Chapter 1919
After a brief meeting with other accompanying officials, Zhang Qianzhi discovered that the members of this small temporary team all had their own agendas. Some wanted to build connections through this errand, while others wanted to gain capital for their promotion. As for the one who really paid attention to the Joseon Crown Prince, it was probably the penman Hong Jingwen, because he needed to collect and organize materials for official propaganda work, and observing the words and deeds of the target person was part of his mission.
Although Zhang Qianzhi will also secretly observe Li Bo's performance, he is not as purposeful as Hong Jingwen. It is purely due to professional habits. Although He Xi asked him to hand over a report on Li Bo, Zhang Qianzhi would not take such a half-joking instruction seriously. The Ministry of Security already had a dedicated person in charge of this project. Of course, if he really finds any problems with Li Bo, he will definitely report it truthfully.
Although Zhang Qianzhi disdains these little tricks in official circles, it can't be said that he has much disgust. He had already followed He Xi when Haihan established the Guangdong Office in Guangdong, and he was considered one of the lucky ones to enter the upper echelons of power without going through cruel competition. Over the years, from the perspective of a bystander, he had seen all kinds of people who wanted to People who climb up. He understands that fame and wealth are the goals of many people in life, and they all want to go higher if they have the opportunity. As long as they do not harm nature or harm the interests of the country, there is no need to stop these people.
Zhang Qianzhi remembered that He Xi once said to him that if the water is clear, there will be no fish. If all officials stop pursuing personal interests, it will inevitably make the official department’s operating efficiency lower. In fact, it will be a waste for the country. It does more harm than good. Appropriate personal desires will become the motivation for officials to do things, as long as their allegiance remains to the executive committee.
Zhang Qianzhi glanced at Li Bo who was still reading on the deck from a distance, and said to himself that the Joseon prince probably could not have imagined that his impromptu trip would not only keep a bunch of Haihan officials busy, but also allow him to On this boat, I saw a vivid scene of life. Of course, the Crown Prince of Joseon will not be one of the spectators, and these internal interest disputes within Haihan will certainly not be displayed in front of him.
In the past, foreign dignitaries visited Hainan Island. Generally, Yacheng was chosen as the first stop outside Sanya, because this place is the closest to Sanya, and it was the first county town that Haihan occupied under the Ming Dynasty. It has a certain symbolism. significance. Haihan officials will also be happy to show visitors the construction results after they took over the place, as well as the sharp contrast with the social conditions during the Ming Dynasty.
As one of the earliest areas under Haihan's control, Yacheng's plantation scale has always been among the best among the cities and counties on the island. It is also a demonstration area for Haihan officials to display advanced agricultural management models. As long as you visit the local farms and plantations in Yacheng, you can have a general understanding of the level of agricultural development in Haihan.
However, after Li Xi consulted with Li Xi, he did not include Yacheng in this itinerary because Li Xi had visited Yacheng before and he believed that the local agricultural business model was actually around Sanya. You can see it in many places, so there is no need to spend a day or two in Yacheng specifically for this purpose. Li Bo also thought it was reasonable. He had already visited the local plantations when he visited Kaohsiung Port. The business model here is only slightly different from Kaohsiung. There is no need to visit again at the moment.
Haihan's promise to Li Bo was to have an independent itinerary, so even if Yacheng, a regularly visited tourist spot, was cancelled, there was nothing to say. Anyway, he didn't expect North Koreans to invest here. If Li Bo did it again in the future, If you change your mind, you can make arrangements at any time. Anyway, Yacheng is very close and it only takes more than half a day to get there by speedboat from Sanya.
The first stop Li Pu chose on his own was the Yinggehai Salt Field, located in the southwest corner of Hainan Island. The reason why he chose this place as one of the targets for his inspection around the island was because Li Pu thought of the salt field being built near the mouth of the Datong River in China. He heard that This Yinggehai is the salt farm with the largest production scale under Haihan's rule, and the salt produced will be sold in large quantities to Guangdong and Annan. He also wanted to come and see with his own eyes what special tricks the production of sea salt could have, and why the salt produced in Haihan could be sold abroad and occupy the markets of other countries.
Another reason is that the situation introduced by Li Xi aroused his interest. He heard that the man who is currently a local magistrate at the Yinggehai Salt Field was an officer of the Ming Dynasty Navy ten years ago, and later abandoned the army and entered business. He started a private salt business, but after he became prosperous, he gave up business and entered politics, and returned to the officialdom - of course, not the Ming Dynasty, but the officialdom of Haihan. This person who comes and goes is obviously a person with a story. Li Bo really wants to get to know this legendary figure in person.
From Sanya to Yinggehai Saltworks, the straight-line distance on land is about two hundred miles. During this period, we have to climb mountains and cross rivers. No matter how hard we rush, it will take two days to get there. But it is much faster to take the sea route. If the wind and water are smooth, it only takes one day to get there.
When it was lunch time, after the captain consulted Li Bo for his opinion, he directly set up a place on the deck and asked several cooks to cook a seafood barbecue for everyone. Li Bo actually had no special interest in seafood before, but he had tasted Haihan-style seafood barbecue several times on his way south. He also knew that the special thing about Haihan cooking method was that it used many kinds of seafood that he didn't know much about. spices and seasonings, and the food produced by this cooking method is quite to his liking.
The relatively comfortable way of eating made the atmosphere among everyone get along very relaxed. Everyone could finally sit around with Li Bo and discuss topics of mutual interest naturally. This was the first real communication between the two parties after meeting at the dock.
Li Pu has quite a lot of experience in this regard. He had a lot of dealings with the upper echelons of Haihan on his way south. After arriving in Sanya, he was received by senior officials of Haihan throughout the whole process. Naturally, he knew how to communicate with Haihan officials. On the contrary, these officials who were temporarily assigned this task did not have much experience in dealing with North Korean officials in the past, so they still appear a little cautious now.
The person who really interacts with foreigners more is probably Tian Zheng. As a diplomat, he may know more about the situation in North Korea than most people present, so he also has more topics to discuss with Li Bo. .
Hong Jingwen was also very enthusiastic about participating. After all, everything Li Bo said might become material and inspiration for him to write a press release. However, Hong Jingwen's own knowledge is limited, and it is a bit difficult to forcefully find common topics. Most of the time, he can only echo the dialogue between Tian Zheng and Li Bo.
Zhang Qianzhi picked up a plate of food and sat outside quietly eating while listening to the conversation between others and Li Bo, but he found that Captain Gai Liangcai was doing the same thing as him. When the two of them made eye contact, they both smiled knowingly, understanding that the other was secretly working hard. He had no ill feelings toward this army captain who was interested in pursuing a career. After all, a soldier who didn't want to be a general was not a good soldier. It was a normal pursuit to want to accumulate military merit and climb up through various means. Moreover, there were several bottles of good wine placed next to him, but Gai Liangcai took the initiative to only take a glass of ice-cold coconut juice, showing the self-control that an excellent soldier should have. This detail also made Zhang Qianzhi have a good impression of him. .
After all, Li Bo was a young man. A group of people gathered around him to chat about some topics that interested him. They slowly opened up the conversation and asked everyone about the situation of the Yinggehai Salt Farm.
"Salt... there is salt everywhere!" Tian Zheng's answer was concise and concise: "When you get to the bay there, the prince will see that everywhere you can see, there are white salt fields!"
"It's just like free money!" Hong Jingwen said next to him: "Yinggehai is probably the richest county in our country. Let's not talk about anything else. The local consumption level is similar to that of Sanya. Prince, can you imagine? "Li Shu said with a smile: "Isn't it normal for a salt-producing place to be rich? When I stayed in Zhoushan Island before, I heard that the richest salt merchant in Jiangsu and Zhejiang is, by the way, the Yinggehai Salt Farm. The boss, I heard, also started as a salt merchant.”
Hong Jingwen responded: "Your Majesty, have you heard of Luo Shengdong's deeds? This man can be considered a very lucky man. He led troops to attack Yulin Bay and became a prisoner. Later, he somehow turned into working for the Executive Committee. A private salt dealer who has made enough money by going back and forth, and now he has become an official, he is really quite good!”
The person present who is most familiar with Luo Shengdong is actually Zhang Qianzhi who has never spoken out. When the Zhang family took refuge with Haihan, Luo Shengdong was already working for Haihan, so Zhang Qianzhi did not personally experience the period when Luo Shengdong was defeated, captured and later surrendered, but Luo Shengdong later became a helper of Haihan. The second-level salt sellers used navy warships to sell sea salt from Sanya to various places. Zhang Qianzhi, who had already joined the Ministry of Security at the time, was very clear about what happened during this period.
When Luo Shengdong was a salt dealer, he was basically determined to follow Haihan. This was the fundamental reason why he was able to switch from the shopping mall to the officialdom later. If he had had second thoughts at the time, or if his position was considered unreliable by the Ministry of Security, it would have been impossible for him to get the official position appointed by Haihan.
Of course, the reason why Luo Shengdong was willing to be loyal to Haihan was actually very complicated. It was not just because he could not turn back after surrendering to Haihan, or because he had made enough money from the trade opportunities given by Haihan. What he wants to strive for is not only his own career, but also a good background for future generations of his family. However, not many people know these inside stories, and Zhang Qianzhi will not tell stories in front of so many people just to show off his identity in front of Li Bo.
Luo Shengdong's experience is actually not a big problem in the eyes of Haihan officials, because quite a few of Haihan's current officials were once members of the Ming Dynasty's public servants, and later switched to Haihan for various reasons. . Haihan's trust and importance in Luo Shengdong actually gave these officials hope of moving forward - as long as they were loyal to Haihan, the executive committee would automatically demote talents in any way.
However, this change of camp is of great significance to the Koreans. After all, they have only gradually changed their position in the past two years, from a vassal state that was pro-Ming to a junior brother who hugged the Han Dynasty. On the one hand, they are dissatisfied with Ming's refusal to save them. On the other hand, because they have been a vassal state for too long, they will still be unable to stand up for a while, and they are still worried that Ming will find an opportunity to deal with their change of position. Of course, the most important thing is that he will worry that he is not strong enough and cannot be recognized by Haihan. If he can only play the role of paying for protection in the future, that is not the original intention of North Korea to take refuge in Haihan.
Li Bo has been thinking about "common interests" in the past two days, and he will unconsciously include Luo Shengdong's deeds in this question: a Ming Dynasty general, what are the common interests between him and Haihan? Only then did he gain Haihan's trust and reuse?
After listening for a while, Li Bo felt that the information these Haihan officials could provide was extremely limited and not enough to answer his questions, so he stopped exploring the matter further at the moment.
After lunch, Li Pu felt a little tired, so he said hello to everyone and went back to the cabin to rest. As soon as the protagonist left, everyone lost their purpose and dispersed, but in the end Gai Liangcai and Zhang Qianzhi stayed on the deck with a tacit understanding.
"Brother Gai, what do you have to say?" Zhang Qianzhi asked proactively.
Gai Liangcai lowered his voice and said: "I just want to ask, Brother Zhang, is there anything I need to cooperate with during this trip? After all, this mission is in a hurry, and the superiors did not have time to issue detailed orders. If there is any secret mission, I will You should command your troops to cooperate.”
Zhang Qianzhi said: "There is no mission that Brother Gai wants. I'm just following along. Brother Gai doesn't need to worry too much. There shouldn't be any trouble on this errand."
"Is that so? I'm probably overthinking it." Gai Liangcai said with a relieved expression, "I thought the Security Department had other arrangements, so I sent a boat to follow far behind."
"What?" Zhang Qianzhi immediately asked: "Is there a boat following us?"
Gai Liangcai explained: "When we left Victory Port this morning, there was a blessing ship following us seven or eight miles away, but we didn't seem to see it after it passed near Yacheng. Maybe it was just a coincidence."
Zhang Qianzhi shook his head and said: "There should be no other arrangements for the Ministry of Security, and there are naval warships to escort, so why bother to find another civilian ship to follow. It's probably a coincidence..."
After Zhang Qianzhi set off, his attention was all on Li Bo, but he really didn't notice the situation at sea. Moreover, this trip was escorted by naval warships. He never considered that someone would be bold enough to follow this person at sea. situation.
Because there are a large number of plantations near Yacheng, the route from Sanya to Yacheng is relatively busy. Thinking about it this way, maybe it was just an ordinary civilian ship traveling in the same direction. It is really not worth making a fuss about. However, Gai Liang's ability to be so cautious once again made Zhang Qianzhi look at him with admiration.
(End of chapter)