1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 1976
The businessmen from Jiangsu and Zhejiang who came to visit today are all from Ningbo and Shaoxing. The leader of the team is a shopkeeper surnamed Liu under the He brothers in Ningbo Prefecture. It is said that he is related to the two brothers He Xiao and He Li.And the He brothers are the trusted staff of Qu Yutong, the prefect of Ningbo. Qu Yutong is also married to Shi Diwen, the general of the East China Sea who is in Zhoushan.

Moreover, Shi Diwen sent a telegram to this side in advance, asking Qian Tiandun and Shi Diwen to take care of the people sent by Ningbo Mansion to North Korea to operate industries. As for how to take care of them, although the telegram did not mention it , but certainly not for others to shut the door.So instead of looking at the monk's face and the Buddha's face, it's not good to categorically refuse people's requests to see them here. Anyway, they are free when they are idle. Qian Tiandun will meet these people and find out if there are any new changes in the situation in Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

In April this year, when the coalition fleet passed through the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions, a large-scale military exercise was held in Hangzhou Bay to build momentum for Qu Yutong. Qian Tiandun has not had time to ask about the follow-up impact of this military exercise.It has been a few months now, and the results must have appeared.

Liu Jianyuan, the storekeeper from Ningbo Mansion, was a bit beyond Qian Tiandun's expectations. He was not a mature and prudent middle-aged man, but a young man with a rather young appearance.Qian Tiandun exchanged pleasantries with him, and after hearing his self-introduction, he realized that this person was He Xiao's nephew, who was in charge of some business related to Haihan before.This time, He Xiao sent him to North Korea because he wanted to see if there were better opportunities to make a fortune here, and to make a fortune when North Korea's vitality was seriously injured.

Of course, the big benefactor behind Liu Jianyuan is not He Xiao, and He Xiao is not qualified to seek Qian Tiandun's relationship. It is mainly Qu Yutong, the prefect of Ningbo.Qu Yutong now has a lot of spare money on hand, but he doesn't want to attract attention, so under Shi Diwen's instigation, he also slowly invests in overseas properties to prepare a few more options for himself and his family.

The plantations that Qu Yutong bought in Taiwan Island and other places in the early years have begun to generate income. After the war in North Korea ended this year, he heard Shi Diwen talk about the situation in North Korea. He felt that this was also an opportunity to make a fortune, so he consulted carefully After a while, they made a decisive decision to let the He brothers come forward to find suitable industries in North Korea.If we can set up plantations like the area under the Haihan rule, we will first enclose [-] mu of land on the North Korean side.

However, it is not an easy task to build a plantation in a foreign country, and North Korea has always been resistant to open agricultural projects. There will definitely not be the same support for plantation projects from Haihan officials in a short time, so this Errands will also test the ability of the person in charge.

This Liu Jianyuan was sent to North Korea at a young age to take charge of such difficult affairs. Apart from his kinship with the He brothers, he himself had some special qualities.After seeing Qian Tiandun, this person was neither humble nor overbearing, he was a little less slick and more honest than ordinary businessmen.Moreover, when he talked with Qian Tiandun, he did not use the obscure Ningbo dialect, but tried to express it in the not particularly smooth Haihan Mandarin. This kind of attention to detail won Qian Tiandun's favor.

In addition, Liu Jianyuan has been engaged in trade in Ningbo and Zhoushan for a long time, and he is no stranger to the transnational trade system dominated by Haihan. He even went to Taiwan Island to stay for half a year to learn the business model of plantations.So when it comes to trade matters, he can answer questions and answers, and it can be seen that there are some dry goods in his stomach.

However, as a military general, Qian Tiandun is inconvenient to intervene too much in business and trade, so he did not make any specific promises to Liu Jianyuan. , You can also ask for help from the Datongjiang Base.

Liu Jianyuan's background is certainly one reason for Qian Tiandun's words, but another reason is that the Zhejiang businessman headed by Liu Jianyuan gave a lot of gifts, except for him and Tom Wang. In addition to the big gift, [-] catties of grain, some poultry and livestock, hundreds of catties of wound medicine and dozens of gauze were also presented to the garrison.Although this gift to the troops is not something priceless, it is extremely practical. It is really like what is written in the invitation letter, it is specially for the Datongjiang labor force.

Qian Tiandun thought that Liu Jianyuan was a relatively smart person, and he also made an exception and took the initiative to invite guests for dinner after the meeting.Although the conditions in the military camp were limited and it was inconvenient to have that kind of traditional banquet with big fish and big meat, but Liu Jianyuan and others were very happy when they received this invitation, so they would not be picky about it.

During the banquet, the atmosphere became more relaxed than before, and Qian Tiandun also took the initiative to mention his experience in the Hangzhou Bay military exercise in the first half of the year.Liu Jianyuan knew it after hearing the string song, so he also took advantage of the trend and talked about the changes in the situation in Zhejiang in the past six months.

Just as the original intention of Haihan to hold military exercises to demonstrate force, Qu Yutong's influence in Zhejiang has risen to a new level, and even some high-ranking officials in Hangzhou quietly went to Ningbo Mansion meet him.Some of these people were worried about their official status, and they wanted to confirm the attitude of the Haihan people through Qu Yutong, and they would not regard the coastal areas of Zhejiang as the next target of aggression.There are also some people who hope to establish a relationship with Hai Han through Qu Yutong, and by the way, use the power in their hands to exchange some benefits from Hai Han.

When autumn came, there were already some rumors in the official circles in Zhejiang that Qu Yutong might be promoted and transferred to another place by the court.However, Qu Yutong was very calm at this time, and did not regard the chance of promotion as his only way out. After seeking Shi Diwen's opinion, he also followed the example of Xu Xinsu from Fujian, and took the initiative to write a letter requesting to continue working in Ningbo Mansion. ruling.

Qu Yutong's choice was undoubtedly wise. If the court wanted to transfer him away from Ningbo in the name of promotion, it would simply be because he felt that he was too close to the Haihan people.However, if he is transferred to the capital to take a idle position, or transferred to an inland area, his advantage will no longer exist—leaving Ningbo, his value to Haihan will plummet, and it will be difficult for Haihan to serve as His backer.At that time, he will either become a mediocre official under many restrictions, and he can only be relieved when he is old enough to return to his hometown, or he can only resign and leave the officialdom, and choose another new living environment. It is an unacceptable result.

As long as you stay in Ningbo, you can do anything.Although Qu Yutong didn't have any ambitions to split the territory, he did enjoy his time as the local emperor in Ningbo.Although he is only a magistrate and his power is far less than those big figures in the court, apart from power, Qu Yutong's current life can be considered to be full of wind and rain.And he also knows that he is too tightly tied to Haihan, and it will be difficult for him to bypass the sign of Haihan when he is promoted in the officialdom of Ming Dynasty in the future. It is better to guard Ningbo Mansion honestly and not to have those unrealistic dreams .

Therefore, after the Hangzhou Bay military exercise, the official circles in Zhejiang were indeed much more peaceful, and the voices against dealing with Haihan became smaller and smaller, and Ningbo Mansion was even more peaceful.Except for the news that Qu Yutong might be transferred, there was a slight shock in the market in Ningbo, and it was basically calm at other times.

Of course, Qian Tiandun would be a little disappointed after hearing this, but he also understood that Qu Yutong was only a civil servant, and it was unlikely that he would follow Xu Xinsu's development path. At most, it is to guard Ningbo Mansion, a feng shui treasure, to make a fortune in a muffled voice.

But at least for a certain period of time in the future, the trade window of Ningbo will continue to exist. There are many operations that Haihan can carry out through this place. The two choices of Qu Yutong's promotion or staying in the post may indeed be the latter. The benefits of Haihan are even greater.

But the next thing Liu Jianyuan mentioned soon attracted Qian Tiandun's attention.

The salt farms Haihan opened in the name of cooperation in Xiangshan, Shipu and other places in Ningbo Prefecture have now begun to produce output. Through the operation of the local government, the sea salt produced locally is sold in the market under the name of official salt.Since the production capacity of the Haihan Salt Field far exceeded that of the traditional salt fields of the same era, the low-cost Xiangshan salt quickly occupied the market and began to expand to the inland area and the area north of the Yangtze River.

But in this way, it is bound to touch the interests of traditional salt merchants.The large salt merchants in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions almost all come from the salt farms in Jiangsu, and the impact of these cheap Haihan salt from Ningbo Prefecture on the market immediately affected their business.

Salt merchants are well aware of how much salt the several official salt farms in Zhejiang can produce.However, the salt that suddenly appeared on the market was better in quality and lower in price than the official salt farms. Naturally, it could not have come from the official salt farms.As for the source of these cheap salt and where it flows into the market, it is not difficult to find out with a little inquiring.

If they encounter illegal salt produced in other places, Huaiyang big salt merchants naturally have a thousand ways to shut down their competitors, or even go to jail.But the situation in Ningbo Mansion is a bit special. It is not only the officials in charge of the salt industry who benefit from it, and some officials are even directly involved in the operation, and these officials are not easy to provoke. Households and even commanders, ordinary people can't do it.

It is precisely because of this that most of the sales channels for the salt produced in Ningbo Prefecture are controlled by some local military leaders and officials, and then find a puppet to sell it in the market. Naturally, they will not get a share of the traditional salt merchants.Even Qu Yutong, the prefect, has shares in the salt fields of Xiangshan and Shipu.So even if the salt merchants in Huaiyang want to get involved, they are not qualified to get goods directly from the salt farms, they can only act as local distributors, and their profits will definitely be much worse than the first-hand sources.

The private salt here in Ningbo is operated by the government. Even if Huaiyang salt merchants sue the government, it is useless, but this is a big business involving several million taels of silver every year. They will definitely not willingly give up the market to the Haihan people. Work with officials of all sizes in Ningbo Prefecture.So in the recent period, there have been many good shows in the competition between Jiangsu and Zhejiang around the salt industry.

Although the salt merchants dare not openly confront the government on the ground in Ningbo, they have a lot of people and money, and they also have the support of the local government behind them, so they will still take some unconventional means to crack down on the export channels of Ningbo salt.

After autumn, ships and convoys transporting sea salt to other places were attacked one after another, and the escorts were usually just three or five armed people. It was unexpected that the salt transport would also be attacked. In less than a month, There were several big cases.The military leaders who participated in it saw that they had no choice but to transfer their own soldiers to be responsible for the escort work, but this would undoubtedly greatly increase the transportation cost.

While the army leaders were still having a headache, this kind of attack was still intensified, and the scale was escalated to the point of using muskets.The small team of soldiers they sent out to escort the salt was also attacked, and because the weapons were outdated, they couldn't beat the attackers, so there were inevitably many casualties.The military leaders can only eat Coptis chinensis dumbly. After all, sending soldiers to transport salt is undoubtedly a violation of military discipline.

"The assailants not only used muskets, but they were also more powerful than the guards in Ningbo?" Qian Tiandun couldn't help interjecting when he heard this.Although the Guards Army of Ningbo Mansion may only have five combat strength in his opinion, it is still considered a regular army of Ming Dynasty, so how could it suffer under the hands of private armed forces.

Liu Jianyuan replied: "The general doesn't know. The firearms used by those attackers are quite sharp. I heard that they are not homemade earthen guns. I don't know where they got them."

Qian Tiandun said: "Looking at what you said earlier, most of the people behind the scenes are the salt merchants in the Jianghuai area. These people are very rich. It is not too difficult to buy weapons and arm a team by yourself. But I'm a little curious, whether the weapons they bought were produced in Daming, or whether they came from places other than Daming."

Liu Jianyuan said: "As far as the villain knows, the muskets used by the attackers are stronger than the weapons equipped in the Ningbo Guards. It must not be the kind of old ones that were eliminated from the army."

"Then this is very interesting." Qian Tiandun muttered in a low voice.

In East Asia, Haihan is undoubtedly the largest weapons manufacturer outside of Ming Dynasty. Every year, the number of rifles sold from Haihan to various countries is at least four figures, and most of them are sold to the armies of various countries.But there are also a small number of guns that will flow into the civilian population and be provided to wealthy people who want to build small-scale private armed forces.

Usually such buyers are partners who have a close relationship with Haihan, such as people like Li Jifeng in Guangzhou, but it is not guaranteed that some weapons will flow to other places through the black market under a less stringent regulatory environment.

(End of this chapter)