Chapter 1003 Founding Celebration (3)

Although these congratulatory messages paid to be published in the "Haihan Times" are very official in style, if Van Diemen, an old fox, carefully tastes them, he can indeed unearth some information that no one pays attention to. In addition to the various countries and seas

In addition to the congratulatory messages, Van Diemen also noticed differences in the space occupied by each overseas colony in newspapers.

For example, the wealthy Guangdong Office and the Fujian Office each occupy half of the page for their congratulatory messages, which is much larger than the pages of many small countries, while the ports in Annan are much more reserved. Van Diemen thinks this can be considered a good example.

This reflects the political status and economic status of overseas colonies in Haihan State. It also shows that the conditions of the colonies operated by Haihan along the coast of Ming Dynasty should be much better than those in several areas on the coastline of Indochina. This current situation also reflects

Excluding Haihan and Ming Dynasty, the difference in the scale of trade between the two countries in Annan, the resources and markets that Ming Dynasty, with its vast land and abundant resources, could provide to Haihan, obviously surpassed Annan by a large margin.

In addition to these official congratulatory messages, various congratulations from the private sector also occupied a large amount of newspaper space. These seemingly advertisement-like words also aroused Van Diemen's interest.

Some of these private business organizations are ones that Fan Diemen has heard of before, such as the famous Qiongzhou United Development Company, Guangdong Business Alliance, Fujian Maritime Merchants Federation, Nanhai Chamber of Commerce, etc. These business organizations have numerous commercial banks under their jurisdiction.

Car dealerships, boat dealerships, escort agencies and upstream production units basically integrate production, supply and marketing, and have strong cross-border trade capabilities. They not only have strong economic strength, but also have many channels. There is almost nothing they can't do among the private sector.

It can be regarded as one of the biggest assists for Haihan to carry out cross-border trade.

However, these so-called private business organizations actually have Haihan officials participating in them in the form of shares. For example, Qiong Lianfa, a large commercial organization that has cooperated closely with Haihan in the early days, is actually the one behind the scenes who directs Haihan.

Ministry of Commerce. Some of the business measures of these commercial organizations can actually be understood as the manifestation of Haihan official will in international trade. And the performance of these organizations during the Haihan founding celebration can also partly reflect their strength and their influence in international trade.

The status of Haihan trade system.

In addition to these business organizations, there are also congratulations published by some powerful and wealthy businessmen in their own names. Needless to say, these people are naturally vested interests attached to Haihan. However, Van Diemen did not do much research on Haihan’s international relations.

Because of this, my understanding of these people is very limited. I only have some impressions of the names of Li Jifeng, Zhan Gui and others.

Ordinary people just look at this kind of advertisement published in newspapers, but professionals like Van Diemen can naturally see some clues from it. Van Diemen has secretly made a decision, this Haihan published

You must order a copy of various newspapers and send them back to Batavia regularly in the future to serve as an information reference for the company's planning.

While Van Diemen was following Ning Qi on his expedition around the island, Su Keyi also published an official congratulatory letter in the name of the Dutch East India Company. Although the page was not as large as others, it was at least visible in Haihan's official media. Fan Diemen

Dimen saw the palm-sized section of the newspaper and asked casually: "How much did this cost us?"

"It works out to about fifteen hundred guilders." Su Keyi reported a figure that surprised Van Diemen.

"So expensive? These damn businessmen, this is totally extortion!" Van Diemen shouted with dissatisfaction.

The exchange rate between Dutch guilder silver coins and Haihan dollars is about three to one, which works out to 500 Haihan dollars. This price is enough to buy a complete set of Sanya blue and white porcelain sanitary ware on the market. You can negotiate with the boss for a price.

You can also get a set of glass tableware as a gift. If you were in Batavia, this money could buy fifteen to twenty healthy young male slaves, or fifty sacks full of South Sea spices.

But here, you can only get a palm-sized page in the Haihan Times. This price-performance ratio seems to be too low.

However, Van Diemen quickly calmed down. He had never seen the propaganda power of this kind of media before, but now that he has stayed in Haihan territory for so long, he naturally realized the importance of its role. This price is expensive

Isn’t it expensive? Of course it’s expensive, but considering the influence of Haihan’s official media, fifteen hundred guilders can make leading figures in many countries, not limited to Haihan, notice the existence of the East India Company. This money is still a good deal. If you continue

Calculating the value of the intelligence collected from this newspaper, the price is actually not expensive at all. The East India Company spends more than four figures every year on collecting intelligence about Haihan, but the rewards it gets are

But it may not be much more information than what such a newspaper can provide.

Van Diemen quickly thought about the cause and effect, and did not get angry about the expense. After all, the matter Su Keyi did was not only necessary, but it was not really a big loss. After all, other families also paid for it.

There is nothing psychologically unbalanced about publishing a notice. Moreover, if Su Keyi did not pay for the notice because it was expensive, it would make the East India Company passive. The Haihan Executive Committee may not be able to remember all the people who posted the notice.

If you live in one of them, it will be very conspicuous if it is not listed.

"You did a good job in this matter." After Fan Diemen calmed down, he praised Su Keyi: "This kind of newspaper in Haihan can be regarded as a channel for us to understand the social conditions of Haihan, and there may be similar ones in the future.

There is a need to spend money to publish notices like this.”

"Sir Governor, it's not a possibility, it's a certainty." Su Keyi took another newspaper from the table and handed it to Fan Diemen: "This is another newspaper "Haihan Business Daily" published today, one issue every seven days.

The content published here is news worthy of attention for any businessman."

Van Diemen took a look at it and saw that it was densely packed with small characters and didn't understand what it was about, so he had to ask Su Keyi to explain it to him.

"Sir, in addition to the latest trade policies and measures from the Haihan official, the other pages in this newspaper are full of supply and purchase information for various commodities." Su Keyi happily introduced this latest discovery to Van Diemen:

"With this newspaper, we are equivalent to having a savvy market guide. Even if you don't know the Haihan market, you can purchase products at the right price in Haihan just by following the information in this newspaper."

Van Diemen said: "But there are so many ports in Haihan, and such a newspaper will definitely not be able to cover them."

"That's right, so the Haihan people have published a similar newspaper in every large trading port." Su Keyi nodded and handed over another newspaper called "Sanya Business News": "The business information in this newspaper

The information all comes from Sanya itself. There are both official products sold by Haihan and goods shipped here by merchants from other countries. Merchants will also post the goods they want to buy and their prices... Sir, I

I have to say that this move by Haihan people has made international trade easier."

"I don't think this is necessarily very convenient. The prerequisite for understanding the contents of this newspaper is to master Haihan's writing." Van Diemen knew that this was not a fatal shortcoming, even if he came from a non-Han Chinese

Businessmen in the area can hire brokers who are familiar with Haihan trade rules at the port and can interpret the contents of these newspapers on their behalf. But Van Diemen still wants to use force to step on Haihan, otherwise he will feel sour in his heart.

Just like what he felt during the inspection a few days ago.

Su Keyi probably guessed what Van Diemen was thinking. He did not refute at the moment, but continued to introduce to him: "Sir, this kind of official newspaper is not just for looking at product quotations. As long as it is operated properly, it can easily

Can affect market conditions.”

As the head of the East India Company, Van Diemen immediately understood what Su Keyi meant when he heard about the rule. Businessmen who maintain relatively stable trade relations with Haihan will definitely pay attention to this kind of business newspaper, and Haihan only needs to

If the newspaper blows the news in the name of the government, it is easy to cause the market fluctuations that the officials want to see.

For example, if a newspaper publishes an official news that a certain area has been hit by a hurricane, oil crop plantations have been severely damaged, and the output is expected to be reduced this year, businessmen who are sensitive to the market will immediately realize the increase in oil prices.

Just around the corner, we will then reduce the supply of related products and raise prices to obtain more profits. If we release another kind of news, such as news about a million-acre oil plantation having a bumper harvest in a certain place, we may get

The opposite effect.

Of course, this kind of easily debunked fake news is definitely not a common method used by Haihan. However, with the official credibility of Haihan, coupled with the pertinence and speed of news dissemination of this kind of newspaper, it is necessary to gain the trust and reaction of the market, and then influence

The direction of the market will be very easy to achieve. Now that Haihan is taking the lead in establishing the South China Sea Trade Alliance, it does not seem unimaginable that he would like to use some commercial propaganda methods to influence the form of international trade in the future.

"These Haihan people... are really difficult to deal with!" Van Diemen thought about it for a while, but couldn't think of a way to deal with it, so he could only sigh.

Su Keyi added: "Haihan people have always had some kind of method of sending messages across thousands of miles, so this kind of newspaper will not only contain local business information, but also occasionally news from other places. For example, here, the Haihan official

News of purchasing grain in Kaohsiung Port, Taiwan, urgently purchased 200,000 kilograms of rice at a purchase price 20% higher than the market price. Starting from April, the purchase period was for 60 days. They have mastered this wonderful method, and naturally

You can understand the price difference of commodities in various places and know the demand for commodities in various places, and then easily buy low and sell high.”

"In other words, they have both the tools to influence the market price trend and the means to know the market conditions thousands of miles away..." Van Diemen sighed: "The role we play in this situation is simply

Like a defenseless child dealing with an adult."

As a maritime coachman who conducts maritime trade all over the world, the Dutch naturally attach great importance to their voice and influence in this kind of international trade. If they can effectively influence or control the market prices of certain commodities in a certain region, it means that

The method used by Haihan in this regard was obviously more sophisticated than the violent conquest used by the East India Company. Even Van Diemen would pay more attention to a newspaper like this, let alone ordinary people.

The businessman reacted.

Haihan people have a way to know the market conditions thousands of miles away, and then use this kind of business newspaper to set the pace and try to widen the price difference between the two places. This profitable business is simply not easy to do. If you think about it further, it is not difficult.

I thought that Haihan could use this to suppress the production resources they needed to purchase, raise the selling price of deep-processed finished products, and easily obtain higher profits.

The countries that have joined the South China Sea Trade Alliance will open their own markets to each other to varying degrees. In this way, basically no one can stop Haihan from entering the markets of various countries through trade. How much financial and resources can Haihan mobilize?

, Van Diemen has already witnessed it during his previous inspection around the island. He is convinced that except for a few relatively large countries, many countries in this trade alliance have no resistance to Haihan's economic means.

Soon, places like Guangdong, Guangxi and Annan will become Haihan's resource supply areas and commodity sales markets, and even politics, military, culture, finance, etc. will gradually be influenced and controlled by Haihan.

The worst thing is that even if he clearly knows the methods of the Haihan people now, Van Diemen can't think of a way to deal with or delay this trend. The methods of the Haihan people are obvious, and anyone with a little vision can do it.

We understand what's going on, but we just can't compete with it. This is indeed a very passive situation for the East India Company, which wants to control the international trade market in the Far East.

Van Diemen suddenly remembered that during the inspection around the island, he had asked Ning Qi where the basis for the various major decisions Haihan had made in the past came from, and why he had the confidence to implement these decisions, which made Haihan invest a lot of resources and even

In all measures, Ning Qi's answer to him was that everything Haihan did was in line with the trend of social and productivity development. Anyone who wanted to block or go against the trend would be crushed by the wheels of history.

, this is not a dispute of interests between countries, but an irreversible kingly way.

Van Diemen said at the time that he could not understand this rhetoric, and Ning Qi simply explained it as destiny. However, this destiny is not a certain person or even a certain country, but the driving force for the objective development of society. The emergence of the Haihan people,

It's just that this development process has been artificially accelerated. The history of social development that originally took hundreds of years to complete has been accelerated to a hundred times. Decisions that may seem risky to the outside world, but for Haihan, are often just solutions.

It is just the most concise and efficient method for a certain problem. Between the current situation and the preset result, Haihan will choose the shortest path to achieve it.
Chapter completed!