Chapter 1473 Northern Route (6)
Regarding his brother's extremely brief reply, it was difficult for He Li to deduce what the other party's specific thoughts were after receiving his telegram. But since He Xiao said yes, he agreed with He Li's opinion, and the follow-up matters can be The implementation started immediately.
Even though He Lidang expressed his intention to build a business store in Majiazhuang to officials of the Ministry of Commerce, due to his schedule, He Li was about to leave for Liaodong with the fleet, so it was difficult to select a site, purchase land, hire people and start construction. For matters like this, he can only wait until he returns from Liaodong to Fushan County to handle matters in person. But He Li still left a confidant here to follow up on the matter first.
Of course, this kind of operation to build a business warehouse in a different place is bound to be expensive. In addition, Majiazhuang's prosperity is increasing day by day. He Li estimates that this plan will require three to four thousand taels of silver to be implemented. But if it can gain a slight advantage among the northern route carriers, He Li believes that such a result is still cost-effective. In this environment, it is definitely the first to strike first, and the last to strike will be the soup. Based on the current situation in Majiazhuang, once the commercial warehouse is built, it will only take a year and a half to recover the cost.
He Li hurriedly explained the work to his cronies who stayed in Shandong, and then boarded the ship and set off. Most of the goods transported by this fleet are military supplies, and there are also military warships accompanying them. The departure time cannot be decided by himself, and He Li does not dare to delay the ship schedule because of his own personal affairs.
The voyage from Zhifu Island to Liaodong is the last leg of the merchant fleet's trip. The seventy or eighty nautical miles between Zhifu Port and Lushun Port can be reached in just one day, and I can no longer hold back my excitement. Businessmen came to the deck in advance, waiting for the outline of land to appear on the distant sea level.
But their emotions obviously came a little earlier. In fact, it was already long after nightfall when the fleet arrived. If it weren't for the light emitted by the lighthouse on the sea in the distance, it would be difficult for them to even confirm that the Liaodong continent was ahead. At this time, most of the merchants who had lost their patience had already returned to the cabin. After all, the sea breeze blowing on the deck for a day was not a pleasant thing.
He Li was more restrained. He had studied the simplified nautical charts provided by the military in advance and roughly calculated the voyage time, so he had been recuperating during the day. It was not until after dinner that he came to the deck to wait for the end of the journey. arrival. After seeing the light of the lighthouse in the distance, he immediately confirmed to the escort on the ship that it was the Laohuwei Lighthouse outside Lushun Port. It is also the only lighthouse on the coastline of Liaodong mainland. As long as he sees the light emitted by this lighthouse, With the light, it can be confirmed that it has arrived at the Liaodong coast.
From Zhejiang to Lushun, the journey of more than 2,000 miles and more than ten days on the sea is finally coming to an end. He Li was not very excited, because the visibility at sea was not good at this time. Except for the faint light, the outline of the Liaodong continent could not be seen at all, and there was only darkness in front of him. And even if you have already seen the lighthouse outside Port Arthur, judging from the distance based on the visibility at sea, it will still take at least an hour to reach the location of the lighthouse.
In fact, when there were still several miles of waterway from the lighthouse, the pilot ship had already signaled, causing the fleet to slow down as a whole. This is because the entrance channel of Lushun Port is relatively narrow. If dozens of ships in the fleet swarm in, it will definitely be difficult to ensure navigation safety at night, and they can only slow down. Fortunately, Port Arthur has received telegram notification from Shandong, so many bonfires were lit on land on both sides of the channel in advance, which also greatly improved the safety of the fleet when entering the harbor.
Even so, it took until midnight for the entire fleet to sail into Lushun Port. After walking around the Laohwei Peninsula, you can see the still brightly lit Lushun Port Pier on the shore. At this time, He Li did not continue to watch on the deck, but leisurely returned to the cabin to rest.
According to the itinerary informed by the military before departure, at any port arriving at night, the crew on board must wait until dawn the next day before landing. This Liaodong area is under the control of the Haihan Army, so naturally this is the rule. He Li knew that this was because the Haihan people were worried about unidentified spies sneaking in. Since they couldn't get off the ship until tomorrow morning, and they couldn't clearly see the surrounding environment while staying on the deck at this time, it was better to rest early.
Of course, there are still only a few people who are as calm as He Li. People who had rested on other ships heard about Port Arthur and ran to the deck to see what was going on. However, the area illuminated by lanterns and torches on this pier is limited, and there are very few scenes that can be seen. After everyone got excited, they finally went back to sleep.
At dawn the next day, people from the garrison, the Ministry of Shipping, and the Ministry of Commerce came and began to hand over the goods on the ship. The inventory work still excludes all private carriers and their subordinates to avoid leakage of information on the quantity of goods shipped.
He Li and other carriers were invited to a small tea shop on the dock. The free tea provided here was not as exquisite as before in Majiazhuang. He Li took a sip and it was probably only two copper coins a cup. The tea is of good quality. Of course, it is not practical to open this kind of tea on the dock specifically for consumer groups such as laborers, so it is not practical to use better tea.
The wait lasted for a long time, during which people from various departments of Haihan came to meet with them one after another to complete the goods handover and freight settlement procedures. He Li definitely made a lot of money from this errand, but it was far from enough to support his investment plan in the north. It was not even enough to build a business store in Shandong. He would definitely have to fill in a large amount of money next. OK.
When it was almost noon, the security on the pier suddenly increased a lot. He Li and others were not novices. Knowing that someone might be coming, they quickly arranged their clothes to avoid losing etiquette. Not long after, a black carriage drove up from the official road and stopped outside the small tea shop. A middle-aged man got off the carriage. Looking at his clothes, everyone knew that this man must be a high-ranking official of Haihan, and they hurriedly came forward to greet him. There was a Haihan official nearby who introduced to them that the person coming was Sha Xi, the chief administrator of Haihan stationed in Liaodong region.
"Common people, please bow to Master Sha!" He Li quickly followed the etiquette and knelt on the ground along with the others. Although he also knew that Haihan people did not like to kneel down, but since it was the first time to deal with Mr. Sha and Chief Sha, and there might be business dealings in the future, it was necessary to leave a message to the other party. A good impression of being humble and courteous is enough. If you kneel down now, you may save yourself a lot of trouble in the future.
Sha Xi quickly helped everyone up one by one, talking about their hard work, then sat down with everyone, and casually asked about the situation on the way north. Everyone saw that he seemed to be able to talk very well, and their originally a little uneasy mood became much calmer. Sha Xi said: "As we all know, this place in Liaodong is the land of our Han people. It was occupied by gold thieves a few years ago. They plundered this place completely and even took away all the people. We sent troops to take over this place. The purpose of grabbing it is to take back these lands for us Han people, and kill more gold thieves to avenge the dead people! But as you all know, this place is too far from our country of Haihan, and many supplies come from the south! It will take a month to transport it, so we must have the support of gentry and merchants like you who understand justice so that we can maintain the current situation in Liaodong. For our country, Haihan, you are not only our business cooperation. Partners and allies fighting together, I, Sha Xi, represent Haihan Kingdom here. Thank you for your hard work and hard work along the way! ”
Seeing Sha Xi stand up and bow, everyone quickly stood up and returned the salute. He Li secretly thought that this high-ranking official from Haihan was quite eloquent. What he said seemed very comforting, but upon closer inspection, he felt something was wrong. He never mentioned "Da Ming" once in his words. , kept saying that Liaodong was the land of the Han people, but after Haihan took back this land, it seemed that he had no intention of returning it to the Ming Dynasty.
Of course, this was actually expected by everyone, otherwise why would Haihan bother to set up a private carrier to transport large quantities of materials to Liaodong. I just didn't expect that this high-ranking official from Haihan didn't even mention the Ming Dynasty in his remarks. This attitude of hiding things behind the scenes can be said to be quite firm.
Sha Xi continued: "As far as I know, this is your first time coming to Liaodong, and you may not be too familiar with the situation here, so I will give you a brief introduction to the situation here."
In fact, Sha Xi didn't come here much earlier than these southern businessmen, but due to the different levels of information he was exposed to, his understanding of this area was naturally far greater than that of these businessmen. The main content of the situation that Sha Xi introduced to them was how the Haihan army fought bravely and drove away the Houjin army that occupied this area, emphasizing the achievements of Haihan in the process of regaining control of this area. effect.
Although these businessmen had no military knowledge, they still didn't believe it when they heard that Haihan had killed thousands of enemies during the battle. Because according to the battle reports in recent years, the Ming Dynasty lost more than the Jin people and won less, and most of them could only defend the city and did not dare to go out of the city to fight with the enemy cavalry. This Haihan launched an offensive from the sea to the land, and was able to defeat the Jin's cavalry. Such a result was really hard for them to accept.
Sha Xi seemed to have guessed what these people were thinking, and smiled and said: "During the battle, the Ming army troops originally belonging to Dongjiang Town also gave us great support, so after the war, in order to express our gratitude, we This war merit was given to them, and they were asked to cut off the enemy's heads and report their merits to the court. If you are willing to stay in Liaodong for a while, you may be able to wait for the officials sent by the court to verify the results."
Sha Xi's words shocked everyone. They didn't know about the Ming army's participation in the war in Liaodong before arriving here. But if this is true, then the person to whom this army wants to report its merits is obviously not the imperial court of Haihan, but It is the Ming Dynasty court. But if Sha Xi did not brag about the results of the war, and Dongjiang Town reported the military merits, the court would definitely think that this place was taken back by the Ming army. Then how could it allow an outsider like Haihan to occupy it? Besides, if the imperial court really sends officials here to review the results of the battle, won't the truth be revealed at a glance?
Finally someone had the courage to ask: "Sir, I have the courage to ask, what if the officials sent by the imperial court do not recognize your country's power here?"
Sha Xigu said in a difficult tone: "Of course our country wants to peacefully resolve the issue of Liaodong's ownership with the Ming Dynasty, but how to do it depends on the sincerity shown by the Ming court. If the big shots in the capital are not willing to have peace, , then you can just do whatever you want.”
Just do whatever you want. It sounds like a very helpless sentence, but to these businessmen, it is like thunder. Although they are currently working for the Haihan people, they are still Ming people and naturally do not want the two countries to go to war. Moreover, with the combat effectiveness displayed by Haihan in the south and the terrifying armed fleet, it is difficult to hope that the imperial court can use force to regain the ownership of Liaodong - this may be even more difficult than regaining Liaodong from the Jin people. Much more.
He Li wanted to think more. He felt that Sha was trying to pass the blame in advance and put the responsibility of starting a fight if the negotiations failed on Daming. He made it sound as if Haihan was the passive party in it. But in fact it is Haihan's side that dominates the situation, and if there is a fight, Haihan's army will never behave as helplessly as Sha Xi described. How could an army that could drive the Hou Jin armed forces out of this area be afraid of the Ming army that could not even defeat its defeated generals?
He Li had never heard of a person like Sha Xi in Haihan before, but after such a short encounter, He Li discovered that this person was extremely sophisticated and spoke tactfully. He was indeed a powerful person. You must be careful when dealing with him in the future.
Then I heard Sha Xi continue to say: "Actually, I am just a civil servant. The only thing I can manage is the land of Liaodong. Who to fight with and when to start the fight. It is not my turn to make the decision. At most, it is the wartime gang." The army has taken care of the logistical issues. So you don’t have to waste your time asking me for information about the war. What I want to tell you is that no matter whether there will be another war in Liaodong in the future, we will establish the Haihan Kingdom. The northern routes will definitely become busier and busier. If you enter this market now, you will be very glad for your decision in the future, because you are the first ones to seize the opportunity.”
Sha Xi's speech was very convincing, but He Li still wanted to know more about what he was interested in, so after Sha Xi indicated that he could ask questions, He Li took the initiative to ask: "Master Sha, the common people want to know more, I'll wait. Can carriers do business locally? Does the government have any recommendations? ”
(End of chapter)