1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 2284
As early as 1629, Haihan's armed fleet entered the waters near Hong Kong, and gradually eroded the central and western regions of Hong Kong Island in the following years.Originally, Daming had a navy camp on the east coast of Hong Kong Island, but after Haihan entered Hong Kong Island, this camp gradually died down under constant coercion and temptation, and gradually lost its original function. Now it has long existed in name only. .

Haihan's plan for Hong Kong Island is to build a trading port not under the jurisdiction of the Ming Dynasty at the Pearl River Estuary, a maritime traffic hub, and take on the shipping transit function of Fujian, Guangdong and Qiongdong.After the implementation of this plan, the effect is obvious. As long as maritime merchants from all over the country transport their goods to this place for trading, the voyage to and from the sea can be greatly shortened, which can save the time and cost of cross-regional transactions.

In addition, Haihan has many support and guarantee measures for Hong Kong's trade system, which enhances the convenience and safety of local transactions, and makes businessmen more willing to go to the region to carry out trade activities.

Although there are no special products on Hong Kong Island, most of the traded goods are shipped from other places, but with the continuous increase in trade volume, many subsidiary industries have also been born locally, such as service industry, shipbuilding industry, and financial industry. And so on, a large number of job opportunities have been created to attract immigrants to move in, and the rapid population growth has in turn played a role in driving the local economic development.

Today, although Hong Kong Island is not as prosperous as Guangzhou and Zhangzhou, it can definitely be regarded as the number one trading port on the southeast coast.The number of merchant ships entering and leaving the port every day remains at around [-], which is even higher than that of Haikou Port and Danzhou Port on Hainan Island.

To achieve such results, in addition to the various resources provided by the Executive Committee to the Hong Kong Island region, the current Hong Kong Island leader You Yihan also contributed a lot.

Before participating in the time-traveling, You Yihan was engaged in freight management work at Qingdao Port, and he is considered an expert in the operation of the seaport. He can be regarded as a professional counterpart if he is in charge of the operation here.

Like most high-ranking Haihan officials stationed overseas all the year round, You Yihan's strengths are not limited to his own professional field, but can also take care of diplomatic, military and intelligence work.Although the little Prince Annan's going north to Guangzhou has not been publicized, he has already reported to Haihan, and Hong Kong Island has also been notified from the executive committee.So as soon as Zheng Zuo and others' boat arrived at the port, You Yihan had already received the report, and soon rushed to the port to meet the uninvited guests.

Compared with Zheng Zuo and Zhang Jinbao, of course You Yihan is most familiar with Li Nai, the third young master of Fu Ruifeng.After all, every time Li Nai travels between Guangzhou and Sanya, he almost always stops by Hong Kong Island to inspect the local industry of Furuifeng.Over the years, I have dealt with You Yihan quite a lot, and the two of them can be regarded as acquainted with each other.

You Yihan listened to Li Nai's introduction of the purpose of the other two people's trip to Guangzhou, and immediately said: "You two have found the right person to ask the third young master for help. When you are on the ground in Guangzhou, the third young master's words may be more effective than the government."

Li Nai quickly waved his hand and said, "Master You's words are too exaggerated! I don't have that much ability, I just try my best to help my friends."

Zheng Zuo and Zhang Jinbao smiled knowingly when they heard this.Although they don't know much about the situation in Guangzhou, they have no doubts about Fu Ruifeng's influence in Guangzhou.After all, in addition to Furuifeng, they also had many opportunities to meet other people from the Guangzhou area, and learned about the influence of the Li family, the operator of Furuifeng, in the local area through other channels.

Although it is impossible for Fu Ruifeng to replace the government's position, its influence among the people cannot be underestimated.Fu Ruifeng not only owns industries involving various fields of society, but also owns a powerful private armed force. More importantly, there is a powerful backer, Haihan, even the government has to be afraid of him.

Of course, the reason why the local government does not oppose Furuifeng, apart from being afraid of its strength, is that more and more local officials are becoming vested interests in the development of Furuifeng.

The faster Furuifeng develops, the more gray benefits they can obtain. This simple and direct interest relationship has made most local officials in the coastal areas of Guangdong choose to cooperate with Furuifeng's various requirements.And the very few officials with stiff necks who refuse to bow their heads will eventually lose their official positions due to various inexplicable things.After a long time, naturally no one would come forward to confront Fu Ruifeng.

Although Li Nai tactfully denied You Yihan's statement, Fu Ruifeng's influence in Guangzhou has long been famous, otherwise Zheng Zuo and Zhang Jinbao would not take the initiative to find him for cooperation.

Compared with the commercial port in front of him, Zheng Zuo was more interested in the situation of the local garrison. He asked You Yihan: "I heard that the fleet of the Haihan Navy is stationed on Hong Kong Island, is it also here?"

You Yihan shook his head and said: "The fleet is not stationed here, the naval base is in the south of the island, if the little prince wants to visit, then I can arrange it later."

Haihan was the first to enter Hong Kong Island with the armed fleet, so the construction of the military base was much earlier than the trading port.Due to the large amount of resources invested in the construction of the base and the inconvenience of relocation, the military base located in the Aberdeen Strait in the south of the island has been used for a long time.Although the location is a little far from the port area, there are no pirates in the nearby waters, and coastal defense batteries are deployed in the east and west straits entering and leaving the port area, so there is no need to worry about serious security problems.

"Actually, the symbolic significance of setting up coastal defense forts here is greater than the actual effect." You Yihan introduced to the guests unabashedly: "Pirates have been extinct five years ago, and the armed sailboats that can enter and exit here are all They belong to our allies and will report to us. After these forts were built, they have not actually been put into actual combat.”

"But they still guard the safety of this place, don't they?" Zheng Zuo said with a smile: "If your country feels that there is no need to maintain these coastal defense batteries, then you might as well dispose of these coastal defense batteries to our country and let them go where they should go." place to make a real difference.”

You Yihan also responded with a smile: "The little prince has a good plan! In fact, I don't care, but the coastal defense artillery is military equipment, and I am only a civil affairs officer. I have no right to handle these assets belonging to the Ministry of Defense. If the little prince wants to To buy these equipment, you still have to go to Sanya to find Yan Chujie or Bai Kesi, as long as you let them nod, the little prince will send someone over to take them away."

Zheng Zuo wanted to test to see if there was any possibility of picking up leaks here, but You Yihan's answer can be said to be watertight.Zheng Zuo knew very well that if he went to Yan Chujie or Bai Kesi to discuss the matter, those two old foxes would never treat these idle coastal defense guns as scrap iron at a low price and give them to themselves at a low price, but would use various excuses to shirk and report to them at last. Make yourself uncomfortable by paying a high price.

Zheng Zuo quickly dismissed this idea, he knew that it would be difficult for him to take advantage of the Haihan people in the arms trade, at least in the past few years he had never succeeded.

What Zhang Jinbao cared about was the local education industry. Seeing that Zheng Zuo didn't continue the topic, he asked You Yihan about the local education institutions.

You Yihan said: "Most of the permanent residents of Hong Kong Island are from Lower Liba, so the cultural requirements for future generations are not too high, as long as they can understand the various notices posted by the yamen. The port area is east and west. There are two private schools that teach the most basic literacy courses. Of course, if there are outstanding children, they may be sent to Sanya to receive better education.”

Zhang Jinbao said: "Then if there is an opportunity for these school-age children to learn a skill, and then they will have a livelihood after learning, do you think anyone will choose this path?"

You Yihan said: "Actually, the name of Jonesy Academy has been mentioned here. There are several young students from Jonesy Academy in the Port Affairs Center, and their quality is not bad. But if you want to send your children thousands of miles away If you go to Guangzhou to study, you may not see each other for a year or so, and many families will still be unable to make up their minds. Just now the third young master said that you intend to open a branch in Guangzhou. If that is the case, some people may choose what you said this road."

The vocational education direction of Jonesy College is indeed a good way out for the common people of this era, at least it can save them from worrying about the livelihood of the next generation.Many people on Hong Kong Island are Ming people. For them, if they are lucky and can get a stable job in Haihan, they will be naturalized in Haihan in the future.

However, as far as Hong Kong Island is concerned, the resident population is too small after all, and there are already two private schools. It is definitely not cost-effective for Jonesy College to open a branch here. The most sensible way is to set up a resident here. The admissions agency used the passenger flow from south to north to promote and advertise Jonesy College.

As if he had seen through Zhang Jinbao's mind, You Yihan continued: "Dean Zhang, you can take a look at the advertising signs we made in the port area. The effect is actually pretty good, and the price is not expensive. If Jonesy College is interested in setting up an advertising signboard here Long-term signboard, then I can give Dean Zhang a very favorable internal price."

Zhang Jinbao couldn't help being moved when he heard the words "internal price". Before he went ashore just now, he had noticed various eye-catching advertisements on the roofs of the warehouses in the port, most of which were local operators.Of course, there are also companies like Fu Ruifeng that are famous in themselves.

When Zhang Jinbao got off the boat, he quietly asked Li Nai, since it is only two or three hundred miles away from Guangzhou, there are probably few people in the local area who don’t know the name of Fu Ruifeng, why spend money to put up signs and advertisements at the port.

And Li Nai's answer was also quite black humorous: "It's because Furuifeng is famous, otherwise foreign merchants come here and see that this port doesn't even have a signboard of our Furuifeng, wouldn't it be easy to be confused?" Have doubts about the influence of Furuifeng in Guangdong? So we not only want to do signboard advertisements, but also choose the most conspicuous location and make the biggest billboard!"

Zhang Jinbao thought it made sense, but there was still something wrong. After thinking about it, he could only understand it as another rich and willful move by Fu Ruifeng.For Jonesy College, this means of publicity may be an expense that needs to be weighed carefully, but for Fu Ruifeng, who is rich and powerful, it may be just a figure in the accounts.

Zheng Zuo was still very envious of the prosperity of this port area.Due to historical reasons, An Nanguo handed over several major natural ports on the coastline to Haihan for management, but the ports that are truly operated by An Nanguo, regardless of geographical conditions or operating conditions, are far from being handed over to Haihan. those ports.

Therefore, every time he visits the port operated by Haihan, Zheng Zuo will carefully observe the local business conditions, hoping to learn something useful from it.Before he came this time, he had a general understanding of Hong Kong and You Yihan's personal situation, and he also knew that this person is quite capable. In just a few years, he managed this island far away from Sanya into a regional trade center. There must be something worth learning. s method.

While listening to You Yihan's explanation of the various situations in the port area, Zheng Zuo secretly paid attention to the differences in Annan's port management mode from here, and what places are worth emulating.

After a brief visit to the operation of the port area, You Yihan took the three of them to a restaurant and held a banquet to welcome them.All three of them had experience in dealing with high-ranking Haihan officials, and they also knew that this was a customary rule in Haihan's officialdom, and they all accepted such an arrangement calmly at the moment.

During the meeting, the topic that the three talked about the most was the current situation in Guangzhou.Most of Hong Kong's trade share comes from Guangzhou, so You Yihan is also very concerned about the situation in Guangzhou. If there is any trouble, news will be sent to him through the radio soon, and he can pass the Guangzhou Office The news passed over will make immediate revisions to some local operating conditions.

Many businessmen who come to Hong Kong for trade even feel that the trading conditions here are better than those in Guangzhou. Part of the reason is that the speed of information transmission within Haihan is much faster than that of the outside world, and there are special personnel responsible for collecting and sorting out these business information. You Yihan only needs to Weigh the pros and cons, and then order it to be implemented locally.

For example, the adjustment of tax rates, the acquisition and supply of in-demand commodities, and the ability to control these business opportunities, Hong Kong naturally far exceeds that of the Guangzhou government.Over time, it naturally gradually seized a lot of commercial resources from Guangdong.

It is definitely not the local government that has a personal experience of this, but businesses like Fu Ruifeng.However, for Freedom, it is not a bad thing to move some of the commodity delivery points from Guangzhou to Hong Kong. On the one hand, it can avoid government supervision, and on the other hand, it does reduce the time cost of transactions, which has many practical benefits.So from Li Nai's point of view, he is very happy to see such a situation.

(End of this chapter)