1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 892 Cooperation Routines
Since Qian Tiandun was transferred to Fujian in the summer of 1631, he has dealt with officials of the Ming Dynasty for two years, and has a relatively deep understanding of their behavior habits and ways of thinking.Although it is true that there are honest officials who are loyal to the emperor and patriotic and unwilling to accept Haihan's benefits, most officials cannot refuse the temptation of real money, and their attitude is only based on Haihan's bid and the risk he needs to bear for it.

After Haihan entered Zhejiang, it still followed a set of operation methods that had achieved good results in the southern region. First, it bought civil and military officials in the coastal areas. The establishment of regional relations drags more people into the water in order to seek greater benefits in the trading system dominated by Haihan.Therefore, when Haihan first came to Zhejiang, almost all the officials he came into contact with worked in Ningbo Prefecture. The purpose was to take this area first and use it as a springboard between Zhoushan and the mainland.

After distributing a lot of money, the civil and military officials of Ningbo Mansion changed their positions one after another, gave up their initial resistance to Hai Han, and began to enjoy the dividends brought by Hai Han.Those with smarter brains, such as the prefect Qu Yutong and others, have already found an agent and directly joined Haihan's trading system to participate in the operation, and their future profits will definitely be more considerable.

Local officials in Ningbo wanted to recruit officials from other state capitals, which was exactly what Hai Han wished for.For Haihan, he was not afraid that Ming officials were greedy for money, but he was afraid that the other party would not raise conditions. As long as he was willing to ask for a price, it would be negotiable.As for the money spent, sooner or later it can be recovered hundreds of times and thousands of times from the local area through trade, which is not the primary issue.What's more, this matter also involves the safety of maritime navigation that worries the headquarters the most. No matter whether this matter is true or not, it has to be investigated and understood.

Immediately, Qian Tiandun took a pen and wrote a reply letter to Xu Shaohua, explaining what he meant, and giving the meeting place and approximate time.The news was transmitted from Zhoushan to Guanhaiwei, and then to Linshanwei. After the commanders of the two guards agreed, it went back and forth again, and it took several days.Fortunately, considering the low speed of information transmission in this era, Qian Tiandun specially set the meeting time five days later, so it was not affected.

The two sides set the meeting place on the southern coast of Jintang Island, which is currently controlled by Haihan. Gao Qiaonan took a company to the place one day in advance, and cleared and searched the meeting place within a five-mile radius.In addition, the navy also dispatched four expedition-class and four exploration-class warships, and deployed a maritime cordon between Jintang Island and Yongjiang Estuary to prevent things from changing.

Qian Tiandun chose this place to meet because he fully considered the positions of both parties. Although Jintang Island is an island controlled by Haihan, there are no armed personnel stationed on the island.Its south bank is less than ten miles away from the mainland, and less than twenty miles away from Yongjiang Estuary where the naval forces are stationed. Ming officials don't have to worry too much about safety when they come to meet, and they won't have too much psychological burden.

Wei Shan, Commander of Linshanwei, and Huang Tao, Commander of Guanhaiwei, arrived on the same boat, and the person who sent them over was General Xu Shaohua, who acted as an intermediary.After landing, they were welcomed into the large tent that Haihan's party had set up in advance.Here they finally met the Haihan people who were rumored to be called the "chief".

Both are soldiers, Wei Shan and Huang Tao have a very good impression of Qian Tiandun, with a dark complexion and a strong figure, exuding a confident and steady aura, and this kind of aura can only be obtained by someone who has been in a high position for a long time and is used to giving orders and controlling the power of life and death. People will have it.The other party even allowed them to enter the negotiation venue with their own weapons. This courage and demeanor was enough to make them heartbroken.

After Xu Shaohua introduced the two parties in the middle, he couldn't help but say polite words such as long admiration for his name, and then Qian Tiandun invited them to a seat and ordered them to serve tea.

"A few days ago, a friend from Hangzhou Mansion just delivered the tea. They said it was Mingqian Longjing picked from the old tea tree in front of the Hugong Temple at the foot of Shifeng Mountain. Let's see if it's genuine." Qian Tiandun was not too busy talking about business. , but first tasted the tea.

Although Wei Shan and Huang Tao are military professionals, they are not rough people. Qian Tiandun is not in a hurry to get to the point, and they will not be so impatient. They also picked up their teacups and sipped tea.Although this Mingqian Longjing is good, it is not particularly rare for them, and they can still buy it if they want it.But Haihan people have always been known for their shrewdness, so they probably wouldn't just pass themselves off with a cup of Longjing tea, let's see what they can do first.

Qian Tiandun put down his teacup, did not mention the business, but continued to talk about tea: "In the "Tea Classic" written by the tea sage Lu Yu of the Tang Dynasty, there are records about the tea produced in Tianzhu and Lingyin temples in Hangzhou. In the Northern Song Dynasty, it was already It became a tribute tea, and Su Dongpo also wrote poems praising Longjing tea. The famous tea records collected by Huang Yizheng in this dynasty, and the national famous teas compiled by Xu Wenchang also have West Lake Longjing tea.”

Wei Shan and Huang Tao looked at each other, but they didn't understand why Qian Tiandun wanted to talk about this tea. Could it be that this time he came to talk about the threat to Haihan's trade routes?Without mentioning the business, how could he have the leisure to talk about such an irrelevant topic.

However, Qian Tiandun didn't seem to notice the expressions of the two of them, and continued to say to himself: "When we first settled down in Qiongzhou, South China Sea, we couldn't drink good tea from Zhejiang at all. Why? One is too far away, two It is too expensive, but it is actually caused by the long distance and inconvenient transportation. We wanted to drink authentic Longjing tea, so we paid a high price. We brought it back from Zhejiang through our relationship, and wanted to drink the original Longjing tea. For new tea, at least half a year in advance, we have to start trying to establish a relationship. But now that we have arrived in Zhejiang, we find that this product is not so difficult to buy, and it is not as expensive as we thought. We could not buy it in the past, but the situation is different now gone."

Qian Tiandun pointed to the teacup that was put back on the table and said, "After we tasted it, we immediately placed an order for [-] catties of tea from the local merchant. Because we purchased a large quantity, the price was only one-third of that in the southern market. One, when we sell the tea to the south, the gross profit will be at least doubled. If we sell the tea to Annam, Champa, Siam, or even the western Fanren, the profit will be doubled. "

Wei Shan and Huang Tao were confused, as if they understood some implication, but they still didn't seem to understand what Qian Tiandun wanted to do.

Qian Tiandun asked: "Since the two of you are willing to come here to have an interview with me, they are both smart people who can understand the situation. I would like to ask you, why can we get so much profit from the tea trade?"

Huang Tao pondered: "This is naturally because the place of production is too far away from the market."

"That's right." Qian Tiandun nodded and said, "It's also the same in reverse. Why did our Haihan goods sell very expensive before, and often have no market? It's because our production area is too far away from Zhejiang, and the goods are only It can be sold here through layers of transshipment at a higher price. But it’s different now. We can produce many things locally in Zhejiang and sell them locally. The benefits that can be obtained will also be much greater than before. Previously, we held a business promotion meeting to provide businessmen in Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions with an opportunity to make a lot of money together."

"Money is endless, everyone can earn more money by working together, and we believe that everyone can find their own place in our system and play their role." Qian Tiandun smiled Said: "If you two are willing to cooperate with us, we actually have more things for you to do. Of course, these things will not be done in vain, and there will be rich rewards."

"General Qian, can you tell me in detail?" Wei Shan couldn't help asking when he heard this.

"It's very simple, help us control the local trade routes, including land and sea, and control the passage of goods in and out of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and the money will naturally flow into our pockets." Qian Tiandun sensed the other party's urgency, Only then began to slowly turn the topic into serious business.

Regarding how to win over Ming officials, Haihan has accumulated several years of practical operation experience in the south, and has summarized and formed standardized operation steps from it.Although Qian Tiandun is not an official in charge of commercial affairs, as long as he reads the relevant information in advance, he can get good results by following the scriptures.

The first thing is to let these officials realize that the money they have obtained is not ill-gotten wealth, and they do not need to do deviant things in exchange for these benefits. The money they can get in the future will be obtained through reasonable and legal With the means, there is no need to betray one's own country, no need to feel ashamed of the emperor, and there is no risk of losing one's position and head.

To achieve such an effect, they must first understand the basic profit method of Haihan's business model, which is to make profits by controlling maritime trade channels.The high value of Haihan's products is only part of the profit, and various products produced in Daming that sell well at home and abroad will also bring huge profits, provided that the sea trade channel is in the hands of Haihan.

The wealthy Haihan can use the liquidity in his hands to affect the price trend of certain commodities, such as the Longjing tea mentioned by Qian Tiandun just now, and he can influence or even directly acquire this commodity by sweeping a large number of goods. pricing power.Tea can almost be used as a hard currency in international trade in this era, and mastering the pricing power is equivalent to mastering the market.Although there are quite a few rich businessmen in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, compared with the Haihan trading system that has been operating as a group for many years, the ability to mobilize funds is still very different. At this level of operation, it is impossible to form a business with Haihan compete.

During this process, the businessmen of Daming will act as agents or compradors to lay out channels for Haihan to sell or purchase goods, while what Qian Tiandun wants the Ming military to do is to operate on the bright side. affairs.For example, providing protection for Haihan's agents, carriers, and partners, combating competitors who are hostile to Haihan, and providing Haihan with necessary information, etc.

Of course, these are only primary means. After cooperation reaches a certain level, there will inevitably be further military cooperation.Haihan will provide various forms of military assistance to the local garrison under the pretext of providing weapons and training on behalf of the local garrison, and then infiltrate the garrison through various training methods to support pro-Haihan officers to the top, so that the local garrison will gradually become more sympathetic to Haihan. Military aid creates dependency.These methods have been implemented many times in Fuzhou and Guangzhou in the south, and have also been proved to have good effects and operability.Qian Tiandun hopes to form a peripheral buffer zone in Ningbo Mansion and its surrounding areas through such a cooperation method. Even if the Ming court can't think about fighting with Haihan in the future, this buffer zone is enough to help the Zhoushan Islands prepare for war in advance. Prepare.

As long as we try to make local civil and military officials in this area have more and more common interests with Haihan, Haihan can use this as a foundation to slowly spread out the layout in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions, and gradually make the most prosperous and prosperous area of ​​Ming Dynasty Become a sales market and raw material supply place belonging to Haihan.In the process, it is also a normal expenditure item to leak a little benefit to these Ming officials.

Of course, Qian Tiandun will not talk about in-depth cooperation projects at present, mainly because of the operation methods that these two conductors are currently able to do.This also incidentally mentioned the original purpose of their trip - the so-called plot to attack the merchant ship.

Wei Shan hesitated at the beginning and refused to tell the whole story, but Qian Tiandun didn't ask after seeing this, so he ordered someone to bring up two boxes, and when he opened them, they were full of dazzling silver ingots.

"There are 5000 taels of silver in each of these two boxes, and they will be regarded as the hard work of the two adults, and they will be sent to the two adults' boats later." After Qian Tiandun finished speaking, the guard closed the lid of the box Lifted out.

"Actually, I spent 1 taels of silver to buy this information in Hangzhou. I think I should be able to buy it. Maybe even the head of the other party can be bought. But I think it is better to spend this money in Hangzhou. Why not use it to make friends, do the two adults think this is the case?" Qian Tiandun said calmly.

Wei Shan swallowed a mouthful of saliva, but did not respond immediately. His annual official salary was only a hundred taels, plus various gray incomes, and he could earn only taels to 3000 taels a year.The Haihan man threw out a box of silver when he disagreed, which indeed gave him a great shock.As for Qian Tiandun's claim of 1 taels to buy information in Hangzhou, Wei Shan thought to himself, why would he be able to pay such a high price, I just said half the price.

Seeing that Wei Shan was silent, Huang Tao couldn't figure out what he was thinking. He didn't want to offend Qian Tiandun because of it, so he smoothed things over and said: "The inside story of this matter is more complicated. It's not that Mr. Wei doesn't want to talk about it, but he just needs to deal with it first. Find out the ins and outs of it, right Mr. Wei?"

Only then did Wei Shan come back to his senses, and he replied repeatedly: "Yes, yes, yes, Master Huang is right. General Qian, this is what happened..."

(End of this chapter)