1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 407 New Life ([-])
What makes Ruan Jinggui jealous is not only the trade volume between Haihan and Portugal, but more importantly, there are many contents in the exchanges between the two sides that South Vietnam has always wanted but never obtained, such as the arms produced by Haihan. At the beginning, the South Vietnamese court tried all kinds of methods to ask people to buy them, and even sent ships to Guangzhou to buy second-hand matchlock guns produced by Haihan at a high price. The warships were intercepted in the open sea, and even the ships and goods were copied. Now these weapons have been wholesaled to the Portuguese after simple refurbishment.

In return, the Portuguese also included items that the South Vietnamese court had longed for, such as craftsmen from the distant European region, and even valuable shipbuilders!I think that the South Vietnamese court really put in a lot of effort in order to be able to introduce the Portuguese shipbuilding technology, and sent out a lot of money back and forth. There was no shadow at all.Because Ruan Jinggui understands Portuguese, he also participated in the negotiation of the shipbuilding project with the Portuguese throughout the whole process. He also knows that the Portuguese have always cherished their brooms and are unwilling to share their shipbuilding technology easily. But why did those arrogant guys choose in front of the Haihan people? Bow?
Since Schneider took the initiative to tell him these things, Ruan Jinggui had nothing to fear, so he asked out the doubts in his heart.After listening, Schneider smiled and said: "Business is about mutual benefit. The Portuguese exchange their shipbuilding technology for our arms export monopoly, which is beneficial to both parties. Of course, they will not refuse this offer." Kind of a good thing."

"But back then when I went to... Hue Province, I was willing to pay a high price for the Portuguese shipbuilding skills. Why did they delay and refuse to agree?" Ruan Jinggui asked unconvinced.

"Church apprentices, master starve to death!" Schneider patiently explained: "The nearest shipyard of the Portuguese is nearly half a year's voyage from Annan. If I teach you, I am afraid that Annan will surpass them in the number of ships in a few years. When the time comes, there will be another competitor out of thin air for the shipping business to places like Malaga, Batavia, etc. Why do you think they would do such a stupid thing?"

"But why are they willing to cooperate with you? Isn't the relationship between Haihan and Portugal also a competitive relationship?" Ruan Jinggui was not convinced by Schneider's explanation and continued to ask.

Schneider responded: "There is competition, but win-win cooperation is more important to both parties. The Portuguese need our weapons and our political support for them, because compared to us, the Dutch and the Spaniards are more talented. They are their real competitors. After all, their battlefield is not only in the South China Sea, but in the whole world! For the Portuguese, choosing to cooperate with us is actually equivalent to one less opponent in this area, and more A partner. Do you understand me when I say that?"

Ruan Jinggui half-understood. He was not very clear about the relationship between Western countries, so how could he understand the intricate international competitive relationship that Schneider was talking about?However, he understood Schneider's last sentence - the fundamental reason why the Portuguese chose to cooperate with Haihan was that they did not want to be enemies of Haihan.

Schneider went on to say: "Another very important point is that our shipbuilding technology is far superior to that of the Portuguese. What we lack is skilled craftsmen who implement these technologies. They don't need to worry about revealing the secrets they have in their hands. Instead, you can try to see if there is a chance to learn more advanced shipbuilding techniques from us."

Ruan Jinggui said: "In this way, isn't it just in response to what Mr. Shi said just now, 'the disciples of the church, the master will starve to death'?"

Schneider turned his head to look at Ruan Jinggui, smiled and said: "Even if we are willing to teach, we can't learn in a short time. Even if we can learn, many things on this ship cannot be made in other places. And the Portuguese sent All the shipbuilders have signed long-term contracts with us, and they are not allowed to leave within five years, and after five years... Maybe they will not be able to drive them away by then."

Although he didn't know where Schneider's confidence came from, Ruan Jinggui tactfully did not ask any further questions.He is very clear that his identity will not allow him to get in touch with some technical inside information. Haihan's shipbuilding technology is absolutely unique in the South China Sea, so how can he easily let outsiders learn it.The Portuguese chose to send craftsmen to Sanya to join the Haihan people's shipyard. If they really had the idea of ​​stealing their masters, they might really become meat buns and beat dogs, and they would never return.

Schneider's statement about shipbuilding is really not bragging. According to the agreement between the two parties, the Portuguese sent more than 30 shipwrights to work at the Victory Port Shipyard and signed a five-year contract.During this period, Haihan will be responsible for the living arrangement of the shipwrights, and will give the agreed work remuneration. After five years, the shipwright will be free and decide whether to leave or stay.But such a long period of time is enough for the relevant departments to wash the minds of these foreign craftsmen inside and out several times. Without waiting for the five-year period to expire, there will probably be a group of voluntary naturalized citizens of Europeans.

Even if there are very few diehards who can survive these five years, what they will be able to take away is only the technology of the Haihan people in making wooden sailboats, and the metal keel, steel core mast, transmission gear set of the steering wheel system, As well as the key components such as the artillery system and recoil mount on the warship, they were not produced in the shipyard. Without mastering the production technology of these components, what outsiders can learn is just the hull.What's more, five years later, Haihan's steam engine sailboat has already been galloping on the South China Sea. The complex mechanical transmission system of the steam engine is not something that shipwrights can grasp by just looking at it.

While the two were talking, they came to a store, and the clerk who was soliciting business at the door obviously recognized Schneider, a noble man, and hurried him in. Ruan Jinggui noticed that the name of this store was the famous "Fu Ruifeng".

When he came to Shengli Port for peace talks last year, Ruan Jinggui also got to know some of the situation around Haihan through various channels. Among Haihan's partners, the most famous one is the "Furuifeng" firm.Since this commercial firm with roots in Guangzhou got online with the Haihan people, it immediately jumped into the dragon's gate and became one of the top merchants in Guangdong.Almost all the new products that Haihan introduced to the market were "Furuifeng" who were the first to obtain the agency sales rights in the Guangdong area, and a considerable part of the various materials and immigrants arriving in Sanya from the mainland continued to be sold. It is organized by "Fu Ruifeng".

Although the Haihan people later set up "Qiong Lianfa", a larger-scale giant commercial organization, the cooperation with "Furuifeng" has not stopped, and "Furuifeng" has not only become the main shareholder of "Qionglianfa" , and the cooperation with Haihan has become more extensive and in-depth. The Haihan people helped the owner of "Furuifeng" Li's family to set up the "Golden Shield Escort", an officially recognized private armed force, and the Li family is also working on their own. Panyu County, the old nest, set aside a piece of land for the Haihan people to build a large immigration transit base.

Of course, in addition to this, there are actually many inside stories that Ruan Jinggui did not know. For example, there are more than [-] children selected by the Li family to receive various short-term and long-term training in the Sanya area. Under a certain intelligence agency, the number of personnel stationed in the local branch stores of "Furuifeng" under various names has reached three digits.Of course, these personnel are not spies in the general sense. A considerable number of them are really just subordinates of naturalized civilians engaged in business and trade activities. The office issues a report to report the local people's situation, military situation and information that some intelligence agencies will be particularly interested in.

After Ruan Jinggui entered the store, he noticed that almost all the items sold here were products in Guangdong, but there were no expensive items, and the store was not lively. Only one or two customers were inspecting the goods, which seemed to be related to "Furui" Feng" is a bit inconsistent with the name that has been spread outside.The clerk led the two of them through the store, went straight to a reception room in the back yard and sat down, and hurriedly informed the person in charge.

"Boss Shi, long time no see!"

Just a moment after the two sat down, a young man in a blue satin robe appeared at the door and greeted Schneider.

Schneider stood up, smiled and cupped his hands and said, "Master Li, long time no see!"

This young man was none other than Li Nai, the third son of the Li family who had the closest relationship with Hai Han.Since Li Nai first visited Shengli Port, he has become a loyal supporter of Haihan culture. Of course, many people in Guangzhou think that he has been poisoned by Haihan people.Li Nai lived in Shengli Port for a while, and when he first arrived here, it was the opening of Shengli Port, and when the Executive Committee decided to set up a commercial zone, it was under his insistence that "Furuifeng" was established. Huihui became one of the first batch of merchants from Ming Dynasty to invest in Shengli Port, and thus got a ride from Haihan, driving the industry under the name of the Li family into a period of rapid development.

Li Nai has witnessed the whole process of how Shengli Port has developed from a small fish port that no one knows to today's prosperous business center. For him, staying in Shengli Port is far more enjoyable than staying in Guangzhou. Given a choice, he would probably make Port Victory, full of novelties, his primary residence.

However, since Li Nai took up the leadership position of this organization after the establishment of the "Golden Shield Escort", even if it is only a nominal leader, he must sit in Guangzhou for a long time, so there is no way to go to Victory Port like two years ago. Live for two or three months.Li Nai himself didn't have much interest in private armed affairs, so he basically ignored the daily operations of "Golden Shield Escort", and acted like a shopkeeper.Fortunately, the office of the "Golden Shield Escort" is also connected to the Guangzhou Office, and Li Nai basically slips to the Guangzhou Office during working hours to hang out with Maliko, He Xi and others, which is not a big deal. too boring.

Schneider greeted: "The last time I saw the third son was half a year ago. How have you been?"

"What's so good, I'm so bored to death, I just watch the instructors you sent train the militiamen in the yard by the Pearl River every day... I've long wanted to come over to have fun and visit all my old friends, but my father kept me in custody and couldn't get away Ah!" Li Nai replied with a sigh.For him, guarding the family business in Guangzhou every day is far less interesting than coming to Shengli Port to learn about all kinds of weird things with the Haihan people.

Schneider laughed and said, "If you really don't want to do this, then I'll go back and talk to the Guangzhou Office and ask Lao Ma to talk to your father."

"If that's the case, it would be the best. I'll thank Mr. Shi here first!" Li Nai didn't have the slightest intention of refusing, and immediately bowed to thank him.

"By the way, this Mr. Ruan Jinggui, a person from An Nanguo, used to be an expert in maritime trade. Now he is in the Ministry of Commerce. He is...my assistant for the time being. In the future, you should get closer." After the greetings, Schneider didn't mind. Forgot to introduce Ruan Jinggui to Li Nai who was next to him.Li Nai was not at all surprised that Schneider had changed to an Annan native as his assistant. Two years ago, when Schneider was still stationed in Guangzhou, he used Yu Xiaobao, a half-year-old fisherman, as his assistant. Schneider's employment standards, he really couldn't find a basis to figure it out, so he simply didn't think about it.

After seeing the ceremony, the three sat down again and began to discuss business.

It has been a year since the "Golden Shield Escort" was established. During this time, Haihan, in the name of training bodyguards, has completed four batches of training for more than [-] people in the camp by the Pearl River.Two-thirds of these people are from the clan militia armed forces formed by the Li family, and the rest are personnel selected from the local people and immigrant camps by the Guangzhou Office. After the training is completed, the belonging of these people Quan naturally hung under the name of the Military Commission and became part of the armed forces of the Haihan Militia stationed in Guangzhou.

The "Golden Shield Escort" organization had two purposes at the beginning of its establishment. One was to train armed personnel in the mainland, and the other was to expand the reputation and information channels of the Haihan military in Guangdong Province through the business of armed escorts.Therefore, this part of the trained armed personnel also continued to perform various escort tasks during the year, escorting the money or valuables entrusted by the customer to the designated place by land.Of course, a considerable part of the goods are actually "imperial contraband" operated by Haihan himself, such as refined salt, weapons and so on.Neither the shipper nor the receiver could safely hand over this kind of goods to ordinary caravans for transportation, but the "Golden Shield Escort" has legal procedures approved by the government, so it can just carry out smuggling transactions in a grandiose manner.

In this process, it is not uncommon to meet some people who are looking for trouble, such as bandit road tyrants, inspection and setting up cards, and means above and below the table. This kind of peaceful means solved it, and occasionally there were a few diehards, and they couldn't get anything good in front of the muskets of the guards. During the year of operation of the "Golden Shield Escort", five or six of the green forest heroes were killed during the escort. Although the intensity of the battle was far less than when the rogues besieged Lijiazhuang, it still gave these militiamen the opportunity to practice their combat skills. Chance.

Li Nai came to Shengli Harbor in person this time. First, the cooperation between the two parties has been completed for one year. According to the original agreement, he, the person in charge, will come over to give a face-to-face work report to the executive committee, and at the same time discuss the cooperation for the next year. plan.Second, by the way, let's see if the executive committee can release a batch of new flintlock guns to replace the [-]-style matchlock guns currently used by the armed personnel of the "Golden Shield Escort".

After listening to Li Nai's description, Schneider nodded and said: "I will arrange a time for you to meet with the executive committee, probably within two or three days, and I will send someone to notify you when it is settled. But the second The matter may be a little more complicated, although I am not in charge of the arms trade, but can I hear your reason first?"

Naturally, Li Nai would not hide anything from Schneider, nodded and said: "Actually, the reason is very simple. The environment for armed escorts to perform tasks is mostly in the wild. Once encountering cloudy and rainy weather, the fire rope is easy to get wet, and it is often difficult to fire. Last month An escort team encountered bandits in Qingyuan, and it was raining. As a result, our people had to fight hand-to-hand with the bandits. In the end, five or six people were lost and a lot of goods were taken away. Things like this are no longer It happened for the first time, and my younger brother also discussed the matter with Xiao Liang and Yu Yao, two military masters stationed in Guangzhou Office. They believed that the most effective solution could only be to replace weapons with better adaptability, and there was nothing else Law."

"Since they gave you this suggestion, you must have asked them to write proof materials for you?" Schneider asked with a smile.

Li Nai replied: "Boss Shi is really good at predicting things! My little brother thought that there is no evidence for this matter. How can the executive committee believe what I said alone? So I begged the two military masters to write written materials. It also has the signatures of Director Ma and Deputy Director He of the Guangzhou Office, does Mr. Shi need to take a look?"

Schneider waved his hand and said, "You don't need to look at it now, you just need to show the materials when you talk to the executive committee. Since you have a written certificate from the Guangzhou Office, then you probably won't be difficult to handle this matter, but the order may still be pending." It takes a while to get the goods. Most of the flintlock guns produced here recently have been ordered by Annan Guo."

"Speaking of An Nanguo, after I arrived in Hong Kong, I only heard that the militia army captured the city of Hue last month and wiped out the Nanyue puppet imperial court, but I forgot to congratulate President Shi!" Li Nai cupped his hands and said, "In this way , An Nanguo is already under the control of Haihan, why should we increase its armed forces? Isn't the executive committee worried about breeding tigers?"

Schneider glanced at Ruan Jinggui next to him, and saw that his face was calm and not displeased, and then he responded, "Tigers are a danger? Whether they can become tigers is not up to them."

(End of this chapter)