Chapter 1473 Northern Route (6)

Regarding his brother's extremely brief reply, it was difficult for He Li to deduce what the other party's specific thoughts were after receiving his telegram. But since He Xiao said yes, he agreed with He Li's opinion, and the follow-up matters can be

Implementation started immediately.

Even though He Lidang expressed his intention to build a business store in Majiazhuang to officials of the Ministry of Commerce, due to his schedule, He Li was about to leave for Liaodong with the fleet, so he chose a site to purchase land and hired people to start construction.

For matters like this, he could only wait until he returned from Liaodong and come to Fushan County to handle it personally. However, He Li still left a close confidant here to follow up on the matter first.

Of course, this kind of operation of building a business warehouse in a different place is bound to be expensive. In addition, the prosperity of Majiazhuang is increasing day by day. He Li estimates that this plan will require three to four thousand taels of silver to be implemented. But if it can be used in the north

The airline carrier has a slight advantage. He Li believes that such a result is still cost-effective. In this environment, it is definitely better to strike first, and then you will have nothing but soup. Based on the current situation in Majiazhuang

, after the store is built, it will only take a year and a half to recover the cost.

He Li hurriedly explained the work to his cronies who stayed in Shandong, and then boarded the ship and set off. Most of the goods transported by this fleet were military supplies, and there were also military warships accompanying them. This departure time was not good.

It's up to him to decide, and He Li doesn't dare to delay the sailing schedule because of his own personal affairs.

The voyage from Zhifu Island to Liaodong is the last leg of the merchant fleet's trip. The seventy or eighty nautical miles between Zhifu Port and Lushun Port can be reached in just one day, and I can no longer hold back my excitement.

Businessmen came to the deck in advance, waiting for the outline of land to appear on the sea level in the distance.

But their emotions obviously came a little early. In fact, the fleet arrived long after nightfall. If it weren't for the light emitted by the lighthouse on the distant sea, it would be difficult for them to confirm that the Liaodong continent was ahead. At this time,

Most of the merchants who lost their patience have returned to the cabin. After all, the sea breeze blowing on the deck for a day is not a pleasant thing.

He Li was more restrained. He had studied the simplified nautical charts provided by the military in advance and roughly calculated the voyage time, so he had been recuperating during the day. It was not until after dinner that he came to the deck to wait for the end of the journey.

Arrival. After seeing the light of the lighthouse in the distance, he immediately confirmed to the escort on the ship that it was the Laohuwei Lighthouse outside Lushun Port. It is currently the only lighthouse on the coastline of Liaodong mainland. As long as he sees this lighthouse

The light emitted can confirm that it has arrived at the Liaodong coast.

From Zhejiang to Lushun, the journey of more than 2,000 miles and more than ten days on the sea is finally coming to an end. He Li is not very excited, because the visibility at sea is not good at this time, except for that point

Apart from the looming light, the outline of the Liaodong mainland cannot be seen at all. There is only darkness in front of us. And even if we have already seen the lighthouse outside Lushun Port, judging from the visibility at sea, it will still take at least an hour or so.

to reach the location of the lighthouse.

In fact, when there were still several miles of waterway from the lighthouse, the pilot ship had already signaled, causing the fleet to slow down as a whole. This is because the entrance channel of Lushun Port is relatively narrow. If dozens of ships in the fleet swarm in,

It is definitely difficult to ensure the safety of navigation at night, so we can only slow down. Fortunately, Port Arthur has received a telegram notification from Shandong, so many bonfires were lit on the land on both sides of the channel in advance, which also greatly improved the fleet's safety.

Security when entering the harbor.

Even so, it took until midnight for the entire fleet to sail into the Port of Lushun. After bypassing the Laohwei Peninsula, you can see the still brightly lit Lushun Port pier on the shore. He Li

At this time, he did not continue to watch on the deck, but leisurely returned to the cabin to rest.

According to the itinerary informed by the military before departure, any port arriving at night, the crew on the ship must wait until dawn the next day before landing. This Liaodong area is under the control of the Haihan Army, so this is naturally the rule. He Li knew this

It was the Haihan people who were worried about unidentified spies sneaking in. Since they couldn't get off the ship until tomorrow morning, they couldn't see the surrounding environment clearly even if they stayed on the deck at this time, so it was better to rest early.

Of course, there are still only a few people who are as calm as He Li. People who had already rested on the other boats heard about Port Arthur and ran to the deck to see the strange thing. However, the area illuminated by lanterns and torches on the pier was limited, so what could be seen

There were very few scenes. After everyone was excited, they finally went back to sleep.

At dawn the next day, people from the garrison, the Ministry of Shipping, and the Ministry of Commerce came to hand over the goods on the ship. The inventory was still to exclude all private carriers and their subordinates to prevent the information on the quantity of goods shipped from being leaked.

He Li and other carriers were invited to a small tea shop on the dock. The free tea provided here was not as exquisite as before in Majiazhuang. He Li took a sip and it was probably only two copper coins a cup.

The quality of the tea is high. Of course, this kind of tea is opened on the dock and is specifically targeted at consumer groups such as laborers. It is not practical to use better tea.

The wait lasted for a long time. During this period, people from various departments of Haihan came to meet with them one after another to complete the goods handover and freight settlement procedures. He Li definitely made a lot of money from this errand, but it was far from enough to support him.

The investment plan in the north is not even enough for the construction of commercial warehouses in Shandong, and a large amount of money will definitely have to be spent next.

When it was almost noon, the security on the pier suddenly increased a lot. He Li and others were not novices. Knowing that someone big might be coming, they quickly arranged their clothes to avoid losing etiquette. Not long after, a black carriage came from

They drove up the official road and stopped outside this small tea shop. A middle-aged man got out of the carriage. Looking at his clothes, everyone knew that this man must be a high-ranking official of the Haihan Dynasty, so they hurried forward to greet him. There was a sea view next to him.

Han officials introduced to them that the visitor was Sha Xi, the chief administrator of Haihan stationed in Liaodong.

"Common people kowtow to Lord Sha!" He Li quickly followed the etiquette and knelt on the ground with the others. Although he also knew that the Haihan people did not like kneeling, but since it was the first time to deal with Lord Sha and Chief Sha,

, and there may be business dealings in the future, so it is necessary to leave a good impression of being humble and courteous to the other party. If you kneel down now, you may save a lot of trouble in the future.

Sha Xi hurriedly helped everyone up one by one and talked about their hard work. Then he sat down with everyone and asked casually about the situation on the way north. Everyone saw that he seemed to be very talkative, and their originally uneasy moods became much calmer.

Sha Xi said: "Liaodong, as we all know, is the land of our Han people. It was occupied by gold thieves a few years ago. They plundered this place completely and even took away all the people. We sent troops to take over this place.

The purpose of grabbing it is to take back these lands for us Han people, and kill more gold thieves to avenge the dead people! But you also know that this place is too far away from our country of Haihan, and many supplies come from the south

It takes a month to transport it here, so we must get the support of gentry and merchants like you who understand the righteousness, so that we can maintain the current situation in Liaodong. For our country, Haihan, you are not only our business partners

Partners, and also allies fighting together, I, Sha Xi, represent the Haihan Kingdom here, and I would like to thank you all for your hard work and hard work along the way!"

Seeing Sha Xi stood up and bowed, everyone quickly stood up and returned the salute. He Li secretly thought that this Haihan official was very eloquent. He said such words, which seemed to be very comforting, but after careful consideration, he felt that something was wrong.

, he never mentioned "the Ming Dynasty" in his words. He kept saying that Liaodong was the land of the Han people, but after Haihan took back this land, he seemed to have no intention of returning it to the Ming Dynasty.

Of course, this was actually expected by everyone, otherwise why would Haihan bother to set up private carriers to transport large quantities of supplies to Liaodong. But I didn't expect that this senior official of Haihan would not even mention the Ming Dynasty in the scene.

, this attitude of hiding the needle in the thick of things can be said to be quite firm.

Sha Xi continued: "As far as I know, this is your first time coming to Liaodong, and you may not be too familiar with the situation here, so I will give you a brief introduction to the situation here."

In fact, Sha Xi didn't come much earlier than these southern businessmen, but due to the different levels of information he was exposed to, his understanding of this area was naturally far beyond what these businessmen could match. Among the situations that Sha Xi introduced to them, the main

The content is how the Haihan army fought bravely and drove away the Hou Jin army that occupied this area, emphasizing the role of Haihan in the process of regaining control of this area.

Although these businessmen have no military knowledge, they still don't believe it when they heard that Haihan killed thousands of enemies during the battle. Because according to the battle reports in recent years, the Ming Dynasty lost more than the Jin people and won more.

Most of them could only defend the city and did not dare to go out to fight with the enemy's cavalry. Haihan launched an offensive from the sea to the land and was able to defeat the Jin's cavalry. Such a result was really hard for them to accept.

Sha Xi seemed to have guessed what these people were thinking, and smiled and said: "During the battle, the Ming army troops originally belonging to Dongjiang Town also gave us great support, so after the war, in order to express our gratitude, we

This battle merit was given to them, and they beheaded the enemy soldiers to report their merits to the imperial court. If you are willing to stay in Liaodong for a while, you may be able to wait for the officials sent by the imperial court to verify the results of the battle."

Sha Xi's words shocked everyone. They did not know about the Ming army's participation in the war in Liaodong before arriving here. But if this is true, then the person to whom this army wants to report its merits is obviously not the imperial court of Haihan, but

It was the Ming Dynasty. But if Sha Xi did not brag about the results of the war, and Dongjiang Town reported the military merits, the court would definitely think that this place was taken back by the Ming army. Then how could it allow an outsider like Haihan to occupy it?

?Besides, if the imperial court really sends officials here to review the results of the battle, won't the truth be revealed at a glance?

Finally, someone had the courage to ask: "Sir, I have the courage to ask, what if the officials sent by the imperial court do not recognize your country's power here?"

Sha Xigu said in a difficult tone: "Of course our country wants to peacefully resolve the issue of Liaodong's ownership with the Ming Dynasty, but how to do it depends on the sincerity shown by the Ming court. If the big shots in the capital are not willing to have peace,

, then we can only do whatever we have to do.”

Just do whatever you want. It sounds like a very helpless sentence, but to these businessmen, it is like thunder. Although they are working for the Haihan people at the moment, they still say it clearly.

Naturally, people do not want the two countries to go to war. Moreover, with the combat effectiveness shown by Haihan in the south and the terrifying armed fleet, it is difficult for people to hope that the imperial court can use force to regain the ownership of Liaodong - this may be more difficult than before.

It would be much more difficult to recapture Liaodong from the Jin people.

He Li wanted to think more. He felt that Sha was trying to pass the blame in advance and put the responsibility of starting a fight if the negotiations failed on Daming. He made it sound as if Haihan was the passive party in it. But

In fact, it is the Haihan side that dominates the situation, and if there is a fight, the performance of the Haihan army will never be as helpless as Sha Xi described. How can an army that can drive the Houjin armed forces out of this area?

Will they be afraid of the Ming army, which cannot even defeat its defeated generals?

He Li had never heard of a person like Sha Xi in Haihan before, but after such a short encounter, He Li discovered that this person was extremely sophisticated and spoke tactfully. He was indeed a powerful person.

You must be careful when dealing with him in the future.

Then I heard Sha Xi continue to say: "Actually, I am just a civil servant. The only thing I can manage is the land of Liaodong. With whom to fight and when to start the fight. It is not my turn to make the decision. At most, it is the wartime gang."

The army has taken care of the logistics problems. So regarding the war, you don’t need to waste your saliva and time asking me for information. What I want to tell you is that no matter whether there is another war in Liaodong in the future, the Haihan Kingdom established

The northern routes will definitely become busier and busier. If you enter this market now, you will be very glad for your decision in the future, because you are the first group of people to seize the opportunity!"

Sha Xi's speech was very convincing, but He Li still wanted to know more about what he was interested in, so after Sha Xi indicated that he could ask questions, He Li took the initiative to ask: "Master Sha, the common people want to know more, I'll wait.

Can carriers do business locally? Does the government have any recommendations?”
Chapter completed!