Chapter 2228
Chapter 2228
Chapter 2228
The ideal is full, but the reality is very skinny.These thoughts of Fei Cexian are just his wishes as a civilian diplomat. If he really wants to regain the lost ground from Haihan, relying on his wishful thinking plans will definitely not work.
Even if the Ming court wants to ban trade with Haihan now, it will be difficult to fully implement it in the coastal state capitals.Especially in the coastal areas south of the Yangtze River Estuary, almost every governor of the state capital participated in the trade network built by Haihan to varying degrees and became a link in the huge chain of interests. There are tens of thousands of people, and trade relations cannot be broken just by saying.
Of course, Fei Cexian is not blind. He is in Sanya and has many opportunities to get in touch with various classes in the local area. Naturally, he can roughly understand how many Ming people bought property and land in the area under the Haihan rule, and even changed their identities. Became a Haihan citizen.Moreover, these people are different from the refugees who were forced to make a living to go to Haihan. Most of them were well-known local gentry in Daming, and even relatives of officials.
What did these people migrate to Haihantu?Fei Cexian believes that the first is profit, and the second is safety.Compared with Ming Dynasty, which has been suffering from internal and external troubles in recent years, the area under Haihan's rule is indeed much more peaceful. Although Haihan goes to war almost every year, it is all an act of expanding the territory to the outside world, and the wars are almost always won by big victories. In the end, it was completely different from the war situation that Daming faced.
These merchants engaged in maritime trade moved their trading locations to the free port in the area under Haihan's rule. On the one hand, they could obtain more business opportunities and escape from Ming's commercial taxes. Convenient financial services, no need to worry about the security of money and goods during the transaction process.
These unobtainable conditions in Daming are attracting more and more rich people to Haihan, followed by the huge wealth transferred from Daming, and the gold diggers who are attracted to Haihan by these wealth.In the end, the effect of such a joint effect is that wealth and labor force continue to flow into Haihan, so that Haihan's national strength can continue to grow.
Although Fei Cexian has noticed this situation, with his knowledge and ability, he can't come up with any effective way to change the status quo. He can only comfort himself by imagining it.
Of course, he also wrote his knowledge and understanding into the memorial, hoping to get clear instructions from the court, but the reply from the court was to ask him to be cautious in his words and deeds in Sanya and not to confront the Haihan people. Because of these things, it affects the diplomatic relationship with Haihan.
Fei Cexian can actually understand the court's attitude. After all, at the northern border, we still have to rely on Haihan to carry the real strong enemy. If there is an unpleasant quarrel with Haihan over some trivial matter, it will affect the safety of northern Xinjiang. The gain outweighs the loss.As for the complicated situation in Liaodong, he had already learned more thoroughly from various sources in Sanya.
Haihan officials did not specifically control the relevant information. In the Sanya Library, you can check the actions of the Haihan army in Liaodong in recent years.These records are all from reports in official newspapers. Although there must be elements of bragging, according to Fei Cexian's successive confirmations from various sources, these reports are basically true, and there is nothing deliberately fabricated.
So Fei Cexian can only comfort himself, at least the Haihan people did not carry out further aggression after occupying these places on the Daming coastline, whether they really only want to engage in trade activities, or the diplomatic agreement between the two countries has played a role. Restraining effect, in short, it is good to maintain peace.
That day, Fei Cexian had just had lunch and was about to lie down for a while, when someone from his subordinates reported that someone from Fort Victory had invited him to the executive committee, but he did not explain what it was.
Although Fei Cexian was a little bit guilty in his heart, he didn't dare to neglect. He knew that high-ranking officials like Haihan were more pragmatic and would never entertain himself without doing nothing, so he immediately packed up and took the embassy's carriage to Fort Victory.
As in the past, the carriage stopped at the gate of Fort Victory, Fei Cexian got out of the car to identify himself, and then someone took him in.
Fei Cexian was brought to a meeting room to wait. A while later, Tao Donglai and Yan Chujie arrived hand in hand.Fei Cexian saw that it was these two, not Ning Qi and Schneider who are usually in charge of foreign affairs, and knew that it might not be a trivial matter, so he cheered up and greeted them first.
"Master Fei is invited to come here today, mainly because there is a situation that needs to be reported to your country." Yan Chujie's opening remarks were very brief, and then handed over the conversation to Tao Donglai.
Tao Donglai said: "According to the information we have recently obtained from overseas, the ordnance technology mastered by the Hirado Clan in Japan may leak into the hands of the Qing Dynasty."
Fei Cexian waited for a while, and seeing that Tao Donglai had nothing to say, he tentatively asked, "Is this what you two want to talk about?"
"It seems that Mr. Fei still doesn't quite understand what this means." Tao Donglai saw Fei Cexian's expression that he didn't realize the seriousness of the matter, and immediately explained to him: "We discovered the Qing army in Liaodong earlier. The musketeers trained were later verified that the weapons they were equipped with were produced in Hirado, Japan. If the Qing army is allowed to master the technology of making these weapons, there may be big trouble at some point in the future!"
"You mean that the Qing army might manufacture guns and cannons?" Fei Cexian became nervous after he understood.
Tao Donglai said: "Actually, they have always had this ability, but the military technology of the Hirado clan came from the Spaniards, which is more advanced than what they currently have, so once these technologies flow into their hands, then they will The weapons and equipment may soon be upgraded to a higher level. Lord Fei, do you understand what I mean?"
Speaking of this, how could Fei Cexian still not understand.The Qing Dynasty received rebel generals such as Kong Youde, Geng Zhongming, and Shang Kexi from the Ming Dynasty, and when these people defected, there were also some gunsmiths in the troops they led. Therefore, the technology of making guns and artillery has actually flowed into the Qing Dynasty long ago.
Daming's related ordnance technology originated from the Portuguese, and it is actually of the same root as the Spanish's ordnance technology. However, due to various historical reasons, the related technology passed on to Daming by the Portuguese was more primitive, and it flowed into the Ten The technology in Bazhi's hands has been iteratively updated, and with a more standard manufacturing process, it is easier to achieve mass production of weapons.
Due to the fact that there were too few gunsmiths in the rebel army, although the Qing army had obtained relevant ordnance technology, it had not been able to achieve large-scale mass production, and the firearms they could produce were basically the same as those of the Ming Dynasty's official army. The same level, so it can't be said that it creates a big threat to Daming, and it is not enough in front of the Haihan Army.
And Tao Donglai has already clearly pointed out that the ordnance technology mastered by the Hirado clan is stronger than the current level of the Ming and Qing states. Once it flows into the Qing state, it will inevitably lead to the balance of the ordnance technology being broken, and the Ming will be the first time. Be the one who falls behind.
Fei Cexian said: "Didn't your country just complete the conquest of the Japanese Hirado clan a few months ago, and won a complete victory? Didn't it completely destroy the Hirado clan's ability to manufacture weapons?"
Yan Chujie said: "Master Fei may not be familiar with the local situation in Hirado. The main target of our attack is Hirado Island, the seat of the Hirado Clan, and we have successfully captured the area, eliminating the combat troops of the Hirado Clan and Armed Fleet. However, Hirado’s territory is not only on Hirado Island, but also on the neighboring Kyushu Island. Their musket-making workshop is also on Kyushu Island, but that island is larger than Qiongzhou Island. Our expeditionary force has no way to capture all the local area and search it slowly."
Fei Cexian really wanted to complain about how you annexed Qiongzhou Island in the first place, but you can only think about it in your head, if you say it, you will be asking for trouble.But he didn't immediately listen to Tao Donglai and Yan Chujie's warnings, and he always felt that there was something weird about it.
So he continued to ask: "Then I would like to ask, is there any conclusive evidence that these weapon-making technology has or will flow into the Qing Dynasty?"
"The warning we gave to Daming is an inference based on the existing intelligence information. If we have to wait for conclusive evidence to appear, it may be too late and it will not be effective as an early warning." Yan Chujie paused and said: "You don't want your army to encounter the Qing army equipped with advanced weapons on the battlefield while receiving the warning?"
"This..." Fei Cexian had to admit that Yan Chujie's words made sense.The most conclusive evidence is that the Qing army showed their own standard weapons on the battlefield, but at that time it was too late to deal with it.
"We hope that your country will take countermeasures early after receiving this warning, otherwise, if the situation changes, it is very likely that your country's army will suffer a lot on the battlefield!" Tao Donglai warned.
Fei Cexian said: "Thank you, my lords, for your suggestions. But if we want to deal with such a changing situation, isn't the best way to purchase a large number of weapons from your country and equip them to our army?"
Yan Chujie shook his head and said, "Lord Fei is thinking too simply. If you just sell weapons to you without teaching the corresponding tactics to your country's army, even if you equip a large number of weapons produced in our country, it will be difficult to exert enough power. .Besides, our country currently has no spare weapons to sell to you, this is not a solution to the problem.”
Fei Cexian had previously thought that the Haihan people's warning was a bluff, and the purpose was to promote the arms trade and sell weapons to Daming at a high price, but after hearing Yan Chujie's answer at this time, it seemed that this was not the case.At least the Haihan people didn't seem to be particularly positive about selling weapons to Daming.
As a matter of fact, Haihan has always strictly controlled the export of arms, so as not to shoot himself in the foot in the future, and Daming officials are the key targets. Haihan does not want Daming to have someone who can break his wrist with him in the military field strength.
Although after the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries, Haihan opened the door to sell weapons to Daming, but in fact the transaction volume was not large, even far less than the weapons sold to Fujian.And according to the agreement, these weapons cannot be equipped in the area south of the Yangtze River, otherwise Haihan will interrupt the follow-up supply of ammunition and spare parts, so as to avoid the excessive threat of these exported weapons to itself.
As for whether these weapons will be imitated after they are sold to Ming Dynasty, Haihan is not too worried. Of course, skilled craftsmen may imitate the shape of these weapons to [-]%, but the material handling, processing technology, organization of mass production, and even the production of ammunition However, the impact of these factors on weapon performance cannot be overcome by imitation.Unless the overall technology transfer from Haihan is obtained, there will be a significant performance gap between the best imitation products and the genuine ones.
However, what Fei Cexian was worried about was actually a little bit too much. At least for now, Haihan has no plans to take this opportunity to expand the scale of arms trade with Daming.
This may not be because Haihan does not want to earn this money, but the export of arms has always been in short supply. Most of the export orders Haihan received were about a year in advance, and there was simply not enough production capacity to supply the large orders that came in through the queue.
Fei Cexian said: "Then if things really develop in the direction your country speculates, how much buffer time does our country have?"
Yan Chujie said: "It's hard to say at the moment, but even if the opponent has already started to act, there should be at least a buffer period of more than three months. If after a year or so, the Qing army still has not trained an organized musket force, it is very It may mean that these technologies were still kept in Japan and were not introduced to the Qing Dynasty."
Fei Cexian asked: "Then is the probability of this situation high?"
"An optimistic estimate, the two situations are [-]-[-]!" Yan Chujie actually didn't have a clear answer in his mind, so he could only fool around.
"We hope that your country will pay enough attention to this matter. Mr. Fei, it is best to write this matter into the memorial and report it to the court." Tao Donglai felt that the discussion was almost done, so he solemnly made a request.
When Fei Cexian left Fort Victory, he still didn't have a clear understanding of this matter in his mind.Although senior Haihan officials described the situation as serious, they also said that this was only an inference based on existing intelligence, and there was no real evidence.When this kind of thing was reported to the imperial court, even with his toes, Fei Cexian could have imagined that there would be a debate about whether it was necessary to make the troops stationed in northern Xinjiang tense based on the speculation of the Haihan people.
And maybe someone will put the blame on him. After all, there is no real evidence for this matter, so he just wrote the scriptures and reported it to the court.
If the Haihan people's early warning comes true later, that's okay, and they can have some credit.But if a year or so passed and nothing happened that the Haihan people had warned about, of course the crime was not borne by the Haihan people, but by his hearsay, an envoy who interfered with the imperial court's plan to defend against the enemy.
(End of this chapter)
The ideal is full, but the reality is very skinny.These thoughts of Fei Cexian are just his wishes as a civilian diplomat. If he really wants to regain the lost ground from Haihan, relying on his wishful thinking plans will definitely not work.
Even if the Ming court wants to ban trade with Haihan now, it will be difficult to fully implement it in the coastal state capitals.Especially in the coastal areas south of the Yangtze River Estuary, almost every governor of the state capital participated in the trade network built by Haihan to varying degrees and became a link in the huge chain of interests. There are tens of thousands of people, and trade relations cannot be broken just by saying.
Of course, Fei Cexian is not blind. He is in Sanya and has many opportunities to get in touch with various classes in the local area. Naturally, he can roughly understand how many Ming people bought property and land in the area under the Haihan rule, and even changed their identities. Became a Haihan citizen.Moreover, these people are different from the refugees who were forced to make a living to go to Haihan. Most of them were well-known local gentry in Daming, and even relatives of officials.
What did these people migrate to Haihantu?Fei Cexian believes that the first is profit, and the second is safety.Compared with Ming Dynasty, which has been suffering from internal and external troubles in recent years, the area under Haihan's rule is indeed much more peaceful. Although Haihan goes to war almost every year, it is all an act of expanding the territory to the outside world, and the wars are almost always won by big victories. In the end, it was completely different from the war situation that Daming faced.
These merchants engaged in maritime trade moved their trading locations to the free port in the area under Haihan's rule. On the one hand, they could obtain more business opportunities and escape from Ming's commercial taxes. Convenient financial services, no need to worry about the security of money and goods during the transaction process.
These unobtainable conditions in Daming are attracting more and more rich people to Haihan, followed by the huge wealth transferred from Daming, and the gold diggers who are attracted to Haihan by these wealth.In the end, the effect of such a joint effect is that wealth and labor force continue to flow into Haihan, so that Haihan's national strength can continue to grow.
Although Fei Cexian has noticed this situation, with his knowledge and ability, he can't come up with any effective way to change the status quo. He can only comfort himself by imagining it.
Of course, he also wrote his knowledge and understanding into the memorial, hoping to get clear instructions from the court, but the reply from the court was to ask him to be cautious in his words and deeds in Sanya and not to confront the Haihan people. Because of these things, it affects the diplomatic relationship with Haihan.
Fei Cexian can actually understand the court's attitude. After all, at the northern border, we still have to rely on Haihan to carry the real strong enemy. If there is an unpleasant quarrel with Haihan over some trivial matter, it will affect the safety of northern Xinjiang. The gain outweighs the loss.As for the complicated situation in Liaodong, he had already learned more thoroughly from various sources in Sanya.
Haihan officials did not specifically control the relevant information. In the Sanya Library, you can check the actions of the Haihan army in Liaodong in recent years.These records are all from reports in official newspapers. Although there must be elements of bragging, according to Fei Cexian's successive confirmations from various sources, these reports are basically true, and there is nothing deliberately fabricated.
So Fei Cexian can only comfort himself, at least the Haihan people did not carry out further aggression after occupying these places on the Daming coastline, whether they really only want to engage in trade activities, or the diplomatic agreement between the two countries has played a role. Restraining effect, in short, it is good to maintain peace.
That day, Fei Cexian had just had lunch and was about to lie down for a while, when someone from his subordinates reported that someone from Fort Victory had invited him to the executive committee, but he did not explain what it was.
Although Fei Cexian was a little bit guilty in his heart, he didn't dare to neglect. He knew that high-ranking officials like Haihan were more pragmatic and would never entertain himself without doing nothing, so he immediately packed up and took the embassy's carriage to Fort Victory.
As in the past, the carriage stopped at the gate of Fort Victory, Fei Cexian got out of the car to identify himself, and then someone took him in.
Fei Cexian was brought to a meeting room to wait. A while later, Tao Donglai and Yan Chujie arrived hand in hand.Fei Cexian saw that it was these two, not Ning Qi and Schneider who are usually in charge of foreign affairs, and knew that it might not be a trivial matter, so he cheered up and greeted them first.
"Master Fei is invited to come here today, mainly because there is a situation that needs to be reported to your country." Yan Chujie's opening remarks were very brief, and then handed over the conversation to Tao Donglai.
Tao Donglai said: "According to the information we have recently obtained from overseas, the ordnance technology mastered by the Hirado Clan in Japan may leak into the hands of the Qing Dynasty."
Fei Cexian waited for a while, and seeing that Tao Donglai had nothing to say, he tentatively asked, "Is this what you two want to talk about?"
"It seems that Mr. Fei still doesn't quite understand what this means." Tao Donglai saw Fei Cexian's expression that he didn't realize the seriousness of the matter, and immediately explained to him: "We discovered the Qing army in Liaodong earlier. The musketeers trained were later verified that the weapons they were equipped with were produced in Hirado, Japan. If the Qing army is allowed to master the technology of making these weapons, there may be big trouble at some point in the future!"
"You mean that the Qing army might manufacture guns and cannons?" Fei Cexian became nervous after he understood.
Tao Donglai said: "Actually, they have always had this ability, but the military technology of the Hirado clan came from the Spaniards, which is more advanced than what they currently have, so once these technologies flow into their hands, then they will The weapons and equipment may soon be upgraded to a higher level. Lord Fei, do you understand what I mean?"
Speaking of this, how could Fei Cexian still not understand.The Qing Dynasty received rebel generals such as Kong Youde, Geng Zhongming, and Shang Kexi from the Ming Dynasty, and when these people defected, there were also some gunsmiths in the troops they led. Therefore, the technology of making guns and artillery has actually flowed into the Qing Dynasty long ago.
Daming's related ordnance technology originated from the Portuguese, and it is actually of the same root as the Spanish's ordnance technology. However, due to various historical reasons, the related technology passed on to Daming by the Portuguese was more primitive, and it flowed into the Ten The technology in Bazhi's hands has been iteratively updated, and with a more standard manufacturing process, it is easier to achieve mass production of weapons.
Due to the fact that there were too few gunsmiths in the rebel army, although the Qing army had obtained relevant ordnance technology, it had not been able to achieve large-scale mass production, and the firearms they could produce were basically the same as those of the Ming Dynasty's official army. The same level, so it can't be said that it creates a big threat to Daming, and it is not enough in front of the Haihan Army.
And Tao Donglai has already clearly pointed out that the ordnance technology mastered by the Hirado clan is stronger than the current level of the Ming and Qing states. Once it flows into the Qing state, it will inevitably lead to the balance of the ordnance technology being broken, and the Ming will be the first time. Be the one who falls behind.
Fei Cexian said: "Didn't your country just complete the conquest of the Japanese Hirado clan a few months ago, and won a complete victory? Didn't it completely destroy the Hirado clan's ability to manufacture weapons?"
Yan Chujie said: "Master Fei may not be familiar with the local situation in Hirado. The main target of our attack is Hirado Island, the seat of the Hirado Clan, and we have successfully captured the area, eliminating the combat troops of the Hirado Clan and Armed Fleet. However, Hirado’s territory is not only on Hirado Island, but also on the neighboring Kyushu Island. Their musket-making workshop is also on Kyushu Island, but that island is larger than Qiongzhou Island. Our expeditionary force has no way to capture all the local area and search it slowly."
Fei Cexian really wanted to complain about how you annexed Qiongzhou Island in the first place, but you can only think about it in your head, if you say it, you will be asking for trouble.But he didn't immediately listen to Tao Donglai and Yan Chujie's warnings, and he always felt that there was something weird about it.
So he continued to ask: "Then I would like to ask, is there any conclusive evidence that these weapon-making technology has or will flow into the Qing Dynasty?"
"The warning we gave to Daming is an inference based on the existing intelligence information. If we have to wait for conclusive evidence to appear, it may be too late and it will not be effective as an early warning." Yan Chujie paused and said: "You don't want your army to encounter the Qing army equipped with advanced weapons on the battlefield while receiving the warning?"
"This..." Fei Cexian had to admit that Yan Chujie's words made sense.The most conclusive evidence is that the Qing army showed their own standard weapons on the battlefield, but at that time it was too late to deal with it.
"We hope that your country will take countermeasures early after receiving this warning, otherwise, if the situation changes, it is very likely that your country's army will suffer a lot on the battlefield!" Tao Donglai warned.
Fei Cexian said: "Thank you, my lords, for your suggestions. But if we want to deal with such a changing situation, isn't the best way to purchase a large number of weapons from your country and equip them to our army?"
Yan Chujie shook his head and said, "Lord Fei is thinking too simply. If you just sell weapons to you without teaching the corresponding tactics to your country's army, even if you equip a large number of weapons produced in our country, it will be difficult to exert enough power. .Besides, our country currently has no spare weapons to sell to you, this is not a solution to the problem.”
Fei Cexian had previously thought that the Haihan people's warning was a bluff, and the purpose was to promote the arms trade and sell weapons to Daming at a high price, but after hearing Yan Chujie's answer at this time, it seemed that this was not the case.At least the Haihan people didn't seem to be particularly positive about selling weapons to Daming.
As a matter of fact, Haihan has always strictly controlled the export of arms, so as not to shoot himself in the foot in the future, and Daming officials are the key targets. Haihan does not want Daming to have someone who can break his wrist with him in the military field strength.
Although after the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries, Haihan opened the door to sell weapons to Daming, but in fact the transaction volume was not large, even far less than the weapons sold to Fujian.And according to the agreement, these weapons cannot be equipped in the area south of the Yangtze River, otherwise Haihan will interrupt the follow-up supply of ammunition and spare parts, so as to avoid the excessive threat of these exported weapons to itself.
As for whether these weapons will be imitated after they are sold to Ming Dynasty, Haihan is not too worried. Of course, skilled craftsmen may imitate the shape of these weapons to [-]%, but the material handling, processing technology, organization of mass production, and even the production of ammunition However, the impact of these factors on weapon performance cannot be overcome by imitation.Unless the overall technology transfer from Haihan is obtained, there will be a significant performance gap between the best imitation products and the genuine ones.
However, what Fei Cexian was worried about was actually a little bit too much. At least for now, Haihan has no plans to take this opportunity to expand the scale of arms trade with Daming.
This may not be because Haihan does not want to earn this money, but the export of arms has always been in short supply. Most of the export orders Haihan received were about a year in advance, and there was simply not enough production capacity to supply the large orders that came in through the queue.
Fei Cexian said: "Then if things really develop in the direction your country speculates, how much buffer time does our country have?"
Yan Chujie said: "It's hard to say at the moment, but even if the opponent has already started to act, there should be at least a buffer period of more than three months. If after a year or so, the Qing army still has not trained an organized musket force, it is very It may mean that these technologies were still kept in Japan and were not introduced to the Qing Dynasty."
Fei Cexian asked: "Then is the probability of this situation high?"
"An optimistic estimate, the two situations are [-]-[-]!" Yan Chujie actually didn't have a clear answer in his mind, so he could only fool around.
"We hope that your country will pay enough attention to this matter. Mr. Fei, it is best to write this matter into the memorial and report it to the court." Tao Donglai felt that the discussion was almost done, so he solemnly made a request.
When Fei Cexian left Fort Victory, he still didn't have a clear understanding of this matter in his mind.Although senior Haihan officials described the situation as serious, they also said that this was only an inference based on existing intelligence, and there was no real evidence.When this kind of thing was reported to the imperial court, even with his toes, Fei Cexian could have imagined that there would be a debate about whether it was necessary to make the troops stationed in northern Xinjiang tense based on the speculation of the Haihan people.
And maybe someone will put the blame on him. After all, there is no real evidence for this matter, so he just wrote the scriptures and reported it to the court.
If the Haihan people's early warning comes true later, that's okay, and they can have some credit.But if a year or so passed and nothing happened that the Haihan people had warned about, of course the crime was not borne by the Haihan people, but by his hearsay, an envoy who interfered with the imperial court's plan to defend against the enemy.
(End of this chapter)