Chapter 1891
Trading Port
Chapter 1891 Trading Port
As the No.1 North Korean envoy to Haihan, Li Xi represented North Korea to visit Jinzhou in Liaodong at the beginning, and later went to Malani with the Haihan army. The places he has been to and the scenes he has seen are far from Comparable to other North Korean officials, they also have a deeper understanding of the situation in Hae Han.And this year, he strongly invited Haihan to send troops to North Korea to fight against the Qing army, and proposed to send overseas students to Haihan to learn advanced technology. Li Xi also contributed a lot in it.When it comes to the relationship with Haihan's high-level officials, it is unrivaled. After all, he is the only Korean who has the conditions to visit Victory Fort frequently.
This time Li Min went south to Haihan for a study tour, and he also brought a special reward from King Li Ji to Li Xi.Li Xi originally had the blood of the royal family, but his family line was still far away from the ruling Li Ji family, and he could not touch the threshold of royal power at all.However, because of the diplomatic achievements he made in Haihan over the past year and saved the country of North Korea, King Li Ji also specially prepared a commendation for him to encourage him to continue to serve the country on the diplomatic front.However, because of the long distance, Li Xi couldn't be called back to China to present the award face to face, so he entrusted this task to his son Li Weilai to complete it along the way.
Every time Li Min arrived at a stop, the local management committee would send the news back to Sanya by telegram, and Li Xi, as the North Korean ambassador, would also be notified by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, so he could roughly grasp Li Min's itinerary.He wrote a secret letter in advance, sent someone to wait in Hong Kong by boat, and delivered it to Li Min after he arrived.
Of course, it is a secret letter, and there is nothing sensitive in it. The main thing is to inform Li Mo in advance of the general arrangements for Haihan to welcome Li Mo and his party, as well as the list of high-ranking Haihan officials who will attend the welcoming event, so that Li Mo will not be unaware. Sorry for the situation.
Li Lu felt that Li Xi's approach was very considerate, and he thought that this person could be entrusted with important tasks by his father. Apart from his blood relationship, Li Xi's ability to do things was indeed not bad.It's no wonder that before I set off, my father specially told me to discuss with Li Xi more when I came to Sanya. It seems that he should be a stable and reliable person.
Li Lu carefully read Li Xi's secret letter twice, and only put it away after confirming that he hadn't missed anything.Compared with the several Haihan colonies visited on the way, the welcome ceremony in Sanya naturally has a stronger political color, and Haihan made more complicated arrangements for this to show the importance he attaches to North Korea.The dress specially made before going abroad will probably have to be worn by Li Min by then.
But right now, there is no need to rush to prepare for the relevant ceremony. Hong Kong Island is still more than 1000 miles away from Sanya Shengli Port, and Li Wei will not be able to go there for a while.According to the tour schedule arranged by You Yihan, he will stay in Hong Kong for at least two to three days before continuing to head south.
The next day, accompanied by You Yihan and other Haihan officials, Li Mo visited the local port.Although he already had a general look at the environment here when he arrived in Hong Kong yesterday, but with the company of the highest local official today, the information Li Luo can get is naturally different.
Today, Hong Kong is already the port with the largest trade scale among Haihan's overseas colonies. This achievement is partly due to its unique geographical location, but Haihan uses various business methods to turn waste into treasure, turning the original The desolate island turned into one of the most prosperous trading ports on the southeast coast of Ming Dynasty, which is the root cause of Hong Kong's rapid rise.
"Hong Kong's role as a trading hub is also beneficial to the Guangdong and Guangxi regions. According to our incomplete statistics, in recent years, the number of merchant ships and cargo ships operating in the Pearl River Basin has increased by about three times compared to before the development of Hong Kong. This shows that Hong Kong The emergence of the industry has driven the development of trade and shipping in the surrounding areas, allowing more Ming people to benefit from the trade system built by our country."
You Yihan’s introduction focuses on Hong Kong’s positive role in promoting regional economic development. According to his point of view, Daming is also a participant and beneficiary of Hong Kong’s rise, so the construction achievements here can also be understood as the crystallization of cooperation between the two countries .Of course, the development of Hong Kong was several years earlier than the signing of the diplomatic agreement between the two countries. If you really want to drill down on words, there must be loopholes in You Yihan's remarks.
However, Li Luo has limited knowledge of the development process of Hong Kong, and he is not clear about the methods the two countries have adopted in the game of competing for the power of trade in the Pearl River Basin. However, judging from the current situation, it seems that it is indeed as You Yihan claimed. All can benefit from this form of trade, so the scale of Hong Kong's trade will grow day by day.
If Li Luo had more knowledge about international trade, he might have realized that a special region like Hong Kong is not so easy to be recognized by Ming.The reason why Hong Kong was able to develop under Daming's nose was mainly because Haihan's force was too strong, making it impossible for the local government to use tough measures to ban such a trading port that was essentially smuggling.
But this is not important anymore. Hong Kong’s insignificant development stage has passed. After the normalization of diplomatic relations between the two countries, the trade here has been completely transferred from the off-stage to the on-stage, and it is no longer as unjust as it used to be.Now You Yihan wants to say that the existence of Hong Kong is beneficial to the people of Ming Dynasty, but there is some factual basis.
Looking at the busy scene of the port, Li Wei couldn't help but feel a little jealous. On the way from Zhoushan to Hong Kong, he saw several trading ports operated by Haihan. It is by no means comparable to the ports in North Korea.How much profit this kind of trade volume can bring to Haihan is definitely impossible to calculate with Li Mo's level of economics and mathematics, but he knows that it must be a considerable amount of money, otherwise Haihan would not invest a lot of money resources to expand the control area and build so many trading ports overseas in the same way.
Then the question is, whether North Korea can learn useful experience from such a money-raising model, and even follow it, and try to build a trading port similar to this in its own country in the future, and then guide its own industry to follow this path. The road to rapid development.
With such thoughts in mind, Li Mo tactfully asked You Yihan a question.However, such questions are not uncommon for You Yihan. Many dignitaries who have visited Hong Kong have similar ideas to Li Luo. Port, and then try to recruit merchants to trade here.
You Yihan's answer was quite sincere, and he did not go around in circles with Li Mo: "I have never been to your country, so I can only share some personal opinions for your son's reference. Usually, there are two prerequisites for our country to open up new trade ports. One is the local Geographical conditions, such as whether there is a natural good port, or whether it is close to an important trade route, or is very close to the original local trade hub, can be used as a passage to the sea. If one of them can be satisfied, a trade port can be considered. If a If the conditions are not met, then you have to consider the second situation, whether the local area has the potential for large-scale development, such as rich minerals or other products, or the nearby land is fertile and flat, suitable for agricultural development .”
While listening, Li Luo compared the several Haihan trading ports he had personally experienced in his mind, but he could indeed compare them with what You Yihan said one by one.Dinghai Port in Zhoushan, Magong Port in Penghu and the local area undoubtedly meet the first prerequisite, while Kaohsiung Port in Taiwan is a true portrayal of the second situation.
But if the same criteria are used to measure North Korea's coastline, it seems that it will not be so easy to find a suitable place to build a trading port.The main reason is that North Korea's maritime trade was not developed in the past, and there were no such important trade routes or regional trade hubs. There are several good natural ports in the south, but their locations are too far away from the capital. Far away, the imperial court may not be willing to spend money on infrastructure construction in places where it cannot be seen.
Similar to the second situation mentioned by You Yihan, Li Wei thought of another place, that is the military-civilian comprehensive base built by Haihan in Datong Jiangkou, North Korea.There is not only the military port where the Haihan garrison is located, but also production units such as shipyards, salt farms, iron mines, and smelting plants have been planned around it. The surrounding water conservancy conditions are good, and there is a basis for large-scale agricultural development. In the post-reconstruction Pyongyang City, the transportation of materials by sea will inevitably be very frequent in the future, and there are absolutely objective conditions for the construction of a trading port.
But the problem is that North Korea currently lacks the corresponding development and construction capabilities, and if this matter is completed by Haihan, then the right to operate the port will naturally not be returned to North Korea in the future, and the proportion of benefits from it will certainly not be too high. ideal.
With Li Luo's current political ability, he can't think of any way to solve this contradiction, and it is even more impossible to expect You Yihan to give any advice.So he had no choice but to give up thinking in this direction, and turned his attention back to the present, trying to learn more useful experience from what he saw and heard at the moment.
In fact, if Li Luo can calm down and spare more time to stay in Hong Kong or any other trading port under the rule of Haihan, and patiently do a mid-to-long-term research, he will definitely learn a lot about the operation of the trading port. Knowledge.However, if it is just a casual visit like this, and listening to the ostentatious introductions of local officials, even if Li Min can think about some problems, it will be difficult to find answers from the limited information he has received.
It's just that Li Luo's special identity and mission make it difficult for him to achieve this level. Although there are many questions along the way that he has to find answers to, but at the moment he still has more important goals, which must be solved. To save time spent on unnecessary expenses on the road, arrive at Sanya earlier and start receiving the overseas education arranged by Haihan earlier, maybe you can learn more valuable knowledge, instead of relying on yourself aimlessly like now figuring out.
There are too many things to learn, but time is very limited, Li Min can only choose more important goals to complete.Moreover, he is not a professional in a certain field. If he wants to understand one of Haihan's advantageous projects right now, it will take an unimaginable amount of time and effort.
You Yihan continued: "Actually, if the prince is not in a hurry to go south, I really want to invite the prince to visit Guangzhou City. It is one of the most prosperous cities in the south of Ming Dynasty. Before our trade port appeared, Guangzhou was the main foreign trade port of Ming Dynasty. The trading port, where the prince can see the difference between Ming's trade method and our country's, it is not difficult to understand why the businessmen of Ming Dynasty are more willing to come to our country's trading port to do business."
In addition to taxation considerations, the convenience that Haihan can provide to merchants in this kind of cross-border trade field is indeed a condition that Daming lacks.Perfect port facilities, well-connected shipping lines, safe and reliable settlement methods, and timely and comprehensive market information are all factors that attract businessmen to come to Hong Kong.
Of course, there is a secret reason why many people don't say it out loud, and that is that the social status of merchants in Haihan Kingdom is much higher than that in Daming.One's career can be respected by the government, and the government will encourage and support trade, and even use force to protect trade, which is absolutely impossible in Daming.
Although the business atmosphere in Guangzhou is good, it lacks professionalism compared with Haihan. The gap between private spontaneous trade and business operations under official guidance and support is quite obvious.In addition, almost all the Guangdong and Guangxi merchants who cooperated with Haihan in the early days became wealthy merchants. The role model effect made more merchants choose to complete transactions in the trading port under Haihan's rule.
You Yihan invited Li Min to Guangzhou because he was full of confidence and wanted to show the superiority of Haihan’s commercial system to him. Li Min only needed to go to Guangzhou for a few days and take a look at the local trade level, and he would naturally know the Ming model and the Haihan model. Who is higher and who is lower, who should be the object of imitation in the future.
Hearing this invitation, Li Lu hesitated for a moment. Of course he had heard of the fame of Guangzhou, but once he came to Guangzhou, it was more than 200 miles away from Hong Kong Island, so he had to spend a lot of time on the way; Secondly, my identity is sensitive, so apart from Zhangzhou under the rule of Xu Xinsu, I have not set foot in any big city in Daming. If I go to Guangzhou and get noticed by the local government, it may cause some diplomatic troubles.
Li Luo thought for a moment before responding: "Thank you, Mr. You, for the invitation. It's just that my status is limited, and it's inconvenient for me to go to places like Guangzhou. Please forgive me."
You Yihan smiled and said: "Your Majesty is very cautious! In fact, the risk is not as great as you think. Even if the officials in Guangzhou know that you have gone, they will pretend to be deaf and dumb to avoid embarrassing the situation... Forget it, since If the son finds it inconvenient, then don't force it."
(End of this chapter)
As the No.1 North Korean envoy to Haihan, Li Xi represented North Korea to visit Jinzhou in Liaodong at the beginning, and later went to Malani with the Haihan army. The places he has been to and the scenes he has seen are far from Comparable to other North Korean officials, they also have a deeper understanding of the situation in Hae Han.And this year, he strongly invited Haihan to send troops to North Korea to fight against the Qing army, and proposed to send overseas students to Haihan to learn advanced technology. Li Xi also contributed a lot in it.When it comes to the relationship with Haihan's high-level officials, it is unrivaled. After all, he is the only Korean who has the conditions to visit Victory Fort frequently.
This time Li Min went south to Haihan for a study tour, and he also brought a special reward from King Li Ji to Li Xi.Li Xi originally had the blood of the royal family, but his family line was still far away from the ruling Li Ji family, and he could not touch the threshold of royal power at all.However, because of the diplomatic achievements he made in Haihan over the past year and saved the country of North Korea, King Li Ji also specially prepared a commendation for him to encourage him to continue to serve the country on the diplomatic front.However, because of the long distance, Li Xi couldn't be called back to China to present the award face to face, so he entrusted this task to his son Li Weilai to complete it along the way.
Every time Li Min arrived at a stop, the local management committee would send the news back to Sanya by telegram, and Li Xi, as the North Korean ambassador, would also be notified by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, so he could roughly grasp Li Min's itinerary.He wrote a secret letter in advance, sent someone to wait in Hong Kong by boat, and delivered it to Li Min after he arrived.
Of course, it is a secret letter, and there is nothing sensitive in it. The main thing is to inform Li Mo in advance of the general arrangements for Haihan to welcome Li Mo and his party, as well as the list of high-ranking Haihan officials who will attend the welcoming event, so that Li Mo will not be unaware. Sorry for the situation.
Li Lu felt that Li Xi's approach was very considerate, and he thought that this person could be entrusted with important tasks by his father. Apart from his blood relationship, Li Xi's ability to do things was indeed not bad.It's no wonder that before I set off, my father specially told me to discuss with Li Xi more when I came to Sanya. It seems that he should be a stable and reliable person.
Li Lu carefully read Li Xi's secret letter twice, and only put it away after confirming that he hadn't missed anything.Compared with the several Haihan colonies visited on the way, the welcome ceremony in Sanya naturally has a stronger political color, and Haihan made more complicated arrangements for this to show the importance he attaches to North Korea.The dress specially made before going abroad will probably have to be worn by Li Min by then.
But right now, there is no need to rush to prepare for the relevant ceremony. Hong Kong Island is still more than 1000 miles away from Sanya Shengli Port, and Li Wei will not be able to go there for a while.According to the tour schedule arranged by You Yihan, he will stay in Hong Kong for at least two to three days before continuing to head south.
The next day, accompanied by You Yihan and other Haihan officials, Li Mo visited the local port.Although he already had a general look at the environment here when he arrived in Hong Kong yesterday, but with the company of the highest local official today, the information Li Luo can get is naturally different.
Today, Hong Kong is already the port with the largest trade scale among Haihan's overseas colonies. This achievement is partly due to its unique geographical location, but Haihan uses various business methods to turn waste into treasure, turning the original The desolate island turned into one of the most prosperous trading ports on the southeast coast of Ming Dynasty, which is the root cause of Hong Kong's rapid rise.
"Hong Kong's role as a trading hub is also beneficial to the Guangdong and Guangxi regions. According to our incomplete statistics, in recent years, the number of merchant ships and cargo ships operating in the Pearl River Basin has increased by about three times compared to before the development of Hong Kong. This shows that Hong Kong The emergence of the industry has driven the development of trade and shipping in the surrounding areas, allowing more Ming people to benefit from the trade system built by our country."
You Yihan’s introduction focuses on Hong Kong’s positive role in promoting regional economic development. According to his point of view, Daming is also a participant and beneficiary of Hong Kong’s rise, so the construction achievements here can also be understood as the crystallization of cooperation between the two countries .Of course, the development of Hong Kong was several years earlier than the signing of the diplomatic agreement between the two countries. If you really want to drill down on words, there must be loopholes in You Yihan's remarks.
However, Li Luo has limited knowledge of the development process of Hong Kong, and he is not clear about the methods the two countries have adopted in the game of competing for the power of trade in the Pearl River Basin. However, judging from the current situation, it seems that it is indeed as You Yihan claimed. All can benefit from this form of trade, so the scale of Hong Kong's trade will grow day by day.
If Li Luo had more knowledge about international trade, he might have realized that a special region like Hong Kong is not so easy to be recognized by Ming.The reason why Hong Kong was able to develop under Daming's nose was mainly because Haihan's force was too strong, making it impossible for the local government to use tough measures to ban such a trading port that was essentially smuggling.
But this is not important anymore. Hong Kong’s insignificant development stage has passed. After the normalization of diplomatic relations between the two countries, the trade here has been completely transferred from the off-stage to the on-stage, and it is no longer as unjust as it used to be.Now You Yihan wants to say that the existence of Hong Kong is beneficial to the people of Ming Dynasty, but there is some factual basis.
Looking at the busy scene of the port, Li Wei couldn't help but feel a little jealous. On the way from Zhoushan to Hong Kong, he saw several trading ports operated by Haihan. It is by no means comparable to the ports in North Korea.How much profit this kind of trade volume can bring to Haihan is definitely impossible to calculate with Li Mo's level of economics and mathematics, but he knows that it must be a considerable amount of money, otherwise Haihan would not invest a lot of money resources to expand the control area and build so many trading ports overseas in the same way.
Then the question is, whether North Korea can learn useful experience from such a money-raising model, and even follow it, and try to build a trading port similar to this in its own country in the future, and then guide its own industry to follow this path. The road to rapid development.
With such thoughts in mind, Li Mo tactfully asked You Yihan a question.However, such questions are not uncommon for You Yihan. Many dignitaries who have visited Hong Kong have similar ideas to Li Luo. Port, and then try to recruit merchants to trade here.
You Yihan's answer was quite sincere, and he did not go around in circles with Li Mo: "I have never been to your country, so I can only share some personal opinions for your son's reference. Usually, there are two prerequisites for our country to open up new trade ports. One is the local Geographical conditions, such as whether there is a natural good port, or whether it is close to an important trade route, or is very close to the original local trade hub, can be used as a passage to the sea. If one of them can be satisfied, a trade port can be considered. If a If the conditions are not met, then you have to consider the second situation, whether the local area has the potential for large-scale development, such as rich minerals or other products, or the nearby land is fertile and flat, suitable for agricultural development .”
While listening, Li Luo compared the several Haihan trading ports he had personally experienced in his mind, but he could indeed compare them with what You Yihan said one by one.Dinghai Port in Zhoushan, Magong Port in Penghu and the local area undoubtedly meet the first prerequisite, while Kaohsiung Port in Taiwan is a true portrayal of the second situation.
But if the same criteria are used to measure North Korea's coastline, it seems that it will not be so easy to find a suitable place to build a trading port.The main reason is that North Korea's maritime trade was not developed in the past, and there were no such important trade routes or regional trade hubs. There are several good natural ports in the south, but their locations are too far away from the capital. Far away, the imperial court may not be willing to spend money on infrastructure construction in places where it cannot be seen.
Similar to the second situation mentioned by You Yihan, Li Wei thought of another place, that is the military-civilian comprehensive base built by Haihan in Datong Jiangkou, North Korea.There is not only the military port where the Haihan garrison is located, but also production units such as shipyards, salt farms, iron mines, and smelting plants have been planned around it. The surrounding water conservancy conditions are good, and there is a basis for large-scale agricultural development. In the post-reconstruction Pyongyang City, the transportation of materials by sea will inevitably be very frequent in the future, and there are absolutely objective conditions for the construction of a trading port.
But the problem is that North Korea currently lacks the corresponding development and construction capabilities, and if this matter is completed by Haihan, then the right to operate the port will naturally not be returned to North Korea in the future, and the proportion of benefits from it will certainly not be too high. ideal.
With Li Luo's current political ability, he can't think of any way to solve this contradiction, and it is even more impossible to expect You Yihan to give any advice.So he had no choice but to give up thinking in this direction, and turned his attention back to the present, trying to learn more useful experience from what he saw and heard at the moment.
In fact, if Li Luo can calm down and spare more time to stay in Hong Kong or any other trading port under the rule of Haihan, and patiently do a mid-to-long-term research, he will definitely learn a lot about the operation of the trading port. Knowledge.However, if it is just a casual visit like this, and listening to the ostentatious introductions of local officials, even if Li Min can think about some problems, it will be difficult to find answers from the limited information he has received.
It's just that Li Luo's special identity and mission make it difficult for him to achieve this level. Although there are many questions along the way that he has to find answers to, but at the moment he still has more important goals, which must be solved. To save time spent on unnecessary expenses on the road, arrive at Sanya earlier and start receiving the overseas education arranged by Haihan earlier, maybe you can learn more valuable knowledge, instead of relying on yourself aimlessly like now figuring out.
There are too many things to learn, but time is very limited, Li Min can only choose more important goals to complete.Moreover, he is not a professional in a certain field. If he wants to understand one of Haihan's advantageous projects right now, it will take an unimaginable amount of time and effort.
You Yihan continued: "Actually, if the prince is not in a hurry to go south, I really want to invite the prince to visit Guangzhou City. It is one of the most prosperous cities in the south of Ming Dynasty. Before our trade port appeared, Guangzhou was the main foreign trade port of Ming Dynasty. The trading port, where the prince can see the difference between Ming's trade method and our country's, it is not difficult to understand why the businessmen of Ming Dynasty are more willing to come to our country's trading port to do business."
In addition to taxation considerations, the convenience that Haihan can provide to merchants in this kind of cross-border trade field is indeed a condition that Daming lacks.Perfect port facilities, well-connected shipping lines, safe and reliable settlement methods, and timely and comprehensive market information are all factors that attract businessmen to come to Hong Kong.
Of course, there is a secret reason why many people don't say it out loud, and that is that the social status of merchants in Haihan Kingdom is much higher than that in Daming.One's career can be respected by the government, and the government will encourage and support trade, and even use force to protect trade, which is absolutely impossible in Daming.
Although the business atmosphere in Guangzhou is good, it lacks professionalism compared with Haihan. The gap between private spontaneous trade and business operations under official guidance and support is quite obvious.In addition, almost all the Guangdong and Guangxi merchants who cooperated with Haihan in the early days became wealthy merchants. The role model effect made more merchants choose to complete transactions in the trading port under Haihan's rule.
You Yihan invited Li Min to Guangzhou because he was full of confidence and wanted to show the superiority of Haihan’s commercial system to him. Li Min only needed to go to Guangzhou for a few days and take a look at the local trade level, and he would naturally know the Ming model and the Haihan model. Who is higher and who is lower, who should be the object of imitation in the future.
Hearing this invitation, Li Lu hesitated for a moment. Of course he had heard of the fame of Guangzhou, but once he came to Guangzhou, it was more than 200 miles away from Hong Kong Island, so he had to spend a lot of time on the way; Secondly, my identity is sensitive, so apart from Zhangzhou under the rule of Xu Xinsu, I have not set foot in any big city in Daming. If I go to Guangzhou and get noticed by the local government, it may cause some diplomatic troubles.
Li Luo thought for a moment before responding: "Thank you, Mr. You, for the invitation. It's just that my status is limited, and it's inconvenient for me to go to places like Guangzhou. Please forgive me."
You Yihan smiled and said: "Your Majesty is very cautious! In fact, the risk is not as great as you think. Even if the officials in Guangzhou know that you have gone, they will pretend to be deaf and dumb to avoid embarrassing the situation... Forget it, since If the son finds it inconvenient, then don't force it."
(End of this chapter)