Chapter 1621 Deepening understanding

When Fei Cexian was flipping through the book "Geography of the South China Sea", Zhang Qianzhi sat quietly and waited. He could see that Fei Cexian was really interested in the situation in the South China Sea. This book was published by Haihan Domestic

The book used by the academy as a basic geography textbook is almost the only relevant document with reference value that Fei Cexian borrowed from the library. Although the content in the book seems to Zhang Qianzhi to be very simple, it is far from the truth.

Far beyond the scope of information held by Ming Dynasty officials, this is tantamount to a major upgrade of Fei Cexian's personal knowledge base.

Fei Cexian did not doubt the authenticity of the content in this book, because he came to the library on an impromptu basis, and it was impossible for Haihan people to prepare for this in advance. Moreover, this document was a textbook for Haihan Academy and was used for

It is a reference material for cultivating talents for the country. It is impossible for Haihan officials to deceive the people through fraud.

According to the information described in this book, the current international political situation in the South China Sea is somewhat different from what the Ming Dynasty mastered. Some small countries in the South China Sea that paid tribute to the Ming Dynasty in the early years have disappeared in the long river of history, and in recent decades,

The rise of the South China Sea is almost all foreign colonists who came to the South China Sea from the far west by sea. The Netherlands, Spain, Portugal... these Western countries used force to expel or enslave the local aborigines, and established many colonies in various parts of the South China Sea.

.

This so-called colonial method is not unfamiliar to Fei Cexian, because before and after the founding of Haihan, similar methods were used to expand outward. Especially the series of control areas established near the Ming coastline are simply similar to these

The methods of Western countries are exactly the same. They first use force to control, establish settlements, and then forcibly conduct trade with the coastal cities of the Ming Dynasty.

Although Fei Cexian did not understand the deeper colonial purposes of capital export, commodity dumping, and raw material plundering, he knew very well that Haihan was absorbing nutrients from Ming Dynasty through these coastal colonies to strengthen itself. In fact, Ming Dynasty could understand it just like him.

There are many officials who do this, but the officials in the capital are beyond their reach, and the local officials are almost all vested interests, so no one can really stand up to stop Haihan's actions.

However, the description of the general situation of the South China Sea in this book is actually not very detailed, especially the relationship between Haihan and the countries in the South China Sea. Many of them are briefly mentioned. It only lists the member countries of the South China Sea Business Alliance and indicates that these countries are related to

Haihan maintains political, military, and economic contacts. Spain, which Fei Cexian was more concerned about before, is naturally not on this list.

After all, Fei Cexian is a scholar and has a strong academic spirit. Although he did not fully understand the content of the book, he still sat patiently in the library until the meal was served. If Zhang Qianzhi hadn't reminded him from the side,

, he will most likely have to stay here until the library closes.

Fei Cexian reluctantly closed the page and sighed to Zhang Qianzhi: "This is only a Ding-level document, but it contains so much content. I am even more curious about the content of that advanced document."

When he checked the catalog before, Fei Cexian had paid attention to the documents of Class A, B and C. Among the Class A documents, there were even several military reports on the South China Sea marked as written by the Ministry of National Defense. It was probably because he had performed several combat missions in the South China Sea.

The report written by Haihan Military should be very detailed and credible. Unfortunately, Fei Cexian's borrowing authority is far from Class A documents, so he can only swallow his saliva after looking at the introduction in the catalog.

Zhang Qianzhi responded: "If Mr. Fei is so interested in the situation in the South China Sea, it would be better to wait until the embassy here is built and then apply to the Executive Committee to go to the South China Sea to inspect and travel and see the exotic customs with his own eyes."

Fei Cexian asked curiously: "Can your country arrange such a thing for you?"

Zhang Qianzhi said: "Others may not be able to do it, but Mr. Fei is an envoy of the Ming Dynasty. If you have any requests, the executive committee will do its best to meet them. If Mr. Fei has any plans, I can report it on my behalf."

Zhang Qianzhi is not bragging. In fact, it has become a relatively common practice for Haihan to arrange for foreign envoys to visit and travel within the areas under his control. Even the current Governor of the Dutch East India Company, Van Diemen, served as an envoy.

I visited the main towns on Hainan Island. Now in Zhejiang, Shandong and even Liaodong, there are also envoys, students, military observers, etc. from other countries, who, under the arrangements of Haihan officials, go there to experience the life of Haihan Colony.

environment.

For the envoys of the Ming Dynasty, the purpose of the Executive Committee is very clear, which is to prevent the other party from spying on confidential information, while also trying to expand their horizons so as to use Haihan's advanced social system and technological achievements to influence their ideas and political stance. Although these two

This task seems to be a bit contradictory, but it is basically clear when it is executed. As far as the information Fei Cexian has access to so far, except for a discussion he accidentally heard outside Haihan Bank, other

Basically, they are all under the control of the Ministry of Security. If Fei Cexian can be sent to the South China Sea for a tour, it will naturally be easier to control him. By the way, it can also show him Haihan's actual control over the South China Sea.

However, Fei Cexian was quite cautious. Although he was a little tempted, he still did not accept Zhang Qianzhi's suggestion. He only said that the matter needed to be considered further. What he was worried about was not whether Haihan could arrange such an itinerary properly.

But I thought that I would run away as soon as the embassy was completed. It would be a bit irresponsible to do so. If someone reported it quietly, I would have to think of a reason to explain it. Wouldn't it be asking for trouble? Even if I want to travel to the South China Sea, it would be

We need to wait for a while to complete the negotiations and consultations between the two countries.

Zhang Qianzhi failed to achieve his goal, but he was not discouraged. When he made the suggestion, he did not expect the other party to agree to it. He just took this opportunity to show Fei Cexian Haihan's confidence in controlling the situation in the South China Sea. In the future, Fei Cexian

If Ce Xian has too much free time in Sanya, he will think of the South China Sea as a place to go, and he might take the initiative to raise the matter with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Although Fei Cexian was still satisfied with what he saw, he was not allowed to eat in the library, so he had to go out to find a place to eat when it was time to eat. Then the two of them left the library and woke up Qin Suihe who was waiting outside and was drowsy.

The coachman then went to a nearby restaurant for dinner. Fei Cexian didn't have any airs, and didn't let Zhang Qianzhi and others share tables, so the four of them sat down at the same table.

"When I was in the capital, the people who usually came and went were the people below doing errands, and they were not so particular." Fei Cexian took the initiative to explain after sitting down: "Besides, this is not an official occasion, just a casual meal outside.

That’s all, there’s no need to make a distinction between superiority and inferiority.”

Zhang Qianzhi quickly agreed, feeling even more favorable towards Fei Cexian in his heart. Although the Ming envoy was a bit unsmiling on weekdays, he did not have any official airs, and he did not treat himself or the construction workers on the embassy site.

Go, what Yi Qi ordered. Now that he can take the initiative to sit at the same table with his servants to eat, it can indeed be seen that his character is good.

After dinner, Fei Cexian went to the library again. When Zhang Qianzhi saw this, he knew that he was like other people who had opened their eyes after entering the Haihan Library for the first time. He wished he could stay in there without having to come out.

They search for content they are interested in in the sea of ​​books. Zhang Qianzhi is happy to see the success of this mentality. First, it is easier to monitor the target's movements and intentions. Second, it can also be used to further launch psychological warfare against the target and use the sea.

Han's huge advantage in knowledge reserves gradually made Fei Cexian's position waver.

Of course, Zhang Qianzhi really could not imagine that the reason why Fei Cexian was so greedy for the library, besides his thirst for knowledge, was also to find out how the potential competition between Haihan and Spain would develop. Zhang

Qianzhi did not know much about the military's plan, and did not connect Fei Cexian's actions with Haihan's plan to deal with Spain.

So the group returned to the library. This time, Fei Cexian did not borrow any more documents on the geography of the South China Sea, but found a brief history of Haihan to read. Zhang Qianzhi found an excuse to sneak out of the library and found the Security Department nearby.

The contact person gave an oral report on the monitoring situation on his side and asked him to take it back to the Security Department for record. Zhang Qianzhi is now considered a moderate official in the Security Department, so he can also command some of his subordinates.

Manpower, he seems to be acting alone during the execution of the mission, but in fact there are still people outside cooperating with him, ready to receive his instructions at any time.

Fei Cexian seemed unaware that he was under surveillance. He found that all the questions that Ming Dynasty had about Haihan seemed to be answered in this library. Even the documents he could access now were all

The most common level can already explain some of the problems on his mind.

For example, regarding the origin of the Haihan people, the information obtained by the court was too mixed, and there was no way to verify its authenticity. Some said that the Haihan people were overseas Chinese who came across the sea from the east, some said that they came from thousands of miles away from the west, and some said that they came from thousands of miles away from the west.

It is said that the Haihan people are descendants of the previous dynasty and have been hiding on a large island in the South China Sea waiting for the opportunity to cause trouble. There are supporters of various theories, but there is no conclusive evidence to prove it to be true.

The Haihan people's own explanation is undoubtedly a relatively authoritative statement. After reading it, Fei Cexian found it hard to believe whether there was a Haihan country on the other side of the East China Sea, but at least it was the Haihan people themselves who came up with it.

The explanation is definitely much more credible than folk rumors.

Fei Cexian believes that this statement is credible, and there is more objective evidence. It took the Haihan people less than ten years to build a powerful country from scratch on the coast of the South China Sea. If they were just a group of people who traveled across the ocean,

It is obviously impossible for the pirates, fishermen, merchants or exiled nobles who came here by sea to achieve such results. At most, they can build a larger free port, like the Shuangyu Port that once appeared in Zhoushan Islands, Zhejiang.

.

Fei Cexian believes that only a ruler who has truly governed a country can reorganize a new political power in a foreign country with such familiarity. The abilities displayed by the Haihan people in this regard are all proof of their past identity.

They were not civilians. But what he was not sure about was whether this group of people were the pacifists they claimed to be, or whether they were militants who actually used war as an excuse to expand outward.

If it is the former, the frequency of Haihan's foreign wars is too frequent. According to the records in this book, there will be a relatively large military operation launched overseas almost every one or two years, and the opponents change very frequently.

There are very few times when the same opponent is involved in two consecutive wars. This is definitely a performance that can only be achieved by a warlike country.

But if Haihan is a militant, he just let go of the Ming Dynasty and Annan, which are closest to him and the easiest to attack. He only occupied several ports on the coastlines of these two countries as strongholds, and did not attempt a large-scale invasion with force.

These two countries. Not only that, Haihan is even trying to help these two countries train new armies and sell them weapons to improve the combat effectiveness of their armies. Although the Ming Dynasty benefited almost all from the private armies of local warlords.

, but at least these local warlords were still loyal to the imperial court on the surface, and there were no signs of rebellion.

According to Haihan's official statement, it is because Haihan is also a Han government and has the same roots as the Ming Dynasty, so it hopes to maintain fraternal relations. However, Fei Cexian believes that this is not the whole reason for Haihan to choose peace. Haihan obtained from the Ming Dynasty

Labor force, raw materials and sales market are probably the main reasons why Haihan is willing to live peacefully with Ming Dynasty, and it is also very explicit in the Liaodong Agreement. If Ming Dynasty refuses to provide it with these conditions, then Haihan may not be like now

He calmly established diplomatic relations with the Ming Dynasty and put all disputes on the negotiating table to resolve them.

Fei Cexian did not think that Haihan's military power was enough to destroy the Ming Dynasty, but he also knew that it was very difficult to organize an armed force in the south that could compete with Haihan, and there was even slimmer hope of winning. Otherwise, the court would not

After having endured helplessly for so many years, it was long past time to mobilize soldiers to cross the sea to Qiongzhou Island to suppress the bandits.

The brief history of Haihan has records of wars over the years. Although it is not very detailed, it is enough for Fei Cexian to sort out a timeline of Haihan's rise in his mind. Haihan's external expansion is almost always accompanied by the Great War.

A large-scale war, and this time Haihan dispatched troops deployed on the Ming coastline to gather south, obviously the scale of the operation will not be too small. Fei Cexian also wants to know, after this military operation is over, what will Haihan do?

What changes will occur in the actual control areas?

It's a pity that Fei Cexian is a civilian official, and his understanding of military affairs is limited to what he learned before setting off from the capital. It is really difficult to analyze the direction of Haihan's next war based on the existing information. Otherwise, he should understand that Haihan will

The significance of taking action against the Spanish colonies was not just to avenge old grudges.
Chapter completed!