1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 2220
As Haihan's national strength and influence grew year by year, it was not uncommon for businessmen from Ming Dynasty to choose Haihan for naturalization in the past few years.But considering their roots and interests in Ming Dynasty, the method of naturalization is not necessarily that these big businessmen give up their status as citizens of Ming Dynasty to join Haihan, and many of them let their family members become naturalized.

In this way, the various assets and businesses they invest in Haihan can be managed and managed by the "National Haihan" in a legitimate way, which will save a lot of troubles caused by nationality issues.

The consideration of interests will make these wealthy businessmen and dignitaries who have a deep cooperative relationship with Haihan place bets on both sides of Daming and Haihan, so that no matter which side has an accident, they can have a way out.The senior management of Haihan is well aware of this and will not interfere with their operation. As long as these people can provide resources for Haihan's development, it doesn't matter if their positions waver.

As for the group of businessmen who operate in special industries like Yangzhou salt merchants, Haihan's senior management has always been willing to win them over. After all, the industry they operate is related to the national economy and people's livelihood of Ming Dynasty. If Haihan can intervene in a secret way, then In the future, it will also be able to exert influence on Ming society in this field, which is an effect that is difficult to achieve by relying on traditional military means.

Providing military support to Huizhou salt merchants, training armed personnel for them and selling advanced weapons to them was Haihan's first step in wooing him.Although these services charge extremely high fees, the items that Haihan can provide are all sellers’ markets. Even if the prices are several times more expensive, Huizhou salt merchants will still pay without hesitation in order to protect themselves. .

Although the price is extremely expensive, Huizhou salt merchants will soon realize that this investment is worthwhile, and only Haihan can provide this special military support, and there is no other option to choose from.

After the trade and military have established a deep cooperative relationship with Haihan, it will be easier to further win over these Yangzhou salt merchants. At that time, changing nationality and marrying are all optional means.However, Yuan Tao took this step ahead of the authorities. Even the Military Intelligence Bureau has not yet made relevant plans, which can be regarded as an unexpected harvest of this mission.

But in fact, people who have similar plans are not limited to Dai Yingda who has seen the strength of the Golden Shield. Ma Zhengping, who has been in Zhoushan for a while, obviously has a much deeper understanding of Haihan Kingdom than Dai Yingda who is far away in Yangzhou, and he is also early. So I moved my mind to carry out in-depth cooperation with Haihan.

With regard to military training, arms trade, and salt trade, these cooperative projects need to be discussed and decided by the seven surnames, and Ma Zhengping cannot make decisions alone.However, during this period of time, he was inspecting various places in Zhoushan, and he also learned a lot about the status of foreign businessmen operating industries in Haihan from various channels, and of course he also had his own little calculations in mind.

The commercial warehouse that Ma Zhengping built in the enclosure of Zhoushan is not owned by him personally. The cost is jointly funded by the seven major surnames, and will be jointly operated by each of them after completion.Although there will be some oil and water in the construction process, this little money is of little significance to Ma Zhengping, and he will not pay attention to it.

What really touched Ma Zhengping was his contact with Duan Tiancheng during the process of accepting the children of salt merchants to enter the Zhoushan military camp for training.

Ma Zhengping first met Duan Tiancheng through the fabric merchant Xuan Xiangming, and later Duan Tiancheng became the instructor of the salt merchant's children, and Ma Zhengping had more opportunities to directly contact him.When he knew that Duan Tiancheng was also from Ming Dynasty, and he got the chance to be promoted only after joining Haihan and enlisted in the army, his mind became active.

Since Ming Han people can be officials in Haihan, others can, and Ma Zhengping believes that his own children certainly have such qualifications.Therefore, he gave special instructions to the Ma family's children who are currently being trained in the army, asking them to study and practice the military skills taught by Hai Han as hard as they can, and they must have outstanding performance among this group of trainees.

Ma Zhengping believes that no matter where they are, people with outstanding strength will have more opportunities, so he hopes that his children can take advantage of this training opportunity and use their strength to win the attention of the Haihan military.At that time, if he worked harder on Duan Tiancheng, he might be able to arrange a few of his own children to serve in the Haihan Army.

With abundant financial resources, the family will naturally try to support these children's chances of promotion in the Haihan Army.After staying for a few years, Ma's family also has a few Haihan officers like Duan Tiancheng, whether in Daming or Haihan, this will be a powerful boost.

Of course, this road may not be too smooth. After all, as far as he knows, the promotion in the Haihan Army depends on the accumulation of military merits. There is no operation such as selling officials and titles. The Ma family's children probably have to go through several battles of life and death will rise to positions of influence.So Ma Zhengping hoped to arrange for a few more children to join the Haihan army, so that even if some people were damaged on the battlefield during the process, at least the entire army would not be easily wiped out.

In addition, Ma Zhengping also learned that Haihan would also absorb scholars from Ming Dynasty, and after special training, they would be sent overseas as officials.However, this kind of assessment is said to be quite strict, and it is far from enough to only know how to read and write, and scholars with fame and reputation will receive more preferential treatment.

The family backgrounds of the seven surnames are well-off, and naturally they have cultivated many descendants of Congwen, among whom there are many powerful characters who have achieved fame.However, most of these famous people bet their future on Daming, hoping to use the family's financial resources to find a good way out in official career.If they were asked to go overseas to work hard in a foreign country, I am afraid that nine out of ten would directly veto it.

After Ma Zhengping stayed in Zhoushan for less than a month, he already had a rough plan. He wanted to select outstanding young people from his tribe to be naturalized in Haihan, or join the army or examiners, and try to enter the officialdom of Haihan for long-term development.If neither of these two paths is suitable, then go back to the old business and run the family business in Haihan.

Of course, before that, he first had to choose a long-term business in Haihan, set up a shelf, and then select someone from the family to take charge of the operation.

On this day, Ma Zhengping invited Duan Tiancheng and Xuan Xiangming out for dinner, and asked them for their advice, if he wanted to find some stable businesses in Haihan, where should he start.

In fact, it is not the first time that Ma Zhengping asked them about similar matters. After hearing his intention, Xuan Xiangming immediately responded: "Brother Ma, if you want to operate a long-term business in Zhoushan, the most stable one is It’s infrastructure and shipping, I remember I told you about these two businesses before, I don’t know if you have done it to understand?”

There was no business conflict between Xuan Xiangming and Ma Zhengping, so the advice he gave was straightforward.The Zhoushan authorities have strict control over the land, and it is impossible for foreign businessmen to enclose a large amount of land in Zhoushan. Therefore, the scope of operable infrastructure projects in Zhoushan open to foreign businessmen is actually relatively narrow, which is to pay for the construction of port terminals and supporting roads. , warehousing and other facilities, and then make profits by charging usage fees.

But the problem is that this kind of project must be built in accordance with the standards proposed by Haihan officials, and it must be supervised by the government during the construction process. These factors will lead to a very large amount of initial investment, plus a relatively long period of time. The construction period and the follow-up cost recovery period will be very long, and it may take ten or eight years to recover the cost and start making profits, and this is definitely not a good deal for most businessmen.

Although the profit prospects of such projects are not good, there are still businessmen who are willing to take such projects, but their purpose is often not for short-term profits.For the Zhoushan authorities, of course, the more such infrastructure projects, the better. The addition of foreign capital will save a lot of resources for the authorities, so the authorities are definitely happy to see the results.

It is very easy to win the favor of the Zhoushan authorities by taking the initiative to take on such a project. If you want to operate in this place for a long time, it is especially necessary to establish a good relationship with the government. Investing in real estate can undoubtedly better demonstrate your long-term business here. Determined, this kind of merchant is also the most welcome object of the official.

And in the long run, this kind of project will never lose money. If you are still operating in the shipping industry, then having your own freight terminal and related facilities can greatly save operating costs.Therefore, Xuan Xiangming's suggestion to Ma Zhengping is to package the port infrastructure and shipping, and do both together, which will be more cost-effective.

Ma Zhengping said with a wry smile: "Repairing the wharf and sailing boats are all big businesses, and after the investment, you won't see the money back in a short period of time. It's really embarrassing for me."

Xuan Xiangming shook his head and said: "Although these transactions involve a lot of investment, the long-term income is stable, and with Haihan guarding this place, there is almost no business risk at all. Although it is not as profitable as you sell salt, but Brother Ma You ask for a stable industry yourself, and there aren't many businesses that can be more stable than that."

Ma Zhengping smiled and said, "Brother Xuan, the business you do is no worse than this in terms of stability!"

Xuan Xiangming waved his hand and said, "Brother Ma thinks so well! There are hundreds of fabric merchants in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions, and the competition in this industry is so fierce that Brother Ma may not have imagined. Light has opened on Zhoushan Island. There are more than [-] shops in the same trade. I am based in Zhoushan, but I am worried that if I am not here for a long time, the business will be taken away by my peers. With so many people in this business, it is conceivable that the profits of the business will also be lost. I was forced to drop down. If I don’t see any improvement in another year or two, I plan to switch careers and do something else.”

Ma Zhengping joked: "Could it be that Brother Xuan also wants to repair the pier and sail the boat?"

Xuan Xiangming shook his head and said, "I don't have enough capital. I really can't do this business. I can only look at opening a farm with a few hundred acres of land on the island of Taiwan in the south. I heard that many businessmen from Fuzhou and Guangxi are Buying land and properties on Taiwan Island is a good way out for local owners.”

Ma Zhengping said: "Recently, I have heard people talk about the various benefits of Taiwan Island, but it is too far away, so I have to find a chance to see the local situation in person."

Duan Tiancheng interjected at this time: "If Boss Ma wants to develop in Taiwan Island, I can arrange it for you. I have a few friends in the local government who can give me some help."

Ma Zhengping hesitated for a moment before responding: "Thank you, Mr. Duan, for your kindness, but let's talk about it after we send this group of people to finish training! If you don't stare at these boys, I will be a little worried after all!"

Compared with businesses such as wharf repair and shipbuilding, Ma Zhengping is of course more willing to accept the traditional investment method of buying land and growing grain.However, he also heard that Taiwan Island is still thousands of miles away from Zhoushan, which is really a bit far away. If you go to such a far place to invest, you won't be at ease if you don't see it with your own eyes.

Duan Tiancheng said: "In fact, the qualifications of these people you sent are not bad. Most of them have a cultural foundation, can write and count, and they are much better than the soldiers recruited from the people in our country. If they are in our Haihan army, Such qualifications are generally selected and trained as reserve officers."

Ma Zhengping said: "Master Duan is really overrated. If there is anything wrong with these boys, please ask your lord to train them hard. Don't feel bad!"

Ma Zhengping was worried that what Duan Tiancheng said was just polite words, but Duan Tiancheng didn't have so many twists and turns in his stomach, and these words were telling the truth.These children of salt merchants were sent to study in private schools since they were young. Most of the elders in the family were businessmen, and they also mastered basic arithmetic skills very early under the influence of their ears and eyes. There are also talents like Dai Chengrong who practiced martial arts since childhood, and their aptitude is indeed quite good.Moreover, because these people have a better family background, they have been fed and clothed since childhood, and their nutrition can keep up, so their physical fitness is better than ordinary people.

For soldiers with such qualifications, it would be good to have at most one or two out of a hundred recruits recruited by the Haihan Army, and they will definitely be the focus of training.Duan Tiancheng's conditions when he first joined the army were similar to this. He himself had experienced this process himself, so he expressed his feelings.

Duan Tiancheng smiled and said: "If some of these people want to stay and develop in Haihan Country in the future, what does Boss Ma think?"

Ma Zhengping said: "I can't control the children of other families. If it is a child of my Ma family, then I should not object. Water flows to low places, people go to high places, and being able to develop in your country should be comparable to returning to Yangzhou as a A salt dealer has a better future. Even if things don’t go well, it’s a good thing to go outside and broaden your horizons.”

"Boss Ma is really an enlightened person!" Duan Tiancheng was quite satisfied with his statement.

In fact, the question Duan Tiancheng raised did not entirely represent his personal opinion, but Shi Diwen already had some different thoughts after knowing the situation of this group of students.

For a local chief executive like Shi Diwen, constantly absorbing talents from the outside world for his own use is an effective measure to consolidate his own power and prestige.Compared with the officials assigned from Sanya, Shi Diwen obviously prefers the direct descendants trained and trained under his own rule.As for whether these people are the children of salt merchants or other identities, there is no need to be scruples.

(End of this chapter)