Chapter 1612 Heading to Sanya
Qiu Yuan's boast made Fei Cexian excited. After all, the Ming Dynasty was also the most powerful country in the East. How could it be possible that it would not be able to build such ships in another hundred years? Thinking about the time when the three treasure eunuchs went to Nanyang, could those huge treasure ships be? Falling from the sky? Of course, Fei Cexian had to admit that even those treasure ships that had conquered the entire Southeast Asia might not be able to defeat a warship with powerful firepower and amazing speed like Haihan if they really wanted to fight at sea.
Qiu Yuan continued: "Master Fei may think that I am bragging, but this is the fact. Haihan's advantages in weapons and equipment are impossible for the Ming Dynasty or other countries to catch up with. Perhaps Master Fei thinks that Shipbuilding is a simple matter, but building warships is a different concept than building ordinary civilian ships. After arriving in Sanya, if the Executive Committee arranges a visit to the Victory Port Shipyard, Mr. Fei will have a deeper understanding of this. ”
The Port of Victory Shipyard is also a special existence to the outside world. Anyone who has been to Port of Victory will be deeply impressed by the large iron ship parked in the harbor. Over time, this large iron ship has become the symbol of the Port of Victory Shipyard. billboard. Anyone who knows a little more about the inside story will know that almost all of the main combat ships of the Haihan Navy are built at the Victory Port Shipyard. Its shipbuilding scale and technical level are indeed far superior to those of the Ming Dynasty. It is not a waste to be called the number one shipyard in the South China Sea. Gain a false reputation.
In addition to the Haihan Navy, there are only a few customers who can order combat ships from the Victory Port Shipyard, such as Annan and Fujian Navy. Of course, now there is also the Dutch East India Company, which has recently received an order opportunity. . The Victory Port Shipyard's technology transfer to the outside world is limited to the "Exploration" class, which is the smallest warship in the naval combat organization. The slightly larger "Exploration" class is not included in this list. As for the "Dignity" -class battleship, it is a special existence that even if you have money, you cannot buy it.
However, based on Fei Cexian's knowledge, shipbuilding is a bit unfamiliar to him, and it is difficult for him to imagine what the top level of the shipbuilding industry is like. This is not as intuitive as shooting guns. If you don't know anything about shipbuilding and navigation, it will be difficult to understand how big Haihan's technical advantage is in this field. Just like before going to the battlefield, no one would think that the Haihan Army was really invincible. Only in a life-and-death war can one compare whose warships are more powerful.
What made Fei Cexian feel a little regretful was that Qiu Yuan did not arrange for him to sail on the warship. He just looked around on the deck and then got off the ship. This made his plan to get a glimpse of the Haihan Navy's combat power basically in vain, but he couldn't show it too obviously in front of Qiu Yuan. After all, his identity was too sensitive. If he showed too much thirst for knowledge, the other party might There will be misunderstandings.
Of course, diplomatic envoys are tasked with collecting military and political intelligence. This is something that both sides know very well, and they will have a tacit understanding not to expose this truth. Haihan arranged for Fei Cexian to visit the military camp in order to show him his force, and this kind of display point was to prevent him from collecting more critical military intelligence.
In the next two days, Qiu Yuan still arranged local tours for Fei Cexian. Although Haikou is not as prosperous as Sanya, as the former political and economic center of Qiongzhou Prefecture, the economic situation here is actually not bad. After Qiu Yuan took office, he has been working hard to build Haikou City into a major trading port in the northern part of Hainan Island. So far, This is indeed the right direction of development. Since it is only separated from Daming by the Qiongzhou Strait, shipping is very convenient, so many raw materials shipped from the mainland will use Haikou Port as their destination. Haikou also made full use of its geographical advantages and built many local deep-processing workshops to digest the raw materials shipped from the Ming Dynasty.
There is a water vein called Nandu River in Haikou, so most of these processing workshops are built along the water to make full use of water conservancy conditions. Some workshops with official background will also be equipped with steam engines as power to improve processing efficiency. This is another novel experience for Fei Cexian.
Fei Cexian had heard of the existence of steam engines before coming to Haihan, but no matter how detailed the description, it was still unable to overcome the shock of seeing the operation of this mechanical device with his own eyes.
"Master Fei, what you are seeing now is a new era, which our country calls the Industrial Era!" Qiu Yuan proudly introduced to Fei Cexian a steam engine used for oil extraction: "Use this The efficiency of oil extraction by steam engine is fifty times that of manual oil extraction! The amount of oil that used to take a month can now be processed in just one or two days.”
Fei Cexian said: "But it seems that this thing is not easy to make, and it requires constant use of coal. This cost should also be included in the oil, right?"
"Yes." Qiu Yuan confirmed Fei Cexian's question: "If the processing volume is the same as in the past, the cost of using a steam engine will definitely be much higher, but we have increased the processing volume per unit time by dozens of times. Even if the operating, depreciation, and maintenance costs of the steam engine are taken into account, the profit will still be much greater than in the past. Mr. Fei, productivity is everything, can you understand this?"
Fei Cexian could understand every word, but he couldn't understand the meaning, such as processing volume, cost, productivity... It was really not easy for him, a civil servant who only understood a subset of classics and history and diplomatic norms, to understand. However, Qiu Yuan claimed that this production method can earn more profits than the traditional method, which does not sound like bragging. At least the processing efficiency is obvious in front of his eyes. If all walks of life in Haihan have entered this kind of The so-called "industrial age" will indeed be a terrible gap.
Fei Cexian suddenly thought that Haihan, with a population of only a few hundred thousand under his rule, could rise on the coast of the South China Sea in just a few years. This may also be related to this "industrial age" that can greatly improve production efficiency. . But can Ming Dynasty follow this model? Fei Cexian thought it was impossible. The Ming Dynasty would not have been able to build this steam engine with improved efficiency. Moreover, Haihan has extremely strict control over this, even more so than weapons and equipment, and is not allowed to be exported at all.
In fact, all steam engines, whether official or private, are registered, and there are dedicated personnel who regularly check the operating status of these machines. The Ministry of Industry has even set up an inspection office specifically responsible for this work, which is directly connected with the Ministry of Safety. Even if a machine is scrapped, it must be recycled by the Ministry of Industry, and a written report must be issued even if one part is missing. Under this strict control, no steam engine has been lost to the outside world so far. Therefore, although many countries are aware of and covet Haihan's technology, they have not been able to obtain physical objects for imitation.
Of course, in addition to these in-depth processing workshops, Qiu Yuan will naturally not forget to let Fei Cexian visit the plantations with the most Haihan characteristics. This special farm model is different from the landlord class in the Ming Dynasty. All land is state-owned, and the owners only sign an agreement with the Haihan official to rent the land for operation. Due to stable income and a very long payback period, plantations have become a major investment project for Ming merchants in Haihan. There are currently hundreds of plantations on Hainan Island, and more than half of them are invested and operated by Ming businessmen, which can be regarded as a model of chicken-and-egg operation. After Fei Cexian saw several plantations, he understood that this business model was indeed much more efficient in production than the landlord economy of the Ming Dynasty. These plantations often use a large number of foreign slaves as labor force, and the planting projects are mostly cash crops. Their input-output ratio is very high, even far exceeding the return of buying land and growing grain in the Ming Dynasty. It is no wonder that there are many Ming merchants I will bring my money to Haihan to invest in agriculture.
Fei Cexian stayed in Haikou for a few days, and after visiting various local projects as arranged by Qiu Yuan, he finally embarked on a voyage to Sanya. On the way, we docked in Wanning County for a night's rest, and then continued south to Sanya the next day.
Although he had heard various descriptions of Sanya's prosperity before coming here, Fei Cexian couldn't help but feel shocked when he saw this place, known as the first port in the South China Sea, with his own eyes. The ship he was on was arranged to dock at Victory Port. Ships came and went in and out of the harbor continuously, and there was even a queue at the mouth of the bay. It was more prosperous than the Pearl River wharf he saw in Guangzhou, not to mention the northern part of the Ming Dynasty. of those ports.
From the appearance of these ships, it is not difficult to tell that they come from different countries and regions, including the most common Fuchuan Guangzhou in the Ming Dynasty, European-style galleons, Arab dhows from the Middle East, and so on. Haihan claimed that his trade routes were all over the world, and he was indeed bragging. When Fei Cexian boarded the ship at Weidagu Port in Tianjin and headed south, there were no foreign ships docked there. When it comes to foreign trade, the Ming Dynasty was completely defeated.
Of course, Haihan claims to build a country based on business and all people are businessmen, so it is reasonable to manage such a situation. Although Fei Cexian was a little envious in his heart, he still did not forget to look at the prosperity of Shengli Port with a critical eye - businessmen value profits over righteousness. Of course, the Haihan people are not much better. They are all philistines who have fallen into the eyes of money. .
However, Fei Cexian soon noticed the dense coastal defense forts on both sides of the harbor channel. This sight also reminded him that Haihan's founding was not only based on commerce, but also had strong military means as a solid backing. If Haihan cannot achieve their goals through commercial means, then they actually have another option to choose from, and it may be more direct and effective than commercial means.
The sailing ship sailed into the Port of Victory. As described in the intelligence, there was a military port on the east side of the harbor, and many warships could be seen parked on the pier from a distance. In the direction of Tiandu River to the north of the military port, you can see the rumored Haihan Iron Ship parked on the shore. Although it is far away, its conspicuous outline still allows Fei Cexian to judge the size of the ship. It is indeed astonishingly big, it is not an exaggeration to say it is a small mountain.
"Seeing is worth hearing a hundred times!" Fei Cexian stared at the big iron ship in the distance and couldn't help but sigh in his heart. On the one hand, this is because I got my wish and saw the wonders of the world. On the other hand, it is also a sigh of appreciation for Haihan's advanced shipbuilding technology. Could the Ming Dynasty build such a large iron ship? At least it is not possible now. As for whether, as Qiu Yuan said, the Ming Dynasty will not be able to catch up with the shipbuilding level of Shanghai and Han in another hundred years, Fei Cexian is not sure now.
Facing the west and north of the harbor entrance are the wharves responsible for passenger and freight transportation. At a glance, Fei Cexian saw that there were at least hundreds of ships moored on the shore, and this was only one of the two ports in Sanya. It was said that Sanya Port, located a few miles west of Victory Port, was smaller than Victory Port. It was built a few years later, but its prosperity is no less than that of Victory Port.
When the ship got closer to the shore, Fei Cexian suddenly discovered that among the sailboats docked on the shore, there were warships of the Ming Navy, but he immediately figured out the key. The Ming garrison in Fujian and Guangzhou had close contacts with Haihan. Haihan was involved in the equipment and training of the Fujian navy, and it was even known as the "Little Haihan". The navy from these two places came to Sanya to engage in certain activities. Not surprising. Just driving a Ming army warship through the market with such swagger still made Fei Cexian feel a little unacceptable.
However, this is indeed just because Fei Cexian has too little understanding of the situation in the south. If he knew that the Ming army participated in the cross-border military exercises held by Haihan on Hainan Island every year, then I don't know how he would feel. For Haihan, it was normal for a few ships of the Ming Navy to come and go from the Victory Port. These ships had been reported in advance and would not cause any unnecessary misunderstandings.
After the sailboat docked, Fei Cexian didn't drag him off the ship with any excuses this time. He knew that Haihan had a communication method called a telegraph. His performance in Haikou must have been sent back by Qiu Yuan via telegram. Come to Sanya. If he repeats his old tricks again, I'm afraid the Haihan people won't be able to save any face for themselves. So after the springboard was set up, Fei Cexian immediately disembarked without much delay.
Today, it was Ning Qi who greeted Fei Cexian on the pier. After the two parties introduced each other's identities and exchanged a few words, Ning Qi invited Fei Cexian to board the carriage and go to the guest house to settle down first. Although Fei Cexian knew that Haihan had not arranged any form of welcome ceremony as requested, he was a little disappointed when he saw this deserted scene after getting off the ship. Fortunately, the officials sent by Haihan to greet him were of a very high standard, equivalent to the level of a bachelor in the Ming Dynasty's cabinet, which somewhat made up for Fei Cexian's vanity.
Fei Cexian and his party successfully checked into the Sanya Guest House. Fei Cexian was basically impeccable with the place arranged by Haihan. Both the environment and the service here were at a level he had never seen before.
(End of chapter)