Chapter 252 Journey to the Maldives

"This is the Maldives? I can't believe it. Liu Jiao looked at the islands and beaches in the distance and couldn't help but dispel his desire to go up.

"Yes, if the latitude and longitude are correct, the archipelago we sent people to occupy ten years ago is the one in front of us." As a senior authority in the maritime field, Li Fei naturally would not make a mistake on this issue of latitude and longitude.

"In 10 years, the archipelago hasn't built a decent marina and resort hotel? Your hotel group is too discerning, grandson. Liu Xin teased.

"Although the hotel industry is under my control, does the National Tourism Administration focus on recommending this classic attraction, and how can I attract investment to develop this small attraction thousands of miles away? Far from the main shipping lanes, with no strategic value or resources, and there are not enough jobs for those who want to settle, do indigenous people and fishermen need hotels and marinas? Come on! It's not a post-industrial era with airplanes running all over the place! Where would many people pay to come from such a distance to see the sea? No one is optimistic about the project in Bali, and I don't know how long it has been since the development of Yalong Bay alone. Do you think it's Golden Week?

We have more than 40 statutory holidays a year, religious festivals allow believers to take leave, plus those public institutions and state-run posts with good welfare, every year the domestic scenic spots are not full, where is the spare money to build this island where birds do not lay eggs? Sun Chang complained about the national habits of seriously backward consumption concepts.

"Is this a good project? The message of the old time and space tells us that the answer is yes, but this era of colonization is not over yet. It's definitely hanging. It is impossible for us to treat these projects of the present era with the experience of the era of capital surplus of later generations. The sea and sky here are still reserved for the lucky ones in a hundred years. Anyway, I don't want to take a dinghy to this island that doesn't even have a fixed pier or hotel to eat barbecue, so let's take a look at the scenery on the boat! Lee Ki said that he did not want to go to the island to enjoy the original atmosphere now.

"I went back and asked the Military Commission to give an order to the military base in Colombo, and the annual training site was set here. It's no problem to build a fixed dock instead of that dilapidated temporary floating dock. Although the natives could not become qualified soldiers, they had no problem working as temporary workers and growing fruits and vegetables for the army and tourists. Those small islands with fresh water can be used as bases for building military camps and militarized towns, and it is still possible to gather some popularity. Wang Xinyu proposed.

Maybe ten years later, Li Ji and the others will be able to stay in the Seaview Hotel when they come again. Tired of eating the seafood, young people of their children and grandchildren want to have fun on the beach and coral reefs to vent their sullenness after days on the boat.

Li Ji and the others sat on the boat and watched while playing chess and reading books while enjoying the rich food, and they had no interest in going crazy on the beach with those children and grandchildren. Although the appearance is very young, all the people who cross are already old fritters. Where do middle-aged and elderly people still have the urge to dive and catch fish.

When local Chinese and merchants heard that a large ship had arrived on an uninhabited island in the north, they immediately rushed from Male Island to meet them. After seeing this yacht full of industrial technology and gorgeous and simple shape, you know that you are either rich or expensive. After Li Ji saw the visitor, he only revealed that he and the others were the senior executives of the local Chenji Group, and they just went to sea for vacation. Originally, I thought it was an ordinary businessman who came to the Maldives to play in the Xia shopkeeper was just a local small business to buy pearls in the Indian Ocean expatriate businessman, and the shocked visitor had to give up the idea of making friends, the businessmen of the Chinese Empire who did not know the name of the Chenji Group, the high-level of any subsidiary were more expensive than the princes and rich countries. It's not something that a little person like himself can climb to at all. I had to say a few kind words and leave.

Thinking that it was a merchant ship turned out to be a yacht, thinking that it was a nouveau riche turned out to be a powerful person, Xia's original idea of wanting to eat the cargo of this big ship was shattered when he saw the yacht, and whoever came back to sell goods with a yacht would not be killed. After changing his mentality, Shopkeeper Xia wanted to get on the boat to see the luxury yacht, which was not worth the trip, but he could only come back after eating a pound. He was originally good-tempered, and scolded the guy who reported the news of the docking of the big ship: "Your brain is in water? Is this a merchant ship? Can the average businessman afford to drive such a ship? I told you to read and not listen. When I came out to be an apprentice, I didn't want to be motivated, and I couldn't even tell the type of sea boat. What's the use of you, if it weren't for your father's saving of my life, how could you let you follow the caravan to the far sea to make a fortune? ……”

Originally thought that the Maldives was a wild place for primitive tribes, the traversal people only knew that they had put up an oolong after the conversation with the Xia shopkeeper, it turned out that the empire had established diplomatic relations with the Moon Dynasty of this archipelago, and such a small country could not even read the domestic newspapers, how could it be possible to enter the eyes of the traversal people.

The first dynasty of the Maldives was the Sun Dynasty, which ruled the country 200 years ago, but at that time the Sun Dynasty did not include the whole of the present-day Maldives. The historical record of the Sun Dynasty is on some copper plates called Maapanansa. The first king of the Sun Dynasty was the exiled King of Karlinga, Suruda Saruna. Aditya, the last ruler was Queen Dhamahar, and the prince of the kingdom of Carlinga, Bharaditya, married Dharmahar and thus became the new ruler of the Maldives, establishing the former Moon Dynasty.

The Moon Dynasty is a continuation of the former Moon Dynasty and is listed separately only because the second king converted to Islam. The founders of the Moon Dynasty unified the entire territory of what is now the Maldives. The export of sea turtles, hawksbill turtles and seafood such as corals and shells is the mainstay of the industry, while the emerging industries of coconut processing and canned fish are still in the workshop stage. Although the king was wealthy, most of the people were below the subsistence line. According to the results of Li Ji et al.'s calculations at purchasing power parity, this small and nameless country definitely belongs to the list of least developed countries, just a little better than the primitive tribes.

The three essential elements of a tropical island style trip are the coconut beach with blue sea and blue sky, bikini beauties and thoughtful tourism service facilities, without which no one will come to travel and spend. What's more, this place is not as well-known in the world as a border county of the Chinese Empire, and there are more uninhabited desert islands than inhabited islands. Not to mention the lack of medical treatment and medicine, there is no hardware for the development of tourism, not to mention high-quality service personnel and software such as systems. Coming back with excitement and going home is the best description of a trip through the Maldives.

The first thing Lee Ki did after docking was to spend a few days. Hired someone to buy an uninhabited island with a spring and build an ordinary stilted building. Later, a bonfire party was held in the tropical breeze, and a few barbecue seafood feasts were eaten to relieve the embarrassment caused by the oolong. Later, I saw a part-time commercial counselor for diplomats (the staff of the foreign affairs agency of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs who was short of manpower often wore many hats and received multiple salaries), and carried tortoiseshells, corals, pearls, rare shells and other special products sold by the stone (100 catties), hoping to be presented as a tribute to His Majesty the Emperor and the princes by the local king. A little surprised, Li Ji couldn't help but sigh, this king is really good at money. What was supposed to be a secret outing turned into a semi-public overseas visit, and even the king of the tiny island nation of the Maldives knew that he had to pay his blood. These things are relatively precious even in the place of origin, and no matter how worthless they are, they are worth exchanging for hundreds of tons of grain, which is at least equivalent to decades of accumulation. If it is shipped back to China and into the market, the market price of these things will collapse.

At this time, it is not to receive gifts, nor is it to not accept them. A few days ago, Sinhala on the island of Ceylon received a heavy gift (60% of the shares of the industrial park of Future Rijin Dou Gem). Do you want to receive this treasure worth tens of thousands of dollars today? According to the face theory of the Chinese, the return of gifts must be more valuable than these to be qualified, so the king who does not come forward is naturally smart and let the person receiving the gift decide to do it himself.

The archipelago is congenitally limited. The national strength is extremely weak. There is almost nothing but fishery resources and tourism resources that may be developed, the land area is small and the labor force is insufficient, and giving back some consumer goods and luxury goods is not the style that the people have always liked to teach people to fish. After some brainstorming, he asked the diplomat to go back and inform the king that he would send troops to come for regular training, and at the same time, he would also bring some spending power and orders, and help His Majesty save military expenses and cheap military supplies and building materials as a return gift.

Stayed in the port of Malé, the capital of the Maldives, for three days, filling the food bin and the stash of coconuts with the local Moon Dynasty Bowana. After sorting out some of the gifts from King Ananda, he slowly sailed out of the dilapidated dock through the yachts. At the last moment before leaving, he gave back a 'huge' check of 200,000 dragon dollars as a thank you gift, and hoped that the pier could be repaired. Next time I will be able to see a better port.

After Bai Jia left the port, he looked at the red coral in his hand and couldn't help but sigh Bovana. King Ananda has an eye and an atmosphere. Seeing that the Chinese Empire had no intention of occupying this archipelago, he brought in free long-term bodyguards for himself, and also got a good identity to join the Chinese Empire's alliance system. The ink on the table was not dry, and the tropical breeze blew the cover of the agreement, and the contents inside turned out to be a partnership agreement that jumped three levels in a row. What was originally a relationship that was not salty and indifferent that was simply the establishment of diplomatic relations has suddenly become an ally and a comprehensive cooperative partner, which is a big advantage. Just like those vassal states that were listed as non-conscripted countries by the Ming Empire, their international status jumped three levels in a row.

"In order not to spoil the interest of this trip, we can no longer reveal our whereabouts, this ship is too eye-catching, too luxurious, let's sail directly to Xiaoxuanzhou to replenish it, so as not to dock at a port and have to deal with the head snake once, it's too troublesome." Li Fei has always hated the behavior of these Fanbang natives taking advantage in the name of tribute.

Such a suggestion was quickly approved by the majority, did Li Ji and others go out on a trip? It is simply engaged in diplomacy, as the saying goes, if you are not in your position, you will not seek your own government, and those officials raised every year are not decorations, and it is not good to form the habit and tradition of indiscriminately meddling to steal the jobs of subordinates.

Direct flights from the Maldives to Xiaoxuanzhou will pass through the windless belt, as well as more than 200 kilometers into the countercurrent zone, and there is no danger and major storms along the way, the equatorial region of the Indian Ocean has always been very rare storms, thousands of miles only one Seychelles Islands as a supply point, there is nothing to say, just this route. (To be continued......)