Chapter 1976
The businessmen from Jiangsu and Zhejiang who came today are all from Ningbo and Shaoxing. The person leading the team is a shopkeeper named Liu who works for the He brothers in Ningbo Prefecture. It is said that he is related to the two brothers He Xiao Heli. The He brothers were close aides of Qu Yutong, the prefect of Ningbo. Qu Yutong was married to Shi Diwen, the East China Sea general who was in Zhoushan, and they were both "his own people".
Moreover, Shi Diwen sent a telegram here in advance, asking Qian Tiandun and Shi Diwen to take better care of the people sent by Ningbo Prefecture to run industries in North Korea. As for how to take care of them, although it was not mentioned in the telegram , but it is definitely not to give others a shut-in. Therefore, if you don't look at the monk's face or the Buddha's face, you can't categorically refuse people's requests to see him. Anyway, he is idle. Qian Tiandun will meet these people and find out whether there are any new changes in the situation in Jiangsu and Zhejiang.
When the coalition fleet passed through the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions in April this year, a large-scale military exercise was held in Hangzhou Bay to build momentum for Qu Yutong. Qian Tiandun had not yet had time to ask about the subsequent impact of this military exercise. Now that a few months have passed, the results should be evident.
The shopkeeper Liu Jianyuan who came from Ningbo Mansion was a bit beyond Qian Tiandun's expectation. He was not a mature, middle-aged and elderly man, but a rather young-looking young man. Qian Tiandun chatted with him for a few words, and after listening to his introduction, he realized that this person was He Xiao's nephew, and he had been in charge of some trade related to Haihan. He Xiao sent him to North Korea this time because he also wanted to see if there were any better opportunities to make money here and make a fortune while North Korea's vitality was severely weakened.
Of course, the big benefactor behind Liu Jianyuan was not He Xiao, and He Xiao was not qualified to seek Qian Tiandun's relationship. The main reason was Qu Yutong, the prefect of Ningbo. Qu Yutong now has a lot of money on hand, but he doesn't want to attract attention, so under Shi Diwen's encouragement, he slowly invests in real estate overseas to prepare more escape routes for himself and his family.
The plantations Qu Yutong bought in Taiwan and other places in his early years have begun to make profits. After the war in Korea ended this year, he heard Shi Diwen talk about the situation in Korea and felt that this was also an opportunity to make a fortune. He consulted carefully. After some time, they made a decisive decision to let the He brothers come forward to find suitable industries in North Korea. If we can set up plantations like the ones under Haihan's rule, we will first enclose 1,800 acres of land in North Korea.
However, it is not an easy matter to build a plantation in a foreign country, and North Korea is already resistant to open agricultural projects. There will definitely not be the same level of official support for plantation projects from Haihan officials in a short time, so this Errands will also test the ability of the person in charge.
Liu Jianyuan was sent to North Korea at a young age to take charge of this rather difficult matter. In addition to his kinship with the He brothers, he also had some outstanding qualities. After seeing Qian Tiandun, this man was neither humble nor arrogant. He was a little less slick and more frank than ordinary businessmen. Moreover, when he talked with Qian Tiandun, he did not use the obscure Ningbo dialect, but tried hard to express himself in Haihan Mandarin, which was not particularly smooth. This kind of attention to detail won Qian Tiandun's favor.
In addition, Liu Jianyuan has been engaged in trade in Ningbo and Zhoushan for a long time, and is no stranger to the transnational trade system led by Haihan. He once went to Taiwan to stay for half a year to learn the plantation business model. Therefore, when it comes to trade matters, he can always answer questions and answers, and it can be seen that he has some useful information.
However, as a military general, Qian Tiandun could not interfere too much in business, so he did not make any specific promises to Liu Jianyuan. He only said that since they are all his own people, if they encounter problems that are difficult to solve in North Korea in the future, , you can also ask for help from the Datong River Base.
Qian Tiandun said this, Liu Jianyuan's background is certainly one reason, but another reason is that the gifts sent by the Zhejiang businessman headed by Liu Jianyuan are not thin. In addition to giving him and Wang Tom each one, In addition to the great gift, the garrison was also given 20,000 kilograms of grain transported from Zhejiang, several poultry and livestock, several hundred kilograms of trauma medicinal materials and dozens of gauze. Although this gift to the troops could not be said to be a priceless thing, it was extremely practical. As the greeting card said, they came specifically to work for the Datong River.
Qian Tiandun thought that Liu Jianyuan was a relatively smart man, and he made an exception by taking the initiative to stay over for dinner after the meeting. Although the conditions in the military camp were limited and it was inconvenient to have a traditional banquet with big fish and meat, Liu Jianyuan and others were overjoyed to receive this invitation, and they would not be picky about it.
The atmosphere during the dinner was more relaxed than before, and Qian Tiandun also took the initiative to mention his experience in the Hangzhou Bay military exercise in the first half of the year. Liu Jianyuan heard Xiange and knew what he meant, so he also took advantage of the situation and talked about the changes in the situation in Zhejiang in the past six months.
Just like Haihan's original intention of holding military exercises to demonstrate force, Qu Yutong's influence in Zhejiang rose to a new level. Even some senior officials in Hangzhou quietly went to Ningbo Prefecture without a word. Meet him. Some of these people were worried about their official status and wanted to use Qu Yutong to confirm the attitude of the Haihan people and not regard the coastal areas of Zhejiang as the next target of aggression. Others hope to establish a relationship with Haihan through Qu Yutong, and also use their power to exchange some benefits from Haihan.
By the time autumn came, there were already some rumors in Zhejiang official circles that Qu Yutong might be promoted and transferred to another post by the imperial court. However, Qu Yutong was very calm at this time and did not regard promotion opportunities as his only way out. After consulting Shi Diwen, he also followed Xu Xinsu of Fujian and took the initiative to write a letter requesting to continue working in Ningbo Prefecture. Governing.
Qu Yutong's choice was undoubtedly wise. If the imperial court wanted to transfer him away from Ningbo in the name of promotion, it would simply be because he felt that he was too close to the Haihan people. But if he is transferred to the capital to take up a casual position, or is transferred to an inland area, his advantage will no longer exist - leaving Ningbo, his value to Haihan will plummet, and it will be difficult for Haihan to serve as His backer. At that time, he will either become a mediocre official under many restrictions and wait until the age of retiring and returning home, or he will have to resign and leave the officialdom and choose a new living environment, but this will not be good for him. These are unacceptable results.
As long as you stay in Ningbo, anything is possible. Although Qu Yutong did not have any ambition to divide the territory, he did enjoy his current life as a local emperor in Ningbo. Although he is only the prefect and his power is far less than that of the big shots in the court, apart from his power, Qu Yutong's life now can be regarded as windy and rainy. And he also knew that he was too tightly tied to Haihan, and it would be difficult to bypass the symbol of Haihan in future promotions in the Ming Dynasty. It would be better to guard Ningbo Mansion honestly and not have unrealistic dreams. .
Therefore, after the Hangzhou Bay military exercise, Zhejiang's official circles were indeed much more peaceful, and the voices opposed to contacts with Haihan were getting smaller and smaller, and Ningbo Prefecture was even calmer. Except for the news that Qu Yutong might be transferred, there was a slight shock in the Ningbo market. At other times, it was basically calm.
Of course Qian Tiandun would be a little disappointed after hearing this, but he also understood that Yu Tong was only a civil servant, and it was unlikely that he would follow Xu Xinsu's development path. It was impossible to be independent and independent in the local area. , at most, he can just make a fortune quietly by guarding the Feng Shui treasure land of Ningbo Mansion.
But at least for a foreseeable period in the future, the trade window of Ningbo will continue to exist. Haihan can perform many operations through this place. The two options of Qu Yutong being promoted or staying in the post may indeed be the latter situation. Haihan's benefits are greater. But another thing Liu Jianyuan mentioned next quickly attracted Qian Tiandun's attention.
The salt farms that Haihan opened in the name of cooperation in Xiangshan, Shipu and other places in Ningbo Prefecture have now begun to produce output. Through the operation of the local government, the sea salt produced locally is sold on the market under the name of official salt. Since the production capacity of Haihan Salt Field far exceeded that of traditional salt fields of the same era, low-cost Xiangshan Salt quickly occupied the market and began to expand inland and north of the Yangtze River.
But this will inevitably affect the interests of traditional salt merchants. The major salt merchants in Jiangsu and Zhejiang almost all source their goods from salt farms in Jiangsu. The impact of these cheap Haihan salts from Ningbo Prefecture on the market immediately affected their business.
Salt merchants are well aware of how much salt production the several official salt farms in Zhejiang can produce. The salt that suddenly appeared on the market is of better quality and lower price than official salt. Naturally, it cannot be produced in official salt fields. As for the source of these cheap salts and where they flow into the market, it is not difficult to find out with a little inquiry.
If they encounter illegal salt produced in other places, Huaiyang's big salt merchants will naturally have a thousand ways to make their competitors close down, or even go to jail. But the situation here in Ningbo Prefecture is a bit special. It is not just the officials in charge of the salt industry who benefit from it. There are even some officials who are directly involved in the operation. Moreover, these officials are not easy to deal with. They are all thousands of people stationed in the local guard station. Households even command envoys, but ordinary people can't do anything.
It is precisely because of this that most of the sales channels for the salt produced in Ningbo are in the hands of some local military leaders and officials, who then find puppets to sell on behalf of the salt in the market. Naturally, they will not give a share of the salt to traditional salt merchants. Even the prefect Qu Yutong had shares in the salt fields of Xiangshan and Shipu. Therefore, even if the salt merchants in Huaiyang want to get involved, they are not qualified to get goods directly from the salt field. They can only act as local distributors, and their profits will definitely be much lower than those from primary sources.
The government is behind the private salt operation in Ningbo. Even if the Huaiyang salt merchants sue the government, it will be useless, but this is a big deal involving millions of taels of silver every year. They will definitely not willingly give up the market to the Haihan people. Working with officials of all sizes in Ningbo Prefecture. Therefore, in recent times, competition between Jiangsu and Zhejiang over the salt industry has been a lot of drama.
Although the salt merchants dare not openly oppose the government on the ground in Ningbo, they have more people and more money, and they also have the support of the local government behind them, so they will still adopt some unconventional means to attack the export channels of Ningbo salt.
After autumn, ships and convoys transporting sea salt to other places were attacked one after another, and the cargo was often escorted by only three or five armed people. It was never expected that the salt transport would also be attacked. In less than a month, There were several major cases. The military leaders involved had no choice but to assign soldiers under their command to be responsible for the escort work, but this undoubtedly greatly increased the transportation cost.
While the military leaders were still troubled by this, the attacks continued to intensify, and the scale escalated to the point of using muskets. The small team of soldiers they sent out to escort the salt were also attacked. Moreover, because of their backward weapons, they could not defeat the attackers, and inevitably suffered many casualties. The military leaders can only remain silent and eat Coptis chinensis. After all, sending troops to transport salt is undoubtedly a violation of military discipline. If the trouble becomes serious, it will cause them a lot of trouble if the higher authorities hold them accountable.
"Not only did the attackers use muskets, but they were also more powerful than the Ningbo Guard Army?" Qian Tiandun couldn't help but interject after hearing this. Although the Ningbo Prefecture's Guard Army may only have a combat effectiveness of five in his opinion, it is still considered a regular army of the Ming Dynasty. How could it suffer at the hands of private armed forces?
Liu Jianyuan responded: "The general doesn't know. The firearms used by the attackers are quite sharp. I heard that they are not homemade blunderbuss. I don't know where they got them."
Qian Tiandun said: "From what you said before, most of the people behind the scenes are the salt merchants in the Jianghuai area. These people are extremely rich. It would not be too difficult to purchase weapons to arm a team of troops. However, I’m a little curious whether the weapons they bought were produced in the Ming Dynasty or came from somewhere other than the Ming Dynasty.”
Liu Jianyuan said: "As far as the villain knows, the muskets used by the attackers are stronger than the weapons equipped by the Ningbo Guards Army. They must not be the kind of old items that have been eliminated from the army."
"Then this is very interesting." Qian Tiandun muttered in a low voice.
In East Asia, the largest weapons manufacturer outside the Ming Dynasty is undoubtedly Haihan. The various rifles sold from Haihan to various countries each year are worth at least four figures, and most of them are sold to the armies of various countries. But a small number of guns will flow into the private sector and be provided to wealthy people who want to establish small-scale private armed forces.
Usually such buyers are partners who have a close relationship with Haihan, such as people like Li Jifeng in Guangzhou, but it is not guaranteed that some weapons will flow to other places through the black market under a not strict enough regulatory environment.
(End of chapter)