Chapter 2284
As early as 1629, Haihan's armed fleet entered the waters near Hong Kong and gradually encroached on the central and western regions of Hong Kong Island in the following years. Originally, the Ming Dynasty still had a navy camp on the east coast of Hong Kong Island. However, after Haihan stationed in Hong Kong Island, this camp slowly died down under constant threats and inducements. It gradually lost its original function and now it has long existed in name only. .
Haihan's plan for Hong Kong Island was to build a trading port not under the jurisdiction of the Ming Dynasty at the Pearl River Estuary, a maritime transportation hub, and to serve as a shipping transit port for Fujian, Guangdong and Qiongzhou. The effect of this plan after its implementation is obvious. As long as maritime merchants from all over the country transport goods here for transactions, the voyage to and from the sea can be greatly shortened, which can save the time and cost of cross-regional transactions.
In addition, Haihan has many support and guarantee measures for Hong Kong's trade system, which enhances the convenience and safety of local transactions and makes businessmen more willing to carry out trading activities in the region.
Although there are no special local products on Hong Kong Island, and most of the traded goods are shipped from other places, as the volume of trade continues to increase, many ancillary industries have been spawned locally, such as the service industry, shipbuilding industry, and financial industry. Etc., a large number of job opportunities are created to attract immigrants to move in, and the rapid growth of population in turn plays a role in driving the development of the local economy.
Today, although Hong Kong Island is still not as prosperous as Guangzhou and Zhangzhou, it can definitely be regarded as the top trading port on the southeast coast. The number of merchant ships entering and leaving the port every day remains at around a hundred, which is even higher than that of Haikou Port and Danzhou Port on Hainan Island.
In addition to the various resources provided by the Executive Committee to the Hong Kong Island region, the current top mobile game player on Hong Kong Island, Yi Han, also contributed greatly to achieving such results.
You Yihan was engaged in freight management at Qingdao Port before participating in the time travel. He is considered an expert in seaport management. He is in charge of the operations here, and he is also a professional counterpart.
Like most senior Haihan officials who are stationed overseas all year round, You Yihan's strengths are not limited to his own professional field, but can also take into account diplomatic, military and intelligence work. Although Prince Annan's trip to Guangzhou was not publicized to the outside world, it was reported to Haihan, and Hong Kong Island also received notification from the Executive Committee. So as soon as Zheng Zha and others' ship arrived at the port, You Yihan had already received the report and quickly rushed to the port to greet these uninvited guests.
Compared to Zheng Zha and Zhang Jinbao, the one You Yihan is most familiar with is of course Li Nai, the third young master of Fulifeng. After all, every time Li Nai travels between Guangzhou and Sanya, he almost always stops by Hong Kong Island to inspect Furifeng's local industry. Over the years, I have spent a lot of time dealing with You Yihan, and the two of them have become familiar with each other.
When You Yihan heard Li Nai introduce the purpose of the other two people going to Guangzhou, he immediately said: "You two have found the right person to ask the third young master for help. On the ground in Guangzhou, the third young master's words may be more effective than the government."
Li Nai quickly waved his hand and said: "Master You, what you said is too exaggerated! I don't have that much ability, I just try my best to help my friends."
When Zheng Zhuo and Zhang Jinbao heard this, they both smiled knowingly. Although they don't know much about the situation in Guangzhou, they have no doubt about Fulifeng's influence in Guangzhou. After all, in addition to Furifeng, they also have many opportunities to meet other people from the Guangzhou area and learn about the local influence of the Li family, the operator of Furifeng, through other channels.
Although it is impossible for Fulifeng to replace the government's position, its influence among the people cannot be underestimated. Furifeng not only owns industries involving various fields of society, but also has considerable private armed forces. More importantly, he has a powerful backer like Haihan behind him. Even the government has to be wary of him.
Of course, the reason why local officials do not oppose Furifeng is that, in addition to fearing its strength, another important reason is that more and more local officials are becoming vested interests in Furifeng's development.
The faster Furifeng develops, the more gray benefits they can obtain. This simple and direct interest relationship has made most local officials in the coastal areas of Guangdong choose to cooperate with Furifeng's various requirements. And a very small number of officials with stiff necks who refuse to bow their heads will eventually lose their official positions due to various inexplicable things. As time goes by, naturally no one will come forward to confront Fu Ruifeng.
Although Li Nai tactfully denied You Yihan's statement, Furifeng's influence in Guangzhou has long been well-known, otherwise Zheng Zha and Zhang Jinbao would not have taken the initiative to find him for cooperation.
Compared with the commercial port in front of him, Zheng Zha was more interested in the situation of the local garrison. He asked You Yihan: "I heard that the Haihan Navy fleet is stationed on Hong Kong Island. Is it also here?"
You Yihan shook his head and said: "The fleet is not stationed here. The naval base is on the south side of the island. If the young prince wants to visit, I can make arrangements later."
Haihan's first stationed in Hong Kong Island was the armed fleet, so the military base was built much earlier than the trading port. Due to the large amount of resources invested in building the base and the inconvenience of relocation, the military base located in the Aberdeen Strait in the south of the island has remained in use. Although the location is a little far from the port area, there are no pirates in the nearby sea area, and there are coastal defense batteries deployed in the east and west straits entering and exiting the port area, so there is no need to worry about serious safety issues.
"Actually, the symbolic significance of setting up coastal defense forts here has outweighed the actual effect." You Yihan unabashedly introduced to the guests: "Pirates disappeared five years ago, and the armed sailing ships that can enter and exit here are all They belong to our allies and will report to us. After these forts were built, they were not actually used in actual combat.”
"But they still protect the safety of this place, don't they?" Zheng Zha said with a smile: "If your country feels that it is no longer necessary to maintain these coastal defense forts, then you might as well give these coastal defense batteries to our country and let them go where they should. place to make a real difference”
You Yihan also smiled and responded: "The young prince is very good at calculating! In fact, I don't care, but the coastal defense artillery is military equipment. I am just a civil affairs officer and have no right to deal with these assets belonging to the Ministry of National Defense. If the young prince wants To buy these equipment, you still have to go to Sanya to find Yan Chujie or Bai Kesi. As long as they nod, the young prince will send someone to take them away. "
Zheng Zha wanted to test it out to see if there was any possibility of picking up leaks here, but You Yihan's answer was watertight. Zheng Zha knew very well that if he went to Yan Chujie or Bai Kesi to discuss the matter, those two old foxes would never treat these idle coastal defense guns as scrap metal and give them to him at a low price. Instead, they would use various excuses to shirk them and finally report them. Make yourself uncomfortable by paying a hefty price. Zheng Zha quickly gave up this idea. He knew that it would be difficult for him to take advantage of the Haihan people in the arms trade. At least he had never succeeded in the past few years.
Zhang Jinbao was concerned about the local education industry. Seeing that Zheng Zha did not continue the topic, he asked You Yihan to learn about local education institutions.
You Yihan said: "Most of the permanent population of Hong Kong Island are lower-income people, so the cultural requirements for future generations are not very high. It is enough for them to be able to read the various notices and notices posted by the yamen. There is one east and one west of the port area. There are two private schools that teach the most basic literacy courses. Of course, if there are outstanding children, they may be sent to Sanya to receive a better education.”
Zhang Jinbao said: "Then if there is an opportunity for these school-age children to learn a skill and have a livelihood after graduation, do you think they will choose this path?"
You Yihan said: "Actually, the name of Qiongxi Academy has also been mentioned here. There are several young students from Qiongxi Academy in the Port Management Center, and their quality is not bad. But you have to send your children to Dan, thousands of miles away. If you go to Guangzhou to study, you may not see each other for a year and a half, and many families still cannot make up their minds. Just now, the third young master said that you are determined to open a branch in Guangzhou. If that is the case, some people may choose what you said. This road.”
The vocational education direction of Jonesy College is indeed a good way out for the common people of this era. At least it allows them not to worry about the livelihood of the next generation. Many people on Hong Kong Island are Mingren. For them, if they are lucky and can get a stable job in Haihan, it will be a matter of course for them to naturalize as Haihan in the future.
However, for Hong Kong Island, the permanent population is too small, and there are already two private schools. It is definitely not cost-effective for Qiongxi College to open a branch here. The wisest way is to set up a permanent branch here. The admissions agency uses the flow of passengers from north to south to promote Qiongxi Academy.
As if he had read Zhang Jinbao's thoughts, You Yihan continued: "Dean Zhang, you can take a look at these advertising signs we have made in the port area. The effect is actually quite good and the price is not expensive. If Qiongxi Academy is interested in setting up one here If it’s a long-term sign, then I can give Dean Zhang a very favorable internal price.”
Zhang Jinbao couldn't help but feel a little excited when he heard the words "internal price". Before he landed just now, he had noticed various eye-catching signboards on the roofs of the warehouses at the port. Most of them were local business operators. Of course, there are also companies like Fulifeng that are very famous in their own right.
When Zhang Jinbao got off the ship, he quietly asked Li Nai, it was only two or three hundred miles away from Guangzhou, and there were probably very few people in the local area who didn't know Furifeng's name, so why would they spend money to put up signboards and advertisements at the port.
And Li Nai's answer was quite darkly humorous: "It's just because Furifeng is famous. Otherwise, when foreign merchants come here, they will see that this port doesn't even have our Furifeng signboard. Wouldn't it be easy?" Do you have any doubts about Fulifeng’s influence in Guangdong? So we not only need to create a signboard, but we also need to choose the most conspicuous location and build the largest billboard!”
After hearing this, Zhang Jinbao felt that it made sense, but something was still wrong. After thinking about it, he could only understand this as another rich and willful move by Furifeng. This publicity method may be an expense that needs to be carefully weighed for the effect of Jones Academy, but for the wealthy Fu Ruifeng, it may be just a number on the account.
Zheng Zha was still very envious of the prosperity of this port area. Due to historical reasons, Annan Kingdom handed over several major natural ports on the coastline to Haihan for operation. However, the ports that are actually operated by Annan Kingdom themselves are far inferior to those handed over to Haihan, regardless of geographical conditions or operating conditions. Those ports.
Therefore, every time he visits a port operated by Haihan, Zheng Zha will carefully observe the local business conditions, hoping to learn something useful from it. Before he came this time, he had a general understanding of Hong Kong and You Yihan's personal situation. He also knew that this person was quite capable. In just a few years, he had turned this island far away from Sanya into a regional trade center. There must be something worth learning. means.
While listening to You Yihan's explanation of various situations in the port area, Zheng Zha secretly noticed in his heart the differences between Annan's port management methods and those here, and what aspects are worth emulating.
After a brief visit to the operations of the port area, You Yihan took the three of them to a restaurant and held a banquet to welcome them. These three people all have experience in dealing with senior officials in Haihan, and they also know that this is a well-established rule in Haihan official circles, and they all accepted this arrangement calmly at the moment.
The most talked about topic among the three people during the dinner was the current situation in Guangzhou. Most of Hong Kong's trade share comes from Guangzhou's profit sharing, so You Yihan is also very concerned about the situation in Guangzhou. If there is any trouble, news will soon be sent to him via the radio, and he can pass it through the Guangdong Office The information passed on will make immediate revisions to some local business conditions.
Many businessmen who come to Hong Kong for trade even feel that the trading conditions here are better than those in Guangzhou. Part of the reason is that the information transmission speed within Haihan is much faster than the outside world, and there are dedicated people responsible for collecting and sorting this business information. You Yihan only needs to Weigh the pros and cons and then order local implementation.
For example, the adjustment of tax rates, the acquisition and supply of in-demand commodities, Hong Kong's ability to control these business opportunities naturally far exceeds that of the Guangzhou government. As time went by, it naturally gradually captured a lot of commercial resources from the Guangdong region.
It is certainly not the local government that has personal experience of this, but businesses like Furifeng. However, for Furifeng, it is not a bad thing to move some goods delivery points from Guangzhou to Hong Kong. On the one hand, it can avoid government supervision, and on the other hand, it does reduce the time cost of transactions, which has many practical benefits. So from Li Nai's perspective, he was happy to see this situation.
(End of chapter)