Chapter 1891 Trading Port
As the first North Korean envoy to Haihan, Li Xi first visited Jinzhou, Liaodong on behalf of North Korea, and later went to Malani with the Haihan army. The places he visited and the scenes he saw were far from ordinary. Other North Korean officials are comparable and have a relatively deep understanding of the situation in Haihan Kingdom. Moreover, this year he strongly invited Haihan to send troops to North Korea to fight against the Qing army, and proposed to send overseas students to Haihan to learn advanced technology. Li Xi also contributed a lot in this. In terms of his relationship with Haihan's senior officials, he is even more unparalleled. After all, he is the only Korean who can afford to visit Fort Victory frequently.
This time Li Hao went south to study in Haihan, and he also brought with him a special reward from King Li Zhu to Li Xi. Li Xi originally had royal blood, but his family was still far away from the ruling Li Zhu family, and he could not touch the threshold of royal power at all. However, because of his diplomatic achievements in Haihan for more than a year, which saved the country of Korea, King Li Zhu also specially prepared a commendation for him to encourage him to continue to serve the country on the diplomatic front. However, due to the long journey, Li Xi could not be summoned back to China to present the award in person, so the task was handed over to the crown prince Li Shulai to complete it on the way.
Every time Li Bo arrived at a stop, the local management committee would send the news back to Sanya via telegram. As the North Korean ambassador, Li Xi would also be notified by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, so he could roughly grasp Li Bo's itinerary. He wrote a secret letter in advance and sent someone to wait by boat in Hong Kong. It would be delivered to Li Shu when he arrived.
Of course, it is a secret letter, but there is nothing sensitive in it. The main purpose is to inform Li Bo in advance of the general arrangements for Haihan to welcome Li Bo and his party, as well as the list of Haihan senior officials who will attend the welcoming event, so as to prevent Li Bo from unknowingly Discourteous under the circumstances.
Li Pu felt that Li Xi's approach was very considerate, and he thought that this person could be entrusted with important tasks by his father. In addition to being related to the Li family, his ability to do things was indeed not bad. No wonder his father had specially told him before he set off that he should discuss things with Li Xi more often after arriving in Sanya. He seemed to be a stable and reliable person.
Li Pu carefully read Li Xi's secret letter twice and put it away after confirming that he had not missed anything. Compared with the Haihan colonies visited on the way, the welcome ceremony in Sanya naturally had a stronger political color, and the arrangements Haihan made for it were also more complicated to show the importance he attached to Korea. The newly made dress was specially made before going abroad. Li Ming will probably have to wear it by then.
But there is no need to rush to prepare for the relevant ceremonies now. Hong Kong Island is still more than a thousand miles away from Sanya Victory Port, and Li Bo will not be able to go there for a while. According to the visit schedule arranged by You Yihan, he will stay in Hong Kong for at least two to three days before continuing his journey south.
The next day, Li Su, accompanied by You Yihan and other Haihan officials, visited the local port. Although he had already had a general look at the environment here when he arrived in Hong Kong yesterday, with the local top official accompanying him today, the information Li Bo could get was naturally different.
Today, Hong Kong is already one of the ports with one of the largest trade scales among Haihan's many overseas colonies. This achievement is certainly partly due to its unique and special geographical location, but Haihan has used various business methods to turn waste into treasure, turning the original port into treasure. The desolate island turned into one of the most prosperous trading ports on the southeast coast of the Ming Dynasty, which was the fundamental reason for Hong Kong's rapid rise.
"Hong Kong's role as a trade hub also has many benefits for the Guangdong and Guangxi regions. According to our incomplete statistics, the number of merchant ships operating in the Pearl River Basin in recent years has increased by about three times compared with before Hong Kong was developed. This shows that Hong Kong The emergence of the Ming Dynasty has promoted the development of trade and shipping in surrounding areas, allowing more people in the Ming Dynasty to benefit from the trade system built by our country. ”
You Yihan's introduction focused on Hong Kong's positive role in driving regional economic development. According to his point of view, Ming Dynasty was also a participant and beneficiary of Hong Kong's rise, so the construction achievements here can also be understood as the fruit of cooperation between the two countries. . Of course, the development of Hong Kong preceded the signing of the diplomatic agreement between the two countries by several years. If you really want to dig into the words, there must be loopholes in You Yihan's words.
However, Li Ming’s knowledge of the development process of Hong Kong is limited, and he does not know what methods the two countries have adopted to compete for trade power in the Pearl River Basin. However, judging from the current situation, it seems that it is indeed as claimed by You Yihan. Everyone can benefit from this form of trade, so Hong Kong's trade scale will grow day by day.
If Li Bo had more knowledge about international trade, he might have thought that a special area like Hong Kong would not be easily recognized by Ming Dynasty. The reason why Hong Kong was able to develop under the eyes of the Ming Dynasty was mainly because Haihan's force was so powerful that the local government could not use strong measures to ban such a trading port that was essentially a smuggling trade port.
But this is no longer important. Hong Kong's obscene development stage has passed. After the normalization of diplomatic relations between the two countries, the trade here has been completely transferred from the stage to the stage, and it is no longer as unfair as before. You Yihan now wants to say that the existence of Hong Kong is beneficial to the people of Ming Dynasty, but he has a certain factual basis.
Looking at the busy scene of the port, Li Bo couldn't help but feel a little jealous. Along the way from Zhoushan to Hong Kong, he saw several trading ports operated by Haihan. Even Magong Port in Penghu, which has a relatively light business, has a trade scale of It is by no means comparable to North Korea’s domestic ports. How much profit such trade volume can bring to Haihan cannot be calculated based on Li Bo's economic and mathematical level, but he knows that this must be a considerable amount of money, otherwise Haihan would not invest a large amount of money. Resources are used to expand the control area and build so many trading ports overseas in the same way.
So the question is, can North Korea learn useful experience from such a money-making model, or even imitate it? In the future, it will also try to build a trading port similar to this in its own country, and then guide its own industries to follow this path. The road to rapid development.
With this kind of thinking, Li Bo asked You Yihan a question very tactfully. However, such questions are not unusual for You Yihan. Many dignitaries who have visited Hong Kong have similar ideas to Li Bo. After all, on the surface, this seems to be a simple and quick way to make money. As long as you build a Port, and then try to recruit merchants to trade here.
You Yihan's answer was quite sincere and he did not go around in circles with Li Shu: "I have never been to your country, so I can only give you some personal opinions for your reference. Usually, there are two prerequisites that our country considers when opening new trade ports. One is the local area. Geographical conditions, such as whether there is a natural port, or whether it is close to important trade routes, or very close to the original local trade hub, and can be used as a sea channel. If one of these conditions is met, you can consider building a trade port. If the conditions are not met, then you have to consider the second situation, whether the local area has the potential for large-scale development, such as rich minerals or other products, or the nearby land is fertile and flat, suitable for land reclamation and agricultural development. ." While listening, Li Bo mentally compared the several Haihan trading ports he had experienced, and he could indeed compare them one by one with what You Yihan said. Dinghai Port in Zhoushan, Magong Port in Penghu and the local area undoubtedly meet the first prerequisite, while Kaohsiung Port in Taiwan is a true reflection of the second situation.
But if the same conditions are used to measure North Korea's coastline, it seems that it is not so easy to find a suitable location for building a trade port. The main reason is that North Korea's maritime trade was not developed in the past, and there were no important trade routes or regional trade hubs. There were several natural ports in the south, but they were too far away from the capital. The imperial court may not be willing to spend money on infrastructure construction in places where it cannot be seen.
Similar to the second situation mentioned by You Yihan, Li Bo thought of another place, which was the comprehensive military-civilian base built by Haihan at the mouth of the Datong River in North Korea. There is not only the military port where the Haihan garrison is located, but also production units such as shipyards, salt fields, iron mines, and smelting plants have been planned around it. The surrounding water conservancy conditions are good, and there is a basis for large-scale agricultural development. At the same time, there are also war-torn areas upstream. In the city of Pyongyang, which is being rebuilt, the transportation of materials by sea will inevitably be very frequent in the future, and it has the objective conditions to build a trade port.
But the problem is that North Korea currently lacks the corresponding development and construction capabilities. If this matter is completed by Haihan, then the operating rights of the port will naturally not be returned to North Korea in the future, and the proportion of benefits from it will certainly not be too large. ideal.
With Li Bo's current political ability, he can't think of any way to resolve this contradiction, let alone what advice You Yihan can give. Therefore, he had no choice but to give up thinking in this direction, and instead turned his attention back to the present, trying to learn more useful experiences from what he saw and heard at the moment.
In fact, if Li Bo could calm down and spend more time, stay in Hong Kong or any other trading port under Haihan rule, and patiently conduct a mid- to long-term research, he would definitely learn a lot about the operation of the trading port. Knowledge. But if it is just a quick tour like this and listening to the slightly ostentatious introductions of local officials, even if Li Bo can think about some questions, it will be difficult to find answers from the limited information received.
It's just that Li Bo's special identity and mission make it difficult for him to achieve this level. Although there are many questions along the way for him to find answers to, at the moment he has more important goals and must To save time on unnecessary expenses on the road, arrive in Sanya earlier and start receiving the study abroad education arranged by Haihan earlier. Maybe you can learn more valuable knowledge instead of mainly relying on yourself aimlessly like now. Guessing.
There were too many things to learn, but time was very limited. Li Bo could only choose more important goals to complete. Moreover, he is not a professional in a certain field. If he wanted to specifically understand one of Haihan's advantageous projects, it would probably take an unimaginable amount of time and energy.
You Yihan continued: "Actually, if the prince is not eager to go south, I would like to invite the prince to visit Guangzhou City. It is one of the most prosperous cities in the south of the Ming Dynasty. Before our trading port appeared, Guangzhou was the main external port of the Ming Dynasty. The trading port, where the prince can see the difference between the Ming Dynasty’s trading methods and our country, it is not difficult to understand why the merchants of the Ming Dynasty are more willing to come to our country’s trading port to do business.”
In addition to tax considerations, the convenience that Haihan can provide merchants in this kind of cross-border trade is indeed a condition that the Ming Dynasty lacks. Complete port facilities, well-connected shipping lines, safe and reliable settlement methods, and timely and comprehensive market information are all factors that attract businessmen to Hong Kong.
Of course, there is a secret reason that many people will not tell, that is, the social status of merchants in Haihan Kingdom is much higher than that in Ming Dynasty. One's profession can be respected by the government, and the government will encourage and support trade, and even use force to protect trade. This is a situation that was absolutely impossible in the Ming Dynasty.
Although the business atmosphere in Guangzhou is good, it lacks professionalism compared with Haihan. The gap between private spontaneous trade and commercial operations under official guidance and support is quite obvious. In addition, almost all the merchants from Guangdong and Guangxi who cooperated with Haihan in the early days later became wealthy businessmen. The role model effect made more merchants choose to complete transactions in the trading ports under Haihan's rule.
When You Yihan invited Li Bo to Guangzhou, he was confident that he wanted to show him the superiority of the Haihan business system. Li Bo only had to go to Guangzhou for a few days and take a look at the local trade level, and he would naturally understand the Ming model and the Haihan model. Which one is higher and which one is lower? Who should be followed in the future?
When Li Pu heard this invitation, he couldn't help but hesitate. Of course he had heard of Guangzhou's reputation, but Guangzhou was still more than two hundred miles away from Hong Kong Island, so it would take a lot of time on the way there. Secondly, my identity is sensitive, so I did not set foot in any major city in the Ming Dynasty except for Zhangzhou under Xu Xinsu's rule. If I went to Guangzhou and was noticed by the local officials, it might cause some diplomatic troubles.
Li Pu thought for a moment before responding: "Thank you, Master You, for the invitation. It's just that due to my status, it is inconvenient for me to go to a place like Guangzhou. Please forgive me."
You Yihan smiled and said: "Your Majesty, you are very cautious! In fact, the risk is not as big as you think. Even if the officials in Guangzhou know that you are going, they will pretend to be deaf and dumb to avoid embarrassment... Forget it, since If the prince finds it inconvenient, then he won’t force it.”
(End of chapter)