1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 364 Fancy Promotion
Judging from what Enrique has inquired through various channels before this, the group of Haihan people entrenched in Sanya came here by boat from the sea more than a year ago, and their hometown is said to be in the Eastern Ocean. A certain mysterious continent on the other side.These Haihan people did not have direct contact with Western countries after they came to Sanya, because he had heard many maritime merchants mention it more than once, it would be great if the Haihan people could open business channels with the Dutch and Spaniards.Moreover, Enrique himself was often surrounded by people because of his appearance in Port Victory. He asked some people, and everyone said that he had never seen a foreigner like him in the local area before.

If the Haihan people have not maintained long-term ties with the forces of Western countries, how did they come up with the idea of ​​selling arms to Western countries?You must know that in this era, artillery and guns produced in Europe are symbols of advanced weapons. Even the Ming Empire, the overlord of the Eastern world, has to find ways to spend money to buy arms from the Portuguese at high prices.If someone in the East tries to manufacture artillery and sell it to European countries, this is simply unreasonable, just as European countries would not think of making silk and porcelain to sell to the East.

At this time, Enrique also put down his chopsticks, and while pondering in his mind, he continued to listen to the conversation on the other side of the screen with his ears up.

Bena Huang then asked: "I've never seen a Western fan in the local area before. How did the chiefs know that they can sell arms to Western countries? Oh, I see. It must be the fan who lived in Shengli Port recently." Man, he is here to buy arms!"

Enrique couldn't help but laugh in his heart, but he didn't dare to make a sound, so he could only continue to eavesdrop silently.

Xiaobai continued: "That's not true. I heard from the chiefs that this fan came here to ask us for peace because the militia beat their people to death in Annan. As for the sale of arms, the chiefs should Haven't spoken to him yet."

"The chiefs are so sure that the Westerners will definitely buy it?" Lao Huang sounded a little disapproving: "We have worked overtime and made a lot of cannons during this period, and the Annan people and the Ming Dynasty officers and soldiers may not be able to digest them all. Wouldn't it be piled up in the factory building to rust?"

"Who are the chiefs? They are gods and men who have known 500 years before and 500 years later, who know astronomy at the top and geography at the bottom!" Xiaobai's tone was full of sincere reverence and trust: "The chiefs said they would buy , then I will definitely buy it. Have you heard that the chief ministers taught 'Fu Ruifeng' in Guangzhou?"

Lao Huang replied: "I have heard some rumors about this, especially the recent immigrants from Guangzhou. Almost all of them have heard of it. It is said that Mr. Tao, Mr. Shi, and Mr. Ning once gave the boss of 'Fu Ruifeng' Li Jifeng pointed out the general trend of the world, and then 'Fu Ruifeng' could use the momentum to expand the business."

"It's more than that!" Xiaobai added: "I heard that the Li family had a falling out with the former governor of Guangdong and Guangxi. It was the leaders' advice. As a result, within a few months, the former governor was replaced by the current Lord Wang. The Li family followed the instructions of the chiefs and set up a cold stove at Mr. Wang's place early on, so after Mr. Wang took office, he took good care of the Li family!"

In fact, Enrique had heard of the folk rumors mentioned at the next table.When he went to Guangzhou to find Haihan people, it was the Li family and his son who led the way. At that time, Enrique also asked Li Jifeng about the true inside story of these rumors with great interest.Although Li Jifeng did not elaborate, he also admitted that some key decisions had been guided by the Haihan people and benefited from it.Enrique thought of the subsequent Lijiazhuang battle. If he hadn't already gained the full trust of Li Jifeng, he probably wouldn't have allowed the Haihan militia to enter his lair to help him defend against foreign enemies, right?
At that time, although Enrique felt that what Li Jifeng said sounded a bit magical, he didn't take it too seriously. After all, there were too many things in this mysterious oriental country that he couldn't explain. The spell is not necessarily.But when he heard the conversation at another table, Enrique couldn't help but recall the scene at that time.

When they were listening again, the two people next door had already changed the subject and started talking about some irrelevant life trivia.Enrique listened for a while and found that there was no valuable information, so he withdrew his mind.

The two people next door didn't eat for too long, and they checked out and left after a while.Enrique didn't have the appetite to continue eating, so he called Xiao Er to come over to check out and pack up the food and drinks that hadn't been touched much. It's not bad to eat at the guest house at night.After Enrique left "Ruifeng Building" and left in a hurry with his servants, Lao Huang and Xiao Bai, who should have left here a long time ago, reappeared in a certain room on the third floor of "Ruifeng Building". in the room.Sitting upright in this private room were several bigwigs from the executive committee, Tao Donglai, Yan Chujie, Ning Qi, and Schneider were all present.

"You two have done a good job, and when things are done, you will be credited." Schneider praised the two with their heads down in a pleasant manner.

The heads of the two immediately dropped even lower: "It's an honor to be able to serve the executive committee!"

"But you also remember, don't mention anything after returning to the unit, you can't reveal a single word of what you have done or said, understand?" Yan Chujie jumped out at the right time to play the role of the white face.

"Yes, yes, the villain knows!" The two responded hastily.

"Okay, you guys go down first, this is a little action allowance, and there will be other rewards later." Schneider handed over the two envelopes, and the two followed them respectfully, without even daring to lift their heads, and quickly Opened the door and backed out.

After the militiamen outside the door closed the door again, Tao Donglai said: "It seems that the first step is relatively smooth, but I don't know if Enrique will fall into this trap."

The old Huang and Xiaobai that Enrique met in the "Ruifeng Building" were certainly not a lucky encounter, but a drama carefully planned by the executive committee.Of course, Lao Huang is not a cannon-casting technician, and Xiao Bai is not an employee of "Haihan Military Industry". They are just two naturalized people who once worked in the theater troupe.Both of these two are currently working in the Propaganda Department, and they were completely arrested and participated in the planning, and the content of their conversations is basically performed according to the written script.

In order to wait for such a suitable opportunity, the two extras had been waiting in "Ruifeng Tower" for two full days before they finally waited for Enrique to appear.When Enrique went upstairs, someone went to Fort Victory to inform the executive committee, and several executive committee members who happened to be free rushed over to work on the spot immediately.In order to be able to hear the live broadcast clearly, the executive committee also specially brought a microphone to listen to the whole process of the conversation between the two of them almost word for word, ensuring that there was not too much omission of the information prepared in advance.

"Enrique didn't even finish his meal, so he hurriedly packed up and left. I think he was probably in a hurry. If my prediction is correct, he will go to the Military Commission to find you within today." Ning Qi Chaoyan Chujie She squeezed her eyes and said, "Business is coming!"

"Then I'll have to catch him again." Yan Chujie smiled and said, "If it's too easy, the plot won't be realistic enough."

After Enrique returned to the room of the guest house, he sat down and sorted out the situation he knew again, and confirmed a few things.First, the Haihan people are very likely to have mastered some more sophisticated cannon-casting technology than European countries, giving them the confidence to sell their own weapons to Europe.Second, the Haihan people may rely on some mysterious means to understand the current situation of the lack of weapons caused by the current war in Europe, thus giving birth to the idea of ​​arms trade with European countries.Third, the Haihan people seem to have no confirmed arms trading partners.

Enrique is not very sure whether Haihan's munitions manufacturing technology has really surpassed that of European countries, and further evidence is needed to confirm it.The Haihan people's mysterious method of predicting the future situation seems to have been used more than once, and the accuracy rate is also very high, but this also lacks personal verification. After all, the information they know comes from the hearsay of others.As for the third point, Enrique has identified potential competitors almost instantly - the Spaniards and the Dutch.These are also the two biggest competitors of the Portuguese in the Far East. As for the French and the British, they are now enjoying themselves on the European battlefield, and they don't care about the interests of the Far East.

After thinking about the cause and effect, Enrique felt that he could no longer sit and wait, and had to do something to clarify the situation.If the Haihan people have no such actual plan, then naturally there is nothing to say, but if the rumors heard are true and the Haihan people really plan to sell weapons to European countries, then this piece of fat will not let competition The opponent snatched it from his mouth.

So Enrique, who didn't even sit on his buttocks, hurried to Victory Fort with his servants, wanting to ask Yan Chujie from the Military Commission to mention the matter of visiting the live ammunition shooting again.But his luck seemed to be a little bit off. The guard at the door told him that Commander Yan was not working at the Military Commission today, but was teaching at the military academy, and he had no time to meet outsiders.

Undaunted, Enrique turned to the office of "Haihan Ordnance Industry", but unfortunately, he also failed to find the person in charge here - the Beks people are in the Tiandu Industrial Zone, and they probably won't come back today.

Enrique reluctantly went to the executive committee's office again, but it was also empty here - all the executive committee members went out to inspect the work at the grassroots level, please come early tomorrow if you have something to do.

Originally, Enrique felt that the busy working style of Haihan people was quite impressive, but now he can't wait to pick out a Haihan person casually and ask him why he works so hard. He doesn't lack status, money and everything. Now, can't you just stay in the office and enjoy iced coconut milk?

Take it easy, things still have to be done.Even though he couldn't sleep well that night because of this incident, Enrique came to the Military Commission very energetically the next morning. This time he was not disappointed because Tao Donglai, Bai Kesi and Yan Chujie were all blocked in the office at once. inside.But for some reason, Enrique always felt that the three of them had weird eyes when they saw him, as if some kind of wild beast had seen its prey.

"Dear three gentlemen, it's great to see you here, so I don't have to visit one by one." Enrique entered the room and sat on the wicker chair without waiting for them to greet him.He didn't know when the next time he could see these leading figures at the same time, since he bumped into them here, there was no reason to miss them easily.

"Mr. Enrique, you came to see us so early, did something urgent happen?" Tao Donglai pretended to be confused: "Is it because you are not used to living in the guest house? Is there anything you are not satisfied with?"

"No, no, the guest house is very good, and I am very satisfied with everything. In fact, what I want to talk to the three of you has nothing to do with accommodation." Enrique didn't want to go around too much, and quickly got to the point: "I I want to talk to the three about the arms trade."

"Arms trade?" The three exchanged glances at each other, and then Bex took over the conversation: "Mr. Enrique, did you make a mistake? The weapons of our armed militia have always been manufactured by ourselves, and we have never released them to the outside world. plan to buy."

Enrique coughed dryly and said: "No, no, you misunderstood me, I didn't intend to sell you weapons...Actually, I want to know if you have sold weapons to us...no, to Western countries Intend?"

The meat is here!The same thought flashed through the minds of the three old fried dough sticks.

"With regard to the arrangement of selling weapons to the outside world, our side has always been adhering to a very cautious attitude. We must go through strict demonstrations and votes before making a final decision." Tao Donglai immediately started Mizong Quan, which he is good at: "So regarding this matter, my answer is... I have no comment for the time being."

Although Enrique is also proficient in Chinese, he still had to hear the last word before he gradually understood that Tao Dong said a lot but actually didn't reveal anything.He thought for a while, then changed his angle and put forward the request: "Let's put aside the matter of the arms trade, may I have a chance to learn more about the performance of Haihan's weapons?"

"Please give me a reason." Tao Donglai responded calmly.

"If the weapons you make are really superior in performance to Western countries, then I think it will be a good business to sell them to Western countries. It will be a good profit for you and us. Please believe me , Portugal's chamber of commerce in the East India region can place quite a large order, which is incomparable to the arms orders you currently sell to Annan and Ming... Of course, this must first prove that your weapons are of good enough performance." En Rick made no secret of his thoughts. He knew that the most effective way to deal with these Haihan people was to let them understand the benefits they could obtain—yes, in Enrique’s view, this is a group of extremely realistic and Philistine businessman!If motivated enough, they will even sell weapons to their enemies without hesitation!
After these words were spoken, the three big brothers in Haihan were silent for a while, and then whispered a few words among themselves in a very low voice.Although Enrique was a little apprehensive, he still tried his best to maintain a calm posture, waiting for the other party to make a decision.

After a while, the three of them stopped talking, and Tao Donglai nodded and said, "I have to admit, what you said makes sense. In fact, we have already learned about the ongoing multi-country cooperation on the continent of Europa through some special methods. World War II, so we have actually considered the matter of exporting weapons to Western countries. But you also know that as a responsible weapons manufacturer, we also have a lot of concerns..."

Enrique couldn't listen to Tao Donglai's nonsense behind, because his attention was attracted by the first half of what Tao Donglai said.What is "Understanding the battle situation on Europa Continent through a special method"?Enrique would not think that the Haihan people made a hasty decision to sell weapons after hearing a few words from some western businessmen. It is rain.Tao Donglai dared to say such a thing, it must be that they had some more detailed information in their hands, and Enrique couldn't think of a more convincing explanation than "special methods" for the source of this information.

"...The culture of our Haihan people is to love peace and cherish life. We have always been very cautious about getting involved in wars, especially wars in foreign countries. Therefore, in the arms trade, you can't just sell it if you ask me to sell it. We must Consider it carefully, because we don't want to be called arms dealers by the people of other countries after we sell it, and we don't care about their lives at all..."

Tao Donglai's talk continued, and Enrique couldn't stop his thoughts at all.Regarding the latest developments on the European battlefield, they can only get some information from the crew of a group of merchant ships who came to the Far East for half a year, and this information is long outdated and hardly time-sensitive.If the intelligence of the Haihan people also came from a similar source, then the news they got was nearly a year ago at the earliest, which is definitely not enough to be used as a reference for the arms trade.Where does the confidence of the Haihan people come from with such a firm attitude?
The person who said it didn't care, and the person who listened didn't care, and the two of them acted in such a tacit understanding.Tao Donglai probably felt a little dry afterward, and finally stopped after expounding on the ideal of "protecting the peace of the earth".

Yan Chujie took over the conversation tacitly, and returned the topic to the weapon: "I don't think it's better than this, let's arrange for Mr. Enrique to watch the live ammunition shooting first. If it's interesting, then we'll talk about the follow-up business. If you don’t like it, then what we’re talking about now has no practical meaning.”

"Yes, yes, yes, Mr. Yan is right!" Enrique came back to his senses after hearing this, and quickly answered.

(End of this chapter)