Chapter 2429

How to support a group of wealthy businessmen and dignitaries who are close to Haihan and even loyal to Haihan in the Ming Dynasty. There have been many success and failure cases in the past few years. There are positive examples such as Li Jifeng and Xu Xinsu who have gained huge rewards. It is inevitable that some people have invested all their efforts in the development of the Ming Dynasty.

However, based on the experience accumulated in the past, the richer and more powerful the target, the more difficult it is to win over it. Therefore, the Executive Committee responded to Shi Diwen's approach of joining forces with some Yangzhou salt merchants in Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

Although he agreed, he was not particularly optimistic about the prospects of cooperation. Tao Donglai reminded Shi Diwen to remind him that he should be careful about the scale of cooperation and not have too high expectations for the future stance of the Yangzhou salt merchants.

"The intention of the Executive Committee is to use the limited resources as much as possible to train naturalized personnel, especially in the military field. The training content provided to external parties must be cautious." Tao Donglai nodded to Shi Diwen.

sentence, he believed that this was enough to make the other party understand what he meant.

Shi Diwen knew that most of his actions in Zhoushan could not be hidden from the Executive Committee. After all, the Ministry of Security was directly responsible to the Executive Committee. Those spies would report to Sanya no matter what news they had. He was the one who came to study abroad.

The executive committee should also know what kind of military training the salt merchant's children provided. However, he believed that he had not done anything that exceeded the rules, so he did not feel that Tao Donglai's reminder was directed at him.

"It still takes a day to make arrangements for the appointment with Magistrate Qu. Why don't we go around the island tomorrow? As for the training issues that the Executive Committee is concerned about, Mr. Tao can also go and have a look on the spot to understand the actual situation." Shi Diwen did not immediately do so.

To defend himself, he proposed another better solution. As the saying goes, seeing is believing, so I asked Tao Donglai to go and see with his own eyes how foreigners are trained here.

"Then it's better for me to be respectful than to obey." Tao Donglai also had this intention and immediately agreed.

The two drank tea for a while, and then Tao Donglai stood up and said goodbye to Shi Diwen. Shi Diwen knew that he was tired of traveling all the way, so he didn't bother to stay, so he personally sent Tao Donglai to live in a wing across the courtyard.

It’s not that there are no officially operated guest houses in Zhoushan, but the living conditions are definitely not as good as Shi Diwen’s private residence. Considering that Tao Donglai’s itinerary is kept secret, it would be inconvenient to live outside, so he simply arranged for Tao Donglai to live in his own home.

, anyway, his private residence is quite large, and even if all the big guys from the executive committee arrive, they can easily accommodate him.

Although it was just across the hospital, the facilities were all ready. Tao Donglai took a hot bath in the bathtub, lay down on the bed and fell asleep quickly.

The next day, Shi Diwen came across the hospital to have breakfast with Tao Donglai, and then took a car out. The first destination arranged by Shi Diwen for Tao Donglai was the military base on the island.

After more than five years of construction, the military base with the military port as the core on Zhoushan Island has reached considerable scale. The East China Sea Fleet, which has more than 40 combat ships and almost the same number of logistics ships, uses this as its home port.

, in addition to various warehouses and dock facilities near the port, there is also a shipyard with four large docks, which is responsible for the construction, repair and maintenance of naval warships.

Adjacent to the military port is the camp area covering an area of ​​more than four square kilometers. In this area are not only the barracks, canteens, training grounds, shooting ranges, weapons depots, command structures, family areas, etc. of the garrison, but also carpentry workshops.

Small machinery factories, schools, hospitals, banks and other supporting institutions form a complete small society.

Among the overseas colonies north of Hainan Island, the Datongjiang base is larger than here, but its hardware facilities are far inferior to Zhoushan. Although Jinzhou in Liaodong is a war zone, the Lushun military port is far away from the Nanguanling camp where the army is stationed.

It is quite far away, but it is not as compact as Zhoushan. Zhifu Island, Penghu, Hong Kong and other places do not have the conditions and needs to set up large military bases, so there is naturally a certain gap with Zhoushan. Based on this, the importance of Zhoushan base

The extent is evident.

Of course, the scale and complete living facilities of Zhoushan Military Port today are inseparable from the prosperous local trade environment. Today, at least 70% to 80% of cross-border trade in Jiangsu and Zhejiang is completed in Zhoushan, and half of this

The above is the settlement and delivery of goods through Haihan's financial institutions. The benefits that the Zhoushan authorities can obtain from this even far exceed the taxes that the Ming Dynasty collected from this area into the national treasury.

"Mr. Tao, to tell you the truth, about one-third of Zhoushan's annual budget is spent on this military base. These buildings and facilities you see are indeed paid for with real money.

.We spend a lot of money on the military, but because of this, all businessmen in Jiangsu and Zhejiang know that doing business with us has the highest safety factor. Whether buying or selling goods in Zhoushan, you can get safety guarantees.

And such an environment cannot be given to them by Ming Dynasty."

Shi Diwen tried to convince Tao Donglai that the reason why Zhoushan has an excellent business environment development momentum is inseparable from his emphasis on military construction. The existence of military ports and bases, as well as the East China Sea Fleet, is to allow businessmen from all over the world to

The fundamental reason why I feel safe doing business here.

Of course, whether one feels at ease or is overwhelmed by force probably depends on the individual. However, in Shi Diwen's view, there is no obvious difference between the two. In short, a strong armed force is indispensable, so that Haihan can be guaranteed

It has a controlling position in the trading system of this region.

Tao Donglai actually agreed with Shi Diwen's view. The maritime trade system advocated by Haihan must be protected by strong force in order to develop smoothly. It is also appropriate to deploy armed fleets in areas where bulk trade is concentrated. However,

Shi Diwen is in charge of one party and has great authority. He almost always makes the decision on local military expansion. Although he will also submit relevant applications to the Ministry of National Defense, the purpose of such applications is generally to obtain more weapons and equipment.

A new army expanded with line equipment.

But in fact, given the conditions in Zhoushan, Shi Diwen can completely bypass military supervision and organize, train and arm a private army on his own. Zhoushan can build various types of warships locally, and the manufacturing process of basic muskets and artillery is not

It is not complicated and can be made by hand in a small workshop. However, privately manufacturing arms is a taboo in Haihan. If Shi Diwen does not want to make a mistake in this regard, he can also directly apply to Sanya to sell old-fashioned weapons in the name of supporting the Ming Dynasty's civilian armed forces.

guns and kept them for their own use instead.

Of course, these are only theoretical possibilities, and Shi Diwen does not necessarily want to take such a risky approach to develop private armed forces. Tao Donglai inspected the Zhoushan base to confirm that Shi Diwen had not concealed any inappropriate measures from the Executive Committee.

.

Tao Donglai had mentioned to Shi Diwen yesterday that he wanted to know about the situation of foreign personnel receiving military training in Zhoushan, so today Shi Diwen took him directly to the local military academy and asked him to take a look at the military training here.

outsiders.

"Mr. Tao, these boys are all children sent by some powerful families in nearby states. However, most of them are not here to learn to lead troops in war. They just use this method to help their families create a situation that is consistent with our country's position."

That’s all.”

Shi Diwen stopped the carriage and pointed to a group of young people training on the playground. These young guys were undergoing basic queue training. Judging from their performance, they should have just started training and still need to correct their posture.

stage.

Tao Donglai asked calmly: "Are there any children of Yangzhou salt merchants among them?"

Shi Diwen responded: "The Yangzhou Salt Merchant sent a group of people here for training in the second half of last year. They completed the basic training and returned home a year ago. There are only two people left here. I think they have some talent, so

If they are willing to receive formal military training, arrange for them to study with the officers who are training here at the military academy. Do you want to meet them?"

Tao Donglai nodded and said, "It's okay to meet me, but don't reveal my identity."

"Okay! I'll send someone to pass them on." Although Shi Diwen was a little surprised by Tao Donglai's decision, he didn't raise any questions and immediately asked the adjutant outside the car to find him.

Not long after, the two young men were brought to the carriage. Tao Donglai noticed that these two people were actually wearing the training uniforms of the Haihan Army. If it weren't for the conspicuous buns on their heads, they looked like ordinary Haihan soldiers.

No different. After the two people stood still, Shi Diwen opened the car door and got out of the car one after another with Tao Donglai.

These two people obviously recognized Shi Diwen. When they saw him getting off the carriage, they actually raised their hands in a neat military salute together. It was obvious that they had indeed developed conditioned reflexes after a long period of training.

.

"The tall one is called Dai Chengrong, the youngest son of Dai Yingda, a big salt merchant in Yangzhou. The short one is called Lin Qiu. His father is a dead soldier of the Dai family, and he won this training opportunity for him only after he made great contributions." Shi Diwen

Lowering his voice, he first introduced the origins of these two people to Tao Donglai.

Tao Donglai said: "Let them practice their skills first, and I will see what skills they learned in Zhoushan."

Shi Diwen immediately ordered the two men to go to the training field nearby, complete a four-hundred-meter obstacle course, and then report back. The two men did not hesitate and did not ask Shi Diwen why he gave this order.

He jogged straight to the training ground.

"Good execution! It seems that I didn't come to Zhoushan for so long in vain." Tao Donglai couldn't help but praise when he saw this. The professional quality of civilian armed personnel is limited, and it is often difficult to enforce orders and prohibitions, while professional soldiers are not as big as

The only difference is their execution ability. The performance of these two people has obviously far exceeded the training standards of ordinary vigilante groups.

"That's right, they have been in Zhoushan for half a year, and the tuition is so expensive. If they can't learn real skills, how can they work for their families when they go back?" Shi Diwen joked.

Judging from the performance of these two people on the training ground, their physical fitness is not bad, and their movements through obstacles are also standard. From Tao Dong's point of view, they are already better than ordinary soldiers who have just completed recruit training.

After the two people finished practicing, they trotted back to the carriage and saluted Shi Diwen.

Shi Diwen said: "This is an adult who came from Sanya to inspect Zhoushan. Please introduce yourselves, what you have learned here, and what your plans are for the future. Dai Chengrong comes first!"

Dai Chengrong took a step forward and responded loudly: "The villain Dai Chengrong is from Huizhou. He now sells salt in Yangzhou Prefecture to make a living. The villain came to Zhoushan for training last year. It has been half a year. During this period, he has learned various skills in the Haihan Army.

Combat skills. After returning to Yangzhou after completing his studies, he formed a militia for fellow salt merchants and used the skills he learned to maintain local peace. From now on, if the Haihan Kingdom has anything to ask for in Yangzhou Prefecture, I will try my best to help in repayment for today's

kindness."

Shi Diwen nodded, motioning for him to step back and let Lin Qiu say a few words.

Lin Qiu took a step forward. What he said before was basically the same as Dai Chengrong. But when it came to his future plans, Lin Qiu said that he had grown up under the care of the Dai family since he was a child, and his father had always taught him to be loyal to the Dai family in the future.

, so his plan after completing his studies is to assist Dai Chengrong in building a militia force that can suppress the Yangzhou area.

After Tao Donglai heard this, he casually said a few words of encouragement and asked Shi Diwen to send them away first. After the two people retreated, Tao Donglai said: "While training military skills, we must not forget

Ideological work, the means to keep up must be kept up, otherwise no matter how good they learn, they will still be other people's thugs."

Tao Donglai's words were obviously dissatisfied with the two people's self-reports. Although the two salt merchants' attitudes were respectful, they actually did not have much dependence on Haihan in their words. If they left Zhoushan, their friendship would soon fade away.

It didn't matter. Haihan was not helpless in dealing with such a situation. Tao Donglai thought that this was probably due to some omissions in Shi Diwen's work.

Shi Diwen smiled bitterly and said: "Mr. Tao, people like Dai Chengrong have been born well and have no worries about food and clothing, and their family style is to stick together to the outside world, so he only trusts his family and has always lacked trust in outsiders.

Extremely high, it is already very difficult for us to understand that we are kind to him. That Lin Qiu has been trained as a soldier since he was a child, and his determination is even more firm and unshakable. For people like them, ordinary propaganda and political work methods are actually very difficult to work.

, it’s not that we haven’t tried, but with little success.”

Tao Donglai said: "Since this is the case, I don't think it is necessary to provide them with more advanced training content. The skills they learned from us will not be of much significance if they cannot be used by us in the future.

.”

Shi Diwen couldn't fully agree with Tao Donglai's views: "Mr. Tao, the reason why you want to help Anhui salt merchants form a militia, I have mentioned it in detail in my report before. Their opponents once obtained the support of the Hirado clan.

Help, if we do not assist them in forming a musketeer team, then we will not be able to open up a situation north of the Yangtze River. Huizhou salt merchants are willing to spend a lot of money on this, and guarantee that their militia will obey the dispatch of our army in the future. These young people may also see

They don’t understand the situation, but their families know the stakes, so they spend a lot of money to send them to Zhoushan for training.”
Chapter completed!