1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 3949

Although Li Yuande had never seen a hot air balloon up close, he knew that such a crazy idea was most likely impossible to realize. He had clearly seen a very conspicuous flame burning in the basket at the bottom of the hot air balloon, and based on his knowledge, that flame was very likely the power source that allowed the thing to fly.

Combustion requires fuel, and continuous combustion requires a large amount of fuel. The larger the hot air balloon, the more fuel it needs to take off. However, the payload of a hot air balloon is limited. Whether to carry more fuel or more people will directly affect the flight time.

However, Li Yuande did not reveal his judgment. He knew that ordinary people would find these theories difficult to understand, and he did not have enough knowledge to explain the intricacies of them in detail.

In fact, Li Yuande's ability to acquire this knowledge largely stemmed from his experiences after going to sea to follow Qian Tiandun.

Whether it was the steam engine, which had already entered a mature stage of application, or the internal combustion engine, which was still in the experimental stage, Li Yuande had seen the actual products within the special operations division's jurisdiction. After spending a considerable amount of time studying and researching them, he roughly understood how these mechanical devices converted thermal energy into mechanical energy. As a result, whenever he sees something burning, he immediately thinks of the related knowledge he has acquired.

It wouldn't be difficult to verify whether this idea was correct or not. Li Yuande planned to ask his father for information after seeing him.

Li Fa didn't return by carriage until dinner time, and Li Yuande quickly went up to greet him. Li Fa couldn't hide his satisfaction and patted him on the shoulder several times, saying, "You've gotten much stronger and tanned a lot more!"

After Li Yuande went to sea to follow Qian Tiandun, the father and son were separated by thousands of miles and rarely had the opportunity to meet again. In the four years that followed, they only met once in Guangzhou.

After dinner, Li Fa took Li Yuande to the study, where the two began to discuss the important matters they needed to discuss in Hangzhou.

"Commander Shi Diwen wants to cooperate with Commander Qian. He plans to send a group of people to serve as officers in the Special Operations Division's territory. You will be responsible for escorting them on your return trip. As long as you deliver them safely, it will be a great achievement. Understand?"

Li Yuande only knew that the matter he was to attend to in Hangzhou was very important, but he was unaware of the details. It was only after his father explained the situation that he understood the true mission of his trip.

Li Yuande tentatively asked, "Are the people being sent out local scholars from the academy, or retired officers under Commander Qian?"

Li Yuande was well aware of the situation in the Special Operations Division's jurisdiction. The most urgent need was for officials with civil administration and business management skills. Although the Special Operations Division had some retired officers transferred to civilian positions, their professional skills were still significantly lacking and far from meeting the needs of the rapidly expanding jurisdiction.

It's certainly a good thing that the East China Sea region is willing to offer assistance, but Li Yuande believes that things can't be that simple. Shi Diwen must have his own purpose, which can perhaps be deduced from the identities of the people he plans to send out.

“Neither.” Li Fa shook his head, denying Li Yuande’s guess, and then gave the answer: “The salt industry in the Donghai region will be taken over by the government, so a large number of salt merchants’ children will be forced out of the industry. Commander Shi arranged a way out for them to go to Commander Qian’s jurisdiction to work for the government.”

Li Yuande suddenly realized, "General Shi's move is truly brilliant! He only needs to act as a middleman to make both sides owe him a considerable favor!"

Li Fa pondered for a moment and said, "It's more than that. Sending this group of people out will basically resolve the dissatisfaction of the Yangzhou salt merchants, smoothly bring the profits from the salt industry into the national treasury, and also open up sea routes to the West, expanding trade routes for the East China Sea region's overseas commerce. The benefits will be immeasurable in the future." "However, these salt merchants' sons are all from Yangzhou. Once they are overseas, they will inevitably band together for mutual support. Since you are working under Commander Qian, you must keep a close eye on them for him and prevent these salt merchants' sons from causing any trouble!"

Li Yuande nodded and replied, "Father, rest assured, I will do my best to share the burden for Commander Qian. When these people get there, they will most likely have to go to the military camp for a period of training first, and then they will naturally understand what they can and cannot do."

Li Fa laughed and said, "It seems you have experienced this firsthand?"

Li Yuande nodded and said, "Although the days of training in the army were tiring, I did learn a lot."

Although Li Yuande was not a soldier, after spending a long time in the special operations division, his demeanor had become more like that of a soldier than a businessman. Furthermore, his stance was now more aligned with the special operations division than with his former employer, Furuifeng.

However, Li Fa was happy to see Li Yuande's change. He had agreed to let Li Yuande follow Qian Tiandun not only to establish a good personal relationship with the generals of the Haihan military, but also to let Li Yuande be tempered in the army.

Li Yuande has clearly accomplished much in his studies, and in Li Fa's view, his son is much more composed than before he went to sea. Moreover, Fu Ruifeng's business in the Indian Ocean is now running very well, largely thanks to Li Yuande's diligent efforts overseas.

The fact that Li Yuande came to Hangzhou on behalf of the Special Operations Division to discuss cooperation matters demonstrates Qian Tiandun's trust and high regard for him.

Li Yuande inquired in detail about the assistance projects that the Donghai region was preparing to provide. In addition to a group of salt merchants' children, a considerable amount of goods were also planned to be shipped to Fubo Port, clearly indicating that they intended to test the waters of ocean trade.

In this way, goods exported from the East China Sea region to the Middle East and Europe would no longer need to go through the Portuguese and Dutch, significantly increasing profits. However, these two middlemen haven't received any relevant information yet; otherwise, they would probably have already opposed Stevin's plan.

In addition, it is said that Stevin also hired a group of engineers from the Special Operations Division at the Zhoushan Shipyard for a three-year term to go to the Indian Ocean to help the Special Operations Division improve the local shipyard facilities and train technical workers.

Of course, all related expenses must be borne by the special operations division itself, and the engineers who act as technical advisors must receive at least twice the current salary from the special operations division.

This will certainly be a considerable expense, but for special operations divisions that urgently need technical personnel in this area, spending money is always the preferred solution if a problem can be solved with money.

Li Yuande was also greatly encouraged by the news. If the special operations division had the ability to build large merchant ships on its own, then trade with the country would no longer be so dependent on other transshipment companies. The increase in transport capacity would mean an increase in trade volume, which would bring considerable benefits to the special operations division.

Compared to that, giving the shipbuilding engineers who provided assistance to the East China Sea region some extra financial compensation is nothing at all.