1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 955 Connectors
Immediately after Hassan's ship docked, the staff at the dock took the initiative to board the ship, asked Hassan to assemble the crew, and then registered the owner, crew, purpose of coming to the port, etc. Simple inspection of the health status of personnel.After arriving in Hong Kong, foreign businessmen like Hassan do not need to be quarantined and observed like new immigrants to prevent the entry of epidemics, but the health department will still conduct quarantine as soon as the ship docks at the port, and the security department will also take this opportunity to check Are there any suspicious elements among the arrivals?

In addition, the range of activities of these personnel in the local area will still be restricted. The area of ​​activity of ordinary sailors and crew members can only be within the area designated by the Port Authority, while the scale of merchants is slightly larger, and they can trade in Sanya Port and Shengli Port. However, if you want to go to sensitive areas such as Luhuitou Peninsula, Tiandu Industrial Zone, Shengli Fort, or the military zone on the east coast of Shengli Port, you still need to apply separately and go through the corresponding procedures.

Hassan is a businessman who belongs to the Dan Gang, and has no firm or other capital background, so unlike some other "organized" businessmen, he has a special store in Sanya and can only live in a designated hotel near the pier.In my conscience, these local hotels in Sanya are more expensive, but the conditions are still good. There are not only cheap eight-person rooms for sailors and crew members, but also single rooms that Hassan used to rent. The inside and outside of the house are clean. Clean, bedding is changed regularly, and various living tools are also complete.If you are a big boss who can afford it, you can also charter a courtyard or even a villa in the local area. Those with a higher status can also stay in the Guest House on the side of Shengli Harbor. There are all kinds of accommodation places available.

Probably because the quantity of copper ingots claimed by Hassan when registering the goods attracted the attention of the authorities, the port center soon sent a special person to the hotel where Hassan was staying to confirm to him the type and quantity of the goods shipped this time.

"That's right, the registered copper ingots are now on board and can be inspected at any time. If you want to rush the transaction, that's fine." Hassan said to the staff of the port center with a smile: The villain has spent a lot of thought on bringing this batch of copper ingots, I hope you can understand that it is not easy for the villain to do things, and take care of it in the future."

Since Hassan started to travel to Sanya, he has consciously learned Chinese. In addition, there are also Chinese in the crew on his ship. After a long time, he can speak Chinese very fluently.It's just that he can speak but not recognize. Except for his own name that can be scribbled crookedly, he is basically illiterate.

The staff member had dealt with him before, and he knew Hassan, so he said with a smile: "This is easy to handle, and I will apply for an upgrade of trading authority for you later. With the real things on the ship as evidence, it is estimated that it will take two or three days. The formalities can be completed within one day, and this trip will have time to enjoy a higher level of treatment."

According to the regulations of the Ministry of Commerce, the trade between foreign businessmen and Haihan is restricted by the classification of transaction authority levels. The primary authority can only buy and sell basic daily necessities, agricultural and forestry products, and similar military supplies, weapons, navigation equipment, mechanical processing equipment, etc. , you must have a relatively high trading authority to get the opportunity to place an order.In addition, the purchase limit of the short-supplied goods in the market will also increase with the improvement of trading authority, which is a very affordable grading system for foreign businessmen.

In order to obtain the promotion of trading authority, in addition to gaining credit accumulation through daily trade, the fastest way to upgrade is to provide various materials and resources that Haihan urgently needs.Each port authority will publish a batch of demand lists on a regular basis, and merchants only need to follow the map to find out the items listed on the list and transport them to Haihan Port.Copper, a strategic material, has always been at the top of Haihan's official procurement list, and the copper that Hassan transported to Sanya Port this time is almost equivalent to the current one-month output of the Shilu Mine. Immediately aroused the attention of the port center.

Hassan's goal is to have long-term dealings with the Haihan people, so he naturally attaches great importance to the rules of the game formulated by them. Before coming here, he planned to take advantage of this opportunity to blackmail the Spaniards to increase his trade authority level, so that in the future You can buy more special commodities with limited purchases from Haihan Port.

If possible, Hassan even wanted to order a fast sailboat at Haihan's shipyard, although he also knew that this new type of sailboat with excellent performance was expensive and had to wait for the dockyard schedule of the shipyard, but Haihan The sailing boat Dora’s ability to run fast is far better than his current boat, and its unique sailing system will also make the sailboat’s manipulation no longer as easy to be limited by ocean currents and wind directions as before. , With this kind of boat, it will be much simpler.If I travel to Sanya twice a year, I can earn back the investment in buying a boat in at most two years.

Hassan happily sent off the Haihan staff, asked his deputy to take care of the crew and cargo, and went out alone.It wasn't the first time he came here, he arrived at the train station with ease, bought a ticket and got on the train to the direction of Fort Victory.

After getting off at Victory Fort Station, Hassan went straight to the Victory Port Landscape Avenue.Now this place is the most concentrated area of ​​local retail and service industries. No matter local residents or foreigners, they like to come here to have a look, eat and drink, and enjoy the new Haihan-style life.

The concrete road about two feet wide extends from Fort Victory to the dock in the port area. On both sides of the avenue are rows of shops, restaurants, restaurants, medical clinics, cloth shops, rice shops, etc. The street is bustling with people.From time to time, a group of five black-clothed police officers can be seen, with hardwood batons a foot and a half long in their waists and copper whistles hanging on their chests, swaggering through the city in a single file.There will be some little kids in the back, and they will line up and follow behind.

When Hassan came here before, he saw someone making trouble in the street market, and soon the police arrived to deal with it. If the five people still couldn't deal with the situation, someone would blow a copper whistle, so that the patrolling police in the distance would soon The team will also come for reinforcements.Although these policemen are only equipped with wooden batons, they are very brave and decisive in dealing with emergencies. This probably has something to do with the fact that most of their personnel are veterans from the Militia Army.And the last time Hassan came here, he had already noticed that the captain of each patrol team wore a short firecracker around his waist. Its power may not be able to directly kill people on the spot, but if you are hit by it, don't even think about it. ran away.

There are two masonry bunkers outside the gate of Victory Fort in the north, where a platoon of militiamen is stationed, guarding the drawbridge that enters and exits Victory Fort.Hassan has never been in Fort Victory, because outsiders have to go through the corresponding application procedures to enter that place, and Hassan came here mainly for business, and there is no reason to go to Fort Victory to deal with Haihan people directly.

Hassan looked at the two-color flag of Haihan flying on the Victory Fort from a distance, thinking that this time he might have to go inside for a while.Before he left Hong Kong, he planned to secretly expose the intelligence personnel deployed by the Spaniards locally, so that he could clean up and go ashore smoothly, and become an honest businessman in the future.

Hassan planned to complete the contact with the other party first, deliver Sanchez's secret letter to the other party first, wait for the other party's reply in two days, and then go to expose it.In this way, even if the other party gets away by chance, they may not be able to associate the matter with him. After all, Hassan is not the only one who sent information to the Spaniards. .

The meeting place Hassan went to was a grocery store run by Han people called "Nanyang Pavilion".As the name suggests, this store specializes in all kinds of Nanyang products, including ivory and rhino horn, jade jewelry, medicinal herbs and spices, etc., most of which are of high value.The upward side of the display counter in the store is even inlaid with extremely expensive glass panels, and the cost for this is quite a lot.

In addition to these groceries, the store also sells some books that are not commonly seen in the market, most of which are rare copies or even manuscripts with small print volumes. The average price is much higher than the books sold in ordinary study rooms.

The items sold were unpopular, so naturally there were not many customers. When Hassan came to the door, the shopkeeper and the guy in charge of greeting customers were all sitting at the counter and dozing off. Hassan coughed twice, and the two woke up from their sleep. come over.

"It's Captain Hassan! Rare customers, Xiao Huang, hurry up and make tea!" The shopkeeper hurriedly stood up and greeted Hassan: "When will you arrive in Sanya?"

Hassan responded, "I just arrived today, and I'll come over after I've settled down. How's the shopkeeper Su's business?"

Shopkeeper Su smiled awkwardly and said, "Is the business good? As you can see, the items sold in my shop are expensive and unpopular, and few people usually come to visit them."

Hassan said: "That doesn't matter. Anyway, your boss doesn't expect to make much money from this shop. Besides, your business is closed for half a year, and it doesn't need to be as lively as a place to eat."

"Nanyang Pavilion" is one of the industries under the name of "Qiong Lianfa", and the shareholders of "Qiong Lianfa" are now more inclined to do business, even if most of the goods sold in this store are luxury goods. In the eyes, it's just a small business.This store is only open to serve a very small number of high-end consumer groups including time travelers. These people have strong spending power, pay more attention to product quality, and are less sensitive to price.And the Haihan people themselves are also one of the major shareholders of "Qiong Lianfa", so part of the profit that the store can earn from the Haihan people has to flow back to the Haihan people.

After the two chatted for a while, Hassan took out a small flannel bag from his arms and handed it to shopkeeper Su: "These are some gems I bought from Java this time. Shopkeeper Su, let's take a look."

Shopkeeper Su put it on the palm of his hand and admired it for a while, then nodded and said: "These emeralds are not bad, they are pure and bright, and they can be sold at a good price with just a little polishing... Are they also on consignment in this shop this time?"

Hassan nodded and said, "As usual, shopkeeper Su will charge [-]% of the selling price."

Shopkeeper Su put away the gems with a grin. This item was not purchased from the store, and the profits he earned naturally did not need to be accounted for. After the sale, all the [-]% of the handling fee went into his personal pocket. The money came easily. joy.

Hassan continued, "Does my friend still come here to read books?"

"Come on, come every seven days." Shopkeeper Su nodded and said, "Although he only reads books and doesn't buy anything, for your sake, we won't drive him away. Calculate the time, probably tomorrow He will come again, if you want to see him, you can come over at this time tomorrow, most likely you will be able to meet him."

Hassan waved his hand and said, "I have other things to do tomorrow, so I won't be able to come. If you see him, please send me a message. I will invite him to dinner at Zuixian Tower the night after tomorrow. Please come."

"Every time you come to Sanya, you invite your friend to Zuixianlou for dinner. The relationship is really good!" Shopkeeper Su didn't take it seriously, nodded and agreed to help him.

The person Hassan wants to invite is naturally not an ordinary friend, but an intelligence officer sent by Spain to lurk in Sanya.But Hassan was just a messenger, and didn't know the other party's real name, where he lived, and what kind of occupation he was engaged in. Every time he came to Sanya to meet with him, he had to pass a message through a middleman to make an appointment to meet.

Of course, the Spaniards chose such a complicated connection method because of their own safety considerations. It was Qiong Lianfa’s subordinates who passed the information in the middle. Even if the Haihan people had safety measures, it was difficult for them to be so comprehensive.

After Hassan finished talking about the business, he got up and left.After a week at sea, he just wanted to relax, take a bath and massage, and then reward himself with a big meal.

Early the next morning, Hassan was woken up by his subordinates, saying that it was Haihan who came to receive the goods.Hassan accompanied Haihan's men sleepily on board the ship to inspect the goods, and then counted the copper ingots and unloaded the ship. Hassan and his crew did not intervene to help during the process, but Haihan's side completed it relatively easily. this process.

"This is a check issued by Haihan Bank. You can go to the Fort Victory Head Office to withdraw the amount on the check at any time."

Hassan took the check and looked at it, his eyes narrowed.The purchase price Haihan gave him was very good, and Hassan wondered if the effect of the upgrade of trading authority had already taken place.Being able to make a fortune from the copper ingot trade is also a surprise for him this time in Sanya.

"Captain Hassan, if possible, we hope that you can engage in the transportation of copper ore or copper ingots for a long time. As long as you can guarantee the trading volume, the price will be negotiable." Haihan's staff threw out an extremely tempting one condition.

Hassan thought to himself, I think so, but the problem is that after running this time, Spain will probably be offended. There will be no such good opportunities in the future. It would be great not to be hunted down by Sanchez with a reward.

(End of this chapter)