Chapter 892 Cooperation Routine

Since Qian Tiandun was transferred to Fujian in the summer of 1631, he has dealt with officials of the Ming Dynasty for two years, and has a relatively deep understanding of their habits and ways of thinking. Although there are indeed those who are loyal to the emperor and patriotic, and are unwilling to accept the sea.

There are honest officials in Han Dynasty, but most officials cannot refuse the temptation of real money. Their attitude only depends on the price of Haihan and the risks he needs to bear for it.

After Haihan entered Zhejiang, he still followed the same operating methods that had achieved good results in the southern region. He first bribed and wooed civil and military officials in the coastal areas. As soon as the gates of the coastal areas were opened, vested interests would take the initiative to move inland.

Building connections in the region dragged more people into the business in order to obtain greater profits in the trading system dominated by Haihan. Therefore, when Haihan first arrived in Zhejiang, almost all the official figures he came into contact with were working in Ningbo Prefecture. The purpose was to first

Take this area and use it as a springboard between Zhoushan and the mainland.

After spending a lot of money, the civil and military officials in Ningbo Prefecture changed their stance one after another, gave up their initial resistance to Haihan, and began to enjoy the dividends brought by Haihan. Those with smarter minds, such as the prefect Qu Yutong and others

, and even found an agent long ago, and directly joined Haihan's trading system to participate in the operation, the future profits will definitely be more considerable.

Local officials in Ningbo want to bring officials from other prefectures into the game, which is exactly what Haihan wants. For Haihan, he is not afraid that Ming officials are greedy for money, but is afraid that the other party will not put forward conditions. As long as they are willing to offer a price, they can negotiate.

As for the money spent, sooner or later, it will be recovered from the local area a hundred times a thousand times through trade, which is not the primary issue. What's more, this matter also involves the maritime navigation safety issue that worries the command most. Regardless of this

Whether something is true or not, we have to find out.

At that moment, Qian Tiandun wrote a reply to Xu Shaohua, explaining what he meant, and giving the meeting place and approximate time. The news was passed from Zhoushan to Guanhaiwei, and then to Linshanwei, two places

After the commander of the guard station unified their opinions, they went back and forth again, and it took several days. Fortunately, Qian Tiandun took into account the slow speed of information transmission in this era, and specifically set the meeting time for five days later.

So it was not affected.

The two sides set the meeting place on the southern coast of Jintang Island, which is currently controlled by Haihan. Gao Qiaonan took a company to the place one day in advance and conducted a clearance search within a five-mile radius of the meeting place. In addition, the Navy also dispatched

Four expedition-class and four exploration-class warships were deployed, and a maritime cordon was deployed between Jintang Island and the Yongjiang Estuary in case things changed.

Qian Tiandun chose this place for the meeting to fully consider the positions of both parties. Although Jintang Island is an island controlled by Haihan, there are no armed personnel stationed on the island. Its south coast is less than ten miles away from the mainland, and naval forces are stationed there.

The mouth of the Yongjiang River is less than 20 miles away. Ming officials did not need to worry too much about safety issues when they came to meet with them, and they would not have too much psychological burden.

Linshan Guard Commander Wei Shan and Guanhai Guard Commander Huang Tao arrived on the same boat, and the person who sent them over was Navy Commander Xu Shaohua, who acted as an intermediary. After landing, they were welcomed into the large tent that Haihan had set up in advance.

Here they finally met the Haihan man rumored to be called the "Chief".

As both soldiers, Wei Shan and Huang Tao had a very good impression of Qian Tiandun. He had a dark complexion and a strong build, and exuded a confident and steady aura. This kind of aura can only be achieved by those who have been in high positions for a long time and are used to giving orders and controlling the power of life and death.

Talents will possess it. The other party even allows them to bring their sidearms into the negotiation venue. This courage and magnanimity are enough to win their hearts.

After Xu Shaohua introduced both parties in the middle, he could not help but say polite words such as those whose names he has admired for a long time. Then Qian Tiandun invited them to sit down and ordered tea.

"A few days ago, a friend from Hangzhou Prefecture just sent tea. They said it was Mingqian Longjing picked from the old tea tree in front of Hu Gong Temple at the foot of Shifeng Mountain. Let's take a look and see if it is genuine." Qian Tiandun was not busy talking about business.

, but I tasted the tea first.

Although Wei Shan and Huang Tao were military officers, they were not rough people. Qian Tiandun was not in a hurry to get to the point, and they would not be so impatient. They each picked up their tea cups and tasted tea. Although Longjing in the Ming Dynasty

Okay, but it’s not particularly rare for them. If you want it, you can still buy it. But the Haihan people have always been known for their shrewdness. They probably won’t just drink a cup of Longjing tea to kill themselves. They’ll see what they can do first.

Qian Tiandun put down his tea cup and continued talking about tea without mentioning the business: "The Book of Tea written by Lu Yu, the tea sage of the Tang Dynasty, contains records about tea production in two temples in Tianzhu and Lingyin in Hangzhou. In the Northern Song Dynasty, it was already

It became a tribute tea, and Su Dongpo also wrote poems praising Longjing tea. The list of famous teas compiled by Huang Yizheng of this dynasty and the national famous teas compiled by Xu Wenchang also include West Lake Longjing tea."

Wei Shan and Huang Tao looked at each other and didn't understand why Qian Tiandun wanted to talk about this tea. Wasn't he here to talk about the threat to Haihan's trade routes? How could he still have time to talk if he didn't mention the business?

Such an irrelevant topic.

Qian Tiandun didn't seem to notice the expressions of the two of them, and continued to talk to himself: "When we first settled in Qiongzhou, Nanhai, we couldn't drink good tea from Zhejiang at all. Why? First, it was too far, and second, it was too far away.

It is too expensive, but it is actually caused by the long distance and inconvenient transportation. We wanted to drink authentic Longjing tea, so we paid a high price. We brought it back from Zhejiang through some connections and wanted to drink the tea produced that year.

For new tea, we have to start trying to establish connections at least six months in advance. But now that we have arrived in Zhejiang, we have discovered that this thing is not so difficult to buy, and it is not as expensive as we thought. We couldn't buy it in the past, but now the situation is different.

Already."

Qian Tiandun pointed to the tea cup put back on the table and said: "After we tasted it, we immediately placed an order for three thousand kilograms of tea with the local merchants. Because we purchased a large amount, the price was only one-third of the price in the southern market.

First, when we traffic tea to the south, we will have at least double the gross profit. If we sell tea to Annam, Champa, Siam, or even the Ban people in the West, the profit we can get will double.

"

Wei Shan and Huang Tao listened in a daze, seeming to understand some of the implications, but they still didn't seem to understand what Qian Tiandun meant.

Qian Tiandun asked: "Since you two are willing to come here to interview me, you are both smart people who can understand the situation. I would like to ask you two, why can we obtain huge profits from the tea trade?"

Huang Tao pondered: "This is naturally because the place of production is too far away from the market."

"That's right." Qian Tiandun nodded and said, "The reverse is the same. Why did our Haihan products sell so expensively in the past, and were often at high prices but not marketable? It's because our place of origin is too far away from Zhejiang, and the goods are only

It can be shipped here for sale through layers of transshipment and increased prices. But it is different now. We can produce many things locally in Zhejiang and sell them locally. Even if we lower the selling price, because the supply volume has increased, so

The benefits that can be obtained will also be much greater than before. Previously, we held investment meetings to provide businessmen in Jiangsu and Zhejiang areas with an opportunity to make big money together."

"There is endless money to be made, and we can make even more money by working together, and we believe that everyone can find their own position in our system and play their own role." Qian Tiandun smiled at the corner of his mouth.

Said: "If you two are willing to cooperate with us, we actually have more things that we can give you to do. Of course, these things will not be in vain, and there will be generous rewards."

"General Qian, can you tell me in detail?" Wei Shan couldn't help but ask after hearing this.

"It's very simple. Help us control the local trade routes, both land and sea, and control the passage of goods in and out of Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Money will naturally flow into our pockets." Qian Tiandun noticed the other party's eagerness.

Only then did the conversation begin to slowly turn to business.

Regarding how to win over Ming officials, Haihan has accumulated several years of practical experience in the south, and summarized it to form standardized operating procedures. Although Qian Tiandun is not an official in charge of commercial affairs, as long as he takes a look in advance

Relevant information can still produce good results if it is read as written.

The first thing is to make these officials realize that the money they obtain is not ill-gotten gains, and they do not need to do deviant things in exchange for these gains. The money they can obtain in the future will be through reasonable and legal means.

With the means obtained, there is no need to betray one's country, no need to feel ashamed of the emperor, and no risk of losing one's official position or head.

To achieve such an effect, they must first understand the basic profit method of Haihan's business model, which is to make profits by controlling maritime trade channels. The high value of Haihan's products itself is only part of the profit, and the products produced in Daming are best-selling

Various commodities at home and abroad will also bring huge profits, provided that the maritime trade channels are in the hands of Haihan.

Haihan, who has deep pockets, can use the liquidity in his hands to influence the price trend of certain commodities. For example, the Longjing tea mentioned by Qian Tiandun just now can influence or even directly obtain this commodity by sweeping large quantities of goods.

Pricing power. Tea can almost be used as hard currency in international trade in this era. Controlling pricing power is equivalent to controlling the market. Although there are many wealthy businessmen in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, they have nothing to do with Haihan, which has formed a group operation for many years.

Compared with the trading system, the ability to mobilize funds is still very different. At this level of operation, it cannot compete with Haihan.

In this process, Ming businessmen would serve as agents or compradors to pave channels for Haihan to sell or purchase goods. What Qian Tiandun wanted the Ming military to do was to operate on the surface in some unscrupulous ways.

affairs. For example, providing protection for Haihan’s agents, carriers, and partners, combating competitors who are hostile to Haihan, providing necessary intelligence to Haihan, etc.

Of course, these are only primary means. After cooperation reaches a certain level, there will inevitably be further military cooperation. Haihan will provide various forms of military assistance to the local garrison on the pretext of providing weapons, providing training, etc., and then through

Various training methods were used to infiltrate the garrison and support pro-Haihan officers in their positions, making the local garrison gradually dependent on Haihan's military aid. These methods have been implemented many times in Fuzhou and Guangzhou in the south, and have been proven

In order to have good effect and operability. Qian Tiandun hopes that through this kind of cooperation, a peripheral buffer zone will be formed in Ningbo Prefecture and its surrounding areas. Even if the Ming Dynasty wants to take action against Haihan in the future, this buffer zone will still be

It is enough to help Zhoushan Islands prepare for war in advance.

As long as local civil and military officials in this area have more and more common interests with Haihan, Haihan can use this as a foundation to slowly spread out in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions, gradually transforming the most prosperous and prosperous area in the Ming Dynasty.

It became Haihan's sales market and raw material supplier. In the process, some benefits were leaked to these Ming officials, which was also a normal expenditure item.

Of course, Qian Tiandun will not talk about in-depth cooperation projects yet. The main focus is on some operational methods that the two commanders are currently capable of. In this way, they also mentioned the original purpose of their trip - the so-called conspiracy to attack merchant ships.

Wei Shan was still hesitant at first and refused to tell the whole situation. When Qian Tiandun saw this, he did not ask further questions, so he ordered two boxes to be brought up. When he opened them, they were filled with dazzling silver ingots.

"Each of these two boxes contains five thousand taels of silver. It will be regarded as payment for the hard work of the two adults. It will be delivered to the two adults' ship later." After Qian Tiandun finished speaking, the guard opened the lid of the box.

Close it and carry it out.

"Actually, if I spend ten thousand taels of silver to buy this information in Hangzhou Prefecture, I think I can buy it. Maybe I can even buy the other party's head. But I think it would be better to spend 10,000 taels of silver in Hangzhou Prefecture.

It's better to use it to make friends, don't you two adults think so?" Qian Tiandun said calmly.

Wei Shan swallowed his saliva and did not answer immediately. His annual official salary was only a hundred taels, and with all kinds of gray income, he could only make two or three thousand taels a year. This Haihan man couldn't agree with each other.

Just throwing a box of silver out, it really gave him a huge impact. As for Qian Tiandun's talk about buying information in Hangzhou for 10,000 taels, Wei Shan thought to himself that there was no need to pay such a high price, so I said half the price.

When Huang Tao saw that Wei Shan was silent, he was a little confused about his thoughts. He didn't want to offend Qian Tiandun, so he smoothed things over and said, "This matter is quite complicated. It's not that Mr. Wei doesn't want to talk about it, but he just wants to understand it first."

Understand the ins and outs of this, right Master Wei?"

Only then did Wei Shan come back to his senses and responded repeatedly: "Yes, yes, Master Huang is right. General Qian, this is what happened..."
Chapter completed!