Chapter 2966
The Haihan fleet left the mouth of the Chao Phraya River and headed south along the coast. Three days later, it arrived in the country of Pattani in the center of the Malay Peninsula.
Pattani is more appropriately described as a city-state than a country. The total population of the area is less than 100,000, of which more than 70% are settled near Pattani City on the seaside.
There are one of the few large natural bays on the east coast of the Malay Peninsula. The Pattani River that passes through the city flows into the Gulf of Siam here, providing sufficient fresh water resources for the residents here. The large alluvial plains near the sea also provide opportunities for agriculture. Production provides an excellent environment.
Because of these unique natural conditions, Pattani has naturally become a prosperous international trade port on the Malay Peninsula.
As early as the last century, the Portuguese took the lead in establishing commercial offices here. At the beginning of this century, the Dutch and the British also successively established business offices here. These Western colonists entered Pattani decades earlier than Haihan.
Affected by this, Pattani is also one of the very few countries in the Gulf of Siam region where commercial operations are the main source of income, and the number of people engaged in business even exceeds the agricultural population. Such an employment ratio can only be achieved by a few trading ports such as Sanya in Haihan.
Compared to the countries the fleet visited previously, Pattani seemed relatively calm about the arrival of the Haihan fleet. This is also due to the large number of Haihan industries in the local area. The merchant ships from Haihan and the warships of the South China Sea Fleet are no strangers to the people of Pattani.
Although the armed fleet visiting Pattani was large in scale, the King of Pattani had been notified through official channels several days in advance, so it did not cause panic in the local area.
The port berths outside Pattani City are limited, but the huge bay can accommodate the entire Haihan fleet. The fleet command announced that it would rest in Pattani for three days. After leaving Vung Tau Port, soldiers and sailors who had been drifting at sea for many days could finally set foot on land again.
The official reception level in Pattani was also very high. King Panchai personally came forward and led officials to the port to greet Qian Tiandun and others.
Even though Pattani is an international trade port, such grand diplomatic activities do not happen often. A large number of people flock to the port area to watch, which is more lively than a festival.
"Why does the King of Pattani attach so much importance to our visit?"
Regarding the question raised by Qian Tiandun, Li Yuande's answer is very simple: "Profit, this is all due to interests. The various projects operated by our country in Pattani are already a very important source of income for this country. To put it bluntly, we are Pattani The big benefactor, you can’t ignore it!”
Although Haihan is a latecomer, the scale of local projects has already exceeded that of its Western counterparts. In particular, the establishment of various cash crop plantations not only provided a large number of job opportunities and high taxes for the local area, but also because these projects often included royal shares donated, the people in power in Pattani became direct beneficiary.
In order to maintain good communication with Haihan, the King of Pattani even appointed a Han minister to be responsible for handling various affairs related to Haihan. Such special treatment has left Western counterparts far behind.
This visit of the Haihan Fleet is considered a very important event for Pattani. Qian Tiandun is one of the most famous Haihan generals. His arrival is equivalent to representing the attitude of the Haihan military. For a small South China Sea country like Pattani, which has long accepted Haihan's protection, it is a good way to win relations. Excellent opportunity.
On the morning of arriving in Pattani, Qian Tien Don met the dark-skinned and fat King Panchai on the pier.
The king was very enthusiastic. After exchanging greetings with Qian Tiandun, he introduced his family and subordinate officials to him. What surprised Qian Tiandun was that the person who acted as the translator for the conversation between the two turned out to be the king's eldest prince. According to the king, the eldest prince went to Sanya to study for two years in his early years and was given the Chinese name Wenfu.
"Which school did Prince Wenfu go to study in?" Qian Tiandun couldn't help but curiously asked after hearing this.
Wenfu clasped his hands and responded: "I studied at Sanya Agricultural College for two years and benefited a lot."
This answer was somewhat beyond Qian Tiandun's expectations. Usually when the children of foreign politicians come to study in Haihan, their first choice is to enter the military academy to learn to lead troops in war, such as Zheng Zha, Zheng Ting and others from Annan.
The second option is to travel to various places to increase their knowledge and learn the methods of governing the country, such as the current king of North Korea, Li Zhen, and the crown prince Li Bai. While they were studying in Haihan, they visited various places, walked around and learned from Haihan's governance experience, instead of studying at a certain school.
Sanya Agricultural College is the highest institution for cultivating agricultural talents in Haihan. There are many overseas students who specially come to Haihan to learn agricultural knowledge, but this is indeed the first time Qian Tiandun has heard of a person of the prince's level.
It seems that either Prince Wenfu is very fond of agriculture, or King Panchai attaches great importance to agriculture and specially arranged this road for his son.
After the welcome ceremony, the king invited Qian Tiandun to ride in a carriage to the palace in the city for follow-up talks.
It is worth mentioning that when Qian Tiandun saw the car of King Panchai, he recognized it at a glance as a high-end custom-made carriage made by Haihan. After all, this carriage has spring shock absorbers, rubber tires, and windows made of large flat glass. These special parts can only be manufactured by Haihan.
It was only about five or six miles from the port to the palace. Traffic had been temporarily blocked for the king's trip, so the journey was smooth. On the way, you can see that both sides of the street are filled with various shops, and the words on the signboards are also diverse. It does have the atmosphere of an international trade port.
Although Pattani is only a small country on the Malay Peninsula, the size of the palace is really quite large, covering an area of thousands of acres. The palace buildings have white walls and golden roofs, and are covered with exquisite carvings and decorations, making them look quite luxurious.
Being able to build such a magnificent palace also shows that the economic strength of this small country in Pattani is not bad and it can provide the royal family with a luxurious living environment.
In order to entertain Qian Tiandun and his party, the king had ordered people to prepare a banquet. Local dishes use seafood as the main ingredient, and the taste is mainly sour and spicy, which is quite refreshing.
What really interested everyone was that the wine served at the banquet was very similar to Sanya specialty wine in terms of packaging and taste, but the king claimed that this wine was a specialty of Pattani.
Later, Li Yuande quietly told Qian Tiandun that Haihan had opened a brewery in Pattani, and the raw material was locally produced sugar cane. Of course, the sugar cane farms were also run by Haihan merchants.
This brewery has two shareholders, one is the South China Sea Affairs Department under the Ministry of Commerce of Haihan, and the other is the Pattani royal family. It is equivalent to a special business project of official cooperation between the two countries. Therefore, the wine produced used the brewing technology of Sanya Special Brew, but it was regarded as a local specialty by the royal family, and then became the wine for state banquets.
(End of chapter)