1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 2702
Although Wen Zhihong is very satisfied with the phased results achieved so far, the mission's view on the prospects of the negotiations is not as optimistic as he is.Haihan never made it clear from the beginning to the end that it would use force to resolve trade disputes, and Wen Zhihong took advantage of the ambiguity in it to mislead Zong Xiongtai. The other party's retreat was only out of fear of Haihan's armed forces. If it is found that Haihan will not really use force, then the negotiation process is likely to return to the old way.

The plan for now is to sign a new agreement while the iron is hot, before the Tsushima Fan has really come to terms with it.As for Haihan, he can take advantage of this opportunity to legalize his trade activities between North Korea and Japan, so that he will no longer be accused of "smuggling activities" by Tsushima Fan, and it will be more convenient to come and go freely in the Korean Strait many.

Wen Zhihong hoped that the Haihan Mission could stay in Busan for a while to ensure that the delineation of the special area and the trade agreement could proceed smoothly, but the mission did not intend to delay in Busan any longer.

According to the original schedule, the mission will only stay in Busan for five to seven days, but in fact, after arriving in Busan, in order to promote the delineation of Haihan's exclusive economic zone, it has been here for half a month. For this reason, a series of follow-up arrangements had to be postponed.

The 30 members of the mission are fine, but the daily expenses of the huge fleet that came to Busan together are huge, and the Busan government will not bear Haihan’s responsibility for the extra expenses beyond the original schedule. mean.After the mission completes its mission and returns home, I am afraid that it will have to prepare a written report for these excess expenses.

The most anxious person in the mission was Wang Anguo.His mission to return to China this year is to return to North America with a fleet full of supplies and immigrants. However, in order to recruit immigrants and wait for the delivery of new ships, he has been delayed in Zhejiang for several months. The schedule during the mission to North Korea It is also changed again and again, and delayed again and again.

Wang Anguo was worried that there would be a shortage of supplies in North America, so he urged him several times in the middle, hoping to avoid the situation of temporarily adding tasks as much as possible, and to finish the task early and leave for the next stop early.

Regarding the affairs of the Haihan Special Zone, the big framework has been set up, and Fu Guoqing and Zhang Fengchu will be in charge of it next.

One morning at the end of October, the Haihan Fleet slowly left Busan Port and headed south to Tsushima Island.According to the results of the previous talks with Mune Yuta, the Haihan Fleet will go to Aso Bay on Tsushima Island and make a short visit there.

The purpose of this visit is very clear, which is to promote the signing of the tripartite trade agreement.Therefore, as a representative of the DPRK, Wen Zhihong also followed the Haihan fleet to Tsushima Island.

More than a hundred miles south from Busan Port is Tsushima Island. When the weather is fine, you can see the coast of Busan from the heights of Tsushima Island.The coastline of this long and narrow island is winding, but because the whole island is mountainous, the coastline is mostly cliffs and rocky terrain. There are not many areas suitable for ports. There are only two or three small bays on the southwest side of the island. The terrain is slightly flat and can be built as an urban area.

In terms of the topographical conditions of the island, Tsushima Island is far inferior to Hirado Island, which is several times smaller in size. If it is not for its innate geographical advantages, it probably has no chance of becoming a maritime trade hub between North Korea and Japan.

The last time a large armed fleet arrived at Tsushima Island probably dates back to the Japanese Invasion of Imjin in 1592. Hideyoshi Toyoda used Tsushima Island as a front-line base and assembled more than [-] troops to the island. Cross the sea and attack Pusan.

Although the visit of the Haihan Fleet did not come with the purpose of war, it will inevitably make the Tsushima Fan very nervous. Therefore, in order to show a peaceful attitude, the Haihan Fleet did not sail into the core area of ​​Tsushima Island. , but after two laps outside Asu Bay, the large force stayed on a coast more than [-] miles south of Asu Bay. Only the Zhoushan brought two Exploration-class warships, and The mission's ship sailed into Axu Bay together and docked.

In this way, the purpose of showing off force to deter Tsushima Fan is achieved, and it will not make the other party too nervous and accidentally shoot out.

Zong Xiongta had rushed back to the Tsushima domain after the previous talks. This time, he did not wait in Jinshi Castle on the island, but came to the port on behalf of the domain lord to welcome the arrival of the envoys of the two countries. .

Shi Chengwu asked Wang Anguo to lead the fleet, and he personally led the mission ashore, so that in case of emergency, there would be support from inside and outside.When he disembarked from the boat, he carefully observed the terrain here. The so-called urban area was just a few flattened narrow river valleys around the bay, and there were not many contiguous open lands at all.

And such terrain also seriously restricted the development of the local area. Although many ships were docked in the harbor, the area of ​​land that could be used for the construction of the harbor was extremely limited.The urban area and the port here are still far less than the port area of ​​Busan Port.In a place like this, the scale of trade must have an upper limit. Measured by Haihan's standards for maritime trade, it is impossible to operate it as an important port.

According to Wen Zhihong, the land suitable for growing crops on Tsushima Island is also extremely limited, and the grain output is extremely low. The food that can be produced by itself is mainly seafood, so it has to import food from Japan and Busan all year round.

Jinshi Castle, located near the coast of Aso Bay, is the main city of the Tsushima Domain.This traditional Japanese-style castle is built on the mountain. Outside the castle, there are several layers of stepped city wall fortifications. There is a small moat around the outside of the castle. It is much larger than the castle in Yingdao Wakan. The Tsushima Clan spent a lot of money in city defense.

Just like when visiting Yeongdo, there are also several carriages prepared for visitors here, and it is no accident that they are all made by Haihan.It can be seen that not only the Busan area is affected by Haihan, but even Tsushima Island, which has not yet established a direct trade relationship with Haihan, cannot be avoided.

Of course, this also proves the impact of Haihan culture and industrial products on the traditional market from the side. With this more comfortable and fashionable means of transportation, the traditional Japanese sedan chairs and carriages are too shabby, like Local tycoons like Tsushima Fan who are not short of money are naturally more willing to choose new toys that can show their status.

Since even the large-scale commodities with relatively complex structures such as carriages are bought, other Haihan industrial products may have appeared on Tsushima Island long ago. Even if the Japanese take out a pack of Haihan products from their arms Cigarettes, it should come as no surprise.

(End of this chapter)