1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 363 Eavesdropping
In terms of grand colonial strategic intentions, although the comprehensive strength of the Portuguese has begun to decline, their achievements in Asia are still considered outstanding compared to European countries in this era.From Goa to Managa, then to Hoi An and Macau, the Portuguese connected the colonial points by sea, and outlined an ocean-going route across the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea.It is by relying on such a route that the Portuguese can obtain huge profits in the trade between the East and the West.

Although more than 100 years have passed since the Portuguese Da Gama arrived in Goa on the west coast of India, from the perspective of future generations, the speed at which they expanded their shipping routes is not really fast, but with the current level of navigation It is not easy to explore such a route in the unknown world.

The advantage of the Transcend Group is that hundreds of years of accumulated knowledge allow them to easily select the most suitable strategic points or resource production sites from the map, and use this as the goal to formulate corresponding colonization construction Plan instead of stalking around the sea with blind eyes and trying your luck like the Portuguese.And because the Time Traveling Group is very clear about the trend of history, they have a clear purpose and a clear attitude in the process of contacting external forces. It also greatly reduces the resistance from the outside world during the expansion process, and is far ahead of other colonial competitors in the same era in terms of efficiency.

While the Macau Council was still arguing over whether to temporarily give up its rights and interests in South Vietnam in exchange for opportunities to cooperate with Haihan, their opponents had already made a plan to gradually eliminate Western countries in Central South China more than a year ago. The program of peninsular influence.Whether it is selling weapons to North Vietnam to provide military assistance in the early stage, or sending troops to fight against South Vietnam twice this year, this is just a step in the long-term strategic plan.In other words, the main reason why South Vietnam was hostile by the crossing group was actually the intervention of the Portuguese. If it wasn't for the expulsion of them, the crossing group might not be in a hurry to roll up their sleeves and do it themselves.

Although the Portuguese have agreed not to intervene in the Annan Civil War in exchange for conditions, this does not mean that Haihan will stop exerting military pressure on South Vietnam.Now the Crossing Group is not only providing military support to the imperial court in the north, but also secretly selling military arms to the Champa Kingdom in the south, which has been suppressed by Annan for decades, trying to support another army in the southern part of the Indochina Peninsula that can pose a military threat to South Vietnam the power of.

Enrique, the Portuguese envoy, was not aware of the private actions of the Haihan people.Now he only noticed that during the one month between his two visits to Shengli Port, the population under Haihan’s rule increased by more than 3000 people, more than 300 acres of farmland were newly reclaimed, and [-] square meters of houses of various grades were built. Multifamily, and recently launched two warships and four merchant ships.Of course, he did not collect these data and intelligence on his own. If he had this ability, he would have been arrested by the relevant department as a spy. In fact, it was the Executive Committee who provided him with these data. All the information came from in official statistics.

The purpose of the executive committee is also very clear, that is to make the Portuguese clearly realize that it is unrealistic for them to compete with Haihan in the South China Sea area, and it is unlikely that they will have the opportunity to influence the region in the future. Power surpasses Haihan.If the two sides want to carry out in-depth and multi-faceted cooperation in the future, the Portuguese must face up to the reality, give up all hostility, and focus on business and trade with peace of mind, and stop thinking about doing business within Haihan's sphere of influence. What kind of tricks like a colony.

Although the executive committee "generously" announced a series of data to Enrique, it did not let him have access to some specific manufacturing links.For example, the relevant units of shipbuilding and military industry have never been open to Enrique. Although he also applied for a visit in his own name, he was rejected by the personnel in charge of foreign affairs reception for "safety" reasons.

Naturally, Enrique will not be satisfied with this kind of unilateral information reception. He came to Sanya on the one hand to negotiate with the Haihan people on trade cooperation and military conflicts. The purpose of Han's next move.Although the Haihan people seem to have released a series of civil affairs data generously, but these things are not important to Enrique.He also wanted to know how many guns and cannons the military factory of the Haihan people could produce every month, how many unknown secrets were hidden in the shipyard that could build new warships, and how big the Haihan militia under the executive committee was.

It's a pity that it is absolutely impossible to voluntarily say this information from Haihan's mouth. All Enrique can do is to collect as much fragmentary information as possible from the people he comes into contact with on a daily basis, and then pick and piece together valuable parts from them.The information that can be collected through this channel is extremely limited, and most of it is worthless, because almost none of the transmigrated people and naturalized people that Enrique can contact usually work in key departments, and most of them have no way of knowing The information that Enrique wanted to inquire about.

However, Enrique is not particularly anxious about this, because he can also clearly feel that the Executive Committee does not seem to be hostile to Portugal, but is very interested in buying some goods that cannot be produced locally through Portuguese merchants. For example, canvas in India, and trying to sell some industrial products produced locally to Europe.Negotiating with Haihan people here while enjoying Sanya’s unique tropical seaside life is actually a very pleasant thing, at least much more comfortable than staying in that stinky little port in Macau.

Except for some prohibited military restricted areas, Enrique's whereabouts in the Sanya area were not particularly strictly controlled, so he was able to enjoy authentic Cantonese cuisine in Chinese restaurants in the business district.Compared with the free meals provided by the Haihan Guest House, there are obviously more choices in restaurants. Although it costs some extra money, this is not a problem for Mr. Special Envoy—the council specially approved it before this visit. A sum of activity funds was given to him, which was enough to meet his daily needs during his stay in Victory Port.

Having nothing to do this day, Enrique took his servant Keke to his favorite "Ruifeng Building" for dinner again.This "Ruifeng Building" is one of the industries under "Fu Ruifeng", and it is also the first batch of commercial institutions opened in the Shengli Harbor area. The restaurant in the front is engaged in catering, and there is a romantic restaurant in the backyard for the entertainment of local dignitaries. The place is one of the few local places that can provide one-stop service for eating, drinking and playing.

Enrique didn't come for the Fengyue place in the backyard. Although he really wanted to try the supposedly high-end Haihan model service, but unfortunately this place was not open to foreigners, not even naturalized citizens. With this qualification, only genuine Haihan people will be allowed to enter, and they have to register for an appointment time one or two days in advance. Enrique is also amazed by the strict control.He has traveled across several continents from Europe to Asia, and has been to many romantic venues, but he has never heard of any venue that has the same rules as here.If Enrique really wanted to find a place to meet his physical needs, he could only go to a limited place between the business district and the residential area of ​​the naturalized people, and buy services from those private prostitutes who had received a special business license.

With the explosive growth of the local population, the scale of the institutions that originally provided sex can no longer meet the needs of the majority of bachelors. It has gradually shifted from joint operation to private operation, and the market has been regulated as standard as possible by means of restricting business premises and qualifications.Of course, there are also some other "visionary" foreign businessmen who have noticed this industry and asked relevant departments to enter this industry.Now there is not much opposition to special industries. After all, the situation of local men with fewer women will not be effectively improved for the time being. In order to maintain social stability, some industries that should be liberalized still have to be allowed to exist reasonably. go down.

However, the joint venture agreement reached between the executive committee and "Furuifeng" contained regional exclusivity clauses, so new entrants can only open their business premises in the new urban area of ​​Sanya. In addition to retail investors, there is still only "Ruifeng Building" as a formally operated Fengyue place.Just the selling point of "designated consumption place" is enough to make "Ruifeng Building" a leading high-end place in the local area, and it keeps a lot of guests every day.And the foreign businessmen want to entertain the cross-travelers, and they basically regard this place as the first choice to show their knowledge and interest.

Although he couldn't enjoy the service in the backyard, Enrique also liked the taste and environment here after having a meal at "Ruifeng Building". He would come here by himself even when there were no social activities arranged meal.

Perhaps it was because Enrique's appearance was so eye-catching and easy to recognize. The little girl here has already remembered his name, and greeted him warmly when he saw him at the door: "En, boss, please come inside!"

The first floor is a place for ordinary people to eat, most of them are businessmen from other places who come to Shengli Port for business, and occasionally there are some local naturalized people.The grade on the second floor is slightly higher, and there are screens between each table to separate the space. The consumers on this floor are usually rich bosses or naturalized cadres.The third floor is full of private rooms, which are expensive and only accept people from the upper class of society.Enrique went to the second floor and chose an empty table facing the street. After pouring hot tea, Xiao Er offered to recommend to him: "There are new dishes today, Boss En, do you want to try them? There are some dishes just delivered from the port. The prawns are all alive and kicking!"

"Then let's have boiled shrimp first!" Enrique started to order with ease: "Let's have boiled chicken, fried tofu stuffed with meat, fried stuffed eggplant... and then a good old fire soup, a pot of plum wine, that's enough !"

"This is life!" Thinking of the smelly fish and rotten shrimps in Macau restaurants, Enrique deeply felt that he was extremely lucky to be able to get an errand in Victory Port. I took over the errand, so that I can stay in Sanya in the future, instead of going back to live in the dirty and messy environment of Macau.

The few dishes ordered were delivered quickly, and Enrique took out a twenty-cent circulation coupon, sent the servants to look for food outside, and then began to leisurely peel the prawns.

But after a while, Enrique's mind was no longer on the delicious food in front of him, because he heard something in the conversation from the other side of the screen that interested him very much.

Then I heard a man ask: "Old Huang, it seems that your workshop hasn't rested recently?"

The one called Lao Huang was also a man, and immediately responded: "There is no way, the chief said that he has to work overtime, and all the holidays this month have been cancelled. I don't know where to sell so many cannons... ..."

As soon as Enrique heard the word "cannon", his ears pricked up.The artillery fire of the Haihan people has fully demonstrated its power in two military operations against South Vietnam, and it has also sold a large number of this artillery to the North Vietnamese court.Macau's council has also been trying to figure out where the Hai Han people got their cannon-making technology.But after Enrique came to Shengli Port, he gradually realized that the artillery technology in the hands of the Haihan people probably did not come from the outside world, because the speed and scale of their artillery production far exceeded that of the Guangdong government. Casting technology is already far ahead of Ming Dynasty, and may even be higher than Western countries including Portugal.

The 24-pound cannons erected on the fortifications of the Shengli Port port are by no means weapons that can be produced by the current Daming Cannon Factory, and the fact that the Haihan people can equip so many large cannons in one go has fully proved their manufacturing skills. The technology is quite advanced.We must know that in terms of the cannon-making technology of the current era, the larger the caliber of the cannon, the lower the chance of qualified products, and the discarded materials of the cannon cannot be used for secondary recasting because of the insufficient structural strength. Yes, it can only be used as a farm tool.Once the scrap rate is high, the cost of making cannons will double and rise. Enrique believes that although the Haihan people are good at martial arts, they may not be able to bear the economic losses caused by the high scrap rate when casting large cannons. Since they can Casting so many large-caliber cannons must have mastered some technical secrets to increase the success rate.

Almost all the artillery equipped by the Portuguese in Asia, including the artillery they sold to Ming and Annan, came from Europe.Although the Portuguese in Asia did not fail to master the technology of casting cannons, the large-scale smelting equipment and a large amount of raw materials required for casting cannons were difficult to realize in their colonial areas.As a subject of the empire that relies on sailing and cannons to expand outwards, Enrique knows very well that only when the cannon-making reaches a certain scale can the manufacturing cost be effectively reduced. If the Haihan people really start to cast cannons on a large scale, then In addition to war, I am afraid that the biggest possibility is to try to reduce costs in order to win higher profits in the arms trade.

The old Huang continued: "Xiaobai, your unit sells weapons to the outside world, but it's a shame for my brother. Where are these extra artillery pieces going to be sold?"

Xiaobai replied: "Old Huang, my younger brother is just running errands. I don't dare to speculate on what the chiefs are planning."

Hearing this, Enrique already understood the identities of the two people. Hearing the tone of the two people's speech, they should be naturalized officials. The old Huang must be the technician in charge of casting the cannon, and the other named Xiaobai is "" Haihan Military Industry" staff.And the topic they are talking about now is one of the intelligence information that Enrique is trying to understand.

There was silence on the other side of the screen for a while, then Xiaobai said again: "Old Huang, I've said something here, don't spread it out."

Lao Huang responded: "You say you say, bro, am I the kind of person who doesn't keep my mouth shut?"

Enrique thought to himself, I don't know if you are tight-lipped, but the friend next to you is obviously not tight-lipped.

Xiaobai went on to say, "My little brother heard that these guns are going to be sold to the west, to the countries of the Westerners."

Lao Huang didn't seem to agree with this statement: "Aren't you lying to my brother? Those Westerners can make cannons themselves. My brother has heard that they sell cannons to the Guangzhou government. How can they still spend money?" Buy guns from us?"

"You are old Huangli!" Xiaobai is obviously confident in his source: "The chief once said that the artillery made by Xiyangfan is not as good as my own in terms of range, accuracy, service life, and loading speed. The artillery of the Han Dynasty, the South Vietnamese army collapsed at the first touch on the Annan battlefield, and it was also because their firepower was far inferior to the artillery of our militia. Nowadays, whether it is Annan’s guards or Fujian’s navy, they all buy artillery from us. Human artillery can’t be sold at all.”

Enrique snorted inwardly, it's not that it can't be sold, but there is nothing to sell now.The artillery and firearms that the Portuguese sold in Asia in the past were basically purchased in Europe and transported across the ocean. First, the quantity is limited, and second, the price is high after adding the cost. There is almost no competition with Haihan weapons, which are produced in Sanya. There are advantages to speak of.Moreover, with the gradual intensification of the 30-year war in Europe, the weapons and equipment in the place of origin have been somewhat unable to keep up with the needs of the war, let alone export to the far east.The Macau Council agreed to stop military aid to the South Vietnamese court. In fact, there is an unspoken reason that the supply of weapons from Europe has been interrupted, unless the artillery on its own fortress and armed merchant ships is dismantled to fill the hole. Otherwise, it will not be possible to supply them with guns and artillery weapons in large quantities for a period of time to come.

As a qualified maritime merchant, Enrique has never thought of purchasing weapons from Haihan and then reselling them to Europe. He believes that with the order scale that the Portuguese Chamber of Commerce can propose, he will definitely be able to get an order that is lower than other customers. The purchase price is sufficient to ensure that these weapons will still have relatively lucrative profits after they arrive in Europe.But Enrique didn't quite understand why Haihan people who had little contact with Western countries would have such an idea?
(End of this chapter)