Chapter 1920
Although Zhang Qianzhi works in the Ministry of Security, his work is mainly in the fields of intelligence analysis and case investigation. He has not performed many field missions in the past two years, and he does not know much about tracking and counter-tracking at sea. Moreover, this accompanying mission itself is very relaxed, and even has a somewhat recreational nature. Zhang Qianzhi has always been optimistic that there will be no security risks, and has never thought that there are still people in the waters near Sanya. Dare to follow the official fleet.
However, since the suspicious ship has disappeared from sight, Zhang Qianzhi believes that this situation is still more likely to be a misunderstanding. Gai Liangcai originally thought that this was an additional security measure deployed by the Ministry of Security. Now that Zhang Qianzhi had clarified that there was no such thing, he was relieved and treated this as a coincidence.
After explaining the situation to Gai Liangcai, Zhang Qianzhi returned to the cabin and rested for a while, but somehow he was still thinking about what Gai Liangcai said. Usually when encountering this kind of situation, he would choose to trust his intuition, get up and leave the cabin again, and go to the deck to find the captain.
The captain of this high-end passenger ship is named Ding Xu, and he has been working for Haihan officials for several years. In the early years, it was mainly responsible for running the northern route, transporting refugees from Shandong, Liaodong and other places from north to south. Ding Xu's physical condition has declined in the past two years, and it is difficult for him to continue running long-distance routes. However, he does not want to change his route and go ashore, so he returned to Sanya to run some relatively easy short-distance routes. The superiors believed that Ding Xu had made great achievements in transporting people to Haihan on long-distance routes and was a reliable person. In addition, he had rich sailing experience, so they appointed him as the captain of the new ship.
This arrangement for the Crown Prince of Joseon to complete a tour around the island by boat was the fifth mission since the boat was put into use. It is conceivable that Ding Xu's current job is much easier than the previous northern route. Moreover, the people responsible for picking up and dropping off this ship are usually top people, so the route will be planned by the shipping department in advance. Ding Xu does not need to worry about it. If the weather conditions are not ideal, the sailing arrangements will be canceled directly. Basically, there will be no big problems. risk.
The work is easy, the income is high, and the risks are low. With Ding Xu's ability, it is difficult to find a better job. Therefore, he is quite satisfied with his current position and is very attentive to the few tasks. Although he received a temporary transfer order this time, he also made all preparations within the specified time limit.
If there was anything he felt dissatisfied with, it was that several crew members were out of town and could not come back in time to carry out the task, so he had to ask the higher-ups to send in additional personnel for emergency response. Of course, this is not a big problem. The crew of a large ship come and go, and there are often changes in personnel. Moreover, emergency personnel are transferred from other ships affiliated to the Shipping Department, so there should be no problem. What problems will there be.
After Zhang Qianzhi found Ding Xu, he mentioned to him what Gai Liangcai had said before: "Did Captain Ding find a ship following us after it came out of Victory Port this morning?"
Ding Xu nodded and said: "Yes, it happened. I informed Captain Gai at that time, but he said to observe the other party for a period of time to confirm the purpose of the other party. Later, after passing Yacheng, I didn't see the ship again. I guess there should be no trace of it. ”
Zhang Qianzhi said: "Based on your experience, captain, did the ship behind disappear actively or passively?"
Ding Xu was stunned for a moment before he understood. He scratched his head and said, "It's hard to say... If that ship was following us Anxin, it would most likely have disappeared passively. After all, our two ships were about to start speeding up. Ordinary seagoing ships really can’t keep up. I remember the southwesterly wind blew when we arrived near Yacheng today, and it happened that the wind picked up speed during that period.”
This passenger ship and the escorting warship can both reach the upper limit of about ten knots under suitable sea conditions, while the ordinary Fuzhou ship can run six to seven knots which is the limit. If there is a gap in this speed with The ship following behind widened the gap, causing the ship behind to disappear from sight. This was the "passive disappearance" that Zhang Qianzhi refers to.
Of course, even if it disappears passively, it still cannot prove that the lucky ship that followed in the morning was tracking this fleet. It may still be just a coincidence caused by the same route. So even though Ding Xu responded, it still did not completely resolve Zhang Qianzhi's doubts.
Seeing Zhang Qianzhi's serious expression, Ding Xu persuaded with a smile: "Why be nervous about this matter? This is our country's coastal waters. If anything goes wrong, a fleet will arrive within half a day, not to mention that it is just a civilian ship. It's just us. This warship next to me can easily take on ten lucky ships. What are you afraid of?”
Zhang Qianzhi makes sense when he thinks about it. It is basically impossible for a foreign armed fleet to sneak into such a place quietly, and the scale of the escort force is enough to deal with ordinary young people. The most important thing is that at the speed that the Haihan sailboat can reach, ordinary civilian ships cannot catch up even if they want to do something. Obviously you are in the mainland of Haihan, so why do you need to have so many worries?
Zhang Qianzhi nodded and said: "The captain is right. It seems that I have thought too much... By the way, how far are we from our destination?"
"Come on, we have passed Bitoujiao. The mouth of the river in front is Wanglou River. It is almost forty miles away from Yinggehai!" This route is already very familiar to Ding Xu, and the scenery along the coast can be easily understood at a glance. Know where you stand.
Zhang Qianzhi silently calculated the time, looked up at the sky, and estimated that he should arrive at Yinggehai earlier than expected. He thanked Ding Xu for his hard work and went back to the cabin to rest.
About an hour later, the two boats sailed into the bay of Yinggehai one after another. Luo Shengdong, who had been notified by Sanya's telegram in advance, was already waiting on the pier with a group of subordinates and more than a hundred people organized in advance to welcome the arrival of Li Bo and his party.
Although this scene was more grand than when Li Pu arrived in Sanya, considering that this is just a large salt field in Haihan, it is not bad to be able to achieve this level.
After getting off the boat, Li Bo had already noticed Luo Shengdong's presence without the need for introduction. This local official of Haihan, who is said to be a former military attache of the Ming Dynasty, has a strong build and dark complexion. His hair has been cut very short like the Haihan people. He is also wearing a Haihan-style short-breasted shirt and a pair of cowhide sandals produced in Sanya. , the appearance is very similar to the senior officials of Haihan whom Li Bo had met earlier. Luo Shengdong took the initiative to come forward and introduce himself to Li Bo. Li Bo could still hear the obvious local accent in the Haihan Mandarin spoken by the other party, which was probably difficult to correct.
"The prince is welcome to come to Yinggehai as a guest, but our place is small and the conditions are not as good as Sanya. Don't dislike it, prince." Luo Shengdong worked as a private salt dealer for several years, and later became an official again and received official training. His level of conversation has far surpassed that of the naval commander back then. Even if he was facing foreign dignitaries, he could still handle it with ease. Facing the North Koreans he was dealing with for the first time, Luo Shengdong behaved relatively low-key. He first took the initiative to point out local shortcomings and waited to see the other party's response before making next plans.
Li Pu responded: "Master Luo is too polite. I heard about it before I came down. This place is the largest salt field in Haihan Kingdom and the largest salt field in the entire South China Sea. With such a big name, how can it be called a small one? Where is the place? I came here specifically to broaden my horizons, Master Luo, please don’t hide your secrets!”
When Luo Shengdong heard this, he knew that the other party should have done some homework before coming, and it was not that he knew nothing about Yinggehai. Since its development, the Yinggehai Salt Farm has continued to expand its production scale every year. The amount of sea salt it produces now accounts for more than half of the national salt production in Haihan. If Haihan had not built a number of salt fields in Shipu and Xiangshan, Zhejiang in the past two years, and expanded and upgraded some of the original salt fields, this ratio might even reach two-thirds.
But even so, the status of the Yinggehai salt field is still unbreakable, and its production capacity is not expected to be surpassed by salt fields elsewhere in the next few years. Therefore, this "number one" title will indeed hang on the gate of Yinggehai Saltworks for many years.
After Li Bo arrived here, he quickly discovered that there was no need to make a special trip to visit the salt field. From the dock where he docked to the coastline in the bay, it was basically all white and it was impossible to see clearly. How many salt fields are there. This even made him think of his hometown for a moment. Whenever it was the middle of winter, after the heavy snow had passed, the wilderness would be a vast white scene like this.
Of course, the white in my hometown is snow water that will eventually melt, but the white here can be equated with wealth, which is completely different. However, Li Pu also had a question that had been bothering him for a long time. On the carriage to Yinggehai Town, he raised it with Luo Shengdong.
"Your country produces so much salt every year, which should have far exceeded the needs of the people. Is all the excess sold abroad?"
"Do you also want to buy cheap salt from our country? That is very convenient. It should be shipped quickly from Zhejiang." Luo Shengdong is not someone who is easily tricked. He did not answer Li Bo's question honestly. was a rhetorical question.
Li Bo actually didn't know the status of salt production and supply in his country. He really couldn't answer Luo Shengdong's question. He could only smile and said: "It seems that Mr. Luo is inconvenient to answer my question."
Luo Shengdong said: "The prince is joking. In fact, the salt exported by Yinggehai Salt Farm is currently mainly sold to the Ming Dynasty through Guangdong, and the quantity is probably not as much as the prince thought."
Li Bo was half-convinced and felt that Luo Shengdong's statement seemed to be reserved, but he had no way to question it. After all, the information he knew about the Yinggehai Saltworks was only the number one title. There is actually no concept of the output.
Luo Shengdong did have reservations, but he didn't say this out loud. The amount of salt sold abroad by Yinggehai Salt Farm has indeed not increased significantly in recent years. Although dumping at low prices is a good way to seize the market, if the cost of transportation and storage manpower is added, there will not be much profit at all. Therefore, what Haihan is doing now is to jointly operate salt farms with other countries and produce and sell them locally to reduce channel costs. Although this will still give a share to the partner, this can turn private salt into official salt in a high-sounding way, and then sell it on the market with great fanfare.
Haihan's salt farms in Zhejiang and other places have adopted this approach, reducing operating risks and channel costs while gaining a stable market. Although the amount of salt exported by Yinggehai Salt Farm has not increased, from the perspective of the entire industry, the amount of salt produced and exported by Haihan is actually still increasing year by year. However, only people within the industry are aware of this change, and it is difficult for outsiders to collect relevant specific information.
In addition, there is another use that even Luo Shengdong is not sure about, and that is industrial salt. Industrial salt is one of the basic raw materials in the chemical industry. Many chemical products require salt as a raw material to produce. Because seawater contains a variety of elements, the industrial value of sea salt is higher than that of lake salt and well salt. As one of the main sea salt production areas in Haihan, a considerable part of the output of Yinggehai Salt Field is sent to Tiandu Industrial Zone, where the chemical plants are processed and turned into various industrial raw materials and industrial products.
Although Luo Shengdong knew where the salt was, he didn't know exactly how it was handled. However, he had received confidentiality training and knew what to say and what not to say in front of outsiders, so in response to Li Bo's question, his answer did not mention this special purpose.
In the eyes of laymen like Li Bo, salt still only has the main purpose of seasoning, and it is impossible to imagine how many things Haihan could use salt to create that transcend the times. If it was just for food, there would be no need for Haihan to build so many salt fields. As long as the production technology was upgraded based on the original salt fields of the Ming Dynasty, the people's demand for salt could be met. Haihan invested a lot of manpower and material resources to develop and build salt fields and establish a salt industry. At the beginning, it may have been with the purpose of making money from private salt trading, but the long-term goal is still to meet the production and development needs of industry, especially the chemical industry.
It is not far from the dock to the populated area of Yinggehai County. As Li Bo had heard before, although Yinggehai is not a big place, it is no less wealthy than a big city like Sanya. The buildings here are obviously newly built in recent years, but there are almost no ordinary houses with yellow mud walls and thatched roofs. Most of the houses seen in the city are brick and tile houses of the same standard, and there are also independent houses, covering a large area. The houses of large households are not as prosperous as a small county town should be.
(End of chapter)