Chapter 1620 Library
"Do you want to go to the Municipal Library?" Zhang Qianzhi was a little surprised when he heard Fei Cexian's sudden request. Fei Cexian has been working as a supervisor at the embassy construction site these days, but there has been nothing unusual. Why did he want to go to the library after going to the bank today? Zhang Qianzhi would definitely not think that Fei Cexian was going to check out a collection of classics and history. There must be some other purpose.
"Since I have come to Haihan, I also want to have a good understanding of the geographical environment of the South China Sea. I heard that there are many books in the municipal library. I think there must be such information available, so I want to take a look." Fei Cexian did not deliberately He concealed the purpose of going to the library, but did not mention why he was suddenly interested in this knowledge.
Zhang Qianzhi has two tasks. One is to monitor Fei Cexian's words and deeds as an officer of the Ministry of Security. The other is to serve as a tour guide arranged by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for Fei Cexian, responsible for guiding him to familiarize him with the local environment and various institutions. . Originally, Fei Cexian should be accompanied by Zhang Qianzhi when he went to Haihan Bank to do business, but the other party refused Zhang Qianzhi on the grounds that it was related to the security of the embassy's funds, so Zhang Qianzhi did not know what Fei Cexian encountered when he went to the bank to do business. things.
According to the security department's prior arrangements, Fei Cexian was not prohibited from going to places like the library. In fact, the various activities Haihan arranged before were all to expand Fei Cexian's horizons, trying to use advanced social systems and development results to gradually influence the other party's three views, and a place like the library can undoubtedly play a role. To achieve the same effect, if Fei Cexian wanted to go by himself, the effect would be far better than if Haihan arranged for him to go. As for the secrets in the library that really involve Haihan's core interests, Fei Cexian naturally has no access to them. The materials he can see with his own eyes after going to the library must be within the safe range of screening and rating.
"Okay, let me know when Master Fei plans to go, so I can make arrangements." Zhang Qianzhi agreed to Fei Cexian's request without any hesitation.
This attitude surprised Fei Cexian. He had originally prepared some rhetoric. If Zhang Qianzhi refused to agree readily, he would try to persuade the other party. However, he did not expect it to be so smooth. He mentioned it casually and the other party immediately responded. Accepted.
Fei Cexian thought for a while and said: "In that case, how about choosing a day that doesn't hit the sun and going today?"
Zhang Qianzhi thought that if the other person was so anxious to go to the library to look up information, might he have some thoughts on the situation in the South China Sea? However, the Ming Dynasty's influence in the South China Sea has been gradually replaced by Haihan. Today, the Ming Dynasty has neither troops nor embassies in the countries in the South China Sea. Even if it wants to build relations with these countries in the South China Sea, people may not buy it. However, when going to the library, he definitely needs to be accompanied by himself. Naturally, Fei Cexian will not be able to hide the information he will look up from his own eyes. Thinking of this, Zhang Qianzhi felt a lot more relieved, so he immediately agreed.
In fact, there is always a foreman watching over the embassy construction site. There is no need for Fei Cexian to be here to hold the line. He is just guarding the construction site every day to show the outside world that he takes it seriously. When something really happens, Fei Cexian will of course be there. There is no need to stay here all the time, just go and do whatever you need to do. Zhang Qianzhi called a special carriage equipped for Fei Cexian, and then called a personal entourage of Fei Cexian, and then set off for the Sanya Municipal Library.
According to the experience accumulated by the Ministry of Security over the years, almost all foreign intelligence agents who go to Sanya to perform latent missions will regard the Municipal Library as a must-visit target. In the eyes of these intelligence officers, the municipal library, which contains a large amount of secret materials, is an excellent source of information, allowing them to effortlessly collect a lot of information about international relations, the natural environment, astronomy and geography. However, this also places extremely high demands on the quality of intelligence personnel. Without a certain cultural foundation, it is difficult to even judge what valuable information is, let alone collect information from the library.
Therefore, the personnel later selected by the Ming Dynasty's intelligence agency often did not focus on force as their main ability, but focused on cultural foundation. For example, Liu Shang and his like who were sent to Sanya a year ago were spies who followed this path. But this has given rise to another new contradiction. The more educated the intelligence personnel are and can understand the power of Haihan, the more susceptible they are to the influence of Haihan's values. Their mentality will change, and they will even become like this in the later stage. Liu Shang chose to rebel at the right time.
Haihan will pay attention to such details to some extent, so it has taken more improvement measures for the operation of the library and formulated a more comprehensive classification system. The materials that foreigners and ordinary citizens can access are all subject to It has certain limitations, but it can appropriately allow viewers to learn more about society, nature, politics, economy and other aspects, and expand their horizons.
Before coming to Haihan, Fei Cexian had naturally learned about the situation of the Sanya Municipal Library from the intelligence agency. There is no doubt that this place is a treasure trove of valuable information. It is said that various advanced technologies currently available in Haihan are also It can be found in the library. Of course, the things are there, but not everyone may be qualified to see them, and even those who are qualified may not be able to understand the contents.
In fact, Fei Cexian had already thought about coming to the library to see the legendary treasure house after arriving in Sanya, but after arriving, he temporarily put this plan behind him due to other matters, until he met three businessmen for a chat today. It mentioned knowledge that he didn't know, and he remembered that he could go to the library to check the information and resolve the questions in his mind.
Arriving at the library by carriage, Zhang Qianzhi took Fei Cexian to register his identity and apply for a library card, and then took Fei Cexian into the library.
"Master Fei, if you want to read books about geographical charts, you must first check the relevant catalogs to find what you want to read, and then go through the borrowing procedures. However, you cannot take the borrowed books out with your ID. You can check it here." Zhang Qianzhi led the way and introduced the rules here to Fei Cexian.
Fei Cexian had no objection to this. Such a system was very reasonable, and the Haihan people always said one is one, so there was no need to ask whether there could be any special treatment. Besides, the content he wanted to read was not top-secret military information. There was no need to copy it, so there was no need to take it away.
However, when Fei Cexian checked the catalog, he was still shocked by the types and quantity of books collected here. There are more than a hundred kinds of books and documents on geographical charts of the South China Sea that he wants to check. In addition to the materials produced and distributed by the Ming Dynasty in the early years, there are also nautical charts, navigation logs, etc. drawn by Annan, Portugal, the Netherlands, Spain and other countries. Of course, the South China Sea chart produced by Haihan is also indispensable.
Fei Cexian saw that there was a separate column after the title of each document in the catalog with the words A, B, C and D, so he asked Zhang Qianzhi what this meant.
Zhang Qianzhi responded: "This corresponds to the borrower's reading permission level. If the level marked is higher than the borrower's permission, then the material cannot be borrowed." Fei Cexian took out the borrowing card he had just issued and saw There was a big "D" mark on the back, and he smiled bitterly and said, "So if this official certificate is issued by the government, is it the first class with the lowest authority?"
Zhang Qianzhi nodded and said: "That's it. Master Fei can only borrow D-level documents at the moment."
Fei Cexian still refused to give in and asked again: "Is there any chance of improving this level?"
Zhang Qianzhi responded: "Yes, there is, but the process will be more troublesome. If you are a national of your own country, you can apply for upgrade after borrowing a certain number of documents, but the higher you go, the more conditions will be attached. If you are a foreigner like your Excellency, Friends, in addition to the number of borrowings, you must stay in Haihan for a sufficient number of years to upgrade from D to C, which will take at least two years.”
Fei Cexian couldn't help but frowned when he heard this. He could only upgrade after two years. This condition was too harsh. If I want to borrow those first-class materials, I don’t know how long it will take.
Zhang Qianzhi seemed to have understood what he was thinking, and continued: "Master Fei, please don't think that this rule is deliberately harsh on foreigners. It is actually because some of the documents in the collection are hard to come by. If anyone can borrow them, how can it be reflected? Why is it precious? Besides, some documents are related to national security and must be kept secret. The classification is also to prevent foreign spies from prying into these secrets. Although Mr. Fei is an envoy of the Ming Dynasty, he still has to abide by this rule of the library. ”
What Zhang Qianzhi said was to prevent Fei Cexian from making any demands on his identity, and he also specifically highlighted the issue of foreign spies so that Fei Cexian would retreat and not push the topic on his own.
Of course, Fei Cexian could understand what Zhang Qianzhi was saying, so he had no choice but to give up at the moment and look through the relevant catalogs carefully, hoping to find suitable literature. But the grading system of the library is really a wonderful measure. There are not many D-level materials under this category when he searches, there are only four copies in total, and two of them are written by Akito, and they are in the dozens. It was an antique from a hundred years ago and was not of much help to his current needs. There was also a chart of the South China Sea drawn by the Portuguese, but Fei Cexian rejected it without thinking too much. He had seen the Portuguese writings, which were as twists and turns as earthworms rolling sand, and he couldn't even read them even if he held them in front of him. don't know.
The last document, just looking at the name, seemed to suit his needs - "Geography of the South China Sea". The catalog states that this is a book written by Haihan and used as a basic textbook in academies at all levels. Although Fei Cexian didn't quite understand why Haihan taught these things in the academy that had nothing to do with the Classics and History Collection, but since it was a publicly released reading material, it was not surprising that it was graded D. Anyway, it was the only one, so Fei Cexian had no choice, so he asked Zhang Qianzhi to take him to go through the borrowing procedures.
The book soon arrived in Fei Cexian's hands. It looked quite new. I think it was because the circulation was large enough that even if it was turned over by the borrower, he could still exchange it for a new one and put it in the library. Fei Cexian opened the cover of the book. On the first page was a simple map of the South China Sea. Although the place names were not marked, Fei Cexian could see the locations of the southeastern coast of the Ming Dynasty, the Leizhou Peninsula and Hainan Island. location.
There is also a line of words below the chart: The South China Sea is the foundation of our Haihan Kingdom, remember it!
This line of words made Fei Cexian feel a little uncomfortable. He thought that all the countries in the South China Sea respected the Ming Dynasty. Each country would send envoys to pay tribute to the Ming Dynasty. Even when the king was changed, the Ming Emperor had to send a document to enthrone him. But the Han Kingdom not only snatched Qiongzhou Island from the Ming Dynasty to establish the country, but also never sent anyone to the capital to pay tribute, let alone claim to be a subject and ask the emperor to ennoble it. Now that the two countries have established diplomatic relations, Haihan is forcing himself to be on an equal footing with the Ming Dynasty. Even the academy textbooks include the South China Sea as his own sphere of influence. How can Fei Cexian feel comfortable after seeing this?
But he could only hold back his breath. After all, the Ming Dynasty's influence in the South China Sea was almost nonexistent. Although the two provinces of Fuzhou and Guangzhou still maintained naval establishments, the navies in these two places were all connected with the Haihan people. Those with crotch pants will never try to regain control of the South China Sea for the imperial court. Most countries in the South China Sea now have trade relations with Haihan. Going against Haihan would be a lose-lose situation for both sides. Therefore, more and more countries in the South China Sea began to submit to the international rules set by Haihan, and Ming Dynasty had nothing to do about it.
Fei Cexian took a few deep breaths to calm down before continuing to read the rest of the content. The textbook was quite detailed, and he quickly forgot about his discomfort just now.
"The South China Sea starts from Guangdong Nan'ao Island and the southern tip of Taiwan Island Eluanbi in the north, to Borneo and Sumatra in the south, to the Indochina Peninsula and the Malay Peninsula to the west, and to the Philippine Islands in the east..."
Fei Cexian still feels that this description is very abstract. After all, these place names are all unfamiliar to him, and he does not know their specific locations. Fortunately, the pictures behind them are one after another, and they are all about situations. It looks much more intuitive when the place names are enlarged and marked. From the proportions on this map, it is not difficult for Fei Cexian to see how vast the South China Sea is. Hainan Island, where the core of the Haihan Kingdom is located, accounts for only one percent of the entire South China Sea area. .
It's just that Hainan Island is relatively close to Daming and Annan, but the distance between Hainan and other countries is too far, often thousands of miles away. Without a developed shipping industry, it would be difficult to connect Hainan with these countries. stand up. From Fei Cexian's point of view, he couldn't quite understand why Haihan tried every means to establish contact with those countries separated by large oceans. If he really wanted to expand, wouldn't it be better to choose the mainland?
With this question, Fei Cexian continued to look through the "South China Sea Geography", but unfortunately it did not give the answer to this question. However, as for the geographical distribution of the South China Sea that he wanted to know, the content in this book basically met his needs.
(End of chapter)