1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 1919
After a brief meeting with other accompanying officials, Zhang Qianzhi found that the members of this small temporary team had their own ideas, some wanted to use this errand to build contacts, and some wanted to gain capital for their own promotion.As for the one who really focused on the son of the Joseon Dynasty, Hong Jingwen, the pen writer, might be the only one, because he needs to collect and sort out materials for the official propaganda work, and observing the words and deeds of the target person is part of his mission on this trip.

Although Zhang Qianzhi would secretly observe Li Mo's performance, but he was not as purposeful as Hong Jingwen, it was purely due to his professional habits.Although He Xi said to ask him to submit a report on Li Min, Zhang Qianzhi would not take this half-joking order seriously. The Ministry of Security already had a special person in charge of this project.Of course, if he really finds something wrong with Li Luo, he will definitely report it truthfully.

Although Zhang Qianzhi disdained these small tricks in the officialdom, he couldn't say he disliked them too much.He had followed He Xi as early as when Haihan established the Guangzhou Office, and he was one of the lucky ones who entered the upper echelon of power without going through brutal competition. Over the years, from the perspective of a bystander, he has also seen all kinds of desires. Climbing up.He understands that fame and wealth are the goals of many people in life, and they all want to go to the top when they have the opportunity. As long as they don't harm the sky and harm the interests of the country, there is no need to stop these people.

Zhang Qianzhi remembered that He Xi once told him the truth that when the water is clear, there will be no fish. If all officials stop pursuing their personal interests, it will inevitably reduce the efficiency of the official department, which is actually a bad thing for the country. It does more harm than good.Appropriate personal desires will become the motivation for officials to do things, as long as their object of allegiance is still the Executive Committee.

Zhang Qianzhi glanced at Li Mo who was still reading on the deck from a distance, and thought that the son of the Joseon Dynasty probably would not have imagined that his impromptu trip would not only make a group of Haihan officials busy, On this boat, I saw a scene of vivid life.Of course, the son of Joseon will not be one of the spectators, and these internal interest entanglements within Haihan will certainly not be displayed in front of him.

In the past, foreign dignitaries visited and inspected Hainan Island. Generally, the first stop outside Sanya would be Yacheng, because this place is the closest to Sanya, and it was the first county seat that Haihan occupied under the rule of the Ming Dynasty. It has a certain symbol. significance.Haihan officials will also be happy to show visitors the construction results after taking over here, as well as the sharp contrast with the social conditions during the Ming Dynasty.

As one of the earliest ruled areas under Haihan’s income, Yacheng’s plantation scale has always been among the best in the cities and counties on the island, and it is also a demonstration area for Haihan’s officials to demonstrate advanced agricultural management models.As long as you have visited the local farms and plantations in Yacheng, you can have a general understanding of Haihan's agricultural development level.

However, after consulting Li Xi's opinion, Li Lu did not include Yacheng in this itinerary, because Li Xi had visited Yacheng before, and he believed that the local agricultural business model is actually around Sanya. It can be seen in many places, and there is no need to spend a day or two staying in Yacheng for this purpose.Li Lu also thinks it is reasonable. He has already visited the local plantation when he visited Kaohsiung Port. The business model here is similar to Kaohsiung, and there is no need to visit it again.

Haihan’s promise to Li Min was to make his own itinerary, so even if he canceled Yacheng, a customary place to visit, there was nothing to say. Anyway, he didn’t expect North Koreans to invest here. If you change your mind, you can make another arrangement at any time. Anyway, Yacheng is very close, and it only takes more than half a day to take a fast boat from Sanya.

The first stop Li Min chose was the Yinggehai Salt Field located in the southwest corner of Hainan Island. The reason why he chose this place as one of the targets of the round-the-island inspection was because Li Min thought of the salt field that was being built near the mouth of the Datong River in China. He heard that This Yinggehai is the salt field with the largest production scale under the rule of Haihan, and the salt produced will be sold in large quantities to Guangdong and Annan.He also wanted to come and see with his own eyes what special tricks the sea salt production could have, and why the salt produced in Haihan could be sold abroad to occupy the markets of other countries.

Another reason is that Li Xi's introduction aroused his interest. I heard that this man who is currently a magistrate in Yinggehai Salt Field was an officer of the Daming Navy ten years ago, and later abandoned the army to go into business. He started a private salt business, and after he became prosperous, he abandoned business and went into politics, and returned to officialdom—of course not Daming, but Haihan’s officialdom.This in and out is obviously a person with a story, and Li Lu really wants to meet this legendary figure in person.

From Sanya to Yinggehai Salt Field, the straight-line distance on land is about [-] miles, and it will take two days to get there even if you have to climb mountains and cross rivers.But it is much faster to go by sea. If the wind is smooth and the water is smooth, it only takes one day to get there.

When it was time for lunch, the captain set up a place on the deck after consulting Li Wei's opinion, and asked several cooks to cook a seafood barbecue for everyone on the spot.In fact, Li Wei had no special interest in seafood before, but he had tasted Haihan-style seafood barbecue a few times before on the way south, and he also knew that the special feature of Haihan cooking method was that he used many kinds of seafood that he didn't know well. Spices and seasonings, and the food made by this cooking method is very suitable for his appetite.

The more comfortable way of eating made the atmosphere of getting along with everyone seem very relaxed, and finally everyone could justifiably sit around with Li Luo and discuss some topics of mutual interest naturally.This is the first real communication between the two parties after they met on the pier.

In this regard, Li Luo has quite a lot of experience. On his way south, he had a lot of dealings with the high-ranking figures of Haihan. After arriving in Sanya, he was received by senior officials of Haihan throughout the whole process. He naturally knew how to communicate with officials of Haihan.On the contrary, these officials who were temporarily assigned this task did not have much experience in dealing with North Korean officials in the past, so they still seem a little cautious at the moment.

Tian Zheng is probably the one who has more dealings with foreigners. As a diplomat, he probably knows more about the situation in North Korea than most of the people present, so he has more topics to discuss with Li Min. .

Hong Jingwen's enthusiasm for participating is also very high. After all, every word Li Wei said may become the material and inspiration for him to write a press release.However, Hong Jingwen's own knowledge is limited, and it is difficult to forcefully find a common topic. Most of the time, he can only echo the dialogue between Tian Zheng and Li Wei.

Zhang Qianzhi picked up a plate of food and sat quietly eating while listening to the conversations between other people and Li Min, but he found that Captain Gai Liangcai was doing the same thing as himself.The two of them made eye contact, and they both smiled knowingly, knowing that the other was working hard in secret.He has no ill feeling towards this army captain who is determined to run an official career. After all, a soldier who does not want to be a general is not a good soldier. It is a normal pursuit to accumulate military merits through various methods.Moreover, there were several bottles of good wine beside him, but Gai Liangcai took the initiative to only take a glass of iced coconut juice, showing the self-control that an excellent soldier should have. This detail also made Zhang Qianzhi feel good about him. .

After all, Li Mo was a young man, and a group of people gathered around him to chat about some topics he was interested in, and slowly opened up the chatter box, asking everyone about the situation of Yinggehai Salt Field.

"Salt...there's salt everywhere!" Tian Zheng's answer was concise and to the point: "When you get to the bay there, my son will see white salt fields as far as he can see!"

"It's just like the silver of white flowers!" Hong Jingwen said beside him, "Yinggehai is probably the richest county in our country. Let alone other things, the local consumption level is similar to that of Sanya. Can you imagine it?" ?”

Li Min smiled and said, "Isn't it normal for a place that produces salt to be rich? When I stayed in Zhoushan Island, I heard that the richest salt merchants in Jiangsu and Zhejiang are the salt merchants. By the way, the head of the Yinggehai Salt Field, I heard that he also started as a salt merchant.”

Hong Jingwen replied: "Your Majesty, you have also heard about Luo Shengdong's deeds? You can say that this person is considered to be a person with outstanding luck. He led the troops to fight in Yulin Bay and became a prisoner. Later, he became a member of the Executive Committee for some reason. Not to mention the private salt dealer who came and went to make enough money, and now he is still in the official position, it is really a bit of a way!"

The person present who was most familiar with Luo Shengdong was actually Zhang Qianzhi who had been silent all this time.When the Zhang family took refuge in Haihan, Luo Shengdong was already working for Haihan, so Zhang Qianzhi did not personally experience the period when Luo Shengdong was defeated, captured and then surrendered, but Luo Shengdong later became a supporter of Haihan. The Erdao Salt Seller used the Navy's warships to sell sea salt produced in Sanya to various places. Zhang Qianzhi, who had already joined the Ministry of Security at that time, was very clear about what happened during this period.

When Luo Shengdong was a salt dealer, he was basically determined to follow Haihan. This is the fundamental reason why he was able to return to officialdom from the mall.If he had two minds at the time, or was considered unreliable by the Ministry of Security, he would never have been able to get the official position appointed by Hai Han.

Of course, Luo Shengdong's reasons for being willing to serve Haihan are actually very complicated. It's not just because he can't turn back after surrendering Haihan, or because he has made enough money from the trading opportunities rewarded by Haihan.What he wants to fight for is not only his own official career, but also a good background for the future generations of his family.However, there are not many people who know these inside stories, and Zhang Qianzhi will not tell stories in front of so many people just to show off his identity in front of Li Luo.

Luo Shengdong's experience is actually not a big problem in the eyes of the officials of Haihan, because quite a few of the current officials of Haihan were once members of the Ming family, and they switched to Haihan for various reasons. .And Haihan's trust and reuse of Luo Shengdong actually gave these officials hope to go up - as long as they are loyal to Haihan, the executive committee will naturally downgrade talents.

However, this switch of camp is of great research significance to the Koreans. After all, they have only gradually changed their positions in the past two years. On the one hand, he has a lot of dissatisfaction with Daming's reluctance to save him. On the other hand, because he has been a vassal state for too long, he will not be able to straighten up for a while, and he is still worried that his position will be changed by Daming.Of course, the most important thing is that he will worry that he is not strong enough to get Haihan's approval. If he can only play the role of paying for protection in the future, that is not the original intention of North Korea to join Haihan.

Li Lu has been thinking about "common interests" for the past two days, and he will unconsciously include Luo Shengdong's deeds in this question: what is the common interests of a general from the Ming Dynasty and Hai Han? Only then did he gain Haihan's trust and reuse?
After listening for a while, Li Min felt that the information these Haihan officials could provide was extremely limited, and it was not enough to answer his own questions, so he stopped discussing it in depth right now.

After lunch, Li Mo felt a little tired, so he greeted everyone and went back to the cabin to rest.As soon as the protagonist left, everyone lost their target and dispersed, but in the end Gai Liangcai and Zhang Qianzhi stayed on the deck tacitly.

"Brother Gai, what do you want to say?" Zhang Qianzhi asked proactively.

Gai Liangcai lowered his voice and said: "I just want to ask, is there anything I need to cooperate with Brother Zhang on this trip? After all, this mission is rushed, and the higher-ups have not had time to issue detailed orders. If there is any secret mission, I will You should direct your troops to cooperate."

Zhang Qianzhi said: "There is no task that brother Ge thought of, and I just follow along. You don't need to worry too much, brother Ge, this errand should not cause any trouble."

"Is that so? I probably did think too much." Gai Liangcai said with a relaxed expression, "I thought the Ministry of Security had other arrangements, so I sent a boat to follow far behind."

"What?" Zhang Qianzhi immediately asked, "Is there a boat following us?"

Gai Liangcai explained: "When we came out of Shengli Port this morning, there was a lucky boat following seven or eight miles away, but it seemed that we didn't see it after passing near Yacheng. Maybe it's just a coincidence."

Zhang Qianzhi shook his head and said: "There should be no other arrangements for the Ministry of Security, and there is a navy ship escorting them, so why should we find another civilian ship to follow them. It's probably a coincidence..."

After Zhang Qianzhi set off, all his attention was on Li Wei's side, but he really didn't notice the situation at sea, and this trip was escorted by a naval warship, and he never considered that someone would be brave enough to follow him at sea. situation.

Because there are a large number of plantations near Yacheng, the route from Sanya to Yacheng is relatively busy. Thinking about it this way, maybe it is really just an ordinary civilian ship in the same direction. It is really not worth making a fuss about.However, Gai Liang was so cautious, which once again made Zhang Qianzhi look at him with admiration.

(End of this chapter)