Chapter 2840
After careful questioning, Bai Kesi learned that although Bakhtan was not amazing in appearance, it already had a transnational caravan that traveled between Haihan and Manchu Qing all year round, and had shops in several cities under the rule of Manchu Qing.
Bachtan trafficked various daily necessities from Haihan to the Manchu Qing Dynasty and sold them through his own shops. He also used these shops to purchase local specialties such as furs and medicinal materials and trafficked them to Haihan for sale. Although the business model is simple, the scale is not small. It is said that its trade volume last year exceeded one million yuan, and it is expected to increase significantly this year.
Achieving such operational results is naturally inseparable from Haihan's support measures, in addition to Bachtan's own business talent. Otherwise, how could he, a tribal merchant-level businessman, have the strength to establish transnational trade channels and become a comprador who controls a large amount of commercial resources.
In addition to his identity as a businessman, Bachtan also secretly acts as an intelligence collector and messenger. Since he had shops in many places in Manchu and Qing Dynasty, it was not difficult to collect local economic, government affairs and other information. Haihan does not need him to do analysis work. As long as he regularly submits the information requested by Haihan, the intelligence department here will classify and sort it out and extract valuable information from it.
In addition, Haihan will also use the contacts established by Bachtan in the Manchu Qing Dynasty to pass news to the other party's senior figures and solve some time-sensitive problems.
"If you want to communicate with the Manchus through official diplomatic channels for some matters, you have to wait for the other side to report them layer by layer, and then slowly discuss the solution. Sometimes you have to go back and forth for a long time, waiting for the two sides to discuss and resolve it properly. Plan, the day lilies are all gone. So we sometimes ask Bachtan to send messages to the people on the other side who can take care of things, and solve the problem in a relatively simple and direct way." Chen Yixin specifically explained this.
Bai Letong understood immediately: "Isn't this the responsibility of the Special Liaison Office?"
The special liaison office under the Donghai Region Administrative Committee is responsible for handling various issues between Haihan and Ming Dynasty. It has many middlemen like Bachtan who act as businessmen.
When encountering matters that are not suitable for public negotiation or cannot be delayed due to time constraints, we often use these intermediaries to communicate with the other party.
Of course, this special yamen is only responsible for planning and command. It is equivalent to the boss of people like Bachtan. The hierarchy is still different.
The other people present were doing much the same thing as Bakhtan. Almost all of them were middlemen engaged in cross-border trade, but their regions and business scope were different.
After receiving them one by one, Bai Kesi encouraged them and said that Haihan would continue to support them in terms of trading resources and ensure that they would have considerable economic benefits.
After rejecting these people, Bai Kesi put away his smile and said to Chen Yixin: "Although these people are useful, we should not rely too much on them. After all, they are not from my race. They do things for us for the sake of money. If they can work for us, they can also Serving the Qing Dynasty”
Chen Yixin nodded and said: "Old Bai, we have also thought of your concerns. Businessmen, they always talk about people and ghosts. If you show your loyalty in front of us, maybe you will change your mind when you return to the Qing Dynasty. We have another face and will speak ill of us to the Tatar officials." Bai Kesi said: "Also, we must strictly control some of the trade materials provided by the Manchu and Qing Dynasties that involve military manufacturing. Such as steel, saltpeter, etc. ”
Bai Kesi's words were very straightforward. He was reminding Chen Yixin not to rely too much on trade methods to restrict the Qing Dynasty. Otherwise, after the profit-first culture is formed, some people will inevitably take risks and sell military supplies to the Qing Dynasty.
Chen Yixin responded: "The Northern Region has always strictly controlled export materials. It is no exaggeration to say that every iron pot and every hoe sold from our country to the Manchu Qing Dynasty has been recorded. If the Manchu Qing Dynasty suddenly Increase the purchase of certain military supplies, and we will find out soon.”
Bai Kesi continued to add: "There is also mining technology, which must also be controlled. If I remember correctly, the Qing Dynasty's territory also has coal and iron. If they master advanced mining and smelting technology, it will be a big deal. ”
Nurhaci started with thirteen sets of armor, which shows that the Jurchens were weak in armaments at that time. But then the war became stronger and stronger, and the barbaric and backward tribal armed forces gradually evolved into the Eight Banners cavalry, so that the better-equipped Ming army gradually became no longer its opponent. During this period, the Manchu military industry also developed from scratch.
When the Manchus and Qing invaded Korea later, the Qing army was able to mobilize an armed force of 100,000 people to carry out transnational military operations. Even if most of them were equipped with only the most basic cold weapons, it can be deduced from this. The Manchu Qing Dynasty already had a certain scale of arms industry.
Although its technical level was still far behind that of Haihan, at this time, gun manufacturing technology from Spain had already flowed into the Qing Dynasty through secret channels, and it quickly improved the combat effectiveness of the Qing army.
If it were not for the limited steel and gunpowder production capacity in the Manchu and Qing-controlled areas, the Qing army would definitely create greater trouble for Haihan in the direction of Liaodong. Even so, it took Haihan more than ten years to initially calm down the situation in Liaodong and expel the Manchus to the area north of Shenyang.
Although the two countries had signed an armistice agreement two years ago and the Manchu and Qing Dynasties admitted their defeat, this did not mean that the war was over forever. The Manchu and Qing dynasties still had a vast territory and a considerable population, and Haihan could only prevent them from going south, but could not completely eliminate them. The possibility of another war still existed.
If Haihan wanted to conquer the Qing Dynasty without fighting, in addition to exerting influence on the Qing Dynasty through economic, cultural and other means, the most important thing was to maintain an overwhelming advantage in military strength and prevent the opponent from producing unreasonable consequences. thoughts. The issue of armaments is the top priority in achieving this goal.
As long as the Manchu Qing was unable to mass-produce guns and form a large number of firearms troops, there would be no possibility of challenging Haihan. But if the Manchus and Qing Dynasties broke through the technological barrier and achieved mass production capabilities in armaments manufacturing, it would be hard to say where the situation would develop. Therefore, Bai Kesi repeatedly emphasized that the Manchu ordnance industry must be controlled from multiple aspects and cannot be allowed to develop freely.
The object of Baikes' concern was obviously not the official institutions of the Northern Region, but the foreign businessmen traveling between the two countries. They can work for Haihan for money, and of course they can work for the Manchus for money.
(End of chapter)