1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 3981

Compared with other well-known seaports in China, Hamban Port's infrastructure scale is probably among the worst. The completed port area is not even as impressive as it was when the first phase of the Shengli Port project was completed thirty years ago.

However, since this place is located at the midpoint of the Indian Ocean trade route, it is an excellent port of call for supplies, whether heading east to the Strait of Malacca or west to the Middle East or East Africa. However, there are not many seagoing vessels running the Indian Ocean route at present, so the port does not seem busy.

However, the special operations division was clearly very optimistic about the development prospects of this transit port, so in addition to the port area and immigrant settlement, it had long ago built a guesthouse near the port to receive important guests.

Of course, due to the limited conditions in Hambantota, this guesthouse was also not large in scale, with only twenty standard guest rooms and two courtyards reserved for dignitaries.

The guesthouse primarily catered to civil and military officials and their entourages passing through Hamban Port. Ordinary citizens could also stay there when rooms were available, but the prices would be significantly higher than the two privately-run inns located in the port area.

Although Li Yuande held no official position, he was certainly not an ordinary civilian in the special operations division's jurisdiction, and the guesthouse had long regarded him as a regular guest.

Since both independent courtyards were vacant, Li Yuande rented them together, intending to let Chen Pingliao and Sun Zhen, the two guests who had come from afar, stay there. However, Sun Zhen insisted on staying in the camp and eating and living with his subordinates, and politely declined Li Yuande's offer.

Chen Pingliao wanted to follow suit, but Sun Zhen disagreed: "Young Master, we've finally made it ashore, and we'll be setting off again in a few days. There will definitely be many people who want to take this opportunity to visit you. Staying in the army is inconvenient. It would be more convenient for you to stay at the guesthouse."

Li Yuande also spoke up for Sun Zhen, saying, "Lord Sun is right. You should take these few days to rest and recuperate, because you'll be going on another long voyage at sea!"

Chen Pingliao couldn't persuade the two men otherwise, but in the end he insisted on sharing a courtyard with Li Yuande—all the standard rooms in the guesthouse had been booked by the sons of salt merchants, and now only two courtyards were available. As for Chen Pingliao's insistence on reserving a courtyard, it was to avoid the embarrassing situation of the guesthouse being unable to accommodate officials if they came to Hong Kong.

The reception staff led Li Yuande and Chen Pingliao into a courtyard, introduced them to the room layout, and, seeing that there were no further instructions, tactfully took their leave and withdrew from the courtyard.

The courtyard has only two sections. The outer courtyard has a reception room, dining room, study, tea room, and a small kitchen. The inner courtyard has two main rooms and two side rooms with bathrooms. In addition to Li and Chen, it can also accommodate a few attendants. The small courtyard is also decorated with a water feature garden, which is quite spacious.

Li Yuande invited Chen Pingliao to sit down in the tea room and instructed his attendants to fetch a complete set of tea utensils, preparing to brew tea himself.

"It must have taken a lot of effort to build this place back then, right?" Chen Pingliao asked casually as he looked around at the interior furnishings.

Li Yuande placed the kettle on the charcoal stove and nodded in response: "The main reason is that all the decoration materials, furniture, bedding, and various guest room supplies were all imported from China."

"Don't let the small size of this place fool you. It took about half a year to transport all these things here, filling more than a dozen ships! You could say that the standards of the hardware and software here are basically the same as those of state guesthouses in China, and the staff were all trained in China."

Chen Pingliao said, "If that's the case, then this must be the place with the best living conditions on Ceylon Island, right?"

Li Yuande said, "I'm not bragging, but the best place on Ceylon used to be the Portuguese Governor's Palace in Colombo. But compared to our guesthouse, that place is nothing but a doghouse and a pigsty. Not to mention Ceylon, I dare say that within a thousand miles of Hamban Port, you absolutely cannot find a place with better conditions than this!" Li Yuande was so confident because he was one of the supervisors when the guesthouse was built, and his goal was to make it a landmark of Hamban Port.

Although he later acquired a plot of land on the island to build a private residence, the effort he put into it, as well as the quality of the materials he used, was far less than when he built the guesthouse.

Those sons of salt merchants who settled in Ceylon might be able to surpass this guesthouse if they were willing to invest heavily in building their mansions in the future.

Chen Pingliao didn't think there was anything wrong with the Special Operations Division spending a lot of money to build a guesthouse here. Even if the development of Hamban Port wasn't progressing quickly, some necessary prestige projects were still needed. Moreover, the construction funds might not all come from the Special Operations Division's military budget; Li Yuande probably also contributed a large sum of money.

This also serves as a message to foreigners in the surrounding areas: since Haihan has already invested heavily in infrastructure here, it will not easily withdraw.

After chatting for a while, the tea was ready. Chen Pingliao picked up the teacup, took a sip, and nodded, saying, "Mellow and sweet, good tea! Where is it from?"

Li Yuande said, "When we set off from Hangzhou, my father brought me tea, saying it was Yunwu tea from the Five Old Peaks of Lushan Mountain in Jiangxi. It was the first batch of local specialties transported out after our army captured the area. This tea is said to be picked by monks on the mountain, who crossed mountains and ridges on the day when the fog was thickest. It is all one bud and one leaf, and the picking and processing of the tea are quite particular."

Chen Pingliao said, "Jiangxi... it's too far away to buy. Could you spare a few pounds for me later? I'll send some back to the north so my family can try it."

Li Yuande shook his head and said, "It can't be evenly distributed."

Chen Pingliao said, "Aren't you being stingy? Then I'll pay for it myself, okay?"

Li Yuande smiled and said, "This kind of top-quality goods, the Five Old Peaks only produce about a hundred catties a year. In previous years, it couldn't even leave Jiangxi. This time, thanks to the Haihan Army, our company sent people to buy some from the locals at a high price. However, before it even reached Hangzhou, it was all divided up. In the end, I only got a little over one catty, less than two catties. Brother Chen, you want several catties right off the bat, that's really impossible."

Upon hearing this, Chen Pingliao couldn't bring himself to be harsh on Li Yuande. Things are valued for their rarity; this kind of thing might not be very expensive on the market, but it was certainly unavailable. Presumably, only a well-connected merchant like Fu Ruifeng could obtain this cloud and mist tea from the local area.

As Chen Pingliao was pondering this, Li Yuande continued, "Since Brother Chen wants his family to try it, I can only reluctantly give it up. I'll have someone pack up the rest of the Yunwu tea and send it to Brother Chen later."

Chen Pingliao quickly declined, and after some back and forth, they finally decided to split the cost equally, half for each of them. However, Chen Pingliao insisted on paying for it himself, which Li Yuande refused to accept under any circumstances.

After drinking two cups of tea, Li Yuande said, "When the tea season comes next year, I will have someone buy some early and send it to Commander Chen in your name."

Chen Pingliao laughed and said, "Then let's make it clear first, you have to let me pay for this, otherwise this filial piety can't be attributed to me!"