Chapter 452: Smoothness beyond expectations

The last time He Xi came to Liu Qian to discuss the arms trade was unsuccessful, which was expected. After all, Liu Qian could only play the role of a middleman, not the decision-maker on related matters. He Xi tried his best

The purpose of wooing Liu Qian was just to help him bridge the gap and do some auxiliary work for reaching an agreement between Haihan and the Ming government.

Liu Qian's tone today was obviously much more proactive than during the previous discussion. He Xi speculated that this was because Liu Qian had gotten along with some big shots since he went back last time and had preliminary intentions.

He Xi is still very confident about whether the plan to promote the Ming Dynasty to purchase high-end arms from Haihan will be successful. In the original history, the Ming Dynasty purchased weapons from the Portuguese and hired military advisors and artillery, which also happened during this period. Today

The military situation of the Ming Dynasty is similar to that in history. Externally, it is facing strong pressure from the wild boar skin in the north. Internally, there are continuous peasant uprisings in the Central Plains. It is difficult to cope with the existing military power alone. The Ming Dynasty needs to obtain military assistance from the outside. It is objective.

It exists. After the Battle of Annan, the Portuguese consciously gave up their attempts to export weapons to the Ming Dynasty - they are now more willing to act as Haihan's agents and sell various weapons and armors produced by Haihan to Europe.

.

Liu Qian's next explanation was more explicit, directly pointing out to He Xi which yamen needed to be taken care of in this process. While He Xi listened, he secretly compared this with his work experience before time travel.

right.

He Xi had worked as a police officer for several years before traveling through time. In the cases he handled, he had also witnessed many criminal acts in which managers took advantage of their authority to enrich themselves during the procurement process. In comparison, these two people, who are hundreds of years apart,

Different societies have many similarities in this regard. As the saying goes, the world is as dark as crows. It is true that officials using their power to seek personal gain are unavoidable in any dynasty or generation. However, whether the officials of the Ming Dynasty are greedy or not, what will happen?

He doesn't care, all he cares about is what price the other party will offer and whether he can finish what he needs to do quickly and well after receiving the money.

Liu Qian's explanation lasted for more than an hour. During this period, He Xi also asked the servants to come in and ordered a few more hot dishes. The wine was not touched much, so He Xi was worried that Master Liu would be so weak after a few moments.

The old scholar who is not familiar with the situation will be fooled, which will delay the business.

After Liu Qian had finished talking about these methods, he took a sip of hot tea and then asked He Xi: "All the yamen in Guangzhou may not be able to help you, but they must destroy you in the middle."

It’s not difficult. Although you Haihans are famous, generally no one dares to provoke you, but profit comes first, and you have to be careful yourself.”

"Master Liu is right, I will definitely remember these words." He Xi also knew the weight of what Liu Qian said today, and she had already put away some of her plans to deal with Liu Qian.

"Before, you said half of it happened before and half of it didn't. Now let's talk about the remaining half!" Liu Qian has not forgotten what He Xi said before.

"There is indeed one more thing. I want to ask Master Liu's opinion." He Xi nodded and said, "Master Liu knows about Wanshan Port outside the Pearl River Estuary, right?"

"I've heard a little bit about it." Liu Qian responded.

But He Xi knew that Mr. Liu's brother was also engaged in short-distance water freight, specializing in the section from Guangzhou to Wanshan Port. Every five days, a ship loaded with goods from near Guangzhou was sent to Wanshan Port.

The reason why He Xi knew so well was very simple, because he was originally behind the scenes and handed over some business to Mr. Liu's younger brother. He could earn at least a few hundred taels of silver a month.

Liu Qian must be very clear about the situation at Wanshan Port.

He Xi continued: "Let me put it bluntly. After all, Wanshan Port is a small place and there is not enough room for development as a commercial port. Therefore, we hope to build another port at the Pearl River Estuary to engage in commerce.

Business.”

Hearing this, Liu Qian laughed and said: "Why do you need to go the government route for this kind of thing? When you built a port on Wanshan Island before, didn't you report it to the government while you were working on it? As long as no one lives in the place you chose,

It doesn’t involve land disputes, so generally no one would interfere in such matters.”

He Xi shook his head and said: "The place we chose this time is a little different from Wanshan Island. There are people living there."

"Oh? Come on, tell me." Liu Qian became interested upon hearing this: "If I can help you with the details, I might as well give the boss some advice."

He Xi secretly thought to himself that you are a guy who never misses an opportunity to make a fortune, but he thanked you profusely, then got up and went to the door to get the briefcase from the entourage.

"Master Liu, please look at this place." He Xi took out a map and pointed out the location of Hong Kong Island to Liu Qian.

"This place belongs to Xin'an County. If I remember correctly, our Daming Navy should be stationed here." Liu Qian is worthy of being a man from the government, and he is quite clear about the areas under Guangzhou Prefecture: "If you want to

If you want to set up a port here, you must first say hello to the navy people."

"Yes, the northern end of this island is indeed the Ming Dynasty's navy station, but the place we chose is not there, but on the south shore of the island." He Xi moved his finger on the map a short distance: "The south side of the island

There are barren forest lands on both sides, with no residents and no disputes over land."

"That being the case, you shouldn't have any trouble if you want to build a port there." Liu Qian waved his hand and said: "The navy in Xin'an County rarely meddles in other people's business, as long as you don't let the cannons carry

The warships are running back and forth at the entrance of the water village, so everything should be fine."

He Xi could not believe that this matter could be so easy: "That means that if we break ground locally, no one will restrain or interfere with us?"

"Who cares about this?" Liu Qian sneered and said, "You fought in Lijiazhuang last year, and then drove away Liu Xiang at sea. This record is on the table. As long as you don't take the initiative to cause trouble.

, who would easily provoke you?"

"It sounds very reasonable!" He Xi couldn't help but sigh.

When the Executive Committee decided to send troops to Guangdong to participate in the Lijiazhuang Defense War a year ago, probably no one thought that the impact of this military operation would be so far-reaching. When talking about it a year later, people in the government still would

We are always afraid of the performance of militia groups. This shows that a timely display of force to the outside world can still have an excellent deterrent effect.

Of course, this does not mean that if Haihan had adopted this direct method to occupy the land on Hong Kong Island a year ago, it would have achieved the same results as now. At that time, the strength and reputation of the Haihan militia were far greater.

It was not as good as it is now. Not to mention the Ming army stationed nearby, Liu Xiang's pirate fleet was enough to give Haihan a headache. And without the stronghold of Wanshan Port, Haihan, who had warships, would still be difficult to compete with Liu Xiang, who had a certain advantage.

The pirate group is engaged in a head-on showdown at the Pearl River Estuary, so Wanshan Island, the springboard for Haihan to set foot on the mainland, cannot be omitted.

He Xi also played a little trick at this time. He did not mention to Liu Qian the real purpose of Haihan's occupation of Hong Kong Island and his future development plans. Moreover, the map he presented was of limited scale. From the above

It’s also hard to see the natural geographical advantages of the Aberdeen Typhoon Shelter area in the south of Hong Kong Island.

After Yu Yao showed the map of Hong Kong Island and nearby waters a few days ago, He Xi later also called up the satellite map on the computer to carefully study the local geographical environment, and found that this place was indeed a perfect place for Haihan to establish a new base.

However, Ap Lei Chau Island, where Yu Yao claimed that forts could be built to protect the harbor, did have forts in its original history, but that was after the Qing Dynasty ceded Hong Kong to Britain.

In 1940, the British army built a large fort on Yuk Kwai Hill, the commanding heights of Ap Lei Chau, to guard the south coast of Hong Kong. Later, in World War II, in order to avoid being used by the Japanese army after occupation, the defenders destroyed the fort themselves. Very soon

Obviously, the military use of this place was not only discovered by Yu Yao, but also Western soldiers in another time and space also believed that this place was an excellent defense platform.

He Xi knew that Liu Qian was a migrant and had not been in Guangzhou for too long. He had probably never been to Hong Kong Island, let alone knew much about the local geographical environment. What he needed was to stay in Guangzhou.

Under this relatively vague understanding, he was guided to do something beneficial to Haihan.

"If it's convenient, can we apply for Master Liu to go through the registration procedures with the Guangzhou government on our behalf?" He Xi promptly took out a few checks issued by Haihan Bank from his briefcase and put them in Liu Qian's hands.

On the table in front of me: "Here is one thousand taels of hard work. Master Liu, please don't despise it. I will give you another thank you after everything is done!"

"How dare you charge Boss He such a large amount of remuneration for such trivial things!" Liu Qian kept saying polite words and glanced at the Haihan check on the table.

This Haihan check has a denomination of five hundred taels. It has the letterhead of Haihan Bank on the top and the personal signature of bank president Schneider on the bottom. There is also a unique Haihan number in the middle. He had given this thing to an official before.

I saw it in my study. It is said that as long as you take this to the Guangdong Office outside Guangdong City, you can exchange it for high-quality cash at any time.

In the past, when dealing with people from the government, you had to prepare heavy silver boxes or use jewelry. However, recently, as the economic influence of Haihan Bank in Guangzhou has deepened, many wealthy families and even the government have slowly begun to do so.

They used fixed-amount checks printed by Haihan Bank in transactions. Once they realized the convenience, this method quickly spread among the upper echelons of society, and gradually caused the middle class and even the bottom people to follow suit.

Han Bank has suggested to the Executive Committee some time ago to print a batch of vouchers with smaller denominations and put them into trial operation specifically for the private market in Guangzhou. If this can be promoted, it will give Hai Han at least 100% of the money every year.

The bank absorbed millions of gold and silver.

Under He Xi's constant persuasion, Liu Qian finally "reluctantly" took the check of one thousand taels into his arms. Of course, he also understood that this money was not only an answer to the question He Xi had just asked.

It should also include the arms business that Haihan is trying to promote. As for applying for a right of residence for the Haihan people in the no-man's land on the island in Xin'an County, Liu Qian really didn't regard it as a big deal.

look.

To be honest, there is no need for Liu Qian to apply specifically to the prefect for this kind of matter. It can be directly entered into the general local official documents. When the prefect sees it and has no objections, it will be considered passed. If you bother the prefect with such a small matter,

Not only will you not gain merit, but you may be reprimanded for it.

As for whether the Haihan people really built a port or did something else after settling there, and whether the port they built was for commercial or other purposes, Liu Qian didn't care. In fact, he also heard about what Haihan did on the small island at the Pearl River Estuary.

The built port has a large fort, and a certain size of armed personnel is stationed all year round. But so what? The Haihan people are not pirates, and they have never had any conflicts with the Ming army. The military actions they took in the Ming Dynasty,

One time was to wipe out the Guangdong bandits who were helpless by the government, and the other time was to drive away a pirate gang that was causing trouble for one party.

People use their own money and effort to help the government fight the war. No matter from which point of view, this is actually enough to meet the standards of loyalty and patriotism. Now they have to take the initiative to sell advanced weapons to the Ming Dynasty. This kind of behavior is not acceptable to Liu

It seems that Qian is actually a manifestation of foreigners' attachment to the Celestial Empire. In addition, there is a lot of extra remuneration to be received, so Liu Qian is naturally willing to continue this matter.

The two discussed behind closed doors for several hours, and after roughly finalizing the matter, they left happily. He Xi asked Li Sanniang to arrange a girl for Liu Qian to stay with him, and he himself was not idle either, and then he became excited after the matter was accomplished.

, spent most of the night on Qiu Ju’s bed.

Early the next morning, as soon as the city gates of Guangzhou City opened, the black carriage He Xi was riding in was the first to leave the city. He wanted to rush back to inform Malik of the progress made the night before and compile the corresponding information as soon as possible.

, sent back to Victory Port to apply for instructions on the next step. If the situation is as Liu Qian said, then the plan to establish a stronghold on Hong Kong Island must be launched as soon as possible. If this kind of thing is delayed for a long time, variables will inevitably occur.

, if possible, He Xi would even like to immediately let Panyu move a group of immigrants to settle at the southern end of Hong Kong Island.

After listening to He Xi's narration, Malico was no less excited than He Xi. Both of them temporarily put down their respective affairs at hand and began to draft a report to the base camp.
Chapter completed!