Chapter 1926
After visiting the refined salt processing plant, it was almost noon. Luo Shengdong said that a luncheon had been prepared in the county seat and invited Li Shu back to the city for dinner. Of course, there are collective canteens in these salt fields outside the city, but the dining quality is obviously not up to the level of entertaining foreign dignitaries, and Li Bo has no intention of experiencing the life of ordinary Haihan people. After going abroad, he has long been accustomed to the food provided by Haihan officials. At present, he had no objection to Luo Shengdong's arrangement. So a group of people took a carriage and rushed back to the county town.
The person who was most relaxed after returning to the county seat was not Li Bo, but Gai Liangcai, who was responsible for commanding security. Although nothing unusual happened in the past two days, Gai Liangcai still did not dare to be careless and used the armed forces at hand to deploy more thorough security measures. Compared with the outdoors, it is obviously easier to protect the target person in a closed space. Returning to the county office is much safer than staying outside.
Of course, Captain Xue and his group, who were following from afar, would not be so relaxed. Seeing the official convoy returning to the county town, everyone sighed silently, knowing that there would be no chance to take action for the time being. This is by no means good news for them. These people are not newbies. They know that the longer time passes, the easier it is for their intentions to be exposed. If you wait until the Haihan people relax their vigilance before taking action, you are actually gambling with your own life while waiting.
"Go back to the county first. They want to go back to the city for dinner, so let's go back for dinner too!" Although Captain Xue judged the Haihan people's next arrangements, there was no other way to think of at the moment. He could only continue to follow Haihan's rhythm. .
Even so, he did not give up immediately. He followed the official motorcade back to the city. After confirming that their destination was the county government office, he began to look for a temporary place to stay nearby.
After spending the whole morning huddled in the hot and stuffy carriage without daring to relax, these people were already tired. At this time, they just wanted to find a cool and ventilated place to sit down, eat something and rest. Fortunately, Yinggehai County is quite prosperous, so a place like this is not difficult to find. They quickly found a restaurant near the county government office, and the waiter in the restaurant enthusiastically untied the packhorse for them and led them to drink water. Eat grass - of course this kind of thoughtful service is also one of the paid items.
Captain Xue ordered two people to stay on the street and watch what was going on at the county government office, while the others went to eat with him first and would replace them later. However, because they were on a mission and under the supervision of Captain Xue, everyone must have no wine to drink during this meal.
"Boss, what should we do this afternoon? Why don't we just set up a trap for him outside the city?" After sitting down, some impatient subordinates began to ask Captain Xue about his next arrangements.
Captain Xue was very calm and rebuked: "Why are you anxious? We have just begun to contact our opponents. Acting rashly will only be counterproductive. We must first observe carefully, look for their loopholes, and wait for the right opportunity to take action!"
Of course, Captain Xue also knew that it would take too long and the nights would be full of dreams, but at this time he couldn't show his anxiety in front of his men. Even if he pretended, he had to pretend to be confident, otherwise the men who had been summoned temporarily would soon fall into chaos. position.
As for the plan of setting up an ambush outside the city, he would definitely not adopt it now. There are not even any locals in this group of people, and everyone has a dark eye on the environment here. In this situation, it is nonsense to set up an ambush against an important person accompanied by dozens of armed guards. The chance of success is really low. , far lower than the possibility of annihilation.
Worried about new developments on the Korean side, Captain Xue and his gang could only hurriedly eat lunch and prepare in advance to set off at any time. But the people on the street looking out have changed twice, but there is no movement from the county government. The waiter at the shop here has come twice to ask if they want to add more food, but he didn't clearly say that if you don't want to eat, you can check out. Leave.
Captain Xue had no choice but to pay for the meal first, and then ordered two pots of good tea and a few plates of snacks, lest the waiter in the shop would come up with different tricks. Fortunately, after lunch, there was not much business in this restaurant, otherwise the store owner would probably urge them to leave.
This group of people were waiting outside, but Li Bo in the county government office had already made other arrangements. After Luo Shengdong sought Li Shu's opinion, he canceled his afternoon visit and held a tea party at the county government office instead. This is because Li Pu is not very interested in visiting the salt fields. After seeing two places in the morning, the novelty has almost worn off. If he continues to wander around the white salt fields, he feels that it is better to sit down and chat. Let's talk about the development history and future development plans of Yinggehai, so that we may be able to find experience that will be beneficial to North Korea's future salt farm operations.
Of course Luo Shengdong was happy to accompany him. He didn't want to give a long explanation like playing the piano to a cow. Moreover, the main local production project was the salt farm. People from outside came here to visit and inspect. If they didn't see the production of the salt farm, what else could they see? Instead, he sat down to have a tea party. He could also take this opportunity to give the North Koreans a heads up and complete the propaganda mission conveyed to him by the accompanying officials yesterday.
There are two issues that Li Bo is most concerned about. One is whether the production and operation model of Yinggehai's salt field can be effectively copied to North Korea. The other is what difficulties Luo Shengdong thinks the new salt field opened by North Korea may face.
Regarding these two issues, Luo Shengdong gave his own views very carefully: "From a technical perspective, there are no artificial obstacles to your country's introduction of my country's salt production method. I believe that the prince has already passed the morning visit. I feel that we have nothing to hide in our production technology. The experts sent by our country to guide the production technology will not hide their secrets and will definitely pass on the technology they have mastered to your country.”
"But when it comes to difficulties, there will definitely be difficulties. I think the most likely difficulties are during the construction stage. The prince also saw this morning that the construction process of the salt field here is more detail-oriented, which means that the project cost is much higher. Compared with the traditional sea salt salt field. I am not sure how much money your country plans to spend to build the new salt field, but it will definitely be a huge expense and may affect your country’s planning for this project.”
When it comes to money, North Koreans have little confidence. Li Ming knew very well that his country had exhausted its national treasury during this year's war, and the post-war reconstruction expenses were very huge, not to mention the construction of new projects such as salt farms. He remembered that when he visited the Datong River before going abroad, the local area had roughly demarcated the area for the construction of a salt farm, but when the construction would start, to put it bluntly, he still had to wait for the money to arrive first.
Luo Shengdong's words have been very straightforward. The construction cost of the Haihan-style salt farm is much greater than that of the traditional salt farm. If North Korea cannot pay for the construction, then even if Haihan is willing to teach the production technology, North Korea will not be able to afford it in the end. Bowl of rice. Whether it can successfully replicate the production and operation methods of the Haihan Salt Farm depends on whether North Korea can meet the corresponding conditions. Seeing Li Bo's serious expression, Luo Shengdong knew that what he said might have hit the young Joseon prince, but this was exactly the effect he wanted, so that he could throw a life-saving straw to him in a timely manner. .
"Your Majesty, there is no need to feel discouraged. Even if your country has difficulties in development funding, don't forget who your country's partners are. After the Crown Prince completes his inspection and returns to Sanya, he will consult more with the adults on the executive committee, and we will definitely be able to Find a reasonable solution ”
Although Luo Shengdong did not know that Haihan Bank had immediately gone to Seoul to discuss the loan development model with North Korean officials, he had already learned from the accompanying officials yesterday the general outline of the two countries' joint development of salt fields and other projects in North Korea. Knowing the situation, since the official agreed to cooperate with the North Koreans to operate the salt field, it must be profitable, and the official must have corresponding plans to solve the other party's lack of funds. It would definitely not be wrong to stand up and build momentum for the Executive Committee at this time.
In fact, Li Bo also felt that Luo Shengdong's words made sense. Haihan people had great supernatural powers, and they might have some way to solve their country's financial problems. Even if the funding problem cannot be solved in the short term, I believe Haihan can come up with a slightly lower-cost construction plan and lower some technical standards. Anyway, North Korea's demand for refined salt is not that urgent.
Of course, he didn't expect that the Haihan people had long-term plans for this issue, nor did he expect that after he left North Korea, the two countries would have a series of negotiations on the development funding for cooperation projects. In the end, they were in urgent need of revitalization after the war. The economically poor North Korea had to compromise on most projects and accept the loan construction plan provided by Haihan. But in this way, the proportion of shares held by both parties in the cooperation project will also be adjusted, and Haihan will obtain more benefits from it to ensure the rapid recovery of the money lent to North Korea.
Tian Zheng also took over the conversation at the right time and said: "Our country has been willing to provide all-round support to the infrastructure projects of our allies for many years. Even if some projects have financial problems in the early stages of development, our country will try its best to provide them with financial support." Help. Mr. Li has been in our country for a long time, and I believe he has heard of some cases in this regard.”
The Mr. Li Tian Zheng refers to is naturally Li Xi. He has also had close contacts with Fujian and Annan since arriving in Sanya. He must have heard about the many infrastructure cooperation projects between Haihan and these two companies in the past few years. . Tian Zheng asked Li Xi to answer this question, thinking that Li Fu would definitely trust his family more.
Li Xiying said: "I have indeed heard of some of the cases that Mr. Tian pointed out, but there are many confidentiality conditions involving both parties, and the inside story is not very clear. I only know that your country does have many cooperative projects overseas, such as salt farms. , ports, mines, etc. If conditions permit in the future, I would also like to go and see the operating conditions of these projects. ”
Li Xi responded politely, but he refused to endorse Tian Zheng's statement. As an envoy to North Korea, he naturally had to consider the interests of his country. As for Haihan's overseas cooperation projects, he did not expect Tian Zheng to do so. So understanding.
Tian Zheng was slightly startled, but he didn't expect that his gesture of goodwill was thrown into the air, and the other party didn't pick up the gesture at all. Fortunately, Hong Jingwen quickly took over the words: "What Master Li said, it seems that our publicity is not enough, and we have not let more people truly understand how our country's cooperation projects with other friendly countries operate. method, we need to work harder in this regard in the future!”
Hong Jingwen took the initiative to take over the pot, and Tian Zheng couldn't help but cast a grateful look, thinking that this man named Hong was well-informed and could make friends again in the future.
Zhang Qianzhi said at this time: "When the prince went south, I heard that he had visited Zhangzhou and Kaohsiung. In fact, there are many cooperation projects between our country and Ming Dynasty businessmen in these two places. I don't know if the prince has visited them."
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Li Pu nodded and replied: "I have indeed been to these two places. Mr. Xu from Zhangzhou and Mr. Li from Kaohsiung are both very enthusiastic about me and took me to see many places. Especially the agricultural development zone near Kaohsiung Port. , it really feels like a land of plenty. Mr. Ting Li said that almost half of the local plantations and farms were built with money from Ming merchants, which is equivalent to the cooperation between the two countries to develop local agricultural resources. ”
Li Bo was deeply impressed by his visit to these two places. In fact, he also knew that Haihan's investment in the Fujian coast was entirely out of trust in Xu Xinsu as a partner, not because of the close relationship between Haihan and Daming. Seventy-eight out of ten Ming businessmen who invested in agricultural projects in Kaohsiung were also from the Fujian area where Xu Xinsu was located.
This model is actually difficult to apply to the cooperation between Haihan and North Korea, because North Korea’s current conditions even make it difficult to develop development projects on its own territory, and it is almost impossible to invest in projects in areas under Haihan’s rule. Moreover, most of the investment projects opened to the outside world by Haihan are for private agricultural projects. North Korea does not have so many wealthy and capable businessmen investing money overseas.
However, the examples mentioned by Zhang Qianzhi can at least illustrate one thing, that is, Haihan's allies are keen on industrial cooperation precisely because Haihan is a trustworthy partner. Although North Korea has just entered this model, judging from past successful experience, there should be no need to worry about any negative consequences of cooperation with Haihan.
Li Mu silently summarized everyone's opinions, that is, North Korea may indeed have a funding gap at present, but there is no need to worry about this problem, Haihan will try to help North Korea solve it. As for how to solve it, these people didn't mention a word. Li Bo felt that Li Xi should know the answer, but just now Li Xi didn't take up the topic of Tian Zheng. Li Bo felt that maybe Li Xi deliberately avoided talking in front of Haihan officials. As well as some relatively sensitive contents, I wrote them down now and planned to find an opportunity to ask Li Xi later.
(End of chapter)