Chapter 1919

After a brief meeting with other accompanying officials, Zhang Qianzhi discovered that the members of this small temporary team all had their own agendas. Some wanted to build connections through this errand, and some wanted to gain capital for their promotion.

As for the one who really paid attention to the Joseon Crown Prince, Hong Kyung-moon was probably the penman, because he needed to collect and organize materials for official propaganda work, and observing the words and deeds of the target person was part of his mission.

Although Zhang Qianzhi will also secretly observe Li Bo's performance, he is not as purposeful as Hong Jingwen. It is purely due to professional habits. Although He Xi said that he would submit a report about Li Bo, this kind of

Zhang Qianzhi would not take the half-joking instruction seriously. The Security Department already had a dedicated person in charge of this project. Of course, if any problems were really found on Li Bo, he would definitely report it truthfully.

Although Zhang Qianzhi disdains these little tricks in the officialdom, it cannot be said that he has much disgust. He had followed He Xi as early as when Haihan established the Guangdong Office, and he was lucky enough to reach the top of power without going through cruel competition.

One of my sons, from the perspective of a bystander over the years, has also seen all kinds of people who want to climb up. He understands that fame and wealth are the goals of many people in life, and they all want to go higher if they have the opportunity.

There is no need to stop these people if they do not harm nature or national interests.

Zhang Qianzhi remembered that He Xi once said to him that if the water is clear, there will be no fish. If all officials stop pursuing personal interests, it will inevitably make the official department’s operating efficiency lower. In fact, it will be a waste for the country.

The harm outweighs the good. Appropriate personal desires will become the motivation for officials to do things, as long as their allegiance remains to the Executive Committee.

Zhang Qianzhi glanced at Li Bo who was still reading on the deck from a distance, and said to himself that the Joseon prince probably could not have imagined that his impromptu trip would not only keep a bunch of Haihan officials busy, but also allow him to

On this boat, we saw a vivid scene of life. Of course, the Crown Prince of Joseon would not be one of the spectators, and the entanglements of interests within Haihan would certainly not be shown in front of him.

In the past, when foreign dignitaries visited Hainan Island, they usually chose Yacheng as their first stop outside Sanya, because this place is the closest to Sanya and it was the first county town that Haihan occupied under the Ming Dynasty. It has a certain symbolism.

Meaning. Haihan officials will also be happy to show visitors the construction results after they took over the place, as well as the sharp contrast with the social conditions during the Ming Dynasty.

As one of the earliest ruling areas to be brought under Haihan's rule, Yacheng's plantation scale has always been among the best among the cities and counties on the island. It is also a demonstration area for Haihan officials to display advanced agricultural management models. As long as you have visited Yacheng

By visiting local farm plantations, you can have a general understanding of the level of agricultural development in Haihan.

However, after Li Xi consulted with Li Xi, he did not include Yacheng in this itinerary because Li Xi had visited Yacheng before and he believed that the local agricultural business model was actually around Sanya.

You can see it in many places, so there is no need to spend a day or two in Yacheng just for this. Li Bo also thinks it makes sense. He had already visited the local plantations when he visited Kaohsiung Port. The business model here is similar to

Kaohsiung is just the same, so there is no need to visit it again now.

Haihan's promise to Li Bo was to make his own itinerary, so even if Yacheng, a regularly visited tourist spot, was cancelled, there was nothing to say. Anyway, he didn't expect North Koreans to invest here. If Li Bo did it again in the future,

If you change your mind, you can make arrangements at any time. Anyway, Yacheng is very close and it only takes more than half a day to get there by speedboat from Sanya.

The first stop Li Pu chose on his own was the Yinggehai Salt Farm located in the southwest corner of Hainan Island. The reason why he chose this place as one of the targets of his island tour was because Li Pu thought of the salt farm being built near the mouth of the Datong River in China. I heard that

This Yinggehai is the salt farm with the largest production scale under Haihan's rule, and the salt produced will be sold in large quantities to Guangdong and Annan. He also wanted to come and see with his own eyes what special tricks this sea salt production has, and why Haihan

The salt produced can be sold abroad to occupy the markets of other countries.

Another reason is that the situation introduced by Li Xi aroused his interest. He heard that the man who is currently a local magistrate at the Yinggehai Salt Field was an officer of the Ming Dynasty Navy ten years ago, and later abandoned the army to engage in business.

He started a private salt business, and after he became prosperous, he gave up business and entered politics, and returned to the officialdom - of course, not the Ming Dynasty, but the officialdom of Haihan. He was obviously a person with a story, and Li Ming wanted to meet him in person.

Meet this legendary figure.

The straight-line distance on land from Sanya to Yinggehai Saltworks is about 200 miles. In the meantime, you have to climb mountains and cross rivers. No matter how hard you rush, it will take two days to get there. But it is much faster to take the sea route, with smooth wind and smooth water.

In this case, it only takes one day to get there.

At lunch time, after the captain consulted Li Bo for his opinion, he directly set up a table on the deck and asked several cooks to cook a seafood barbecue for everyone. Li Bo actually had no special interest in seafood before, but

He had tasted Haihan-style seafood barbecue several times before on his way south, and he also knew that the special thing about Haihan's cooking method was that it used many kinds of spices and seasonings that he didn't know much about, and this cooking method was so delicious.

The food was quite to his liking.

The relatively comfortable way of dining made the atmosphere of getting along with everyone very relaxed. Everyone could finally sit around with Li Bo and naturally discuss some topics of mutual interest. This was the first time since the two parties met on the dock.

Communication in the true sense.

Li Pu has quite a lot of experience in this regard. He had a lot of dealings with the upper echelons of Haihan on his way south. After arriving in Sanya, he was received by senior officials of Haihan throughout the whole process. Naturally, he knew how to communicate with Haihan officials. On the contrary,

These officials who were temporarily assigned this task did not have much experience in dealing with North Korean officials in the past, so they may seem a little cautious at the moment.

The person who really interacts with foreigners more is probably Tian Zheng. As a diplomat, he may know more about the situation in North Korea than most people present, so he has more topics to discuss with Li Bo.

.

Hong Jingwen is also very enthusiastic about participating. After all, everything Li Bo says may become material and inspiration for him to write a press release. However, Hong Jingwen’s own knowledge is limited, and it is a bit difficult to forcefully find common topics. Most of the time

I can only agree with the conversation between Tian Zheng and Li Bo.

Zhang Qianzhi picked up a plate of food and sat outside quietly eating while listening to the conversation between others and Li Bo. However, he found that Captain Gai Liangcai was doing the same thing as him. The two made eye contact.

, both smiled knowingly, understanding that the other party was trying hard in secret. He had no ill feelings toward the army captain who was interested in pursuing a career. After all, a soldier who didn’t want to be a general was not a good soldier. It was very difficult to accumulate military merit through various means and climb up the ranks.

A normal pursuit. Moreover, there were several bottles of good wine placed next to him, but Gai Liangcai took the initiative to only take a glass of iced coconut juice, showing the self-control that an excellent soldier should have. This detail also made Zhang Qianzhi appreciate it.

Got a lot of good impressions.

After all, Li Bo was a young man. A group of people gathered around him to chat about some topics that interested him. They slowly opened up the conversation and asked everyone about the situation of the Yinggehai Salt Farm.

"Salt... there is salt everywhere!" Tian Zheng's answer was concise and to the point: "When you get to the bay there, the prince will see white salt fields everywhere as far as the eye can see!"

"It's like free money!" Hong Jingwen said next to him: "Yinggehai is probably the richest county in our country. Let's not talk about anything else. The local consumption level is similar to that of Sanya. Prince, can you imagine?

?”

Li Bo smiled and said: "Isn't it normal for the place where salt is produced to be rich? When I stayed in Zhoushan Island before, I heard that the richest people in Jiangsu and Zhejiang are salt merchants. By the way, the head of Yinggehai Salt Farm,

I heard that he also started his career as a salt merchant."

Hong Jingwen responded: "Your Majesty, have you heard of Luo Shengdong's deeds? This man can be considered a very lucky man. He led troops to attack Yulin Bay and became a prisoner. Later, he somehow turned into working for the Executive Committee.

He is a private salt dealer who has made enough money by going back and forth, and now he has become an official, so he really has some good deeds!"

The person present who was most familiar with Luo Shengdong was actually Zhang Qianzhi, who had never spoken out. When the Zhang family took refuge with Haihan, Luo Shengdong was already working for Haihan, so Zhang Qianzhi had not personally experienced Luo Shengdong.

During the period when Dongfang was defeated and captured and later surrendered, Luo Shengdong later became a second-rate dealer selling salt for Haihan, using navy warships to sell sea salt from Sanya to various places. What happened during this period was at that time

Zhang Qianzhi, who has already joined the security department, knows it very well.

When Luo Shengdong was a salt dealer, he was basically determined to follow Haihan. This was the fundamental reason why he was able to switch from the shopping mall back to the officialdom later. If he had had second thoughts at the time, or was

If the Ministry of Security believes that the position is unreliable, it is absolutely impossible for him to get the official position appointed by Haihan.

Of course, the reason why Luo Shengdong is willing to be loyal to Haihan is actually very complicated. It is not just because he cannot turn back after surrendering to Haihan, or because he has made enough money from the trade opportunities given by Haihan. He wants to fight for more than just

It was about his own career and a good background for his family's descendants. However, not many people knew these inside stories, and Zhang Qianzhi would not tell stories in front of so many people just to show off his identity in front of Li Bo.

Luo Shengdong's experience does not pose much of a problem to the officials of Haihan, because quite a few of the current officials of Haihan were once members of the public servants of the Ming Dynasty, and later switched to Haihan for various reasons.

. And Haihan’s trust and importance in Luo Shengdong actually gave these officials hope of moving forward - as long as they were loyal to Haihan, the executive committee would automatically demote talents in any way.

However, this change of camp is of great research significance to the Koreans. After all, they have only gradually changed their position in the past two years, from a vassal state that was pro-Ming to a junior brother who embraced the Han Dynasty.

On the one hand, he was very dissatisfied with Ming Dynasty for refusing to save him. On the other hand, because he had been a vassal state for too long, he would still be unable to stand up for a while, and he was still worried that Ming Dynasty would find an opportunity to deal with his change of position. Of course, in the end,

The important thing is that they worry that they are not strong enough and cannot be recognized by Haihan. If they can only play the role of paying for protection in the future, that is not the original intention of North Korea to take refuge in Haihan.

Li Bo has been thinking about "common interests" in the past two days, and he would unconsciously include Luo Shengdong's deeds in this question: a general who was demoted to the Ming Dynasty, what are the common interests between him and Haihan?

Only then did he gain Haihan's trust and reuse?

After listening for a while, Li Bo felt that the information these Haihan officials could provide was extremely limited and not enough to answer his questions, so he stopped exploring the matter further at the moment.

After lunch, Li Bo felt a little tired, so he said hello to everyone and went back to the cabin to rest. As soon as the protagonist left, everyone lost their goals and dispersed, but in the end Gai Liangcai and Zhang Qianzhi had a tacit understanding.

The ground was left on the deck.

"Brother Gai, what do you have to say?" Zhang Qianzhi asked proactively.

Gai Liangcai lowered his voice and said: "I just want to ask, Brother Zhang, is there anything I need to cooperate with during this trip? After all, this mission is in a hurry, and the superiors did not have time to issue detailed orders. If there is any secret mission, I will

You should command your troops to cooperate."

Zhang Qianzhi said: "There is no mission that Brother Gai wants. I'm just going with him. Brother Gai doesn't need to worry too much. There shouldn't be any trouble on this errand."

"Is that so? I'm probably overthinking it." Gai Liangcai looked relieved and said, "I thought the security department had other plans, so I sent a boat to follow far behind."

"What?" Zhang Qianzhi immediately asked after hearing this: "Is there a ship following us?"

Gai Liangcai explained: "When we left Victory Harbor this morning, there was a blessing ship following us seven or eight miles away, but we didn't seem to see it after it passed near Yacheng. Maybe it was just a coincidence."

Zhang Qianzhi shook his head and said: "There should be no other arrangements from the Ministry of Security, and there are naval warships to escort them, so there is no need to find another civilian ship to follow. It's probably a coincidence..."

After Zhang Qianzhi set off, his attention was all on Li Bo, but he really didn't notice the situation at sea. Moreover, this trip was escorted by naval warships, and he never considered that someone would be bold enough to follow him at sea.

situation.

Because there are a large number of plantations near Yacheng, the route from Sanya to Yacheng is relatively busy. Thinking about it this way, maybe it was just an ordinary civilian ship traveling in the same direction. It is really not worth making a fuss about. But Gai Liang can do this.

Being cautious once again made Zhang Qianzhi look at him with admiration.
Chapter completed!