Chapter 1890 Hong Kong Island

The objectively huge gap between the two countries in agriculture did not make Li Pu feel discouraged. Instead, it made him realize that it was indeed a wise move to specially arrange agricultural technicians among the overseas students. North Korea can learn from Haihan

The aspects of study are not only military and trade, agriculture is also an area that cannot be ignored. And compared with those projects with greater gaps, North Korean agriculture at least has a not too bad foundation, with as many as one million agricultural people.

It far exceeds the total population of Haihan Kingdom, and the cultivated land area in the country is also far greater than that of Haihan. It can be said that the development potential is very huge.

Of course, development potential is one thing, and the actual actual operation level is another. Although Li Bo has never been to rural areas in his country to inspect agricultural production, several agricultural technicians who studied abroad accompanied him this time.

It’s very clear. According to them, if you want to cultivate the same size of land in North Korea, the labor force required may be two to three times or even more than that in Kaohsiung. How to improve the efficiency of North Korea’s agricultural operations may be this time

Issues that agricultural technicians studying abroad need to focus on.

Regardless of whether Haihan arranged to visit Kaohsiung's agricultural area to show off his muscles or for some other purpose, Li Bo was grateful for it. If he hadn't witnessed it with his own eyes, it would have been hard for him to imagine that Haihan's overseas territories could achieve this.

Development level. According to Li Dou, the agricultural development situation in Haihan is even better, which makes Li Bo even more impatient to go to Hainan Island as soon as possible to see that magical land.

After staying in Kaohsiung for a few days, Li Bo and his party set off again to Hong Kong, which is 1,200 miles away. This time, Li Dou sent a lot of accompanying gifts on behalf of the local management committee, including various local seasonal local products.

Almost all the specialties are packed and shipped in one portion, weighing several tons. Although the value of these agricultural products is not necessarily high, so much food is enough for the entire fleet to eat all the way to Hong Kong. It can be said to be a quite practical gift.

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On the way to Hong Kong this time, Li Bo did his homework in advance. Not only did he carefully study the geographical location of Hong Kong on the nautical charts, but he also tried to learn about the local customs, history and culture from the accompanying Haihan diplomats.

However, what makes Li Pu a little disappointed is that although Hong Kong Island has a good geographical location, it has not been considered a military location or a trade hub in history. In fact, it really appeared in the public eye and attracted widespread attention when Haihan occupied this place.

After development.

Haihan occupied Hong Kong Island as early as 1629 and began to develop it. It is worth mentioning that the first shareholders' meeting of the commercial tycoon Qiong Lianfa was held in Hong Kong in 1630, so this place later acquired

There is a lot of capital investment, and the scale of infrastructure is in line with the standards of large commercial ports and regional trade hubs. Although it has been developed for less than ten years, its trade scale has almost equaled that of Guangzhou, making it an upstart in the Pearl River Estuary.

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The current chief administrative officer of Hong Kong is Yau Yihan. He had previously served in the Guangdong Office of the People's Republic of China. Later, after the establishment of the Hong Kong Administrative Committee, the Executive Committee transferred Yau Yihan, who majored in freight management, to Hong Kong to be responsible for local management and development.

In terms of the executive committee's functional planning of Hong Kong Island, You Yihan's original profession was undoubtedly very suitable. In the following years, Haihan's rapid expansion of the Ming Dynasty's coast coincided with the period. Hong Kong Island served as Haihan's main port at the Pearl River Estuary.

and cargo distribution center, which also provides excellent development opportunities.

You Yihan didn't actually have any special feelings about the arrival of the Crown Prince of Joseon. He had received too many important people on Hong Kong Island. He understood that the purpose of a person like Li Bo traveling thousands of miles to visit Haihan was more to show off.

This was due to political reasons. However, he had been involved in the Haihan officialdom for so many years, and he also deeply understood that political tasks were the top priority, and that he had to do all the superficial work he needed to do.

So even though You Yihan had many things to deal with at hand, he still made a special trip to the port to meet Li Bo and his party.

Li Bo's first impression of Hong Kong was that he seemed to be in another Dinghai Port. The docks here were busy and orderly. The buildings on the port were exactly the same as those in Dinghai Port, with a Haihan-style boxy appearance.

Employees at the dock wear vests of different colors according to their positions, which is exactly the same as in Dinghai Port and other places.

Of course, as long as you look carefully, you can easily notice the difference between this place and Dinghai Port. Hong Kong Island is closer to the mainland than Zhoushan Island. He passed through a strait called Lei Yue Mun before. Li Bo visually inspected the recent passage between the two sides of the strait.

The distance is probably only about a hundred feet, and the coastal defense batteries set up on both sides of the strait can easily block the entrance and exit of the eastern end of the strait.

In Li Bo's opinion, the naturally formed bay here has similar conditions to Zhoushan, but it is not as safe as the semi-enclosed seaports like Magong Port and Kaohsiung Port. However, in terms of prosperity, this Hong Kong Island does surpass Li Bo.

In the places we have visited before, we can see urban areas with row upon row of houses near the coast from the boat.

According to Li Bo's homework beforehand, Hong Kong's development has been so smooth, and its ability to transform from a fishing port into a large trading port in just a few years is inseparable from the active investment by businessmen from Guangdong and Guangxi. And this seems to be also possible from

The identity of the people who participated in the greeting at the pier today can be seen. Except for You Yihan and several other local civil and military officials, the rest of the people are the shopkeepers and managers of a certain trading house, shipping company, cloth shop, rice shop, etc.

The characters and business atmosphere are much stronger than those at the previous stops.

However, Li Bo would not think that the participation of these private people did not respect him enough. After these visits, he had already understood the social atmosphere of Haihan. The social status of businessmen in Haihan was higher than that of Ming and North Korea.

The price is higher, and the backers behind many Haihan merchants are official figures, and even some commercial organizations will have official shares. Nowadays, many Haihan merchants who are pouring into Seoul, North Korea to do business are

Coming with a letter of recommendation from the Haihan Ministry of Commerce, its official background is self-evident.

Compared with the senior officials from Haihan who received him at the previous stops, Li Bo could feel that this person had a stronger official flavor when he had a brief contact with You Yihan, and his conversations with him were almost all watertight. Although

It sounds comfortable but has no real content.

"Our area is small and we don't have any special natural resources. The only advantage is that our geographical location is right at the mouth of the Pearl River, which is considered an important maritime transportation route. So for the local area, it is a good idea to make full use of this advantage to carry out business activities.

the main direction of development.”

On the carriage going from the port to the station, You Yihan talked a little about some more essential topics and briefly introduced the local situation to Li Bo.

Although the geographical location of Hong Kong Island has certain special advantages, the terrain on the island is mainly mountainous, and the space and fresh water resources available for development are relatively limited. The agricultural development model commonly used by other Haihan colonies does not apply here. Hong Kong management

The committee has also not developed agriculture as a major local industry.

Most of the executive committee's functional planning for Hong Kong is based on the models of later generations. It hopes to build this place into a maritime trade hub at the Pearl River Estuary and concentrate part of the maritime trade between Guangdong, Fujian, and Hainan Island here to complete the delivery of goods.

and transshipment. So far, the implementation effect of this development plan is relatively ideal, and the prosperity of local ports and urban areas has confirmed the correctness of the executive committee's decision.

Li Bo originally thought that the commercial district he had seen on Zhoushan Island was big enough, but after coming here, he found that his knowledge was still not enough. Hong Kong's commercial district is not only larger in area, but also more prosperous than Zhoushan. The streets here

There are obviously more fleets transporting goods, and the various shops along the street are mostly large-scale commercial warehouses. It can be imagined that their daily transactions do not rely solely on retail sales.

"There are mainly two types of people who come to Hong Kong, one is businessmen, and the other is sailors. At least half of the people I see in the city are businessmen. Every day, hundreds or even thousands of large transactions are completed here, and goods entering and leaving the port

The number is more than double that of Dinghai Port in Zhoushan, Zhejiang. In order to save freight and reduce taxes, many Guangzhou merchants have moved their pick-up and delivery locations here. Most of the merchant ships that the prince saw at the dock just now are also from

Ming maritime merchants from Fuzhou and Guangzhou."

You Yihan made no secret about the main source of local income. In fact, this has long been an open secret. Although the Ming Dynasty officially imposed sea bans, these laws were not very binding on the powerful and courageous maritime merchants.

, not to mention that they have Haihan backing them. Local officials who dare to interfere in such matters have basically disappeared from positions of real power.

However, this kind of words still had quite an impact in Li Pu's ears. He remembered that when he visited Zhoushan before, he also saw many military attachés from the Ming Dynasty visiting the area. It seemed that many people within the Ming Dynasty had chosen to cooperate with the sea because of their interests.

This kind of cooperation based on personal interests will naturally not be of much benefit to the Ming Dynasty, and the taxes evaded from this will all go into the pockets of individuals.

The only benefit that Ming Dynasty gained from this was probably the peaceful relationship between the two countries. In the current harmonious trade environment, Haihan would definitely not take the initiative to launch a military invasion against Ming Dynasty. Last year, the two countries again

After signing a formal diplomatic agreement, Ming Dynasty almost acquiesced in maintaining Haihan's privileges in maritime trade, and the possibility of a war between the two countries because of trade was extremely slim.

As an objective reflection of Hong Kong's economic conditions, the banquet hall here looks more advanced than the facilities in Dinghaigang, Zhoushan. The venue where the carriages and sedans are parked at the door is already larger than the banquet hall in Dinghaigang.

The reception banquet held by You Yihan to receive Li Bo and his entourage was indeed larger than the previous ones. The exquisite porcelain and glassware used at the banquet even made Li Bo feel a little jealous, because it was already larger than the imperial banquet of Gyeongbokgung Palace.

The equipment is even better.

Of course, this is just a basic operation for the Hong Kong Administrative Committee, which has superior economic conditions. After all, the people who are welcomed and sent here on a daily basis are often wealthy businessmen or high-ranking officials from various countries who hold great power. This is reflected in these details.

Only the pomp and circumstance will make these people satisfied with the reception work.

Li Bo only had two words to comment on this reception banquet: exquisite. Although there were no particularly outstanding dishes, every dish was indeed above the standard, and the atmosphere during the banquet was very calm, and the toasts between the host and the guest were also good.

Everything was done so far, and there was no scene like Li Bo was worried about.

This reminded Li Bo of the various important banquets he attended in the Gyeongbokgung Palace. The atmosphere was probably similar to this. The only difference was that the banquets of the Haihan people were more sumptuous, and almost all of them were big fish.

Big meat, quite willing to spend money.

The two parties enjoyed the banquet together politely, and then You Yihan accompanied Li Bo by car to his residence, and introduced to him the special features of the local guest house.

"Our guest house here is basically a copy of the guest house in Sanya. It is built against the mountain. All bedrooms face the bay, and the view is very broad. It is no exaggeration to say that the prince can actually feel it when he stays here.

It’s the environment in Sanya.”

You Yihan's statement is not an exaggeration. When choosing a site for the local guest house, he specifically picked a place with similar terrain to Sanya, and then directly took the architectural plan of the Sanya guest hotel and copied it.

The original purpose of doing this was to shorten the construction period and reduce the costs related to design and construction, but after it was completed, this imitation became a feature. Even Li Nai, a Haihantong who lived here, was very impressed and thought

The living environment of this guest house indeed has the charm of Victory Port.

Li Hao had already stayed in several guest hotels on his way south, and he admired Haihan's ability to standardize the hardware and services of such reception institutions. But for Haihan, it was actually just money.

Many people in Yuanzhongli have a deep understanding of the environment and services of high-end hotel chains. They just copy it to this time and space in a localized form so that they can travel to various places on business.

Enjoy standard and unified services.

However, the Guest House exists as a foreign-related reception institution. In the eyes of foreigners like Li Bo, it is naturally a manifestation of Haihan's national strength.

After taking a hot bath, Li Pu changed into the nightgown prepared in the room, went to the balcony and sat on the leisure chair. The slightly salty sea breeze blew, which made his mind clear up a lot. He looked at the people behind him.

Under the illumination of a windproof oil lamp, Li Shu tore open an envelope, took out the letterhead and began to read. This was a handwritten letter from Li Xi, the North Korean ambassador to Sanya. The content was actually nothing special, but it was to inform him of some matters that he needed to pay attention to after arriving in Sanya.
Chapter completed!