1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 478 Visit Sanya Port

Li Qingyang is a smart person, of course he can think of why the Ministry of Security arranged for him to meet these outsiders who had already taken refuge in Haihan.Regardless of whether it is Daming or Annan, these officials who used to work for different regimes have now gained a new life under the governance of the Haihan Executive Committee, and they have more or less expressed gratitude.

Li Qingyang had interrogated many prisoners in the past, and he had his own set of criteria for judging whether a person's words were credible.In his opinion, the contacts arranged by the Ministry of Security did not show obvious signs of lying during the communication process with him, and their credibility was relatively high.And these three people all have a common argument, that is, as long as they stay in Sanya for a few more days, their thinking will change.

In fact, it didn't take long. Li Qingyang felt that in just half a day after he was released, some subtle changes had already begun to take place psychologically.The initial hostility towards Haihan has gradually weakened without knowing it.One is because of the kindness shown by the Haihan people, and the other is because of the terrifying strength that Haihan displayed intentionally or unintentionally.

If the people of Haihan really want to separate from one side and commit chaos, Li Qingyang thinks that they have undoubtedly possessed such strength, but the people of Haihan obviously have no intention of becoming an enemy of Daming—at least not under the current situation, Hai The Han people need to export all kinds of commodities they made in Sanya to Daming, and the huge amount of funds and continuous manpower provided by Daming are exactly what Haihan needs.

From a commercial point of view, Haihan seems to follow the practice of businessmen when dealing with external relations, and almost all exchanges with the outside world are carried out in the form of commodity transactions.But Li Qingyang now understands Haihan's terrifying strength under the disguise of this layer of businessmen. Their silent expansion methods are only gentler than rebellion with sharp swords and spears, but the final direction is not too big The difference is that they are constantly bringing a wider territory and more population and product resources into their own rule.Fortunately, this kind of expansion is not aimed at Ming Dynasty. The means adopted by these Haihan people in Annan are much more radical, directly involving military intervention.

Of course, this is because Li Qingyang doesn't know enough about Hai Han. After a while, he will gradually know that Hai Han used quite a lot of military means in Daming territory, but he didn't directly sign various interest exchanges with the government like Annan. agreement only.Haihan's seaports in Panyu, Dawanshan Island, and the southwestern part of Hong Kong Island, which are currently in the planning stage, are all geographically critical areas, and Haihan has no relationship with the Ming Dynasty for the control of these places. The plan for a showdown is to first occupy the site in the name of building commercial warehouses and refugee shelters. Before the local government can react, it will start to implement a set of social systems in the local area to achieve basic rule.

While Li Qingyang was thinking, the "Lightning" had sailed out of the bay of Shengli Harbor, and after going south around Yulinjiao, it docked at the coast of Luhuitou Peninsula.

Lin Nan greeted him: "It's already past noon, brother Li must be hungry too? Wait for a while, the crew will prepare meals."

Li Qingyang originally thought that he wouldn't be able to eat any decent hot food on the way out to sea, but he didn't expect that these crew members brought out the grill, charcoal and a large bowl of seafood from the cabin, and started to cook the barbecue feast directly on the deck at the stern.This kind of barbecue at sea has almost become a tradition of the Ministry of Shipping and the Navy. As long as they are not performing military missions, most captains will arrange one or two seafood barbecue dinners on the way to sea.Although there is no head of Haihan commanding the ship today, this custom has not been forgotten by the crew.

"Sanya's seafood barbecue is different from other places. It adds a variety of local spices. Brother Li can taste it." Lin Nan enthusiastically stuffed a bunch of charcoal-grilled squid into Li Qingyang's hands first.

Most of the spices produced in Sanya are only sold in Guangdong, Guangxi and Fujian, but have not been sold to Jiangsu and Zhejiang, so for Li Qingyang, the method and taste of this seafood barbecue is very novel.Coupled with the local specialty rice in bamboo tubes, Li Qingyang felt that this meal was the most comfortable meal he had after being arrested.

After lunch, Li Qingyang solemnly stood up and bowed to Lin Nan: "Brother Lao Lin guided us all the way today, Li Qingyang thank you here."

Lin Nan said in amazement: "Today's schedule has not been completed yet, why is Brother Li so anxious?"

Li Qingyang responded in surprise: "Isn't it already the end of the tour?"

Lin Nan laughed and said, "Brother Li doesn't think that Sanya is the only place you saw in the morning, right? You must know that there are two seaports in Sanya. In the morning, I saw the Victory Port. In the afternoon, I plan to take Brother Li to see the newly built seaport. Sanya Port."

Li Qingyang thought to himself that it was only two or three years since the completion of Shengli Port, yet there is still a newer port.Listening to the name of the harbor, it turns out that Sanya got its name from here.

The crew on the "Lightning" finished cleaning up the deck, and soon set off again, bypassing the Luhuitou Peninsula and heading for the entrance channel of Sanya Port.The sea here is open, and the "Lightning" let go of its speed and galloped all the way. Only then did Li Qingyang truly feel the speed advantage of this strange-looking sailboat.

The entrance of Sanya Port was half narrower than Shengli Port. When entering the strait, Li Qingyang was able to observe the coastal defense fort on the slope on the right bank more clearly.Although the scale of this fortress is not as large as the Shengli Harbor Fort seen in the morning, it is much closer to the target. Even if Li Qingyang does not understand the performance of the Haihan artillery, he still knows that at such a short distance, he is facing The black muzzle is actually no different from putting your head directly on the muzzle.The shooting error of the artillery at this distance is almost negligible. If a foreign enemy tries to rush into the port in the strait by water, it will suffer.

Due to the narrow waterway, the transportation here is extremely busy. Sailboats, large and small, are lined up in two queues, one in and one out, heading towards each other in the strait.However, the high speed of the "Lightning" was useless in this place. According to the regulations of the port, the speed of the ship could only be reduced, and it would advance sequentially in the queue of ships entering the port.

After driving through this [-]-mile-long narrow waterway, the water surface immediately becomes open. This is the mouth of the Linchun River and the Sanya River. The main wharf of Sanya Port built along the inland river bay also shows In front of Li Qingyang.Compared with the Shengli Port wharf that I visited in the morning, it is more crowded here, and there are almost no empty trestles, and the wharf has been extending upstream along with the two rivers, and the end cannot be seen from the boat. .

"This place is somewhat similar to the Pearl River Wharf outside Guangzhou City." Li Qingyang stood at the bow of the boat and commented on what he saw before him, but he still had a few words to say: "...but the wharf here The operational efficiency is far better than that of the Pearl River Wharf.”

Li Qingyang saw a large number of laborers on the pier wearing the multi-colored vests he had seen before, and the pier operation system arranged by the Haihan people was obviously very skillful, and the scale of cargo handling was even higher than that of Shengli Port.Li Qingyang secretly calculated in his heart that if the business scale of Shengli Port and Sanya Port were added together, it would have already surpassed Guangzhou. Haihan people praised Haikou as the number one port in Qiongzhou, or even the number one port in the South China Sea. bragging.

Li Qingyang turned his head and saw that there were actually two strange-looking Galen boats parked on the river bank in front of him, so he couldn't help asking Lin Nan: "There are still Westerners here?"

"Yes!" Lin Nan nodded naturally and replied, "They are Portuguese, and they also have a station in Haojingao, Guangdong. According to the chiefs, these Portuguese are from the continent of Europa in the far west, several kilometers away from us. Thousands of miles away. For them, all kinds of things produced in the east are valuable treasures after they are shipped back."

"Portuguese people think they have strong boats and guns, and they are always arrogant. I'm afraid they are not the best choice for business partners." Li Qingyang shook his head and said.

Lin Nan smiled and said: "Brother Li, great advice! These western barbarians don't know my oriental etiquette, and think they are superior in force, but they don't know that with me, Haihan, sitting in the South China Sea, it is inevitable that they will only know the pain if they touch their bags."

Hearing that Lin Nan's tone was not good, Li Qingyang asked, "Could it be that the two sides have already fought each other?"

"I have fought against each other last year." As a veteran of the militia, Lin Nan has always been generous in publicizing the achievements of the Haihan militia: "The Portuguese were the behind-the-scenes supporters of the southern court in Annan, and provided them with a lot of support. Guns and artillery. However, after we intervened in the civil war in Annan, the advantages of the Portuguese in the local area were gradually disintegrated by us. Last year we captured the Annan Hoi An Port, which is the main settlement of the Portuguese. After that, the Executive Committee There is an agreement with the Portuguese, they withdraw from Annan, and we will give them the opportunity to cooperate in trade and military affairs."

Lin Nan said while pointing to the Galen ship on the shore: "For them, making money is much better than fighting, not to mention that their partners are the most powerful forces in the entire South China Sea. Although these Portuguese are barbaric, they are not Silly, it's in their best interest to know who to work with."

Lin Nan's words were understated, but Li Qingyang heard it with a special taste.He also knew a thing or two about the Portuguese military power. A few years ago, someone from the Ministry of War had suggested to the imperial court to purchase Portuguese artillery, hire Portuguese officers and gunners, and go to the northeast front to participate in the war.In the view of the Ministry of War, the Portuguese were extremely powerful, but they did not get good deals from the Haihan people. Lin Nan said that an agreement was reached after the war.
What Lin Nan said at least shows one thing, that is, Haihan's military strength is still far superior to that of the Portuguese, so that the Portuguese now have to use a relatively low profile to seek opportunities for cooperation with Haihan.Thinking of this, Li Qingyang became even more worried about the position of the relationship between Da Ming and Hai Han in the future. In front of this group of Hai Han people who seem to be omnipotent, it seems that Da Ming really has nothing to say except for its vast territory. What other obvious advantages.

"This is the new urban area of ​​Sanya that was developed last year. Many foreign merchants have bought real estate and settled here. Look at the five-story brick and stone buildings on the shore, which are complete sets of houses specially sold to foreigners. Lin Nan continued to enthusiastically introduce the customs and enthusiasm of Sanya Port to Li Qingyang: "This area was still a wasteland a year ago, and if you look at the current prosperity, Brother Li can understand why the local people have no authority over the executive committee." So revered."

Li Qingyang nodded silently, he had seen with his own eyes the executive committee's ability to manage the place.If Daming had such a capable magistrate, he might be promoted to the Golden Palace within a few years.However, the Haihan people obviously would not be interested in being an official in Ming Dynasty, because it is said that the private schools they run do not teach the content of the Four Books and Five Classics, and they do not encourage scholars under their rule to pass the imperial examination.

Li Qingyang didn't think there was anything outrageous about this move, because the Haihan people were obviously better at governing the local area than the officials trained by the imperial court, and these officials had read the Four Books and Five Classics for many years before entering the office. Performance in place doesn't seem to be significantly helping.The civil affairs system promoted by the Haihan people is obviously not imitated from the Ming Dynasty. Many places have more advanced and reasonable systems than the current system of the Ming Dynasty. Under such circumstances, the Haihan people are unwilling to adopt the cultural and educational system of the Ming Dynasty. It is also a reasonable thing.

The common people's attitude towards this kind of problem may be simpler and more direct. They can have food and housing, children can read books, they can see the trend of better life in the future, and they have the protection of Haihan militia , to them, the place under the Haihan executive committee is probably almost like heaven.After living in this kind of place for half a year, who would care about Daming?Now the Ming court can't give them their current life, let alone guarantee their future life.

Thinking of this, Li Qingyang couldn't help but feel some pessimism in his heart - Da Ming, who has always been proud of him, is so inferior to Shanghai Han in so many ways that Li Qingyang wanted to find some reason to refute Lin Nan's showing off None of the materials are available.Li Qingyang also really wanted to blame the Haihan people for the crimes of rebellious ministers and thieves, so that he could at least find some reason for his resistance, but the performance of the Haihan people even gave him no excuse to criticize him. If it is not good, then what is the level of what the Ming court did?
Looking at the row upon row of shops, warehouses and other buildings on the river bank, Li Qingyang was already lost in thought. Haihan's model has proved its advanced nature, so is it possible for Daming to imitate their method?

(End of this chapter)