Chapter 677 Visiting Changhua

Schneider has no interest in wasting time on this negotiation that is destined to be fruitless. He has informed Yu Xiaobao of the negotiation framework and asked him to slowly grind it out with the representatives of the East India Company. Now the time has come

In September, the annual Sanya Autumn Trade Fair has also reached its final preparation period. Schneider has a large number of drafted agreement texts that need to be reviewed. These agreements will be signed at the next Autumn Trade Fair for publicity.

The great achievements of the Autumn Fair.

After entering the fifth year of time travel, the economic activities between Haihan and Daming have become more frequent, and the bilateral trade volume has also shown an upward trend year by year. Compared with the huge market of Daming, Haihan's current production capacity in various fields is still in short supply.

Due to the current situation, some high-end industrial products still need to be booked months or even half a year in advance before they can be obtained when they are launched on the market. In order to give foreign businessmen a fair competition opportunity, the annual Sanya Autumn Fair has become an overseas trade fair.

Han's largest and most concentrated ordering period for foreign countries.

In addition to the order fair, cooperation on some large-scale projects is also the highlight of the Autumn Fair. "Qiong Lianfa", which started by developing agricultural and forestry infrastructure projects, is now a representative organization for economic and trade exchanges between Ming Dynasty and Haihan. Every year at the Autumn Fair

There are many publicly signed cooperation projects, and the funds invested in various projects in the past few years have already exceeded one million taels of silver. Of course, under Haihan's careful management, the shareholders of "Qiong Lianfa" have also gained from it.

The company has received quite generous returns, and the dozen or so major shareholders who originally invested in the company are now considered to be significant large shareholders in Fuzhou and Guangzhou.

In addition to the traditional projects, this year's Autumn Fair also included the vast area in the northern part of Qiongzhou Island. After controlling the Qiongbei area through the prairie fire operation last year, after more than half a year of governance, a large area of ​​pending projects has been cleared.

To develop the area, the next step is to wait for the injection of funds and labor. The Ministry of Agriculture has currently planned tens of thousands of acres of cash crop farms, and will select cooperative merchants for joint development through bidding during the Autumn Trade Fair. In addition, Haikou Port

, Danzhou Port and other seaport terminal infrastructure projects have also had intention agreements and are waiting to be formally signed during the Autumn Trade Fair.

As in previous years, this year the Ministry of Commerce also organized a foreign business delegation to inspect construction projects in the areas controlled by Haihan and see the construction results. In addition to representatives of various shareholders of "Qiong Lianfa", there are also many new ones this year from

Merchants from Fujian, Jiangxi and other places, as well as foreign guests from Annam, Champa, Siam, Portugal and other countries. Representatives of local officials stationed in Qiongzhou in the Ming Dynasty will also be present to convince foreign merchants that Haihan’s development and construction of Qiongzhou Island is a

Received official support from Ming Dynasty.

Just arranging this matter has already made the commerce and diplomacy departments very busy. At this time, when the Dutch delegation came to visit, it was naturally difficult to get Haihan's attention. Schneider and Gu Kai felt that there was nothing wrong with the other party.

As for the substantive content, this work was quickly left to Yu Xiaobao, who had just come into contact with foreign affairs, and he was busy taking care of business.

Logically speaking, Gu Kai should not leave Victory Port at this time, but the executive committee believes that it is just a good opportunity to take the Changhua project commissioning ceremony to bring the foreign business delegation over to open their eyes and let them see the industrial age.

In addition, this activity is also to build momentum for the independence measures to be carried out next year. After all, the salt and iron franchise has been regarded as a symbol of the political power since ancient times. Although Haihan has already achieved self-production of salt and iron, Tian Dutie

The scale of mining and operation of the mine is far less than that of Changhua's Shilu area, and its external influence is also very limited. Let foreign businessmen go to Changhua to take a look at the production status of iron and steelmaking, so that they can have more ideas about Haihan's future development.

A little confidence.

It is not a difficult problem to transport the foreign business delegation to Changhua. What is difficult is that the level of development in Changhua is far less than that in Sanya. It still takes some time to find a place to accommodate so many distinguished guests. For this reason, Qiao Zhiya had to inform him in advance.

I went to Changhua County and asked the local officials to organize the squires to temporarily vacate three or four courtyards as a place for the visiting group to stay.

While the Dutch were still trying to get along with Yu Xiaobao, foreign business delegations organized by the Ministry of Commerce had boarded ships from Sanya and Danzhou and headed for the Changhua area. Gu Kai also set out with the fleet. In addition to serving as

In addition to the guests at the commissioning ceremony, he will also be responsible for organizing the tour group’s activities during their stay in Changhua.

On September 7, 1631, Gu Kai's fleet successfully arrived at Changhua Port. He also visited Changhua twice in the early days of developing Changhua, but at that time Changhua Port had not even completed the port facilities.

Coal ships coming from Annan Black Earth Port are jammed outside the small harbor, and unloading basically relies on shovels and sacks. Every time a coal ship arrives at the port for a few days, the entire port and the Changhua River are flooded.

There is a layer of coal ash floating, and the situation is even worse than that of the place of origin - at least Black Earth Port has implemented mechanized bulk coal loading. The small train transported from the mining area to the port can directly unload the bulk coal to the shipping conveyor.

Next to it, there are relatively complete dust removal methods, so that the coal ash will not be overwhelming for miles around.

However, when Gu Kai arrived at Changhua Port this time, he found that the appearance of the place had indeed changed greatly compared to the last time he came here. First of all, the size of the port has been greatly improved, and the passenger and cargo terminals have also been completely separated.

Come here, they are not mixed together like before. The small harbor on the sea side has become a dedicated passenger terminal, and the fleet transporting supplies will travel to the bank of the Changhua River further inland, where there is a specially built

The cargo terminal has been installed with several steam-powered dry bulk conveyors in accordance with the settings of the Black Earth Port, and the efficiency of unloading has increased by more than ten times compared to before.

Secondly, the passenger and cargo channels on the shore have also been separated. The freight terminal has a specially laid transport track leading to the coal and iron industry base in the east of Changhua County, which is responsible for transferring the coal transported to the port to the coking workshop of the industrial base.

After coke is made there, it is then used in the production of iron and steel. This track is also connected to the rail transportation line from Changhua Port to Shilu. Some engineering machinery and equipment produced in Sanya can also be used here.

Load the truck and transport it directly to the Shilu mining area.

Qiao Zhiya brought the local naturalized citizen cadres to the dock to greet Gu Kai and his party. Most of the members of the visiting group who accompanied him were still excitedly discussing the giant ship they had just seen before entering the port.

A "Dignity-class" warship that happened to have completed its combat readiness duty in the waters near Changhua chose to dock at Changhua Port for supplies. When the visiting group's fleet entered the port, this ship and two accompanying "Exploration-class" warships

The warship is slowly sailing away from the coast. It is the first time for most people to see this legendary Haihan warship with their own eyes, so naturally they have to comment on it.

Of course, no one doubts the actual combat effectiveness of this kind of warship, because just four months ago, this kind of warship made great achievements in defeating Shibazhi in Fujian. The Fujian government also issued a special notification and commendation for this purpose.

, there are CCs in all the government offices in Qiongzhou. Anyone who has been in and out of Qiongzhou Island recently can see relevant notices at various docks and city gates. And two months ago, the Haihan fleet defeated the Red Army in Fujian.

News of the Mao fleet came back, and hundreds of foreign captives were paraded in Sanya Port. The people who did not know the truth naturally credited this large and powerful warship with their achievements - even though they were competing with the Dutch fleet.

During the battle, the "Mighty Class" did not even appear, but this does not prevent the people with rich imagination from making up a good show of "The Majestic Warship Beats the Red-haired Ghost" according to their own wishes.

It has been some time since the visiting group arrived in Qiongzhou, and they have been brainwashed by the news during this period. Even those who still have doubts in their hearts immediately became interested in the rumors after seeing the true form of this kind of warship.

Convinced.

Of course, Gu Kai had much more information than these outsiders. He quickly pulled Qiao Zhiya aside and asked: "Why do the navy people come here to supply? Isn't their supply port in Danzhou Bay?"

"It's mainly for coal loading. The reserves in Danzhou Bay are probably not enough." Qiao Zhiya explained: "Danzhou is under martial law again. Some cargo ships can't leave Danzhou for the time being. It just so happens that Navy ships are training nearby again, so they stopped by.

Load up the coals.”

"Why is martial law in Danzhou again? Something happened?" Gu Kai asked with a frown.

"Last week, there were assassins in Danzhou again, but this time they were not looking for Zhang Xin, but the Ming officials who had taken refuge with us." Qiao Zhiya must have been bored in this place for a long time, so he was very excited when talking about these gossips from other places:

"Didn't the officials who were assigned to Danzhou at the beginning of the year all join us later? This time there were assassins in Danzhou to assassinate them. Zhang Xin and the people from the Ministry of Security thought that the remnants of the last assassination had not been cleared away, so they closed the port.

Capture the assassin in Danzhou."

"Oh...I remembered, one is named Yan Mingjun and the other is named Li Jin, right?" Gu Kaijing also remembered this after he said this.

When these two Ming officials first arrived in Danzhou, their resistance was quite obvious. However, in March, anti-Hai Han squires and Jin Yiwei officers instigated a riot in Danzhou and tried to assassinate Zhang Xin and other Hai Han officials in the city.

Han dignitaries, these two people chose to cooperate with Haihan at the last moment, and conveniently sold their accomplices. After that, the two could only settle down and become vassals and spokesmen of Haihan's local management organization.

On the surface, they are the governor and generals of Danzhou, but in fact they are just decorations. They are only responsible for writing routine reports to the governor's office in Zhaoqing every month - the contents of this report are all written according to the instructions of the Haihan people.

.

Of course, this is not a bad thing for them. In addition to saving their own lives, they can also make a small fortune. At the same time, they do not need to worry about local governance. Naturally, the Danzhou Management Committee will take care of everything.

.In addition to not being allowed to travel to the mainland, their local movements are no longer restricted.

Yan Mingjun, who loves literature, naturally sat on the throne of the honorary president of the "Danzhou Literary Federation" under the arrangement of the management committee. He also presided over the latest Qiongzhou Poetry Festival and was praised by many literati.

He was generally praised and had a great time.

Li Jin, who was fond of martial arts, completely mixed up with the Haihan soldiers. He had no family, so he simply moved his residence outside the city, adjacent to the training ground of the Haihan garrison, and ate with the Haihan officers every day.

Living together, he didn't look like an outsider at all. Although Li Guang never said anything about surrendering to Haihan, everyone regarded him as a surrendered general.

Of course, this is not discrimination. It is not uncommon for the Ming Dynasty to be demoted under the rule of Haihan. Lord Luo Shengdongluo, the first demoted general to join Haihan, is now not only engaged in smuggling business with the rank of Ming Dynasty, but also served as a post this year.

He is the vice president of the "Daming Haihan Folk Relations Association" that was only established in April. Although this organization is not officially recognized by the Ming Dynasty, its level is indeed not low, because the president is concurrently served by Tao Donglai, the top leader of Haihan. Although

The name is "civil relations", but the actual task is to coordinate the relationship between Haihan and the Ming Dynasty officialdom.

Li came in late, and of course he did not get so many opportunities to serve Haihan loyally. However, Haihan's officers saw that he was a soldier who did not like politics, so they did not exclude him from joining. They usually included him in daily training.

After all, it is difficult to copy Haihan's set of things to the Ming Dynasty, and the officers are not afraid that he can secretly learn any unique skills. Li Jin may have had such thoughts at first, but after contacting the Haihan militia for a long time, he also knew

It is absolutely impossible to train such an army under the current conditions of the Ming Dynasty. Whether it is weapons and equipment, living conditions, daily training or command system, the Ming army cannot reach the current level of the Haihan Militia.

.

There has always been a navy stationed in Danzhou. Although Li Jin was not born in the navy, he often went to Danzhou Port to watch the training of the Haihan Navy. Later, he met Wu Sen, who was also a general, and the two even got angry.

The chicken head was cut off with yellow paper and worshiped. Although this kind of custom was not advocated in the Haihan Army, no one specifically targeted these two surrendered generals with special status.

After Yan Mingjun and Li Jin had been living together peacefully for several months, something happened recently. Two assassins climbed over the wall into Yan Mingjun's residence after dark and tried to assassinate him. However, Yan Mingjun was killed in March.

After surrendering, the Danzhou Administrative Committee assigned two soldiers to live in his home as security guards. The two assassins were discovered before they even touched Yan Mingjun's bedroom. The soldiers fired warning shots, and the assassins fled in a hurry. The last one died.

Once injured, the Ministry of Security obtained a confession that the two men were related to the assassination in March, and quickly notified all parts of Qiongbei to cooperate in arresting several wanted criminals who were still at large. Shipping in Danzhou Port was also affected and temporarily suspended.

Freight.
Chapter completed!