Chapter 1771 Everyone has their own plans
Tao Donglai could understand Annan and Fujian's desire for steam engines. After all, after seeing the effects of Haihan's extensive use of steam engines in social production and military fields in recent years, it would be difficult for anyone to remain unmoved. Moreover, these two allies are both wealthy and willing to spend money. If they can obtain steam engine manufacturing technology by spending money, then they will definitely not hesitate to invest a lot of money in this field.
But even if they made such a request with full sincerity, they still couldn't make Haihan relent. After all, this is not a bargain in the trade field. Earning more this year and less will not kill anyone. The application of steam engines is related to the development prospects and international status of Haihan in the next few decades or even longer. Other countries have control over it. The later steam engine technology comes, the greater the first-mover advantage Haihan will have on the road to industrialization. Compared with this long-term national interest, the immediate petty profits can only be ignored.
This is probably why Annan and Fujian, as allies, rarely received special treatment from Haihan, and it was inevitable for them to feel a little frustrated. However, they did not get nothing. Perhaps as compensation for rejecting this request, Schneider stated that he would lower tariffs on agricultural products exported to Haihan from the two places, and this is also the main area where Haihan purchases materials from the two places every year. , which is equivalent to giving profits to them in disguise.
As for the plan to participate in the development of Liaodong, these two companies actually do not have a strong desire. Annan was powerless because he was too far away, and Fujian had to worry about the feelings of the Ming court. After all, Xu Xinsu still held the position of Fujian General Soldier. If he reached out to Liaodong and followed Haihan to cause trouble, he would not be able to hide it from the higher ups. . Although Xu Xinsu cares less and less about the court's will, it is still easy to arouse people's jealousy when reaching out across the border. Even in Guangdong and Zhejiang, which are very close to each other, Xu Xinsu exercised great restraint and did not fight for local control. Sea trade share.
If we want to send people to Liaodong, Xu Xinsu would rather send his elite troops to train on the battlefield there at this stage, rather than sending businessmen there to seize the market. What the Fujian Xu family lacks now is not money, but the armed forces that can allow the Xu family to stand on their own feet. This is not Xu Xinsu's plan to split the territory from the Ming Dynasty and establish himself as king, but if he wants to be independent of others, or to get the Ming court to give him and his family more privileges, then strong armed forces are an essential condition. It's like when facing Haihan's strong ships and cannons, no one can say "no" calmly. After dealing with Haihan for so many years, Xu Xinsu has long understood that you must first have strength before you can have confidence. reason.
Of course Xu Yuzhuo was disappointed when he failed to get permission to buy a steam engine from Haihan, but this was basically what he expected. In fact, this is not the first time that Fujian has proposed to Haihan to purchase a steam engine, but basically the answer received is the same every time, and Haihan has never shown any signs of relenting in this regard. This time I made a request to Haihan together with Zheng Zha. In fact, it was more or less just trying my luck. It would be a good thing if I got lucky, but if I was rejected harshly by Haihan like in the past, then It won't hurt too much.
Except for the steam engine, other trade requests put forward by Fujian and Annan were basically agreed to, which also slightly alleviated the unhappiness of the two envoys. They don't know Haihan's long-term plan. Now that they can get some concessions from Haihan in other aspects to make their camp profitable, there is no need to continue to entangle with Haihan over the steam engine. .
Of course, they also understand that although Haihan has made some concessions in the trade field, its dominant position will not change in any way. In fact, Haihan has always been extremely strong in international trade, as aggressive as the military. Only a few senior partners have the qualifications to sit down and bargain with senior Haihan officials.
After the two families put forward their conditions, it was Haihan's turn to make his own demands. In fact, Haihan's requirements this year are not much new. They are still two things: first, to expand the distribution channels of Haihan's products; second, to continue to expand the scale of recruiting immigrants. The former one is mainly proposed for Fujian, while the latter one is for Annan.
Haihan hopes that the distribution channels are not limited to Fujian Province, but also hopes that Xu can use his own business institutions to expand to inland provinces such as Jiangxi, Gansu, Hunan, and Hubei, and sell Haihan products to more places in Ming Dynasty. Many places. This is not only a matter of pursuing sales, but also using this method to further increase Dahan's influence in Ming Dynasty.
The products that Schneider focused on were not the most profitable daily necessities, but stationery and printed matter. The traditional flagship products glass stationery and various books published in recent years are the products that Haihan hopes to sell in large quantities in the Ming Dynasty at this stage. Even if the profit is thin, or even if he gives up the sales profit in some areas, he must strive to open up the sales market and occupy the market. The cultural market of Ming Dynasty.
"If you don't make money...then what's the point of doing this business?" Xu Yuzhuo was a military general after all. He didn't understand Haihan's purpose of operating these cultural items thoroughly, so he immediately raised questions.
The reason why Haihan planned to lose money and make a profit in this field is actually very simple. He wanted to increase his reputation in the circle of Ming literati, thereby exerting a subtle influence on the ruling class. He also hoped to use this method to attract more big people. Mingwen people immigrated to Haihan to help improve the average cultural level of the people.
Can literati really be attracted to join us in this way? The answer is actually yes. Haihan has recruited many immigrants from the Ming Dynasty over the years. Those who can read and write will be asked about the main reason for joining Haihan. In order to survive and earn a living, or to think about getting rich in the prosperous Haihan country, there are some people who have a good impression of this country because of the cultural products produced by Haihan.
Haihan has always attached great importance to propaganda methods, using cultural supplies as a bridge to import ideology and values to the Ming Dynasty, which was less susceptible to resistance from the Ming Dynasty literati. The exemplary role that these Ming literati who used Haihan's cultural products can play in society is also one of the publicity effects that Haihan wants to pursue.
However, Schneider would not reveal these calculations to Xu Yuzhuo. This kind of thing can be done, but if it is stated clearly, Fujian may not be willing to spend resources to help Haihan promote these less profitable businesses in the future.
So Schneider immediately changed it to a more acceptable statement: "We know that scholars in your country are often unable to buy books and the Four Treasures of the Study because of their poor family background, so we are happy to reduce the prices of these cultural supplies so that more Ming Dynasty scholars can Scholars can afford it and use it. Of course, we also hope that such goodwill will be rewarded in the future. In the future, when these scholars become officials, they can also remember the favor they received from the country of Haihan during their hard studies. ”
Xu Yuzhuo couldn't tell for a moment whether Schneider was speaking from the bottom of his heart or a commercial excuse, but it still sounded reasonable. After all, the benefits of this measure to the scholars of Ming Dynasty were indeed obvious. He clasped his fists and said: "Then Xu will first do it for Ming Dynasty scholars." Scholars thank you for your kindness!”
Tao Donglai was secretly amused when he heard Schneider's high-sounding statement, but his expression was still very serious, and he supported Schneider: "There is a complementary relationship between our country and the Ming Dynasty. As long as the Ming Dynasty is peaceful and prosperous, our country can also have more Business opportunities." Zheng Zha next to him didn't have much special feelings about this. Haihan ran a lot of businesses in Annan, and the cultural industry was one of them. He not only sold cultural supplies, but also opened a school in Annan's colony to recruit Annan students. School-age children are enrolled in school, and students with excellent grades also have the opportunity to study abroad in Sanya. As for whether this will have a negative impact on Annan in the long run, Zheng Zhi, who is in power, has not considered that much. In his opinion, this is not a bad thing for Annan. After all, it is good for more citizens to receive education. Zheng Zha was also affected by this and was not wary of this kind of cultural penetration.
What Zheng Zha is concerned about is Haihan's second request, which is to expand the scale of immigration. In the early years of exchanging people for weapons, Annan happened to have to deal with a large number of war refugees and prisoners of war, so he provided Haihan with a large number of immigrants, and he was happy and relaxed. However, the domestic political situation in Annan has stabilized in recent years, and there have been some small-scale armed conflicts between Annan and the Kingdom of Siam to the west from time to time, and the demand for troops has also increased year by year.
Nowadays, voluntary surrender and transfer of citizenship are officially allowed, but Annan will no longer take the initiative to provide large numbers of immigrants to Haihan. Haihan wants to expand the scale of immigrants. What kind of expansion law is this?
Tao Donglai gave the answer that Zheng Zha was concerned about: "Prisoners of war, all prisoners of war on your country's Western Front battlefield, as long as they are healthy and able to work, we can accept them for a fee."
There have been two waves of population explosions in overseas immigrants from Haihan. The first wave mainly came from around the Annan Civil War, and the second wave came after the opening of the Ming Dynasty Northern Route. These two waves of immigration brought tens of thousands of people to Haihan, the main components of which were war refugees and prisoners of war. However, in the past two years, as the situation in the north has stabilized, the number of immigrants from Shandong and Liaodong has also shown a plummeting trend. Although Haihan has occupied Jinzhou, the local Han people have long been emptied out. Although the soldiers and civilians of Dongjiang Town on Pi Island have been absorbed, these people will still retain Ming nationality in the near future - this is also one of the conditions for the establishment of diplomatic relations between Ming Dynasty and Haihan . Moreover, the population of Dongjiang Town will not be transported to the south for the time being, so it will still not be able to fill the gap in the labor force needed for Hainan Island's industrial development.
The war in Manila captured many Spaniards, but Haihan still hoped to extract a generous ransom fee from them, and considering the safety issues in management, even if it was determined that there would be no oil and water, the prisoners of war would be sentenced to hard labor. They will not all be sent to Hainan Island to serve their sentences, but will be dispersed to various overseas colonies to serve as laborers.
The prisoners of war obtained from foreign wars launched by Haihan alone were no longer enough to meet Haihan's development needs, so now the Executive Committee has turned its attention to allies. Unless Xu Xinsu rebels, there is no big battle to fight. They usually send small groups of troops to follow Haihan to gain experience, and they can't expect Fujian to provide a large number of prisoners of war. On the other hand, Annan has been at odds with Siam in the past two years, and the war between the two countries was regarded by the Executive Committee as a possible source of population.
According to the information Haihan knows, Annan's treatment of prisoners of war is either to directly execute them, or to squeeze them to death as hard labor. In short, they will not provide for idlers. And if Annan is allowed to transfer these prisoners of war for a fee, the Executive Committee believes that this is an easy goal to achieve. After all, it had done similar operations with Annan in the early years. The now famous naval officer Wu Sen was a South Vietnamese prisoner of war that Annan handed over to Haihan for disposal.
After listening to Tao Donglai's explanation, Zheng Zha felt that the stone hanging in his heart fell to the ground. He was really worried that Haihan would ask Annan to provide him with a large number of civilians. This was no longer an easy task. But if you just wanted to ask for Siamese prisoners of war, it would be a little easier. What's more, Yan Chujie made the conditions very clear and would not make Annan Bai busy, but would accept these prisoners for a fee. Even if Annan doesn't want to ask for money directly, they can refer to previous operations and use these prisoners of war to exchange for weapons and equipment produced in Haihan at a discount.
Zheng Zha thought for a while before responding: "However, there are not too many prisoners of war at present, just more than 3,000 and less than 4,000. I wonder what your country's requirements for quantity are?"
"The more the better, naturally." When Tao Donglai heard that there were really thousands of people, he immediately decided to finalize the matter: "After the young prince returns to China, he might as well arrange the handover and transportation of the prisoners of war as soon as possible. As for the cost, we can compare it with our two countries in the early years. standards for the transfer of prisoners of war.”
Zheng Zha said: "Then if your country has a large demand for prisoners of war, if it is realized, there should be some extra rewards, right?"
Tao Donglai said: "This is easy to say, why not, for every thousand people, our country will give away fifty additional rifles?"
Although fifty rifles is not a big number, it is better than nothing. Zheng Zhuo just asked casually and had no real intention to get it. He did not expect that Tao Donglai was so easy to talk to and agreed immediately, which was considered a good deal. An unexpected bonus.
Xu Yuzhuo next to him was moved when he heard this, and couldn't help but ask: "If Fujian can provide immigrants, can they also be used to exchange weapons and equipment?"
"Of course you can, but you'd better not rob civilians just to make up for it just because of this condition!" Tao Donglai reminded. This kind of thing may sound unbelievable, but for local warlords who hold military power, they will definitely do it for the sake of profit.
(End of chapter)