Chapter 1745 Differential Treatment
Buyers from various countries have been dealing with Haihan for many years, and have bought many weapons from Haihan. How many of them are worth the money, and how many of them have not reached the level that Haihan boasted in his propaganda. Each buyer has a certain idea in his mind. Approximate amount. Buyers are no longer as blind as in the early years when purchasing Haihan weapons. They not only consider the lethality and price factors, but also how to use the weapons after buying them has become one of the conditions that each company will consider when purchasing. .
The combat examples listed by Yan Chujie have solved the doubts of buyers from various countries to a certain extent, whether it is effective to put artillery into a field environment, and how to deploy and formulate tactics to maximize its combat effectiveness. This is an unknown area for the militaries of all countries, but Haihan, as a pioneer, is willing to give some guidance in this area, and even teach some tactics summed up in actual combat. This is not something that can be bought with money. .
According to Bai Kesi and Yan Chujie, only after ordering a certain number of new artillery from Haihan can they be qualified to send officer cadets to Haihan to receive training in new tactics. This means that countries such as Ming Dynasty, North Korea, and the Netherlands that are not on the buyer list will miss this opportunity to learn advanced tactics.
Not only will it not be able to buy the most advanced weapons, but it will also be distanced by other countries at the tactical level, which is a bit unacceptable to those attending the meeting.
Su Keyi was the first to express his opposition to this: "What your country is doing is very unfair to some countries. I think that since your country is going to sell these weapons publicly and notify us to participate in this activity, we should not be treated differently. For regional stability and peace For the sake of this, at least all friendly countries in the South China Sea region can be allowed to send personnel to participate in the tactical training phase.”
The reason why Su Keyi took the initiative to question Haihan's actions was because he knew that even if he went to discuss the matter with Haihan's senior management in private, it would be difficult to get him to let go. Haihan has been wary of the East India Company for a long time, and the possibility of voluntarily giving in on this matter is extremely slim. Therefore, Su Keyi's strategy is to attract as many countries in the same situation as possible to speak out against Haihan's arrangements. Opinion. Only in this way can Haihan change his mind due to the unified opinions of multiple countries.
Taking a step back, even if the results expected by Su Keyi are not achieved in the end, it may be possible to establish the image of an opinion leader for the East India Company. After all, no one dares to publicly question Haihan's approach on such an occasion. Common.
Sure enough, Su Keyi's question was immediately responded to, and this time it was the Ming Dynasty envoy Fei Cexian who spoke out.
"What Mr. Su said is absolutely true. Since your country claims that the purpose of selling weapons is to maintain regional peace, why should you treat it differently and restrict some countries?" Fei Cexian said in a deep voice: "In my opinion, your country If the country wants to continue selling weapons, it should level the playing field so that all countries have the power to order weapons.”
Yan Chujie responded: "In that case, let me explain. We restricted the Netherlands this time because we sold a batch of warships to them last year. It was precisely to balance the strength of the Netherlands and other countries that we included them in this event. Purchase restrictions on it.”
Yan Chujie paused and continued: "As for Daming, it is not among the purchase restrictions in our country. Master Fei is overly worried."
When Fei Cexian heard this, he was shocked to realize that he was not the only one attending this event on behalf of Ming Dynasty, but also officials from Fujian. It's just that the Xu family in Fujian took matters into their own hands and did not coordinate with the imperial court, and did not even communicate with their own side beforehand. Haihan has given great support to it, and these new weapons launched today will naturally be provided to Fujian. However, in the eyes of outsiders, selling arms to Fujian is equivalent to selling to Ming Dynasty. In this way, to onlookers who don't know the reason, Fei Cexian's doubts are indeed a bit nosy.
On this occasion, it is certainly impossible for Fei Cexian to expose his family scandal and make the previous relationship between the Ming Dynasty and the Fujian Xu family public. If he continues to entangle with the Haihan people, he will only bring humiliation to himself. In response to Yan Chujie's explanation, he seemed to have nothing to refute except a wry smile.
Xu Yuzhuo, another representative of the Ming Dynasty, did not react at all to Fei Cexian's initiative to speak out. He did not take the initiative to talk to Fei Cexian in the past two days in order to avoid the embarrassment when the two parties met. Although the Fujian Xu family has established its own system and its attitude towards the imperial court has become increasingly aloof, there is really no need to confront the Ming envoys in such diplomatic situations. If there really was a dispute between the two parties, it would not be a good thing to be proud of the Fujian Xu family.
Su Keyi immediately noticed the strangeness. He had been in Sanya for a long time, and the East India Company also operated a Damuan Port in the Fujian Strait, so he had no idea about the relationship between the Fujian Xu family and Haihan. But he knew it well. However, before that, he had not thought that there seemed to be a deep gap between the Fujian Xu family and the Ming Dynasty court. Even on a special occasion like today, Fei Cexian and Xu Yuzhuo were on their own sides and had no intention of joining forces.
"It seems that Fujian will be included in Haihan territory sooner or later." Su Keyi couldn't help but have a thought in his mind.
However, Haihan really has no plans to annex Fujian at the moment, because doing so would not only anger Daming, but would also definitely affect the Xu family's foundation in Fujian, and might even force this die-hard ally to turn against him. Such a situation would face Haihan. Rather harmful than helpful. By allowing the Xu family to remain in the Ming Dynasty system and in charge of the military and political affairs of Fujian, on the one hand, Haihan could control the Fujian Strait while maintaining the superficial peace with the Ming Dynasty. On the other hand, Haihan could also use the Xu family to obtain the changes in the domestic situation of the Ming Dynasty, and continue to use Fujian as an important part of the Ming Dynasty. One of the trading ports in the Ming Dynasty for the exchange of personnel and materials.
Of course, from the Dutch perspective, this may seem a bit sour. After all, the Dutch started operating in the Fujian Strait much earlier than Haihan, but in the end it was Haihan who controlled this area. They only retained a Damuan Port on the island of Taiwan, and the original distance from the Ming Dynasty was However, Haihan's trade share has been completely squeezed out by Haihan. Now Damuan Port only generates income from agricultural products. If you want to do some cross-border trade, it depends on the faces of Haihan people. With the current income level of Taimuang Port, it is just better than nothing for the Dutch who are used to smuggling trade.
But after Fei Cexian's support was resolved by Yan Chujie in a few words, no one stood up to cheer for Su Keyi anymore, which made Su Keyi feel a little resentful. He turned around and glanced at the North Korean envoy. Unexpectedly, Li Xi looked closely at him and didn't look in his direction at all. He obviously didn't intend to make a fuss about it. Su Keyi sighed secretly and could only skip this section on his own.
The envoys of the Ming Dynasty were all rebuffed by a few words. How could Li Xi dare to answer this question? He was drinking at Annan's young prince Zheng Zhuo's place last night. Xu Yuzhuo was also present. The conversation also touched upon the relationship between the Xu family in Fujian and the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, he was relatively aware of the situation and naturally would not take the initiative to participate in the Ming Dynasty. to get rid of these internal contradictions.
Of course, there is another reason that Li Xi himself knows, that is, North Korea has not prepared a budget for this arms sales event at all. Even if Haihan cancels the purchase restriction, he will not have a role. If he jumps out to redress the injustices of others and it doesn't do any good to his own country, then why bother? Needless to say, there is no need to say much about the results of this promotion. Even if it is to master the new tactical system that Yan Chujie mentioned that has been practiced on the battlefield, all countries have to buy a batch of cannons before they can cut their flesh. However, the price of this heavy weapon is much more expensive than the previous muskets. A thousand Type 36A rifles may not be as high as the total price of ten new artillery pieces. If you want to equip them into the army on an institutional basis, that is You really have to spend a lot of money.
But Xu Yuzhuo, the wealthy representative of the Xu family, quietly ordered eighty guns, twenty of each caliber. Zheng Zha was not lagging behind. He also ordered 80 cannons on the spot and said that he could increase the money to expedite the construction period and hoped that Haihan could deliver the goods as soon as possible.
And Li Xi could only express envy for this kind of arms order that easily cost hundreds of thousands of yuan. He knew the situation in his country well, and North Korea could not afford to buy dozens of the latest Haihan artillery pieces so generously. The guns Haihan sold to North Korea last year were basically old urban defense guns, and the price was cheaper than the Type 36 field guns launched this time. However, even so, that batch of weapons almost drained the North Korean treasury, and even The royal family paid for it out of their own pockets.
When Su Keyi saw that even the Portuguese had successfully placed orders, he finally couldn't sit still, stood up and left the table angrily. Haihan's differential treatment in the arms sales process will make the Netherlands' situation in the South China Sea even more difficult. However, Su Keyi has been unable to come up with an effective solution to change Haihan's attitude, and can only leave the meeting. came to express my protest.
"It's unbelievable." Fei Cexian witnessed with his own eyes how the Haihan people sold a large amount of arms to the Xu family in Fujian, but as the rightful owner, he was unable to buy weapons from here on behalf of the Ming Dynasty. He could say unceremoniously that Haihan's behavior was encouraging local warlords to oppose the imperial court, and even consciously created divisions within the Ming Dynasty, with an extremely unfriendly attitude.
If it had been when he first arrived in Sanya, the current situation might have made him unable to hold himself back. At least he would have included a copy of the Fujian Xu family in the memorial, accusing them of having liaisons with foreign countries, privately purchasing arms, deceiving the court, and their intentions. rebellion. However, after staying in Sanya for so many months, Fei Cexian gradually learned to look at problems from an overall perspective. If the dispute between Haihan and the Fujian Xu family could be resolved with just a memorial and complaint from him, then Xu Xinsu should have been investigated by the court long ago, and how could it have developed into the current uncontrollable situation.
If the imperial court is really determined to investigate the Fujian Xu family, then the most likely situation is that the Lingnan region changes overnight, and the Xu family establishes itself as king with the help of the Haihan people and splits from the Ming Dynasty.
As for Zhejiang, Jiangxi, and Guangdong, which are adjacent to Fujian, can the imperial court still order troops to quell the rebellion? Fei Cexian believes that the answer is no. Except for Jiangxi, which is slightly better, Guangdong and Zhejiang are both very heavily infiltrated by the Haihan people. I am afraid that the local magistrate's letter of surrender has already been handed over to the Haihan people's desks before their troops are mobilized. On.
There is no doubt that Haihan's layout in the coastal areas of the Ming Dynasty has become increasingly difficult to shake. Local tyrants like the Xu family in Fujian who openly colluded with Haihan may appear more and more in the coastal areas in the future. The Ming Dynasty's main energy was focused on resolving existing wars, and it could only adopt a cautious or even laissez-faire attitude towards hidden dangers that might trigger civil war. This made Fei Cexian's space for play even more limited.
Although he was very unhappy with Haihan's diplomatic attitude, Fei Cexian had no choice but to compromise in the end. The only thing that made him feel a little "relaxed" was that North Korea was not among the targets of Haihan's weapons sale this time. Otherwise, he would definitely think that the Koreans had colluded with Haihan and completely betrayed the Ming Dynasty. As for the very practical reason why North Korea has no money to participate in arms transactions, he really hasn't thought about it.
After a short break, Baikes walked to the stage again and began the third stage of promotion.
"Of course, the army equipment sold by our country this time is more than what we just saw. However, considering the time issue, we will only display rifles and artillery in today's event. As for other weapons and equipment, you can first study what we provide. Please confirm your order with us later.”
In addition to advanced weapons such as guns and cannons, Haihan can also produce high-quality cold weapons. Haihan's current steel smelting technology is also unparalleled in the world. Coupled with mechanized processing methods, the cold weapons that can be manufactured are not only high-quality and cheap, but also have a unified format that facilitates logistics management. It is more cost-effective than hiring craftsmen from various countries to build it by hand. It is also the main item for bulk procurement by the armies of various countries.
Among the orders received by Haihan Ordnance Industry every year, the number of cold weapons far exceeds that of guns. However, for Haihan, the profit is too low after all, and there is no need to spend time on promotion on such important occasions.
It is worth mentioning that there is no sales restriction on the export of cold weapons, so both Ming and North Korea can place orders with Haihan. This may be the only news that can bring Fei Cexian comfort today.
Baikes on the stage continued: "I know that in addition to being concerned about the army's equipment, you are also waiting for the naval equipment that we will sell this year. Then let me introduce to you what Haihan Ordnance and Sanya Shipyard are doing. The military ships we can bring to you this year”
So far, Haihan has actually opened up the export of exploration-class warships. Annam, Champa, Fujian, and even the East India Company have purchased exploration-class warships exported by Haihan. Although there is still a performance gap between the export model and the model equipped by Haihan Navy, for other navies, this is already the best warship they can get.
(End of chapter)