1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 464 Back to Annan
Ruan Jinggui was considered to be the first batch of leading parties who surrendered before the collapse of the South Vietnamese regime. Therefore, the treatment he and his family received after the war was beyond the reach of the old and young in South Vietnam.After Ruan Jinggui arrived in Shengli Port, Schneider quickly asked him to work in the Ministry of Commerce. At that time, the plan of the Executive Committee was to take him in and send him back to South Vietnam to work in order to make full use of his aboriginal status.And his younger brother Ruan Jingwen has also been reused and absorbed into the Police Department. With his qualifications as a military officer, as long as he remains loyal to the Executive Committee, it is basically only a matter of time before he can be promoted and reused.

After Ruan Jinggui entered the Ministry of Commerce, in addition to serving as Schneider's personal assistant, he also began to gradually take over some trade affairs related to Annan.As a major trading partner with Haihan who is second only to Daming in terms of trade volume and is even on an equal footing with Daming in terms of immigration, Haihan still attaches great importance to Annan.There is a dedicated Annan Office in the Ministry of Commerce, which is responsible for handling the daily trade between Haihan and Annan.

Different from the trade strategy adopted by Haihan in Daming, the commercial department did not use smuggling to open the door of Annan's trade, but reached a trade agreement with Annan's ruling class from the very beginning, and openly offered Annan Enter industrial products.To a large extent, this was also due to Annan's situation in the quagmire of war at that time. A large number of laborers were forced to serve in the front line to serve the war. Even salt had to be imported from Haihan on a large scale.Although the Annan Civil War has come to an end, the high-quality and cheap Haihan refined salt has occupied the main market in the former North Vietnam region in the past two years. Every time the trade agreement between the two sides is revised, table salt will still be included as the main commodity. to the agreement.

Along with salt, there are a large number of other industrial products, such as glassware, soap, matches, iron farm tools and so on.Not only that, even the cheap agricultural products were sold to Annan at a high price by the commercial department.For example, palm oil, which only started to be produced this year, was marketed to the nobles in Annan by the business department's signature gimmick of "Royal Edible Oil" due to the small output.This kind of high-grade edible oil, which is said to be only eligible for pure Haihan people, has been very popular in Annan since it was launched. The price per ton of palm oil is three times as high as that of the commercial department in Guangzhou.

But it’s no wonder that the name Haihan’s authority in Annan is much stronger than in Daming. After all, he is a strong man who can change the situation of Annan’s civil war. Both ordinary people and high-level people are willing to imitate Haihan’s way of life .As for the price, this kind of product with a clear positioning will not be sold to the poor, and its sales target will not think too much about the price when buying. They have formed a certain mindset in the past two years—— —As long as Haihan people say it is a good thing, it will definitely not be bad.

And the person who proposed this sales plan was Ruan Jinggui who had joined the Ministry of Commerce not long ago.Although the South Vietnam court did not establish an official trade relationship with Haihan at that time, the Ming maritime merchants who continuously transported Haihan products from Shengli Port to South Vietnam for sale never stopped. Therefore, the atmosphere in South Vietnam at that time was actually similar. In some places, sometimes even because of the shortage of goods, the shortage of the same goods in South Vietnam is much higher than that in the North.Although the dignitaries in South Vietnam were filled with righteous indignation at Haihan's participation in the Annan Civil War, almost everyone had a collection of high-end glass stationery produced by Haihan in their homes.It was precisely because of his understanding of Annan's domestic situation that Ruan Jinggui proposed such a sales method.

Relying on concept hype to improve the quality, and then drive up the price of the product, this business operation model is naturally nothing new in another time and space, and the so-called direct selling companies in the market are all using this routine.But in this era, Ruan Jinggui was able to come up with this sales strategy without a teacher, but it also shows that he does have some extraordinary talents in business.After Schneider confirmed this matter, he handed over the planning of the Vietnam business strategy to Ruan Jinggui to follow up.

Ruan Jinggui really lived up to Schneider's trust, and soon followed this path to figure out a hype plan for other agricultural products.After the business department made corresponding adjustments, the agricultural products exported to Annan in the first half of the year more than tripled the expected income.This is not the concept that roadside grocery stores sell more bottles of oil and less than a few catties of vinegar. The increase in profitability brought about by the adjustment of agricultural product sales strategies is enough to allow the Navy to add two more large ships within the year.

It is precisely because of his excellent performance in the Ministry of Commerce for nearly half a year that Ruan Jinggui finally won the trust of the Executive Committee and appointed him to Da Nang as a commercial representative of Haihan to negotiate and deal with the local trade situation and participate in the planning of the local Construction of the port trade zone.

Originally, according to the agreement reached between Haihan and the Annan court, the South Vietnamese survivors who were sheltered by Haihan after the Battle of Hue were not allowed to return to Annan.However, since the Haihan Concession enjoys extraterritorial rights, even if Ruan Jinggui arrives in Da Nang, as long as he does not intentionally leave the concession area, Annan officials can only pretend that he has not seen anything.

For Ruan Jinggui, it was an unexpected joy to be able to set foot on the land of Annan again.When he first boarded the boat outside Hue, he had thought that he would never have the chance to return to this land.Unexpectedly, only half a year later, I returned to my hometown - of course, this place is no longer named Ruan, but changed to Zheng.

Although Ruan Jinggui shouldered the position appointed by the Haihan executive committee, he didn't feel like returning to his hometown to be honest. On the contrary, he looked like a down-and-out person sent to a remote village to become a county magistrate.Although the geographical environment of Da Nang is good, the former South Vietnamese court did not have enough ability to carry out large-scale commercial development, so it was in a near-primitive state for a long period of time, until the last two months , people moved here one after another.

These people did not come here by chance. In fact, they were the laborers prepared by the Annan court for Haihan.According to the agreement between the two parties, after completing the local construction projects, these workers will have the right to choose whether to join Haihan as Haihan naturalized citizens.It can be said that the essence of this project is that the Annan court exchanged the population for a port that was constructed by Haihan and actually controlled by Haihan, and Annan only had nominal ownership and part of the right to use it.

Not only did Annan have to swallow this loss, but he also had to try to get the Haihan people to start implementing the Da Nang development plan as soon as possible, because the stagnation of maritime trade in the South Vietnam area was definitely a must for the Annan court whose treasury income was seriously insufficient. big problem.

When the Haihan people attacked Hoi An last year, they took away almost all the local Ming businessmen, and also drove away the only western partner, the Portuguese. It can be said that it directly killed the South Vietnamese maritime trade at that time.From the standpoint of the Annan court at that time, there was nothing wrong with what the Haihan people did, and it could be said to be very good. They cut off the largest source of income for the Nanyue court in one fell swoop.But after the war, the disadvantages gradually appeared.

It’s not that the Annan court has tried rolling up their sleeves to play by themselves. However, the Ming maritime merchants who can get in touch with each other said that without the approval of the Haihan people, they don’t want to take the risk of going through war to do business in Annan.The Portuguese said it more directly. They believed that Haihan was a more important partner than Annan. Before Haihan made a clear statement, Portugal would not unilaterally discuss trade cooperation with Annan.

Of course, the Portuguese didn't behave like this out of respect for Haihan, it was more of awe.After the Portuguese became Haihan's arms agents, they had already trafficked a large number of Haihan guns to the European battlefield.It's not that no one has thought about using these weapons to deal with the Haihan people. However, the Portuguese who have visited the Haihan shooting range know that the Haihan people still have many advanced weapons that are not for sale. The Haihan people equipped with these advanced weapons It is as easy for a regiment to deal with enemies who only have arquebuses and small-caliber smoothbore guns as adults with sticks bullying unarmed children.What's more, the Haihan people's naval power is not weak. If they are provoked, the future of the Portuguese permanently stationed in the Macau area will be in jeopardy. The Haihan people can easily attack Macau by relying on Wanshan Port and Panyu Lijiazhuang. The area, including the surrounding sea area, is blocked.At that time, let alone doing business, whether the Portuguese can continue to stay in the Far East will become a problem.

The Annan court could not persuade the Ming maritime merchants and the Portuguese to cooperate directly with them, so the only partner they could choose to cooperate with was Haihan.Even if the conditions proposed by Haihan are very harsh, the Annan court can only knock out their teeth and swallow it in their stomachs.

This time, the Annan court sent Zheng Lin who had a good relationship with Haihan to deal with specific affairs in the Da Nang area. The imperial court believes that there is currently no more suitable candidate than Zheng Lin, so Zheng Lin is still in charge of contacting and communicating with Haihan regarding the follow-up matters regarding the development of the four southern ports.

This task cannot be said to be difficult, but it is by no means easy.Zheng Lin has been dealing with Haihan people for almost two years. He knows that although these Haihan people are very particular about business credit, the problem is that their skills of oppressing others are really hard to detect.The reason why Annan is now in a rather passive position in the process of business cooperation, and even had to give up part of his interests in exchange for Haihan's compromise, is that the Haihan people took advantage of too many loopholes when initially negotiating various cooperation agreements. So much so that now I have to pay more to pay for the previous sloppy.

"Ruan Jinggui, Commissioner of the Annan Affairs Office of the Ministry of Commerce of Haihan, met Special Envoy Zheng!" After Ruan Jinggui disembarked, someone introduced Zheng Lin to him.

Zheng Lin cupped his hands slightly and said, "I have admired you for a long time! I heard that Commissioner Ruan is a local!"

Ruan Jinggui heard a hint of irony in these words, and replied without changing his face: "My current identity is a Haihan naturalized citizen, and I don't pay attention to the region of origin. When working for the executive committee, I never ask about my background, just Loyalty required!"

Zheng Lin snorted coldly and said, "Loyalty? You dare to talk about loyalty without committing suicide!"

"Martyrdom? If I die for my country, then what is the small court of your Zheng family?" Ruan Jinggui immediately caught the loophole in Zheng Lin's words.

As soon as Zheng Lin said the words, he knew that he had made a slip of the tongue, so he quickly changed the subject and said, "I heard that the leader of the team this time is Mr. Liu, who specializes in engineering and construction in Haihan. Why haven't you disembarked?"

"Chief Liu is receiving a message from the executive committee, and he will disembark later." Speaking of this, Ruan Jinggui's face became a little more solemn.The ability of the Haihan people to transmit messages across the air is more like a magical spell in the eyes of outsiders. Although Ruan Jinggui knows that the Haihan people use a wonderful tool to achieve this effect, he is still right. This is full of awe.

Zheng Lin’s knowledge is actually similar to that of Ruan Jinggui. When he lived in Heitugang, he saw Haihan people at close range many times using radios, walkie-talkies and other equipment to achieve air-to-air conversations. But he didn't understand at all.But there is one thing he knows, Haihan people do not allow others to disturb when they are making air calls.If Liu Shanxia was indeed on the phone with the Executive Committee, let alone Zheng Lin, even if the King of Qingdu came in person, Liu Shanxia might not immediately cut off the call because of his face.

The identities of these two people were placed half a year ago, and they were life-and-death opponents. Although the civil war is over now, they won't win thoroughly on the one hand, and refuse to accept the loss on the other. They will meet again in this kind of occasion that requires cooperation.The two stared at each other, neither of them willing to lose heart first.

After ten minutes of silence, Liu Shanxia finally got off the boat.He wasn't trying to put on airs just now, but he was really receiving the telegram from the base camp.Although it was just a routine call every day, Liu Shanxia would not change his arrangements just because of Annan's special envoy waiting on the shore, which was exactly the same as Zheng Lin estimated.

After Liu Shanxia got off the boat, the expressions of these two people were not quite right.He roughly knew Ruan Jinggui's background. Zheng Lin had met him in Heitu Port earlier, so he was no stranger to him. After a second thought, he understood what was going on in the cold scene in front of him. He immediately laughed and said, "Special Envoy Zheng Long wait!"

Zheng Lin hurriedly cupped his fists and bowed: "Master Liu is polite, it's only for a moment, Master Liu came across the sea and worked hard all the way. I have prepared a table of wine for the wind, and I hope Master Liu will not be disgusted, and you must show respect!"

(End of this chapter)