"Master Jun, little Zhao Si is a businessman from Fengtian. He is here to exchange some specialties with the natives."
Zhao Si saw a young man, who seemed to be the leader of these people, and quickly stepped forward and said respectfully.
"Oh, where is your cargo?"
"That pile over there is just small goods." Zhao Si pointed to a wooden warehouse set up by the dock. There was indeed a pile of goods inside.
"Oh, tell me what's there?"
Zhao Si was already desperate. These things were worth a lot of money here. It was definitely not his fault. But what could he do? At least his life was saved.
"Uh... there are fifteen boxes of tea, three loads of salt, 50 pieces of Jiangbei cotton cloth, as well as some iron pots, axes, arrowheads and other iron tools. There are also some rubber wheels and rubber-soled shoes produced in Jiangbei." Zhao Si said in pain.
He reported his goods. He knew that the general would definitely find a way to keep these things for himself.
"Lao Sha, can you go check it out?" Bao Youzhi ordered Lao Sha beside him.
"Okay!" After saying that, Lao Sha went over and turned over.
"Detachment leader, the things are basically the same as what he said."
"Oh, then return it to him. The same goes for other people's things. As long as you can prove that they are yours, return them all."
Zhao Si rubbed his ears, fearing that he heard wrongly.
"Okay, let's get someone to collect your things. You can stay here first."
Only then did Zhao Si react and quickly asked the clerk to go over and keep an eye on their goods to prevent others from taking them away.
Bao Youzhi really looked down upon them.
The Huai Navy attaches great importance to logistics. This time when heading north, the Huai Navy plans to establish two bases in Temple Street and Sakhalin Island. Therefore, the material preparations are very sufficient.
The convenient storage of canned food, grain, salt and other daily necessities have been accurately calculated and are enough for so many people to survive the entire winter.
In addition, thanks to the duck farming industry on coastal farms, Inventor Dong also taught people in the quilt factory how to make duck down sleeping bags, as well as duck down pants and duck vests that can be worn as linings. These are strategic materials for survival in extremely cold weather.
There are also a large number of logging tools. In the vast lower reaches of Heilongjiang, the only thing that is not lacking is trees.
Originally, the most troublesome thing was logging, which required a lot of manpower. Now, with these prisoners, the logging work can be completed in advance before the militia arrives.
"Zhang Kun, your Marine Corps will stay and take care of these prisoners, and organize them to cut trees nearby. When the militiamen arrive, hand over the prisoners to them. Remember to use a combination of leniency and severity in managing these prisoners, and kill those who cause trouble, and those who are obedient.
You can reward me with some liquor." Bao Youzhi told Zhang Kun, the commander of the Marine Corps.
Zhang Kun nodded in agreement.
Then, Bao Youzhi looked at Zhao Si aside.
Zhao Si was now wondering whether these people were soldiers of the Qing Dynasty.
Zhao Si has been running business outside for many years, and has seen many soldiers, including Eight Banners, Green Camp, and regiment training in various places. It seems that he has never encountered a soldier who is neither greedy nor robbing.
"Sir, your army is really very disciplined. I wonder where the general is?" Zhao Si asked carefully.
Bao Youzhi glared at him.
Zhao Si was so frightened that he quickly knelt down and kowtowed: "General, please forgive me, it's the young one who talks too much. He should be beaten."
This guy really came from Heaven, he is so servile.
"It's okay. We are the army of the imperial court anyway. This can be easily seen. Now that the Russians are here to harass us, it means it is not safe. So we decided to keep some people stationed here."
"That's great, sir. The people here are also my subjects of the Qing Dynasty. Those Rakshasa ghosts often cross the border to rob and occupy Temple Street. The border residents in Heilongjiang are suffering!" Zhao Si said, and squeezed out
A few tears.
"However, Shopkeeper Zhao, we are not familiar with this place, especially the Qing people here. I think you can communicate with them."
"Uh... Sir, the younger ones can only communicate simply. There are several tribes on this island, and they all speak different languages. The younger ones have only been doing business for many years and know some simple communication terms."
Zhao Si felt panicked in his heart.
"So, Mr. Zhao, you are a talent. If you are a talent, you must serve the country. Now I appoint you as the administrator of Sakhalin Island, responsible for managing this island. You see this island is so big, you are quite capable as an official."
So a prefect."
Ten thousand grass and mud horses ran through Zhao Si's heart...
This is life-threatening!
"Oh, sir, I have an eighty-year-old mother above me and an infant son below me. We can't live without me at home!" Zhao Si banged his head.
"Please let me go, sir."
"Zhao Si! I want to see that you are loyal to the emperor and serve the country, and I want to promote you. You don't want to toast or eat as a penalty, stand up quickly!" Bao Youzhi said sternly.
Zhao Si quickly stopped, not daring to act any more. If the general was unhappy and killed him, he would be unjust.
"Well, you stay here until next year. Someone will come to the island in a few days. Then you have to teach the leader how to communicate with the residents on the island. If you teach him well before next summer, you can
I left. It’s up to you to sell your things. When the time comes, just send someone you trust to bring back the exchanged goods.”
Under Bao Youzhi's hard and soft approach, Zhao Si could only agree.
According to Dong Shuheng's plan, the Huai Navy planned to establish two strongholds in Temple Street and Sakhalin Island.
Each stronghold has a residential area surrounded by city walls, a farm, and a lumberyard. There is a school in the residential area, which mainly recruits young people from nearby ethnic minorities to learn Chinese.
The stronghold attracts surrounding ethnic minorities through trade, recruits young people from the ethnic minorities, and continues to grow the settlement area.
The stronghold is modeled after a farm. There is no standing army. All workers and farmers are militiamen. The farm workers selected this time are all single young people. Currently, these two strongholds do not have family members, so strictly speaking they are two big
military camp.
Of course, when the fleet set off, it did not consider that it would conflict with Tsarist Russia so soon. When the news spread back to Jiangbei, it would probably give Dong Shuheng another headache.
At this time, a boy holding a reindeer came over, and there was a burst of chirping. Bao Youzhi didn't understand a word. He looked at Zhao Si next to him in confusion.
"Oh, general, this boy said that his father was killed by the man on the ground. You helped him avenge him, and he will follow you in the future." Zhao Si pointed to the corpse on the ground with a piece of wood stuck in his head.
"Okay, what's his name?"
Zhao Si was talking and gesticulating again.
"Oh, general, his name seems to be Lushou."
"Zhao Si, you ask the deer head to go back to the tribe and recruit young people to help us work. We will pay them grain and salt as wages. If you bring the reindeer, you can get double the wages."
"Sir, this is a great trick. If they can earn enough food for the winter, I think they will be happy to help us in the future."
"Sir, the biggest enemy of the border people in the north is winter. In the long winter, you can't hunt or go out, you can only hide in the ground. So if you want to survive the winter, you must store food for the winter. These border people are all
We make a living by fishing and hunting, but eating only fish meat is definitely not enough, and fish meat is not easy to preserve and is in small quantities."
"So, Sir, as long as we can provide food supplies for the winter, it is very easy to conquer these border residents." Zhao Si said.
Bao Youzhi felt that he had found a treasure. This Zhao Si really knew the ethnic minorities in the north, otherwise he would not have said what he just said.
"Old Zhao, what you said is so good. You can handle this matter. You don't have to worry about the supplies. I will take care of it. You just need to do a good job in contacting the various tribes. If you have enough people, you can get close to the port before winter.
The small town is built.”
After arranging things on the island, Bao Youzhi asked Zhao Kun and a company of marines to stay behind to guard the prisoners and wait for the merchant ships carrying personnel and supplies. Zhao Si and Lu Shou contacted the aborigines and recruited people to work.
The current work on the island is mainly to cut down trees, free up the city construction site, and then reserve construction materials.
Bao Youzhi himself took the remaining three light cruisers and rushed to Temple Street. The captured Russian ships and supplies were left for the island.
Dong Shuheng still didn't know that the navy people had caused him a big trouble.
Polar bears are naturally belligerent and will never swallow their anger after suffering a loss unless you can maim it.
After seeing off the fleet, Dong Shuheng found Hu Guangyong.
"Xue Yan, have you read the Yangtze River Business Daily?"
"Look, sir, this newspaper is really wonderful!" Hu Xueyan said with a smile. He knew that this newspaper was also written by the president. After spending so many years in shopping malls, he knew very well how dependent businessmen are on information. It can be said that
Whoever has smoother and faster information will win the war in the shopping mall.
"After the newspaper came out this time, the prices of tea and porcelain in Shanghai increased by 10%. Foreigners also increased their efforts to stock up." Hu Guangyong never thought about using a newspaper to control the economy.
"Xueyan, since the Treaty of Nanjing opened the sea, the prices of porcelain, tea, and silk have been falling. On the contrary, the British are shipping more and more opium and some foreign goods. In the past, the Qing Dynasty exported more and more goods to the West.
Super, now it has become super."
"Sir, what does 'out of the super, into the super' mean?" Hu Xueyan asked puzzledly. He knew that the president likes to invent new words.
"Excess means that the total export volume exceeds imports, and money generally flows in, and vice versa."
"So, Xue Yan, I came to you this time just to ask how you can continue to raise the prices of the three major items: porcelain, tea and silk."
"President, this matter is easy to handle. The main thing is to stock up and reduce shipments. Our three major items are in hard demand in Western Europe. Even if the price increases, they still have to buy them."
"And it will take a long time for information to reach Europe from here, and Western cargo ships will continue to come. By then, they will have to buy even if they don't want to buy. They can't go back empty."
"So what do we need to prepare?" Dong Shuheng asked.
"President, we need a lot of funds. The so-called business speculation is made of money. If we speculate, the British will definitely use a lot of funds to suppress it, so we must have more funds in our hands. In addition, President
You must also be prepared to use force. Foreigners have always used force to obtain what they cannot obtain economically."
"In this regard, you don't have to worry too much. They are already fighting the Russians in the west, and they will not have the energy to take large-scale military operations in the east within the next two years. If it is just a small-scale friction, we naturally do not need to be afraid.
"
"That's good, the rest is a matter of funding."
"In terms of funds, Jiangbei will fully support you, but you'd better find a way to unite businessmen in Zhejiang. In fact, it is to use them for profit. As long as there is profit-driven, there is no need to worry about them not biting. Have you ever seen a mosquito that doesn't bite?
?”
"The president said so. Xue Yan knows what to do, but you have to say hello to the major shareholder of the Yangtze River Group."
"Don't worry about this, just go ahead and do it. If necessary, I will ask the special forces to cooperate with you."
"President, I am confident that we can bring in businessmen from Zhejiang, but I am worried about the people from the Thirteenth Group."
"These people have always been very close to foreigners and are deeply tied to their interests. Moreover, the Thirteenth Bank has been doing three major export trades and has its own purchase channels. If they let go, we will be very passive.
." Hu Guangyong said worriedly.
"Well... this is indeed a trouble, but I think there is nothing we can do about it. We may have to use some unconventional means at that time."
"You go back and sort out the main shipping locations of the current three major items, as well as the cargo transshipment routes.
I will make a lot of ‘bandits’ appear in these places, and then only our Huaihai Company’s caravan will be able to pass through. I will make sure that they will not be able to get in any goods.”
"Hiss... President, if you say that, Xue Yan is confident of winning. How far is the president prepared to raise the three major items?" Hu Guangyong asked.
This price increase cannot be unlimited. When the price of export commodities increases, domestic prices will also rise accordingly. Silk and porcelain are not bad, and tea is also a necessity for people's livelihood in China. If the price is too high, it will inevitably affect the lives of ordinary people.
"Let me give you 50% for the time being! If it is any higher, it will hurt others and yourself." Dong Shuheng said helplessly. If he controls the country, he can use the rationing system to decouple domestic commodity prices from export commodity prices.
However, what he can really and effectively control now is Jiangbei.
"Xue Yan, this trade war may require the use of bank funds. You must control the situation to prevent someone from causing trouble behind the scenes and causing a run."
"Yes, President, don't worry, I will try my best to keep sufficient reserves in the bank."
"Also, Xue Yan, the newspaper will cooperate with you. You should be able to realize the influence of the newspaper now. If necessary, I will let the newspaper cooperate with you and release some information in a timely manner." Dong Shuheng added
added.
"That's great, President." Hu Guangyong suddenly felt that he had become extremely powerful. This feeling of being able to control and manipulate the economy made him feel intoxicated.
All these are given by the president, so he can only win, not fail.