Chapter 1552
Establishment of Diplomatic Relations and Commerce
Chapter 1552 Establishment of Diplomatic Relations and Commerce
The summer of 1636 was slightly cooler than the same period in previous years, and the scale displayed on the mercury thermometer made by Haihan rarely even exceeded 35 degrees Celsius.Ordinary people simply think that this is the beauty of the heavens and did not use the scorching sun to scorch the world, but the travelers know very well that this is just a manifestation of climate change during the Little Ice Age in the late Ming Dynasty.And even if there is no scorching sun, the drought in the Little Ice Age will still come as scheduled. Farmers waiting for the autumn harvest have to use a lot of manpower to irrigate the farmland in order to keep the crops in the field.
In the summer and autumn of this year, it is almost inevitable that Ming's grain production will decrease. The grain-producing areas in the Central Plains have been messed up by the peasant army, and the Jiangsu and Zhejiang areas have suffered from drought and less rain for many days. The grain production level is in a mess compared to previous years.Under such circumstances, the major grain merchants in Shaoxing, Jiaxing, Hangzhou, and Huzhou, the main grain-producing areas, are consciously controlling their shipments, and they are making large quantities of food in the grain markets of Ningbo and Taizhou. shopping.
The output of grain-producing areas in Jiangsu and Zhejiang is an important weight to stabilize grain prices in northern Daming. However, this year has not yet reached the rice harvest season, and grain prices in the market have begun to rise sharply due to artificial hype.Fortunately, here is a land of fish and rice, and there will not be a large-scale food shortage in a short period of time. The social situation has not been turbulent because of this, and ordinary people don't even realize what kind of market trends the fluctuation of food prices symbolizes. , What kind of game is hidden behind it.
What Wang Ji has to do now is to win the right to speak in the grain market with the help of Haihan, a big buyer.Haihan will purchase at least several thousand tons of grain in Zhejiang in the second half of the year. This amount is neither too big nor too small. At least for the currently turbulent Zhejiang grain market, this must be the largest amount other than the imperial government’s grain tax. An order is made.And this kind of large-scale business certainly does not have any grain merchants who can supply alone. Even these grain merchants under Wang Ji's command must first group together to transfer goods, or even scan the grain markets in various state capitals early in order to satisfy Haihan. order requirements.
Although some grain merchants have sensed the meaning behind the changes in the market situation, they are unable to resist the trend of the industry being gradually consolidated. After all, once the voice of the industry is concentrated in the hands of grain merchants with strong official backgrounds, unless their backgrounds are drained, otherwise the future It can only operate in accordance with the regulations set by Wang Ji.What's more, there are Haihan people assisting in this matter, and the grain merchants who want to be tough must first weigh whether they can fight against the Haihan people.
Wang Ji made such a big battle because he had his own calculations. He knew that some people in Zhejiang might be dissatisfied with his actions and would even try to obstruct his actions, but Wang Ji chose this time to start , It is calculated that the news of the construction and trade of the two countries will be announced during this period. At that time, everyone's attention will be attracted by this big news. As for the changes in the grain market, it will not be so obvious.
At the end of August, the official news of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Ming and Haihan, which had been rumored for many days inside and outside Hangzhou, finally came to official news. Zhejiang Chengxuan posted a notice outside the government envoy's office, announcing that Ming and Haihan would establish official diplomatic relations from now on, and would allow Haihan merchants carried out trade activities in the coastal states of Zhejiang.Of course, the content of the announcement did not expressly state the final ownership of the Zhoushan Islands and Shipu Port, but it recognized Haihan's rights and interests in the coastal areas of Zhejiang.This includes the various facilities invested and built by Haihan on the territory of Ming Dynasty, farmland reclaimed, mines mined, seaports, bridges and roads built, etc.
The Ming court recognized the legitimacy of Haihan's investment and construction assets, which was actually a disguised recognition of Haihan's control over these areas.Although the communiqué on the establishment of diplomatic relations did not mention the word "ceding the land", the upper-level officials who knew the inside story knew that this was actually the court's biggest compromise with Haihan, but it was not clearly written in black and white.Haihan will get the islands and ports they want as they wish, and enjoy the right to free trade in the designated coastal state capitals in Zhejiang.
This so-called right to trade, in addition to buying and selling in the ordinary sense, actually includes financial institutions represented by Haihan Bank entering Daming territory to set up business outlets, and Haihan can legally employ them in Daming territory. Ming and Haihan citizens enjoy the right to rent and buy land, build houses, and live in the commercial state capital.Haihan wants to use Daming as a source of raw materials and labor, as well as a sales market for high-end products. The contents of the trade agreement will provide great convenience.
Through this agreement, Haihan obtained all the conditions he needed from Daming, and in the future, various business activities in Daming would no longer need to be secretive like in the past.For Haihan, saving a lot of manpower, material and financial resources is secondary, and the long-term benefits that will be brought about by the change in the relationship between the two countries are the most important part.
Since the Time Travel Group landed in Sanya, raw materials, labor and the sales market have always been the three major factors restricting the development of Haihan's national strength. For this reason, Haihan has tried every means to open up overseas colonies, introducing immigrants from Daming, Annan and other countries to supplement the labor force, and using force As a stepping stone, it forcibly opened the markets of Daming and Southeast Asia.And Daming, who has the same root and family as the traversers, has naturally become the main direction for Haihan to solve the needs of these three elements.
In nine years, the travelers finally made Daming, a powerful country in the Far East, bow their heads to themselves. Although this action may not be so willing to Daming, it is of great significance to Haihan.The traversers have been determined to build Haihan into the most powerful country in the Far East for several years, and the standard for measuring this "number one" naturally depends on Daming's attitude towards Haihan.
In the past, Ming was aloof and ignored Haihan's proposal to establish diplomatic relations with the court through officials from Fujian and Guangxi provinces. But since Haihan crossed the Fujian Strait and went northward, the balance of power between the two countries has changed silently.Daming, which originally took the initiative, became more and more vulnerable due to the deterioration of the domestic and international situation, but Haihan continued to grow and develop at a speed visible to the naked eye, and even had the ability to launch thousands of people in unfamiliar areas thousands of miles away from the mainland. The ability to scale battles.And the military aid that Haihan can provide to Daming has also changed from a mere talk on paper in the past to a real hammer witnessed by the Minister of the Ministry of War.
From Emperor Chongzhen down, all the ministers in the court agreed with the practice of letting Haihan attract the firepower of Houjin on the northern front. For this reason, it is actually a very good deal to temporarily suffer a small loss on the issue of land disputes.Both the emperor and the ministers believed that this passive situation would not last for too long. After the work of resisting foreign affairs and securing the interior was completed, they would slowly mobilize troops to drive the Haihan people out of these occupied areas.
This is of course wishful thinking of the high-level officials of Ming Dynasty, thinking that no matter how severe the situation is, the current grievances are only temporary.As long as they are free in the future, they can drive the Haihan people away from Daming at any time.Of course, most of the high-ranking officials who have such thoughts are in the capital, and the local officials who can have daily contact with Haihan will not be so confused. After all, the former Ming territory that Haihan swallowed has never been there. Spit it out again.
And it was Haihan who really felt that he was wronged and asked for completeness. After all, he controlled the armed forces with the strongest combat capability in this era, but he could only patiently negotiate with Daming slowly, instead of surrendering him by force. , This is undoubtedly a kind of torture for a general like Shi Diwen.If Shi Diwen were to choose a way to make Daming bow his head, he might really consider leading troops into Hangzhou or even Nanjing, so that Daming could immediately understand how firm Haihan's position is.
However, the possibility of this situation happening is as small as Da Ming's decision to take the initiative to start a war with Haihan. The two countries, who are unwilling to take force measures to break the balance, finally chose to coexist in a peaceful way, and then the two sides took their own Get what you want, get what you want.
When the announcement of the establishment of diplomatic relations was posted in Hangzhou, Shi Diwen had already returned to Ningbo, and discussed with Qu Yutong to start some industries in Ningbo after the official establishment of diplomatic relations, such as various quasi-industrialized manufacturing workshops, with Haihan paying for the technology , Qu Yutong arranged for people to come out of the land.In the past, there were many fears about engaging in this kind of cooperation, and Qu Yutong also worried that if he let the Haihan people run the industry on his own territory, he would be caught. But now that there is a trade agreement, everything can be implemented freely. .
However, after the news of his stay in Ningbo spread through various channels, he was soon blocked in the city by various businessmen who rushed to hear the news.The reason is that the construction and transportation business announcements posted in Hangzhou City, businessmen with a keen sense of smell will immediately find that this is a good opportunity to make a fortune, and whether they can make good use of this opportunity depends on whether Haihan is willing or not. Cooperation, that's why a large number of businessmen suddenly poured into Ningbo City, and some of them even came from Hangzhou overnight.
Of course, with Shi Diwen's current status, not everyone can see him if he wants to. Merchants can only go to the place where Shi Diwen is staying to submit greeting cards, and then return to the residence and wait patiently for the notice.Only a very small number of businessmen who have in-depth cooperation with Haihan can be interviewed by Shi Diwen in the first place.Even so, the number of businessmen that Shi Diwen needs to meet every day has reached double digits, which shows how close the trade between Zhejiang Coastal Prefecture and Haihan is.
Although in most cases this kind of meeting is just a confirmation that the future cooperation will continue and no substantive new results have been obtained, Shi Diwen still has to complete this work well.He had to reassure Daming's customers and merchants through the attitude he showed, so that these people would not change their enthusiasm for Haihan's trade due to changes in the current situation.Moreover, Shi Diwen also hopes that through this kind of contact, some capable and reliable merchants can be selected from many collaborators to promote Haihan's quasi-industrial processing project.
To achieve industrialization in this era, the biggest problem Haihan faces is neither capital nor technology, but a large number of well-trained industrial workers.In this society dominated by agricultural production, only a very small number of people are engaged in non-agricultural production, which simply cannot meet the requirements of promoting industrialization.Even in Sanya, after nearly nine years of development, there are only about [-] industrial workers engaged in technical production, which is less than one-twentieth of the total population of Haihan.Measured by such a proportion of occupations, even in Hainan Island, which has the most advanced productivity in this century, only a few places such as the Tiandu Industrial Zone have achieved industrialization.
Shi Diwen set up an industry in Zhejiang, hoping that through this method, he could train more industrial workers for Haihan.Although most of the industries set up here in the future will be rough processing of raw materials, which cannot be compared with the real technical production in Tiandu Industrial Zone, Shi Diwen firmly believes that this method will be more conducive to the promotion of industrial production in Zhejiang. .Even if the number of industrial workers trained for Haihan is limited, it is still a harvest.
This kind of repeated negotiations soon made Shi Diwen exhausted physically and mentally. After three days of continuous high-intensity work, Shi Diwen announced that he was ill and stopped seeing customers for two days, and needed to take a rest to recuperate his body.Now the merchants smelled a new opportunity, and all kinds of tonic and tonic wine were sent to Shi Diwen's residence as if they were free of money.Those who haven't met him want to take this opportunity to meet him, and those who have met him also want to use this method to strengthen their relationship.For a while, the precious medicinal materials of the major prescriptions in Ningbo City were almost out of stock, and tonics such as ginseng were searched for even the thickest little finger.
The news soon spread to Hangzhou, so the chief officials of various yamen in Hangzhou also wrote letters to Ningbo to greet Shi Diwen. After all, the two countries had just established diplomatic relations. If you fall ill, many things that were originally negotiated can only be suspended, and this is a situation that officials do not want to see.
The chief envoy Wang Ji even sent his personal doctor to Ningbo to diagnose and treat Shi Diwen.However, when the doctor arrived in Ningbo city, he found that there were too many doctors waiting in line to see Haihan's General Shi. Almost all of them, like him, came here after accepting invitations from various people. of.In terms of quantity alone, the doctors waiting here are enough to open a hospital.
Shi Diwen didn't expect his illness caused by fatigue to attract so much attention, and he was a little dumbfounded at the moment, thinking that there are so many people in the Traveling Group, and I am probably the only one who has enjoyed the treatment of dozens of doctors. up.Of course, a consultation is a consultation, and the prescriptions prescribed by so many doctors are more or less different. The intensity of the doctors' disputes over medication is even far greater than the business negotiations in the yard.
(End of this chapter)
The summer of 1636 was slightly cooler than the same period in previous years, and the scale displayed on the mercury thermometer made by Haihan rarely even exceeded 35 degrees Celsius.Ordinary people simply think that this is the beauty of the heavens and did not use the scorching sun to scorch the world, but the travelers know very well that this is just a manifestation of climate change during the Little Ice Age in the late Ming Dynasty.And even if there is no scorching sun, the drought in the Little Ice Age will still come as scheduled. Farmers waiting for the autumn harvest have to use a lot of manpower to irrigate the farmland in order to keep the crops in the field.
In the summer and autumn of this year, it is almost inevitable that Ming's grain production will decrease. The grain-producing areas in the Central Plains have been messed up by the peasant army, and the Jiangsu and Zhejiang areas have suffered from drought and less rain for many days. The grain production level is in a mess compared to previous years.Under such circumstances, the major grain merchants in Shaoxing, Jiaxing, Hangzhou, and Huzhou, the main grain-producing areas, are consciously controlling their shipments, and they are making large quantities of food in the grain markets of Ningbo and Taizhou. shopping.
The output of grain-producing areas in Jiangsu and Zhejiang is an important weight to stabilize grain prices in northern Daming. However, this year has not yet reached the rice harvest season, and grain prices in the market have begun to rise sharply due to artificial hype.Fortunately, here is a land of fish and rice, and there will not be a large-scale food shortage in a short period of time. The social situation has not been turbulent because of this, and ordinary people don't even realize what kind of market trends the fluctuation of food prices symbolizes. , What kind of game is hidden behind it.
What Wang Ji has to do now is to win the right to speak in the grain market with the help of Haihan, a big buyer.Haihan will purchase at least several thousand tons of grain in Zhejiang in the second half of the year. This amount is neither too big nor too small. At least for the currently turbulent Zhejiang grain market, this must be the largest amount other than the imperial government’s grain tax. An order is made.And this kind of large-scale business certainly does not have any grain merchants who can supply alone. Even these grain merchants under Wang Ji's command must first group together to transfer goods, or even scan the grain markets in various state capitals early in order to satisfy Haihan. order requirements.
Although some grain merchants have sensed the meaning behind the changes in the market situation, they are unable to resist the trend of the industry being gradually consolidated. After all, once the voice of the industry is concentrated in the hands of grain merchants with strong official backgrounds, unless their backgrounds are drained, otherwise the future It can only operate in accordance with the regulations set by Wang Ji.What's more, there are Haihan people assisting in this matter, and the grain merchants who want to be tough must first weigh whether they can fight against the Haihan people.
Wang Ji made such a big battle because he had his own calculations. He knew that some people in Zhejiang might be dissatisfied with his actions and would even try to obstruct his actions, but Wang Ji chose this time to start , It is calculated that the news of the construction and trade of the two countries will be announced during this period. At that time, everyone's attention will be attracted by this big news. As for the changes in the grain market, it will not be so obvious.
At the end of August, the official news of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Ming and Haihan, which had been rumored for many days inside and outside Hangzhou, finally came to official news. Zhejiang Chengxuan posted a notice outside the government envoy's office, announcing that Ming and Haihan would establish official diplomatic relations from now on, and would allow Haihan merchants carried out trade activities in the coastal states of Zhejiang.Of course, the content of the announcement did not expressly state the final ownership of the Zhoushan Islands and Shipu Port, but it recognized Haihan's rights and interests in the coastal areas of Zhejiang.This includes the various facilities invested and built by Haihan on the territory of Ming Dynasty, farmland reclaimed, mines mined, seaports, bridges and roads built, etc.
The Ming court recognized the legitimacy of Haihan's investment and construction assets, which was actually a disguised recognition of Haihan's control over these areas.Although the communiqué on the establishment of diplomatic relations did not mention the word "ceding the land", the upper-level officials who knew the inside story knew that this was actually the court's biggest compromise with Haihan, but it was not clearly written in black and white.Haihan will get the islands and ports they want as they wish, and enjoy the right to free trade in the designated coastal state capitals in Zhejiang.
This so-called right to trade, in addition to buying and selling in the ordinary sense, actually includes financial institutions represented by Haihan Bank entering Daming territory to set up business outlets, and Haihan can legally employ them in Daming territory. Ming and Haihan citizens enjoy the right to rent and buy land, build houses, and live in the commercial state capital.Haihan wants to use Daming as a source of raw materials and labor, as well as a sales market for high-end products. The contents of the trade agreement will provide great convenience.
Through this agreement, Haihan obtained all the conditions he needed from Daming, and in the future, various business activities in Daming would no longer need to be secretive like in the past.For Haihan, saving a lot of manpower, material and financial resources is secondary, and the long-term benefits that will be brought about by the change in the relationship between the two countries are the most important part.
Since the Time Travel Group landed in Sanya, raw materials, labor and the sales market have always been the three major factors restricting the development of Haihan's national strength. For this reason, Haihan has tried every means to open up overseas colonies, introducing immigrants from Daming, Annan and other countries to supplement the labor force, and using force As a stepping stone, it forcibly opened the markets of Daming and Southeast Asia.And Daming, who has the same root and family as the traversers, has naturally become the main direction for Haihan to solve the needs of these three elements.
In nine years, the travelers finally made Daming, a powerful country in the Far East, bow their heads to themselves. Although this action may not be so willing to Daming, it is of great significance to Haihan.The traversers have been determined to build Haihan into the most powerful country in the Far East for several years, and the standard for measuring this "number one" naturally depends on Daming's attitude towards Haihan.
In the past, Ming was aloof and ignored Haihan's proposal to establish diplomatic relations with the court through officials from Fujian and Guangxi provinces. But since Haihan crossed the Fujian Strait and went northward, the balance of power between the two countries has changed silently.Daming, which originally took the initiative, became more and more vulnerable due to the deterioration of the domestic and international situation, but Haihan continued to grow and develop at a speed visible to the naked eye, and even had the ability to launch thousands of people in unfamiliar areas thousands of miles away from the mainland. The ability to scale battles.And the military aid that Haihan can provide to Daming has also changed from a mere talk on paper in the past to a real hammer witnessed by the Minister of the Ministry of War.
From Emperor Chongzhen down, all the ministers in the court agreed with the practice of letting Haihan attract the firepower of Houjin on the northern front. For this reason, it is actually a very good deal to temporarily suffer a small loss on the issue of land disputes.Both the emperor and the ministers believed that this passive situation would not last for too long. After the work of resisting foreign affairs and securing the interior was completed, they would slowly mobilize troops to drive the Haihan people out of these occupied areas.
This is of course wishful thinking of the high-level officials of Ming Dynasty, thinking that no matter how severe the situation is, the current grievances are only temporary.As long as they are free in the future, they can drive the Haihan people away from Daming at any time.Of course, most of the high-ranking officials who have such thoughts are in the capital, and the local officials who can have daily contact with Haihan will not be so confused. After all, the former Ming territory that Haihan swallowed has never been there. Spit it out again.
And it was Haihan who really felt that he was wronged and asked for completeness. After all, he controlled the armed forces with the strongest combat capability in this era, but he could only patiently negotiate with Daming slowly, instead of surrendering him by force. , This is undoubtedly a kind of torture for a general like Shi Diwen.If Shi Diwen were to choose a way to make Daming bow his head, he might really consider leading troops into Hangzhou or even Nanjing, so that Daming could immediately understand how firm Haihan's position is.
However, the possibility of this situation happening is as small as Da Ming's decision to take the initiative to start a war with Haihan. The two countries, who are unwilling to take force measures to break the balance, finally chose to coexist in a peaceful way, and then the two sides took their own Get what you want, get what you want.
When the announcement of the establishment of diplomatic relations was posted in Hangzhou, Shi Diwen had already returned to Ningbo, and discussed with Qu Yutong to start some industries in Ningbo after the official establishment of diplomatic relations, such as various quasi-industrialized manufacturing workshops, with Haihan paying for the technology , Qu Yutong arranged for people to come out of the land.In the past, there were many fears about engaging in this kind of cooperation, and Qu Yutong also worried that if he let the Haihan people run the industry on his own territory, he would be caught. But now that there is a trade agreement, everything can be implemented freely. .
However, after the news of his stay in Ningbo spread through various channels, he was soon blocked in the city by various businessmen who rushed to hear the news.The reason is that the construction and transportation business announcements posted in Hangzhou City, businessmen with a keen sense of smell will immediately find that this is a good opportunity to make a fortune, and whether they can make good use of this opportunity depends on whether Haihan is willing or not. Cooperation, that's why a large number of businessmen suddenly poured into Ningbo City, and some of them even came from Hangzhou overnight.
Of course, with Shi Diwen's current status, not everyone can see him if he wants to. Merchants can only go to the place where Shi Diwen is staying to submit greeting cards, and then return to the residence and wait patiently for the notice.Only a very small number of businessmen who have in-depth cooperation with Haihan can be interviewed by Shi Diwen in the first place.Even so, the number of businessmen that Shi Diwen needs to meet every day has reached double digits, which shows how close the trade between Zhejiang Coastal Prefecture and Haihan is.
Although in most cases this kind of meeting is just a confirmation that the future cooperation will continue and no substantive new results have been obtained, Shi Diwen still has to complete this work well.He had to reassure Daming's customers and merchants through the attitude he showed, so that these people would not change their enthusiasm for Haihan's trade due to changes in the current situation.Moreover, Shi Diwen also hopes that through this kind of contact, some capable and reliable merchants can be selected from many collaborators to promote Haihan's quasi-industrial processing project.
To achieve industrialization in this era, the biggest problem Haihan faces is neither capital nor technology, but a large number of well-trained industrial workers.In this society dominated by agricultural production, only a very small number of people are engaged in non-agricultural production, which simply cannot meet the requirements of promoting industrialization.Even in Sanya, after nearly nine years of development, there are only about [-] industrial workers engaged in technical production, which is less than one-twentieth of the total population of Haihan.Measured by such a proportion of occupations, even in Hainan Island, which has the most advanced productivity in this century, only a few places such as the Tiandu Industrial Zone have achieved industrialization.
Shi Diwen set up an industry in Zhejiang, hoping that through this method, he could train more industrial workers for Haihan.Although most of the industries set up here in the future will be rough processing of raw materials, which cannot be compared with the real technical production in Tiandu Industrial Zone, Shi Diwen firmly believes that this method will be more conducive to the promotion of industrial production in Zhejiang. .Even if the number of industrial workers trained for Haihan is limited, it is still a harvest.
This kind of repeated negotiations soon made Shi Diwen exhausted physically and mentally. After three days of continuous high-intensity work, Shi Diwen announced that he was ill and stopped seeing customers for two days, and needed to take a rest to recuperate his body.Now the merchants smelled a new opportunity, and all kinds of tonic and tonic wine were sent to Shi Diwen's residence as if they were free of money.Those who haven't met him want to take this opportunity to meet him, and those who have met him also want to use this method to strengthen their relationship.For a while, the precious medicinal materials of the major prescriptions in Ningbo City were almost out of stock, and tonics such as ginseng were searched for even the thickest little finger.
The news soon spread to Hangzhou, so the chief officials of various yamen in Hangzhou also wrote letters to Ningbo to greet Shi Diwen. After all, the two countries had just established diplomatic relations. If you fall ill, many things that were originally negotiated can only be suspended, and this is a situation that officials do not want to see.
The chief envoy Wang Ji even sent his personal doctor to Ningbo to diagnose and treat Shi Diwen.However, when the doctor arrived in Ningbo city, he found that there were too many doctors waiting in line to see Haihan's General Shi. Almost all of them, like him, came here after accepting invitations from various people. of.In terms of quantity alone, the doctors waiting here are enough to open a hospital.
Shi Diwen didn't expect his illness caused by fatigue to attract so much attention, and he was a little dumbfounded at the moment, thinking that there are so many people in the Traveling Group, and I am probably the only one who has enjoyed the treatment of dozens of doctors. up.Of course, a consultation is a consultation, and the prescriptions prescribed by so many doctors are more or less different. The intensity of the doctors' disputes over medication is even far greater than the business negotiations in the yard.
(End of this chapter)