Chapter 1485 Haihan Mode
Haihan's layout in the north has never been for the fundamental purpose of seizing land or population. The garrison troops built strongholds to attack Houjin and established colonies for commercial development. These are actually just means used to achieve the goal. The real goal is still to Gradually achieve complete control of sea control in Northeast Asia. As long as the maritime trade routes in the region are controlled, the international trade in this region will basically fall into the hands of Haihan. This is almost the same as a monopoly operation, and its profits will be unimaginable.
Haihan has basically completed the layout of the entire Ming Sea Territory. The next thing to do is to weave this net stronger to ensure Haihan's absolute control over the Daming Sea Territory, and then gradually open the net. , covering countries other than the Ming Dynasty one by one. Japan, North Korea, and Ryukyu mentioned by Tom Wang just now are included in this list. Although these countries are not as big as the Ming Dynasty, they all have one obvious thing in common: they are maritime countries. Foreign trade is extremely dependent on shipping, and it is easier to Controlled by Haihan through force and economic means.
Although Li Nai's vision has improved a lot after long-term contact with Haihan, it is still somewhat difficult for him to understand Haihan's actions from the perspective of international relations. In his opinion, Haihan's control of the Ming Dynasty's maritime territory was already an extremely powerful measure. If other small countries on the periphery of the Ming Dynasty were to be included in this control, there would probably be many battles to be fought in the future.
In fact, Haihan had already promoted and implemented similar policies in the South China Sea before entering Liaodong. Haihan used the Indochina Peninsula as a bridge and extended its tentacles all the way to the eastern end of the Malacca Strait. During this period, it often had armed conflicts with various countries in the region. The South China Sea Trade Alliance, led by Haihan in 1633 on Amborna Island, can be regarded as a phased achievement of Haihan's control of international trade in this region. Although the actual trade volume controlled by Haihan in this region is probably less than 50%, the effect of the trade alliance is very obvious. The cross-border trade volume between the countries in the alliance has increased significantly in the past year or two.
The Li family has invested in many industries in the South China Sea and has maintained commercial relations with many countries in the alliance. The number of goods sold to these countries every year is extremely large. Nowadays, these industries have gradually entered the profit period, and it is no exaggeration to say that they are making money every day. Privately invested industries can achieve very generous returns. From this, he can roughly deduce that Haihan's benefits must be very considerable, and may even be astronomical figures that he cannot even imagine.
It has been two years since the establishment of the South China Sea Business Alliance. Judging from the operation status, this international business organization model with Haihan as the core has been proven to be feasible. In addition to benign resource exchanges, it also contributes to regional peace. It did play a certain role in promoting it. As one of the most direct beneficiaries of the Li family, Li Nai naturally believed deeply in the model promoted by Haihan. So when Tom Wang said this, he immediately thought of what Haihan did in the south.
"Then what you want to do in the north now is similar to what you did in the South China Sea two years ago?" Li Nai asked.
Wang Tom also admired Li Nai's ability to associate. He nodded and said: "Yes, but not entirely right. The environment in the north is still very different from that in the South China Sea. There are fewer countries here, but the strength of each side is stronger. , it will be more difficult to surrender by force. However, if we can achieve our plan in the future, the trade volume will be much greater than that of the South China Sea, and the benefits will be greater.”
Chen Yixin added next to him: "But even if we want to establish the Northern Business Alliance in the future, Houjin will definitely be excluded. They are not within our scope of consideration."
Li Nai thought for a while and then asked: "So, Houjin's maritime trade channels have actually been cut off by you, right?"
Chen Yixin responded: "Even if it is not cut off 100%, at least they can no longer buy large amounts of salt and iron from maritime smugglers. Almost all the coastal salt fields under Houjin's control have been destroyed by us. These two resources , it will probably make them nervous for a while.”
Compared with the Ming Dynasty, the social productivity of Hou Jin was undoubtedly much behind, and many production technologies were only gradually mastered after it captured a large number of Ming craftsmen. Salt and iron, a resource whose production is controlled by the government, are often concentrated in production areas to facilitate management. The destruction of several salt farms along the coast means that there will be problems with the salt supply in Houjin. As steel is a military supply, it is difficult for Houjin to rely on self-production to meet demand. Purchasing pig iron through smugglers was also one of the ways it obtained resources in the past.
The Haihan Fleet patrols near the coastline of the Liaodong Peninsula from time to time. If there is an opportunity, it may land ashore to defeat the local Houjin Army. The few salt fields cannot be resumed at all. Several smugglers who had secret transactions with Houjin were all warned by Haihan not to transport any more supplies to the Houjin controlled area. There were one or two who were lucky enough to think that they would not be caught by Haihan. , and they are all gone forever.
Once the salt and iron resources were cut off, Hou Jin had only two options left. One was to mobilize a large army to the Liaodong Peninsula, push the Haihan defense line southward, drive Haihan back to the sea, and completely drive Haihan out of Liaodong. Judging from the previous record, this path will definitely not work without sacrificing 8,000 people on the battlefield, and Hou Jin may not be willing to pay such a high price to try.
Another way is to continue to step up the offensive against the Ming Dynasty. The resources cut off by Haihan can only be obtained from the Ming Dynasty through looting. Compared with fighting the Haihan Army, which has very advanced equipment and tactics, Daming is obviously a soft persimmon more suitable to be manipulated. As long as Hou Jin's brain is not broken, he will definitely choose to continue to use Daming as the main direction of attack.
Li Nai frowned and said: "But I heard Chief Yan say before when I was in Sanya that one of the purposes of Haihan's occupation of Liaodong was to contain Houjin for the Ming Dynasty and reduce military pressure. But according to what you said, not only did this pressure not To alleviate it, but to transfer Hou Jin’s grievances against you to Daming?”
Chen Yixin said: "This is actually not a contradiction. Think about it, if we enter Liaodong, Hou Jin will attack the Ming Dynasty, right? But after we entered, we not only contained part of Hou Jin's troops, but also cut off the resources they needed. Important resources, if they attack Ming Dynasty again, will their strength become weaker? ”
Li Nai thought it made sense at first, but after careful consideration, he felt that something was wrong. It is true that Haihan's series of actions were aimed at weakening Hou Jin, but the reason for taking these measures was not entirely out of consideration for Ming. It was just because Hou Jin was an enemy of Daming, which incidentally helped Daming weaken its opponents. That’s all. But if we dig deeper, Haihan's strategy is only for his own benefit, to weaken Houjin so that they can carry out their own plans in Liaodong. Whether the Ming Dynasty could withstand Hou Jin's plunder was not the key issue that Haihan was concerned about. After figuring out this relationship, it will be much easier for Li Nai to understand Haihan's series of actions in the north. Haihan did these things not simply to rescue the Han refugees in Liaodong or to help the Ming Dynasty deal with powerful foreign enemies, but just to consider his own interests. For Haihan, all measures are based on the same criterion, which is to try to maximize the benefits that Haihan can get. All strategies are formulated and executed around this standard. Daming is just a larger prop in this layout.
Li Nai quickly understood the rationale, but he did not try to voice any further doubts. Although he still retained the nationality of Ming Dynasty, he was actually no different from those immigrants who had changed their household registration to join Haihan. If necessary, he could even give up his identity as Akito and join Haihan at any time. When considering the issue's stance, he would almost never stand on the side of Ming Dynasty, and would consciously look at the conflict of interests between the two countries from the perspective of the people of Haihan.
After sorting out the clues, Li Nai finally understood roughly what considerations Haihan's strategy in the north was based on. As for the specific implementation process, Haihan still took many cover measures, such as retaining the military establishment of Dongjiang Town, and trying to contact the Ming Dynasty court and express his willingness to resolve sovereignty disputes through negotiation. These measures make it difficult for the outside world to truly see Haihan's true purpose, and there are very few people like Li Nai who have the conditions to let Haihan's senior generals face-to-face to clarify their doubts. Therefore, these strategies of Haihan are very difficult for outside observers. It is very likely that they are just confused. Even those businessmen from Jiangsu and Zhejiang who have been in Liaodong for a few days may have a hard time understanding Haihan's true intention of placing a piece on this chessboard.
"It may be difficult for people of this era to understand what we are doing now, but in a few years, when people look back on this period of history, they should have a more objective and comprehensive evaluation of us." Qian Tiandun concluded: "But we We don’t need everyone’s understanding now, we just need the order to be executed effectively.”
"Commanders, with all due respect, I always feel that these actions are too hasty. It has only been a few years since Haihan was founded, and it is necessary to rule such a vast sea area. Although there is no opponent of comparable strength, the limited troops It feels a bit unsettling to deploy dispersedly in such a large area and continue to launch wars. "Li Nai is familiar with these people, so there is no need to worry that speaking his true thoughts will make them unhappy.
Qian Tiandun said: "Your feeling is right. If we follow the normal course, even if we want to expand externally, we should probably attack Guangdong and Guangxi first and seize the coastal areas closest to Hainan Island from Ming Dynasty. But our plan is to control the key coastal areas first and not fall out with Ming Dynasty. Although this will be more risky, it will also buy us more time. I can't explain to you why time is special to us. Precious, but we have a reason to do it.”
The travelers gave up their lives in the original time and space and took risks to come here, naturally just to make a career in this time and space. The time left for them to perform is only a few decades at most, and what they can do is actually very limited. In addition to establishing a country, of course they also want to do some deeds that can leave a name in history and benefit future generations. We must build and develop the country of Haihan according to the inherent thinking. Even when they are buried, they are still fighting against the landlord class on the continent currently ruled by the Ming Dynasty. Throughout their lives, they have only established a new The Han government came to replace the Ming Dynasty.
But what the time-travelers want is not such an ending. They want to establish a country that achieves primary industrialization, and the ruling area should be unprecedentedly large, making Haihan, the Han regime, the most powerful country on earth. In history It will replace the status and role of Western colonists in the long history of the world and change the future development process of civilization on this planet.
These ambitious goals need to be completed in just a few decades, and they can only adopt leapfrog development to save precious time. This reason cannot be told to an outsider like Li Nai, and there is no way to give him a reasonable explanation.
But Li Nai responded calmly: "Life is short, so of course I must try my best to do something good. If I had the skills of the chiefs, I would probably think about founding my own country and getting an emperor to do it."
Li Nai's words would definitely be taboo in the Ming Dynasty. If Jin Yiwei's followers heard about it, they would probably arrest the person first without any hesitation. But it didn't matter that he said this in front of the generals of Haihan, because Haihan did not have the position of "emperor" at all. Since there is no emperor, of course there is nothing to be taboo about.
Sure enough, everyone laughed when they heard this. Some of the time travelers must have thought about becoming an emperor, but the Executive Committee had institutionally prevented the emergence of an emperor early on. If you break away from the Haihan group, it will be much more difficult for a single time traveler to make a name for himself in this time and space. Even those who know the historical process and master advanced weapon manufacturing technology will not be able to make a name for themselves on their own. If we try to create something like Tiandu Industrial Zone from scratch, it will be very difficult to do it even if we spend our whole life.
If everyone wants to achieve their own goals, they cannot do it without relying on Haihan as a collective. The more powerful the people, the more deeply they feel this truth. Li Nai wanted to be the emperor, but that was just because he only saw the scenery above ten thousand people, and didn't know how many difficulties he would face when he was the emperor. This was not an easy and pleasant profession.
Qian Tiandun smiled and said: "Forget it if you become the emperor, even if you are the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, you may not be as happy as you and me. What we want to do is much more important than being the emperor. But we have to eat the food one bite at a time. Things have to be done step by step. What we have to do now is to finalize the development and construction plan for Liaodong as soon as possible and revitalize Liaodong so that we can continue to move forward.”
(End of chapter)