Chapter 3498
Chapter 3498
Chapter 3498
Geng Jimao did not stand up or applaud. He just sat on his chair and watched expressionlessly as the Hai Han officials entered the meeting room.
The relationship between the Qing Dynasty and Hai Han is not harmonious, and they are currently only in a state of truce. It is unclear when the war will break out again, so Geng Jimao, as a prince, does not want to appear servile in such an occasion.
His indifferent attitude formed a sharp contrast with the enthusiasm of the guests around him, but this rebelliousness did not cause any ripples in the venue. After all, he was not the protagonist here and few people paid attention to him.
Geng Jimao felt a little uncomfortable with the feeling of being ignored. He secretly regarded those guys who stood up and applauded as "country bumpkins who have never seen the world."
This was not the first time that Geng Jimao had met with high-ranking officials of Hai Han. In 1656, a Hai Han merchant caravan was attacked at Qingyang Fort on the border between the two countries, and it was Geng Jimao who represented the Qing Dynasty in negotiations.
In Fushun, he met Chen Yixin, who had not yet joined the Executive Committee at that time, and Bai Kesi, who was inspecting Liaodong on behalf of the Executive Committee.
Although the final resolution of the incident made the Qing Dynasty somewhat embarrassed, it finally avoided the outbreak of a new round of war. Afterwards, Geng Jimao was praised by Shunzhi for his merits.
Among the high-ranking officials of the Qing Dynasty, Geng Jimao was one of the few who had actually dealt with Hai Han officials face to face, which was particularly valuable in the Qing Dynasty's very limited diplomatic experience. This was probably why Shunzhi chose him as the Qing Dynasty representative to come to Zhoushan after receiving the invitation from Hai Han.
The last time he met with Hai Han’s top leaders in Fushun, the two sides negotiated behind closed doors. Geng Jimao’s goal was to resolve the problem, and even if he acted a little humble, outsiders would not know.
This time, he came to Zhoushan to participate in an event attended by dignitaries from many countries, so he had to put on airs when necessary and not let outsiders think that the Qing Dynasty was inferior to Hai Han.
But when Geng Jimao saw the high-ranking officials of Hai Han walking up to the King of Korea, Li Yi, and talking to him enthusiastically, he still snorted coldly with a bit of embarrassment on his face.
Twenty years ago, Korea was nearly destroyed by the Qing Dynasty in a war. If Hai Han had not intervened, the Korean Peninsula would have belonged to the Qing Dynasty at this time. There would be no chance for a puppet like Li Yi to come out and perform the drama of the fox borrowing the power of the tiger to bully others.
After several high-ranking Hai Han officials exchanged a few brief greetings with the kings of Korea and Annan, they took their seats at the front of the venue. Then Tao Donglai took the stage to deliver a speech.
Although Tao Donglai's hair and beard are gray now, he is in good spirits because he takes good care of himself. He first expressed his gratitude to all countries for sending representatives to participate in this event, and then once again emphasized the theme of the Zhoushan Forum - communication.
"Our country hopes to use this event to promote extensive exchanges among countries in various fields such as politics, military, culture, and trade. While expressing our own demands, we can also understand the situation of other countries and resolve differences and conflicts through communication."
"So we set the theme of the first Zhoushan Forum as peace and prosperity. We hope that every country participating in the forum can achieve these two goals."
Geng Jimao shook his head as he listened, sneering at the topic Tao Donglai was talking about. He did not think that Hai Han was a good man who was keen on creating peace. In fact, since Hai Han announced its founding, it has been constantly launching foreign wars in the past 30 years. Hai Han's territory has also been expanding rapidly in this way. This is obviously a well-known fact. Even many countries present have been defeated by Hai Han.
During this period, Hai Han continued to sell various weapons and equipment to other countries, which was clearly the behavior of a warmonger. However, Tao Donglai openly claimed that he wanted other countries to "resolve differences and conflicts through communication." In Geng Jimao's view, this was simply a huge joke.
But faced with such a joke, no one present laughed out loud. Instead, there was extremely warm applause. It was obvious that most people here, regardless of whether they agreed with Tao Donglai's statement or not, were happy to support him.
The applause brought Geng Jimao back to reality. This was Zhoushan, Hai Han’s home turf. No one wanted to offend Hai Han here, not even himself.
After a brief opening speech, Tao Donglai announced the first topic of the forum: how to build a safe maritime trade system.
This is undoubtedly a very wide-ranging topic, and it is also closely related to most of the countries participating in the meeting. However, the Ming Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty, which have been forced to become landlocked countries under the suppression of Hai Han, are obviously not included in this list.
However, Yue Shizong and Geng Jimao, who attended the meeting representing the two countries, did not dare to ignore this issue. They had to understand Hai Han's future development strategy and direction so that they could find more living space for their respective countries.
The first guest to take the stage to speak was a very important person: it was the King of Korea, Yi Seong.
Among the countries invited to attend the Zhoushan Forum, only the kings of North Korea and Annan attended in person, which was a great honor for the host. Hai Han also wanted to return the favor, and arranged for Li Yi to be the first to speak, which showed the importance and courtesy they attached to him.
In fact, Li Yi rarely has the opportunity to make a public speech on such occasions, but he is the ruler of a country after all. In addition, Hai Han notified him in advance, leaving him ample time to prepare, so he is not too nervous. He just needs to deliver the speech according to the prepared script.
The content of Li Yi's speech was quite relevant to North Korea's actual situation. He described how North Korea had rapidly developed a relatively complete maritime trade system in the years since he ascended the throne.
Li Yi shared his experience without reservation in building ports and shipyards, training maritime talents, establishing trade routes with neighboring countries, and formulating trade rules and settlement mechanisms. This will undoubtedly be of great benefit to countries that have not yet established a maritime trade system.
Of course, Li Yi did not conceal the huge role played by Hai Han during this period. The entire maritime trade system of the Kingdom of Korea was almost built step by step in accordance with the guidance of Hai Han, and it is also a part of the international trade system constructed by Hai Han.
As for how to achieve the "security" mentioned in the agenda, Li Yi's suggestion is that as long as Hai Han's military forces are introduced into the region, the public security of the relevant waters can be effectively guaranteed, and there will be no more threats such as pirates that endanger trade routes.
Speaking of this section, Li Yi specifically cited the examples of the Japanese pirates who were active in the Goto Islands in western Japan in the past, and the Shibashi pirate gang that operated in the Taiwan Strait, to illustrate the strength and effectiveness of Hai Han's crackdown on pirate gangs.
Although these two incidents happened a long time ago, they did have a huge impact. Even countries that are not located in this region have more or less heard related rumors, so their credibility is beyond doubt.