Chapter 2234
As a guest of Fort Victory, Li Nai had frequent contacts with political and business figures from various countries during his stay in Sanya. This is nothing new for Li Nai. Because of this, he had no trouble guessing who the person was who wanted to arrange a meeting through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
But as to why the Crown Prince of Joseon would have such a request, no matter how smart Li Nai was, it would be difficult to guess the specific situation.
Li Nai asked: "What urgent matter does this prince have, and why would he bother Mr. Tian to wait at the dock?"
Tian Zhengdao: "It's nothing urgent. I'm just worried that the Third Young Master will be busy with official duties after arriving in Sanya and won't have time to meet with the Crown Prince of Korea, so I came here early so that the Third Young Master can arrange his time. Let's see when the Third Young Master is free here. , let’s have a casual meal together, and then I’ll inform the crown prince and confirm the meeting place.”
Li Nai responded with a smile: "Master Na Tian is really interested! Let me think about it... I have to meet with the Dutch today to let them inspect the goods shipped from Guangzhou, and I have to go to the customs office to go through the transshipment procedures. I don't know. How long will it take to finish it, maybe tomorrow? I will be the host at Qingfeng Tower at noon tomorrow. If Mr. Tian is free then, please come and sit with us.”
Tian Zheng said: "Third Young Master, that's what we said at that time. As for the matter of being a host, you don't have to argue. The Crown Prince of Joseon has said that he will treat this meal."
"Then it's better to be respectful than to obey." Li Nai didn't care about trivial matters like who paid the bill for dinner, but the other party took the initiative to treat him, so maybe he had something to ask of him.
After Li Nai came to Sanya last time, he already knew that the top management of Haihan attached great importance to the study abroad of the Joseon Prince. Not only did he arrange an island tour for him, but he also gave the Joseon Prince great autonomy in the direction of his study. This was not the case in the past. A rare phenomenon.
According to the information Li Nai obtained from senior officials of Haihan, he believed that Haihan regarded North Korea as an important ally in the far northern frontier. Its role and status were roughly similar to those of Annan, and it could serve as a basis for Haihan in the north. Development provides various materials, which can even be temporarily used as Haihan's strategic depth when necessary.
In order to achieve this goal, Haihan even took the risk of sending troops to North Korea to prevent the Qing army from going south to conquer the Korean Peninsula. After the war, arrangements were made for the crown prince of Joseon, who would be in charge of the throne in the future, to study in Sanya. This shows that Haehan hoped to use a mature top-down plan to influence the future development direction of North Korea and win him over to himself.
Although Li Nai is a businessman, he has been hanging out with people like Haihan senior officials all year round. Under the influence of his ears and eyes, his vision and knowledge are far incomparable to ordinary people. He understands the international situation even better than the real ruling class like Li Zhi. . Li Nai is also very interested in observing and studying how Haihan exerted influence on North Korea bit by bit.
In addition, as Haihan's most loyal trading partner, Furifeng was also one of the first foreign companies to enter North Korea after the war last year, and has already established a business store there.
Although the affairs Li Nai is responsible for do not include business in the north, if there is an opportunity to have face-to-face communication with North Korea's powerful figures, he is still happy to participate. Taking this opportunity to learn more about the situation in North Korea, and even establishing a more ideal personal relationship with the North Korean prince, will help Furifeng carry out trade activities in North Korea in the future.
What's more, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs took the lead in arranging this matter. It is obvious that the official attitude is to facilitate a meeting between the two parties. Although Tian Zheng did not explain the specific reason, since this was the official intention, Li Nai knew that it would not do any harm to him, so he agreed.
After Tian Zheng finalized the matter, he said goodbye to Li Nai and went to Li Xie to reply. Li Nai, on the other hand, continued to stay at the dock waiting for the inspection. His men had already notified the Dutch to come to the dock to inspect the special cargo carried on the ship.
Since this batch of goods is steel products that must be controlled by Haihan, inspection and registration must be completed by relevant official Haihan agencies before the goods are delivered. As the owner of the cargo, Li Nai had to wait at the scene.
Not long after, the people from Haihan Customs arrived first, and Li Nai asked someone to take out the relevant formal documents and hand them to the customs people for registration. These documents include the type, quantity and transaction objects of the relevant goods. Through registration, Haihan officials can roughly grasp the number of steel products purchased by the Dutch from Ming Dynasty every year.
Of course, with Batavia's current industrial production capacity, it is not an easy task to make these hard-to-obtain steel into armor and weapons. The thresholds set by Haihan further increased the cost of the East India Company's own weapons, thereby indirectly controlling the scale of its armed forces.
The customs officers boarded the ship, looked at the cargo in the cabin, registered it, and left quickly. If the goods were from other companies, they might be able to make some profit from it, but these two ships were carrying Furifeng's goods, so no one would dare to make any random decisions.
As soon as the customs people left, the Dutch arrived. Due to the special nature of this batch of goods, the East India Company also attached great importance to it. Su Keyi, the minister stationed in Haihan, personally came to inspect the goods.
Of course, the reason why Su Keyi came forward was not only because he valued the goods, but also because he heard that Li Nai personally escorted the goods, so he came here to show his respect for Li Nai.
It was not the first day that the two of them had interacted. After a few words of greeting after meeting, Li Nai handed him the Haihan inspection document that was still wet with ink: "The formalities have been completed. Brother Su can board the ship to inspect the goods. If there are no problems, , then the transfer can be arranged.”
Su Keyi thanked him and stretched out his hands to take the documents. Without this procedure, these steel products could not be legally handed over to him for transportation.
As the East India Company's representative in Sanya, Su Keyi has been here for several years and is naturally very familiar with the various restrictions Haihan has set up against the East India Company. For example, the regulations restricting the purchase of steel products from Daming clearly indicate that prices are deliberately raised, and the agent Fulifeng is also one of the main beneficiaries.
Of course, although he was very dissatisfied with the purchase restriction system created by Haihan, he did not dare to offend Furifeng easily, because in addition to steel products, Batavia also had many products produced in the Ming Dynasty that needed to be passed through. Furifeng completed the acquisition in Guangdong, so even though he knew that every steel product transaction was a tribute to Furifeng, Su Keyi still had to deal with Furifeng politely.
Of course, Su Keyi himself would not do such menial work as drilling into the ship's cabin to order cargo. In just one sentence, his subordinates would take care of it. He himself stayed on the dock to talk with Li Nai about the current situation. Many people will feel very shameful towards Su Keyi because he is a Han and serves the Dutch. However, Li Nai is an exception and will not look at Su Keyi in a discriminatory way. This is why Su Keyi has a good impression of Master Li San. One of the reasons.
Unlike most people, Li Nai has no negative views on Su Keyi playing for the Dutch. He believes that although Su Keyi is Han, he was born in a place ruled by the Dutch. It is only natural for him to play for the Dutch when he grows up. This is just as understandable as the vast majority of people living in Hainan Island becoming Hainan citizens.
Moreover, by communicating with a Han Chinese with a special status like Su Keyi, Li Nai could also understand the views of people from different positions on Haihan, which was also a very interesting thing for him. "The goods shipped this time should be much less than the quantity we ordered, right? Could it be that something happened in Foshan?" Of course, Su Keyi also noticed the quantity on the customs declaration form, and after chatting for a while, he Bring the topic back to business.
"It's not Foshan's problem, but the imperial court has to requisition it. It's not easy to acquire these from the market." Li Nai explained the reason lightly.
Su Keyi said: "Is it because the civil strife in the Ming Dynasty intensified?"
Li Nai nodded and said: "The war in Sichuan and Shaanxi continues, and the imperial court issued a decree to lift the maritime ban on Fujian and promote trade. In addition, redundant officials in Nanjing have been laid off on a large scale recently to save money. Privately produced steel has been requisitioned in Foshan. , used to create weapons and armor for the army, which is also one of the recent measures taken by the court. ”
This information cannot be said to be confidential. As long as you are willing to inquire, it is not difficult to learn from the market. Therefore, Li Nai did not intend to hide it from Su Keyi and told everything frankly.
In fact, the situation of the Ming Dynasty at this time was much better than in history, because Haihan delayed the Qing army's march south in Liaodong, and the Ming Dynasty was able to temporarily concentrate on dealing with the peasant army in the hinterland of the Central Plains. Li Zicheng, Luo Rucai and other troops suffered successive defeats at the hands of the Ming army, while Zhang Xianzhong simply surrendered to Xiong Wencan in Gucheng.
However, it is worth mentioning that in the original history, Zhang Xianzhong's surrender was only a temporary measure, and he rebelled again in Gucheng the following year. Xiong Wencan, who was then the governor of the five provinces and the right deputy censor of the capital, was killed because of this major mistake. He was imprisoned, and later sentenced to be beheaded and abandoned in the market, and was tricked to death while still alive.
Foshan is the smelting center of Guangdong, and it is reasonable for the steel produced there to be expropriated by the government. Su Keyi had actually seen the relevant news in Haihan's newspaper before. At this time, he was just using the excuse of inspecting the goods to confirm the authenticity of the news to Li Nai, and also to test whether Li Nai would be interested in it. Tell the truth yourself.
The government's expropriation naturally made procurement more difficult, so that the amount of steel shipped to Sanya this time was about a quarter less than the amount scheduled by the East India Company. Su Keyi knew that this was not Fu Ruifeng's deliberate embarrassment, so he could only accept this fact.
While talking, the inventory on the ship has also ended. All the iron ingots shipped are cast and molded. Not only are they consistent in color, but each piece is the same size and weight. You can calculate the weight by just counting the number, and the entire inventory process does not take too much time. long time.
Su Keyi was also a cheerful person, so he immediately asked someone to go to Haihan Bank with Li Nai's men to handle the payment transfer. Having been in Sanya for a long time, Su Keyi has already become accustomed to the transaction method developed by Haihan. Large transactions are settled directly at the bank, so there is no need to use a large amount of cash for transactions, which is safe, reliable and efficient.
"There's not much time left. If the third young master has no other arrangements, why don't we have a casual dinner together?" Seeing that the business was almost done, Su Keyi extended an invitation to Li Nai.
Li Nai declined: "To be honest, I still have to go to Fort Victory for business, so I really can't agree to Brother Su's invitation. I will stay in Sanya for a while this time, so why not make an appointment another day!"
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Su Keyi heard that he was going to Victory Castle, so he couldn't force it anymore. He nodded and said: "Since the Third Young Master still has business to do, I won't bother you anymore. I will send someone to deliver the invitation to the Third Young Master's house later." .”
After finishing the delivery of money and goods with the East India Company after three times, five times and two times, Lin Nai took his own carriage and went all the way to Fort Victory.
At the gate of Fort Victory, Li Nai got out of the car, greeted the officers on duty, and then entered on his own. When he came to Fort Victory, it was like returning to his own home. He didn't need to go through the cumbersome registration process like outsiders. This face was used as a pass.
Li Nai asked outside the executive committee's office building. It happened that senior officials were meeting behind closed doors, so he could only wait outside.
But it didn't take too long, and the meeting inside was over. Ning Qi was the first to come out of the conference room. After seeing him, he took the initiative to greet him: "The third young master is here!"
Li Nai quickly stepped forward to greet him. Although he had a good personal relationship with senior officials such as Haihan and basically got along with each other as friends, Ning Qi taught him the most knowledge, so Li Nai usually treated him as a disciple when he saw him.
Then Tao Donglai, Yan Chujie, Bai Kesi, Schneider and others walked out of the conference room one after another, and Li Nai also greeted them one by one. In terms of the degree of familiarity with big figures like the Haihan Executive Committee, Li Nai is probably the number one in the Ming Dynasty.
"I just arrived in Sanya today. After handing over the goods at the port, I came directly to Fort Victory. It's been a long time since I saw you, and you are still in such good spirits!"
"You came here in such a hurry, did you come here grabbing some food?" Tao Donglai joked: "Every time I arrive in Sanya, I come to Victory Fort to have a meal first. Do you really think that our place is a canteen?"
Li Nai responded seriously: "How can this matter? Mr. Tao is joking! I just haven't seen you adults for a long time and miss you very much, so I came here to visit first, so as not to become estranged. As for eating, I would like to enjoy the meal. Of course I want to eat it! ”
Li Nai has known these senior officials for many years, and there has long been no identity barrier. After meeting, they talked and laughed quite casually. They were not at all as restrained and cautious as ordinary foreigners when they arrived at Fort Victory.
He actually didn't have anything important to do when he came to Victory Fort. He was just used to checking in at Victory Fort first every time he came to Sanya, so he would rather turn down Su Keyi's invitation than come over to meet everyone first. Of course, it would be better if you could have a meal by the way. After all, the food in Fort Victory cannot be eaten in any restaurant outside.
(End of chapter)