1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 382 All-round intervention

For the Annan Kingdom across the sea, the Executive Committee had no intention of directly ruling it from the very beginning, but hoped to achieve control over Annan by exerting influence in many aspects such as military, economy, politics, and culture. The indirect control of the regime ultimately positions it as a slave state of the Haihan regime.A large part of the various military assistance provided to the North Vietnamese court at this stage is also to achieve this long-term goal.

The situation in Annan is that powerful ministers are in power, both in the north and the south, except that in the north, military generals are in charge, while in the south, civil servants are in charge, and the Li family emperors on the throne are just puppets.Haihan chose to support the North Vietnamese, so he naturally focused on the North Vietnamese military system, and gradually increased Haihan's influence in the North Vietnamese army by continuously training new troops and senior officers for the North Vietnamese.

Such measures did have certain effects. For example, the first batch of North Vietnamese officers who received training from Haihan, such as Zheng Ting, have now successively entered the top ranks of the frontline main combat troops in the North Vietnamese Army.Although these North Vietnamese soldiers do not necessarily agree with some of Hai Han's practices, and even have a certain degree of vigilance, it is undeniable that these officers who have received Hai Han's training have almost all said that Hai Han is so. , with Haihan's model as the standard - after all, the Haihan militia has been invincible since its appearance, and there is no second choice for such an impeccable model.

Judging from the achievements of the military aid at this stage, although Haihan is temporarily unable to influence the military movements of North Vietnam, his influence in the North Vietnamese military has begun to take shape, especially in the arms trade, Haihan has basically monopolized North Vietnam's arms market.Now in addition to muskets, artillery and corresponding ammunition and spare parts, Haihan has also begun to export a large number of weapons and equipment such as waist knives, spear points, plate armor, and barbed wire to it.The technical content of these things is not high, and the Haihan base camp has iron ore, coupled with advanced production models, the cost can be controlled at a low level, and the export price to North Vietnam is even higher than the cost of its own production nearly a quarter lower.

Given the similar price and quality levels, military executives will naturally prefer to choose Haihan equipment, which symbolizes strong combat effectiveness, so now more than [-]% of the newly purchased weapons and equipment in the North Vietnamese Army are imported goods, as small as Belt buckles made of refined iron, and cannons as large as weighing more than a thousand catties, are all branded "Made in Haihan".The North Vietnamese Guards Corps, which has been spending a lot of money since last year, is now considered to be the trump card elite force in the hands of North Vietnam. Even the officers at the platoon level were born in the Tushan training camp, and all the officers at the battalion level and above have to go to Victory Port for advanced training in batches. Obtaining the certificate of completion issued by the Victory Port Military Academy has begun to become a way for North Vietnamese officers to advance to senior ranks. necessary qualifications.

If it weren't for economic pressure, the North Vietnamese military would even want to purchase several "Explorer-class" warships produced by the Victory Port Shipyard from Haihan.As early as the end of the Vietnam aid operation in the first half of the year, the North Vietnamese military had already inquired about the price of this advanced warship, but Haihan's quotation directly dispelled this unrealistic idea—it was equipped with a complete naval vessel. The Han Fengfan and steering wheel system, as well as the "Exploration Class" warships with all naval guns, were quoted as high as 5000 taels of silver per ship!
The asking price is so high, and there is a good reason for Haihan's side. There are a total of twelve naval guns on the ship, five on the left and one on the left, and one on the front, and one at the front. 5000 taels, plus the unique sail and steering wheel of the Shanghai-Han warship, this quotation is already very "conscience".In order to let the high-level personnel of the North Vietnamese military understand the performance of this warship, Qian Tiandun even specially transferred a warship from the base camp, and invited the high-level personnel of the North Vietnamese military to go to sea on this ship and conduct military exercises , to prove that the performance of this warship is worthy of its high price.

The North Vietnamese military doesn't know exactly how much water is in Haihan's quotation, but one thing is clear, that is, the North Vietnamese military has no money in their pockets.Although the performance of the Haihan warship is very envious, the North Vietnamese military, which has been stretched for a long time, can no longer spend more money to build its own fleet-even if it is bought and used as a flagship, it is not enough. Expenses.Therefore, although Haihan used various means to promote, it still failed to get the order from North Vietnam in the end.

However, Bai Kesi, the person in charge of "Haihan Military Industry", has never given up on this project. It is said that he has recently communicated with Shengli Port Shipyard and Haihan Bank, and plans to launch a special loan for arms trade to North Vietnam. The permanent ownership is mortgaged, and Haihan Bank provides the ship purchase loan.It just so happened that Zheng Zuo came to negotiate this time, and Bai Kesi was also gearing up to fool him.

"When it comes to actual influence, I also have something to say." Ning Qi saw that several members of the military officer system were having a heated discussion, and of course he didn't want them to take all the limelight.

"Although North Vietnam is a military government, we can't just introduce short-term foreign students with military backgrounds. We should follow what we have done to Daming now and let the dignitaries in North Vietnam send their children here to receive our education. When North Vietnam When the views of the entire upper class of society tend to be friendly towards us, influence will naturally arise." Ning Qi obviously had already prepared a plan for this, and said calmly: "Nowadays, educational institutions at all levels already have There is already a staffing of international students, so it won’t be too troublesome to add another student, it’s nothing more than one more review and registration procedure for the civil affairs department, but the benefits of doing so are obvious.”

"This can be done." Tao Donglai agreed with Ning Qi's suggestion very much, and nodded repeatedly: "I was busy with the war in the first half of the year, and the work of cultural communication has been relaxed. Now, taking advantage of the better situation, we must Take the time to start this work, and it is best to normalize and institutionalize the recruitment of overseas students. In the future, we will definitely control more than the current area, and we can spread this mature experience to other countries and regions in the future. "

At present, Haihan's external cultural promotion work has achieved more obvious results than Daming.Under the operation of relevant departments, educational institutions in the Shengli Port area have now accepted more than [-] international students, ranging in age from seven or eight years old to early twenties.The vast majority of overseas students are from various businesses that have business relations with Haihan, and most of these people choose to study in Sanya for the purpose of learning various unique production technologies of Haihan in the future, hoping to bring them back. Ming dynasty.

Of course, the Executive Committee is not worried that the leakage of these production technologies will bring competitors to its own business. In fact, the production items included in vocational training are basically unlikely to rely on manual workshops for mass production, such as glass Even if it can be imitated in Daming, its production cost cannot be reduced to Haihan's current level. It is almost impossible to compete with Haihan's products for the first-tier market.

The education department hopes that through this kind of vocational training, some overseas students who are really interested in Haihan culture will be gradually cultivated. After these people complete their studies and return to Daming, they will become volunteer propagandists of Haihan culture, thus attracting More people came to the Haihan ruled area to engage in trade, study and even settle down.

"Your military and cultural circles have expressed their views, so I would like to say a few words on behalf of the business community." After everyone discussed Ning Qi's opinions, Schneider also opened his mouth and cut into the topic: "Our trade with North Vietnam has begun. It has been more than a year. There is a saying that our trade surplus with North Vietnam is indeed too big. Sometimes even I feel that North Vietnam is about to be drained. North Vietnam can export very few products to us now. There are only a few limited types of food, wood, medicinal materials, fur, etc. Some processing items with low technical content, such as rough processing of wood and medicinal materials, I think can be carried out locally, nothing more than investing money to do some It’s just a handicraft workshop. In this way, we can save our limited transportation capacity, and secondly, we can also support the local economy.”

"It's okay to help North Vietnam develop a rough processing industry, but doing so will not solve the current situation of unequal trade volume, unless more high-value commodities can be found in North Vietnam." Ning Qi questioned Schneider's statement.

"It's not that there are no good things there, it's just that we don't have the ability to mine them for the time being." Beks has already done research on this issue, so he took up the conversation: "Duo Le and Da Da in central Vietnam There are a large amount of bauxite that can be mined in Nong, Kon Tum, and Lintong. According to the information we have, the places I just mentioned together have more than 40 billion tons of bauxite reserves. , with the existing production capacity enough to mine for hundreds of years. In addition, there are quite a lot of titanium ore in the coastal areas of North Vietnam, including primary ore, weathered residual ore and coastal placer, from Mong Cai and Thanh Hoa in the north to the central Hue, Quy Nhon, Vung Tau and Ha Tien at the southern tip of the Indochina Peninsula are distributed, and the grade of rich ore can reach more than 30%, which is very valuable for mining. As for iron ore, needless to say, Ha Tinh Shixi Iron Mine The reserves are two-thirds more than the Shilu Iron Mine that we have been obsessed with, and the iron content of the ore is higher, and it can also be mined in the open pit. In addition, there are also deposits of lead, zinc, phosphorus and other minerals there. Quite a few, and if conditions allow, we can develop them one by one, and we don’t have to worry about not having products for export.”

"Don't be too hasty about opening mines. There are still a large area of ​​mines on Hainan Island that haven't been opened yet!" Tao Donglai didn't quite agree with Beks' enthusiasm.In the planning of the Executive Committee, the Shilu Iron Mine in the west of Hainan Island has always been a key development project in the future. As for minerals in other overseas countries, the Executive Committee’s attitude is to only develop places with strategic value for the time being, such as Heitu Port coal mine.As for those minerals that are ready for development in Hainan Island, Tao Donglai believes that there is no need to go to other countries to import them.

After resting overnight, Zheng Zuo started a formal negotiation with the executive committee the next day.

According to Zheng Zuo's formulation, the North Vietnamese court hoped that Haihan would send troops to help realize the complete unification of Annan. The corresponding military expenditure and exchange conditions also hoped that Haihan could come up with a more specific plan.After the internal meeting the day before, the executive committee has a relatively unified understanding.

Tao Donglai said: "As for the matter of sending troops to assist your country to eliminate the rebels and achieve reunification, we are happy to see it in principle. However, considering that the combat cycle will be relatively long and the battlefield situation is changing rapidly, it is difficult to make an appropriate decision now. After discussing the military budget, we made the following suggestions, which you can use as a reference."

"First of all, let me talk about the military expenditure that your country is most concerned about. The military expenditure is still based on the previous standard, and the calculation is based on the duration of the battle and the consumption of the battle. However, considering the economic difficulties your country is currently facing, we can appropriately extend the payment period. It has been relaxed from the previous one year to five years, and at the same time, you no longer need to pay a large deposit before the war."

Before Zheng Zuo showed a smile on his face, Tao Donglai continued: "In this way, we actually paid the military expenses in advance. In essence, we provided your country with a considerable amount of war loans. In order to avoid risks , we also require you to provide a certain physical collateral."

Zheng Zuo frowned and said, "I don't know what you mean by the physical mortgage you requested?"

"The same as before, use the land as collateral." Tao Donglai explained to him: "But the places we asked for before were all in the north, but this time we plan to ask for a few places in the south."

The land in the south is still in Ruan's hands, and it doesn't hurt to send other people's things out. Zheng Zuo felt relieved, nodded and said, "Mr. Tao, but it's okay to say."

Tao Donglai said: "Da Nang, Quy Nhon, Cam Ranh, and Vung Tau south of Hue will be leased to us as concessions for a period of 50 years, and the cost standard will be calculated according to the concession of Heitu Port. If If your country cannot repay our war debts in full within five years after the end of the unification war, then the ownership of these places will be used as loan collateral for us to obtain."

Zheng Zuo didn't respond in a hurry this time, but began to recall the locations of these places in his mind.Da Nang and Quy Nhon are easy to understand. After all, these two places have natural ports, which are very attractive to Haihan people who are good at maritime trade.However, Cam Ranh and Vung Tau belong to the disputed areas between Champa and Annan in the south—these two places were originally part of Champa, but were later occupied by Annan.If North Vietnam handed over these two places to the Haihan people, it would undoubtedly cause a backlash from Champa.

Zheng Zuo hesitated for a while before asking: "Mr. Tao, do you know that there are still disputes between our country and Champa over the ownership of Cam Ranh and Vung Tau?"

Tao Donglai pretended to be stunned and said: "Is there any controversy? Then this matter will be difficult to handle... How about talking about this first today, the little prince will go back and have a good rest, and let us have a meeting to study and study."

When Zheng Zuo heard this "research and research", he felt dizzy. This Haihan person is good at everything else, but he is procrastinating in doing things, and a bunch of people have to hold a meeting to study even the most serious things.Although Tao Donglai seemed to be the leader of the Haihan people, he didn't have the power to make decisions, and he didn't know how the Haihan people came to power.If it was any other time, perhaps Zheng Zuo would have just pushed the boat down, but now every day of delay, the pressure on the North Vietnamese would increase. Zheng Zuo, who knew his own embarrassment, did not have the patience to wait for two more days , quickly responded: "In fact, there is no need to hold a meeting. The so-called dispute is also the words of the Champa Kingdom family, and it cannot be taken seriously. The two places of Cam Ranh and Vung Tau are naturally the territory of our Dali Dynasty."

Haihan has long hooked up with the Champa Kingdom in the south, and has even sold them a lot of weapons, so that the Champa army can add fire to the precarious Hue government from the south.Regarding the dispute over the ownership of Jinlan and Vung Tau, Haihan naturally knew about it a long time ago.But precisely because of the controversy, the executive committee deliberately proposed it to Zheng Zuo as one of the conditions of exchange.

If the war goes well, there is a high chance that Annan's reunification will be achieved next year, and the Executive Committee does not want to see Annan settle down. Creating regional tensions has always been one of the means by which big countries exert influence on small countries.Although Haihan is not a big country now, and has not even established a formal regime, the thinking mode of the executive committee is already looking at the situation in the Indochina Peninsula from a condescending perspective.

After the opponent of Nanyue was gone, the Executive Committee decided to support a new opponent for Thang Long Mansion so that it could continue to maintain its military dependence on Haihan.Champa, which has a territorial dispute with Annan, is undoubtedly an ideal choice.Although Haihan now has trade relations with Champa, this will not prevent the executive committee from thinking of exploiting it. Who makes it have such a good location, but why is it next to An Nanguo?

As for whether the current arms trade between Haihan and Champa will cause an embarrassing situation because of Annan's ally, the Executive Committee is not worried at all-the countries that will use weapons produced by the same country to interfere with each other There are too many, and I have never seen these countries turn their faces against arms exporting countries.What's more, in order to implement this plan, the executive committee has even found the next agent. Yes, that's right, the Portuguese who can completely give up their morals and positions in order to make money.

After the military conflict between Annan and Champa, Haihan will probably suspend arms sales to Champa out of consideration for its allies.Then the Portuguese took over the baton and replaced Haihan to complete the rest.As long as the goods are transferred from the left hand to the right hand, good profits can be obtained. For the Portuguese who are good at maritime trade, it is simply the easiest way to make money. They will be happy to take over this task from Haihan.

As for whether there will be a day in the future when Annan becomes strong and destroys Champa, the Executive Committee is not worried. There is also the Taungoo Kingdom of Burma, who is not afraid of not being able to find new characters.

(End of this chapter)