Chapter 2763
Placed in front of Zhu Zian was a stack of half-foot-high files, all bound with kraft paper covers. There is no text on the cover that refers to the contents of the dossier, only a number composed of heavenly stems, earthly branches and numbers.
Zhu Zian had previously come into contact with some internal documents in a similar format during his mission. He knew that these numbers represented the event classification, confidentiality level, registration sequence and other information of these files. However, no one gave him a detailed explanation of how to identify this information at the time, so now he only knows what it is and doesn't know why it is.
But at the beginning of taking office, Li Qingyang would not immediately hand over very important matters to him, and Zhu Zian was not in a hurry to start reviewing the files immediately. A copy of the newly released "Haihan Times" was delivered with the dossier. Zhu Zian looked at the date on the masthead. The publication date was ten days ago, so the timeliness was pretty good.
Since there was no urgent business, Zhu Zian decided to drink tea and read the newspaper first. This kind of habit was also learned during his time in the mission. He saw that the few people from Sanya behaved like this. After asking curiously, he learned that most of the senior officials in Haihan had such office habits, and so did these young officials. Inherited from parents.
As for the reason behind this, no one could tell, so Zhu Zian understood it as a measure to mediate the situation before officially starting work.
Zhu Zian first quickly scanned several articles on the front page and found that the content was not directly related to the East China Sea Region. However, he now fully understands the weight of the content on the front page of the Times, so he still reads it with gusto. Even if these contents seem to have nothing to do with you, people who are interested can definitely decipher some important information from them.
The front page content of this issue is basically focused on the South China Sea. For Zhu Zian, it is a relatively unfamiliar area. Most of his understanding of the area comes from the works left by his predecessors, such as Fei Xin's "Xingcha" Books such as "Shenglan" by Ma Ci, "Zhiyang Fanguozhi" by Gong Zhen, "Haicha Yulu" by Gu Gu, and "Haiyu" by Huang Zhong. However, most of these books were written one or two hundred years ago and are far from reflecting the current international situation in the South China Sea.
However, it is said that Haihan's strategy in the South China Sea was quite effective, with many small countries competing to follow him, and its influence has far exceeded the Ming Dynasty's local prestige when Zheng He went to the West two hundred years ago.
The headline article is "On the Importance of South China Sea Products to my country's Industrial Development". The article focuses on how Haihan obtains industrial raw materials from various countries in the South China Sea, transports them back to Hainan Island, and processes them into various industrial products. Such as high-quality coal from Black Earth Port, bauxite ore in central and southern Annam, tin ore in Bangka Belitung Island, nickel ore in Luzon Island, Dumai Oil Field in Sumatra Island, etc.
The article lists in detail the origin, production capacity, and role of various minerals in the industrial chain. Although Zhu Zian didn't understand industry, he could understand those astonishing figures, and he knew that the powerful ships and guns owned by Haihan came from this so-called industrial system.
At the thank-you banquet hosted by him a few days ago, Bai Letong, who had just returned from an inspection trip to Yanzhou Prefecture, shared his local knowledge. Haihan invested a huge amount of resources in the local area to build an industrial base. The scale of his efforts even shocked Zhu Zian. And Haihanneng has such a strong national power, and these mineral resources produced in overseas countries are indispensable components.
Zhu Zian also thought of the mineral deposits that Haihan has been continuously exploiting in Shandong in recent years, from the Fushan Copper Mine 20 years ago to the Zhaoyuan Gold Mine, Pingdu Lead Mine, Longkou Coal Mine, etc. The speed of mining It is much faster than during the reign of Ming Dynasty. It’s hard to say how much wealth these many mines have created for Haihan, but they have indeed solved the livelihood problem of a large number of hungry people in Shandong. In the early years, most of the refugee flows caused by natural and man-made disasters rushed to the Jiaodong Peninsula area controlled by Haihan, and a considerable number of them later stayed to work as miners there, at least tens of thousands of them. .
And these people who relied on Haihan for their livelihood have become the mainstream of naturalized people. Zhu Zian once believed that the purpose of Haihan's continuous mining in Shandong was to control people's hearts. Of course, this was just a one-sided idea limited by the vision and knowledge at that time. Now looking back and looking at the article in the Times, Zhu Zian realized that Haihan's plan was far greater than he knew. These minerals scattered all over the country are just parts of Haihan's huge industrial system.
Although Zhu Zian has never been to the countries in the South China Sea, he can still imagine Haihan's actions in these places based on the situation in Shandong. In addition to continuously supplying Haihan with various minerals, the local area also provides a large number of cheap labor who rely on these industries for a living. These people are likely to be gradually converted into Haihan's supporters.
Haihan can also legitimately establish influence in the area through these industries, build urban settlements, and even directly station troops, making it an area under Haihan's actual control.
With the strength of the Ming Dynasty, it is still unable to deal with Haihan's encroaching methods. Needless to say, those small countries in the South China Sea have no other way but to cooperate.
Of course, cooperation with Haihan may not be a bad thing for these small countries. What they can get from cooperation, in addition to considerable economic gains, is probably the military protection from Haihan. For countries that cannot afford a strong military, this is probably the most cost-effective security solution.
At the end of the article, the author points out that to ensure the supply of these industrial resources, it is necessary to ensure the long-term stability of the international situation in the South China Sea, and this requires Haihan to maintain sufficiently high prestige and influence in this region. As for how to achieve this, the author listed several suggestions, starting from politics, culture, economy, and military. Although the details are unclear, Zhu Zian basically understood it.
This is actually a model of Haihan's overseas expansion and colonization, and it is extremely efficient. Haihan will give priority to controlling areas with important resources, and then use the output of these areas to further consolidate Haihan's influence in the region.
Most countries do not have the development capabilities of Haihan. Even if they know that these mineral deposits exist locally, it is difficult to quickly transform them into part of national strength like Haihan. Zhu Zian had never even heard of the names of some minerals, let alone how to mine and smelt them and where to use them. Even if someone wants to imitate Haihan's approach, if they do not have the relevant industrial technology, the result will be nothing more than imitating others.
(End of chapter)