Chapter 583 A model that cannot be copied

But after listening to Wang Tom's boast, Li Jin still didn't understand how Haihan made a profit after investing huge sums of money to build a fleet. If this key issue is not understood, Haihan's "advanced experience" cannot be introduced.

To be used in the Ming Dynasty. Li Jin had to be shameless and asked his previous question again: "General Wang, how should this fleet operate to earn profits?"

Wang Tom stared at Li Jin and couldn't help laughing: "General Li, are you joking or serious?"

Li Jin said: "Of course I am seriously asking for advice, and I beg General Wang to help me clear up my doubts!"

Wang Tom nodded and said: "The Ming Dynasty has been fighting with Wild Boar Skin outside the Pass for so many years in the north. It can be considered that there are wins and losses for each other. But why does Wild Boar Skin still raise troops to attack every year? Has General Li ever thought about the reason behind this?"

Li Jin responded without thinking: "Of course it's because wild boar skins can rob a large amount of property and people from the pass... General Wang means that the Haihan Militia also makes money in this way?"

Wang Tom nodded and said: "The truth is that simple. To maintain a strong army, you have to increase investment. If you want to not spend this money in vain, you have to find a way to gain profits by waging war abroad. Of course, the premise is

You have to be able to beat your opponent, otherwise no matter how much you invest, it will be in vain.”

Li Jin was half-disheartened after hearing this: "So for this method to be effective, we must first invest huge amounts of money to build an army like the Haihan Militia?"

Tom Wang responded: "Yes, this is actually the same as doing business. If you don't have capital, you can only do small businesses to make a living. If you want to make big money, you still have to invest more capital in operation."

Li Jin secretly thought that this theory of doing business could only be used by you Haihan people. If it could work in the Ming Dynasty, the northern battlefield would not have been passive for many years. It should have gone out of the customs to burn the houses of wild boar skins.

However, the fact is that the imperial court invests huge sums of money in military expenditures on the northern battlefield every year, but it is difficult for the Guanning cavalry to actively attack the enemy. It is almost always in a passive state of defense. Although it has done a good job in defending the territory, it has

It is absolutely impossible for the Haihan Militia to achieve the so-called "profit through war" effect.

Li Jin endured his dissatisfaction and continued to ask: "What benefits has the Haihan Militia achieved from the war so far? Can General Wang give you some examples?"

Wang Tom smiled and said: "General Li is really curious... Since you asked, I'm not afraid to tell you. First of all, let's talk about this population. As we all know, the Haihan people who crossed the ocean and settled in Qiongzhou Island are not

Sanya, where we settled, is a vast and sparsely populated place, but our development model requires a large amount of labor to complete various infrastructure projects and production tasks. In addition to recruiting people from the Ming Dynasty to work for us, we also brought in people from Annan

So far, tens of thousands of Annan immigrants have become naturalized people and work for us on this island. Why did the Annan court allow these people to immigrate to Qiongzhou Island? It is precisely because our militia troops were heroic in Annan

fought and helped them complete the reunification of the country."

There have been rumors about the Haihan militia fighting across the sea to intervene in Annan's internal affairs for several years. Li Jin had naturally heard of it, but it was only today that he heard a senior Haihan officer admit the truth of these rumors face to face.

Then Wang Tom continued: "We have powerful maritime armed forces, which are enough to block the entire Annan coastline. At that time, both the Annan court and the southern rebels were under our control from the sea. With the help of the navy, we can bypass

Passing through the defense line of the southern rebels and directly attacking the cities behind them, our approach proved to be very effective. We not only defeated Hoi An, the first port city in Annan, but also took over Hue, which is known as the first strong city in Annan!"

When Wang Tom said this, he suddenly lowered his voice and said: "I'm not afraid to tell you that after a big city like this is attacked, the profit will be calculated in millions of taels of silver."

Li Jin's heartbeat couldn't help but beat several times faster, which was an astronomical figure for him. He had naturally heard of the names of Hoi An and Hue, and it was said that their prosperity was no worse than some of the seaport cities of the Ming Dynasty.

How much, and the Haihan militia fighting across the sea can still attack the local city, and its combat power is indeed amazing. With their method of directly attacking the city, the benefits of natural warfare are quite considerable. Even if it is this

In Zhoucheng, it is said that the losses suffered by pirates during their occupation last year were as high as nearly one million taels.

Li Jin coughed dryly and continued to ask: "In addition to population and money, are there other benefits from this strategy?"

"Yes, of course!" Wang Tom nodded and said: "The most important income, I'm just going to talk about it now, is land! We now have as many as seven seaport concessions in Annan from north to south.

It can be said that almost 90% of Annan's shipping industry is in our hands. These seaports will continue to bring us economic benefits and population in the next few decades, and will control the connection between Daming and Nanyang for us.

The route provides necessary mid-way supplies.”

Li Jin automatically ignored the unimportant content of these words, and focused on what Wang Tom said about "controlling the routes between the Ming Dynasty and Nanyang." Li Jin had been an official in Guangdong before, so he naturally understood the Ming Dynasty.

There is so much oil and water in the ocean trade with Nanyang. If Haihan can really control this route, then describing the benefits that will be gained from it as a daily profit is too polite.

Of course, Li Jin did not ignore the necessary prerequisites to achieve this step - first, you must have a strong maritime force. And currently, it seems that in the South China Sea, only the Haihan people have such capabilities.

In terms of strength, even if the Ming Dynasty Navy had this idea, it could only remain at the level of imagination and did not have enough funds to realize such a large plan.

Although Li Jin is not a naval officer, he also knows that the combat range of this navy is relatively limited. The voyage from the mainland to Nanyang is thousands of miles away. If there are no supply stations in the middle, there is no way to expect to keep it after such a trip.

How much combat effectiveness. Building ports and terminals is definitely a huge project that is time-consuming, laborious and expensive. Only owners like Haihan who are not short of money can afford to build so many ports in foreign lands overseas.

Speaking of this, Li Jin seemed to understand a little bit why Zhang Xin and Wang Tom repeatedly emphasized the importance of "money". Without these large investments, it is indeed impossible for the Haihan people to continue to expand their power overseas, and they are in maritime trade and even

The huge gains gained in foreign wars are indeed closely related to their investment in military affairs. It is precisely with the support of a strong army and navy that many of the ideas of the Haihan people can be successfully promoted and implemented.

But the same method would not be feasible in the Ming Dynasty. First of all, the big guys in the imperial court would never agree to such a dangerous approach of actively going to war to obtain profits. After all, since the Yongle Dynasty, more than two hundred

Since the Ming Dynasty, the territory of the Ming Dynasty has been shrinking. By the Wanli period, the territory of the Ming Dynasty was only equivalent to one-third of the area during its heyday in the Yongle period. For two hundred years, it has been passively beaten and forced to shrink its territory.

Everyone in the imperial court, including the emperor, has formed an inherent mindset of putting territorial protection first. As for opening up territory and expanding it to the outside world - it is difficult to even defend it now, so don't think too much about it. Even Li Jin himself, before this

I also think that this kind of external military expansion is simply crazy.

Li Jinxin thought that if he wrote to the Ministry of War to increase investment in the army and initiate foreign wars, the Minister of War would definitely think that he was crazy, and would probably immediately order his removal from office and investigate. After all, the Ming Dynasty is currently experiencing constant internal and external troubles, and the north is

The Wild Boar Skin is knocking on the gate every year, getting stronger and stronger as it fights, while the refugees in the Central Plains are rebelling everywhere and are suppressing them endlessly. Under this situation, the Ministry of War has been busy digging the east wall to make up for the west wall, and dispatching troops and food from all directions. How can there be any free time?

Let’s open up new external battlefields.

Therefore, although this practice of the Haihan people has achieved great success in the South China Sea, it is difficult to directly copy it and implement it in the Ming Dynasty. Li Jin shook his head helplessly and said: "I understand what General Wang said.

, but Haihan’s approach makes it difficult for Ming Dynasty to imitate it!”

Wang Tom smiled and said: "It's also divided into places and people. Not everything can be copied, but it's not like you can't learn any benefits. You should have heard of the situation in Fujian, right? The current Fujian Commander-in-Chief Xu Xinsu

, we have a very close cooperative relationship. The weapons and tactics used by his troops are all provided by us."

"No wonder the Fujian Navy's performance in recent years is so amazing. It turns out that you are behind it!" Li Jin suddenly realized.

A few years ago, Xu Xinsu was just a merchant who donated money to the military. This situation is actually not uncommon on the southeast coast. Maritime merchants engaged in smuggling trade spent some money to buy goods from the military for the convenience of coming and going.

He held an official position in order to allow his ships to enter and leave the harbor freely and avoid paying taxes.

But Xu Xinsu is much stronger than ordinary smugglers. Not only does he have a large number of ships engaged in the smuggling trade, but he also has thousands of armed personnel at his disposal. Therefore, he has some confidence in buying this military attache position.

. But his opponent "Eighteen Zhi" was more powerful. Not only did he want to destroy Xu Xinsu, he didn't even pay attention to the entire Fujian Navy. However, in such an unbalanced comparison of strength, "Eighteen Zhi" was defeated

The coastal areas of Fujian were gradually cleared out, but Xu Xinsu, who had only bought a position with money at the beginning, had been promoted year by year by virtue of his achievements in killing pirates, and had already sat in the position of Fujian General Soldier. His promotion speed was comparable to that in the official circles of the southeast.

Second to none.

Li Jin was an official in Guangdong, so he naturally didn't know how Xu Xinsu fought in Fujian, but there would be a big victory every few months, and Li Jin would often see relevant news in the Di newspaper. At that time,

Before he and Yan Mingjun came to Qiongzhou to take up their posts, they were waiting for the Haihan leader Maliko at the dock outside Guangzhou. At that time, Malico was late because he went to meet Xu Xinsu. However, it was not until today that Li Jin understood that it was the Haihan people who were behind it.

With Xu Xinsu in mind, it is no wonder that his troops are so capable in fighting that they have gradually won him the position of commander-in-chief of a province.

Wang Tom continued: "Every year, Mr. Xu will select a group of young officers to come to Sanya to receive our military training, and then use our training methods on his troops after returning. In addition, Mr. Xu purchases from us every year

Various ordnance and armaments amount to hundreds of thousands of taels of silver. It can be said that they are already the second strongest army in the southeastern coastal areas of the Ming Dynasty!"

Li Jin almost asked "Who is the strongest?", but he suddenly came back to his senses as he spoke. Since the Fujian Navy ranked second, naturally their teacher Haihan Militia ranked first. Put it aside.

Li Jin may not have agreed with such a ranking in the past, but after living in Danzhou for these days and seeing the true strength of the Haihan militia, he really had nothing to say about it.

Li Jin still couldn't help but ask: "If the Haihan Militia fought with the Fujian Navy, what would be the odds of victory or defeat?"

"I personally think the Fujian Navy is still capable of fighting." Wang Tom commented calmly.

But before Li Jin could relax, Wang Tom added: "But there is a prerequisite for this kind of battle, that is, the size of their participating troops is at least three to five times that of the Haihan militia. Otherwise, they have no chance."

.”

Li Jin almost spit out a mouthful of blood. Looking at Wang Tom's relaxed look, it seemed that he was not bragging about this matter. Li Jin asked: "General Wang, is he so sure of his own combat power?"

Wang Tom nodded and said: "Our weapons are better than theirs, our equipment is better than theirs, and our tactics are all learned from us. Even the ammunition they need to fight has to be bought from us. You said that if there is a fight, we have

What’s the reason for losing?”

"This..." Li Jin was at a loss for words and couldn't find a reason to refute. A combat method that relies heavily on the supply of ammunition, such as muskets and artillery, if this key point is in the hands of the Haihan people, then indeed this battle will not be fought at all.

Can't get up.

Wang Tom continued: "Now Mr. Xu still wants to buy ships from us. In the future, the upgrade and maintenance of these ships will still have to rely on us. It can be said that the strongest army in Fujian is the replica of our model in the Ming Dynasty.

Yes. If they have not gained from the battles over the years, do you think Mr. Xu will continue to invest so much money?"

Why Xu Xinsu of Fujian has been fighting endlessly with the "Eighteen Zhi"? Even a layman knows a little bit about this matter. The ultimate goal is to seize several major trading ports on the Fujian coastline, as well as between Fujian and Dajuan Island.

In the original time and space, after Zheng Zhilong killed Xu Xinsu, he began to collect fees from passing ships, but now, Xu Xinsu is doing the same thing.
Chapter completed!