Chapter 2228

The ideal is very full, but the reality is very skinny. These ideas of Fei Cexian are just his wishes as a civilian diplomat. If he really wants to regain the lost ground from Haihan, he will definitely rely on his wishful thinking plan

It won't work.

Even if the Ming Dynasty decrees a ban on trade with Haihan, it will be difficult to implement it thoroughly in the coastal state capitals. Especially in the coastal areas south of the Yangtze River Estuary, almost every state capital has a different ruler.

He has participated in the trade network built by Haihan to a certain extent and has become a link in the huge chain of interests. There are tens of thousands of people in the local area who use this as a source of income. Trade relations cannot be broken off easily.

Of course, Fei Cexian is not blind. He is in Sanya and has many opportunities to come into contact with various local classes. Naturally, he can also roughly understand how many Ming people purchased property and land in the areas under Haihan rule, and even changed their identities.

They became citizens of Haihan. And these people were different from the refugees who were forced to make a living and fled to Haihan. Most of them were respectable local gentry in the Ming Dynasty, or even relatives of officials.

What do these people want to move to Haihan? Fei Cexian believes that the first is profit and the second is safety. Compared with the Ming Dynasty, which has been plagued by internal and external troubles in recent years, the areas under Haihan are indeed relatively peaceful, although Haihan was almost

The wars started in 1999, but they were all attempts to expand territory to the outside world, and the wars almost always ended in great victories, which was completely different from the war-torn situation faced by the Ming Dynasty.

These merchants engaged in maritime trade moved their trading locations to the free ports in the areas under Haihan's rule. On the one hand, they could obtain more business opportunities and escape the commercial taxes of the Ming Dynasty. On the other hand, they could logically receive military protection and protection provided by Haihan.

Convenient financial services, no need to worry about the security of money during transactions.

These conditions that were unavailable in the Ming Dynasty were attracting more and more wealthy people to Haihan, followed by the huge wealth transferred from the Ming Dynasty, and the gold diggers attracted by this wealth to Haihan.

In the end, the effect of this joint effect is that wealth and labor force continue to flow into Haihan, allowing Haihan's national power to continue to grow.

Although Fei Cexian noticed this situation, with his knowledge and ability, he could not come up with any effective way to change the situation. He could only comfort himself by making assumptions.

Of course, he also wrote his own knowledge and understanding into the memorial, hoping to get clear instructions from the court, but the approval given by the court asked him to be careful in his words and deeds in Sanya and not to go against the Haihan people. Obviously he didn't want to

Because these things affect diplomatic relations with Haihan.

Fei Cexian can actually understand the attitude of the imperial court. After all, at the northern border, we still have to rely on Haihan to hold back the real powerful enemy. If he gets into trouble with Haihan over some trivial matter, it will affect the security of northern Xinjiang.

The gains outweigh the losses. As for the complex situation in Liaodong, he had already had a relatively thorough understanding of it through various sources in Sanya.

Haihan officials do not have any special control over relevant information. You can check the Haihan Army's actions in Liaodong in recent years in the Sanya Library. These records are all from reports in official newspapers, although there must be some boasting in them.

However, according to the confirmations Fei Cexian received from various channels, these news are basically true, and there is nothing deliberately fabricated.

Therefore, Fei Cexian could only comfort himself. At least the Haihan people did not carry out further aggression after occupying these places on the Ming coastline. Whether they really just wanted to engage in trade activities, or the diplomatic agreement between the two countries had an effect.

It's a restraint, as long as it can maintain peace.

That day, Fei Cexian had just finished lunch and was about to lie down for a while when one of his subordinates came to report that someone from Fort Victory had asked him to go to the Executive Committee to speak to him, but he did not explain what was going on.

Although Fei Cexian felt a little guilty in his heart, he did not dare to neglect it. He knew that senior officials like Haihan were more pragmatic and would never entertain themselves without something to do. He immediately packed up and took the embassy's carriage to Victory Fort.

As before, the carriage stopped at the gate of Fort Victory. Fei Cexian got out of the car and showed his identity, and then someone took him inside.

Fei Cexian was taken to a conference room to wait. After a while, Tao Donglai and Yan Chujie arrived hand in hand. When Fei Cexian saw that it was these two people, not Ning Qi and Schneider who were usually in charge of foreign affairs, he knew that they might be there.

It's not a trivial matter, so cheer up and greet the two of 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 he handed over the conversation to Tao Donglai.

Tao Donglai said: "According to the information we have recently received from overseas, the military technology mastered by the Hirado Domain of Japan may be leaked to the Qing Dynasty."

Fei Cexian waited for a while, and when he saw that Tao Donglai had nothing to say, he asked tentatively: "Is this what you two want to say?"

"It seems that Mr. Fei doesn't quite understand what this means." Tao Donglai saw Fei Cexian's expression and knew that he did not realize the seriousness of the matter. He immediately explained to him: "We previously discovered that the Qing army in Liaodong

The musketeers they trained were later found to be equipped with weapons produced in Hirado, Japan. If the Qing army mastered the technology of manufacturing these weapons, they might cause big trouble at some point in the future!"

"You mean, the Qing army might be able to make their own muskets and artillery?" After Fei Cexian understood this, he started to get nervous.

Tao Donglai said: "In fact, they have always had this ability, but the military technology of the Hirado Domain came from the Spanish and was more advanced than the technology they currently have. So once these technologies flow into their hands, they will

The weapons and equipment may soon be upgraded to a higher level. Mr. Fei, do you understand what I mean?"

How could Fei Cexian not understand this? The Qing Dynasty accepted Kong Youde, Geng Zhongming, Shang Kexi and other rebel generals from the Ming Dynasty, and the troops led by these people when they defected also included some gunsmiths, so

The technology for manufacturing muskets and artillery had actually flowed into the Qing Dynasty long ago.

The relevant ordnance industry technology of the Ming Dynasty originated from the Portuguese, and it is actually of the same origin as the Spanish ordnance industry technology. However, due to various historical reasons, the relevant technology taught to the Ming Dynasty by the Portuguese was more primitive, and it flowed into the Ming Dynasty through the Spanish.

However, the technology in Bazhi's hands has been iteratively updated, and there is a more standard manufacturing process, which can more easily achieve mass production of weapons.

Because there are too few gunsmiths in the rebel army, although the Qing army has obtained relevant ordnance technology, it has not been able to achieve large-scale mass production. Moreover, the firearms they can produce are basically the same as the equipment of the Ming Dynasty official army.

It's at the same level, so it can't be said that it poses much of a threat to the Ming Dynasty, and it's even less impressive in front of the Haihan Army.

Tao Donglai has clearly pointed out that the military technology mastered by the Hirado clan is stronger than the current level of the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Once it flows into the Qing Dynasty, it will inevitably lead to the balance of military technology being broken, and the Ming Dynasty will for the first time

Become the party that lags behind and gets beaten.

Fei Cexian said: "Didn't your country just complete the conquest of the Hirado Domain of Japan a few months ago and win a great victory? Didn't it completely destroy the Hirado Domain'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 was Hirado Island, the seat of the Hirado clan. We successfully captured the area and eliminated the combat troops and troops of the Hirado clan."

Armed fleet. But the Hirado clan’s territory is not only on Hirado Island, but also partly 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 cannot capture the entire area and search it slowly."

Fei Cexian wanted to complain about how you annexed Qiongzhou Island in the first place, but he could only think about it in his mind. If he said it out, he would be asking for trouble. But he had no idea about Tao Donglai and Yan Chujie.

I didn't immediately heed the warning because I always felt something was a little weird.

So he continued to ask: "Then let me ask you, is there any conclusive evidence that the ordnance technology for making weapons has flowed or will flow into the Qing Dynasty?"

"The warning we issued to Daming was an inference based on the existing intelligence information. If we wait until conclusive evidence appears, it may be too late and will not serve 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 at the same time as you receive the warning, right?"

"This..." Fei Cexian had to admit that Yan Chujie's words made sense. The most conclusive evidence was that the Qing army showed off their self-made standard weapons on the battlefield, but at that time there was no time to respond.

"We hope that your country will take countermeasures as soon as possible after receiving this warning. Otherwise, once the situation changes, your army may suffer heavy losses on the battlefield!" Tao Donglai warned.

Fei Cexian said: "Thank you two adults for your suggestions. But if we want to deal with such changes, wouldn't the best way be to purchase a large amount of weapons from your country and equip them for our army?"

Yan Chujie shook his head and said: "Master Fei thinks too simply. If we just sell weapons to you without teaching the corresponding tactics to your army, then even if you equip a large number of weapons produced in our country, it will be difficult to exert sufficient power."

.Besides, our country currently has no spare weapons to sell to you, so this is not a solution to the problem."

Fei Cexian had previously thought that the Haihan people's warning was a bluff, with the purpose of promoting the arms trade and selling weapons to the Ming Dynasty at high prices, but after hearing Yan Chujie's answer, it seemed that this was not the case. At least the Haihan people were opposite.

Ming Dynasty’s attitude towards selling weapons does not seem to be particularly positive.

In fact, Haihan has always strictly controlled the export of arms, so as not to shoot himself in the foot in the future, and Ming officials are the key targets. Haihan does not want Ming to have anyone who can compete with him in the military field.

strength.

Although after the two countries established diplomatic relations, Haihan opened his mouth to sell weapons to Ming Dynasty, the actual transaction volume was not large, and was not even as large as the weapons sold to Fujian. Moreover, according to the agreement, these weapons could not be sold to Ming Dynasty.

The equipment is located in the area south of the Yangtze River, otherwise Haihan will interrupt the subsequent supply of ammunition and spare parts to avoid these export weapons from posing an excessive threat to itself.

As for whether these weapons will be imitated after being sold to the Ming Dynasty, Haihan is not too worried. It is certainly possible for skilled craftsmen to imitate the shape of these weapons to 99%, but the material handling, processing technology, organization of mass production, and even ammunition production

, the impact of these factors on weapon performance cannot be overcome by imitation. Unless the overall technology transfer of Haihan is obtained, there will be a significant performance gap between the best imitation and the genuine product.

Fei Cexian's worries are actually a bit overblown. At least for now, Haihan has no plans to take this opportunity to expand the scale of arms trade with the Ming Dynasty.

This is not necessarily because Haihan does not want to earn this money, but export arms sales have always been tight. Most of the export orders Haihan receives are about a year in advance, and there is simply not enough production capacity to supply the large orders that jump in.

Fei Cexian said: "Then if things really develop in the direction your country speculates, how much buffering time will our country have?"

Yan Chujie said: "It's hard to say yet, but even if the other party has already started taking action, there should be at least a buffer period of more than three months. If after a year and a half, the Qing army still has not trained an organized musketeer unit, it will be very difficult.

This may mean that these technologies were still retained in Japan and were not introduced to the Qing Dynasty."

Fei Cexian asked: "Is the chance of this situation high?"

"Optimistically, it's a 50-50 split between the two scenarios!" Yan Chujie actually didn't have a clear answer in his mind, so he could only fudge it casually.

"We hope that this matter will attract enough attention from your country. It is best for Mr. Fei to write this matter into a memorial and report it to the court." Tao Donglai felt that the discussion was almost done, so he made a solemn request.

When Fei Cexian left Fort Victory, he still did not have a clear understanding of the matter in his mind. Although senior officials from Haihan described the situation as very serious, they also said that this was only an inference based on existing intelligence, and there was no real truth.

Evidence. When this kind of thing was reported to the court, Fei Cexian could guess with his toes that it would definitely trigger a debate about whether it was necessary to make the troops stationed in northern Xinjiang nervous based on the Haihan people's speculation.

And maybe some people will blame him. After all, there is no real evidence for this matter, so he just wrote a note and reported it to the court. It is inevitable that he will be suspected of making false claims.

If the warnings of the Haihan people come true later, that would be fine, and they can get some credit. But if a year and a half later, the situation that the Haihan people warned does not occur, of course the fault will not be borne by the Haihan people, but by the Haihan people.

It was he, the envoy who heard rumors and interfered with the imperial court's plan to defend against the enemy.
Chapter completed!