1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 780
The natives of Ajiashe probably never thought of raising wild deer in captivity before. In their eyes, deer could not be domesticated at all. It was just a kind of prey that could provide skin and meat, not a domestic animal that could be used in captivity.Before the arrival of the Haihan people, most of the buckskins traded by Ajiashe could only be exchanged for coarse cloth, rice, and coarse salt from the Han fishermen living by the sea. These good products brought out by the Han people.It wasn't until this time that they suddenly realized that the value of the inventory in their hands didn't seem to be very high, and it was difficult to exchange those good things that made them miss them from the hands of the Haihan people.Anxi's proposal does seem to be a way to solve this contradiction between supply and demand.

Anxi didn't think of it all at once. Before he left for Taiwan, he had already learned from Yuan Qiuye, who was in charge of poultry and livestock at the Ministry of Agriculture, so that he could use some agricultural and forestry projects that were not too difficult to implement to bring Taiwan to Taiwan. The indigenous tribes on the island were incorporated into Haihan's trading system.At that time, in addition to the most commonly used economic crops, among the suggestions Yuan Qiuye gave him was artificially raising deer.

In 31, the 1603st year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty, the Taiwan sika deer was recorded in "Dong Fan Ji" written by Chen Di.After the Dutch came to Taiwan to colonize, they also began to buy deer skins from the indigenous people.After the Han fishermen in the Kaohsiung Port area exchanged the buckskins from the Ajiashe people, they basically took them to Dayuan Port to conduct a second transaction with the Dutch.But such a model is clearly unable to meet Haihan's needs for such resources, and if a large amount of deerskins are purchased on relatively favorable terms, the wild deer herd on the island will suffer a devastating blow within a year or two.

Haihan people with a long-term vision naturally disdain such things as exhausting the pond and fishing.Fragmented supply is not the way Haihan is interested in trading operations. A stable and controllable supply source is what the business department really wants to achieve.However, the technical difficulty of artificial deer breeding is not great, and the operating cost is also very low. As for the long-term stable income.Taiwanese sika deer mature at one and a half years old and can reproduce once a year.Male deer can be used for breeding, or provide high-value commodities such as venison, deer skin, deer whip, deer antler, deer blood, etc. After reaching a certain breeding scale, the economic value is considerable, and it can gradually develop into a local characteristic industry. Integrating the indigenous population of the island of Taiwan through the trade system would also play a role.

For the natives who are relatively more familiar with the habits of sika deer, building a farm to raise deer is even simpler than growing cash crops. Just use a fence to enclose a piece of land to achieve the simplest level of breeding, which is better than farming to serve crops Much easier.

"If you are willing to raise deer, then we can talk about larger and longer-term cooperation, and you will get more benefits." Anxi spared no effort to persuade the native representatives to accept his proposal.

After listening to the translation, the native representative asked only one sentence: "Can we get more pig iron, fine salt, fine wine and clear crystal bowls?"

"Yes, of course!" Anxi replied with a smile: "Believe me, you will get far more than that. Raising deer will allow you to live a better life in the future."

Seeing the representatives of the locals leave contentedly with the two altars of "Sanya Special Wine" presented by Anxi, Chen Yixin not only sighed: "These people are really simple, and they agreed without further bargaining."

"What they care about is not the unit price of the deerskins, but how many things they can exchange for the deerskins they provide." Anxi explained: "If the deerskins they provide at one time can exchange for a bottle for everyone in the club wine, then they probably won’t care whether the bottle of wine is exchanged for four or five buckskins.”

"This is the tragedy of not having a math teacher." Chen Yixin couldn't help joking.

"So we just need to let them know that raising deer is more cost-effective than their current method of hunting deer." Anxi continued: "If Ajiashe can cooperate with us, it will be considered a good start here. It will be relatively easier to contact other indigenous tribes.”

After the theft gang was dealt with publicly, the security situation in the immigration camp has improved significantly.After all, such things as petty theft will be sentenced to three and a half years of hard labor. If other things are committed, the sentence will be even more serious. No one would be willing to risk being sent to hard labor to offend Hai. Various decrees promulgated by the Han government.

Almost at the same time, Qian Tiandun and Li Dou also met with visitors from Fujian at the command center of the Penghu base.The envoy who came to Penghu this time was Dong Yanyun, who had dealt with the Haihan people for several years, and was also one of Xu Xinsu's most trusted confidantes.Since Qian Tiandun came to Fujian last year, he has dealt with him many times, and Li Dou has known this Master Dong as early as Wanshan Port, so they are considered to be acquainted with each other.

The main purpose of Dong Yanyun's visit to Penghu this time is to discuss with Haihan about the development of Taiwan Island.

It is unlikely that Haihan's actions on the coast of Taiwan could be completely hidden from Fujian officials. Not only in Penghu, but also on the island of Taiwan, there are also people who provide information for Fujian officials.Not two days after Qian Tiandun led the team to Zhuoshuixi for the first time to investigate, Fujian already knew that the Haihan militia had gone to Taiwan Island.Of course, whether this kind of action is part of daily training or has other intentions, it is difficult to make a clear judgment based on just a few words of news, and it is not good for Fujian to question Haihan about this.

Although Xu Xinsu didn't say a word after receiving the news, he immediately paid more attention to the movement of the Penghu garrison.Of course, this kind of attention is not out of hostility. Xu Xinsu is also very clear that the Haihan people want something from him in Fujian, and will not do anything against him.He just wanted to make sure that the reason why the Haihan people didn't take the initiative to inform him was not because they planned to leave their partners and go it alone.

The Haihan people have a certain obsession with Taiwan Island, Xu Xinsu is very clear about this.Since the Haihan people set up an office in Fujian, they have never stopped collecting intelligence on Taiwan Island, and their interest in Taiwan even surpassed that of Penghu, which was occupied by Shibazhi at that time.Judging from the colonial experience of the Haihan people in the Hainan Island area, Xu Xinsu is almost certain that they will attack Taiwan sooner or later.

However, Xu Xinsu thinks that the Haihan people probably won’t be broad-minded enough to allow the Dutch to continue their stronghold on Taiwan Island. Now the only stumbling block and thorn in the side are the Dutch in Dayuan Port.Before Haihan took action on Taiwan Island, he would probably find an excuse to fight a war and drive the Dutch away from the west coast of Taiwan.

Xu Xinsu believes that the Haihan people have the ability to expel the Dutch, but the Penghu base has just been built, and the Haihan people can’t say how solid the foundation is in the local area, so he thinks that even if Haihan wants to do something, they will probably wait until a better time When mature, say one or two years later.

The training situation of the Haihan militia stationed in Penghu in the past few months seems to confirm Xu Xinsu's guess from the side, because the training range of the militia is almost concentrated within ten nautical miles around Penghu, and has never deliberately approached Taiwan. The west coast, it seems, is carefully keeping a safe distance from the Dutch sphere of influence.

However, the news that Qian Tiandun led his troops to land on Taiwan Island immediately turned the situation into a sudden turn for the worse. Although Zhuoshui Creek is still some distance away from Dayuan Port, Qian Tiandun's action can easily be interpreted as a demonstration, even in Xu Xinsu's eyes. It may become a precursor to the attack on Dayuan Port.

The island of Taiwan is not currently the legal territory of the Ming Dynasty. Historically, it was not until 1662 that the Dutch signed a sovereignty transfer agreement with Zheng Chenggong due to their defeat in the war, allowing the island to officially belong to China.However, if there is a chance to set foot on the island of Taiwan, even if it is only a nominal rule, Xu Xinsu will still be very tempted by the fame of expanding the territory and expanding the land.Just like the current Penghu belongs to Daming in name, but the actual control belongs to Haihan.If there is a chance to apply this method to Taiwan, then this credit may be enough for him to be promoted to three ranks to become a high-ranking official in the Ministry of War in Beijing.

Regardless of whether the Haihan people want to drive away the Dutch first, or want to open another port and build a port, Xu Xinsu is willing to stand by Haihan's side in public and private.If there is a war, Xu Xinsu is also willing to send troops, money and food, and he can get a share of military exploits in addition to training.If you want to build a new port, then you should join forces with the Haihan people to see if you can get more benefits for yourself.

According to the cooperation agreement between the two parties, the Fujian military has always stationed a small number of military observers on Penghu Island. Therefore, the second time Qian Tiandun led the main force of the fleet stationed on the island went out, he also did not escape these eyes and ears.However, due to certain confidentiality measures taken by Haihan, Xu Xinsu's people did not know the real destination of the fleet. It was not until a few days after the fleet returned that more definite news was sent to Zhangzhou, saying that they He made brief contact with the Dutch near Dayuan Port.

A fully armed fleet went to the waters of Dayuan Port and stayed for several days. Xu Xinsu would no longer believe that this was part of routine training.In his opinion, this is actually a manifestation of the Haihan people showing their fangs and threatening the Dutch. If the Dutch in Dayuangang fail to control their emotions well, then maybe Haihan may really disagree with each other. The war is on.

After confirming that the news was true, Xu Xinsu asked Xu Jiaqi, the representative in Penghu, to communicate with Haihan, and Qian Tiandun did not continue to hide the truth at this time, and made it clear that he was planning to open a port on Taiwan Island.As for the reason for leading his troops to Dayuan Port, Qian Tiandun lightly claimed that it was just to negotiate terms with the Dutch so that they would not affect Haihan's plan.

Xu Xinsu didn't know how Qian Tiandun got the Dutchman, and he didn't know what kind of conditions were negotiated between the two, but he could tell that since Qian Tiandun expressed his attitude in this way, it meant that Haihan It is likely that force will not be used against the Dutch—at least in a short period of time, there should be no changes, otherwise Haihan would not be able to safely and boldly transport immigrants to settle on the island of Taiwan.

Xu Xinsu would not just be a bystander and miss this good opportunity to step in.Although it is not yet clear where the Haihan people chose to build the port and the future development direction, he can be sure that from the perspective of the Haihan people, they will never make a loss-making business.No matter what the Haihan people want to do on Taiwan Island, it is always right to get on this boat first.So after Xu Xinsu confirmed the news, he sent Dong Yanyun to discuss matters related to the development of Taiwan with Haihan on his behalf.

Before Dong Yanyun came, he thought that with the close cooperation between the two parties in recent years, this negotiation should be a relatively smooth process, and the reasonable requirements of Fujian officials should be met.But the actual situation is that the Haihan people's attitude this time is indescribably awkward. Almost all of Dong Yanyun's requests during the two days of negotiations were rejected.

"Mr. Dong, it is impossible for the port we built on Taiwan Island to be allocated to Daming, even in name. This island is different from other places. It did not belong to Daming in the past, nor will it belong to Ming in the future. " Qian Tiandun's attitude was quite tough, and he once again rejected Dong Yanyun's proposal.

Dong Yanyun can roughly understand what he means by "other places". Except for a few colonies in Annan, almost all the territory Haihan now occupies is the territory of Ming Dynasty, and they have never publicly claimed These places no longer belong to Daming, and it can be regarded as saving a little face of Daming. Officials in the Fuguang area generally believe that this is Haihan's "respect" for Daming.However, Qian Tiandun's attitude seems to have drawn a line for such "respect", that is, these territories at least once belonged to Ming Dynasty before they can sit down and discuss the nominal and actual ownership rights, while Taiwan Island has never been formally owned. Overseas enclaves of Ming Dynasty, Haihan will refuse to negotiate ownership.

But knowing it all, Dong Yanyun still refused to give up. After all, this was an important matter that Xu Xinsu told him several times before he set off.Whether the master will have the opportunity to join the Ministry of War in the future depends to a certain extent on the outcome of his negotiations with the Haihan people this time.

Dong Yanyun pondered for a while before responding: "The matter of ownership of Taiwan Island actually plays a key role in the promotion of Mr. Xu's future career. Haihan has spared no effort to help Mr. Xu in the past few years. I hope This practice can be continued. If Lord Xu can achieve great success in the future and rank above the imperial court, I believe it will be of great benefit to Hai Han."

(End of this chapter)