Chapter 491 Bargaining

"Why should I look for you if I can rent it directly?"

After hearing Tao Donglai's reply, Thomas only had this idea in his mind. It's not that the Macau Council has not considered this approach, but the possibility of success is really too low, so he chose to ask Haihan for help.

Yes, that's right. Although this meeting was said to be about exchanging information, in essence, it was hoped that Haihan would come forward to negotiate with the Annan court and settle the matter on his behalf.

Thomas firmly believed that the cunning Tao Donglai must have understood his intentions, but the other party still played a roundabout game with him as always, which made Thomas feel more depressed. He wanted to stand up and grab Tao Donglai.

Dong Lai asked Dong Lai why he was making things so difficult for him, but from the perspective of a diplomatic envoy, he could only hold back this anger in his heart and bargain honestly with Tao Dong Lai.

"Mr. Tao, there are some obstacles in negotiations between our country and the current Annan court, and I believe you are aware of it. Even if we ask Annan to rent land, they may not be willing to agree." Thomas paused, feeling this

The weight of the statement was still not enough, so he continued to add: "Our desire to set up a docking station in southern Annan is not just out of self-interest considerations. In the past six months, the shipping traffic between Malacca and Sanya has been affected by this.

Due to the obvious impact, if this situation continues, it will also hinder the business we are currently cooperating with. I think you don’t want to see such a situation arise, right?”

Thomas knew that people like Haihan were very realistic. Instead of talking to them about big things, it would be more useful to directly lay out the stakes. As expected, Tao Donglai muttered after listening: "We have to find a way to solve the problem of affecting shipping.

…”

Thomas was overjoyed, but what Tao Donglai said next made his heart sink again: "...Since you are lacking in shipping capabilities, we should put in more effort. Thomas

Don't worry, sir, we will set up a fleet to go to Malacca this year to assist you in transporting your goods."

Taking advantage of the situation! This is definitely taking advantage of the situation! Thomas has a new understanding of the bottom line of the Haihan people.

Thomas instantly combined the various abnormal behaviors of the Haihan people after the Annan Civil War with what Tao Donglai said now - the Haihan people are preparing to use this opportunity as an entry point to participate in the shipping competition in the South China Sea.

In this era, Portuguese merchant ships had almost sailed all over the world's oceans. In addition to personal qualities such as courage and persistence, the advantages that Portuguese navigators relied on to become famous were also the advanced navigation technology they mastered, which made them famous in their own country.

They have built reliable ships, and generations of sailors have found the best routes through practice on the vast ocean. Even their opponents such as the Netherlands, Spain, and the United Kingdom, who can compete with them, have no advantages in these aspects.

However, the Haihan people are definitely an alien species that Thomas knows. The knowledge reserve of this group of unknown people about navigation is simply terrifying. Thomas was lucky enough to see the nautical charts they used when boarding the Haihan ship, which was comparable to the Portuguese merchant ships.

The abstract nautical charts on the sea are much more refined. Moreover, the Haihan people also have some very precise maritime timing tools, which allows them to quickly and accurately calculate the speed and range on distant voyages. Such advanced means are still in use today.

There were many more tools on the Haihan people's ships, and Thomas couldn't understand the purpose of some of them.

There is no doubt about the shipbuilding technology of the Haihan people. The sailboats they built can be said to combine the advantages of Eastern and Western sailboats. There are many unique features in the hull design. Even Thomas, who has always been proud of Portuguese sailboats,

I have to admit with a sour taste that the sailing performance of the Haihan sailboat on the sea is indeed better than that of Portugal's existing merchant ships.

As for the warships, Thomas only caught a glimpse of them when they entered the port and cannot comment yet. However, Portugal has not deployed any warships in the area east of the Strait of Malacca. At most, they are just armed merchant ships, and they are certainly incompetent in terms of combat effectiveness.

It is comparable to the professional warships built by Haihan, so it has basically no comparative value.

In addition to these, the Haihan people also have terrible organizational coordination and action capabilities. Whatever they decide to do, they can complete the preparations and start implementation in almost a short period of time. Compared with the Haihan Executive Committee

, Thomas can only give a failing grade to the efficiency of the Macau Council. One step is slow, each step is slow. If targeted actions had been taken just after the Annan Civil War ended in the first half of last year, Portugal would not be in the same position now.

Such a passive situation.

It is obviously impossible to prevent the Haihan people from intervening in the shipping market of the South China Sea. Their fleet is getting larger and larger, and sooner or later the shipping routes will radiate to farther areas. Thomas still has a clear understanding of this. It is just the choice of the Haihan people.

This timing and method of entry were really unacceptable to Thomas, but for the benefit of Portugal, he had to continue to deal with Heihan.

"Mr. Tao, we do not lack maritime transportation capacity. The main problem we are currently encountering is that there is no stable supply port on the southern coastline of Annan. If you can help solve this problem, then our cargo ships can fully bear the burden.

Starting from the shipping mission between Sanya and Malacca." Thomas still tried very hard to bring the situation back a little bit.

However, he still underestimated the extent of Tao Donglai's evil intentions. Tao Donglai slowly shook his head and said: "We are really helpless in this matter. Although we have identified several places in Annan to build ports, because

Due to manpower reasons, we currently do not have engineers who can be sent to the local area to supervise the construction of port terminals, so..."

Tao Donglai paused and then said: "...So if you want to dock at a port for supply, I think you might as well send people to build some temporary facilities on the site we have designated for use. What do you think, Mr. Thomas?"

"

When Thomas heard this, he felt that this idea was somewhat reliable. He was about to agree when he suddenly realized the trap - this place was the concession of the Haihan people. After the dock was built, what should be done with the ownership of this place?

Thomas asked cautiously: "Then if we build a dock and other facilities locally, what ownership rights..."

"Of course the ownership rights belong to us, Haihan." Tao Donglai responded matter-of-factly: "The ownership rights belong to me, and the right to use them belongs to you. However, various local regulations must still be implemented in accordance with the standards we have set.

.”

Thomas frowned subconsciously. Just by having the right to use it, doesn’t that mean that the Haihan people can take away the right to use it whenever they want? One day, these Haihan people were not happy and did not allow Portuguese ships to dock in the port. What happened in the early stage?

Isn’t all the construction work in vain?

This Tao Donglai! Thomas was secretly glad that he was still clear-headed and was not tempted by the conditions offered by the Haihan people. Although the conditions were quite harsh, Thomas believed that since Tao Donglai took the initiative to offer this plan, there should still be a solution

There was room for bargaining, so he continued to discuss: "If we come to organize the construction of the dock, then the ownership rights should be given to us at least half!"

"Half?" Tao Donglai seemed to have heard something ridiculous, and sneered and responded: "Mr. Thomas, I think you must have made some mistakes. We are not talking about cooperative development of the port now, but we are

On the basis of being a trading partner, we would like to provide you with some benevolent help when you encounter difficulties. Letting you build terminals and facilities locally is our goodwill, and goodwill cannot be used for bargaining. If you feel that this approach is inappropriate

If it’s appropriate, then just pretend I didn’t mention it.”

Tao Donglai is indeed confident about this. Although Annan's four southern port development projects have so far been at a standstill, Haihan's shipbuilding industry has not stopped developing for a day. At the same time as the Annan Civil War ended, shipping

The Ministry of Transport has already begun to consider developing an ocean route from Sanya to the Strait of Malacca.

Although the ports along the Indochina Peninsula are important, the Ministry of Shipping has also taken precautions to consider the endurance of the ship itself, and began to build a civilian version of the sailboat based on the design of the "exploration-class" warship.

This kind of application of military technology to the civilian field was common in the time and space before time travel. Almost all high-precision technologies were first applied to the military field after being developed, and then transferred to the civilian field after a period of time. And

In this time and space, this approach can be considered to be ahead of its time.

In addition to the early imitation of a batch of Guangzhou Shipbuilding Ships, Haihan Shipyard, from the launch of the "Exploration Class" to the later completion of the "Expedition Class", all used military models as the basis for modification of ship types. Not only did the development time be short, but it was also practical.

It is also more reliable than designing it separately. As for this type of ocean-going cargo ship that will be used in the South China Sea in the future, four ships have been launched and will be put into use in the near future.

Due to the advantages of the Haihan type sailing ship in terms of speed, the time required for the same voyage is at least 20 to 30% shorter than that of the same generation of sailing ships. This means that when setting off with the same amount of supplies, the theory of the Haihan type sailing ship is

The endurance capacity will also be much greater than that of its contemporary competitors. The cruising capacity of this "adventure-class" civilian version of the sailboat is sufficient to complete the voyage from Sanya to the Strait of Malacca under normal sea conditions without the need for docking for replenishment on the way.

.

Taking a step back, even if we take into account possible supply problems, the professional supply ships currently used by the navy are very easy to use. The biggest problem is to add one or two cargo ships specifically to carry supplies to the fleet. Even if this is the case,

And the extra expense is still a good deal for this highly profitable route.

Compared with the cost of building ports and terminals, this cost is really a drop in the bucket. Therefore, the Executive Committee would rather let the port development project temporarily stall and use better shipping vessels to tide over this period of tight shipping capacity.

And Thomas's worries are not unfounded. The Haihan Executive Committee is indeed interested in expanding the route to the south. On the one hand, it is to increase the profits of maritime trade by reducing transportation costs. On the other hand, it is also to gradually control the South China Sea in the next few years.

Prepare for key waterways in the region. Currently, the intelligence station in Batavia next to the Sunda Strait has begun its normal operating rhythm. The Malacca Strait, another important channel into the South China Sea, is naturally the main target of the Executive Committee.

Although the Strait of Malacca is still in the hands of the Portuguese for the time being, Haihan, who is aware of the historical development process, knows that if they do not intervene in time, this place will soon be taken away by the Dutch, and then the Dutch will control Malacca in one fell swoop

Strait and Sunda Strait are two choke points connecting the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean. That is not a situation that the Executive Committee wants to see. Rather than letting the Portuguese lose this strategic location in vain, the Executive Committee believes that it is better to think about it earlier.

The solution is to take it over and control it yourself. At the worst, you should at least form a local garrison to help the Portuguese resist the expansion of the Dutch.

The Executive Committee does not intend to use force to seize control of the Strait of Malacca, because that will inevitably damage the currently good cooperative relationship with Portugal, and Portugal is Haihan's only door to the Western world.

Window, the Executive Committee does not want to prematurely abandon this tool that can still play a lot of roles. It would be great if other soft means could be used to coerce Portugal to voluntarily hand over control of the Malacca region.

This time, Thomas took the initiative to request help on behalf of the Macau Council. Tao Donglai was sensitively aware that this was an opportunity. Although it was impossible to realize the executive committee's plan for the Malacca area immediately, he could at least send a ship to Haihan.

The team went to the local area to find a suitable opportunity to carry out trade.

As for the request made by the Portuguese, Tao Donglai already had his next plan in mind - it was definitely impossible for the Portuguese to occupy this place. The permanent residence in Indochina could only be controlled by Haihan, and other

Any Western country wants to receive this kind of treatment unless they can defeat Haihan militarily. In view of the fact that the cooperative relationship with Portugal has always been good, Tao Donglai believes that the most they can do is to imitate the operation model of Sanya Port after the port is built.

, just designate a few fixed dock berths for the Portuguese to use.

As for the ownership rights that Thomas wanted to obtain, Tao Donglai only thought that he had indeed thought too much. Even if the Portuguese really planned to contribute their own efforts to build basic port facilities in the Haihan Concession, Haihan would never give up the ownership rights.

Quan is used as a bargaining chip in negotiations. Even if there is no way to lose face, Haihan still has a way out - this land belongs to the Annan Kingdom. If you really want the right to own it, then go talk to the Annan court.
Chapter completed!