Chapter 1687
Chapter 1687
Chapter 1687
Today, when he met the Ding family at the listing ceremony of the Western Administration Bureau, Francis had mixed emotions. On the one hand, he hoped that the Ding family, as a local wealthy businessman and marriage partner, would help his father and son when they were in trouble. On the one hand, he thinks that the Ding family is not trustworthy, and after he is imprisoned, he must try to separate the relationship between the two families.
Of course, Francis does not intend to sever contact with the Ding family because of unsubstantiated speculation, but he believes that at least at this time, he should not take the initiative to contact the Ding family, but to put himself in a higher position and be more reserved.Even if it is only the puppet leader of the Western Administration Bureau, it is also an official appointed by Haihan, and there is no reason to humble the common people.And Francis also wants to see if the Ding family will take the initiative to post it again to maintain the relationship after realizing the status gap.
Little Francis didn't quite understand these ideas, but he also knew that his father was much better at handling such matters than he was.Although he was not very happy about his father's idea of preventing him from going back to Ding's house to meet his wife, he finally obeyed his father's wishes and stayed at home obediently.
Facts have proved that Francis' persistence is effective. The Ding family took the initiative to pay a visit that night, and it was Ding Feng himself who gave them enough face.
The purpose of Ding Feng's visit is also very simple. Now he must maintain the in-law relationship with Francis and his son. If there was any misunderstanding before, then he must take this opportunity to explain clearly.In addition to business development considerations, Ding Feng has also realized that Hai Han actually has a special value for Francis and his son.
The father and son were able to be used by Hai Han as prisoners of war, whether they were used as puppet tools or not, at least it shows that they are useful to Hai Han, at least this is much more useful than himself - so far, The Haihan people have never invited Ding Feng or the Ding family's children to take up positions in the new yamen.
From another point of view, since the father and son are working in Haihan's yamen now, it means that they have chosen to compromise and obey to a certain extent. In this way, their position is no longer Haihan's. Enemies, but collaborators of the same camp.This kind of relationship is much closer than the relationship between the Ding family and the current government, and it is very likely that it will be enough to serve as a protective umbrella for the Ding family in the near future.There are people in the government, which are much more secure than buying peace and security with your own money.
Although Ding Feng is a Han Chinese, he has lived in Manila for decades and has learned Spanish a long time ago, so there is no obstacle in communicating with Francis and his son.And the first thing he wanted to explain to Francis was the attitude of the Ding family.
Ever since little Francis was arrested by Haihan, the Ding family has not made any noise. They neither tried to rescue Francis and his son, nor did they dare to stand in front of the stage to express their attitude to Haihan officials.Ding Feng understands the truth that too much is too late, if he jumps out too impatiently to split the relationship between his family and the Spaniards, it will only appear too obvious, and the Haihan people may not be willing to trust such a double-faced person.So Ding Feng kept the Ding family silent. Even if he asked the Qin family for help to inquire about the news of Francis and his son, it was done quietly in private.
Ding Feng didn't know whether Francis and his son could get the news from the outside world while they were in captivity, and he didn't know exactly when they negotiated the terms of cooperation with Haihan, so he could only assume the worst situation, that is, the other party knew that the Ding family During this time no steps were taken to rescue them.As married relatives, Francis and his son had reason to express anger at the silence of the Ding family. After all, the Ding family was most likely the only external support they had during their imprisonment.
What Ding Feng can do now is to convince Francis and his son that the Ding family has tried to rescue them in secret, but they have never been able to get in.
"...Until seven days ago, the people entrusted by the old man finally confirmed your personal safety through a document, but they still don't know where the Haihan people are detaining you. The old man really wants to use money to protect you, but I really want to pray to Buddha." I couldn't find the temple gate, and I was afraid that the disturbance would be too loud for the Haihan government to notice, which would harm you..." Ding Feng rambled on for a long time, nothing more than telling how the Ding family tried to ask someone to find out their whereabouts, Then try to rescue them.These things are half-truths and half-false, and there are no loopholes at all when he said them out of his mouth.
While Ding Feng was talking, he watched the expressions of Francis and his son carefully. Francis, the younger, listened quite seriously, and his emotions were almost expressed on his face, while his father's expression was normal, showing no emotion at all. Much deeper than the son.
After Ding Feng finished speaking, Francis slowly opened his mouth and said, "The Ding family was bothered about the previous matter. But if the Ding family's actions were too big at that time, it might make us father and son unable to escape. This might be a blessing in disguise."
Francis didn't mention whether he blamed the Ding family, but Ding Feng should at least not have too much resentment from his tone, and he was relieved a little at the moment.What he is most worried about is that Francis will hold a grudge, which will affect the long-term relationship between the two families in the future, but now it seems that the other party is relatively calm.Regardless of whether what Francis said was sincere or not, at least it seemed that he did not intend to settle the previous matters with the Ding family.
Ding Feng let go of a big stone in his heart, and it was much easier to talk about the following things.At the beginning, the two marriages were largely due to considerations of interests, and the situation at that time was inexplicably similar to the current situation. Francis also served as the official umbrella of the Ding family, and the Ding family took advantage of the various conveniences given by Francis. Expand the shipping business quickly, and then give back to his family in the form of economic benefits through Francis Jr.
This kind of benefit transmission relationship established through marriage worked smoothly before the arrival of the Haihan people, and both parties also had a relatively clear understanding of each other's needs.Although times have changed and Manila has changed the head of the family, there are still many things that have not changed for these two families.As long as they are willing to join forces again, there is still room for them to play.
"After the war, there were still two or three thousand Hispanic people who did not want to leave. In the future, matters related to these people will be under the jurisdiction of the Western Administration Bureau. Perhaps we should find a way to arrange for these people to do things for us directly or indirectly. .” Since Francis is willing to communicate, Ding Feng no longer conceals his true intentions.
In the past, Ding's family was mainly engaged in shipping business, but they also dabbled in other land-based businesses, but the scale of their operations was small and would not attract attention.The local Hispanic people are generally not too poor. In addition to the two main industries of navigation and commerce, they are also engaged in local agriculture and related processing industries.The Spaniards used to be the ruling class in the local area. Even if they were engaged in agriculture, they were not the kind of farmers who faced the loess and their backs to the sky, but farmers who only needed to issue orders to laborers and slaves.In terms of assets, the average wealth of the Hispanic ethnic group is obviously far higher than that of the Han ethnic group.
The Ding family has long wanted to do business in the Hispanic community, but because the ruler is a Spaniard, the Hispanic has always had a condescending sense of superiority over the Han, which made the Ding family's related attempts very difficult. In desperation, he had no choice but to support little Francis to act as the middleman, only to have some effect.
But at that time, Manila did not have any special management agencies such as the Western Management Bureau and the Han Management Bureau for a certain ethnic group. Even with the secret support of the city defense commander, the Ding family's management of the Hispanic group was still in a state of lukewarmness. The little money earned from the Spaniards was basically passed on to Francis and his son as a benefit of cooperation, and not much of it ended up in his own hands.However, the bulk of the real profit still depends on the main shipping industry.
However, after Haihan took over Manila, the business environment faced by the Ding family has also undergone some changes. The first is the impact of foreign counterparts.There are quite a few Haihan private shipping companies that came to Manila with the Haihan army, and there are many industry giants like Zhan's shipping company. There is also a more obvious gap.
Even if the Ding family is willing to spend money to build and buy some new ships to expand the scale of operation, it is impossible to bridge this gap in a short period of time.Sailor's experience and professional quality, mature route operation strategy, and ability to deal with large-scale maritime shipping trade, these big shipping companies from Haihan Kingdom have too many advantages that the Ding family can't match.
Therefore, Ding Feng does not intend to compete head-on with foreign powerhouses in the field of shipping, and first honestly guards his own one-acre three-point land.In addition, it is to take advantage of the advantages of the location and people to try to grab the head and take the business related to the Hispanic people first.At present, the people who are most likely to help the Ding family implement this plan are naturally Francis and his son who have just returned.
"With all due respect, although the Haihan people gave me the position of director, what I can do now is extremely limited. Most of the time, I can only play the role of a spectator in the Western Management Bureau." Francis did not try to hide Instead, he told Ding Feng frankly about his own predicament.He knew that it was useless to conceal the truth on this issue. As long as Ding Feng's request could not be realized, his identity as a puppet in the Western Management Bureau would be exposed immediately.
Although Ding Feng had expected this for a long time, he was somewhat disappointed when he heard Francis admit it.However, his views on the position of Francis are similar to those of his son-in-law Francis: "The arrangement of the Haihan people may not be purely using you as a puppet. Maybe you will wait until you are familiar with the affairs of the Western Administration Bureau. Slowly delegate power to you. The top priority is to make the Haihan people aware of your familiarity with the situation of the local Hispanic people as much as possible, and you can have some outstanding performances in the official position of the director.”
Francis said: "It's not as easy as you think. The officials Haihan sent to manage the Western Administration Bureau are very capable. It is said that they are specially transferred from the north of the Ming Dynasty. After the job arrangement, I think that I am really a dispensable person in this organization. Even if the Haihan people are willing to give me a chance to perform, what I can do may not be better than him.”
Francis' tone was slightly dejected, but it was indeed the truth.The field of civil affairs management is relatively unfamiliar to him, and it is naturally far less than the specialized training. Ge Yong, who has rich practical work experience in this field, if he wants to use work ability as the standard of competition, even if it is three or five Francis tied Together they are no better than Ge Yong.
Ding Feng shook his head and said: "You are a fan of the authorities, do Haihan people use you because they are interested in your ability in this field? Then maybe they should invite you to lead the army. You should think about what you are good at, Haihan What the Han people need you to do, this should be the right direction for you to seek a breakthrough.”
After hearing these words, Francis suddenly had a sense of enlightenment. What he was worried about was that his professional ability was inferior to others, but in fact, the reason why the Haihan people used him had nothing to do with professional ability.What they need is a person who has prestige and weight in the eyes of the Hispanic people, and they just meet this requirement.If you want to perform in your current position, you probably still have to work hard in this direction.
Whether the Ding family can control the trade share of the Hispanic people in the future depends to a large extent on whether Francis can provide resources to the Ding family through official channels. To achieve this, Francis must be in the West. The management bureau is really in the top position and has a certain amount of authority.Ding Feng is actively offering advice and suggestions at the moment, hoping that Francis can quickly change the current situation in order to help the Ding family implement this plan.
The two kept talking late into the night. Little Francis listened with interest for a while at first, but soon fell into fatigue.He doesn't have much interest in these political and business collusion matters, and he doesn't like to intrigue with others. Instead of spending time researching these "conspiracies", he would rather go back to Ding's house earlier to see the wife he misses very much.But the curfew had already started at this time, neither Ding Feng nor Little Francis could leave the city, so they had to wait until the city gate opened the next day.
Both Ding Feng and Francis were over fifty years old, and their spirits could no longer last in the middle of the night. In the end, Francis proposed to take a rest. The specific matters can be discussed tomorrow.Anyway, he is also a idle job in the Western Management Bureau now. According to Ge Yong's arrangement, he only needs to go to order in the morning, and then sign in after lunch at noon. Study the proposal proposed by Ding Feng.
(End of this chapter)
Today, when he met the Ding family at the listing ceremony of the Western Administration Bureau, Francis had mixed emotions. On the one hand, he hoped that the Ding family, as a local wealthy businessman and marriage partner, would help his father and son when they were in trouble. On the one hand, he thinks that the Ding family is not trustworthy, and after he is imprisoned, he must try to separate the relationship between the two families.
Of course, Francis does not intend to sever contact with the Ding family because of unsubstantiated speculation, but he believes that at least at this time, he should not take the initiative to contact the Ding family, but to put himself in a higher position and be more reserved.Even if it is only the puppet leader of the Western Administration Bureau, it is also an official appointed by Haihan, and there is no reason to humble the common people.And Francis also wants to see if the Ding family will take the initiative to post it again to maintain the relationship after realizing the status gap.
Little Francis didn't quite understand these ideas, but he also knew that his father was much better at handling such matters than he was.Although he was not very happy about his father's idea of preventing him from going back to Ding's house to meet his wife, he finally obeyed his father's wishes and stayed at home obediently.
Facts have proved that Francis' persistence is effective. The Ding family took the initiative to pay a visit that night, and it was Ding Feng himself who gave them enough face.
The purpose of Ding Feng's visit is also very simple. Now he must maintain the in-law relationship with Francis and his son. If there was any misunderstanding before, then he must take this opportunity to explain clearly.In addition to business development considerations, Ding Feng has also realized that Hai Han actually has a special value for Francis and his son.
The father and son were able to be used by Hai Han as prisoners of war, whether they were used as puppet tools or not, at least it shows that they are useful to Hai Han, at least this is much more useful than himself - so far, The Haihan people have never invited Ding Feng or the Ding family's children to take up positions in the new yamen.
From another point of view, since the father and son are working in Haihan's yamen now, it means that they have chosen to compromise and obey to a certain extent. In this way, their position is no longer Haihan's. Enemies, but collaborators of the same camp.This kind of relationship is much closer than the relationship between the Ding family and the current government, and it is very likely that it will be enough to serve as a protective umbrella for the Ding family in the near future.There are people in the government, which are much more secure than buying peace and security with your own money.
Although Ding Feng is a Han Chinese, he has lived in Manila for decades and has learned Spanish a long time ago, so there is no obstacle in communicating with Francis and his son.And the first thing he wanted to explain to Francis was the attitude of the Ding family.
Ever since little Francis was arrested by Haihan, the Ding family has not made any noise. They neither tried to rescue Francis and his son, nor did they dare to stand in front of the stage to express their attitude to Haihan officials.Ding Feng understands the truth that too much is too late, if he jumps out too impatiently to split the relationship between his family and the Spaniards, it will only appear too obvious, and the Haihan people may not be willing to trust such a double-faced person.So Ding Feng kept the Ding family silent. Even if he asked the Qin family for help to inquire about the news of Francis and his son, it was done quietly in private.
Ding Feng didn't know whether Francis and his son could get the news from the outside world while they were in captivity, and he didn't know exactly when they negotiated the terms of cooperation with Haihan, so he could only assume the worst situation, that is, the other party knew that the Ding family During this time no steps were taken to rescue them.As married relatives, Francis and his son had reason to express anger at the silence of the Ding family. After all, the Ding family was most likely the only external support they had during their imprisonment.
What Ding Feng can do now is to convince Francis and his son that the Ding family has tried to rescue them in secret, but they have never been able to get in.
"...Until seven days ago, the people entrusted by the old man finally confirmed your personal safety through a document, but they still don't know where the Haihan people are detaining you. The old man really wants to use money to protect you, but I really want to pray to Buddha." I couldn't find the temple gate, and I was afraid that the disturbance would be too loud for the Haihan government to notice, which would harm you..." Ding Feng rambled on for a long time, nothing more than telling how the Ding family tried to ask someone to find out their whereabouts, Then try to rescue them.These things are half-truths and half-false, and there are no loopholes at all when he said them out of his mouth.
While Ding Feng was talking, he watched the expressions of Francis and his son carefully. Francis, the younger, listened quite seriously, and his emotions were almost expressed on his face, while his father's expression was normal, showing no emotion at all. Much deeper than the son.
After Ding Feng finished speaking, Francis slowly opened his mouth and said, "The Ding family was bothered about the previous matter. But if the Ding family's actions were too big at that time, it might make us father and son unable to escape. This might be a blessing in disguise."
Francis didn't mention whether he blamed the Ding family, but Ding Feng should at least not have too much resentment from his tone, and he was relieved a little at the moment.What he is most worried about is that Francis will hold a grudge, which will affect the long-term relationship between the two families in the future, but now it seems that the other party is relatively calm.Regardless of whether what Francis said was sincere or not, at least it seemed that he did not intend to settle the previous matters with the Ding family.
Ding Feng let go of a big stone in his heart, and it was much easier to talk about the following things.At the beginning, the two marriages were largely due to considerations of interests, and the situation at that time was inexplicably similar to the current situation. Francis also served as the official umbrella of the Ding family, and the Ding family took advantage of the various conveniences given by Francis. Expand the shipping business quickly, and then give back to his family in the form of economic benefits through Francis Jr.
This kind of benefit transmission relationship established through marriage worked smoothly before the arrival of the Haihan people, and both parties also had a relatively clear understanding of each other's needs.Although times have changed and Manila has changed the head of the family, there are still many things that have not changed for these two families.As long as they are willing to join forces again, there is still room for them to play.
"After the war, there were still two or three thousand Hispanic people who did not want to leave. In the future, matters related to these people will be under the jurisdiction of the Western Administration Bureau. Perhaps we should find a way to arrange for these people to do things for us directly or indirectly. .” Since Francis is willing to communicate, Ding Feng no longer conceals his true intentions.
In the past, Ding's family was mainly engaged in shipping business, but they also dabbled in other land-based businesses, but the scale of their operations was small and would not attract attention.The local Hispanic people are generally not too poor. In addition to the two main industries of navigation and commerce, they are also engaged in local agriculture and related processing industries.The Spaniards used to be the ruling class in the local area. Even if they were engaged in agriculture, they were not the kind of farmers who faced the loess and their backs to the sky, but farmers who only needed to issue orders to laborers and slaves.In terms of assets, the average wealth of the Hispanic ethnic group is obviously far higher than that of the Han ethnic group.
The Ding family has long wanted to do business in the Hispanic community, but because the ruler is a Spaniard, the Hispanic has always had a condescending sense of superiority over the Han, which made the Ding family's related attempts very difficult. In desperation, he had no choice but to support little Francis to act as the middleman, only to have some effect.
But at that time, Manila did not have any special management agencies such as the Western Management Bureau and the Han Management Bureau for a certain ethnic group. Even with the secret support of the city defense commander, the Ding family's management of the Hispanic group was still in a state of lukewarmness. The little money earned from the Spaniards was basically passed on to Francis and his son as a benefit of cooperation, and not much of it ended up in his own hands.However, the bulk of the real profit still depends on the main shipping industry.
However, after Haihan took over Manila, the business environment faced by the Ding family has also undergone some changes. The first is the impact of foreign counterparts.There are quite a few Haihan private shipping companies that came to Manila with the Haihan army, and there are many industry giants like Zhan's shipping company. There is also a more obvious gap.
Even if the Ding family is willing to spend money to build and buy some new ships to expand the scale of operation, it is impossible to bridge this gap in a short period of time.Sailor's experience and professional quality, mature route operation strategy, and ability to deal with large-scale maritime shipping trade, these big shipping companies from Haihan Kingdom have too many advantages that the Ding family can't match.
Therefore, Ding Feng does not intend to compete head-on with foreign powerhouses in the field of shipping, and first honestly guards his own one-acre three-point land.In addition, it is to take advantage of the advantages of the location and people to try to grab the head and take the business related to the Hispanic people first.At present, the people who are most likely to help the Ding family implement this plan are naturally Francis and his son who have just returned.
"With all due respect, although the Haihan people gave me the position of director, what I can do now is extremely limited. Most of the time, I can only play the role of a spectator in the Western Management Bureau." Francis did not try to hide Instead, he told Ding Feng frankly about his own predicament.He knew that it was useless to conceal the truth on this issue. As long as Ding Feng's request could not be realized, his identity as a puppet in the Western Management Bureau would be exposed immediately.
Although Ding Feng had expected this for a long time, he was somewhat disappointed when he heard Francis admit it.However, his views on the position of Francis are similar to those of his son-in-law Francis: "The arrangement of the Haihan people may not be purely using you as a puppet. Maybe you will wait until you are familiar with the affairs of the Western Administration Bureau. Slowly delegate power to you. The top priority is to make the Haihan people aware of your familiarity with the situation of the local Hispanic people as much as possible, and you can have some outstanding performances in the official position of the director.”
Francis said: "It's not as easy as you think. The officials Haihan sent to manage the Western Administration Bureau are very capable. It is said that they are specially transferred from the north of the Ming Dynasty. After the job arrangement, I think that I am really a dispensable person in this organization. Even if the Haihan people are willing to give me a chance to perform, what I can do may not be better than him.”
Francis' tone was slightly dejected, but it was indeed the truth.The field of civil affairs management is relatively unfamiliar to him, and it is naturally far less than the specialized training. Ge Yong, who has rich practical work experience in this field, if he wants to use work ability as the standard of competition, even if it is three or five Francis tied Together they are no better than Ge Yong.
Ding Feng shook his head and said: "You are a fan of the authorities, do Haihan people use you because they are interested in your ability in this field? Then maybe they should invite you to lead the army. You should think about what you are good at, Haihan What the Han people need you to do, this should be the right direction for you to seek a breakthrough.”
After hearing these words, Francis suddenly had a sense of enlightenment. What he was worried about was that his professional ability was inferior to others, but in fact, the reason why the Haihan people used him had nothing to do with professional ability.What they need is a person who has prestige and weight in the eyes of the Hispanic people, and they just meet this requirement.If you want to perform in your current position, you probably still have to work hard in this direction.
Whether the Ding family can control the trade share of the Hispanic people in the future depends to a large extent on whether Francis can provide resources to the Ding family through official channels. To achieve this, Francis must be in the West. The management bureau is really in the top position and has a certain amount of authority.Ding Feng is actively offering advice and suggestions at the moment, hoping that Francis can quickly change the current situation in order to help the Ding family implement this plan.
The two kept talking late into the night. Little Francis listened with interest for a while at first, but soon fell into fatigue.He doesn't have much interest in these political and business collusion matters, and he doesn't like to intrigue with others. Instead of spending time researching these "conspiracies", he would rather go back to Ding's house earlier to see the wife he misses very much.But the curfew had already started at this time, neither Ding Feng nor Little Francis could leave the city, so they had to wait until the city gate opened the next day.
Both Ding Feng and Francis were over fifty years old, and their spirits could no longer last in the middle of the night. In the end, Francis proposed to take a rest. The specific matters can be discussed tomorrow.Anyway, he is also a idle job in the Western Management Bureau now. According to Ge Yong's arrangement, he only needs to go to order in the morning, and then sign in after lunch at noon. Study the proposal proposed by Ding Feng.
(End of this chapter)