Chapter 1911 Target Direction
In fact, when Li Xi first arrived in Sanya, he was in a similar situation to Li Fu's current situation. There were various official visit itineraries, various unofficial invitations to banquets, a continuous flow of entertainment every day, and even no time to sleep and rest. Being compressed to an extremely limited extent, Li Xi struggled to cope with it for a long time. Li Pu's status was even more noble, and when he arrived in Sanya, he received a very grand reception from Haihan officials. The officials paid so much attention to his arrival that there were even more people here who wanted to get close to him through various means.
However, with Li Xi taking care of things on his behalf, he politely declined many banquet invitations that were unnecessary or not so urgent. Li Pu also trusted Li Xi very much and left all these social affairs to him to arrange on his behalf. After all, Li Pu had just arrived and knew very little about the local situation. He had no plan on how to establish contacts, so he still listened to Li Xi's advice. Relatively safe.
In fact, according to the official arrangements of Haihan, today I was supposed to take a train to visit Tiandu Industrial Zone. However, Li Shu was very drunk last night. Li Xi knew that he would not recover so quickly, so he went to call the Ministry of Foreign Affairs early. After receiving the greeting, the visit arrangement was temporarily canceled to prevent Li Shu, whose hands and feet were weak, from making any rude behavior in front of the senior officials of Haihan.
But Li Pu's recovery was actually better than Li Xi's expectation. After all, he was young and strong, and he recovered more than half of his energy after a long sleep. However, the official arrangement has been cancelled. If Li Pu wants to go out for some activities, Li Xi can only make temporary arrangements.
The students who came here from North Korea enrolled one after another after only one day of short rest, officially starting their study abroad life, but Li Bo himself still had not found a suitable direction. When walking with Ning Qi yesterday, he also took the opportunity to seek advice from the senior official in charge of cultural and educational affairs in Haihan to see if the other party could recommend courses suitable for him. But Ning Qi's answer was still a bit vague, and he also persuaded Li Bo to give priority to the direction he was interested in, so that Haihan could try its best to arrange relevant courses.
"Ordinary people come to our country to study, and of course they learn whatever we teach. But the prince is different. We hope that the prince can learn what he really wants to learn here. We can teach you whatever you want to learn."
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Ning Qi's answer was actually similar to the answers Li Bo had received from other senior Haihan officials earlier. Everyone was very satisfied and said they would try their best to meet Li Bo's requirements for study abroad arrangements. But the problem is that Li Pu doesn't know what he should learn, and he has been in a confused state without a goal.
Before going abroad, Li Zhu once reminded Li Pu that if he was undecided about the direction of studying abroad, he should discuss it with Li Xi more often, and he should be able to get useful opinions from him. But Li Xi's judgment now seems to have overestimated Li Xi's ability. Although he has been in Haihan for more than a year, and his knowledge is indeed unparalleled in the whole of Korea, he still needs to give some advice in the direction of studying abroad. It's still not enough to come up with useful suggestions.
Everyone, including Li Xi, suggested that Li Pu give priority to his own interests, but the problem was that Li Pu felt that he was interested in too many things and knew too little, making it difficult to determine a clear direction. Moreover, the Haihan people also made it very clear that Li Bo could be taught whatever he wanted to learn, but there was no guarantee that he would be able to learn it. For some more advanced knowledge, Li Bo's one or two years studying abroad in Sanya would definitely not be enough.
"If you can't decide on the subjects for studying abroad in one day, you will waste another day..." Li Shu recalled the conversation with Ning Qi yesterday and couldn't help but sigh. So far, the only thing that has not gone well during this visit to Haihan is probably his study abroad arrangements. He even wanted to give up his current useless persistence and just choose a professional job to hang out.
"How about we follow Haihan's arrangement and travel around Haihan Country first. Anyway, the Crown Prince's trip here is mainly to increase his knowledge, to see more of the customs and customs of Haihan Country, and to understand the differences between our countries. Maybe the Crown Prince will be able to You can find the direction to work hard. "The advice given by Li Xi is actually very objective. Li Bo's knowledge of Haihan is limited, so it is naturally difficult to pick a suitable target as a learning object. It is better to broaden his horizons first and then consider choosing a target. .
Li Pu sighed: "It will cost a lot of money to travel to Haihan Kingdom! With the current situation of our country, I am afraid it is not appropriate to make such an arrangement."
In the past, students from various countries studying in Sanya have not always had sufficient funds for study and living. Among them, there are also many overseas students who rely on working locally to make money to subsidize their living expenses. However, as a political figure studying abroad, Li Bo is probably the first person to have such a tight life.
When leaving North Korea, Li Zhu privately gave him a sum of money as living expenses after arriving in Sanya. However, the amount of money was not large. Based on the local prices in Sanya, if the spending was not too restrained, I'm afraid it won't last more than a few months. Moreover, Li Bo received many invitations to banquets as soon as he arrived in Sanya. These favors will have to be paid back slowly in the future. There will inevitably be a lot of expenses in establishing personal connections. He does not dare to spend the money he has on hand carelessly.
Although Li Bo said that he would try to send him funds in the future, God knows when the follow-up will be. He also knows the situation in North Korea very well. It will definitely not be easy to get large sums of funds. Li Bo can only spend the little money he has on hand first. The money was planned to be used, and the cost of traveling, food, accommodation and transportation would definitely exceed that of staying in Sanya, so Li Bo was naturally hesitant about this.
Li Xidao: "Although the outing expenses are high, there are ways to reduce them. If we apply to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Haihan, most Haihan people will take the initiative to bear the expenses. As long as there are not too many people going there, and the individual travel becomes a group Just travel.”
"Is this really the case?" Li Shu couldn't help but feel a little excited after hearing this. If the funding problem can be solved, then he doesn't mind traveling around to see the true face of this South China Sea island country without currently having a specific goal.
In fact, Haihan officials had hinted to Li Bo many times before that they could arrange for him to travel in Haihan Kingdom, but Li Bo did not take it seriously at the time. Li Xi himself had traveled in Haihan domestically and abroad, and had tasted the benefits of it. In addition, Haihan officials also gave him some hints, so naturally he highly praised it.
But even if it is feasible and there is no need to consider the cost, Li Bo still has concerns: "How long will it take to travel around this island? How long will it take to go to Haihan's various ruling areas in the South China Sea?"
Li Xidao: "If you only travel around Hainan Island, half a month is enough. The most well-developed places in Hainan are almost all seaport areas. It is enough to sail around the island by boat and slowly look at it from stop to stop. It's very convenient. But if you want to go to the South China Sea... the South China Sea is quite large, and some of Haihan's overseas enclaves are three to four thousand miles away from the mainland. It would probably take several months to walk all of them. ”
After listening to Li Xi's introduction, Li Bo couldn't help but think of something and asked Li Xi: "Have the Haihan people ever sent a set of books titled "The Rise of the South China Sea"."
Li Xi nodded and said: "It was already sent to the embassy before the Crown Prince arrived. It was said to be the book that the Crown Prince requested to read. However, there were many things in the past two days, so the matter was not reported to the Crown Prince in time."
Even though Li Haodang asked Li Xi to get this set of books quickly, a servant came in not long after holding a large wooden box. Daqing Haihan official also specially sent a more valuable hardcover edition.
Li Pu opened the wooden box and quickly found what he wanted: "The travel master in Hong Kong said that the latest Haihan map is included in the hardcover edition, and this is it!"
Li Pu moved everything on the table, then took out the folded Haihan map from the wooden box, carefully opened it and laid it on the table. This map is about three feet square when opened. The mainland of Haihan is marked in conspicuous red on the map, as well as many overseas occupied areas extending along the continental shelf in the north and south directions, which very intuitively shows Haihan's sphere of influence. . As for the many coastal ports that originally belonged to the Ming Dynasty, Haihan did not shy away from marking them in red as his own ruling area.
Li Pu only remembered the map when he heard Li Xi mention Haihan's ruling area in the South China Sea. This map did not disappoint him. It clearly marked the Xingdao and Amborna Islands that Haihan occupied in the South China Sea. , Vung Tau Port, Cam Ranh Port and other places, even Manila, which was only captured at the beginning of this year, has been marked as the territory of Hai Han.
Judging from the map, Haihan's occupied areas in the South China Sea are indeed quite scattered. For example, the straight-line distance between Sanya and Manila Bay is more than 2,000 miles. If you want to take a tour of the South China Sea, you will probably spend much more time on the boat than on shore. And this is indeed an unfriendly situation for Li Bo, who has limited time.
"Li Xi, you went to Manila with the Haihan Army this year. How long were you on the road?" Li Pu suddenly remembered that Li Xi had been to many places, so he simply asked where he had been. From the time spent, he could deduce more information. Large-scale navigation takes time.
Li Xiying said: "When I went there, I boarded the Haihan Navy's Weifeng battleship, and it took more than five days to reach Manila Bay. When I returned from the local area, I boarded a merchant ship, which sailed at a slightly slower speed. It took twice as long to return to Sanya. ”
Li Pu looked at the areas ruled by Haihan in various parts of the South China Sea on the map, and thought that it would be very smooth if he could complete a circle in two or three months. But there were so many places, and it was not necessary to go to them all. Then he asked Li Xi if there was anything worth visiting.
Li Xi thought for a while before responding: "If you can choose, I think there are three places worth visiting. The first is the Manila area that was snatched from the Spanish just this year. That place has been run by the Spanish for about three generations. , is already a big city in the South China Sea, but it was occupied by Haihan all the time, which saved a lot of time. It is said that a lot of businessmen invested money in the post-war Manila enclosure to set up industries, and it is estimated that it will not take long. Years later, the Haihan people can make back all the expenses of fighting this war.”
Li Pu nodded and said: "From what you tell me, this seems a bit like taking over a dove's nest, but the Haihan people's management ability should be far better than that of the Spaniards. I think we will see the results in a few years."
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Li Xi then introduced: "The second place is Jinlan Bay that Haihan took over on lease from Annan Kingdom. It is said that the local harbor conditions are excellent, and Haihan also intends to build the largest one in the South China Sea there. Military port.”
"Bigger than Port Victory?"
"As far as I know, the scale of the local port construction should be much larger than that of Victory Port. But the progress of the port construction in Cam Ranh Bay can only be understood by going to the local area."
Li Pu thought for a moment and then said: "You go on."
Li Xi continued: "The last place is Anbuna Island located in the South China Sea. This island used to belong to the Ming Dynasty, and was later occupied by the Dutch. After the Haihan people captured the island a few years ago, they There was a lot of construction work on the island, and it was actually built into a gold-selling cave in the South China Sea. It is said that as long as you have money on the island, you can enjoy paradise-like treatment, and there are many rare wonders, many of which are found in various countries. Rich and powerful businessmen took a boat to visit Amborna Island. ”
Li Bo shook his head after hearing this this time and said: "This place is not appropriate. Spend money to buy a happy place. It is good, but it is not suitable for me."
It's not that Li Bo is uninterested, but he is very clear about his financial conditions. Going to a place like a gold-selling cave will not bring much fun except making himself uncomfortable. Li Xi also realized that his last recommendation was somewhat inappropriate, and immediately confessed to Li Bo.
Li Pu was not angry with him. He shook his head and said: "It doesn't matter, but I think the places in the South China Sea are not suitable for going right now. I think we should set our target on Hainan Island!"
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"Your Majesty is right, then I will contact the diplomatic officials of Haihan as soon as possible and ask them to arrange an inspection trip around the island." Seeing that Li Shu had made up his mind, Li Xi stopped mentioning those distant destinations in the South China Sea. Arranging this itinerary is the right thing to do.
"Thank you." Li Shu praised lightly. He silently reminded himself that the purpose of making such an arrangement was not to travel around Haihan Country, but to deepen his understanding of Haihan Country and to set a practical goal for himself to study abroad.
Because it was the itinerary arranged by the crown prince Li Shu, Li Xi did not dare to neglect it at all. He immediately went to Victory Fort in person to discuss the itinerary with relevant officials.
In fact, arranging foreign dignitaries to conduct inspections around the island is also a relatively common publicity method for Haihan. Needless to say, there are several close allies. Most high-level figures will be arranged to visit various places when they come to Haihan. Even Haihan’s old rival, the Dutch East India Company, and its current governor-general Van Diemen also visited Haihan in 1634. During the Han Dynasty, Haihan officials arranged an inspection trip around the island.
The Crown Prince of Joseon took the initiative to choose this project, so of course there is no problem, as long as both parties agree on some details of the itinerary.
(End of chapter)