Chapter 250 New Target in the South China Sea

This is not to say that time-travelers just like to live a military camp-style collective life. The ultimate reason why everyone chooses to time-travel is to be a master in this time and space. No one is willing to live in a crowded dormitory all the time, even if it is not available for the time being.

To live in a deep residential compound, at least each person must be allocated a welfare house.

However, dreams are beautiful, but reality is cruel. Since time travel, the apartments in Time Travel have been in the planning of the Ministry of Construction, but they only exist in the planning. There are so many infrastructure projects that the Ministry of Construction cannot afford them.

Manpower has been deployed to arrange the construction of many apartments across the country, and the executive committee does not seem to be in a hurry to make this a priority project - there are many more urgent projects to be built than building dormitories and apartments, and that cannot be delayed.

, this can be slowed down for a while.

Slowly, more than half a year has passed. As a result, most people are still living in the prefabricated dormitories built in the early stage. Of course, compared with the bamboo-wood boat-shaped houses where naturalized people live, prefab houses

It seems to be pretty good, but this is not a long-term solution. Recently, the number of people reporting housing conditions issues to the Executive Committee has been increasing, and the Executive Committee has to re-examine this once-neglected link and prepare to urge the Ministry of Construction to

Construction of the multi-apartment project should begin as soon as possible.

Liu Shanxia from the Ministry of Construction also felt that he was wronged. The Ministry of Construction only has 500 or 600 workers, and it is currently responsible for as many as 78 large-scale construction projects, such as the recently launched Tieliang Port development project, North Vietnamese immigrants, etc.

Isolated resettlement area, glass product workshop building, track laying project from the port area to Tiandu under construction, factory construction in Tiandu Industrial Zone, as well as the freight terminal that is about to be completed, and two construction sites for the renovation and expansion of the Shengli Port Saltworks. And then

There are still a lot of infrastructure projects to be done in the port business district. So many places are under construction at the same time. It can be said that the labor required for any one of the projects is not a small amount. The Ministry of Construction is already stretched for this, and where can it find the manpower?

Build apartments.

However, with the arrival of a large number of North Vietnamese immigrants, this labor gap is expected to improve to some extent in the near future. For this reason, Liu Shanxia has submitted an application to the human resources director Ning Qi, hoping to start from the November and December new semesters.

Four to five hundred workers were allocated among the immigrants—if Ningqi did not release them, the apartment project would have to continue to be shelved.

However, in the eyes of foreign merchants, the Haihan people's local construction speed is already inhuman. This place has a wide port, a solid fort, villages and farms, barracks and forts, all of which are from Guangzhou.

The visiting merchants believed that Victory Port had gone through at least two to three years of construction before reaching its current situation. However, when they learned that this place was still deserted at the beginning of the year and that the Haihan people had only settled here for more than half a year, they

I have to marvel at the Haihan people's construction ability that has changed the world.

Moreover, this astonishing construction speed does not seem to have the participation of the Yazhou local government. It is all a miracle accomplished by the Haihan people and a group of people. The only Ming official agency in Victory Port seems to be the Yulin Inspection Department, but the inspection

The actual influence of the Inspection Department in the local area is probably close to zero - careful people have noticed that at the banquet held by the Haihan people for two consecutive days, no one from the Inspection Department showed up, and even those who were called Haihan people showed up.

No one from the Inspection Department has ever been seen entering or exiting the fort of "Base 1".

As long as anyone is interested in observing these details, it is not difficult to come to the conclusion Li Nai said before: the owners of this place are the Haihan people. Everything here is controlled and managed by the Haihan people, and the entire Victory Port is under the control of the Haihan people.

It operates according to the will of Haihan people.

But even this will not affect the business activities of merchants in the local area. Does it matter whether the Haihan people or the inspection department have the final say in this place? There is a lot of money to be made, who can

I would care about who manages this place - maybe it would be better if the Han people in Guihai manage it, then at least there will always be tax-free treatment here, and there won't be all kinds of gods and goddesses who need to burn incense one by one.

After completing the transaction, most of the merchants chose to return to Guangzhou as soon as possible in order to turn the goods on hand into money as soon as possible. However, there were also several principals of the trading houses who were not in a hurry to leave because they had a close relationship with "Fu Ruifeng"

Similarly, I am also keenly aware of the development potential of Victory Port and want to make some longer-term investment plans here. The cost of building a business store here is only a few hundred yuan in circulation coupons, and it is not too much per year.

There is a lot of land rent, but there are many things that can be done. If there is something new in Haihan, the local store can get the information immediately and start buying it. The efficiency is much higher than that of colleagues who wait for the news in Guangzhou.

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That day, after Ren Liang completed the land leasing procedures for another merchant, he saw that the merchant seemed to have no intention of leaving. Ren Liang took the initiative and asked: "Does Boss Zhan have anything else to say?"

Boss Zhan said: "I would like to ask Mr. Ren, if I sell goods from Nanyang and want to sell them locally, how should the cost be calculated?"

Boss Zhan’s name is Zhan Gui, a maritime businessman from Guangzhou. Zhan Gui’s kind of maritime businessman is different from that of “Fu Ruifeng”. He is a serious businessman whose main business is maritime transportation, relying on traveling back and forth between many places.

It is to gain profits from reselling goods, rather than a chain store like "Furuifeng" that only uses shipping as a means of freight. Zhan Gui came to Victory Port this time and brought two ships, one of which was already carrying the purchased goods.

Han's goods went back, but he stayed here to see what other opportunities there were to make a fortune.

Ren Liang explained: "If we purchase the materials, then of course there is no cost, and everything will be borne by us. If the goods are delivered to other merchants, they must also be registered at the port center, and we will charge one thousandth of the cost from both parties."

The handling fee. If it is retailed locally, you will have to pay commodity tax. It depends on what Boss Zhan plans to sell."

"Are you interested in purchasing commodities such as ivory, rhinoceros horn, and ebony?" Zhan Gui asked.

"Oh?" Ren Liang raised his eyebrows slightly: "I wonder where Boss Zhan's goods come from?"

"Zhancheng." Zhan Gui said it directly without intending to hide anything.

"Boss Zhan has business dealings with the Champa State?" Ren Liang asked, already thinking of something Ning Qi had mentioned before.

Zhan Gui said with a smile on his face: "Since I came of age, I have been to Champa many times with my parents to trade, and I have some connections in the local area. If you are interested in purchasing local goods, I can come forward to purchase them on your behalf."

Champa is located in the southeastern part of the Indochina Peninsula. It calls itself the Kingdom of Champa, but China has always called it Champa. The most famous local product is not the ivory and rhinoceros horns that Zhan Gui mentioned, but the ivory and rhinoceros horns that were introduced to China during the Northern Song Dynasty.

The food crop Champa rice, this early-maturing and cold-resistant grain crop, has a very large planting area in the Jiangnan region of China, and has had a profound impact on the rice farming system in the Yangtze River Basin. The relationship between the Champa State and China is also relatively

It’s complicated. There have been wars and wars in history for hundreds of years. In the Ming Dynasty, Champa sent envoys to the court to pay tribute, and Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang issued an edict to confer the title of King of Champa. At that time, it was considered a red flag.

A vassal state of Miao Zheng.

However, since Annan became independent during the Ming Dynasty, life in Champa was not easy. After the establishment of the Li Dynasty in the early 15th century, it immediately launched a military attack on Champa. After 1470, Le Shengzong of the Li Dynasty personally led an army to attack Champa.

It only took three months to conquer the Champa State, and even captured the then King of Champa. Since then, most of the territory of the Champa State has been incorporated into the territory of Annam. Today, Ha Tinh is at war with North and South Vietnam.

, South Quang Binh, Quang Tri and even the Hue area further south are actually the territories that were previously occupied.

In the period around 1627, although Champa had not yet been destroyed, it had already declined. It was a vassal state belonging to Annan and was controlled by the Nguyen regime of South Vietnam. The territory it actually controlled became extremely limited. In Indochina,

There is also a control area in the southeast corner of the city.

Ningqi has explained in previous seminars that the existing immigration policy towards Vietnam actually only applies to North Vietnam, because South Vietnam has been the territory of the Champa State for hundreds of years, and the Champa people use

Their language and characters were not introduced from China, and their race is closer to the Malay race of the South China Sea Islands. From head to toe, they have no direct inheritance relationship with Chinese culture. They want to assimilate them in terms of culture or social system.

It is quite difficult and cannot be accomplished in a short time.

However, the location of Champa City is one of the key points in the South China Sea. The people of Champa have also been engaged in maritime transit trade between China and Southeast Asia, India, West Asia and other regions from a very early time. It can be said that it is an early navigation country in the South China Sea. It’s just that

Due to its national strength and constant foreign wars, Champa's navigation ability has not been fully developed. Instead, it has become increasingly degraded as its national power weakens. It is said that during the Wanli period, there were often maritime merchants in Champa in Yazhou.

Although the Yazhou Resident Office had been in Yazhou for so many months, it had not seen even a Champa merchant.

This change in shipping capacity has also caused the rise of Champa products in the Ming Dynasty. As Zhan Gui said, the current market price of these treasures has increased by 30% compared with the Wanli period.

Zhan Gui's calculation was very precise. He transported these high-value goods from Champa to Victory Port for trading. If the Haihan people are willing to buy them, that would be the best. Compared with transporting them back to the mainland, they can save a lot of customs duties.

Taxation. If the Haihan people are not interested, then delivering it to other merchants can still save a lot of business tax money, which is still much more cost-effective than shipping it back to the mainland. As for retail, Zhan Gui has not thought about it at all——

I am engaged in maritime business, not business. It is better to leave this kind of retail work to professionals.

After hearing Zhan Gui's answer, Ren Liang was not in a hurry to talk about the matter in depth. Instead, he immediately asked someone to notify Ning Qi and Tao Donglai to come over quickly. He pulled Zhan Gui and started chatting all over the place.

.

About ten minutes later, Ning Qi and Tao Donglai arrived one after another, and Ren Liang quickly told what Zhan Gui had mentioned before. After Ning Qi heard this, he asked Zhan Gui: "Boss Zhan, may I ask if you were there last time?"

How long ago did the city exist?”

Seeing that the two big leaders of the Haihan people were present at the same time, Zhan Gui didn't understand why the Haihan people were so nervous about this matter. He quickly replied honestly: "I went to Champa once in April last year. I planned to go to Champa in the first half of this year."

I wanted to go there, but I was delayed due to illness, and it took me several months to recover. This time I am going south, I am planning to stop by Champa on the way."

Ning Qi continued to ask: "Then how big was the area controlled by Champa when you went last time?"

"The only place left is Bintonglong!" Zhan Gui responded.

"Where is Bintonglong?" Tao Donglai asked Ning Qi. This kind of partial historical knowledge was not within the scope of his knowledge reserve.

"Bin Tong Long is an ancient country, located in the south of the former territory of the Champa Kingdom." When Ning Qi said this, Tao Donglai and Ren Liang both looked confused, so he had to add: "Probably south of Quy Nhon, Ho Chi Minh City

This area of ​​Edom.”

When Ning Qi said this, they understood that in the past few months when they were researching Vietnamese history for the Black Earth Port project, they had looked at the map of Vietnam. Tao Donglai touched the stubble on his chin and said: "This means that we are in North Vietnam

Can we repeat what we did in the south?"

"The Cham people's desire to restore their country has never stopped for more than a century after the fall of the country. I think they will be very interested in purchasing a batch of advanced weapons to arm their soldiers." Ning Qi nodded in agreement.

Tao Donglai’s views.

"But didn't we sign an exclusive supply agreement for arms sales with the North?" Ren Liang asked: "Will this cause trouble for future arms sales to North Vietnam?"

"Maybe, but that will happen a long time later. The first target that Champa has to deal with is not the Zheng regime in North Vietnam, but the Nguyen family in South Vietnam. From a certain perspective, Champa has the same goal as North Vietnam.

, that is to eliminate the Ruan family. After that, the two families will really confront each other. The process of eliminating the Ruan family before may take several years. If we can control the rhythm, they may not be able to separate if they fight for decades.

Win or lose." Tao Donglai was very optimistic about this, and pointed at Zhan Gui, who was sitting next to him with a respectful look on his face, and said: "Besides, we don't necessarily have to sell foreign military sales ourselves. We can support agents when necessary.

This makes perfect sense morally.”

Of course, the agent was just talk. Tao Donglai had no intention of leaving the most profitable arms business to Zhan Gui, whom he met for the first time. He handed over the arms business to "Fu Ruifeng" as an agent in the mainland.

, half of the reason is out of helplessness, because the ships passing through the group cannot go to the coast of Fujian at all, and they have no relationship with the local forces. It is easy to attract the attention of the pirate group if they come forward rashly. But in the face of

Tao Donglai believes that in Champa, which has a weak national power, the Crossing Group still has an advantage. Champa currently has very few merchant ships and does not have the strength to cross the sea to attack Victory Port. Therefore, there is no need to worry about their attack on the productive Victory Port area.

Jealous.

Zhan Gui sat down and listened to the three Haihan people talking quickly. He tried hard to hear the content of their conversation clearly, but these three people all used the same northern accent during the conversation, so he could only hear it intermittently.

He only knew a few words. But looking at the serious expressions of these Haihan leaders, Zhan Gui always felt that he had caused something terrible.

"Boss Zhan, go back and take a rest first. Regarding the cargo transfer issue between Champa and Victory Port that you mentioned, we will inform you of the specific operation methods later. In addition, for the land you rented, someone will take you to the site to plan the land later.

Then I will issue you a document." Tao Dong came to see Zhan Gui and was still sitting next to him. There were some things that were not convenient for him to tell in front of an outsider, so he politely persuaded him to leave.
To be continued...