Chapter 2222

The answer given by Chen Xiaoyu will undoubtedly make most people in the Ming Dynasty feel uncomfortable. After all, the Ming Dynasty has always regarded itself as the supreme kingdom of heaven and regards surrounding countries as weak chickens. It is difficult for the people to accept that a military force suddenly appears next to the Ming Dynasty.

The emerging countries above actually made Ming Dynasty even lack the courage to adopt a military confrontation attitude.

The barbarians outside the pass in the north are enough to cause a headache, but the Haihan emerging from the sea in the south seem to be even better. Most of their territories are actually occupied by the Ming Dynasty, including the Zhoushan Islands.

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How did this place fall into the hands of the Haihan people? Dai Chengrong had heard some rumors before. The general idea was that armed pirates entrenched in the Zhoushan Islands robbed Haihan's merchant ships. As a result, the angry Haihan launched a massive attack and sent out armed pirates.

The fleet wiped out the pirates here, and then took advantage of the situation to take over the place as their own.

As for why the Ming Dynasty acquiesced to what Haihan did in Zhoushan, the outside world has not received an official statement on this, but it is generally believed that this was a compromise made by the Ming Dynasty as a last resort due to Haihan's military superiority.

However, because of his family connections, Dai Chengrong had access to some undisclosed official information, and knew that the reason for this situation was not just the difference in force. Ming was unwilling to show his face because he was more concerned about his own situation.

In the face of difficulties, internal and external troubles, we can only avoid opening a new battlefield on the southeast coast as much as possible, not to mention that this opponent is much more powerful than the peasant army in the Central Plains and the barbarians in the north.

In addition, Haihan's occupation of the Zhoushan Islands was not for the purpose of invading the Ming Dynasty. Although he often showed off his force, he did not attack the coastal state capitals. Instead, he opened a port in Zhoushan to start transnational trade.

If the Ming Dynasty takes military measures in this situation, it will reignite the war that has subsided, and objectively speaking, the Ming Dynasty has no guarantee of victory. To launch a war for a useless place like the Zhoushan Islands, Standing

From Ming's perspective, taking this kind of risk is obviously not cost-effective.

Of course, under the control of a force like Haihan who is good at operating maritime trade, Zhoushan is no longer useless, but a trading port that can radiate to the prosperous areas of Hangzhou Bay and the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, both in terms of development prospects and strategic position.

It is very important and has already been included in the long-term planning of the Executive Committee.

Although Chen Xiaoyu's reasons sounded a little biased, Dai Chengrong couldn't produce any evidence to refute his point of view. After all, based on his personal experience, he had never seen such a large warship. But when he thought of it,

The foreign country of Haihan actually had more powerful military force than the Ming Dynasty. Dai Chengrong was both unwilling and envious.

Chen Xiaoyu continued: "Our country still has many warships of this level, and new ships enter the navy every year. And I heard from General Shi that even larger sail warships than this will be built in the future!"

Although Dai Chengrong didn't understand Haihan's shipbuilding capabilities, after seeing this majestic-class battleship with his own eyes, he had no doubts about Chen Xiaoyu's boast. But when he thought of such a powerful foreign armed fleet stationed on the coastline of the Ming Dynasty, he felt

There are still some lumps.

"Let's go, find a place to eat, and I'll take you to see these two ships go to sea another day when I have the opportunity!" Chen Xiaoyu could tell from Dai Chengrong's expression that he was interested in these two battleships, so he deliberately wanted to whet his appetite.

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Sure enough, Dai Chengrong immediately responded: "Instructor, you must remember to do what you say!"

Chen Xiaoyu was going to find a familiar small restaurant near the military port to eat, but Dai Chengrong took the initiative and said: "It's rare to come out, why not find a better place, and I will bear all the expenses!"

After saying that, he patted his waist coquettishly and said to Chen Xiaoyu: "Just leave the money to me, the instructor!"

Chen Xiaoyu smiled and said, "So just now you said you were going back to the dormitory to get something, so you just went to get the money!"

Dai Chengrong said: "The military camp is strictly controlled. Gambling is not allowed, and there is nothing to buy. I respect the instructors but you don't accept them. The money I bring cannot be spent at all. It's rare to go out today, so of course I have to find someone."

Great place to spend money!”

When these salt merchant children came to Zhoushan, they all brought a lot of luggage. Although they were forced to give up some unimportant personal belongings when they entered the military camp, almost everyone had some money in their luggage. But this is

It is not their personal behavior, but the measures arranged by each of the seven surnames.

The purpose of this arrangement by various salt merchants is also very simple. It is to consider that these children will definitely encounter many inconveniences when they go out, but as long as they have enough money on hand, I believe it will be enough to solve most of the difficulties. Of course, if you can

It would be best to bribe a few Haihan officers during training and invite them to come to Yangzhou to serve for you after they retire.

However, this is not the first time that Haihan has organized this kind of military training, and they have naturally taken precautions against it. All soldiers participating in the training are strictly prohibited from accepting property gifts from the children of salt merchants to avoid uncontrollable situations.

Of course, this kind of regulation is only for the environment in the military camp. Outside the camp, many things may not be strictly implemented in accordance with the rules. For example, in order to ensure that the training of these salt merchants' children can proceed smoothly, Ma Zhengping can

Duan Tiancheng was often given various benefits, and Duan Tiancheng basically accepted them all without deliberately refusing.

Dai Chengrong also knows that it is inconvenient to actively offer benefits to these instructors in the military, but today he has a rare opportunity to leave the military camp. Of course, he must try to make the instructors happy. As for how much money it will cost, Dai Chengrong will not feel bad at all. If he behaves

Being more generous can make the instructor look at him differently, so he won't mind spending as much money as possible in Zhoushan, and he knows that his old father far away in Yangzhou will definitely support him in doing so.

So at Dai Chengrong's strong request, the two of them called a rickshaw nearby and went to the port area west of Xiaozhushan.

Dinghai Port is bounded by Xiaozhushan, which extends from the inland to the coastline in the middle of the harbor, and is divided into two port areas, the east and west, each responsible for military and civilian functions. The port area to the west of Xiaozhushan is the station of the East China Sea Fleet, while the port area to the east is

, is a bustling commercial district.

Dai Chengrong arrived at Dinghai Port by boat that day, but had no chance to take a look at the business district. After getting off the ship, he was sent to the military camp. It was not until today that he finally had the honor to experience the prosperity of Dinghai Port.

Compared with the cities that Dai Chengrong has visited before, one of the major features of Dinghaiport is that the streets are wide and straight. It can be seen that a lot of effort was put into the planning and construction period. And there are many buildings on both sides of the streets that can be seen

It was built just a few years ago. It can be seen that Haihan must have done a lot in infrastructure construction after taking over this place.

The houses on both sides of the street are actually all kinds of shops, and the flow of people on the street is also very considerable. It is really a prosperous scene. Even compared with a city like Yangzhou, which is famous for its prosperity. , it seems that he will not be at a disadvantage.

Seeing that the streets here were obviously becoming congested, Chen Xiaoyu suggested getting off the car and walking. Dai Chengrong had this in mind and immediately asked the driver to pull over.

"You probably can't imagine what Zhoushan Island looked like when we captured it from the pirates." Chen Xiaoyu proudly raised his hand and pointed to the shops on both sides of the street and said: "I heard the commander say, that At that time, this place was a fishing port town. This street could not even be called a street. It was just a three-foot-wide loess road. There were several taverns, pawn shops, and brothels on the roadside, all run by pirates on the island. It’s a smoky atmosphere. Although there are many businessmen coming in and out here every year, no one has ever planned to build a city here until we came!”

Dai Chengrong said: "For such a large project, and the island has a small population, the soldiers who came to the island must have been forced to serve as migrant workers and participate in the project."

"When I went to the island, the troops were no longer involved in these infrastructure projects." Chen Xiaoyu shook his head and said, "Later on, these projects were successively undertaken by businessmen from various countries."

When Chen Xiaoyu fled to Zhoushan Island to join the army, the Haihan Army had already established a foothold here. It was the period when Dinghaiport was being built with great fanfare. But he was lucky, and it happened that Shi Diwen was implementing a series of measures in Zhoushan at that time. The policy is conducive to businessmen participating in local development and construction, so they are not used as migrant workers.

Dai Chengrong said: "These infrastructure projects cost a lot of money and require a large amount of labor to be brought to the island. Why would any businessman be willing to undertake them?"

"It's all for profit!" Chen Xiaoyu revealed the secret: "By building roads and ports, you can get the development rights of nearby areas. Businessmen with vision are rushing to do it."

Dai Chengrong smiled and said: "Those who are rushing ahead must be mostly businessmen from Haihan Kingdom."

Chen Xiaoyu nodded and said: "Businessmen here in Jiangsu and Zhejiang have no cooperation experience, and most of them have a wait-and-see attitude. But businessmen from our country know that this kind of development project is rich in oil and water, and it can be divided in a few times. Wait for the local businessmen to come to their senses." , we can only take on some second-hand projects that are subcontracted.”

After Haihan occupied Zhoushan Island, the first business groups from Fujian and Guangdong to invest in infrastructure development were the business groups from Fujian and Guangdong. These local business groups had been cooperating with Haihan for a longer period of time, and they were more aware of Haihan's influence on overseas colonies. Development routines, and at the same time possessing strong financial resources, they took over these projects and hired migrant workers from nearby states to go to the island to start construction. Although the initial investment was huge, the many benefits gained from this would definitely not be achieved by doing maritime trade business alone. of.

Although Chen Xiaoyu did not directly participate in the construction process of these projects at that time, many officers in his army served as supervisors on these construction sites to ensure that the quality of these projects contracted by businessmen would not be perfunctory. Therefore, Chen Xiaoyu Later, I heard these officers reveal many anecdotes about the development process of the port area. Although the level of information he had access to was not high, it was more than enough to show off their knowledge to Dai Chengrong.

Dai Chengrong listened attentively and thought that he should write this down. When he finds an opportunity to meet Mr. Ma another day, he will talk about this cooperation method and see if the Seven Big Surnames can also get a share of Zhoushan Island.

But in fact, he didn't need to say it. Ma Zhengping had already been exposed to information in this field. Both Xuan Xiangming and Duan Tiancheng were persuading him to consider taking on some larger infrastructure projects in Zhoushan. However, during this period, the Zhoushan authorities were able to provide foreign businessmen with

The cooperation conditions provided are definitely not as good as the policies when I first arrived in Zhoushan.

Moreover, the prime land near Dinghai Port has long been divided up. If Ma Zhengping wants to take on this kind of project, it can only be implemented in the peripheral area designated by the Zhoushan authorities, which is roughly the coast east of the existing port area. Even if the construction starts immediately,

In the short term, it will definitely not be able to compare with the port area that has matured over the past few years.

"After eating in the army for so many days, why don't you go eat some Yangzhou cuisine and feel the taste of your hometown?" Chen Xiaoyu suggested.

"There is Yangzhou cuisine here? That's great, let's have a labor reeducation officer lead the way!" Although Dai Chengrong is said to be from Huizhou, he was born in Yangzhou and his eating habits are actually the same as those of authentic Yangzhou people. What to eat after coming to Zhoushan

It’s not bad, but Dai Chengrong naturally doesn’t want to miss the opportunity to eat hometown food in a foreign country.

After walking on the street for a while, Chen Xiaoyu asked, "How about the restaurant in front of me?"

Dai Chengrong took a look and saw a conspicuous plaque hanging outside the restaurant on the street, which was called "Second Branch Building". He immediately smiled and praised: "The instructor is an expert. This Second Branch Building is also a well-known restaurant in Yangzhou City. It makes three

The first banquet was particularly outstanding, and I didn’t expect it to be opened in Zhoushan without any fanfare!”

When Chen Xiaoyu heard Dai Chengrong praise him for his expertise, he couldn't help but feel hot on his face. This restaurant is considered a high-end place in Yangzhou. Just a table of dishes costs a lot of money. He can't afford it, but he used to pay with his father.

The second floor has delivered river fresh food a few times.

Chen Xiaoyu knew that this place was expensive, so he did not go in directly out of caution. He asked Dai Chengrong for his opinion first. However, Dai Chengrong did not consider the price issue at all. Since the instructor chose this place, he just went in to eat, and immediately greeted him

Chen Xiaoyu went in.

The waiter standing at the door saw the two men wearing military uniforms and quickly came over to greet them: "Are the two military masters here to eat or looking for someone?"

"Is there a private room upstairs for dinner? Lead the way!" Dai Chengrong was used to the world and knew that the private rooms on the second floor were all upstairs, so he asked the waiter to lead the way.

The waiter looked embarrassed and said: "Master Jun, the private room is gone today..."

"Then just find a seat facing the street upstairs!" Dai Chengrong didn't care either.

The waiter took the two of them to the third floor and found a table by the window. Looking out the window, you could see the Dinghai Port Pier, and the ships docked densely on the shore were already lit up with lights.

"What do you two military masters want to eat? Can you please recommend our restaurant's signature dishes?"

"No need to recommend. Let's try your restaurant's best three-head banquet first... It's a pity that this place is far away from Yangzhou, otherwise it would be good to have three delicacies from the Yangtze River!" Dai Chengrong didn't need the waiter's recommendation. After sitting down, he became familiar with the road.

Place the dishes.
Chapter completed!