1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 2199
As one of the top salt merchants in Yangzhou, Ma Zhengping has dealt with local officials a lot. After suffering a lot, he also knows the importance of the official umbrella for business operations. In the past, Huizhou salt merchants were passive in Yangzhou. An important The reason is that in the past, there was not enough attention to this aspect of operation.But now that they finally hugged Haihan's thigh, they couldn't make the same mistake again. The meeting of the seven surnames even discussed related topics, discussing how to manage the cooperative relationship with Haihan's official.

Sending money is of course the most concise and effective method. No matter which country you are in, the transfer of benefits is the best way to gain the favor of officials, and Haihan is no exception.Salt merchants from Huizhou believed that the main purpose of Haihan's expansion of salt trade to Yangzhou was because of the huge profits. Since Haihan people like money, they should send money to their door.So this time Ma Zhengping visited Zhoushan, he managed a lot of money up and down, and finally facilitated the cooperation that the Huizhou salt merchants were looking forward to.

However, Ma Zhengping vaguely felt that this cooperative relationship was still not solid enough. Although the Haihan people made a move, it was completely executed as a transaction with a clear price. The idea of ​​turning into a friendship is markedly different.

Therefore, Ma Zhengping believes that in order to narrow the relationship between the two parties, it is not feasible to rely solely on unilateral benefit transmission, and it is necessary to build common interests in more fields.As for how to realize this idea, he actually didn't have a clear idea before, but after absorbing all kinds of information recently, he felt that he had found a way.

To achieve mutual benefit by sending talents to Haihan is a plan with extremely low threshold for Huizhou salt merchants, and compared with the difficulty of sending these people into the officialdom of Ming Dynasty, going to Haihan for development seems to be a better way. Good way to go.

After all, the Ming Dynasty has been established for more than two hundred years, and the class has long been solidified. It is not easy for the common people to climb up, but Haihan is a new country that has just been established for a few years. It is not necessary to know that such a country must be full of people Take the top chance.Among the children of salt merchants, there are many young talents who are knowledgeable and capable, and they have enough wealth to support them. As long as they are willing to emigrate to Haihan, the chances of being successful are definitely very high.

Moreover, Ma Zhengping knows more about the situation in Haihan than other salt merchants in Yangzhou. If he can take some measures before other salt merchants and deploy in Haihan one step in advance, then this may allow the Ma family to move forward quickly. Great opportunity to improve your skills.Maybe in the next few years, the Ma family will benefit from this bold decision.

However, whether this move will work or not, Ma Zhengping believes that it largely depends on the performance of the Ma family's children in this training.If they perform well, then whether they recommend the Ma family's children to study in Haihan or become naturalized, it is obviously easier to get the attention of Haihan officials.That being the case, then you have to try to give some reminders to your children.

After the training in the afternoon is over, according to the arrangement announced by Duan Tiancheng, all the staff must first complete the task of cleaning the camp area.Ma Zhengping didn't care about the punishment suffered by the students, but first went to Duan Tiancheng's side, and thanked him for his hard work.

"What does Boss Ma think? You must think this kind of training is a bit boring, right?" Duan Tiancheng asked.

Allowing Ma Zhengping to observe the training of this group of people in the camp was also approved by the higher authorities. This is to reassure the salt merchants about the training content and to ensure that Haihan will not fool people after collecting the money. Second, there is Ma Zhengping With such a prestigious figure sitting in the training ground, the boys of the salt merchants will be more honest.

Of course, Duan Tiancheng had already benefited a lot from Ma Zhengping, so his attitude towards Ma Zhengping was much more kind than that of these students.

In front of Duan Tiancheng, Ma Zhengping didn't dare to take it too seriously, he replied respectfully: "I'm a layman about this matter of marching and fighting, so I dare not speak nonsense."

Duan Tiancheng said with a smile: "They are all my own people, but Boss Ma said it's okay."

Ma Zhengping heard the phrase "one of my own people" very usefully, and immediately responded: "I think the content of the training in the afternoon is all for these boys to learn to abide by military discipline and regulations. I wonder if I understand it right?"

Duan Tiancheng nodded slightly and said: "It does have such an effect, but this is not the whole purpose. Queue training is the basis of all tactics. If you don't even line up neatly, then let's not talk about practicing tactics. You sent these young and strong Although the physical conditions are good, most of them do not have the corresponding training foundation, so they can only practice from scratch, and only after they have practiced the basic skills can they teach them more advanced tactics."

Ma Zhengping didn't know whether Duan Tiancheng's words were bluffing himself, so he could only respond at the moment: "That really bothered Mr. Duan a lot!"

"It doesn't matter. The recruits recruited in our army also train according to this method. After three to five days, they will see initial results. If they still can't practice by then, they probably won't be suitable for this bowl of rice. "Duan Tiancheng tried his best to describe the elimination as tactfully as possible, so as not to embarrass Ma Zhengping.

Ma Zhengping replied: "If there are such stupid people, just pick them out, Mr. Duan, and don't delay the training progress of others."

Duan Tiancheng has seen all kinds of unqualified examples in the recruit training, most of them are congenital incoordination of limbs, walking with the same hands and feet, and there are many people who can't distinguish between left and right.Trainees like this are usually directly eliminated during the recruit training period. Duan Tiancheng put the greeting up front, but he didn't expect that Ma Zhengping would feel that Hai Han was deliberately finding fault.

Haihan notified Yangzhou in advance to select more people to come over, in consideration of the elimination due to various situations during the training process.But since Ma Zhengping was so reasonable, Duan Tiancheng didn't have to worry so much.

Seeing that Duan Tiancheng was in a good mood, Ma Zhengping lowered his voice and asked, "I wonder if Mr. Duan can give me another convenience?"

Duan Tiancheng glanced at him, and asked back: "What is Boss Ma's request?"

Ma Zhengping said: "I want to call out the Ma family's children and give them a few more instructions so that they can train with peace of mind."

"That's it?" Duan Tiancheng thought that Ma Zhengping had some special intentions, such as asking himself to take special care of the Ma family's children, but he didn't expect the other party's request to be so simple that he couldn't even find a reason to refuse.

Ma Zhengping said sternly: "Although my Ma family's children are ordinary in aptitude, they must not fall behind others in training. I will ring the bell for them, so that they will not be returned within a few days of their arrival!"

Duan Tiancheng felt that what Ma Zhengping said was also human nature, so he nodded in agreement with his request, and immediately ordered people to gather all the children of the Ma family.Ma Zhengping quickly thanked him, and stuffed two more banknotes into Duan Tiancheng's hand when there was no one else around.

Soon all the eleven Ma family children who were sent to Zhoushan for training were called. Duan Tiancheng took advantage of the benefits and was very knowledgeable, so he found an excuse to walk away, leaving room for Ma Zhengping to operate on his own. .

As the current head of the family, Ma Zhengping has full authority to arrange the training of the children of salt merchants in Zhoushan, so his prestige is naturally beyond doubt.In front of him, these juniors of the Ma family really didn't even dare to speak out.

Ma Zhengping asked everyone to gather around him, and said in a low voice: "During your training here, no matter how hard you have suffered, you must persevere! If anyone is eliminated halfway through the training and goes home, then don't do it in the future." You can no longer call yourself a child of the Ma family!"

Everyone was terrified, but they still agreed, feeling that their responsibilities had increased a bit.

"Those who can complete the training and pass the assessment will get the support of their families in the future, spend money to donate a half-job, and develop in the officialdom in the future." Ma Zhengping immediately gave a sweet date after dancing the stick. Hearing this Everyone's eyes lit up.

Of course, they hope that the skills they have learned in Zhoushan can make them stand out, but now that Ma Zhengping has clearly stated that the family will give corresponding support, this is much easier than fighting on their own.However, even the most daring among them would never have imagined that what Ma Zhengping said about entering the officialdom did not specifically refer to entering the Ming Dynasty's officialdom, but even the Haihan Kingdom's officialdom.

With Ma Zhengping's promise, becoming an official of the imperial court seems to be a bright prospect that can be expected immediately. The premise is that he has to grit his teeth and get through the next few months of training.Everyone immediately expressed their opinions that they would do their best to complete the training and not let the elders and relatives of the clan down.

Ma Zhengping nodded in satisfaction, and told them not to worry about how the children of other families treated the training. In short, he must try his best to complete the training requirements of Haihan instructors. .

Ma Zhengping's statement is obviously mixed with selfishness. He hopes that the Ma family's children can stand out in this training, so that in the future, no matter whether it is within the seven major surnames or in the relationship with Haihan outside, the Ma family can win because of this. to a more favorable situation.

Of course, not everyone can understand his painstaking efforts. After all, these young people's vision and insight are far inferior to his, and their consideration of issues is not as far-sighted and in-depth as his.Ma Zhengping only hoped to use his prestige to make these young people obey orders and work hard in the direction he expected, for the sake of the Ma family and for themselves.

After Ma Zhengping finished his instructions, he asked these juniors to go back and continue to work.And he himself had to leave as soon as possible. Although the Haihan military had granted him special permission to observe the training, he was not allowed to stay in the barracks. So after the day's training was over, Ma Zhengping had to leave the barracks.

For those who haven't done much exercise before, this half-day training has exhausted all their physical strength.After returning to the dormitory after dinner, many people immediately lay down on the bed, loudly complaining that the training was too hard.

But their complaints didn't last long, and soon the instructors came to check on the bed.After inspecting the duties, the instructor did not intend to leave, but called them to sit down and began to explain the various regulations in the army.

Although these students are not Haihan recruits, they must abide by the rules of the Haihan Army in the Haihan Barracks. Therefore, in addition to daily training, they have to study the military regulations collectively.

Considering the identities of these students, they did not arrange the learning content for them completely according to the standards of recruits. They focused on strengthening the explanation of discipline regulations in training, organization, work, life, etc., while relatively reducing the emphasis on political work for recruits. A lot, and after the military training has reached a certain level, we will slowly add more food.

In fact, these children of salt merchants are still curious about the Haihan Army. As long as these regulations are slowly spread out, they are also very interested in learning about them, especially about the content of meritorious service and awards. Seriously, I would like to know how the promotion system in the Haihan Army is implemented.

Most of the instructors who teach these people are grassroots officers in the army. They have more than three years of military experience and have participated in front-line combat experience. Explaining these regulations for meritorious service awards can be well illustrated with examples, and war stories are very important for these young people. The attraction is self-evident.

In the past, they were just hearsay, and they knew more or less rumors about the undefeated Haihan army, but they couldn't tell what kind of battles the Haihan army fought against the enemy of which country in what year and month. Come on, now I can hear the parties explaining the actual battle examples in the war, even if I only understand the superficial, I can't help feeling excited and hooked.

Duan Tiancheng's explanation simply took the Hirado Battle that just ended not long ago as an example, explaining to these students the military exploits made by the East China Sea Fleet during the attack on Hirado Port, and the detailed rules for calculating military exploits.Of course, it is also indispensable to talk about how the East China Sea Fleet fought with the coastal defense forts of Hirado Port for three days and three nights, and finally used artillery fire to razed Hirado Port to the ground.

Duan Tiancheng's explanation is naturally exaggerated, but as a person who witnessed the battle, the details he narrated can easily make the listeners empathize and blend into it.Even though these children of salt merchants have never been to Hirado, they seem to be able to truly feel the smoke and destruction on the battlefield through Duan Tiancheng's description.

Dai Chengrong listened very carefully. Like everyone else, what he cared about was not at all how the Haihan Army calculated military merits in this kind of battle, but how the East China Sea Fleet could attack a heavily guarded harbor across the sea.You must know that it is a force that provides weapons and training to the Shanxi salt merchants, and it is an existence that the Huizhou salt merchants cannot afford to provoke. In Duan Tiancheng's description, the Hirado Fan is just a dying battle in front of the powerful Haihan fleet. the poor guy.

Dai Chengrong is aware of this gap in strength, so he is also thinking about whether his salt merchant group has other ways to strengthen its own armed strength besides seeking military assistance from Haihan.

(End of this chapter)