Chapter 1883 Zhangzhou Experience
Based on Li Pu's personal experience, he felt that the attention he received after going abroad seemed to be far more than when he was at home. Whether on Zhoushan Island controlled by Haihan or Zhangzhou City, which belonged to the Ming Dynasty, the authorities gave him and his The team rate the reception to a high standard. For example, this kind of move of sending troops to clear out an area of the city for him to travel. Li Bo had never enjoyed such treatment when he was in Seoul before. At most, he would be cleared by a group of honor guards when he traveled.
Such preferential treatment also greatly satisfied Li Bo's vanity. Although he has the status of the crown prince of Joseon, he is still a young man who is not experienced in diplomacy after all. Even if he knows that the other party's attention may be for some purpose, He deliberately wanted to win his favor through this, but he still couldn't help but feel a little happy about it.
Originally, Xu Xinsu also considered setting aside a house to receive Li Bo and his party, but after searching for it, there seemed to be no suitable house in Zhangzhou City. The reason was that Xu Xinsu himself had not renovated the house extensively, and others would do so even if they had money. Due to his status, he did not dare to build large houses in the city to avoid being suspected of trespassing. The consequence of this delicate situation is that the most luxurious residences in Zhangzhou City are all located outside the city. It is obviously inappropriate to arrange for a distinguished guest like the Prince of Joseon to live outside the city.
In the end, after weighing various conditions, the current compromise solution was chosen, and the highest-grade inn in the city was used as the temporary residence of Li Bo and his party.
Although it is an inn in name, the quality of this inn is indeed not bad. The courtyard where Li Shu stayed is definitely not the courtyard of an ordinary inn, but an exquisite Suzhou garden-style courtyard designed by a famous Jiangnan master. It is not usually open to the public. It is only used to receive distinguished guests, and sometimes it may not be open once a year.
Li Bo knew nothing about Suzhou gardens, but this did not prevent him from feeling the care put into the design of this courtyard. The water surface, pond shore, rockery, and pavilions are integrated in the small courtyard. The pond is planted with lotus flowers, the pond bank is densely covered with vines, and the paths are surrounded by green bamboos, creating a natural scenery in a narrow space.
Xu Xinsu sent Dong Yanyun, his trusted staff member, to take charge of the check-in affairs of Li Bo and his party. Dong Yanyun was born as a scholar and had followed Xu Xinsu for so many years. He was already familiar with the work of welcoming guests and sending people there. As he led Li Bo inside, he introduced to him the various design intricacies of the courtyard.
"Your Majesty, don't look at this courtyard, which is relatively plain, but every plant, tree, brick and tile here is almost all shipped from Suzhou, two thousand miles away... Look at the rockery in this pond, it's really valuable. The shipping fee for the Taihu stone to Zhangzhou alone is as high as thousands of taels of silver... The plaque on this pavilion is handwritten by Mr. Ning, the Minister of Culture of Haihan. This is a rare item that cannot be bought on the market..."
Li Bo was secretly surprised as he listened. If the other party wasn't bragging, then the cost of building this yard would be astonishingly high. Xu Xinsu had indeed spent a lot of money to arrange for herself to stay in such a place.
Although Xu Xinsu built such a high-end reception place in Zhangzhou City out of the objective needs of her own development, she also made reference to the setting of Haihan Guest House in the design and construction process. Especially in terms of service, after Xu Xinsu personally experienced the service quality of the Yingbin Hotel in Sanya, she brought her feelings back to Zhangzhou and required her own reception venues to follow this standard.
This courtyard, which looks like a Chinese-style courtyard on the outside, uses a large number of furniture and sanitary ware made in Haihan inside, striving to make the residents feel comfortable in every detail. Just because every room was equipped with clear and translucent glass windows, Li Bo couldn't help but sigh in his heart about his wealth. It's no wonder that the Fujian Navy was able to buy ships and cannons in batches from Haihan. This was really not a shortage of money. ah!
Although the environment where Li Bo lived in Zhoushan was not bad, compared with Zhangzhou, it can be described as simple. After Dong Yanyun left, Li Bo leaned on the soft sofa chair and drank the iced juice that had just been delivered. He thought that this place was a little smaller, but it seemed more comfortable to live in than Gyeongbokgung Palace. Legend has it that the people of Haihan value enjoyment the most, but it seems that the high-ranking officials of the Ming Dynasty were not bad at this aspect either!
That night, Li Mu fell asleep amidst the faint smell of incense. He slept soundly for the first time in a long time since leaving his homeland. If his entourage hadn't woke him up from his sleep, he would have slept until the afternoon.
According to the schedule, Li Bo and Xu Xinsu will inspect the local trade market today. Naturally, they cannot keep the other party waiting for this matter. But after a good sleep last night, Li Bo was very motivated today.
Similar to what Li Bo had seen on Zhoushan Island before, the commercial area outside Zhangzhou City is also located near the port terminal to facilitate the handling and loading of goods. But perhaps because it has been developed for a longer time, it seems to be even more prosperous than Zhoushan.
"Currently, the sea trade ports in Fujian are mainly concentrated in Zhangzhou and Quanzhou. However, in fact, the goods shipped and imported from here are far beyond Fujian. Inland Jiangxi, Hunan, Hubei and other places will also use this place as an external port. Channels of trade.”
Xu Xinsu accompanied Li Bo to visit the business district and introduced the local trade situation to him in detail.
Xu Xinsu started out as a smuggler in his early years. If he hadn't been forced by Zheng Zhilong due to market competition and joined the Ming army for self-protection, he might still be doing his job today. Of course, after becoming successful in the officialdom, the trade relationship between Xu Xinsu and Haihan could no longer be defined by smuggling. After the fall of Shibazhi, Xu Xinsu quickly achieved a situation in Fujian with one hand covering the sky. There was no obstacle to the entry and exit of Haihan people and goods, and the cross-border trade between the two sides became open.
After joining the international trade system led by Haihan, Xu Xinsu quickly tasted the benefits. The huge benefits brought by cross-border trade allowed him to have sufficient funds to build an armed fleet and an ocean-going fleet, and continue to expand his trade routes. Expand to a larger scope. Even places as far away as Batavia on Java Island, trading fleets from Fujian have already visited.
For Xu Xinsu, since North Korea is a new development direction that her ally Haihan is optimistic about, it is natural to quickly keep up with the pace and look for opportunities to make a fortune. The two sides had previously reached a preliminary agreement on trade issues in Seoul, but Xu Xinsu believed that this agreement only contained some basic contents. He hoped that by hosting the crown prince of Joseon this time, he could show his economic strength and make the Koreans aware of it. Cooperating with Fujian in economic and trade is a reliable choice, thereby expanding the scale and scope of cooperation in subsequent trade exchanges.
Li Bo soon noticed that the trade atmosphere in Zhangzhou seemed to be more liberal, or that the management was rougher - this was compared to Haihan's more thorough and meticulous management system. But in terms of prosperity, this place is indeed not inferior to Zhoushan Dinghai Port. You can also see bustling caravans from various countries on the streets, as well as mountains of various goods. It is worth mentioning that Li Bo noticed that Haihan Bank also existed in the business district here. According to Xu Xinsu, Haihan has established a bank branch in Zhangzhou for six or seven years. Now more and more businessmen and multinational commercial institutions have realized the convenience that banks can provide in international trade and are willing to choose banks. Manage your own money with this safe and efficient financial institution. Since Haihan Bank has very strong funds and is protected by strong national force, its reputation is far beyond that of ordinary banks.
"Haihan Bank...is it really that easy to use?"
Faced with Li Bo's question, Xu Xinsu also told him frankly that these days, many merchants doing cross-border trade are no longer willing to accept cash. First, the weights and measures of different countries are different, and the fineness of silver is different. It is difficult to have a unified standard and carry it with you. It is inconvenient and unsafe, but the currency issued by Haihan Bank does not have these problems and is extremely convenient for settlement, so it is naturally sought after by everyone.
Of course, this special currency must be guaranteed by strong credit and abundant funds. It is difficult for private financial institutions to achieve this level. Therefore, from a market perspective, Haihan has basically no competitors in this business field.
Li Bo had very little financial-related knowledge in his mind, so even if Xu Xinsu explained it, it was difficult for him to understand how Haihan used such a financial institution to influence the trade and markets of various countries, let alone how Haihan could have done so. This controlled an astonishing amount of money. But since savvy businessmen feel that Haihan Bank is a trustworthy institution and can bring more convenience to trade, then the Haihan Bank in Seoul must also play a similar role.
Xu Xinsu had already understood the operating principles of this bank very early, but he knew that only Haihan could do this business, and others could not imitate it. Although he also coveted the huge capital flow controlled by Haihan Bank, he knew that Haihan people would not allow other competitors to threaten him in this industry. In recent years, private banks in Fuguang, Jiangsu and Zhejiang have either gone bankrupt or been acquired by Haihan Bank. This industry is being quietly integrated by Haihan. Xu Xinsu could see Haihan's plan, so he didn't want to play the role of a stumbling block. He just wanted to develop in the field he was good at.
Xu Xinsu quickly figured out Li Bo's knowledge. Since the other party didn't understand the art at all, there was no need for him to teach Li Bo a lesson.
As for the products on the market, Li Bo had actually seen at least half of them in Zhoushan, and most of the ones he had never seen before were some local specialties. The products Haihan sells in the Fujian market are similar to those he saw in Zhoushan. However, Li Pu knew that there were actually some Haihan goods in Fujian that were not available in Jiangsu and Zhejiang—for example, weapons equipped by the Fujian Ming Army.
Li Bo had long noticed that there were obvious differences between the weapons and equipment of the Fujian Ming Army and the Jiangsu and Zhejiang Ming Army he saw in Zhoushan. The clothing of the Fujian Ming army that went to Korea was closer to that of the Haihan army. They mainly wore light short-breasted commoners for easy movement, and almost gave up traditional armor in terms of protection. The Ming army in Jiangsu and Zhejiang still wears the old-style Ming army uniforms, which are mainly cloth armor and cotton armor. They have higher protection but are quite bulky.
When Li Bo was in Zhoushan, he took the opportunity to ask Shi Diwen about the reasons for the differences between the military uniforms. The answer he got was that the difference in weapon performance caused the different tactics used by each army. With good weapon performance, the combat distance can be firmly controlled outside the enemy's killing range, and relatively less protection is required. Weapons with poor performance may engage in hand-to-hand combat with the enemy on the battlefield, so they must have better protective armor.
If we take this as a reference, the Haihan Army's combat power is undoubtedly the most powerful, and Li Bo has indeed never seen any generals wearing metal armor in the Haihan Army. The fact that the Fujian Ming Army imitated the Haihan Army in promoting such lightweight military uniforms shows that its combat effectiveness was superior to that of the Jiangsu and Zhejiang Ming Army. Of course, it must be much stronger than the North Korean army that just started to equip Haihan standard muskets.
Li Pu wanted to know how Xu Xinsu established a relationship of mutual trust with Haihan and asked Haihan to help him train and arm a powerful army in Fujian. If North Korea can afford the price, how can Haihan be allowed to sell these high-end weapons to North Korea? Of course, Li Bo also knew that he couldn't ask such a sensitive question directly, otherwise Xu Xinsu's friendship with the Haihan people would betray him if he turned around. He could only observe everything here with his heart and find the answers to the questions himself.
On the third day after arriving in Zhangzhou, Li Fu was invited to go to sea with Xu Xinsu and went to the Zhongzuosuo City where Yongning Guards belonged to watch military exercises.
"The Zhongzuosuo City on Xiamen Island was built during the Hongwu period. It has undergone many reconstructions and expansions over the past two hundred years. The most recent one was a reconstruction provided by the Haihan Army six years ago. plan, and then it took two years to complete the project. The person who designed the reconstruction plan for Zhongzuosuo City must also be known to the prince, and it was General Qian Tiandun of Haihan."
Li Pu was indeed a little surprised when he heard Xu Xinsu's introduction. He didn't know much about Xu Xinsu's past interactions with the Haihan people, but he could also imagine that he would bother a big man like Qian Tiandun to design a reconstruction plan for the city and fortress. It shouldn't be something that can be done with money. The two sides had such a relationship six years ago. It is no wonder that the Haihan people are willing to sell more advanced weapons to Fujian.
"It seems that Sir Xu and General Qian have a very deep friendship!" Li Bo sighed.
Xu Xinsu nodded and replied: "Back then, the pirate Shiba Zhi got the support of the Dutch, and an army of 30,000 marched towards the coast of Fujian. Even Zhangzhou City was infiltrated by Shiba Zhi's people. If General Qian hadn't sent troops to help me, After retreating from the enemy, this Fujian may now have a surname of Zheng instead of Xu! ”
(End of chapter)