Chapter 1925
Luo Shengdong's explanation of Haihan salt production technology was actually not understood by many Haihan officials present, not to mention North Koreans. These technical things are not something they usually have access to, and they feel fresh when they first hear it. But when Luo Shengdong talks about more in-depth content, they become as confused as the North Koreans. Of course, they don't have the same urgency as North Koreans to learn advanced technology. Even if they don't understand, they won't have any strange emotions. Seeing the dumbfounded looks of foreign dignitaries, they may even be vaguely interested in the technology their own country possesses. Be proud of your advantages.
Of course Luo Shengdong also knew that Li Shu and others might not be able to understand his explanation, but this was his best attempt to explain the process of the Haihan Salt Making Method in an easy-to-understand way. If the other party really wanted to learn this skill, then You have to stay in the salt field for at least three to five months. However, given Li Bo's status, even if he wanted to learn, it would not be possible for him, the noble prince of the Joseon Dynasty, to come here as an apprentice in person. According to Luo Shengdong's understanding, Li Bo's main purpose of inspection should be to witness the production capacity of Haihan Salt Farm with his own eyes. After all, I heard that North Korea is also planning to build a large-scale salt farm with technical support from Haihan. The other party will definitely want to Come to inspect the goods first to be assured.
While explaining the technology, Luo Shengdong did not forget the instructions he had received from other officials earlier, and took the opportunity to praise the executive committee's far-sightedness in the development of the salt industry. However, limited to the information he knew, he actually did not understand the important role that the salt industry played in the development of Haihan's industrialization. Therefore, he could only talk about the year-by-year increase in the production scale of the salt farm and the market of Haihan salt in the South China Sea. share.
In fact, if you just want to show the scale of production to the North Koreans, it may be more intuitive to use a carriage to pull them along the Yinggehai Bay. However, Luo Shengdong has received guidance from the big shots above before, and such visits and inspections In addition to being visible, the itinerary must also include tactile aspects, so as to leave a deep enough impression on visitors.
"These are the coarse salt produced in the salt field, which will be refined later using other methods. This is the salt we sell to the market." Luo Shengdong bent down and grabbed a handful of dried coarse salt from the salt field next to him, showing Show it to Li Pu: "In fact, in the past, some salt farms directly took out this salt and sold it as private salt, but at most we used it as feed salt for livestock."
The “some salt fields” mentioned by Luo Shengdong naturally refer to other countries besides Haihan. For producers, purifying coarse salt means prolonging the process, and the production cycle and cost will be affected, so the produced coarse salt is often sold directly to the market. Anyway, there will always be some people who cannot afford or are unwilling to buy the expensive and higher-quality official salt, but choose this crude private salt that does not taste as good but is relatively cheap. In the past, similar operations were carried out in the salt fields on Hainan Island.
However, Haihan has now increased the production scale of the salt industry to a level far exceeding the needs of the people in the country. The substantial increase in production capacity has brought about a reduction in costs. The price of refined salt is no longer high. In addition, Haihan has transferred a large amount of coarse salt to For the production of chemical industry, the quantity of coarse salt that can be supplied to the market is limited, and the price is actually not much different from that of refined salt, so not many people will choose lower quality coarse salt for their own consumption.
Li Bo once inspected a camp for foreign workers when he visited the Datong River Base. He remembered that the salt he saw in the camp kitchen was almost this kind of coarse salt with coarse particles and a slight yellowish color. Luo Shengdong said that such salt could only be used as feed salt for livestock. Although he knew that the other party was saying it unintentionally, Li Shu couldn't help but feel a little sour in his heart after hearing this.
After watching the rough processing production process, Luo Shengdong led a group of people back on the carriage and drove to the next production location responsible for finishing.
Captain Xue and his party, who were waiting on the side of the road, finally waited until the official convoy was dispatched again. As before, they stood still and waited for the official convoy to enter the main road and walk for a while before following it from a distance. But what happened next almost replicated the previous scene. The official motorcade turned into a branch road again after not far, and the two carriages following it did not dare to stop in order to avoid attracting attention, so they could only continue. Drive forward for some distance and then pull over to the side of the road.
Looking at the armed riders guarding the intersection, Captain Xue realized that there would be no chance to take action at the moment, and he could only choose to stay calm.
"This action is still too hasty!" Captain Xue could only sigh helplessly in his heart. He actually received an order from the direction of Fuguang on the same day that Li Bo arrived in Sanya, asking him to find an opportunity to deal with the Joseon prince who visited Haihan. Moreover, in order to reach Sanya as soon as possible, the ship the messenger took had to cross the stormy sea, and took great risks to catch up with Li Bo's fleet, which had taken a detour to avoid wind and rain.
Such a dangerous operation is actually to buy Captain Xue, who is in Sanya, more time so that he can take action after he is ready. Unexpectedly, just a few days after Li Bo arrived in Sanya, the official announced that he would be arranged to inspect the island. Captain Xue had no choice but to temporarily pull a group of people out to sea to follow him, hoping to find an opportunity to take action on the way, but it seems that there is no chance at present. It was not easy. The security measures Haihan provided for the North Koreans far exceeded his expectations. Not to mention taking action, he even had to be careful in tracking and monitoring, and he did not dare to make any mistakes at will.
Captain Xue actually didn't quite understand why the superiors ordered to deal with the crown prince of Joseon. The only reason he could think of was to damage the relationship between Joseon and Haihan. But even if he can succeed, it seems to have no direct benefit to his camp, and North Korea should not have the courage to fall out with Haihan. But Captain Xue and others, who took great risks to complete this mission, would most likely lose their lives for it.
Of course, Captain Xue is not afraid of death. He originally came to Haihan to lurk as a dead soldier. As long as the right opportunity arises, he is not afraid to use his own life to attack Haihan, his mortal enemy. But if the direct target of the attack becomes another country, and the interests of Haihan State can only be affected indirectly, then he will have to examine whether his sacrifice is worth it.
As for the group of people he gathered temporarily, they actually came from several different forces. Some people participated in this operation purely to make money. These people are all desperadoes, and they have some experience in fighting. Some of them have even been on the battlefield, but after all, they are just temporary partners, and there is no tacit understanding at all. Although Captain Xue can still barely command these people at the moment, he is not sure how long this loose organization can last. Once any one of them makes a mistake, it may lead to the annihilation of the entire army.
If the Joseon Crown Prince's itinerary was full of this level of security, there would basically be no chance of getting close to him, and there would be no need to think about assassination or anything like that. Although what Captain Xue received was not a fatal order, his inability to complete the task would also affect his status and trust within the organization. Therefore, although he did not fully understand the intention of his boss's order, he had to face Haihan again at the moment. Despite the strict security measures, he is still trying to find possible loopholes in the other party.
It's not a good experience to have a bunch of people huddled in a carriage. Although it's not crowded, sitting for a long time without making any noise while talking casually requires a lot of discipline. Unfortunately, Captain Xue's temporary subordinates did not have such characteristics, and some people started to complain while waiting.
"Since we are just following and watching, why do we need to send out so many people and make all the brothers suffer here!"
"Are you stupid? If an opportunity arises to take action, is it better to have more people or fewer people?" "If you weren't blind, you could see that all the people on the other side were armed with guns. We have more and less people here. What’s the point? As long as you pull the trigger, you can’t even reach a distance of ten feet.”
"What's the point of having to pay for your life? Just take out the knife when it's time to fight. Stop whining!"
"Silence!" Captain Xue turned around and stopped his arguing comrades: "The enemy is still arguing! Think carefully about what to do next!"
Captain Xue actually had no idea what to do. Although he had some experience in organizing special operations, it was the first time in his history that he had to deal with someone of Li Bo's level. There was no rough plan of action beforehand, and the current team did not have a tacit understanding. Even if the opportunity to take action did arise, he was not sure whether his group would be able to seize the opportunity.
At this time, Li Bo and his party were visiting the local refined salt refining and production process under the leadership of Luo Shengdong. Here, the coarse salt undergoes dissolution, precipitation, filtration, evaporation, and repeated processing before it becomes refined salt sold on the market.
Luo Shengdong grabbed a handful of refined salt and put it in front of Li Hao: "For refined salt of this quality, our price has been kept at about two-thirds of the price of the same refined salt in Daming. If necessary, it can even be lowered to even higher." Low. However, we have reached an agreement with Daming last year and will negotiate with Daming on the issue of salt pricing to prevent Daming from excessive losses in salt tax.”
Luo Shengdong's words did not leave much favor for the Ming Dynasty. Haihan had massively transported private salt to the Ming Dynasty in the early years, and even used low prices to drive the official salt fields in Fuguang area to bankruptcy. The losses can be imagined. After these official salt farms cease production, the salt demand in these areas will further depend on Haihan's supply.
Although the two countries initially reached the agreement mentioned by Luo Shengdong after negotiations last year, in fact, Ming's salt production institutions on the southeast coast, especially in Guangdong and Guangxi, have been difficult to recover due to the huge impact they suffered, and the supply of salt on the market has been difficult to recover. Most of them still depend on Haihan, so the essence of this agreement is to allow the salt produced in Haihan to enter the Ming Dynasty market through the import channels officially recognized by the Ming Dynasty, and turn it into official salt for sale. In this way, Haihan sold the salt, the people's needs were met, and the Ming Dynasty's salt tax returned to its previous level in the process, and everyone was happy.
As for the salt farmers who lost their jobs in the competition in the salt industry, the government can't take care of them. As long as the Salt Class Office can steadily extract taxes from the salt trade, the salt is produced in their own salt fields. It was still the salt field of Haihan State, and the relevant yamen were too wise to inquire further.
In fact, in his early years, when Luo Shengdong was a private salt dealer selling salt for Haihan, he followed a similar path and sold salt directly to big salt dealers in various places, allowing them to use the monopoly qualifications issued by the salt class. All these Haihan salts are turned into official salt and then sold. Officials at all levels, such as Tiju, Tongtiju, Deputy Tiju, Ambassador Ku, etc. of the Salt Class Tiju Department also made a lot of money from it.
In the past, the imperial court was afraid of Haihan and could only turn a blind eye to many things. But now that there is a formal agreement, it is justifiable to put these sales back under the management of the government, instead of the local salt department as before. The officials acted haphazardly. But this actually has little impact on the interests of these people, because the salt is still purchased from Haihan. Haihan will naturally follow the previous rules to ensure that their income is not affected, so that the entire sales channel can continue to run smoothly as always. .
Li Ming is not very clear about the past interest disputes between Haihan and Daming in the salt industry, but he can roughly think of the cause of the problem. After all, the salt industry is one of the lifeblood of a country, and the interests involved are too great for both countries. They will certainly not give up control in this field easily. However, judging from what Luo Shengdong said, it seems that Haihan still has the upper hand - Ming Dynasty can only resolve the conflict of interests between the two parties through negotiation, rather than directly banning the inflow of Haihan salt.
"Will your country's sea salt refining technology be introduced into the salt farms jointly operated in our country?" Li Bo actually still couldn't understand the production process explained by Luo Shengdong, so he simply asked the question he was concerned about directly. If refined salt of this quality cannot be produced, the results of jointly opening a salt farm will obviously not be worth looking forward to.
"Of course." Luo Shengdong knew something about this, and immediately reassured Li Shu in a positive tone: "Our country has sent relevant technical personnel to your country. After the salt farm is completed and put into operation, something like this will happen." Refined salt will also slowly appear in the homes of people in your country.”
"That would be the best!" Li Shu said, but he had some different thoughts in his heart. The wealthy Haihan people can certainly afford such refined salt, but the people in this country may not have the same spending power. But that doesn't matter. By then, the production standards of the salt farm can be adjusted completely according to actual demand, and it is not necessarily necessary to mass-produce such refined salt.
At an intersection in the distance, Captain Xue was complaining bitterly: "I don't think there is any need to add salt to the cooking in this damn place. Even the breath is salty!"
(End of chapter)