Chapter 3498
Geng Jimao did not stand up or applaud. He just sat on his chair and watched expressionlessly as the senior officials from Haihan entered the venue.
The relationship between the Manchus and the Haihan was not harmonious, and it was currently just in another state of truce. There was no telling when the war would start again, so as a prince, Geng Jimao did not want to show groveling on this occasion. .
His indifferent attitude was in sharp contrast to the enthusiasm of the guests around him, but this rebellion did not cause any ripples in the venue. After all, he was not the protagonist here, and no one paid attention to him.
This feeling of being ignored made Geng Jimao a little uncomfortable. He secretly evaluated the guys next to him who stood up and applauded as "bumpkins who have never seen the world."
This was not the first time that Geng Jimao met with high-level figures from Haihan. In 1656, a Haihan caravan was attacked at Qingyang Fort on the border between the two countries. At that time, Geng Jimao was the one who negotiated on behalf of the Manchu and Qing Dynasties.
In Fushun, he met Chen Yixin, who had not yet joined the Executive Committee, and Bai Kesi, who was inspecting Liaodong on behalf of the Executive Committee.
Although the final resolution of that incident made the Qing Dynasty somewhat disgraceful, it finally prevented the outbreak of a new round of war. Afterwards, he was rewarded for his merits, and Geng Jimao was also praised by Shunzhi.
Among the high-ranking figures in the Qing Dynasty, Geng Jimao was one of the few who had actually dealt face-to-face with senior officials from Haihan, which was particularly valuable given the very limited diplomatic experience of the Qing Dynasty. This may be why Shunzhi chose Haihan to come to Zhoushan as the representative of the Manchu Qing Dynasty after receiving the event invitation from Haihan.
The last time he met with Haihan executives in Fushun, the two sides negotiated behind closed doors. Geng Jimao's goal was to solve the problem. Even if he behaved humblely, no outsiders would know.
And this time he came to Zhoushan to participate in the event, and many dignitaries from various countries were present, so he had to put on airs when it was time to put on airs, and he could not let outsiders think that Manchu Qing was inferior to Haihan.
But when Geng Jimao saw the high-ranking officials of Haihan walking up to the North Korean King Li Zhi and chatting enthusiastically with them, he still snorted a little uncontrollably on his face.
Twenty years ago, North Korea was almost wiped out by the Qing Dynasty. If Haihan hadn't sent troops to intervene, the Korean peninsula should have belonged to the Qing Dynasty. How could we get a puppet like Li Xie to show off the power of a fox and a tiger? Drama.
After a few senior officials from Haihan and the kings of North Korea and Annan exchanged brief greetings, they took their seats in front of the venue, and then Tao Donglai took the stage to deliver a speech.
Although Tao Donglai's hair and beard were gray at this time, he was in good spirits because he took good care of himself. He first expressed his gratitude to all countries for sending personnel to participate in this event, and then once again emphasized the purpose of the Zhoushan Forum - exchanges.
"Our country hopes to use this event to promote extensive exchanges among various countries in various fields such as politics, military, culture, and trade. While expressing its own demands, it can also understand the situation of other countries and resolve differences and contradictions through communication."
"So the theme we have set for the first Zhoushan Forum is peace and prosperity. We hope that every country participating in the forum can achieve these two goals."
Geng Jimao shook his head repeatedly while listening, and sneered at the theme Tao Donglai said. He does not think that Haihan is a good gentleman who is keen on making peace. In fact, since Haihan announced the founding of the country, he has been constantly launching foreign wars in the past thirty years. Haihan's territory is also expanding at a high speed in this way. This is obviously This is something that everyone knows, and there are even many countries present who have been defeated by Haihan.
During this period, Haihan continued to sell various weapons and equipment to other countries. This was clearly the style of a warmonger. However, Tao Donglai openly claimed that he wanted other countries to "resolve differences and conflicts through communication." From Geng Jimao's point of view, it was simply a big joke.
But in the face of such a joke, no one laughed out loud. Instead, there was extremely warm applause. Obviously, most people here were happy to support Tao Donglai regardless of whether they agreed with him or not.
The applause brought Geng Jimao back to reality. This is Zhoushan and Haihan's home court. No one wants to offend Haihan here, not even himself.
After a brief opening speech, Tao Donglai immediately announced the first topic of this forum, how to build a safe maritime trade system.
This is undoubtedly a topic of huge scope, and it is also closely related to the vast majority of countries participating in the meeting. But the Ming Dynasty and the Manchu Qing Dynasty, which had been forced to become landlocked countries under the suppression of Haihan, were obviously not included in this list.
However, Yue Shizong and Geng Jimao, who represented the two countries, did not dare to ignore this issue. They must understand Haihan's future development strategy and direction, so as to find more living space for their respective countries.
The first guest to speak on the stage was very important, it was the King of North Korea, Ri Shi.
Among the countries invited to participate in the Zhoushan Forum this time, only North Korea and Annan were attended by their kings in person, which can be said to be a good host. Haihan obviously also had the idea of reciprocating the favor, and arranged for Li Xie to be the first to speak, which also showed the importance and courtesy he paid to him.
In fact, Li Zhi rarely had the opportunity to make a public speech on such an occasion, but he was still the head of a country, and Haihan notified him in advance, leaving him plenty of preparation time, so he was not too nervous. It just needs to be preached according to the prepared manuscript.
The content of Li Zhi's speech was very relevant to North Korea's actual situation. He described how North Korea had rapidly developed a relatively complete maritime trade system in the years after he came to the throne.
Building ports and shipyards, cultivating maritime talents, establishing trade routes with neighboring countries, formulating trade rules and settlement mechanisms, Li Zhi spoke of his experience without reservation, which is undoubtedly of great benefit to those countries that have not yet established a maritime trade system. There will be quite a bit of gain.
Of course, Li Zhi did not hide the huge role played by Haihan during this period. Almost the entire maritime trade system of North Korea was built step by step following Haihan's guidance, and it was also built by Haihan. part of the international trading system.
As for how to achieve the "security" mentioned in the topic, Li Zhi's suggestion is that as long as Haihan's military force is introduced into the region, the security of the relevant sea areas can be effectively guaranteed, and there will be no more pirates that endanger trade. Route threats.
Speaking of this section, Li Zhen specifically used the Japanese pirates active in the Goto Islands in western Japan and the Shibazhi pirate gang operating in the Taiwan Strait as examples to illustrate the intensity and effectiveness of Haihan's crackdown on pirate gangs.
Although these two cases are a little old, they are indeed very influential. Even countries that are not located in this region have heard more or less related rumors, and their credibility is beyond doubt.