1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 2232
If it is necessary to make a list of Haihan's business partners over the years based on the degree of profit, the Li family, the operator of Guangzhou Furuifeng Company, will most likely be among the best.

As the first big merchant in Ming Dynasty to start business cooperation with Haihan, how much benefit Fu Ruifeng has gained from it over the years, I am afraid that even Li Jifeng, the patriarch of the Li family, can't tell clearly, and the scale of the industry he operates is here. During this period, it has been developing rapidly.

Now the commercial sites under the name of Freedom have not only been in Guangzhou, but also in the coastal prefectures of Guangdong and Guangxi, and have already expanded the industry overseas with the expansion of Haihan. As long as it is a place with the double-color flag of Haihan, Almost all of them will have the property of the Li family.

As long as it is a newly-occupied area overseas by Haihan, among the first batch of merchants arriving there to undertake infrastructure projects, there will definitely be Fu Ruifeng. For some colonial infrastructure facilities such as farms, shipping, and transportation, most of them will have Fu Ruifeng to participate in the construction. and operating.It is also because of this that although Fu Ruifeng is a business name of Daming, outside of Daming, many people who do not know the inside story will subconsciously think that Fu Ruifeng is an official business with Haihan's official background.

Although this is a misunderstanding, such an image can bring a lot of convenience to Furuifeng's overseas operations, so the Li family never denied these rumors, acquiescing to their semi-official attributes in the eyes of the public.After all, this is a special treatment that no other family can ask for. It is beneficial and harmless to the Li family, and naturally they are happy to see it.

A large part of the reason why the Li family and Fu Ruifeng were able to receive such high-standard treatment was because the Li family had a third young master, Li Nai, who was very close to Haihan's senior management.

Li Nai has been directly involved since Fu Ruifeng started dealing with Haihan.After the initial contact, Li Nai was attracted by the talents of these descendants of Han people from overseas, and quickly became a fan of Haihan culture.

At that time, Haihan's foothold in Sanya was not stable, and it needed to open a trade window in Daming. New things are full of curiosity, and Haihan just uses him to try the effect of instilling consciousness concepts, so the distance between the two sides quickly narrows. Status of trading partners.

Later, in various large-scale transnational business groups established under the leadership of Haihan officials, such as Qiong Lianfa, Nanhai Business Group, Guangdong-Guangdong Business Group, etc., Fu Ruifeng played the role of major shareholder in them, and also acted as Haihan The spokesperson of the interests of Haihan firmly stood on Haihan's side when making some important decisions.

As trading partners, the two sides have been cooperating very happily over the years, and each has obtained huge benefits from this relationship. The number of times Li Nai visited Sanya is probably one of the best among businessmen in the Ming Dynasty. For half a year.

It is worth mentioning that the Golden Shield Escort, which is now quite famous in the coastal areas of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian, and Guangdong, was originally a cooperation project led by senior executives of Haihan and Li Nai.At the beginning, neither of the two parties considered this a long-term business, but only to add some armed guards to the Haihan Office in Guangzhou, and help the Li family train some armed personnel, so that Li Nai, who was "idling" in the Li family at that time, could have a Doing it in advance.

But later the business grew bigger and bigger, and now Golden Shield Escort has become a big business across multiple countries, and Haihan has also used this industry to house many retired soldiers.It's just that few people in the outside world know that Li Nai is also a high-level figure in charge of the management of Golden Shield.

In recent years, as Furuifeng's industry has become bigger and bigger, covering more and more fields and regions, Li Nai, who is in charge of these affairs, has not had so much time to visit Sanya in the early years, so Li Yi has already studied in Sanya. It's been more than half a year, but I've only seen this famous young master Li San once or twice.

In Li Yan's eyes, although Li Nai is a businessman, his social status and influence are far beyond that of ordinary businessmen. If he can interact with such people more, it will definitely benefit his future development.Tian Zheng is willing to take the initiative to match up and arrange a meeting, which is exactly what Li Yi can't wish for.

Li Yan responded: "Then I will thank Mr. Tian for your kindness first! But before Master Li San comes to Sanya, do you have to greet the Ministry of Foreign Affairs first?"

"Small matters, nothing to worry about. As for Master Li San's itinerary, he won't be informed in advance every time, but this time the situation is special, so he sent a call to report the itinerary." Tian Zheng didn't take credit for it, To him it was indeed a trivial matter.Li Nai always likes to make friends with people of all levels and backgrounds, and coming to Sanya is like returning to his own home, and he has no scruples about receiving guests. Given Tian Zheng's friendship with him, it is not difficult to arrange such a meeting.

Regarding Li Nai's itinerary, Tian Zheng already has more accurate information.Before Li Nai came to Sanya this time, the Guangdong Office had already sent a telegram to inform him of the itinerary, so Tian Zheng calculated the time, and it probably arrived in Hong Kong in the last two days.

The reason why Li Nai sent a report in advance to inform him of the itinerary was not because he wanted Sanya to prepare a welcome ceremony, but because he escorted a batch of important goods when he was going south from Guangzhou, and he had to arrange for immediate transfer when he arrived in Sanya. Going to Nanyang, so send a telegram first, so that the ships and manpower for Nanyang are ready here, so as not to delay too much unnecessary time in the transshipment link.

The reason why this telegram was copied to the Department of Foreign Affairs is because the owner of the cargo that Li Nai escorted was Dutch, and Dutch people would also participate in the transshipment process in Sanya, so Li Nai followed the rules and sent the telegram first. Report to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to avoid misunderstanding.

Re-export trade like this is actually not uncommon in Sanya, but some countries have always been on the official supervision list, and the Netherlands is one of them.

Due to the many armed conflicts with Haihan in the early years, the relationship between the Netherlands and Haihan has always been delicate.The Dutch also knew that it would be difficult for the armed fleet of the East India Company to compete with Haihan's growing navy, so in recent years they have slowly tried to accept and join Haihan's trading system, becoming a leader in the trading circle dominated by Haihan. a member.

Of course, such a transformation process is not easy for both parties. The Dutch East India Company cannot voluntarily give up part of its existing interests like the Portuguese in exchange for the supply of goods and markets provided by Haihan. All trade activities are subject to the official supervision of Haihan.

The Dutch also thought of many ways to try to change this situation, such as seeking a powerful third-party businessman to act as an agent to purchase some restricted commodities on their behalf, and then transship them to Batavia for transactions.However, this solution still has disadvantages. The third-party merchants who are really capable of operating this kind of entrepot trade are basically inclined to Haihan, and will not stand on the side of the Dutch simply for economic benefits.

Therefore, the Dutch can only acquiesce in the status quo and agree with the agent's practice of reporting the trade content to Haihan. Anyway, it is better to be able to buy a little of the in-demand goods, after all, it is much better than the result of no harvest by themselves.

This time, the special items purchased by the Dutch from Guangzhou are a batch of fine steel produced in Foshan.Although the smelting workshops in Foshan are not owned by Haihan, Haihan has long warned several Western countries not to allow them to directly purchase large quantities of steel from Foshan.One is for Haihan to monopolize the steel market for a long time, and the other is for safety reasons to prevent these foreign devils from secretly mass-producing weapons in the colony.

Originally, the Dutch East India Company did not have such a demand. There were also iron mines and smelting workshops near Batavia, which could produce all kinds of iron products needed by themselves.However, during the war with the Matalam State a few years ago, these facilities located in the outskirts of Batavia were either destroyed or simply occupied by the Matalam State, which basically cut off Batavia's own production. The ability of steel.

This is also one of the reasons why the Dutch came to Sanya to bid for weapons with Mata Languo in the past two years. Via also needed additional weapons to ensure her own safety, and Haihan was basically the only source of weapons during this period.

After all, it takes too long to transport weapons from far away Europe, and at this time Europe is going through a 30-year war, and countries including the Netherlands are in a mess, and it is difficult to send many weapons to the east to reinforce the East India The company's colonial arm.The East India Company could only do its own thing and find nearby resources to solve the problem of weapons shortage.

Of course, under Haihan's shrewd calculations, Mataram and the East India Company's bid for weapons in Haihan was not smooth, and they failed to achieve their expected results.The East India Company also knew that it was extremely difficult to order weapons in Haihan, so they still had to try to collect steel from the outside world and manufacture weapons by themselves.

Because of the rules set by Haihan, the Dutch could not directly purchase large quantities of steel from Foshan, so they could only turn to agents to handle it. In the process, they had to bear a transaction price that was much higher than the market price. Naturally, most of the premium was taken away by the unscrupulous Haihan people.

Therefore, the procurement process of the Dutch not only has to bear high prices, but also has to be supervised by Haihan throughout the process, and there is still a clear limit on the purchase volume.But even so, they couldn't pick too much. Even if there were all kinds of troublesome links in the middle, it was still much easier than ordering weapons from Haihan.

And it was Freeform who handled the matter for the Dutch. Although Haihan did not directly designate it, he clearly told the Dutch that if the carrier is not Freeform, then the steel products shipped to Sanya cannot be guaranteed. Whether it can be allowed to be transferred out.

So another strange chain of interests was formed. Haihan handed over the sale to Fu Ruifeng, and got a benefit from it through a rigid price increase. The condition of the finished product, to ensure that it will not exceed the limit stipulated by Haihan.

It’s not that the Dutch didn’t think about buying steel from Changhua in Hainan Island nearby. The quality is far better than that of Foshan. But unfortunately, even if they are willing to send money, Haihan officials will not allow them to sell them in large quantities. Steel produced in Changhua.

Finished products such as iron pots, shovels, and kitchen knives can be bought, but if you want to buy back molten iron to make other weapons, the cost will be higher than buying Foshan products from an agent.Moreover, these commodities are sold publicly in the market. If someone buys them in large quantities, it will be easier for Haihan officials to find out.

Tian Zheng had nothing to do, so he explained why Li Nai had to call to report his itinerary, and he wanted to explain to Li Yan.In fact, these things are not considered confidential, basically they are semi-public information, but people like Li Yan who are not involved in this industry field do not know the inside story at all.

In the diplomacy course that Li Yan was studying recently, there was an introduction to the international relations of the countries in Southeast Asia, including the grievances between Haihan and the Netherlands. Now that there were specific examples for analysis, he also listened with gusto.

"Master Tian, ​​your country is so ruthless! I saw on the chart that the city of Batavia is thousands of miles away from Sanya, forcing them to travel so far to buy high-priced iron. Such business skills are truly amazing. Let me admire you!" Li Yan couldn't help expressing emotion after hearing that it had come to an end.

Tian Zheng shook his head with a smile and said: "The Dutch are not that stupid, they just have to. Batavia is surrounded by powerful enemies in the sea. They have no way to buy a lot of steel nearby, so they take advantage of the opportunity to engage in trading activities near the coast of Daming By the way, they purchased some back through such special channels. They didn’t place all their bets here. Southern countries like Annan, Siam, Champa, and Johor are also their targets of purchase. It’s just that the steel production capacity in those places Smaller, the quantity that can be bought is far from enough to meet their needs, so it will be cheaper for us."

Li Yan said thoughtfully: "But the Dutch must be unwilling to be controlled by your country for a long time. If they produce enough weapons one day, they may still challenge your country's authority!"

"It's hard!" Tian Zheng shook his head and said: "If they provoke our country, we don't have to go south to conquer Batavia at all. We just need to cut off their northern trade routes, and it is enough to make them submit. These Dutch are just panning for gold at sea. Customers, what they want to fight for is trade opportunities, not a life-and-death fight with our country, not to mention they know that they have no chance of winning at all."

Li Yan recalled the courses he had studied, and mentioned several armed conflicts between Haihan and the Netherlands, but the instructors always mentioned it, and he hadn't had time to go to the library to check the relevant military history reports.Presumably, the Dutch were taught a lesson hard enough at that time, so now they obey the arrangement so docilely.

(End of this chapter)