Chapter 1976

The merchants from Jiangsu and Zhejiang who came today are all from Ningbo and Shaoxing. The person leading the team is a shopkeeper named Liu who works for the He brothers in Ningbo Prefecture. It is said that he is related to the two brothers He Xiao Heli. And the He family

The brothers were close aides to Qu Yutong, the magistrate of Ningbo. Qu Yutong was married to Shi Diwen, the East China Sea general who was in charge of Zhoushan, so they were both "his own people".

Moreover, Shi Diwen sent a telegram to this side in advance, asking Qian Tiandun and Shi Diwen to take better care of the people sent by Ningbo Prefecture to run industries in North Korea. As for how to take care of them, although it was not mentioned in the telegram

, but it is definitely not to be ignored by others. Therefore, if you don’t look at the monk’s face and the Buddha’s face, it’s not easy to categorically refuse people’s requests to see you. Anyway, you are idle. Qian Tiandun will meet these people and learn about the people in Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

Are there any new changes in the situation?

When the coalition fleet passed through the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions in April this year, a large-scale military exercise was held in Hangzhou Bay to build momentum for Qu Yutong. Qian Tiandun has not yet had time to ask about the subsequent impact of this military exercise. Now

It has been a few months, and the results should be evident.

The shopkeeper Liu Jianyuan from Ningbo Mansion was a little bit beyond Qian Tiandun's expectation. He was not a mature middle-aged and elderly man, but a rather young-looking young man. Qian Tiandun exchanged a few words with him and listened to his words.

After introducing myself, I found out that this person was He Xiao's nephew, who had been responsible for some trade related to Haihan. This time He Xiao sent him to North Korea because he also wanted to see if there were any better opportunities to make a fortune here.

Take advantage of North Korea's vitality to make a fortune.

Of course, the big benefactor behind Liu Jianyuan is not He Xiao, and He Xiao is not qualified to seek Qian Tiandun's relationship. It is mainly the intention of Ningbo Magistrate Qu Yutong. Qu Yutong now has a lot of money on hand, but he doesn't want to

It attracted people's attention, so under Shi Diwen's instigation, he slowly invested in real estate overseas to prepare more escape routes for himself and his family.

The plantations that Qu Yutong bought in Taiwan and other places in his early years have begun to make profits. After the war in Korea ended this year, he heard Shi Diwen talk about the situation in Korea and felt that this was also an opportunity to make a fortune, so he consulted carefully.

After some discussion, he made a decisive decision to ask the He brothers to come forward to find suitable industries in North Korea. If they could set up plantations like the areas under Haihan's rule, they would first encircle 1,800 acres of land in North Korea.

Say it again.

However, it is not a simple matter to build a plantation in a foreign country, and North Korea is already resistant to open agricultural projects. There will definitely not be the same level of official support for plantation projects from Haihan officials in a short time, so this

Errands will also test the ability of the person in charge.

Liu Jianyuan was sent to North Korea at a young age to take charge of such a difficult matter. In addition to his kinship with the He brothers, he also had some extraordinary qualities. After seeing Qian Tiandun, this man was neither humble nor arrogant.

An ordinary businessman is a little less smooth and a little more frank. Moreover, when he talked with Qian Tiandun, he did not use the obscure Ningbo dialect, but tried hard to express himself in Haihan Mandarin, which was not particularly smooth. This kind of

The attention to detail won Qian Tiandun's favor.

In addition, Liu Jianyuan has been engaged in trade in Ningbo and Zhoushan for a long time, and is no stranger to the transnational trade system led by Haihan. He once went to Taiwan to stay for half a year to learn the plantation business model. So when it comes to trade matters

, he is able to answer questions and answers, and it can be seen that he has some useful information in his stomach.

However, as a military general, Qian Tiandun could not interfere too much in business, so he did not make any specific promises to Liu Jianyuan. He only said that since they are all his own people, if they encounter problems that are difficult to solve in North Korea in the future,

, you can also ask for help from the Datong River Base.

Qian Tiandun said this, Liu Jianyuan's background is certainly one of the reasons, but another reason is that the gifts sent by the Zhejiang businessman headed by Liu Jianyuan are not thin. In addition to giving him and Wang Tom each one,

In addition to the great gift, the garrison was also given 20,000 kilograms of grain shipped from Zhejiang, several poultry and livestock, several hundred kilograms of trauma medicines and dozens of gauze. Although this gift to the troops was not of much value

Liancheng's precious thing, but it is extremely practical. Just like what was written on the greeting card, he came specifically to work for the Datong River.

Qian Tiandun believed that Liu Jianyuan was a relatively smart man, and he made an exception and took the initiative to invite guests for a meal after the meeting. Although the conditions in the military camp were limited and it was inconvenient to have a traditional banquet with big fish and meat, Liu Jianyuan and others got this

I was already overjoyed by the invitation, so how could I be picky about it?

The atmosphere during the dinner was more relaxed than before. Qian Tiandun also took the initiative to mention his experience in the Hangzhou Bay military exercise in the first half of the year. Liu Jianyuan heard the string song and understood it, so he also talked about the changes in the situation in Zhejiang in the past half year.

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Just like Haihan's original intention of holding military exercises to demonstrate force, Qu Yutong's influence in Zhejiang rose to a new level. Even some senior officials in Hangzhou quietly went to Ningbo Prefecture without a word.

Meeting with him. Some of these people were worried about their official status and wanted to use Qu Yutong to confirm the attitude of the Haihan people and not regard the coastal areas of Zhejiang as the next target of aggression. Others hoped to use Qu Yutong to confirm

By establishing a relationship with Haihan, he also used the power in his hands to obtain some benefits from Haihan.

By the time autumn came, there were already some rumors in Zhejiang official circles that Qu Yutong might be promoted and transferred to another place by the court. However, Qu Yutong was very calm at this time and did not worry about it.

Taking the promotion opportunity as his only way out, after seeking Shi Diwen's opinion, he also followed Xu Xinsu of Fujian and took the initiative to write a letter requesting to continue to govern in Ningbo Prefecture.

Qu Yutong's choice is undoubtedly wise. If the imperial court wants to transfer him away from Ningbo in the name of promotion, it is simply because he feels that he is too close to the Haihan people. But if he is transferred to the capital for a sinecure, or transferred to the inland

If he serves in a regional position, his advantage will no longer exist - leaving Ningbo, his value to Haihan will plummet, and it will be difficult for Haihan to serve as his backer. By then, he will either become a scapegoat under many restrictions.

He could become a mediocre official and wait until he retires to his hometown to be relieved. Or he could only resign and leave the officialdom and choose a new living environment, but this would be an unacceptable outcome for him.

As long as he stays in Ningbo, everything can be done. Although Qu Yutong has no ambitions to divide the territory, he does enjoy his current life as a local emperor in Ningbo. Although he is only a prefect, his power is far less than that of the big shots in the court.

But in addition to power, Qu Yutong's life now can be regarded as wind and rain. And he also knows that he and Haihan are tied too tightly, and it will be difficult to bypass his promotion in the Ming Dynasty officialdom in the future.

With the symbol of Haihan, it is better to guard Ningbo Mansion honestly and not have those unrealistic dreams.

Therefore, after the Hangzhou Bay military exercise, Zhejiang's official circles were indeed at peace, and the voices opposed to contacts with Haihan were getting smaller and smaller, and the Ningbo government was even calmer. Except for the news that Qu Yutong might be transferred.

There were some minor shocks in the Ningbo market, but other times it was basically calm.

Of course Qian Tiandun would be a little disappointed after hearing this, but he also understood that Yu Tong was only a civil servant, and it was unlikely that he would follow the development path of Xu Xinsu. It was impossible to be independent and independent in the local area.

, at best, you can just make a fortune quietly by guarding the Feng Shui treasure land of Ningbo Mansion.

But at least for a foreseeable period in the future, the trade window of Ningbo will continue to exist. Haihan can perform many operations through this place. The two choices of Qu Yutong's promotion or retention may indeed be the latter situation.

Haihan's benefits are greater.

But another thing Liu Jianyuan mentioned next quickly attracted Qian Tiandun's attention.

Haihan's salt farms opened in the name of cooperation in Xiangshan, Shipu and other places in Ningbo Prefecture have now begun to produce output. Through the operation of the local government, the sea salt produced locally is sold on the market under the name of official salt. Because of the sea salt

The production capacity of the Han Salt Farm far exceeded that of the traditional salt farms of the same era. The low-cost Xiangshan Salt quickly occupied the market and began to expand inland and north of the Yangtze River.

But in this way, the interests of traditional salt merchants are bound to be affected. As for the large salt merchants in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, almost all their supplies come from salt farms in Jiangsu. The impact of these cheap Haihan salts from Ningbo Prefecture on the market immediately affected their business.

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Salt merchants are well aware of how much salt production the several official salt fields in Zhejiang can produce. However, the salt that suddenly appeared on the market is of better quality and lower price than the official salt fields. Naturally, it is impossible to produce this salt.

From the official salt field. As for the source of these cheap salts and where they flow into the market, it is not difficult to find out with a little inquiry.

If they encounter illegal salt produced in other places, Huaiyang's big salt merchants will naturally have a thousand ways to make their competitors close down, or even go to jail. But the situation here in Ningbo Prefecture is a bit special.

It is not just the officials in charge of the salt industry who benefit from it, there are even some officials who are directly involved in the operation. Moreover, these officials are not easy to deal with. They are all Qianhu or even commanders of the local garrison. How can ordinary people influence it?

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It is precisely because of this that most of the sales channels for the salt produced in Ningbo are in the hands of some local military leaders and officials, who then find puppets to sell on behalf of the salt in the market. Naturally, they will not give a share of the salt to traditional salt merchants.

Even the prefect, Qu Yutong, has shares in the salt fields in Xiangshan and Shipu. Therefore, even if the salt merchants in Huaiyang want to get involved, they are not qualified to get goods directly from the salt fields. They can only act as local distributors and make profits.

The quality is definitely much worse than the first-hand supply.

The government is behind the private salt operation in Ningbo. Even if the Huaiyang salt merchants sue the government, it will be useless, but this is a big deal involving millions of taels of silver every year. They will definitely not willingly give up the market to the Haihan people.

Working with officials of all sizes in Ningbo Prefecture. So in recent times, competition between Jiangsu and Zhejiang over the salt industry has been a lot of drama.

Although the salt merchants dare not openly oppose the government in Ningbo, they have more people and money, and they also have the support of the local government behind them, so they will still adopt some unconventional means to attack the export channels of Ningbo salt.

After autumn, ships and convoys transporting sea salt to other places were attacked one after another, and the cargo was often escorted by only three or five armed people. It was never expected that the salt transport would also be attacked. In less than a month,

Several major cases occurred. The military leaders involved had no choice but to assign soldiers under their command to be responsible for the escort work, but this undoubtedly greatly increased the transportation cost.

While the military leaders were still having a headache, the attacks were intensifying, and the scale escalated to the point of using muskets. The small team of soldiers they sent out to escort the salt were also attacked, and because of their outdated weapons, they couldn't defeat them.

The attackers inevitably suffered many casualties. The military leaders could only remain silent and eat Coptis chinensis. After all, sending troops to transport salt was undoubtedly a violation of military discipline. If the trouble became serious, they would be held responsible if the higher authorities held them accountable.

Small trouble.

"Not only did the attackers use muskets, but they were also more powerful than the Ningbo Guards Army?" Qian Tiandun couldn't help but interject after hearing this. Although in his opinion, the Ningbo Prefecture's Guards Army may only have a combat strength of five,

But after all, it was the regular army of the Ming Dynasty, so how could it suffer at the hands of private armed forces?

Liu Jianyuan responded: "The general doesn't know something. The firearms used by the attackers were quite sharp. I heard they were not homemade blunderbuss. I don't know where they got them."

Qian Tiandun said: "From what you said before, most of the people behind the scenes are the salt merchants in the Jianghuai area. These people are extremely rich. It would not be too difficult to purchase weapons and arm a team of troops by themselves. However,

I'm a little curious as to whether the weapons they bought were produced in the Ming Dynasty, or whether they came from places other than the Ming Dynasty."

Liu Jianyuan said: "As far as I know, the muskets used by the attackers are stronger than the weapons equipped by the Ningbo Guards Army. They must not be the kind of old items that have been eliminated from the army."

"Then this is very interesting." Qian Tiandun muttered in a low voice.

In East Asia, the largest weapons manufacturer outside the Ming Dynasty is undoubtedly Haihan. The various rifles sold by Haihan to various countries each year are worth at least four figures, and most of them are sold to the armies of various countries. But there are also a few

Some guns will flow into the private sector and be provided to wealthy people who want to establish small-scale private armies.

Usually such buyers are partners who have a close relationship with Haihan, such as people like Li Jifeng in Guangzhou, but there is no guarantee that some weapons will flow to other places through the black market under a regulatory environment that is not strict enough.
Chapter completed!