Chapter 1889 Long-term Planning
After years of practice, Haihan's colonial infrastructure and institutional settings have already had a complete construction plan. There are unified implementation standards for what infrastructure needs to be equipped according to the population and how the corresponding administrative agencies should be set up.
However, it is difficult for Li Dou and Li Bo to have much in common in this regard. Li Bo does not quite understand the functions of an administrative agency like Haihan with the local management committee as the core, let alone the so-called state-owned collective farm. What kind of operation method is it, so it is difficult to understand Haihan's advantages in this aspect through this kind of visit. At present, he can only obtain some relatively intuitive information through his own observations, such as the situation of local food hoarding, or the differences in treatment caused by different statuses of farm employees.
But one thing is obvious without Li Dou's further explanation. Haihan's grain production capacity should be far higher than that of North Korea. This is not just a matter of planting more rice for one season. Li Hongneng has observed various things since arriving at Kaohsiung Port. The level of meticulousness in Haihan's agricultural development planning can be seen in the details, which is far beyond the reach of his own country.
From Li Dou's introduction, Li Bo also discovered a fact that shocked him, that is, Haihan's plan for overseas colonies no longer only focused on this port and one place. The rice fields cultivated in Kaohsiung Port far exceeded local food needs, and the purpose was actually to enable the Haihan Army to obtain food supplies from closer places when operating in the north. Even if Li Pu didn't know much about the international situation, he could still sense that Haihan's intentions were not pure when making this arrangement. It would not be an exaggeration to say that they had long been prepared to use force in the north.
Li Bo couldn't tell whether this level of thorough preparation was a good thing or a bad thing for North Korea. This place had been opened up as a colony by Haihan a few years ago. At that time, plans were made to provide logistical support for Haihan's military operations in the north. Are these actions of Haihan really just aimed at the Qing Dynasty?
Fortunately, Haihan took the initiative to choose North Korea as his ally. Even if the relationship between the two parties is not as equal and mutually beneficial as it seems on the surface, and even military assistance has many additional conditions, it ultimately helped North Korea repel foreign enemies, and After the war, no new additional conditions were proposed that North Korea was worried about. So judging from the results, Haihan's military presence in the north still seems to be more beneficial than harmful to North Korea.
After having a general understanding of the situation of this collective farm, Li Bo and Li Dou took a bus to the next visiting spot with complicated emotions.
The second place Li Dou prepared for him to visit was an animal husbandry base at the foot of the mountain. All kinds of common poultry and livestock were raised here. In addition to supplying the local meat demand, there were also supporting deep-processing factories built here. , producing a variety of meat cured products and other by-products with longer shelf life.
"This livestock base was invested and established by the Fujian Chamber of Commerce. The slaughterhouse, meat processing factory, milk processing factory, and leather factory next to it... In short, the workshops from here to the foot of the mountain are all industries of the Kaohsiung Port Management Committee, so This can also be regarded as a cross-border cooperation production unit.”
Considering the environment in these processing plants and livestock shacks, Li Dou did not invite Li Bo to visit indoors. Instead, he invited him to drive slowly in an open carriage on the flat pasture, breathing fresh air and tasting the place. Yogurt products produced.
The scale of the livestock industry in Kaohsiung Port is not large, but its deep processing capabilities for animal husbandry are very comprehensive. Even bones, skin and fur will not be discarded easily, and any parts that can be utilized will have corresponding deep processing methods. Therefore, in addition to meat, milk and eggs, fur products are also one of the specialties produced here. However, because the output is very limited, the processing workshops here still maintain the traditional method of manual labor. In addition to the relatively complete categories, it actually does not reflect the How advanced is it?
However, sitting in a carriage and watching the cattle and sheep eating leisurely on the pasture under the blue sky and white clouds is indeed very relaxing. Then try the locally produced beef jerky, pork jerky, braised duck tongue, roast chicken and other foods. It is indeed a very unique enjoyment.
Li Pu couldn't help but said: "Master Li, this is my first time eating on a carriage. I have to say that this is really an interesting experience."
Li Dou smiled and said: "These are just appetizers. There will be a main meal later, Prince, don't be in a hurry to eat."
Li Pu thought to himself that if you don't remind me, I'm afraid I will really eat all the beef jerky, so I should stop immediately to avoid losing my composure. However, he had to admit that the food prepared by the other party did taste good.
Later, Li Bo was surprised when he saw the lunch prepared by Li Dou. Roasted whole lamb, roasted suckling pig, and various seafood barbecues were filled with several large tables. Of course, the reason why there are so many preparations is because today’s visit is arranged for all overseas students from the North Korean mission to participate, so it is natural to prepare several dishes to fill dozens of mouths.
"We may be short of other things here, but we certainly won't be short of fresh ingredients. Your Majesty, you can try this northern-style roast lamb, which is cooked according to Mongolian methods."
Li Dou himself is not actually a gourmet, but he works as an official in Kaohsiung, an agricultural development zone, and has dealt with various ingredients almost every day for several years. This environment has gradually made him an expert in the food industry, even his weight It is also rising steadily by ten pounds per year. Fortunately, he is quite self-disciplined in life and does not forget to exercise after work, so he has not become bloated due to eating too much.
Li Dou is now familiar with the various cooking methods of livestock and poultry, but he feels that ordinary cooking methods may not be able to suppress the North Korean prince, so he specially chose this special method to entertain the North Koreans.
Li Pu had only heard of this cooking method, but it was his first time to experience it in person. He immediately took the knife he had prepared, stepped forward and clumsily cut off a piece of meat from the lamb leg, put it into his mouth and chewed it. It has a slight fishy smell, but it is indeed delicious and different from the mutton I have eaten in the past.
This barbecue feast made Li Shu's stomach bloated. He had never realized that he was so good at eating. However, the group of North Korean students who were traveling with him were not far behind. The group of people prepared the food prepared by Li Dou like a storm. Lunch was cleaned up.
When Li Dou saw this, he knew that his arrangement was on the right track. These Koreans like to eat meat, and barbecue, the most primitive and direct cooking method, is exactly in line with their dietary preferences.
After finishing the feast, the group rested at the livestock breeding base for a full hour before setting off again. The next place to visit is the local pillar industry, large plantations specializing in various cash crops. Haihan has extensive experience in promoting and planting cash crops. Most of the investors who invest in plantations in Kaohsiung follow the arrangements of the Haihan Ministry of Agriculture and select cash crops suitable for the local environment for planting. The Ministry of Agriculture, based on the local industrial structure, has invested in and established some workshops responsible for the deep processing of agricultural products, such as sugar pressing, oil pressing, wine making, tea frying, etc.
After visiting several plantations, Li Bo also realized the diversity of cash crops here, and took the initiative to ask Li Dou: "Sir Li, there are so many types of crops grown here, how does your country plan? ”
Li Dou explained: “Generally speaking, because the planting scale requirements of various crops are different, we will let investors roughly determine the reclamation area of the plantation, and then recommend suitable crops to them. Most of the time, the size of these crops Seeds and seedlings will also be provided by the Ministry of Agriculture of our country.”
Li Bo continued to ask: "I would like to ask you something, if everyone found that planting a certain crop was the most profitable, wouldn't they all rush in and plant this crop?"
"The situation that the prince mentioned may indeed occur. At this time, our management committee needs to regulate it." Li Dou pointed to a piece of land next to him and said: "What kind of crops are planted in each piece of land here and how old it is is written. It is included in the contract signed between us and the investor, and it can only be changed with the consent of both parties. If you do not comply with our arrangements, you will not be able to sign the contract, and you will not be eligible to start a plantation here. The planting area is too large and may affect the local industrial structure and the market conditions of agricultural products, then we will intervene to prevent the planting scale from further increasing. ”
Li Bo probably understood that this was actually using administrative management to intervene in the operation of the plantation. As for how the Haihan people plan the planting scale of each cash crop and make corresponding arrangements for the investors who invest in the plantations, that is not something he can figure out now. This is not because Li Dou refused to explain it, but even if he did, it would be difficult to fully understand it with the limited agricultural knowledge he had.
In addition, Li Bo also noticed an interesting thing during the visit, that is, there were many black slaves in the plantations here whose appearance and skin color were very different from those of Orientals. He remembered that the Han people called such people "Kunlun slaves" .
Li Bo asked Li Dou about this: "There are so many Kunlun slaves. Could it be that they all come from a country that was conquered by your country?"
Li Dou patiently explained to him: "It's right to call them Kunlun slaves, but the origin of these slaves is very complicated. They are not just prisoners of war, but also people who were sold here by slave traders through various channels. .”
In addition to real black people from North and East Africa, these slaves also include Negritos from Southeast Asia and residents of the Indian Peninsula. The reasons for being trafficked here are even more diverse, including prisoners of war, criminals, and refugees. There are people who are "processed" by the authorities of a certain country, and there are also the unlucky people who were kidnapped from various places by slave traders using force. For plantation operators, the cost of using these slaves is naturally much lower than bringing in immigrants from the Ming Dynasty or other places. Basically, as long as the price is right, they can buy as many as they want.
In order to develop rapidly, Haihan has always opened the door to the import of slave populations. The Dutch and Portuguese are probably the biggest beneficiaries of the slave trade. Every year, the slave population is sent to the areas under Haihan's rule via merchant ships from these two countries. Each has at least several thousand people. In the past two years, Annan has gone to war with its neighboring country, Siam, which has added another source of slaves to Haihan.
Among these slaves who were imported into plantations in various places in Haihan, a very small number of lucky ones would have the opportunity to escape from slavery. Among the Nanhai Independent Battalion stationed on Star Island, there were many soldiers who were the best soldiers selected by Roger from among the slaves. However, there are only a few slaves who have such good luck. The vast majority of slaves will spend the rest of their lives on plantations and mining areas. If you are unlucky and encounter a cruel master, you will often be exhausted to death within three to five years.
Although Li Dou does not advocate the practice of obtaining cheap labor through slave trade, he also knows that this is an effective means for Haihan to increase its development speed, so he has always faced this with an attitude of neither encouraging nor opposing. an objectively existing situation.
Although Li Bo took the initiative to ask about this matter, Li Dou did not intend to explain the inside story of the slave trade to him in detail. He believed that this approach did not fully prove Haihan's power. On the contrary, it might make the North Koreans have doubts about future cross-border cross-border transactions. People's mobility and immigration affairs are on guard. Therefore, the focus of his explanation was the place of origin of these black slaves, rather than the special channels and means through which they were trafficked.
Li Dou's approach was indeed just right to avoid the sensitive points of the Koreans, because during the Qing army's invasion of North Korea, they plundered a large number of people from northern North Korea, and even if the Qing army was finally defeated and retreated, these people had already been transported by them. The North Korean people who returned to Liaodong could no longer escape and return to the country. Li Bo asked whether these black slaves were prisoners of war from a certain country, which reminded him of the situation in his own country. If Li Dou had not responded carefully, it might indeed have caused Li Bo's displeasure.
Seeing that it was getting dark and he only saw four or five plantations, Li Dou took the initiative to order to go home and continue his tour tomorrow. Li Bo had no objection to this. The amount of information he received today was a bit large, and he needed some time to summarize and digest it.
In the next two days, Li Bo, led by Li Dou, visited almost all the plantations in Kaohsiung, and gained a more specific understanding of the scale of local agricultural development. If he knew almost nothing about Haihan's agricultural situation before, then after visiting Kaohsiung these days, Li Bo has realized that Haihan's agricultural level is also very strong.
Li Bo had private exchanges with several agricultural technology students who were traveling with him this time. The evaluations given by these professionals were similar to Li Bo's. They all believed that the depth and breadth of agricultural development in Haihan far exceeded that of their own country. , there is indeed a lot worth learning. The most important thing is that Haihan's long-term planning for regional agricultural development is very valuable, while North Korea's current operations on this are almost zero, and the gap between the two sides is really too big.
(End of chapter)