Chapter 2390
Chen Yixin's farewell speech was brief, but the effect seemed to be quite good. During the process of boarding the ship, these people did not regret or cry. Of course, this may also be because the Haihan soldiers deployed on the dock have a psychological suppressive effect. Even if someone has doubts about such an arrangement when things are about to happen, they will not dare to openly resist again after seeing such an atmosphere.
According to the refugee transfer plan formulated by the civil affairs department, the destination of the first batch of refugees is actually not too far from Shandong, and is relatively close to Jinzhou and the Datong River, especially Jinzhou, which has a larger population space. This is because most of the ships performing missions have been operating in the north for a long time. Sailors are most familiar with the routes to these two places and can reach their destinations without stopping for supplies on the way. The second reason is that various colonies in the south have organized their own fleets to come to Shandong to pick up people. At that time, these fleets will be responsible for the long-distance routes to the south. In this way, the handover procedures between the two parties can be completed in Fushan County. It can save a lot of trouble.
However, Haihan would not tell them exactly where these refugees were going before boarding the ship to avoid causing complications. Only after the ship officially sets out to sea will they be informed of its true destination.
Seeing hundreds of people boarding the ship and leaving with their own eyes, such a scene had a big impact on the guests invited to witness the departure ceremony. Although they were all considered to be members of the upper class of society in their respective hometowns, almost none of them were Having been at sea for a long time, it is difficult to accept such a cross-sea migration.
Fortunately, this situation of being forced to go overseas will not happen to them. Even though Shandong is now in chaos, as long as they still have enough money in their pockets, they can continue to live under the protection of Haihan. Live a stable life. Although Fushan County is a small place, it has all the necessities of life, and the convenience is not much worse than those in big cities. If the local consumption level was not so high, some of them might have already thought about moving their families here. The edge is coming.
Of course, there are some knowledgeable people among them who have figured out that the reason why Haihan was invited to watch the departure ceremony today is not only to show his goodwill to the people of Ming Dynasty, but also to show them his powerful shipping capabilities. The refugees leaving here today are just the first batch. Thousands of refugees will leave Shandong by boat from here and go overseas.
And these refugees who were rescued by Haihan will no longer be citizens of the Ming Dynasty. Although Chen Yixin claimed that they will be able to return to their hometown in the future, anyone with a discerning eye can notice that those Shandong people who are now working for Haihan have long considered themselves A member of Haihan almost no longer considers himself an Akito.
But no matter how good the country of Haihan is, it is still a foreign country. For these rich people who have no worries about food and clothing, it is safer to stay in the Ming Dynasty. However, seeing that Haihan could treat these homeless refugees kindly, everyone still had some increased trust in Haihan.
The departure ceremony lasted for about an hour. Although the scene was a bit boring, since Chen Yixin never left, the others naturally did not dare to leave early and stayed on the dock until the entire fleet set sail.
"I'm sorry for standing at the dock for so long in this freezing cold weather. I have ordered someone to set up a banquet to thank you for attending today's event. Please be sure to show your respect!" Chen Yixin did not end there, but Those present are invited to participate in the next round of activities.
Of course, going to a banquet is much better than standing dryly on the dock blowing the wind, and you will have more opportunities to chat with high-ranking Haihan officials like Chen Yixin. Naturally, no one will refuse this new invitation.
However, after they returned to the carriage and set off again, they discovered that the current direction was not to return to the Majiazhuang business district, but to Zhifu Island, which was listed as a military restricted area.
Even outsiders who are not familiar with the situation in Fushan County will know that Zhifu Island is a camp of the Haihan Army after staying there for a few days. Outsiders cannot enter this military restricted area without permission. For them, Zhifu Island is definitely the most mysterious place in Fushan County, but today they got an invitation from Chen Yixin, which is a very rare opportunity. Some people are even thinking in their hearts about how they will brag about their experience of landing on the island when they return.
However, when Chen Yixin invited them to the island, he did not arrange to visit military facilities and weapons and equipment. He went directly to the officers' mess and was really just inviting them to a banquet.
"As you all know, this is an extraordinary period. Fushan County will need to receive and resettle a large number of refugees in the future, and the food supply is relatively tight, so today's banquet will be very simple. Please forgive me!"
After everyone took their seats, Chen Yixin first said a few words. Naturally, everyone took advantage of the situation and flattered him again, praising Chen Yixin for caring about the people and thinking about the people in everything. Some people thought more, secretly wondering if the Haihan people were pretending to be poor and planning to ask for money from them.
Chen Yixin added: "In addition, there are two special guests today. You can also get closer to us in the future."
After he said this, everyone noticed that there were indeed two unfamiliar faces at the main table. However, everyone subconsciously thought that this should be some wealthy person who was not obvious about his appearance, so they were not surprised.
Chen Yixin introduced: "This is Zhang Zhixian of this county, and the person next to Mr. Zhang is Mr. Huang of this county."
This finally aroused a little restlessness. They had not seen any local civil and military officials since arriving in Fushan County, but they did not expect that these two people would actually appear in the military restricted area of the Haihan people. Apparently they were with Haihan. The relationship is very unusual. Everyone stood up quickly to greet the two parents. These two people had no airs and saluted with everyone.
But after Chen Yixin introduced their identities, he didn't mention why they were here, and ordered the food to be served. Only then did everyone realize that the content of the banquet was not shabby. It could even be said that it had nothing to do with simplicity. A normal banquet would include meat dishes, a lot of chicken, duck, and fish, as well as all kinds of seafood. There were at least a dozen dishes on one table. There was no sign of the "food supply shortage" that Chen Yixin said.
In the refugee camp just a few miles away, the rations that each person can get every day are rationed, which is good enough to barely satisfy their hunger. Compared with the banquet here, it is a world of difference. Although they belong to the same county, they are two completely different worlds. Although everyone was a little surprised at first, they soon became relieved. After all, this is the place of the Haihan people. Since they have the ability to save thousands of refugees, it doesn't matter if they have so many banquets. What's more, General Chen is not an ordinary military attache. It is said that even Jinzhou across the sea is under his jurisdiction. Naturally, his treatment cannot be compared with ordinary people.
Of course, some people will think the other way round. Since the Haihan people still have the energy to host banquets, they should have no problem dealing with the influx of refugees into Fushan County. From this perspective, these banquet tables are more like a disguised display of strength by the Haihan people.
These people were just thinking about it in their hearts, but did not dare to express their feelings. However, without them speaking, Chen Yixin took the initiative to mention this situation: "You may think that since you Haihan people have such sufficient supplies, Why don't you think of ways to save more people in Shandong? I want to make it clear here that although our country is happy to rescue the people of Ming Dynasty who have nowhere to stay, we can only accept refugees in Fushan County due to the diplomatic agreement between our country and Ming Dynasty. We ensure that local supplies are sufficient, but there is no way to help people in other states.”
This is actually just talk. Even if there are relevant restrictive measures in the diplomatic agreement between Haihan and Ming Dynasty, they are basically ineffective in Shandong at the moment. As long as Haihan is willing, he can indeed send troops into other state capitals to rescue refugees, and it is not impossible to even send troops to Jinan Prefecture to fight the Qing army head-on.
But the problem is that Haihan's troops deployed in the north are limited, and it is impossible to simultaneously take on the two arduous tasks of going deep into the interior to fight the Qing army and rescuing massive refugees. Several generals who lead the troops are unwilling to take risks to go to this pool. water. For Haihan, gaining population was obviously a higher priority than attacking the Qing army. As long as we do not send out large-scale troops and stick to Fushan County, the supply of materials at this stage will indeed not be too tight.
No one dared to question his statement. They could only say yes at the moment, but they still didn't quite understand why Chen Yixin invited people like him to Zhifu Island for a banquet at this time. However, intimidated by Chen Yixin's power, no one dared to ask him questions.
After eating and drinking for a while, Chen Yixin tapped the edge of the bowl with his chopsticks. The room immediately became quiet again, and everyone was waiting for him to mention business.
"Everyone has been coming to Fushan County for a while. I wonder if you can get used to living here? If there is anything you find inconvenient, you can tell me directly and I will try my best to answer these questions for you." Chen Yixin After saying that, he looked around at everyone, as if waiting for their response.
Everyone thinks that there is nothing to criticize in Fushan County except for the high prices. However, with the current situation in Shandong, it is good to be able to buy things smoothly with money. At least Fushan County is relatively peaceful and they don’t have to worry about it. He was robbed because he was too rich. They are willing to stay in Fushan County because they value the living environment more and are not so sensitive to money expenses, so they have nothing to complain about.
Seeing that no one asked questions, Chen Yixin continued: "Everyone here today is a prominent figure in the local area, but this time there was a war in Shandong, and you had to leave your hometown and go to Fushan County to escape the war, and your family business must have been damaged. They all suffered a lot of losses. I have a suggestion that may help you make up for some of your losses.”
When everyone heard this, they immediately became interested. They had escaped now, but it was hard to say whether their homeland would still be there after the war. The actual losses suffered were currently difficult to estimate, but the huge expenses incurred during the escape period alone. , that is also a number that cannot be ignored. If there was a way to reduce losses, no one would reject the possibility.
Chen Yixin said: "As we all know, the trade between our country and the Ming Dynasty is mainly maritime trade, and the amount of goods entering and leaving through Zhifu Port every year is huge. I think even if you have not come here to conduct trading activities in person, but I’ve heard a lot about the operations here.”
"I think Haihan's trade situation in Shandong still has great potential to be developed, so I plan to establish a trade organization formed by Shandong merchants so that all state capitals can have Chinese trading partners. Maybe you are interested in my country's business I don’t know much about credit, and I am worried about the reliability of cooperation, so today I specially asked Magistrate Zhang and Boss Huang to be guarantors, so that you can dispel your doubts and cooperate with our country with peace of mind.”
After everyone heard this, they finally understood why Chen Yixin arranged the banquet on Zhifu Island. He invited local civil and military officials to attend, but the purpose was to guarantee Haihan's business reputation. This kind of operation was indeed not suitable for external communication. Naturally, no one on Zhifu Island would gossip.
However, they never dreamed that these two adults were not invited by Chen Yixin, but took the initiative to apply to come to Zhifu Island to escape the war. Naturally, Chen Yixin didn't want to support these two people in vain, so he just took the opportunity to let them come forward and play some role.
Regarding the establishment of a trade organization, Chen Yixin was reminded by Hao Wanqing before he thought of doing this. These wealthy people who came to Fushan County to escape the war have actually been screened invisibly. Their coming to Fushan County shows that they have a relatively high degree of trust in Haihan, and the financial resources they have shown in Fushan County can also It proves its strength from the side and is qualified to become Haihan's trading partner.
Of course, the most important point is that these people currently need to rely on Haihan's protection to live a stable life, so when Haihan makes a request to them, the chance of success is relatively greater.
If these people can be persuaded to cooperate, Haihan can take this opportunity to obtain a group of powerful and knowledgeable local distributors, and after the war is over, he can launch a new business network in Shandong. Over time, business partners will naturally develop into deeper cooperative relationships, and these channels established through trade activities can also be used to circulate other valuable things, such as intelligence.
In peacetime, this method of promoting business cooperation is difficult to achieve good results. Haihan has not made much progress in this area in Shandong in the past few years. Most of the business channels are operated by the Ma family. , the scale of trade is difficult to increase rapidly. And if we can take advantage of the war to recruit more local influential people this time, it will definitely be of great benefit to the business operations in Shandong after the war.
(End of chapter)