Chapter 1883

Zhangzhou Experience

Chapter 1883 Zhangzhou Experience
From Li Luo's personal experience, he felt that the importance he received after going abroad seemed to be far higher than when he was in China. Whether in Zhoushan Island controlled by Haihan or Zhangzhou City, which belonged to Ming, the authorities gave him and his family a lot of attention. Rate the team's high-spec reception.For example, such an act of sending troops to clear out an urban area for him to travel. Li Wei had never enjoyed such treatment when he was in Seoul before. At most, a team of guards of honor would clear the way when he travels.

This kind of preferential treatment also greatly satisfied Li Luo's vanity. Although he has the status of the son of the Joseon Dynasty, he is still a young man with no experience in diplomacy. Even if he knows that the other party's attention may be for some purpose, I deliberately use this to win my favor, but I still can't help but feel secretly happy about it.

Originally, Xu Xinsu also considered vacating a house to receive Li Min and his party, but it seems that there is no suitable house in Zhangzhou City after choosing, the reason is that Xu Xinsu himself has not renovated the mansion, and other people would like it even if they have money. Due to the influence of his status, he did not dare to build a large house in the city, so as not to be suspected of overstepping.The consequence of this delicate situation is that the most luxurious houses in Zhangzhou City are all located outside the city, and it is obviously inappropriate to arrange a distinguished guest like the Prince of Korea to live outside the city.

In the end, after weighing various conditions, he could only choose the current compromise solution, and use the highest-grade inn in the city as the temporary residence for Li Luo and his party.

Although it is an inn in name, the grade of this inn is indeed not bad, and the courtyard where Li Min lives is definitely not a courtyard of an ordinary inn, but an exquisite courtyard with Suzhou garden style designed by a famous teacher in the south of the Yangtze River. It is usually not open to the public. It is only used to receive distinguished guests, and sometimes it may not be opened once a year.

Li Min knew nothing about Suzhou gardens, but this did not prevent him from feeling the care in the design of this courtyard.The water surface, pool bank, rockery, and pavilions are integrated in a small courtyard. The pool is full of lotus, the pool bank is densely covered with vines, and the path is surrounded by green bamboos, creating a natural scenery in a narrow space.

Xu Xinsu sent Dong Yanyun, his confidant and aide, to be in charge of the check-in affairs of Li Mo and his party.Dong Yanyun was born as a literati, and after following Xu Xinsu for so many years, he has long been familiar with the work of welcoming and sending him. While leading Li Mo inside, he introduced to him the various subtleties of the courtyard's design.

"My lord, don't you think this courtyard is relatively plain, but every plant, every tree, every brick and every tile here are almost all transported from Suzhou two thousand miles away...Look at the rockery in this pond, it's the real thing The Taihu stone, the shipping cost to Zhangzhou alone is as high as thousands of taels of silver... The plaque on the gazebo is written by Mr. Ning, Minister of Culture of Haihan, and it is a rare item that cannot be bought in the market..."

Li Lu was secretly surprised as he listened, if the other party wasn't bragging, then the cost of this yard would be astonishingly high, Xu Xinsu was really paying for himself to be able to arrange himself to live in this kind of place.

Although Xu Xinsu built such a high-end reception place in Zhangzhou City, it was out of the objective needs of his own development, but he also referred to the setting of the Haihan Guest House in the process of design and construction.Especially in terms of service, after Xu Xinsu personally experienced the service quality of the State Guest Hotel in Sanya, she brought her feelings back to Zhangzhou and asked her own reception venues to follow this standard.

While this courtyard looks like a Chinese style, it uses a large number of furniture and sanitary ware produced by Haihan in the interior, and strives to make the occupants feel comfortable in every detail.Just because each room is equipped with clear and transparent glass windows, Li Wei couldn't help but sigh in his heart about the wealth. It's no wonder that the Fujian Navy can buy ships and guns from Haihan in batches. It's really not bad money. what!

Although the environment that Li Mo lived in Zhoushan was not bad, compared with Zhangzhou, it can be described as simple.After Dong Yanyun left, Li Mo leaned on the soft sofa chair, drinking the freshly delivered iced juice, thinking that this place is a little smaller, but it seems more comfortable to live in than Gyeongbokgung Palace.It is said that the Haihan people are the most particular about enjoyment, but it seems that the senior officials of Ming Dynasty are not bad in this respect!

That night, Li Yan fell asleep in the faint scent of incense, and slept soundly for the first time since leaving his homeland.If it wasn't for the followers who woke him up from his sleep, he would probably be able to sleep until the afternoon in one breath.

According to the itinerary, Li Lu and Xu Xinsu will go to inspect the local trade market today, so naturally they can't wait for a long time.But he had a good night's sleep last night, and Li Lu is also full of energy today.

Similar to what Li Wei saw on Zhoushan Island, the commercial area outside Zhangzhou City is also located near the port wharf to facilitate cargo handling.However, perhaps because it has been developed for a longer period of time, it seems that the level of prosperity is even higher than that of Zhoushan.

"At present, the sea trade ports in Fujian are mainly concentrated in Zhangzhou and Quanzhou, but in fact, the goods going out to sea and inbound from here are far more than the local area of ​​Fujian. Inland Jiangxi, Hunan, Hubei and other places will also use this place as a foreign port channels of trade."

Xu Xinsu accompanied Li Min to visit the business district, and at the same time introduced the local trade situation to him in detail.

Xu Xinsu started out as a smuggler in his early years. If Zheng Zhilong hadn't forced him to join the Ming army for self-protection because of market competition, he might still be in his old business until now.Of course, after making a fortune in officialdom, the trade relationship between Xu Xinsu and Haihan can no longer be defined by smuggling.After the fall of Shibazhi, Xu Xinsu quickly achieved a situation in Fujian where he could cover the sky with his hands. There was no hindrance to the entry and exit of Haihan personnel and goods, and the cross-border trade between the two sides became open.

After joining the international trade system led by Haihan, Xu Xinsu quickly tasted the sweetness of it. The huge benefits brought by cross-border trade allowed him to have sufficient funds to build armed fleets and ocean-going fleets, and continuously expand his trade routes. extended to a larger area.Even in places as far away as Batavia on Java Island, trade fleets from Fujian have already visited.

For Xu Xinsu, since North Korea is the new development direction that Haihan, an ally, is optimistic about, it is natural to keep up with the pace and find opportunities to make a fortune.The two sides had reached a preliminary agreement on trade issues in Seoul before, but Xu Xinsu believed that this agreement was only some basic content. He hoped that by hosting the North Korean prince this time, he could show his own economic strength and make North Koreans realize It is a reliable choice to cooperate with Fujian in terms of economy and trade, so as to expand the scale and scope of cooperation in subsequent trade exchanges.

Li Lu soon noticed that Zhangzhou's trading atmosphere seemed to be more liberal, or rather rough in management—this was compared to Haihan's more careful and meticulous management system.But in terms of prosperity, this place is indeed not inferior to Zhoushan Dinghai Port, and you can also see bustling caravans from various countries on the streets, as well as piles of goods.

It is worth mentioning that Li Lu noticed that there is also Haihan Bank in the business district here.According to Xu Xinsu's introduction, Haihan has established a bank branch in Zhangzhou for six or seven years. Nowadays, more and more businessmen and multinational business organizations have realized the convenience that banks can provide in international trade, and are willing to choose banks. This safe and efficient financial institution manages funds for itself.Since Haihan Bank has very strong funds and strong national force as a guarantee, its reputation is far beyond that of ordinary banks and banks.

"Haihan Bank...is it really that easy to use?"

Faced with Li Lu's question, Xu Xinsu also told frankly that many businessmen engaged in cross-border trade these days are no longer willing to accept cash. First, the weights and measures of different countries are different, and the quality of silver is different. It is inconvenient and not safe, but the currency issued by Haihan Bank does not have these problems, and it is extremely convenient for settlement, so it is naturally sought after by various companies.

Of course, this special currency must have strong credit and abundant funds as a guarantee, and it is difficult for private financial institutions to achieve such a level. Therefore, from a market perspective, Haihan basically has no competitors in this business field.

Li Luo has very little knowledge related to finance in his mind, so even with Xu Xinsu's explanation, it is difficult for him to understand how Haihan uses such a financial institution to influence the trade and markets of various countries, let alone imagine how This controls a staggering amount of funds.But since smart businessmen feel that Haihan Bank is trustworthy and can bring more convenience to trade, then the Haihan Bank in Seoul must also play a similar role.

Xu Xinsu understood the operating principle of the bank very early on, but he knew that only Haihan could do this business, and no one else could imitate it.Although he covets the huge flow of funds in the hands of Haihan Bank, he understands that the Haihan people will not allow other competitors in this business that can threaten him.In the past few years, private banks in Fuguang, Jiangsu and Zhejiang have either gone bankrupt or been acquired by Haihan Bank. This industry is being quietly integrated by Haihan Bank.Xu Xinsu can see Haihan's plan, so he doesn't want to play the role of a stumbling block, just honestly develop in the field he is good at.

Xu Xinsu quickly figured out the depth of Li Min's knowledge. Since the other party didn't understand the tricks in the middle, there was no need for him to teach Li Min the truth.

As for the commodities on the market, at least half of them Li Mo had seen in Zhoushan, and most of the ones he hadn’t seen were local specialties.The commodities Haihan sells in the Fujian market are similar to those seen in Zhoushan.However, Li Luo knew that there were actually some Haihan products in Fujian that could not be bought in Jiangsu and Zhejiang—for example, the weapons equipped by the Fujian Ming Army.

Li Wei had noticed very early on that the weapons and equipment of the Ming Army in Fujian were quite different from the Ming Army in Jiangsu and Zhejiang that he saw in Zhoushan.The costumes of the Fujian Ming army that went to North Korea were closer to those of the Haihan army. They were mainly light and short-breasted civilian clothes that were easy to move around, and they almost gave up traditional armor in terms of protection.The Ming army in Jiangsu and Zhejiang still wore the old-style Ming army uniform mainly with cloth armor and cotton armor, which had higher protection but was quite bulky.

When Li Wei was in Zhoushan, he had found an opportunity to ask Shi Diwen about the reasons for the differences between the uniforms, and the answer he got was that the difference in weapon performance caused the tactics adopted by each army to be different.With good weapon performance, the combat distance can be firmly controlled beyond the enemy's killing range, and relatively less protection is required.If the weapon performance is poor, it is possible to start hand-to-hand combat with the enemy on the battlefield, so it is necessary to have better protective armor.

If this is used as a reference, the combat power of the Haihan Army is undoubtedly the strongest, and Li Wei has indeed never seen a general wearing metal armor in the Haihan Army.The fact that the Fujian Ming Army was able to imitate the Haihan Army to promote this kind of light military uniform shows that its combat effectiveness is better than that of the Jiangsu and Zhejiang Ming Army.Of course, it must be much stronger than the North Korean army that has just begun to equip Haihan-style muskets.

Li Wei really wanted to know how Xu Xinsu established a relationship of mutual trust with Haihan, and asked Haihan to help him train and arm a powerful army in Fujian.If North Korea can afford the price, how can Haihan also let go of the sale of these advanced weapons to North Korea.Of course, Li Luo also knew that he couldn't ask such a sensitive question directly, otherwise, with Xu Xinsu's friendship with the Haihan people, he would sell himself if he turned around.He can only observe everything here with his heart, and find the answer to the question by himself.

On the third day after arriving in Zhangzhou, Li Wei was invited to go out to sea with Xu Xinsu to watch military exercises in Zhongzuo City, where Yongning Guard belongs.

"The Zhongzuo city on Xiamen Island was built during the Hongwu period, and has undergone many reconstructions and expansions in the past 200 years. The most recent one was a reconstruction plan provided by the Haihan Army six years ago. Then it took two years to complete the project. The person who designed the reconstruction plan for Zhongzuo City must be known to the prince, and he is General Qian Tiandun of Haihan."

Li Mo was a little surprised when he heard Xu Xinsu's introduction. He didn't know much about Xu Xinsu's past relationship with the Haihan people, but he could also think of asking a big man like Qian Tiandun to design a city fortress reconstruction plan for him. It shouldn't be something that can be done with money.The two sides had such a friendship six years ago, and it is no wonder that the Haihan people are willing to sell more advanced weapons to Fujian.

"It seems that the friendship between Master Xu and General Qian is very deep!" Li Wei sighed in a favorable manner.

Xu Xinsu nodded and replied: "Back then, the pirate Shibazhi got the support of the Dutch, and the [-] troops approached the coast of Fujian, and even Zhangzhou city was mixed in by Shibazhi's people. If General Qian hadn't sent troops to help me Withdraw from the enemy, now Fujian may have the surname Zheng, not Xu!"

(End of this chapter)