1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 1731 Business Opportunities
Fei Cexian was not idle during his time in Sanya, and the place he visited most was the Municipal Library in Sanya.Although he was unable to master many advanced technologies of Haihan through self-study in a short period of time due to his knowledge, but the books and archives of literature and history were no difficulty for him.Therefore, Fei Cexian read almost all the records in the library about Haihan's family history, and he knew exactly what methods this country had used in the process of development and growth.

Although these official records from Haihan are mostly from the point of view of praise, Fei Cexian has also read Daming's records of various deeds in Haihan over the years before. When comparing the two, there will naturally be a comparison Comprehensive look and feel.

How Haihan took over Hainan Island from Daming with nothing but white wolves. Of course, the two sides have different accounts of this period of history.Haihan claimed that his actions were to protect Hainan Island from pirate attacks, and he had the support of the local government and the people.However, Daming regarded this behavior as an invasion. It was just that the local government was either bought by Haihan or eliminated, so it lost control of Qiongzhou.

Both parties have their own opinions about this period of history, but Fei Cexian naturally thinks that Haihan's side is full of lies and cannot be trusted.Now that Haihan has established a relationship with North Korea, no matter what his real purpose is, Fei Cexian always wants to warn Li Xi, and put a nail in him first, maybe it will play some role in the future.

Li Xi dare not debate with Fei Cexian on this issue. He knows that his current words and deeds represent the official attitude of North Korea. If he shows an attitude towards Haihan, it will easily cause the other party to misunderstand , thereby affecting the relationship between the two countries.

Of course, he was still somewhat disapproving of Fei Cexian's words in his heart. It was a matter of course that the strong preyed on the weak. If Daming was strong enough, how could he be encroached upon by the little Haihan.It was Haihan back then, and now it is Houjin. The weakness of Ming Dynasty is being exposed little by little. Not only Ming's opponents, but also traditional allies like North Korea are aware of this.

Fei Cexian didn't realize that his words had exposed Daming's weakness. In his opinion, since Haihan wants to use today's occasion to expand his international influence, then he should silently do some dismantling work. up.Although he is single and weak, but he can add some resistance to Haihan by lobbying, which can be regarded as fulfilling his duty as an envoy of the Ming Dynasty.

And the high-ranking officials of Haihan haven't bothered to greet him for the time being. The enthusiasm shown by the participants is much higher than that of politicians from various countries. They have too many questions that need to be answered by these high-ranking officials of Haihan.

Among the countries that currently maintain trade ties with Haihan, the one with the largest scale and the most frequent transactions is still Daming.Even the great merchants who have obtained Haihan nationality, seventy-eight out of ten are from Ming Dynasty.It can be said that Haihan's business system is actually built on the basis of Daming, personnel, resources, channels, markets, and all links are very dependent on Daming.

But this kind of dependence is not unilaterally sucking blood from Daming. Haihan used these conditions to create huge commercial value, so that those merchants who chose to cooperate with Haihan made a lot of money.The colonial business model advocated by Haihan in these years has also been greatly sought after by multinational businessmen. Now not only is every business promotion conference held in Sanya overcrowded, but even today's diplomatic dinner is regarded by keen businessmen. Made an opportunity to inquire about business information.

For merchants, where will Haihan's next colony be targeted? It will be released in due time... and many other questions need to be answered by these senior officials of the Haihan Executive Committee.

Even if the answers they can get on this occasion are not very accurate, but as long as they can get a few words of response, they will naturally figure out the answer from the other party's tone, expression, movements and other details. Their analytical ability is no less than that of the Ministry of Security. intelligence experts.Because each piece of information is invaluable to a businessman, if you can get first-hand information one step faster, it is very likely that you can make arrangements earlier than your competitors in the next action and earn more money. more profits, and even monopolize the market in a certain place.

And Haihan also attaches great importance to these businessmen. Although the focus of today's banquet is on official diplomacy, these businessmen are still given the treatment of entering and participating.This must be an unimaginable treatment in Daming, and the merchants were naturally grateful for it, thinking that only in Haihan did they truly have a social status equivalent to property.

The foreign envoys who watched this lively scene all felt the same, to put it simply in two words: envy.Although they may not think highly of these merchants in their hearts, they have to admit that these merchants have played a very important guiding role in the business system constructed by Hai Han.

The envoys of the Netherlands and Portugal naturally have the deepest feelings about this. Both countries are known for being good at managing maritime trade, but after Haihan appeared, they quickly became supporting roles in the South China Sea. Haihan eats meat, and they There is only soup.The business with the highest profit and the quickest money is almost monopolized by Haihan, and they are even banned from entering the coastal areas of northern Daming for trade. This situation makes it difficult for them to look at Haihan's business methods calmly.

However, the two countries are rivals to each other, no matter how dissatisfied they are with Haihan, they will definitely not be able to sit at the same table.Su Keyi approached the Champa envoy, while Thomas sat down with Annan's young prince Zheng Zuo.

Su Keyi's purpose is very clear, which is to discuss with the other party about the purchase of grain.In fact, the Batavia Council has already decided at the beginning of the year to change the past grain purchase method. It will no longer monopolize the annual supply of grain to the government by Dacheng Rice Bank, but purchase part of it from Champa and other grain producing areas. In order to reduce the dependence on Dacheng rice line.

Leaving aside the fluctuations in food prices that will be caused during this period, there is actually nothing wrong with the Dutch's practice of not putting all their eggs in one basket.It's just that they really didn't expect that the businessman who can control the wind and rain in the Batavia grain market turned out to be an intelligence officer who secretly worked for Haihan. It has become a measure that must be prevented.

However, Su Keyi was still a little slow after all. Before that, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had already approached the Champa ambassador, Rocken, to vent his anger, and suggested that the Champa country should not conduct grain trade with the Dutch for the time being.The reason why Haihan only made suggestions on this is that on the one hand, because Rocken is not bad, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has a good impression of him, and he does not want to use too harsh words; on the other hand, the real diplomatic work is actually in the Zhancheng is unfolding locally, and Sanya's greeting to Rocken is only out of diplomatic procedures.

Why did Haihan know in advance that the Batavian authorities were going to buy food from Champa, and why did they want to stop the Dutch from doing this? Rocken was actually not that interested in getting to the bottom of it.His mission in Sanya is relatively simple, which is to maintain the relationship between Champa and Haihan as much as possible, because for Champa, Haihan's role and influence are too important, and its weight far exceeds that of the Dutch.

In the past, Champa’s national strength probably ranked last on the Indochina Peninsula. It was naturally incomparable with major countries such as Annan, Siam, and Myanmar, and even a notch behind landlocked countries such as Laos and Cambodia.It wasn't until after joining Haihan that Champa finally stopped the decline in national power and slowly caught up with Haihan's development.

Champa relies heavily on Haihan’s help in trade and military affairs, and the most profitable industries such as salt, iron and grain are in the hands of members of the royal family. Therefore, the royal family of Champa, as a vested interest, is also a very staunch supporter of Haihan.

The Champa army also took a development path similar to that of Annan, that is, hired Haihan military consultants to train the army, sent senior officers and generals to Haihan to receive professional training, and purchased and installed a large number of weapons and equipment produced by Haihan.Champa will also send troops to participate in Haihan's crossing military exercise in the South China Sea every year to show its military alliance with Haihan.

Haihan has recruited quite a few immigrants from Champa over the years. According to the statistics of Sanya alone, at least 400 immigrants from Champa have settled here.

It is precisely because of these very in-depth cooperation that the diplomatic relations between the two countries are very stable, and Haihan can directly put forward a "suggestion" to Champa, hoping that it will reject the Dutch's request for grain purchases.

Su Keyi originally thought that this was a relatively easy task. As long as he told the Champa that the East India Company would order a large amount of grain from them and pay in cash, the other party would definitely agree to it immediately. After all, no one would make trouble with the money.However, Rocken's attitude was very indifferent, and he only said that this matter needs to be reported to the country, and he has no right to decide whether to sell the grain to the East India Company.

"Master Luo, I have to remind you that this is not a one-off deal. If we cooperate happily, then next year, the year after, and every year in the future, your country will have the opportunity to receive food orders from Batavia , and the amount is not small." Seeing that the other party didn't seem to be very interested in this, Su Keyi thought that the other party might not be aware of the subsequent influence of this transaction, so he continued to explain.

It's not easy for Rocken to tell him not to sell, after all, Haihan didn't propose to deal with the Dutch with such decisive words, and he has a gentle personality, and he doesn't want to offend people easily, so he can only continue to play Tai Chi with the other party: "Master Su, no matter how good your country's conditions are, I don't have the right to make this decision for Champa. Everything has to wait for the country to make a decision. But I must first explain to you that our country was in the second half of last year. We have already signed a grain-for-weapons deal with Haihan, and the grain that our country needs to deliver to Haihan in the agreement is this year’s summer grain, so if your country wants to buy a lot, our country may not be able to supply it. Maybe you can Go to Siam or Annan to inquire again, maybe there is still surplus grain in their granaries that can be sold."

After Su Keyi heard this, he just wanted to roll his eyes. Annan and Siam have been in constant military friction for the past few years, and a large-scale national war may break out at any time. How can they easily sell the surplus grain in the granary.Moreover, Annan had already suffered enough from the famine during the civil war. Even if there was enough grain, he would not sell it easily. If the East India Company quoted a high price to impress them, it would be contrary to the original intention of saving grain purchase expenses.

However, Rocken's answer sounds reasonable, because this year's summer grain was first included in the military purchase agreement last year, so there is no way to sell a large amount of grain to the East India Company. Yue handed over the food to Haihan.But Su Keyi thought about it again, wasn't Hai Han giving him a slap in the face, I'm afraid that the people Batavia sent to Champa would make a futile trip.

"This is really depressing news." Su Keyi has nothing to say about this. He can't let the Champas tear up the agreement signed with Haihan, and then sell the grain to the East India Company.

"If Batavia is really short of food, in fact, you can also buy food in Sanya. There is a special trading market here, Mr. Su can try it." Rocken also acted very well, and finally gave Su Keyi one bad idea.

Su Keyi did know what Rocken said about the trading market, as long as he listed the target product he wanted to spend money on there, and if the price was right, someone would take the initiative to contact him.But the problem is that the grain is purchased to enter the official granary, rather than immediately put on the market for sale. The shipping cost of buying grain from Sanya cannot be ignored. Go buy food in your hands.

"Let's talk." Su Keyi forced a smile to respond to the other party's suggestion.He also didn't want to explain to Rockn why the East India Company didn't buy grain from Haihan, this issue was too complicated.Now he really wants to write a letter to send back to Batavia, suggesting that the Council give up its original plan and stop messing around with food.

Of course, Su Keyi also knows that even if this kind of suggestion is sent back, the lords of the council will not take it seriously. There must be a deeper reason for changing the way of grain procurement, and most of them are related to the interests of the high-level. These things are not his. It can be solved by intervening.

The time reserved for the merchants to consult questions will soon end, no matter whether they get a satisfactory answer or not, they can only stop here, because the senior officials of Haihan will spend time contacting the envoys of various countries, and foreign affairs can be compared Merchants' wallets are more important.Although the businessmen were reluctant to leave, they were temporarily persuaded to leave, leaving room for exchanges to envoys from various countries.

(End of this chapter)