The dinner was very late, but no one had any appetite. At first, it might be because they were worried, and later because they were excited.
It is foreseeable that a large amount of capital from the Far East will gather in the upcoming city of Naha like sharks smelling blood.
Of course, Huai Haijun himself will invest a huge amount of money here, at least in the initial infrastructure construction.
And when it comes to land bidding later, Huaihai will bring its old allies, merchants from Suzhou and Zhejiang, to help out, and even a group of businessmen from Japan and North Korea. If they only count on these foreigners, if they are allowed to collude to lower the price,
The price is a problem.
In the end, Mai Lian came to his senses and realized that tonight's welcome dinner didn't seem to have much to do with him.
This is completely a feast among businessmen.
At this moment, Mai Lian felt like she wanted to slap herself.
"who I am?"
"What am I here for?"
Mr. Mailian felt that he was a little confused, and he followed a group of businessmen to have fun all night.
Anyway, after returning to the hotel where Zhang Wenhan had arranged for him to rest, Mai Lian couldn't sleep no matter what. She tossed and turned for a long time before she clarified her mission again.
My main target this time is still Japan.
Ryukyu was originally a beauty that everyone wanted to get their hands on. Now, this beauty took off her clothes directly in front of everyone, and then publicly said: "Come on, everyone can have sex with me!"
This makes Mai Lian feel boring. The policies here have been completely disclosed, and the rest of the things can be left to the businessmen to decide.
It seems that there is nothing happening here as the minister. I can't bring a warship up there and force Mayor Zhang to allocate a piece of land to me for free.
Although Americans have done many bandit-like things, they themselves will never admit that they are bandits.
Countries in the civilized world need to have some dignity.
The next day, Mayor Zhang sent someone to invite Mai Lian again, saying that he would take a group of representatives to inspect the newly planned free port zone.
On the open space of the dock, Zhang Wenhan pointed to a shantytown in the distance and said: "Everyone, please look at the shantytown over there. We are going to demolish all of them. The people here are all porters on the dock."
"We in Naha City found another place to build houses for them for free. The conditions are much better than the sheds here."
Hearing what Zhang Wenhan said, all the businessmen, whether Chinese or foreign, gave a thumbs up in their hearts.
The British have a proverb, "My hut can be entered in rain or shine, but the king cannot enter." This reflects the protection of private property.
Using replacement compensation as in Naha to allow residents to voluntarily give up their original houses is also in line with the spirit of the rule of law.
These businessmen believed Zhang Wenhan's bold words about establishing a complete legal system in Naha.
As Mailian listened, she couldn't help but think that this Zhang Wenhan was from Huai Haijun. If all the people in Huai Haijun were so open-minded and capable.
Then you must be careful when dealing with this Chinese force named Huai Haijun in the future.
At least we can no longer use the old methods of dealing with the indigenous people to deal with the Huai Navy.
In his eyes, the people in Huai Haijun were already civilized people, and they had learned how Westerners behaved in the world.
Then when you get along with them, you must treat them as equals. Otherwise, you may be the one who suffers in the end.
Just like this, we wandered around the pier for another day. In the evening, everyone also enjoyed a sumptuous Chinese meal together.
…
Tongfu Inn.
Encouraged by his comrades, Wang Qiao finally boldly approached Boss Hu about proposing marriage.
"Mr. Hu, as for me, I am alone now. I used to live in the world and never got married. Now I am a grown man. I want to find someone to settle down with. Do you think this is feasible?" Wang Qiao said straight to the point.
As for Lao Hu, he also likes this young man very much. Although he is more than ten years older than his daughter, he is still an official and an honest person. However, Lao Hu is worried that something might happen to him if something happens to him as a soldier.
Seeing that Lao Hu did not speak, Wang Qiao continued: "As the chief instructor of the Ryukyu National Defense Force, my military rank in the Huaihai Navy is major. I can also be regarded as an upper-middle-level officer. My monthly salary is 20 silver dollars. In addition, the Ryukyu Kingdom also provides additional
I’ll get a subsidy.”
Wang Qiao originally wanted to find a matchmaker, but he didn't know anyone here, so he came to Shopkeeper Hu to find out more.
"Brother Wang, it's too dangerous for you to be soldiers. Maybe one day... Although my old man admires you, but which girl you want to find, you have to find a matchmaker and ask the girl's opinion."
Wang Qiao understood now. Old Hu was blaming himself for not finding a matchmaker. "Old Hu, if you want to talk about danger, I am now an instructor and have already stepped back to the second line. I basically don't have to charge into battle myself, so I thought
We need to start a family, otherwise we would be afraid of missing someone else’s girl if we do things with our heads up." Wang Qiao still explained.
The next day, he finally found a matchmaker. The matchmaker took Wang Qiao's silver coins and worked very hard. He immediately found Hu Zhaodi and Mrs. Hu and helped Wang Qiao propose the marriage.
Mrs. Hu and Lao Hu both agreed. Hu Zhaodi had been silently looking forward to it in her heart. Even if the marriage was settled like this.
In this way, Wang Qiao has not yet held a wedding, but he is already half a son-in-law of the Hu family. In addition, he has no family, so it is not an exaggeration to say that he is half a son of the Hu family. Now he naturally wants to help the Hu family.
In the evening, the family sat together to have dinner. Wang Qiao is also from Fujian and has similar living habits to the Hu family. He usually eats with the Hu family.
"Uncle Hu, you heard that a new city is going to be built over the pier. If you build a hotel near the pier at this time, you will definitely make a lot of money in the future."
"Oh, right? Can this really be built? How could people think of coming to Ryukyu?" Lao Hu felt that Ryukyu has been like this for hundreds of years. How could it be possible to say that a new city can be built? First, there must be someone
Just come if you want.
"Uncle Hu, you don't know that our president said that Naha will become a metropolis with millions of people in the future. I don't believe it when others say it, but what our president said has never been impossible to achieve." Wang Qiao
Said again.
"But if you want to build a new inn, you must first have land, and secondly, you must have money to build a house." Lao Hu's small inn has been open for several generations, and he has never thought of opening another one.
Lao Hu, who is old and timid, just wants to live a life for his family. But Wang Qiao has seen the world. Now that he is getting married, he must earn a family fortune for his descendants.
"Uncle Hu, my salary and combat bonus are 500 silver dollars. In addition, I will ask my comrades to borrow 500 silver dollars, so that I will have 1,000 silver dollars, which is enough for the initial investment. We can't afford the land to be auctioned, but a little
We can build a piece of ground closer to it."
"Later, we can also mortgage the half-built inn to the Yangtze River Bank for a loan. As a soldier, I can get a preferential loan. This is almost enough." Wang Qiao continued. Huaihai Navy implements a military-first policy, and people from the army
You can enjoy many preferential policies.
Moreover, the inn business is relatively simple. As long as there is a large flow of people, it can be successfully run. It can be said that the harvest is guaranteed regardless of drought or flood.
So the Hu family and Wang Qiao worked together to plan the new Tongfu Inn. Wang Qiao suggested building a Western-style building so that the same land could be used to build more guest rooms in the front. In addition, many foreigners will come to Naha in the future, and such an inn will also
It is more able to attract foreign guests.
The inn can then hire some Japanese women as servants. Japanese women are hard-working, gentle, and have good service attitudes, so they are most suitable to be inn waiters.
…
Mai Lian has always been very puzzled as to why Zhang Wenhan had to call her out on everything, even sending people on American warships to send condolences. This must be too enthusiastic for the Americans!
After staying in Naha for three days, Mai Lian no longer wanted to participate in activities organized by Zhang Wenhan that were meaningless to her.
Although she vaguely felt that Zhang Wenhan was dragging her down, as a diplomat who was familiar with etiquette, Mai Lian could not easily get angry.
Because everything Zhang Wenhan did was reasonable and really impeccable.
Rejecting Zhang Wenhan's repeated invitations, Mai Lian finally boarded the Perry fleet, set sail, and headed for Edo Bay, Japan.
Mai Lian had a big question mark in her mind as to whether she could complete her mission to Japan.
If the Huai Navy forces have really penetrated into Japan, can I still complete the contracted task?
The Huaihai Navy will definitely get news about the United States from the Japanese, so won't they respond accordingly?
"The future is worrying!" Mai Lian sighed in her heart.
Unlike Mai Lian, Perry is full of confidence.
Japan opened its door by itself, and Perry felt that he would definitely enter the history textbooks of American schools - "In 1853, the U.S. East India Fleet, under the leadership of Perry, opened Japan's door and allowed the United States to exert influence in East Asia.
We have taken another big step forward!"
As a soldier, Perry was obviously not as rich as Mailian thought. He also did not go ashore to see the Huai Navy.
All he could think about was the scene when he met the Japanese shogunate on the beach of Edo Bay last year, and how funny the Japanese were at that time.
Perry had people bring a telegraph machine to demonstrate to the Japanese, but the Japanese had people carry bags of rice to show off. The Americans showed off volleys of guns, and the Japanese showed off volleys of bows and arrows.
This scene made Perry think it was so good that it was a bit funny. "Haha..." Perry couldn't help laughing.
"General, what are you laughing at?" Mai Lian asked.
Perry quickly said with an embarrassed look on his face: "Your Excellency, Minister, I don't think you need to worry about Japan at all. In just one year, Japan can't make many changes at all."
"Besides, what can the Chinese do? It's not their turn to deal with the affairs between us and the Japanese. Ryukyu is their vassal state, but Japan is not."
"When the time comes, if they want to forcibly interfere in the affairs between us and Japan, it will be a provocation to the United States of America! Then it will not be us who provoke the war. Even the picky bosses in Congress will not be able to say anything."
Perry paused when he said this and looked at Mai Lian, who didn't speak.
"The thoughts of these diplomats are really strange!" Perry complained in his heart.