1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 613 The situation in Quanzhou
Although the Ming court didn't pay much attention to the port of Quanzhou, Haihan was very interested in it.Quanzhou Port extends from Quanzhou Meizhou Bay in the north to Weitou Bay in the south, with a coastline of more than 500 kilometers. In history, there is a saying that there are four bays and sixteen ports, and the port conditions are very favorable.And here is only 90 nautical miles away from Magong Port in Penghu, and within 200 nautical miles from the west coast of Taiwan Island. For the Haihan regime that intends to develop Taiwan Island into the next Hainan Island-style colony, Quanzhou Port is a relatively good location along the coast of Fujian. A good trading port.

If Haihan develops smoothly for a period of time in the future and can destroy Shibazhi and drive away the Dutch to take Taiwan Island, then most likely they will negotiate with Fujian officials to take part or all of the management rights of Quanzhou Port, or establish a A local chamber of commerce organization similar to "Qiong Lianfa" pulled the local big households to take over this place for redevelopment.Haihan is already familiar with this number of routes. There are already many templates for reference. When the time comes, invite merchants from Fujian to Hainan Island and Annan to see the operation of the local ports. I believe it will not be difficult. The successful model of the past has been copied to Fujian.

Of course, before realizing these long-term goals, the Haihan people must first solve the immediate problems pragmatically and completely eliminate Shibazhi’s influence in the coastal areas of Fujian.

Although Quanzhou Port is obviously going downhill at this time, many supporting facilities of the Millennium Commercial Port are still very complete. For example, Xu Xinsu arranged for Shi Diwen and others to live near the port, which is quite good.This is a courtyard covering an area of ​​more than 20 mu, but this is not a private house, but an inn that is open to the public. It is by no means a small number.But with Xu Xinsu's arrangement, there is no need for Haihan to pay for it out of his own pocket.

The courtyards here are all designed by famous artists from Suzhou and Hangzhou. Although it is located in the south of Lingnan, it has an unusual Jiangnan atmosphere.Shi Diwen and Morgan moved in with a few personal servants, and the servants arranged here were more than twice as many as them. As long as they were willing, someone would even wipe their buttocks for them.As long as you order anything, someone will run errands to do it, which is more comfortable than when they were leaders in Victory Port.

Both Shi Diwen and Morgan have stayed in Victory Port for a long time. Even if they are on business trips, most of the time they go to the battlefield or go to desolate places to explore new colonies, and they seldom enjoy it like this.Morgan lay on the soft bed, enjoying the delicious food delivered to his mouth by the maid, and couldn't help sighing: "I found that our life in Victory Port didn't seem to be as good as we thought."

In order to prevent the content of the conversation from being spread, most of the communication between the two on the road was done in English. After hearing this, Shi Diwen also responded in English: "Of course, look at the expatriates in recent years, Has anyone voluntarily applied to be transferred back to Shengli Port from outside? Even if the living conditions outside are not so complete, but life is more relaxed than in Shengli Port!"

Morgan replied: "I should also consider applying for a mission abroad."

"No, you have no hope, you should give up early." Shi Diwen mercilessly poured cold water on Morgan: "You are the only expert in cardiovascular disease in the whole team. Have you arranged for a place far away from Sanya for a long time?"

"You're right." Morgan himself was clearly aware of this, and said with some frustration: "It seems that I have to bring out a few qualified apprentices as soon as possible, otherwise I will never be able to escape from this imprisonment. When I came here with you One of the reasons for being here is that I don't want to be stuck in a hospital, I don't want to come here and live my life all the time."

In the evening, the person in charge of Haihan's Quanzhou office also rushed to Quanzhou Port to report the recent work and the situation in Quanzhou to the chief who came here for the first time.The person in charge of the Quanzhou office is also a naturalized cadre, and a native of Fujian—Zhang Qianren, the eldest son of Zhang Tiangui, director of the Shengli Port Shipyard.

Zhang Tiangui's family was originally exiled to Guangdong from Fujian, and was recruited by Haihan from Guangdong to Shengli Port.Among Zhang Tiangui's five sons, except for the youngest son Zhang Qianzhi who was admired by He Xi since he was a child and became the chief's personal entourage, the other four sons followed Zhang Tiangui as shipwrights.However, Zhang Tiangui entered the Haihan system early, and he also has his own understanding of this social system different from that of Daming. He believes that although his occupation can be mixed well, it is a skilled job after all. They, like Zhang Qianzhi, have to go another way.

So at the request of Zhang Tiangui, Zhang Qianren, who was familiar with the customs of Fujian, was sent to Quanzhou to be in charge of Haihan's local business and foreign affairs.This is indeed a new job for Zhang Qianren, who has been working as a carpenter for nearly ten years. Fortunately, Haihan's local business affairs in Quanzhou mainly focus on purchasing various industrial raw materials and introducing immigrants. The big framework has already been laid out above. The Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Civil Affairs have coordinated well with the Fujian government, so Zhang Qianren does not need to be responsible for those foreign affairs that are easy to blame. He only needs to do his own work step by step.Although the work in the Quanzhou office was not bright, Zhang Qianren hadn't made any trouble for Haihan during the more than a year since he took office.

Zhang Qianren is no stranger to Shi Diwen and Morgan who led the Haihan warship to Quanzhou this time. When he was still working at the Shengli Port Shipyard, these navigation experts from the North American Gang were frequent visitors to the shipyard. From Exploration Class to Expedition Class to the latest Majesty Class, they are involved in every new sailboat manufactured by Victory Harbor Shipyard.And Zhang Qianren had listened to their lectures on navigation knowledge more than once. Seriously speaking, both parties still have a master-apprentice status.

After Zhang Qianren came to the study, he knelt down on his own without waiting for the two to greet him. According to the tradition, he gave the master-student gift to the two, and then stood up to answer the conversation.Although Shi Diwen and Morgan have lived in this era for more than four years, they still can't accept this kind of kneeling etiquette. However, they also know that Zhang Qianren just wants to pay respects to him, so it's not good to reprimand him .

Shi Diwen smiled and said: "Zhang Qianren, you are also the leader of the overseas agency now, don't kneel down at every turn, this is not the behavior that Haihan cadres should do."

Zhang Qianren said sternly: "The identity of a humble official is a Haihan cadre, and also a student of the two teachers. If you put public affairs first and then private, then you have to pay two salutes for a humble official. It's better to just give a big salute, which can save a little trouble of red tape. .”

Shi Diwen couldn't laugh or cry when he heard it, so he had to compromise and said, "Don't do kneeling like this in public. It won't affect you well... Well, this is an order from me as a teacher."

"Students would like to obey the instruction." Zhang Qianren didn't argue, but just complied, but judging from his appearance, he didn't seem to intend to obey Shi Diwen's order.

"This time when our mission visited Fujian, Commissioner Ning was supposed to be in charge of commercial and diplomatic affairs, but because he was staying in Zhangzhou to handle some affairs, he didn't come with our fleet, so your routine report will be by Morgan and I will be in charge of the review." Shi Diwen quickly brought the topic back to the business: "Let's talk about our business progress in Quanzhou first."

"Yes! I have prepared two written reports, and the two chiefs please review them." Zhang Qianren came prepared and presented two handwritten documents, and then began to explain the recent business situation to the two.

Quanzhou's local exports have always been silk fabrics and ceramics, while imports are mostly spices and medicines.After Haihan established business ties with Fujian, Quanzhou added Haihan products to Quanzhou's import catalog. Now, the value of Haihan's industrial products shipped from Sanya to Quanzhou every year has exceeded 70 yuan. Two silvers, in addition to being sold locally in Quanzhou, a considerable part of Haihan products will also be monopolized overland to Yanping, Shaowu, and Jianning inland, and even Jianchang, Fuzhou, Nanchang, etc. in Jiangxi Province adjacent to Fujian land.Some commodities will be transported by sea to Fuzhou and Funing in the north, and even further north to the coastal areas of Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

This trade figure may seem large, but it is far from ideal for the local consumer market in Fujian.This is not because the sales of Haihan products are limited due to the high price. The more important reason is that the supply of Haihan products is limited. Most of the products are still in short supply and can be sold as much as they can. How much, sales is not a problem.

Zhang Qianren pointed out in the written report that even if the number of commodities supplied by Haihan doubles, there will never be a situation of slow sales.Although it has only been in the middle of four years in Chongzhen, some merchants from other places have voluntarily paid the deposit for the next year of some in-demand products to the Haihan Quanquan Office in order to ensure the priority of purchasing.

Similar to this situation, when the mission was in Zhangzhou, it was also mentioned by Gong Ping, who was in charge of the local business affairs, that this is already a normal situation in Fujian.And Haihan's main local partner, Xu Xinsu, has almost monopolized the management rights of most of Haihan's products, which also makes the Haihan products in the market even tighter.However, this situation is unlikely to have a chance to improve in the near future. The executive committee believes that it will take at least two or three years before the production capacity will explode with Haihan's original accumulation to a certain extent. Change this situation in the local market.

Currently, Fujian ranks third as the export destination of Haihan, with Guangdong and Annan ranking the top two.According to statistics from the Ministry of Commerce, only about 15% of Haihan industrial products exported last year were sold to Fujian, and most of the exported goods were still used to satisfy the main market closer to Hainan Island.

However, Haihan’s local purchases are still mainly various industrial raw materials, and agricultural products also occupy a considerable share, especially some agricultural products from the north. The price purchased from Fujian is about three times lower than that from Guangdong. one-third.

However, Shi Diwen and Morgan are not members of the Ministry of Commerce, and they only have a half-knowledge of the business situation. Most of the data provided by Zhang Qianren, because there is no data to compare, they can't see whether this trend is good or bad. Can't make any comments.They are more concerned about the progress of immigration than the business situation.

"Tell me about the immigration recruitment situation in the recent period." Finally, after Zhang Qianren finished introducing the business situation, Shi Diwen couldn't wait to change the topic.

Zhang Qianren continued to introduce: "After the establishment of the Quanzhou office, an immigrant recruitment agency was established immediately. By the end of last year, a total of 350 immigrants had been sent to Sanya. In the first three months of this year, one immigrant had been sent to Sanya. One thousand and forty-eight persons, of which the number of adult males was..."

On an average basis, Quanzhou's immigration recruitment scale is probably only ranked in the bottom ranks among overseas offices. The number of immigrants sent in the first three months of this year is not as good as that of Lijiazhuang resettlement site in Guangdong in one month.But considering that Haihan's local influence is far less than that of Guangdong, it seems understandable for such an effect.

Shi Diwen was obviously dissatisfied with this situation. After hearing this, he shook his head and said, "The number is too small! It's only a few hundred people a month, and it's a bit reluctant to even set up an administrative village. If it's only at this level, When the work performance is inspected at the end of the year, I'm afraid it will be difficult for you to hand over to the Ministry of Civil Affairs!"

Zhang Qianren said with a wry smile: "The humble job also wants to recruit more people, but it is not easy for the people to abandon their homeland and settle in a foreign land thousands of miles away. If there is no catastrophe, who would be willing to leave their hometown easily? Fujian The fighting in the past two years has calmed down, and Shibazhi harassed the area much less than before. Without the refugee wave, it will be difficult to gather a large number of immigrants in a short period of time."

What Zhang Qianren said is not to shirk responsibility. Since Haihan implemented the strategy of military support to Fujian, Shibazhi, which used to disrupt the social order in the coastal area, has also been directly affected. The scope and frequency of activities have been greatly reduced compared with the past. The number of victims has also been significantly reduced compared to previous years.In the absence of natural disasters and man-made disasters, the difficulty of recruiting a large number of immigrants from an area will increase a lot. Like Lijiazhuang, the means of attracting hungry refugees to voluntarily sign up with a large pot of rice porridge, but in Quanzhou. is not going to work.

Of course, if you have to find a way, it is not impossible, such as promising generous remuneration to immigrants, but this will lead to a significant increase in immigration costs, and such additional expenditures will probably not be approved by the Executive Committee.Even if it is necessary to spend money to attract immigrants, the target must be skilled workers and professionals, not ordinary people recruited in batches.

(End of this chapter)