Chapter 2199
As one of the top salt merchants in Yangzhou, Ma Zhengping has spent a lot of time dealing with local officials. After suffering losses, he also fully understands the importance of the official umbrella for business operations. In the past, Huizhou salt merchants were passive in Yangzhou. An important The reason is that there was a lack of sufficient attention to this aspect of management in the past. But now that he has finally embraced Haihan, he cannot make the same mistake again. The seven major surnames' meeting has even discussed related topics to discuss how to manage the official cooperative relationship with Haihan.
Sending money is of course the simplest and most effective method. No matter which country it is in, benefit transfer is the best way to gain the favor of officials, and Haihan is no exception. Hui-born salt merchants believe that the main purpose of Haihan's expansion of salt trade to Yangzhou is the huge profits. Since Haihan people like money, it is better to send money to their doorsteps. So this time Ma Zhengping visited Zhoushan and spent a lot of money on it, finally achieving the cooperation that the Huizhou salt merchants were looking forward to.
However, Ma Zhengping vaguely felt that this cooperative relationship was still not strong enough. Although the Haihan people took action, they were completely executed as a transaction with a clear price. How much money was spent to do what was done, which was different from the Huizhou salt merchants who considered the transaction There is a clear gap in the idea of becoming a friendship.
Therefore, Ma Zhengping believes that in order to bring the two parties closer, it is not feasible to rely solely on unilateral transfer of interests. Common interests must be built in more fields. As for how to realize this idea, he actually didn't have a clear idea before, but after absorbing information from all aspects recently, he felt that he had found a way.
Achieving common interests by sending talents to Haihan is a solution with a very low threshold for Huizhou salt merchants. Compared with the difficulty of sending these people into the officialdom of the Ming Dynasty, developing in Haihan seems to be a more difficult path. Good way to go.
After all, the Ming Dynasty has been founded for more than two hundred years, and classes have long been solidified. It is not easy for the civilian class to climb up. However, Haihan is an emerging country that has only been founded a few years ago. It doesn’t take much thinking to know that such a country must be full of big people. Give him a chance to take over. There are many young talents among the children of salt merchants who are knowledgeable and capable, and they have enough wealth and capital to support them. As long as they are willing to immigrate to Haihan, their chances of getting ahead will definitely be great.
Moreover, Ma Zhengping knows more about the situation in Haihan than other Yangzhou salt merchants. If he can take some measures before other salt merchants and make a layout in Haihan in advance, then this may allow the Ma family to quickly A great opportunity to improve your capabilities. Maybe in the next few years, the Ma family will benefit from this bold decision.
However, whether this move can work, Ma Zhengping believes that it largely depends on the performance of the children of the Ma family in this training. If they perform well, it will obviously be easier for them to get the attention of Haihan officials if they later recommend the children of the Ma family to study abroad in Haihan or become naturalized. In this case, you have to try to give some reminders to your own children.
After the afternoon training is over, according to the arrangement announced by Duan Tiancheng before, all members must first complete the task of cleaning the camp area. Ma Zhengping didn't care about the punishment suffered by the students. Instead, he went to Duan Tiancheng and thanked him for his hard work.
"What do you think, Boss Ma? You must think this kind of training is a bit boring, right?" Duan Tiancheng asked.
Ma Zhengping was allowed to observe the training of these people in the camp with the approval from above. This was to reassure the salt merchants about the training content and to ensure that Haihan would not bluff people after receiving the money. Secondly, Ma Zhengping With such a prestigious figure sitting in the training ground, these salt merchants' children will be more honest.
Of course, Duan Tiancheng has benefited a lot from Ma Zhengping, so his attitude towards Ma Zhengping is much kinder than towards these students.
Ma Zhengping did not dare to make excuses in front of Duan Tiancheng, and responded respectfully: "I am a layman about this matter of marching and fighting, and I dare not speak nonsense."
Duan Tiancheng smiled and said: "We are all our own people, but Boss Ma just says it doesn't matter."
The phrase "one of our own" was very useful to Ma Zhengping, and he responded immediately: "I thought that these afternoon training sessions were all to help these boys learn to abide by military discipline and rules. Do you understand me correctly?"
Duan Tiancheng nodded slightly and said: "It does have such an effect, but it is not the whole purpose. Queue training is the basis of all tactics. If you can't even line up neatly, then let's stop talking about training tactics. You have sent these young men. Although their physical condition is good, most of them do not have the corresponding training foundation, so they can only start from scratch and master the basic skills before teaching them more advanced tactics.”
Ma Zhengping didn't know whether Duan Tiancheng's statement was bluffing him, so he could only respond: "That really makes Mr. Duan worry a lot!"
"It doesn't matter. The new recruits in our army are also trained according to this method. After three to five days, they will be able to see initial results. If they still can't practice by then, they probably won't be suitable for this bowl of rice. " Duan Tiancheng tried his best to describe the elimination in a tactful way so as not to embarrass Ma Zhengping.
Ma Zhengping responded: "If there really is such a fool, just pick him out, Mr. Duan, and don't delay the training progress of others."
Duan Tiancheng has seen all kinds of examples of people who failed to pass the test during recruit training. Most of them were born with uncoordinated limbs. There were many people who walked with the same hands and feet, and couldn't tell left and right. Trainees like this are usually eliminated directly during the recruit training period. Duan Tiancheng greeted him first because he didn't want Ma Zhengping to think that Haihan was deliberately looking for trouble.
Haihan notified Yangzhou in advance to send more people over, taking into account the elimination due to various situations during the training process. But since Ma Zhengping is so reasonable, Duan Tiancheng doesn't have to worry so much.
Seeing that Duan Tiancheng was in a good mood, Ma Zhengping lowered his voice and asked, "I wonder if Mr. Duan can do something more convenient?"
Duan Tiancheng glanced at him and asked: "What does Boss Ma want?"
Ma Zhengping said: "I would like to call out the children of the Ma family and give them some instructions so that they can train with peace of mind."
"That's it?" Duan Tiancheng thought Ma Zhengping had some special intention, such as asking him to give special care to the children of the Ma family, but he didn't expect that the other party's request was so simple that he couldn't even find a reason to refuse.
Ma Zhengping said sternly: "Although my Ma family's children have ordinary qualifications, they must not lag behind others in training. I will ring the bell for them, lest they be returned after just a few days!" Duan Tiancheng felt that Ma Zhengping What he said was human nature, so he nodded in agreement with his request, and immediately ordered people to gather all the children of the Ma family. Ma Zhengping quickly thanked him and stuffed two more banknotes into Duan Tiancheng's hand when no one else was around.
Soon all the eleven Ma family disciples who were sent to Zhoushan for training were called. Duan Tiancheng took advantage of it and was very knowledgeable. He found an excuse to walk away on his own initiative, leaving Ma Zhengping room to operate on his own. .
As the current head of the family, Ma Zhengping has full authority to arrange for the children of salt merchants to go to Zhoushan for training, so his prestige is unquestionable. In front of him, these young people of the Ma family really didn't even dare to express their anger.
Ma Zhengping asked everyone to gather around him and lowered his voice: "No matter how hard you suffer during training here, you must persevere! If anyone is eliminated halfway through training and goes home, then don't do it in the future." I consider myself a descendant of the Ma family again!”
Everyone was frightened, but they still accepted it, feeling that the responsibility they shouldered had increased.
"Those who can complete the training and pass the assessment will receive the support of their families in the future. They can donate money to get an official position and develop in the officialdom in the future." After Ma Zhengping danced with the stick, he immediately gave a sweet date to him. After hearing this, Everyone's eyes lit up.
Of course they hope that the skills they learned in Zhoushan will make them stand out, but now that Ma Zhengping has said that the family will provide corresponding support, this will be much easier than struggling on their own. However, even the boldest among them probably would not have imagined that when Ma Zhengping mentioned entering the officialdom, he did not specifically mean entering the officialdom of the Ming Dynasty, but also included the officialdom of the Haihan Kingdom.
Now that Ma Zhengping has promised, becoming a court official seems to be a good prospect that can be expected in the future. The premise is that he must grit his teeth and survive the training in the next few months. Everyone immediately expressed their opinions that they would do their best to complete the training and not let the elders and relatives of the clan down.
Ma Zhengping nodded with satisfaction, and told them not to care about how the children of other families treated their training. In short, he must try his best to complete the training requirements of Instructor Haihan. Those with outstanding results in the final assessment will definitely become the family's priority for support. .
Ma Zhengping's statement was obviously mixed with selfishness. He hoped that the children of the Ma family could stand out in this training, so that in the future, the Ma family would be able to strive for success both within the Seven Great Surnames and externally in their relationship with Haihan. to a more favorable situation.
Of course, his painstaking efforts may not be understood by everyone. After all, these young people are far less visionary and knowledgeable than him, and they do not think about problems as far-term and in-depth as he does. Ma Zhengping only hoped that he could use his prestige to make these young people obey orders and work in the direction he expected, for the sake of the Ma family and themselves.
After Ma Zhengping finished his instructions, he asked these juniors to go back and continue working. And he himself had to leave as soon as possible. Although the Haihan military gave him special permission to observe training, they did not allow him to live in the military camp. So after the day's training, Ma Zhengping had to leave the military camp.
For people who have never done much exercise before, this training in just half a day has already drained all their energy. When they returned to the dormitory after dinner, many people immediately lay down on the bed, loudly complaining that the training was too hard.
However, their complaints did not last long, and soon the instructors came to check on the students. After checking the duties, the instructor had no intention of leaving. Instead, he called them to sit down and began to explain various regulations in the army.
Although these trainees are not Haihan recruits, they must abide by Haihan Army's rules when they are in Haihan Military Camp. Therefore, in addition to daily training, they also have to learn military regulations collectively.
Considering the identities of these trainees, the learning content was not completely arranged for them according to the standards of recruits. The focus was on strengthening the explanation of disciplines and regulations in training, organization, work, life, etc., while the political aspects that were more emphasized for recruits were relatively reduced. It’s a lot, and I’ll slowly add more after the military training reaches a certain level.
In fact, these salt merchants' children are still curious about the Haihan Army. As long as these regulations are slowly spread out, they are also very interested in understanding them, especially the content about meritorious service and awards. The salt merchants' children are particularly interested in it. Seriously, I want to know what standards the promotion system in the Haihan Army is implemented according to.
Most of the instructors who teach these people are junior officers in the military. They have more than three years of military service and experience in front-line combat. Explaining these regulations on meritorious service and awards can be well explained with examples, and war stories are very important to these young people. The appeal is self-evident.
In the past, they only heard about it and knew more or less some rumors about the victory of the Haihan Army. However, they could not say exactly what battles the Haihan Army fought against enemies of which country in what year and month. Come on, now I can hear the parties involved explain the actual combat examples in the war. Even if I only understand a superficial understanding, I can't help but feel excited and excited.
Duan Tiancheng's explanation simply used the Hirado War that just ended not long ago as an example to explain to these students the military exploits made by the East China Sea Fleet in the attack on Hirado Port, as well as the detailed rules for calculating military exploits. Of course, it is also indispensable to talk about how the East China Sea Fleet fought with the coastal defense batteries of Hirado Port for three days and three nights, and finally razed Hirado Port to the ground with artillery fire.
Duan Tiancheng's explanation was naturally exaggerated, but as a witness to the war, the details he told could easily make the listeners empathize and integrate into it. Even if these salt merchants' children have never been to Hirado, they seem to be able to truly feel the smoke and destruction on the battlefield through Duan Tiancheng's description.
Dai Chengrong listened very carefully. Like everyone else, what he cared about was not how the Haihan Army could calculate military merit in such a battle, but how the East China Sea Fleet could cross the sea to attack a heavily guarded port. You must know that it was a force that provided weapons and training to the Shanshan salt merchants. It was an existence that the Huizhou salt merchants could not afford to offend. In Duan Tiancheng's description, the Hirado clan was just a person struggling to death in front of the powerful Haihan fleet. The poor thing.
Dai Chengrong was aware of this power gap, so he was also thinking about whether his salt merchant group could have other ways to strengthen its armed strength besides seeking military assistance from Haihan.
(End of chapter)