from this day, all production units will have a three-day holiday to create an atmosphere of national celebration. Many units have also distributed bonuses or physical rewards in advance to celebrate. For the people of Haihan, these three-day holidays are more lively than the Chinese New Year. Restaurants of all sizes in Sanya are basically fully booked. Various wedding banquets, celebration banquets, reunion banquets, and business and diplomatic banquets are coming one after another. Local restaurant owners are absolutely delighted. During the celebrations, tens of thousands of people poured into Sanya, and most of them came here with cash to spend. This quickly stimulated the local service market. Even tour guides who did not have much business on weekdays now have It became a fragrant steamed bun. Many local people who are at home during the holidays have also chosen this as a part-time job, earning money to take tourists from other places to visit the city of Sanya.
Similar to the service industry, those who are extremely busy during the celebrations are the military and police personnel responsible for security and protection. A large number of armed personnel, including the Army, have been deployed in the form of patrol teams to densely populated areas such as dock stations, constantly patrolling the streets to prevent possible security incidents.
In addition to the officers on duty taking to the streets, the army base on the Luhuitou Peninsula also gathered various troops that would participate in the military parade the next day. The military parade at the founding ceremony is currently a top priority for the newly renamed Ministry of National Defense. Yan Chujie has already given instructions to use the opportunity of this military parade to show the image of the invincible Haihan Army. In front of the world. Therefore, these troops under review have recently been receiving training at the base and practicing marching in formation.
Haihan's current army is growing in size. In addition to the thousands of troops stationed on Hainan Island, troops of varying sizes are also stationed in many overseas colonies. The relatively concentrated garrison locations basically sent a small number of elites back to Sanya to participate in this celebration parade.
The special operations battalion in Zhoushan, Zhejiang, was naturally one of the teams that had to show up at the military parade. However, considering that the local situation had not yet completely stabilized, Qian Tiandun did not choose to lead the team back to Sanya in person, but instead assigned this task to It was handed over to young officer Chen Yixin. The team that returned to Sanya with Chen Yixin this time only had a temporarily formed platoon, with a total of nearly fifty people. More than half of them were personnel who had made military exploits in the battles of Danshui and Jilong last year, and the battle north to Zhejiang to attack Zhoushan. Giving them the opportunity to return to Sanya to receive awards from senior military officials in person is also an extra reward given by Qian Tiandun to his subordinates. Among these soldiers, there are also those who have enlisted in other places and come to Sanya, the "capital", for the first time. Sun Zhen is one of them.
Sun Zhen was born as a refugee from Shandong. After arriving in Penghu the year before last, he chose to join the army and receive military rations. His good physical condition and military bravery were quickly noticed by his superiors, and Gao Qiaonan transferred him to the special operations camp for training. . At the beginning of last year, Sun Zhen, who was still a new recruit, participated in the Haihan Army's attack on the Spanish stronghold in Taipei. Later, he followed the army northward and fought all the way to the sea outside Zhejiang. It was he who discovered Wang Jialin, the boss of the Zhoushan Boat Gang, in a cellar in a mountain village and captured him alive. Although this military exploit had long been realized and Sun Zhen was promoted to squad leader, because he had been fighting abroad and had never set foot in Sanya, the actual commendation order issued by the Military Commission had not yet been issued to him. This time, the battalion headquarters considered that he had never been to Haihan's home base camp after joining the army, so they specially gave him the opportunity to come to Sanya to "receive patriotic education."
Sun Zhen's hometown is Denglai, and he can be considered a person who grew up by the sea, but he has never seen a prosperous port city like Sanya before. After arriving at the port, his boss Chen Yixin spent a whole day looking for them. He led Sun Zhen and other soldiers who were coming to Sanya for the first time to walk around the city and the Shengli Port Commercial District, and introduced them to the local situation. After witnessing the rows of shops on the street and the crowds of people, Sun Zhencai was convinced that the "South China Sea Paradise" mentioned by the political commissar and veterans of the company was indeed true.
Even the dignitaries from various countries who came to see Haihan's construction achievements in Sanya were amazed. Sun Zhen was born in a farmer's family. Even entering the city of Dengzhou felt new, let alone the experience of coming to the colorful world of Sanya. There was such a prosperous country on the sea at the southern end of the Ming Dynasty. Sun Zhen was surprised and felt lucky for himself and the immigrants who were lucky enough to receive assistance from Haihan. The living conditions here are obviously more affluent than back home in the north. To be able to move from a war-torn place on the verge of death to this stable paradise in the South China Sea, the experience of the refugees can only be described as lucky.
As for the fact that the original Ming nationality will become Haihan nationality in the future, Sun Zhen doesn't care. He was automatically naturalized when he chose to join the army. He is already an out-and-out Haihan native, so he doesn't care about the Ming nationality. Every time he thought of the Ming Dynasty officers and soldiers who were responsible for causing trouble in his hometown and killing his fellow villagers and elders, Sun Zhen could not bear the resentment in his heart. If one day the Haihan army wanted to invade Denglai, he would definitely step forward to lead the army.
The Luhuitou Peninsula military base is much larger than the military camp in Penghu. After Sun Zhen moved in, he had more confidence in Haihan's military strength. Moreover, in just a few days here, he got to know many comrades from all over the world, including fellow Shandong fellows and some from Southeast Asian islands that he had never heard of before. From the conversations of these people, Sun Zhencai slowly realized It turns out that his troops have actually been guarding the borders and opening up new territories for this country, and the size of the Haihan Kingdom is simply beyond his imagination.
Taking a boat from Zhejiang to Sanya, Hainan, Sun Zhen already felt that this journey was very far away, but this was only the middle part of Haihan territory. Among the comrades who trained with him, some were stationed thousands of miles south of Sanya. Overseas, we are nearly ten thousand miles away from the distant Zhoushan. Sun Zhen simply couldn't imagine that such a large country had emerged quietly in the South China Sea in a few years.
Of course Sun Zhen could not imagine that Haihan's territory was mainly islands and seaports. Hainan Island and Taiwan Island were already the largest single areas. They did not have thousands of miles of land and a huge population base like the Ming Dynasty. . He simply believed that since the sea territory controlled by Haihan was thousands of miles wide, the territory was naturally huge. Being able to become a soldier in such a powerful empire was a special honor.
(End of chapter)