Chapter 973 The plantation outside Yacheng

As the chief official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ning Qi's English level is quite good, even slightly better than Van Diemen from Europe, so the communication between the two parties does not require an interpreter to communicate in the middle, and they can communicate directly.

After briefly introducing the distribution and functions of the cabins on the ship to Van Diemen, Ning Qi ordered the sailors to set sail. Under the command of the captain, the sailors unmoored and raised the sail as quickly as possible. Their well-trained performance made Van Diemen also

Breathtaking.

Seeing that Ning Qi did not seem to have arranged for other ships to accompany him, Van Diemen took the initiative and asked: "Mr. Ning, is this the only ship participating in our voyage around the island?"

"Are you worried about safety issues? Please rest assured that our ship is very safe, and there will not be any hostile armed activities in the coastal waters of Hainan Island." Ning Qi replied very proudly: "The next few days

The route we are sailing today is probably the safest sea area in the entire South China Sea. And armed ships will be arranged to escort us along the way, so there will be no security problems."

At first, Van Diemen didn't quite understand what Ning Qi meant when he said the ship was "very safe", but after the "Speed" left the dock, he understood where Ning Qi's confidence came from.

Because the speed of this ship is so fast, it is at least twice as fast as an ordinary multi-masted sailing ship. Among the sailing ships that Van Diemen has seen in the past, there seems to be no sailing ship that can compete with this ship in terms of speed.

A superior opponent. Moreover, this high speed did not bring severe turbulence. The wide and flat hull effectively enhanced the seaworthiness of the ship. The "Speed" sailed out of Yulin at a speed of more than ten knots.

When turning the corner, the glass on the table did not even sway significantly.

With such a terrifying speed, there is no need to worry about the risk of being intercepted and attacked by the enemy during the voyage. Van Diemen believes that even Haihan's own armed sailing ship will be difficult to keep up with the "Speed" moving at full speed. Although this

The ship was not equipped with heavy weapons such as artillery, but Van Diemen could not help but connect the performance of the ship with its military use. If it was used as a fast ship for reconnaissance and information transmission, its good seaworthiness would be

Both sex and high speed should come in handy.

Van Diemen's vision was indeed good. In fact, when the Haihan delegation visited Zhangzhou in 1631, there was another catamaran sailing ship "Lightning" in the fleet, and it did serve as a role in the attack on Nanri Island.

Although they were used as reconnaissance ships, the Dutch had not yet participated in the war at that time and did not know about such a thing. However, after the navy had a specialized light reconnaissance ship, the two catamaran sailing ships rarely took on military missions.

The group headed by the gang often sails out on the sea to enjoy themselves during their vacations.

However, if you think that these two ships are not equipped with heavy weapons and their combat effectiveness is not high, you are completely wrong. During combat missions, the bottom weapons bay on the ship not only contains m249 squad machine guns, but also sometimes carries light

Mortars and RPGs, coupled with various advanced weapons from the North American gang, their combat effectiveness can even be equal to that of half a fleet. Although Ning Qi is a time traveler on the ship now, and his team is not equipped with any heavy weapons.

But there are still more than a dozen breech-loaded rifles in the weapons bay, and the sailors can transform into a combat team at any time according to the needs of the situation. If there is an emergency at sea, the radio equipped on the ship can also contact the coasts of Hainan Island at any time

garrison troops and receive support from the nearest location in the shortest possible time.

After the "Speed" sailed out of Yulin Bay, sure enough, there were two expedition-class sailing ships traveling in the same direction on the distant sea. However, the "Speed" had to slow down slightly for the two ships to catch up.

When Van Diemen saw that the ship had rounded Yulinjiao and headed towards the Luhuitou Peninsula, he had done some homework beforehand and immediately asked: "Are we going to Yacheng?"

"Yes, your Excellency the Governor, you can take a look at what the prison city used by the Ming Dynasty to exile prisoners looks like today." The ship has already set sail, and Ning Qi has no need to hide the destination of the first stop.

, confessed frankly: "In fact, on the administrative territory of the Ming Dynasty, the entire Sanya also fell under the jurisdiction of Yacheng."

"But that's in the past, isn't it? I think the local government now should take orders from your executive committee, not the court of the Ming Dynasty." Of course Fan Diemen can think of the situation in Yacheng, after all, the entire Hainan Island

They are all under the control of Haihan. It is not difficult to judge who these areas that are still nominally belonging to the Ming Dynasty are actually taking orders from.

In the month after traveling to this time and space, Haihan, who had not yet established a stable footing, sent troops to Yacheng to contact the local officials. Yacheng was considered to be the first market Haihan opened, and later established trade relations with Guangdong merchants.

This was all achieved through the exchange of merchants in Yacheng. And the local officials in Yacheng are also the group of people who have most completely surrendered to Haihan in the officialdom of Hainan Island. Since Luo Shengdong and Wei Ping took the lead, Yacheng officialdom has

Whether civil or military, from top to bottom, everyone changed their banners one after another and became Haihan's "accomplices".

In the past seven years, the first thing that the successive magistrates, tong magistrates, tongpans, and generals, etc., did when they took office was to visit the dock at Victory Port and obtain approval from the Haihan Executive Committee before going to Yacheng to take up their posts.

.For outgoing officials, Haihan will also give them a "settlement allowance" of varying amounts depending on their performance during their tenure, but the amount will definitely be much more than the salary they received from the court.

The local public security, household registration, property, taxation, judicial and other affairs in Yacheng were all taken over by the Yazhan Office a few years ago. The local yamen, like other local governments on Hainan Island, has basically been reduced to a symbolic role.

Totems no longer have actual operating mechanisms and functions. According to statistics completed by the Haihan Ministry of Civil Affairs last year, the proportion of naturalized residents in the Yacheng area’s permanent population has exceeded 80%, and the social structure and mass base are also considered to be considerable.

Not bad.

Although he had certain expectations about the situation in Yacheng, Van Diemen was surprised by the reaction of the local people when they arrived there.

In the past, Yacheng Water Village was depleted of people and ships a few years ago, and all of them turned to sea transportation, leaving only one establishment hanging under the Ministry of War of the Ming Dynasty for free pay. The location of Yacheng Water Village is located in

The harbor at the mouth of the Ningyuan River has now become a local comprehensive passenger and cargo terminal. When the "Speed" arrived, the terminal was already crowded with people. They were all people who had heard the news and came to greet the chief executive of the executive committee. At a glance

There were at least six to seven hundred people.

When Ning Qi stepped out of the cabin and appeared on the back deck, the crowd on the shore burst out into a roar. Many of them had also heard the news that Haihan would be founding a country next month, and this time they visited Yacheng

They are high-ranking officials on the Executive Committee. In the Ming Dynasty, they were almost equivalent to high-level positions such as Six Ministers and Grand Scholars. Moreover, there was no emperor in Haihan, so those who could serve as officials on the Executive Committee were basically at an end.

Such big figures have rarely appeared in Yacheng in recent years, so it's no wonder the people were so excited.

Although Van Diemen could not understand the content of the shouts of the people on the shore, he could imagine what was going on when he saw these excited faces. This also shows the prestige of Haihan senior officials in the local area. He also went to Bada after taking office

He visited the surrounding areas of Batavia, hoping to bring in more labor from the nearby indigenous tribes that were attached to the East India Company for the reconstruction of Batavia City, but what he gained there was more blank looks and indifference.

, those tribes that verbally surrendered to the East India Company had no intention of helping, and they had never encountered such a warm welcome from the local people before.

There is no doubt that the racial and cultural similarities between Haihan and the Ming Dynasty can indeed help them better achieve colonial rule in the Ming Dynasty. This is an advantage that the Dutch can never have in governing colonies in the Far East.

After Ningqi landed, the staff of the local Cliff Office and the current magistrate and other officials rushed forward to see him. The Cliff Office, which was originally composed of elites from the Crossing Group, has now been reduced due to the gradual decline in the importance of Yacheng.

All of them have been replaced by naturalized cadres. Malike, Qiu Yuan, He Xi, Mu Xiabai, Feng Annan and others who initially served in the Cliff Office have now become responsible generals in various departments.

According to internal Han sayings, the Cliff Office can be regarded as a geomantic treasure place for career advancement.

For safety reasons, Ning Qi's itinerary was notified to the Cliff Office only one day in advance. However, this level of confidentiality was obviously not enough. Otherwise, there would not have been so many onlookers on the pier. However, the Cliff Office

The office still has some preparation measures for such a situation. Several groups of militiamen blocked the people at the periphery, leaving room for the distinguished guests to land and change vehicles. There is still about six or seven miles of land road from here to Yacheng, so naturally we can take a carriage there.

It will be more convenient.

Although Yacheng still retains its original city defense facilities and fortifications, there are actually no armed forces to guard the city walls and gates all year round. There are only two platoons of militia troops stationed in Yacheng City, and there is also a local

The company's militia personnel, in addition to about forty security policemen without firearms, are the entire defense force here.

The reason why the military has not deployed more troops here is also very simple. Yacheng is no longer the political and economic center at the southern end of Hainan Island. Many locals have chosen to go to Sanya to work after naturalization. After all, the income level there is

It was much higher. At this time, a considerable number of people living in Yacheng were immigrants from other places, especially those from Annan and Guangdong. These immigrants were uniformly arranged by the Ministry of Civil Affairs and organized into immigrant villages here.

They settled down, and their livelihood was the commercial crop plantations that have blossomed all over Hainan Island in recent years.

"Ramie is grown on both sides of the road." Ning Qi introduced the planting projects along the way to Fan Diemen on the carriage to Yacheng: "This plant can be used to weave cloth, make paper, make feed, and serve as medicinal materials. It has many uses.

widely."

Ning Qi's introduction was still partly an ambush. The entire ground part of ramie can be used to extract ethanol, and the hemp shell can extract furfural, an extremely important refining solvent in the chemical industry. These products cannot be bought with money on the market.

Mendeleev would not publish the periodic table of elements until more than two centuries later. At this time, only Haihan has mastered the technology of directly extracting chemical substances from plants. Of course, even if these things are told to Van Di

He couldn't understand the meaning at all, and Ning Qi didn't want to waste time explaining it to him.

Van Diemen really didn't know this plant, and he couldn't imagine that the Haihan people actually traveled here and discovered this good thing when they visited Li Dong, and then slowly began to promote its cultivation. But he saw it through the glass

Looking out the car window, I saw that the fields on both sides of the road extending far away were full of ramie fields, and I became curious about this strange plant.

"Farmers grow such a large area of ​​ramie. Who do they sell it to after harvesting? Are there any specialized merchants who purchase it?" Van Diemen asked smoothly.

Ning Qi responded: "The fields you see are privately operated plantations. We provide planting technical support, and the ramie produced will be purchased by the Haihan Ministry of Commerce. Just near Yacheng, there are ramie plantations."

There are probably more than 10,000 acres."

Fan Diemen thought that this thing should have huge profits to attract businessmen to come here to invest and operate plantations. From what Ning Qi said, this is not the only area specializing in ramie cultivation in Yacheng. The planting area is like this

Large, Haihan should have a relatively large demand for it. However, the strange thing is that when Van Diemen recalled it, he couldn't seem to recall any linen fabrics in the list of Haihan's export products. It seemed that it was

Its internal digestion is complete.

When he was approaching Yacheng, Van Diemen saw another plantation from the car window, but Ning Qi didn't need to introduce the plants here. He recognized them. They were sugar cane that the Dutch also planted in their colonies in South Asia.

.

Sanya special brew has always been one of the best-selling Haihan products on the market, and part of the variety is rum brewed from sugar cane. Van Diemen has naturally tasted this proud product of the Haihan people, and he had to admit that

Its taste, packaging and sales operations are far superior to the sugarcane wine also produced by the East India Company. Regardless of the differences in raw materials, the gap in production technology between the two parties is probably difficult to catch up with.

However, what Van Diemen didn't know was that the Haihan people's utilization of sugar cane was far greater than that of their competitors at the same time. In addition to wine making and sugar refining, all the remaining bagasse would be used for fertilizer and paper making. In this way

The value that a sugar cane field can create is naturally far above the average level of this era.
Chapter completed!